The Wonder of the Incarnation pt. 2 Hebrews 2:14-18 • Dorthy Sayers would say that a boring Christmas is a Christmas without the wonder of what it means and how through this wonder, God transforms you and me. • Dorthy said, “It’s boring to adapt the Christian faith to better fit people; what’s exciting is to adapt people to better fit the Christian faith… the most exciting drama that ever staggered the imagination of man—and the dogma is the drama.” The Nicene Creed (325) “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father; through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, was incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and was made man.” • Incarnation, comes from Latin, meaning “in flesh” or “in humanity.” • The wonder of the incarnation is the advent of Son of God in flesh. • One person with two natures – fully divine and fully human. • Jesus is forever the God-Man. When we speak of Christ, we can speak of Him in two distinct ways… As God, Jesus was: All powerful All knowing Impassible Immutable Immortal Transcendent As a human, Jesus was: Weary Learning Suffering Changing Mortal Immanent What is The Importance of the Incarnation? 1 John 4:2 (NLT), “This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. 3 But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.” • The incarnation provides for us a true & false test of faith. • If we (or a prophet) affirms the incarnation, we affirm true Christian faith. • If we (or a prophet) denies the incarnation, we deny true Christian faith. • Belief in the incarnation separates the Christian faith from all other religions. Hebrews 2 gives three big reasons why the incarnation was absolutely necessary: Christ destroys death and the devil. Hebrews 2:14 (NLT), “Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood (incarnation). For (the reasons) only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. 15 Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.” • Jesus took on human flesh in the incarnation because it was the ONLY WAY for God to break the power of death, to destroy the devil and to end His reign of fear and slavery. • As God, Jesus was immortal. He could not die. • As Man, Jesus was mortal, and He COULD die, and DID die on the cross, to bring about the end of death, the devil and fear. • So, it wasn’t enough just for Jesus to become human. He had to live and go through death himself, and be resurrected, to break the power of the devil and death. • I think it can be proven in history, that everywhere the Gospel advances in this world – the darkness flees, there is less corruption and demonic activity, less death and fear AND instead there is more liberty and freedom. The second reason for the incarnation is… Christ creates a new holy family. Hebrews 2:11 (NLT), “So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters…. 17 Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people.” • In the incarnation, Christ begins a new family. • Jesus must be born in real flesh and bone in order to be our brother in a new forgiven family of holy brothers and sisters. • Because of the incarnation of Christ, God the Father, can be our Father too. How is this new holy family made? • We are not made into a holy family just because of the incarnation. • Jesus would have to live a perfect life in human flesh and die as a perfect sacrifice in human flesh. • That is the only way God can forgive our sin and make us holy. • We must believe and trust Jesus to be our Savior in order to be forgiven and saved from death. V17 uses the word sacrifice… for sins” • Other translations say, “atonement” or “...propitiation for sin.” • Atonement means “covering” sin. • Propitiation means God’s just anger is turned away. • When Christ offered himself as a sacrifice for our sins, God’s forgiveness was offered to us, so God’s anger would turn away from us. • The Good News is this: Jesus took on a real human body to be our real brother, he sacrificed His human body on a real cross to really take away our sin, our guilt, and also to turn God’s anger away from us, so we can really be welcomed and accepted into God’s holy family by faith. Finally, because of the wonder of the incarnation… Christ helps suffering believers. Hebrews 2:18 (NLT), “Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested. • Christ, as our brother and our priest, is the perfect helper. • First, because He is fully God, He is powerful to help. • Second, because He is fully Human, He sympathizes with our need. • In the incarnation, Jesus experienced human temptation and suffering and every test imaginable from the world, the flesh and the devil. • Only this… as human He did not fall short as we do. • He was victorious! He was sinless. He was perfect. Hebrews 2:10, “And it was only right that he should make Jesus, through his suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation.” • “Perfect leader” means “captain, trailblazer, and head” of this new holy family. • There is no one more perfect to bridge the gap between sinful people and a holy God, than Jesus, the God-Man. • The picture here is of Jesus, our perfect human brother and divine priest, helping His family through temptation and suffering, and bringing us safely home to God the Father. Hebrews 4:15, For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. • The wonder of the incarnation is that Christ found a way to humbly come to us, so we could have a way to go boldly to God. CONCLUSION: Why the incarnation? It was the ONLY way for Christ to destroy death and the devil. It was the ONLY way for Christ to create a new holy family. It was the ONLY way for Christ to help suffering believers. “How is Christianity different from other religions?” John Lennox, in his book, Can Science Explain Everything, tells a story of riding a train in Hungary sitting near two professional men – Muslim men. See story here: https://www.livingrockchurch.com/news/what-s-the-difference-between-christianity-and-other-religions