And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us
(and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father),
full of grace and truth.
We mentioned last night that the one passion we, as believers, have is Jesus Christ. We want to know Him, and the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings, and to be conformed to His death, that we may arrive at the out-resurrection from among the dead—to know Him.
We mentioned last night that, to know Him, we have to know Him both in history and in revelation. We need to know Him both in His historical facts and also by revelation into the meaning of these things.
For the history of our Lord Jesus is very different from all other histories, because His history does not begin with time. His history begins with eternity. So, to know the Lord Jesus, we have to know Him in eternity.
Last night we mentioned how, in eternity, He was the Word.
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
In other words, our Lord Jesus, in eternity past, is the Word of God. It is He who declares the Father. God speaks in the person of His Son, that we may see God, hear God, and know Him. He is one with God. He and the Father are one.
All things are created by Him, in Him, and for Him. It is the purpose of God to sum up all things in Christ: the things in the heavens, the things on the earth, and even the things underneath the earth. He must have the preeminence in all things.
He is also the Lamb of God, slain before the foundation of the world, that the Father’s purpose may be fully realized through Him and in us.
Now this evening we would like to continue to know the Lord Jesus. Again, you will find how unique and different He is.
Our human histories begin with birth. There is nothing about us before we are born. Yet with the Lord Jesus it is entirely different, because before He was born there in time, there were prophecies about Him.
So first of all, tonight we would like to know the Lord Jesus in prophecy. Nothing is prophesied of us before we are born, because we are so insignificant. Even our time on this earth is so limited. We are just a speck of dust on this earth—nothing, insignificant.
But with the Lord Jesus, there are prophecies before Him, and all these prophecies in time prophesy of His coming. That is the reason why we divide time into BC and AD: all those prophecies concerning Him before His coming, and then after His coming, to confirm His presence on this earth.
Brothers and sisters, when we come into the matter of prophecy concerning our Lord Jesus, we have to take the whole Old Testament into consideration. Of course, it is impossible for us to share tonight, within this very short hour, all that is there. So tonight we would like to focus ourselves on a few prophecies that go before the coming of our Lord Jesus.
First of all, of course, we have to turn to Genesis 3:15.
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman,
and between thy seed and her seed:
he shall bruise thy head,
and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Immediately after the fall of man, God came in and gave a promise to fallen mankind. The promise was that He would put enmity—hostility—between the serpent and the woman.
Of course, historically, the woman refers to Eve. She was just deceived by the serpent, by the adversary, by Satan. But God would put an enmity between the woman and the serpent, lest, after the woman was deceived, she might even fall deeper into a union with the devil.
So God, in His mercy, after the deception came, put hostility between the woman and the serpent. In other words, there might not be any further degeneration. The one who was deceived would hate the deceiver, and vice versa. Here you find the mercy of God.
But this is not all, because He promised, “I will put enmity between thy seed and her seed; he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
Not only did God put hostility between the woman and the serpent, but God gave a tremendous promise to mankind. There would come the seed of the woman, and when the seed of the woman should come, He would bruise the head of the serpent. But the serpent would bruise His heel.
According to the way of genealogy, especially in the Orient, you find that all genealogies are traced according to men. So-and-so is the son of so-and-so, and the son of so-and-so. Everything is traced according to man.
But here God gave a very strange but wonderful promise. He promised that one day there would be the seed of the woman—not the seed of the man, but the seed of the woman.
When the seed of the woman should come, something of tremendous nature would happen, because the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent. In other words, He would deal a fatal blow to the enemy and destroy the power of the enemy, even though the enemy would bruise His heel.
This promise was given in the garden of Eden. But we know from the New Testament that this promise of God was literally fulfilled in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In Galatians 4:4:
But when the fulness of the time came,
God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
that He might redeem them that were under the law,
that we might receive the adoption of sons.
In the fullness of time, God sent His Son into this world. His Son came of a woman, and He came under law, that He might redeem us who were under law, that we might receive sonship.
Our Lord Jesus was born of a virgin. He is the seed of the woman. Through the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, the virgin Mary conceived and brought forth the Holy One.
It is in the person of our Lord Jesus that we find, on the cross, how He crushed the head of His enemy. By the cross He destroyed the principalities and authorities, made a public show of them, and triumphed over them in it. His victory, as our brother mentioned in the morning, is complete.
But the enemy bruised His heel. To have the head crushed is fatal, but to have the heel bruised is a minor wound and will be healed.
