Every year, worldwide, the church of Jesus Christ celebrates Christmas. The celebration is different in different cultures, but the reason for celebrating (at least for Christians) is the same: the human birth of Jesus Christ.
That’s right, Jesus Christ was born in a human fleshy body. If anyone who claims to be speaking by the Holy Spirit says otherwise, you should run.
1 John 4:1-3 (ESV) 1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already
Jesus was from God directly, he was with God in the beginning, yet He was born into a human body. John, by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, used the powerful word logos to describe this event, which believers call incarnation (God becoming man.).
John 1:1 (ESV) 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The word word here is the Greek word logos. It’s where we get our word logo from (surprise surprise). Logos is translated as word. Aristotle’s work on rhetoric made the word mean much much more to the Greeks. Nonetheless, at its core, logos means the written word. Visible Communication. An image that portrays a message.
John’s usage of logos was no accident. He was saying that God has a part of Himself by which He communicates with man. This, he called The Word.
He then says that the logos became flesh.
John 1:14 (ESV) 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Before we go any further, let’s answer a question some readers may have.
Why?
That is such a vital question.
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Why does God need to present Himself in an altered state (so to say) to communicate with humans?
First, we need to see what scripture says about God. What better place to start, than God with Us Himself, Jesus? Jesus describes one attribute of God in John 4.
John 4:24 (NLT) 24 For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”
1. God is Spirit.
God is not a human being. God is a supernatural spirit. He is invisible to the human eye and not limited by our bodily, geographical, and time limitations.
Colossians 1:15 (ESV) 15 He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
He is not an old man in the sky. In fact, regarding biology, He is not a he. He has no sexual organs and is not a created biological being. God is spirit itself. He created flesh, but He is not flesh.
To talk to human beings in the flesh, God had to become something visible that we can see and interact with.
Not only is God spirit, but God is also power and light.
2. God is Unapproachable (to human beings in the sinful flesh) because of His Unlimited Power.
1 Timothy 6:15-16 (NLT) 15 For, At just the right time Christ will be revealed from heaven by the blessed and only almighty God, the King of all kings and Lord of all lords. 16 He alone can never die, and he lives in light so brilliant that no human can approach him. No human eye has ever seen him, nor ever will. All honor and power to him forever! Amen.
Throughout scripture, when people saw any glorified part of God, people (who were no longer in the flesh) or angels (who stand in His presence), they often freaked out, passed out, or exclaimed in fear something along the lines of…
Isaiah 6:5 (NLT) 5 Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.”
Although they were not seeing the unfiltered God, they flipped out at the level of Glory they were experiencing. They thought they were doomed, that they would die, because of what they saw.
My Dream.
Years ago, I had a dream where I felt like I was floating in the darkness of space. In the extremely remote distance, I saw a massive throne surrounded by pulsating light. I could not see the one on the throne. He was there, but the light was so bright that I couldn’t see Him.
The thought came to mind, Oh no, that’s God, and I’m looking at Him.
Then, in the dream, as if answering my thoughts, I saw that nearby, between the throne and I, was an invisible film (so to say). It was like (forgive me for my limited language) a Seran Wrap that created an invisible barrier.
At that moment, it was like someone tore the Saran Wrap from top to bottom. The tear was only a very thin strip, a few inches wide (I guess), but through this tiny strip rushed the glory (light and power and beauty) of God. When this glory hit me, I was instantly forced to my knees. It felt like my flesh was going to disintegrate. When I woke from the dream my heart heart pounding.
His power and light and beauty, which I call His Glory, is so much more than our sinful flesh seems to be able to handle.
This is another reason that we can’t approach Him in our flesh.
3. God is so pure that no evil can stand in His unfiltered (unleashed? Unconstrained?) presence.
1 John 1:5 (NLT) 5 This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.
God is pure light. Darkness disappears in His presence.
Now, let me be clear here: God can present Himself to us in a way where we can survive. This is actually what this whole blog post is about. I am not saying that God can’t be around evil, I am saying that our flesh in its current state of darkness and sin cannot abide in God’s unfiltered presence.
This is why we need new bodies, free of sin if we are to live for eternity in God’s presence.
