God Enfleshed
God created man. Male and female, He created them. God made man in His own image, which positioned man at the apex of the animal realm. As an animal, humanity is said to be, “flesh and bones.” We are creatures from a Creator, who conceived us with His own purposes in view.
God created Adam to rule over the animal kingdom and subdue it. From Adam, God made Eve, the woman. Humanity was made for community, even as God is in community, as Trinity. The community of God, living in perfect love and harmony, was in relationship with the community of humanity. This relationship was estranged when humanity rebelled against the authority of the Trinity.
Humanity was lured into a relationship with another community. Fallen angels, also part of God’s creation, had already rebelled. The devil, masquerading as a serpent in the garden, deceived Adam and Eve with the prospect of their becoming like gods (Gen 3:5).
The consequences of Satan’s deception were devastating. God had made man, body and soul. It was the soul (heart and mind) which related to God. The soul of man was now dead to God, because of sinful rebellion against Him. Man no longer had pleasant communion with the Creator. Man was dead in sin.
Man now lived at enmity with God. Man blamed God for how difficult his existence was in the fallen state of creation. Man toiled in his work, and the woman travailed in childbirth. God had made them to reproduce. He told them to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth. God’s purpose for man had not been thwarted by demonic deception.
Man suffered under the lordship of Lucifer. This adversary had taken dominion from man and enslaved man to sin. The deception was great, and man took pleasure in sin. Sin is lawlessness. It is defiance against the reign and rule of God. Man was under the reign of sin, whose wages paid to man, for his sinful labors, is death.
Man is condemned from conception in the womb because of inherited sin. The original sin of Adam is his inheritance left to his posterity. Once sin has wreaked death upon the soul and body, then comes the judgment of God. All people ever conceived must stand before the great white throne of God’s judgment against humanity.
Man is already condemned, and he is assigned to hell and the lake of fire for eternal punishment, along with the devil and his angels. This is the wrath of God to come against men and women. Who can deliver us from the wrath to come?
The wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. His temporal wrath is merely a precursor to His wrath to come. These thundering in life, now serve as a warning of the storm to come. Humanity should be very afraid. Deceived and distracted, most people are not prepared to die and face the righteous judgment of the Holy God.
It was the eternal good pleasure of God, to execute His salvation for a portion of humanity, hurtling toward eternal, fiery hell. God chose each soul He planned to save. These were given to the eternal Son of God, to salvage from the burning scrap heap. God’s motive, in this purposed salvation of select humanity, was love.
In love, the Father predestined many sons to adoption and glory. Having entrusted these to His Son, the only begotten of God was sent into the world, to reconnaissance those who belonged to Him, but who were lost in the domain of darkness.
The Son of God became the Son of Man, by taking on flesh. He became like us, but without the sin that so easily encompasses us. The Savior was impeccable, even as a He humbled Himself to fulfill His mission. He came to save His people from their sins. For this reason, He was given the name, “Jesus,” and the title, “Messiah,” which in the Greek is, “Christ,” the anointed one of God.
The second Person of the Trinity, God enfleshed, lived perfectly under the Law of God. He had the title, “unblemished Lamb of God.” He was the substitute sacrifice, on behalf of His people, offered to God. His precious blood redemption, on the cross of Calvary, was accepted by God, in payment for the debt of sins owed by the elect of God, lost in sin.
Jesus Christ rescued His bride, the church, having ransomed her from the Law, which bound her for sins. He bought her for a price, from the slave market of sin. He laid down His life for His beloved people. He had to become like us, in order to represent us before God, as our righteous Federal Head.
Jesus Christ is the God-man, the second Adam, who did not rebel in sin against God. He was faithful and true, to the point of death on a cross. There is no greater love than what Jesus did in laying down his life, body and soul. His death gave His redeemed people life, abundant and eternal.
Christmas marks the first advent of the Son of God…born to die. His second advent is anticipated and even prepared for by His church, the Israel of God. He says, “Behold, I am coming quickly.” On that day, it is God enfleshed and glorified, who is coming to judge the living and the dead (2 Tim 4:1; 1 Pet 4:5). His chosen people, resurrected from the dead, will see Him and be like Him…enfleshed in glorious, eternal bodies, and who will be in perfect union with God, who loves us.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
December 12, 2020