If it means the Lord Jesus, then certainly it refers to how He was crucified on the cross. He received a wound, but that wound was healed in His resurrection. Or, if it refers to the church, He is the Head in heaven. The enemy cannot touch Him, but the church, His body, is on earth.
You remember the apostle Paul, before he knew the Lord. As Saul, he persecuted the people of the Lord Jesus from Jerusalem to the cities of Judea, and even to the Gentile city of Damascus. But while he was on the way to Damascus, a light shone upon him. He was smitten by the light, and he heard a voice: “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? It is hard for thee to kick against the goad.”
In other words, the enemy cannot touch the Head, but the enemy will try to touch the body, and especially the heel. But thank God, even that wound shall be healed.
So, brothers and sisters, we find that the history of our Lord Jesus goes way back in time. In the beginning of human history, there you find He was the promised seed of the woman.
Then you find this thought continued on—the thought of the seed. Genesis 22:17-18:
That in blessing I will bless thee,
and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heavens,
and as the sand which is upon the seashore;
and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;
because thou hast obeyed My voice.
About two thousand years after God promised the seed of the woman to man, you find that one day God called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees. The God of glory appeared to Abraham and called him out, promising that God would bless him greatly and that all the nations would be blessed because of him.
Abraham obeyed the Lord. He came out of Ur of the Chaldees. Even though he was delayed in Haran for a number of years, finally he did arrive in Canaan. When he arrived in Canaan, God appeared to him again and said, “Unto thy seed will I give this land.” You know, at that time Abraham had no child at all.
After he delivered Lot, in Genesis 14, after the great victory, he was a little afraid. The Lord took him out in the night and showed him the stars in the sky. He said, “If anyone can count the stars, then they can count your seed. Your seed shall be as the stars of the sky.” Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.
When he was ninety-nine years old, God came to him and said he would have a son—not Ishmael, but Isaac. Through Isaac would come that seed.
When he offered Isaac back to God on Moriah, God said, “I will richly bless thee. Thy seed shall be as the stars in the heaven and as the sand of the seashore, and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.”
The seed of Abraham is not only as the stars of heaven and as the sand on the seashore. Some people say Abraham’s earthly seed is the Jewish people, and they are as the sand on the seashore; and his heavenly seed is the church, as the stars of heaven. Now, this is an interpretation. You may take it or leave it.
But the emphasis is not there. The emphasis is, “In thy seed shall all the nations be blessed”—not “seeds,” but “seed.”
When Paul was reading Genesis, he received a revelation from above. God pointed out to Paul that the promise He made to Abraham was concerning “thy seed.” It is singular, not plural. That is a revelation.
In Galatians 3:16, Paul shares it with us:
Now to Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed.
He saith not, And to seeds, as of many;
but as of one,
And to thy seed, which is Christ.
Here you find the seed of Abraham, the seed God promised Abraham, the seed that would possess the gate of His enemies, the seed in whom all the nations would be blessed. It is Christ. Christ is the seed of Abraham.
Like Isaac, the son of Abraham, Isaac was just a type of Christ. Isaac, as the son of Abraham, inherited everything that Abraham had. He was the heir of Abraham. Even though Ishmael was born in the house, Ishmael had no part in that inheritance. Isaac was the son, and he was the heir to all the riches of Abraham.
So is Christ. Christ is the Son of God. He is the sole heir of everything that God has. But thank God, He shares it with us. We are co-heirs with Him.
In the life of Isaac, one thing stands out: he was offered as a sacrifice to God. The one thing that stands out in the life of our Lord Jesus is how, by the eternal Spirit, He offered Himself spotless unto God and was accepted. He is the seed of Abraham, and it is fulfilled in Christ.
Another thousand years passed by, and then you come to 2 Samuel 7:12-13:
When thy days are fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers,
I will set up thy seed after thee, that shall proceed out of thy bowels,
and I will establish his kingdom.
He shall build a house for My name,
and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever.
Because of David’s intense love for God, God promised David a seed, and that seed was to sit upon his throne. That seed would build a house for the name of God, and His kingdom would be forever.
Now, of course, we know Solomon, the son of David. After David passed away—or even before he died, actually, he put Solomon on the throne—and Solomon succeeded his father to the throne. Indeed, God used Solomon to build Him a temple, a dwelling place of God.
But unfortunately, Solomon, even in his lifetime, departed from God. Because of that, you find his house could not stand. But God’s promise to David is still true, because the seed of David is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ.
The One who is greater than Solomon is the Son of David, but greater than Solomon. He is the seed of David.
When you go to the New Testament, you find, in the beginning of the Gospels, this word:
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ,
the son of David,
the son of Abraham.