2 Corinthians 5:1 (NLT) 1 For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands.
Another reason we need God to communicate with us on a lower level is because of our limited knowledge.
4. God is All-Knowing, therefore we Cannot Understand God fully and we cannot Communicate on God’s level.
Isaiah 55:8-9 (ESV) 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
I have two super smart and cool kids. At the time of writing this, they are three and four years old. As said, they are super smart, but their limited understanding and knowledge means that I cannot communicate with them in a normal adult way. If I did, they would probably stare at me blankly (which I must admit has happened a few times). I made a reel about it the other day, check it out here.
We also have a dog. She’s sweet, but smart is not a way I would describe her. Seriously. I have to talk to her on a (very low) dog level. She’s an awesome dog, and she seems to know some English, but her nature is different.
God is all-knowing and all-powerful and sees the end from the beginning.
Isaiah 46:9-10 (ESV) 9 remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
The only one who fully understands God is God Himself. If someone claims to know everything about God totally, they are in a way claiming to be God. We are confined to a limited nature in a set location both geographically and chronologically. God is not. He is all places and knows all things.
Because of the vast difference between His unlimited nature and our limited one (which I believe He made on purpose to limit us), we are unable to climb to His level to communicate with Him. If we want to have communication with God, He must initiate and facilitate it. If we are to talk to Him, He must make a way.
God must come down to the human level to communicate with humans.
So that’s exactly what God did.
God sent us the Word (Logos) to become Flesh.
That Word became the man, Jesus of Nazareth, born in the flesh to the Virgin Mary.
John 1:14 (ESV) 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Praise God! But that leads us to another question: If God needed to become a man to accomplish His will, what was He trying to accomplish? What was his motivation?
The question is not just why did Jesus need to become a man to interact with mankind, but why did He even want to?
This is another vital question with answers that are so very important.
What does the scripture say?
John 1:18 No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.
1. Jesus Became a Man to Reveal the Father to Us.
Just like today, people have always had crazy ideas about God. Jesus, who acts as God’s communication between God and man, came to reveal what God is really like to us. He even said, if you want to see God, look at me.
John 14:8-9 (NLT) 8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” 9 Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you?
As quoted above, Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God.
Colossians 1:15 (ESV) 15 He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
Here’s a thought that may help you understand. The English word logo is short for logotype and comes from the Greek word LOGOS. A logo is an image that represents a brand or company. When you look at the Starbucks logo, you think of Starbucks. It is a picture on a sign, but it is an image that communicates the brand’s message, culture, and mission.
When we look at Jesus we can get a larger picture of who God (in His fulness) is. Jesus is the logos of God.
If our idea of who God is is twisted, then how we live our lives will be twisted. How you see God is one of the most important perspectives you have. Another is how you see your parents, how you see other humans, and how you see the world, but all of these fall back on or influence how you see God.
Jesus became a man to clear this up for good. He was saying, If you want to know God, then look at me.
That’s awesome. Jesus is awesome. And this means something even more awesome.
2. Jesus Became a Man to Show us How a Perfect Human Should Live.
1 John 2:6 (NLT) 6 Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.
As humans in human bodies with human emotions and temptations, we sometimes need a little help understanding ourselves and how we should live. Because Jesus came as a human, He gives us a guide to go by.
Now some important distinctions must be understood here. For example, if you are a parent, you can’t abandon your children to preach the Gospel without caring for their needs. This makes you worse than before you believed.
1 Timothy 5:8 (NLT) 8 But those who won’t care for their relatives, especially those in their own household, have denied the true faith. Such people are worse than unbelievers.
Jesus had no earthly wife or children, and this was on purpose. He would not have been sinless if he had abandoned them to fulfill His mission. Therefore, we are not all called to live exactly the same life as Jesus. We would all have to walk everywhere, leave our homes, die a martyr, and never get married or have kids.
What am I saying? Jesus’ example in life gives us a deeper standard that applies to all of us. We can’t all walk around Israel preaching the Gospel, but we can all declare God’s goodness in our context. We can’t all leave home in the way Jesus did, but we can all live His teachings. For example, He gave Himself ip for his bride (the church), and so Paul teaches us that Husbands should lay down their lives for their wives and see that they are cared for well.
