I is for Incarnation
And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. Luke 2:12
Our “I” word for today, incarnation, is a very important word. Although this word doesn’t occur in the Bible, incarnation is used to describe what God did in sending Jesus to earth as a man. The divine, holy Jesus is truly human.
We can see that Jesus is truly human by the very fact that he was born, just like any other person. Jesus didn’t just appear on earth, or make appearances during his earthly life. He wasn’t a robot or an alien or a hologram or a being with two personalities. He came out of his mother’s womb as an infant and lived just like any other person might live. Jesus ate food, drank water, breathed, walked and talked and thought and felt.
Jesus lived his divine-human life through his human body at every point in order to identify with us as humans and empathize with those he came to save (Heb. 2:18). He wanted to show that he understood us because he experienced everything just as we experience, except without sin. He was a human person not only to sympathize with our weaknesses, but also to be a sacrifice for our sins. He had to be like us in order to take our sins upon his person and pay the penalty for our sins, a perfect sacrifice for imperfect people (Heb. 2:14-18). He is able to help us because he was a human being like us. As we remember Christmas, let’s remember that God was not only with us but is like us in the human person Jesus.
I Commend Joy! 