There you find our Lord Jesus is the seed of David. When He was on earth, blind men came to Him saying, “Son of David, have mercy on us.” The Canaanitish woman came to Him saying, “Son of David, have mercy on me.”
When He entered Jerusalem in the last week, the people cried, “Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.”
The Lord Jesus Himself said, “There is one among you greater than Solomon.” Our brother mentioned in the morning, “The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at My right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.” You remember how our Lord Jesus asked the people, “How does it come about that Christ should be the Son of David, and yet David called Him Lord?” Nobody could answer that question.
Dear brothers and sisters, in prophecy you find the Lord Jesus was prophesied as the seed of David, the Son of David.
If Solomon represents wisdom, then the Lord Jesus is wisdom itself. If Solomon built a temple with massive precious stones, then the Lord Jesus builds the spiritual house with living stones, such as we are.
He is seated upon the throne of David, and His kingdom shall know no end, forever and forever. This is our Lord Jesus.
Then you go down into history, and you come to Daniel 9. I believe some are probably familiar with Daniel 9, because in that chapter you have the seventy weeks, or the seventy sevens.
In that prophecy concerning the seventy sevens, it says in Daniel 9:26:
And after the threescore and two weeks shall the anointed one be cut off, and shall have nothing:
and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;
and the end thereof shall be with a flood,
and even unto the end shall be war; desolations are determined.
There you find in the book of Daniel, Daniel lived at the time of the captivity of all the Jews into Babylon. God gave Daniel a tremendous vision, and he saw that God had set apart in time seventy weeks of seven. With the seventy sevens, God is to fulfill His purpose concerning the holy city and His people.
In that prophecy, He said the Messiah should come and be cut off. Now, who is this Messiah? When you go to the Old Testament, you find that the Old Testament is filled with the promise of the Messiah—the Anointed One of God, the One who will come and deliver God’s people, the One who will come and establish the kingdom of God upon this earth.
The word Messiah in the Old Testament, in Hebrew, is the word Christ in Greek in the New Testament. Our Lord Jesus is the Messiah. He is the promised One who is to come. In Him all God’s works shall be fulfilled. He shall come to deliver and to establish God’s kingdom upon this earth.
What a revelation! When our Lord Jesus asked His disciples, in Matthew 16, when He was in the borders of Caesarea Philippi—actually, at that time it was the beginning of His rejection by the nation of Israel—He turned to His disciples and said, “Who do men say that I am?”
The disciples liked to say good things to the Lord. Of course, they heard many bad things about the Lord, but they would not report that to Him. So they named the good things. Some say, “You are Elijah.” Good. Some say, “You are Jeremiah,” because You weep a lot. Some say, “You are John the Baptist returned to life.” And some say, “You are the prophet.”
The prophet in Deuteronomy: Moses said, “From among the brethren God will raise up a prophet, and ye shall hear Him. If you do not hear Him, you will perish.” “You are that prophet.”
But our Lord Jesus was very dissatisfied. So He turned to His disciples again and said, “Now, who do you say that I am? You have been with Me for some time, and you should know Me.”
You remember Peter said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The Lord said, “Simon Bar-jona, thou art blessed, because this is not something shown to you by flesh and blood, but it is My Father who is in heaven who revealed it to you.”
Here, brothers and sisters, when Christ came the first time among His own people, His people did not see Him as the Messiah. It takes revelation to know that He is the One promised throughout the Old Testament, the Messiah who is to come. It is all fulfilled in our Lord Jesus.
If you go into the Old Testament, you find that the prophecies concerning our Lord Jesus are everywhere in the Old Testament. You remember our Lord Jesus once challenged the Jewish people and said, “You search the Scriptures”—that is, the Old Testament—“because you think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of Me; and ye will not come to Me.”
After His resurrection, in Luke 24, you find two disciples who were so disappointed. They thought that the Lord Jesus was crucified and buried. Even though they heard that some women came back and said the tomb was empty and He was raised from the dead, they could not believe it.
In their disappointment, they left Jerusalem and began to go to Emmaus. You remember how the Lord Jesus came and walked with them, but they did not know Him. The Lord Jesus said, “What are you talking about?” They said, “You must be a stranger. You do not know what has happened in these days in the holy city.”
“Here is a man. We believed He was God’s prophet, and yet He was crucified. Finished. But the strange thing was that women said they saw Him. How could it be?”
So the Lord began to open their understanding and showed them from the prophets and Moses all the things written concerning Himself. When they heard Him opening the Old Testament—the law and the prophets—to them, their hearts were warm.
