Notes compiled by Martz Zide and Steve McAtee
Although a lot of stress is put on the Deity of the Messiah, and rightly so, the humanity of Jesus is just as important. Were He not a man, He could not die on the cross, fulfilling the prophecies that were made concerning the promised Messiah, fulfill His offices as prophet and priest and so much more. Those who deny His true humanity, are just as effective at destroying the true faith as those who deny His Deity.
John 1:1, 14 - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
1 John 4:2-3 - By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus the Messiah has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.
A. The Incarnation of Jesus
The word incarnation speaks of the initial action of taking on human nature and being embodied in flesh. As a result of this, there were some changes that took place for Him that the Bible indicates.
Four Changes Were Involved in Incarnation
There was a change in His dwelling place.
There was a change in His possessions.
There was a change in His glory.
There was a change in position in relation to the Father.
John 6:51 - I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.
II Cor. 8:9 - For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.
John 17:5 - Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
Heb. 10:7 - Then I said. Behold, I have come in the scroll of the Book it is written of Me to do Your will, O God.
Reasons for the incarnation
Several reasons are put forth in Scripture that defines the purpose of the incarnation. This is clearly one of the greatest events that have ever taken place since the creation of the universe.
1. He came to reveal God to man
Because of the incarnation, the ability to understand the incomprehensible God is made possible. Jesus as the God-man defines for us the invisible God in ways that we can comprehend.
Matt. 11:27 - All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
John 1:18 - No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.
John 14:9 - Jesus said to him, Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, Show us the Father?
2. He came to provide a sacrifice for sin
Without this salvation would have been totally impossible. This was one of the core reasons as to why the Son took upon Himself a human body. As God, He could not die, but as man, He could.
John 1:29 - The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
1 Cor 15:3 - For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Messiah died for our sins according to the Scriptures.
Gal 1:3-4 - Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus the Messiah who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.
1 Pet 3:18 - For Messiah also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.