The coming of God in the flesh is essential to eternal redemption for mankind. Anyone born into this world receives Adamic life and an Adamic nature, for the purpose of expression and fellowship with life as found in this present world. But this present life and world is under the judgment and curse of Almighty God. This condemnation has come because of sin. You and I must be delivered from this present kingdom of darkness, sin, and Satan into the kingdom of God, or we will not have life eternal. The question that confronts all who are in this life is how to escape the judgment of God that abides upon those who are confined in the kingdom of darkness. We entered this kingdom of darkness by being born into it. One enters the kingdom of God by means of the new birth.
The Lord Jesus, in John 3:3, says that to be born of the flesh and not of the Spirit means one cannot see the kingdom of God, hence the absolute need of the new birth. Unless one is born the second time while still living in this life, he will not see nor enter into the kingdom of God.?
MAN’S WAYS ARE NOT GOD’S WAYS
Many individuals who have become aware of sin and its problems have devised many ways, to their own liking, to escape the judgment at death and to enter into salvation in the life to come. But man’s ways are only a continuation of the way of death and darkness. In order to escape the inevitable result of this present life into which we have been born, God says we need to be born again- by the Spirit of God- that we might enter into His kingdom of light and life. The Lord Jesus Christ, knowing and recognizing these truths and principles,spoke to Nicodemus and said, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again” (John 3:6-7).
How did this Teacher, Jesus Christ, know this? Was He just smarter than those living at His time? Did He come upon a truth that others had overlooked? What is the answer to this situation? You and I might speculate and reason on this for some time, but even if we were to hit on the truth of the matter, we would not know it as the truth because ” … the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” ( 1 Corinthians 2: 14).
The kingdom of darkness into which we have come by our first birth, which is a natural, adamic birth, can only be overcome by a second birth which is “from above.” The second birth will cause the first one to be laid aside by death that the second may continue for eternity. Hence by means of a second birth and that “from above”(heavenly), one born into the kingdom of darkness can now be translated into the kingdom of light. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10: 13).
Jesus said in John 14:6, ” .. .1 am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” He is the Way; He is the Truth; He is the Life. He came to this world of darkness for the purpose of giving to mankind ” … the way, the truth, and the life …. ” Who is this person called Jesus the Christ?
CHRIST WAS GOD IN THE FLESH
Jesus the Christ, according to the Bible, is God in the flesh. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 3:16, “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”
William H. Bowler, in his book, The Virgin Birth, states, “God will not permit any controversy on this matter. This is an ‘either-or’ statement. Either you believe God, or you call Him a liar. There is no middle ground, and no controversy about it, and no room for human interpretation or opinion!” Again he states, “If Jesus Christ were not the Son of God and God the Son, then the cross of Calvary was only a sham, and the death of Christ was only the death of one who was deceived. If Jesus Christ were not the virgin-born Son of God, then His blood could never cleanse from sin. The Bible says that we are redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:19). But if Jesus Christ were not virgin-born, His blood would have no more value than your blood! Do you see what difference it makes whether or not we believe in the virgin birth and deity of Christ? It makes the difference between Heaven and Hell!”
In John 1: 1, we read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Then in verse 14, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
Jesus the Christ is God in human form. Philippians 2:5-8 very clearly presents this truth, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
“For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, 0 God” (Hebrews 1 0:4-7).
CHRIST’S BODY HAD TO BE SINLESS
The Scriptures teach that God was manifest to mankind in a body of flesh. It was in that body that Christ bore our sins to Calvary. It was the blood shed from that body that cleanses from sin (Hebrews 10:4).
In the Incarnation of God, the kind of body is important. It must be a sinless body. The record of Scripture is that God has used four ways to produce human bodies:
1. By the dust of the ground (Genesis 2:7).
2. By the rib from Adam (Genesis 2:22).
3. By uniting man and woman (Genesis4:1).
4. By the power of the Holy Spirit and the virgin (Matthew 1:20).
The last or fourth way is known as the “seed of the woman.” This is the manner of providing the body for the Christ. Genesis 3: 15 states, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” God is here saying that by the Seed of the woman, He will overcome Satan. The Redeemer is to be of human form, derived from the woman. Isaiah 7:14 says, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” The angelic messenger to Joseph, in Matthew 1:20-21, states, “But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins”
CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS
The doctrine of Scripture as to the Incarnation is that God took upon Himself a human body. That body was without sin, for it was conceived by the Holy Ghost of the virgin Mary. God in that body lived the kind of life His Word commanded us to live. Then, at Calvary, he paid the price of our sins by the shedding of His blood on our behalf. Praise God, we now have a Saviour in the person of Jesus the Christ who lived for us in the flesh, a life without sin, and then died for the sin we had committed. Only God could be that kind of Saviour!