At the breaking of bread in the evening, suddenly they knew it was the Lord. The same thing happened to the disciples. They returned to Jerusalem and reported to the disciples. Most still did not believe, and suddenly the Lord appeared to them. The Lord said, “Have ye anything to eat?”
Then He showed them from the Psalms and the prophets everything that was written concerning Him. In other words, you find the whole Old Testament is a prophecy concerning our Lord Jesus.
Where in the world can you find a person who, before He came, had prophecies and prophecies concerning Him for four thousand years? All these prophecies come into such detail, and every one is fulfilled in that Person. There is none in this world but the Lord Jesus.
I will just show a few of these prophecies concerning our Lord Jesus, as you find in the Old Testament. I will just read them. You do not need to look them up—just to show a little bit how, in the Old Testament, the prophecies go before concerning our Lord Jesus.
These are just a few to illustrate how, in the Old Testament, you find God has spoken in many portions and in many ways through the prophets, and they all speak about one Person: the Lord Jesus who is to come.
Dear brothers and sisters, we have a deep root to our faith, because our root goes back in time through the generations, back to the beginning of human history, and all the way beyond time into eternity.
What good is knowing Christ in prophecy? What does it mean to us? It gives us assurance for our faith. It shows us that our faith is not something superficial. Our faith is based on facts. Our faith is based on prophecies. Our faith is based on something that has roots in it.
So thank God, we know that the One whom we worship is the only One in the universe who had His history prophesied in detail before He came. That is knowing Christ in prophecy.
Now we would like to move on to His history.
The history of our Lord Jesus on earth is recorded in the four Gospels: the Gospel according to Matthew, according to Mark, according to Luke, and according to John.
Matthew and John were eyewitnesses to the Lord because they were disciples of our Lord while He was on earth.
Mark and Luke examined in detail and became thoroughly acquainted with the things that had happened concerning the Lord. So here you find four evangelists: two of them were eyewitnesses, and two of them made a thorough examination of all the records. They give us the earthly history of our Lord Jesus.
When they gathered these records, they were guided by the Holy Spirit. It was the Holy Spirit working through these four men. Their records are not only historically true, but their records are also their personal testimony. They knew the Lord in a personal way.
Brothers and sisters, when we read the four Gospels, we do not read them merely as history or biography. It is true that, on the one hand, we need to read the four Gospels as biography. They are true records of our Lord Jesus—His life and ministry on earth.
But if we only read the four Gospels as historical records, however accurate they may be, we are not able to know the Lord as we should. Why? Because when these four men present Christ to us with their records, it is more than merely to make the record straight concerning the life of our Lord Jesus.
It is that through these records Christ might be revealed to us. Therefore, when we read the four Gospels, how we need to look to the Holy Spirit to reveal Christ to us through the record—not merely reading biography, but that the Holy Spirit may bring this into living reality to us and bring us into Christ, as Christ comes into us.
So, when we come to the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus as recorded in the Gospels, we really need to look to the Holy Spirit to show us the meaning of His life and the meaning of His ministry.
When you come to the life of a human being, the first thing you notice is the birth. That is the beginning of a life history. But you will find that, of all the four Gospels, only two Gospels record the birth of our Lord Jesus.
Mark does not record the birth of our Lord, neither does John record His birth. Why?
Because in Mark, the Lord Jesus is presented to us as the Servant of God, as the bondservant of God. He took upon Himself the form of a servant. Who is interested in the birth of a slave? Therefore, His birth is not recorded. What is recorded is how He works.
The word you find again and again in the Gospel according to Mark is “immediately,” “straightway.” Oh, how diligent He is in doing the will of God as the bondservant of God. So no birth is recorded.
In John, Christ is presented to us as the Son of God. Now, the Son of God has no birth, because He is self-existent and eternal. So there is no record of His birth. It only says, “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us,” and that is it.
In Matthew and in Luke, you find the birth of our Lord Jesus recorded. Why? Because Matthew presents Christ to us as a King. He is born to be King. He died as a King. He is the King—the King of kings and Lord of lords. The birth of a king is great news; therefore, the record is there.
Luke presents our Lord Jesus as the perfect Man, as the Man of God. In the history of man, birth is very important. But here, brothers and sisters, the birth of our Lord Jesus is very different from anyone else’s.
The birth of our Lord Jesus is incarnation: the Word became flesh.
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
Everything was made by Him, and without Him nothing was made. Yet one day, the Word became flesh.
Christ was born through a virgin. The Holy Spirit overshadowed the womb of that virgin. So when Christ was born, He was called the Holy One, the Son of God.
