Saturday, December 24, 2011

Rightly Handling the Word That Has Become Flesh

What does a correct view of the Baby of Bethlehem yield? When we rightly handle the Word of truth that has become flesh, we are confronted with at least three results.

Firstly, rightly handling the Word that has become flesh transfers us. It transfers us from the stall in Bethlehem to the cross of Calvary. Indeed, the Incarnation is the profound mystery of godliness, 1 Tim 3:16, but it is not an end in itself. This Jesus “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; ..th'Incarnate Deity, .. Jesus, our Emmanuel” was born that “.. Man no more may die, .. To raise the sons of earth, .. to give them second birth.” He is the ".. the woman's conqu'ring Seed, .. the Second Adam from above.." divinely promised in the protevangelium (gospel in advance) in Gen 3:15 whose mission is to "Bruise in us the serpent's head", to replace Adam' s image with the very image of God. (From "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.") The Babe is Immanuel, God with us, who comes to deliver those given to him by the Father in eternity past from the penalty, power, presence and, so often neglected, the pleasure of sin, by living a sinless life and then surrendering himself on the cross in their place. Rightly handling the Word that has become flesh transfers us from Bethlehem to Calvary.

Secondly, rightly handling the Word that has become flesh transforms us.
Those in whom God has graciously removed the blinding veil of darkness which prevents unbelievers from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, .. the image of God", 2 Cor 4:3-4, behold the Bethlehem Babe differently from the world. They view him as God’s supreme covenant gift to the church, sent by the Father to suffer once for sins, “ ..the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, .. ", 1 Pe 3:18. This understanding reaches its pinnacle in corporate worship. There, as we, by faith and "with unveiled face" corporately behold the glory of the Lord, (we) are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another…”, 2 Cor 3:18.
There, as we behold the face of Christ as he is placarded before our eyes in the faithful preaching of the gospel and in the proper administration of the sacraments, we are being transformed into his image and into the image of God the Father. It is a biblical axiom that we become like what we worship, Pss 115:8; 135:18; Jer 2:5; Hos 9:10; etc. Rightly handling the Word of truth, the Word that has become flesh, transforms us into his image.

Lastly, rightly handling the Word that has become flesh transfixes us. We cannot take our eyes off him. As the apostle John states in the prologue of his gospel, "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. " 1:14. The Word see indicates not a fleeting glance at something or someone temporarily occupying our interest but rather, a calm, continuous contemplation of an irresistibly fascinating object. Such is the case when we behold the Babe of Bethlehem sub specie aeternitatis, that is, the way God views him, from a heavenly perspective, as he really is.

John's testifies that the apostles' attention was continuously riveted to the glory, that is, the external manifestation of Christ's being. Their physical vision was enhanced by a supernatural, Spiritual impression. In other words, they were transfixed by him. He commanded their continuous attention. And why not? There is no greater sight to behold. No other person is worthy of such reflection. We stand, nay, we bow in an everlasting gaze upon him. Our greatest delights are at his right hand. In Christ alone, solus Christus, we have a beautiful inheritance; in him, the lines have fallen into place; in his presence we have fullness of joy and at his right hand we have everlasting pleasures. Ps 16:6, 11. At the great eschatological consummation, the eternal delight and the greatest joy of the saints is that "They will see his face, .." Rev 22:4. Rightly handling the Word that has become flesh transfixes us.

Let us rightly understand Christmas by viewing it as God does: the time at which he demonstrates His great love for us by giving ".. his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." Jn 3:16. Behold the Baby in the stall at Bethlehem! Do you see what I see? Rather, do you hear what I hear? The Babe of Bethlehem is the saving gift of God.

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Friday, December 23, 2011

God In The What?!!

In his gospel, one of the several proofs the apostle John provides for the authenticity of Jesus' Messianic mission is that He was sent by the Father. For example, in his Bread of Life discourse in chapter 6, Jesus enlightens his miracle-seeking, consumeristic hearers that "“This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” (v. 29). He has come to do .. " “.. the will of him who sent me"". (38; see also 39). "“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him…” (44). Etc; etc. So unique is the relationship between God the Father and Jesus Christ that to believe in Christ is the same as to believe in God, (12:44), and to receive Christ is equivalent to receiving God the Father. (13:20).

On what basis could Jesus make such statements? He was sent from the Father because He and the Father are one. They are one in the sense that they are equally God. This bold defense of Christ's divinity is the theological and Christological foundation of John’s gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (1:1). God the Father and God the Son, Jesus Christ, and by necessary implication, God the Holy Spirit, are equally God in all aspects of "Godness." For this reason, Jesus was with God, that is to say, face-to-face with God in a most intimate way, in an eternal relationship. Further, is God and always will be God. It's no wonder that Jesus stuns the confused and unbelieving Jews by contending that "I and the Father are one." (10:30). The Westminster Confession of Faith instructs us that "In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost." (2.3).

The entire New Testament is flooded with proofs of the divinity of Jesus Christ. However, for our purposes today, there is one other verse asserting Christ's divinity that is frequently overlooked and that that deserves our attention- Jn 1:18: "No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known." The Greek verb has made known can also be translated declared, explained or exegeted. Exegete literally means to guide out of (the ex prefix means from or out of). Thus, when we exegete a text, we seek to extract or get out of it, its original meaning. In other words, we explain what the Scripture actually says; we discover the meaning the author intended to convey to his readers.

Jesus Christ perfectly and objectively provides us with the original and clearest understanding of God the Father. There is no higher Self-revelation of God than Jesus Christ; He is God in the flesh. Anyone who has seen Christ has seen God the Father. (14:9). In becoming a human being, Christ did not become a creature. In his humanity, the eternal Son of God attaches his divinity to weak human flesh in such a way that neither is his humanity enhanced nor his divinity reduced – he is fully man and fully God at the same time and in the same relationship! In the newborn babe, infinity has taken on finiteness; eternity invades time; divinity appears in diapers; God comes down into His creation in the form of man. No other religion can make such a bold claim. The holy God comes to seek and save his worst enemies. This is indeed a mystery at which we do not stumble by at which we bow in solemn adoration and in humble, self-effacing worship.

The divine Self-revelation in Christ and Christ’s Messianic mission to seek and save sinners are a stumbling-block to the people of Jesus' time – His own people rejected Him (1:11) and the ignorant world leaders (as well as those of ours) crucified "the Lord of glory." (1 Cor 2:8). In a real sense, the incarnate Christ is God's last call, his last appeal from heaven for fallen man to be saved (Heb 1:1-2). God's coming in the weakness of human flesh is the highest expression of His mercy and the ultimate demonstration of his grace towards fallen man. There is no other redemptive process that is available to men; there is no other person by whom redemption can be accomplished, (Acts 4:12). In Christ alone are God and sinner reconciled. In Christ alone we have the grandest display of God's commitment to His creatures and, above all, to His own glory. In a word, the word of Christmas is the Word from heaven of whom the Father says, " “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” " Let it not be said of us:

Didn't know You'd come to save us, Lawd
To take our sins away,
Our eyes was blind
We couldn't see
We didn't know who You was. (From "Sweet Little Jesus Boy")

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