Happy Saturday

A MESSAGE OF JOY

by Ernest R. Campbell

As Christmas draws near, our focus is on two very important truths: First, the fact that the eternal Son of God became incarnate in a human body; Second, what He accomplished in His sinless body.

The fact that the Son of God was destined to become incarnate in human flesh was prophesied in the Old Testament. The Spirit of God says in Isaiah 7: 14: "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel." In Matthew 1:23, the Holy Spirit applies this statement to Mary, adding that the name Immanuel means "God with us."

The Holy Spirit also applies what He said through the prophet Micah, hundreds of years earlier, to the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, that "out of you One shall come forth to be a ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting" (Micah 5:2).

The incarnation of the Son of God in a human body is also affirmed in the New Testament. The Holy Spirit says in Matthew 1:18, prior to a conjugal relation between Joseph and Mary, "she was found with child out of the Holy Spirit."

This was a great shock to Joseph, a Jew imbued with the high moral standards of the Law! As he reflected on the counsel given to him, that he should secretly separate from Mary, the Lord said to him through an angel, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your woman, for the one conceived in her is out of the Holy Spirit" (Matt. 1:20). This verse certainly affirms that the Holy Spirit produced in Mary's womb the body which the Son of God was to occupy!

The Holy Spirit via Luke gives us a very graphic picture of how God produced the physical body for His Son to inhabit on earth. The angel of the Lord told Mary: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the one who is born will be called Holy, the Son of God" (Luke 1:35). How could language more explicitly declare that Jesus of Nazareth is indeed the Son of God?

Now let us consider the second important truth, which is based on the fact that the conception and birth of Jesus were produced by God via the Holy Spirit. As the Mediator between the holy God and sinful men, the Person of Jesus Christ had to be both True God and True Man. As the eternal Son of God, He is True God, and, as a result of the Holy Spirit producing Mary's conception, He is True Man, void of Adam's sin.

In the book of Hebrews, this same truth is confirmed regarding Jesus Christ's relation to God and to men. First, the Spirit says that He is a "Great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God ... who has been tried as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:14-15).

Second, since He came to rescue flesh and blood sinners, "He Himself also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil" (Heb. 1:14). Furthermore, "He had to be made like His brethren in all things, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people" (Heb. 2:17).

Grateful to Him for the sacrifice of His perfect, sinless Body for our sin,

May we all renew our purpose to make the Gospel of His Grace known to all!