Day #336 - Incarnation

The Presence - A Devotional for living in Thanksgiving, Worship and Wonder

“The gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭2‬-‭4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Photo by Omar Lopez on Unsplash

Have you ever thought what it would be like to time travel?

The interesting thought to me about visiting another time would mainly be what it would be like to enter a different world or a different culture. Even visiting America hundreds of years ago would probably seem very unique. Visiting what is Europe over a thousand years ago would be even more strange. How would you interact with people? How would you explain where you came from and what the world is like in their future?

Advent is the time where we celebrate Christ’s coming which is His incarnation. He being eternal, entered into time and space, to be a part of our world. Jesus was not created when He was conceived of the Holy Spirit in His mother Mary. Jesus was and is eternally God, the second person of the Trinity. Jesus entered our world and into human history being fully God and fully man. “Jesus is God as if He was not human and Jesus is human as if He was not God at the same time without contradiction (Bill Hogg).”

Paul says in Romans 1 that the Son of God in His earthly life was a descendant of David and through the Holy Spirit He was appointed the Son of God in power by His resurrection. This is Jesus: He was already the son of God but took on an earthly life. He came from another dimension. From heaven to earth, from eternity into into time and from a glorious body to a fleshly one. Paul connects the incarnation to the resurrection. In fact, Jesus first coming and incarnation is always connected to His life, death, burial, resurrection and second coming for which we await.

Saint Athanasius said, “And thus He, the incorruptible Son of God, being conjoined with all by like nature, naturally clothed all with incorruption, by the promise of the resurrection (1).” Jesus becoming like our nature in the flesh, the Son of David, joined us to His incorruptible nature making us sure of resurrection. In the art of the early church, there was a connection between the tomb and the womb. Jesus incarnation has brought life to our death and out of His death, He brought life to us.

Remember, “the Presence” is His person being near. Jesus created the opportunity for us to know Him in a living relationship by reconstituting the world through His incarnation. He came to live as us, so we could know Him and we could become like Him to be with Him forever.

Jesus, thank You for taking on a fleshly body, becoming God incarnate. You brought Your life to transform our death. Thank You for Your presence here among us so that I could know You and be with You now and forever. Precious Lord Jesus, in Your name, amen.

1 from. Saint Athanasius, On the Incarnation of the Word.