There is an amazing, beyond human imagination truth about “the child of Bethlehem”. Jesus was fully Man and fully God. This has been established earlier in our studies from John’s gospel. How these two natures could exist together without one infringing on the other is the teaching of Scripture, even if we cannot fully wrap our minds around it.
How could this come to be? One answer to that question involves Jesus
laying aside the independent use of the divine attributes referred to in Phil.
2:7 when it says He “emptied” Himself (NKJV: “made Himself of no
reputation”). This we will save for
another occasion. Today’s passage
reveals the second answer as to how God became Man without denying the fullness
of either nature. It was through the virgin birth.
We often sing carols that refer to the “virgin”
and may have lost the wonder of this truth of Scripture. Mary conceived without the intimate
relationship that is part of every other conception in history. Gabriel told Mary God would perform a miracle
in her body. This is not the immoral and
often ludicrous experience of the “gods” of mythology or other religions. It was simply the power of the Almighty at
work in Mary so that the Child would be “the Son of God”.
At the same time the miracle involved “the seed
of the woman” in fulfillment of the first promise of a Savior in Gen.
3:15. The child was human in every
respect, including the normal gestation process common to humans. This was not some “freak of nature” but was
nevertheless unique in all history. It
can only be explained and accepted by those who believe the angel’s words to
Mary’s very understandable question: “For with God nothing will be impossible.”
Not only did the virgin birth facilitate the
two natures; it also preserved the Child from the sin nature. Like Adam at creation, Jesus was free from
“original sin”, the curse upon all mankind since Adam. This writer believes the view that the sin
nature is passed on through the father.
All became sinners in Adam (Rom. 5:12) even though both Adam and Eve
sinned. Thus Jesus was preserved free of
the sin nature since Mary had no relationship with Joseph.
Some might think that Jesus was not fully human
if He did not have the sin nature. But
of course that is not true in that the first Adam was fully human, even though
created “innocent”. Jesus was, in fact,
the most tested person ever in the sense that He was tempted in the same ways
we are tempted, and yet did not sin. He
endured the full force of temptation because He never yielded to it.
To be a pregnant virgin likely created issues
for Mary. Who would ever believe such a
story. Even Joseph had to be informed by
an angel (Mt. 1:20-21). Nevertheless,
hear Mary’s response: “Let it be to me according to Your word.” Let us likewise embrace the path God has
laid out for us, whatever the hardships.
And remember, you can walk that path with the God-Man, Jesus Christ.
No comments:
Post a Comment