Ephesians 5:25-26 (NLT) 25 For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her 26 to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word.
Do you get the idea? We can’t all live the details of Christ’s life, but we can all look at Him and find our way to live. He is The Way!
John 14:6 (NLT) 6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
We can learn to live and love the way Jesus did!
1 John 4:12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.
He is our perfect way to live! We know this because we can look at how He lived His life in the flesh!
3. Jesus Became a Man to Restore What Mankind Lost.
There is a wild thing about God that seems to confuse a lot of us. It is that God seems to operate inside of the systems He creates according to his own rules of that system.
For example, many times people wonder why God won’t step in and destroy all evil. I often reply, “Do you want God to kill us all?”
Jesus called us evil (Matthew 7:11) and the Scriptures teach us that ALL have sinned and fallen short of God’s required standard (Romans 3:23). It also teaches that sin requires death (Romans 6:23). So when we ask God to destroy all evil, we are asking for our own death. Even if we ask Him to destroy Satan, we are asking Him to destroy all evil on Satan’s level, which biblically puts us in the same category as satan since we all, before Christ, are in Satan’s earthly kingdom. If God killed everyone on Satan’s team none of us would make it to adulthood.
In the Bible, God gives mankind rule over the earth. Mankind bowed to Satan and sinned, thus losing control of the world and our flesh. Jesus came as a man to win back what man lost and restore man as the ruler of God’s kingdom on earth. What Adam and Eve lost, Jesus won back, through His perfect life and sinless death. Sin entered through Adam, life entered through Jesus.
Romans 5:18-19 (ESV) 18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
Jesus came as a man and operated under God’s rules as a man. He did this perfectly, not only not sinning, but fulfilling the law and doing even righteous deeds God had assigned to Him. Therefore, He is forever worthy to lead all of mankind! Praise God!
This topic is massive, and I’ll write about it on another day.
And finally…
4. Jesus became a Man to Save Us when we were Unable to Save Ourselves.
And this is, what I believe to be there crux of it all. It is all summed up in this scripture:
Romans 5:6-9 (NLT) 6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation.
We were helpless. Sinful. Lost. There was not one person alive or has ever lived who was sinless. We all have fallen short. We are all sinners. We are all corrupt. We needed outside help. There was no one to stand in the gap for us. We were all stuck in the mud.
Isaiah 59:16 (NLT) 16 He was amazed to see that no one intervened to help the oppressed. So he himself stepped in to save them with his strong arm, and his justice sustained him.
So Jesus became a man. He stepped in as Isaiah says, lived a sinless life, freely gave His life on Calvary’s cross, and was raised from the dead so we could be saved and live in freedom from sin forever.
Now Jesus, God with us in the Flesh, sits at the right hand of God and is the only mediator between God and man.
1 Timothy 2:5-6 (NLT) 5 For, There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. 6 He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone.
Jesus made a way when there was no way. He was born in Bethlehem and wrapped in sheep’s clothes in a stable (perfect for the Lamb of God). He was crucified, buried, wrapped in burial clothes.
He was born outside and died outside so He could bring us forever into God’s presence.
The beauty of the incarnation is more than I can express.
God’s goodness, holiness, love, example, mercy, and judgment were all seen in the life and person of Jesus. He became a man, and when it all comes down to it, it was for one reason: that we may live forever with God, unhindered from His presence.
John 3:16-17 (NLT) 16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
Because of Jesus, we can be new spirits in new bodies for new days.
In Him, we are made a new creation, and none of it would have been possible without Jesus becoming a man.
He is worthy!
Revelation 5:12-13 (NLT) 12 And they sang in a mighty chorus: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered— to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.” 13 And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They sang: “Blessing and honor and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever.”
Jesus became a man to restore all things. He has and He will!
My prayer for you is that as you read and meditate on these truths, more and more understanding of God’s amazing love will fill your minds and hearts. You are loved more than you know!
Ephesians 3:18-19 (NLT) 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
Come, Lord Jesus, Come!
What are your thoughts on why Jesus became a man?
*As a sidebar here, I know the word PART is weak language to use. I don’t know a better way at this time to explain this simply.