His birth was most unusual, because God stirred the heart of Augustus Caesar to issue a decree that everyone had to go back to their native city to be registered. The whole country began to move, and that was the way Joseph and Mary were brought into Bethlehem, so that the prophecy about the place of His birth might be fulfilled.
But when they came to Bethlehem, there was no house. There was not even an inn. When Christ was born, He was born in a manger. The Son of God, when He came into this world to be a man, came to the world that He created, and the world received Him not.
An angel appeared to the shepherds watching their sheep in the field, those shepherds who were waiting for the consolation of Israel, telling them a Saviour was born. The angelic host sang praises to God. A star guided wise men from the East to come and worship Him. But other than that, He was almost unknown when He was born.
This is the history of the birth of our Lord Jesus. But if we only know the history, we do not know Him. We need to go beyond history, behind history, and try to find out the meaning of His birth.
What is the meaning of incarnation? What is incarnation to us?
First of all, why should Christ become flesh? Why should the Word become flesh? There is only one reason, and it is the verse with which I think we are all so familiar: John 3:16.
For God so loved the world,
that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish,
but have eternal life.
The reason why the Word became flesh, dear brothers and sisters, is only one: it is the love of God. Now, who can tell the love of God?
In 1 John 4:9:
Herein was the love of God manifested in us,
that God hath sent His only begotten Son into the world
that we might live through Him.
How do we know the love of God? How do we know that God loves us? God shows His love to us by giving His Son to us, that we might have life through Him.
Dear brothers and sisters, when this happened, no one can ever doubt the love of God. No one can doubt that God loves us.
Sometimes, even with us Christians, when something happens that is not pleasant—perhaps even bitter and painful—we do not understand. Sometimes we begin to murmur. We begin to wonder, “Does God really love us? Is His love true?”
Oh, brothers and sisters, when we are tempted, remember: God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Herein is the love of God made manifest: that He gave His Son to us, that we might have life through Him. The Word became flesh because of love.
How does the Word become flesh? In Hebrews 2:11-15:
For both He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one:
for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren,
saying, I will declare Thy name unto My brethren,
in the midst of the congregation will I sing Thy praise.And again, I will put My trust in Him.
And again, Behold, I and the children whom God hath given Me.Since then the children are sharers in flesh and blood,
He also Himself in like manner partook of the same;
that through death He might bring to nought him that had the power of death,
that is, the devil;
and might deliver all them who through fear of death
were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
How did the Word become flesh? It says here, “Since then the children are sharers in flesh and blood, He also Himself in like manner partook of the same.”
We partake of flesh and blood. This is what we are. Because we are of flesh and blood, He had to take part in the same in order that He might die for us and deliver us.
Dear brothers and sisters, we who are flesh and blood have sinned, and we must die. For God to save us, He had to take part in flesh. First, God cannot die. The immortal God cannot die. If He does not take part in our flesh and blood, He can never die.
God is eternal. He is God. He never dies. But for Him to die, He has to take part.
You know, “take part” is different from the word “partake.” Here, in Greek, “partake” means this is what we are. But “take part” means He took upon Himself something that was not originally His. Yet He was willing to take it upon Himself in order that He might be one with us.
Dear brothers and sisters, in incarnation our Lord Jesus, who is God, became one of us. He took part in our flesh and blood, and by that He could die for us. Then, for man, He made salvation possible.
As God, He could never die. As God, He could not die for us. But because of His great love for us, He became a man just as we are, with flesh and blood. As man, He died in our stead. Dear brothers and sisters, this is incarnation.
How can God become a man? In Philippians 2:6-8:
Christ Jesus, existing in the form of God,
counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but emptied Himself,
taking the form of a servant,
being made in the likeness of men;
and being found in fashion as a man,
He humbled Himself,
becoming obedient even unto death,
yea, the death of the cross.
He was in the form of God. He was God. He was equal with God, and it was not something He tried to grasp at. No, that was His by eternal right.
But how could He take upon Himself the form of a servant? How could He be made in the likeness of man? He had to do one thing: He had to empty Himself.
Brothers and sisters, when God came to become a man, what an emptying! He had to empty Himself of His majesty. He had to empty Himself of His honour. He had to empty Himself of His glory. He had to empty Himself of His position. He emptied Himself of everything except His deity. He could not empty Himself of that.
What an emptying! Oh, He just emptied, emptied, emptied Himself. Dear brothers and sisters, we do not know how much was involved in incarnation. In that one act of incarnation, so much was involved.
He had to empty Himself—empty Himself of everything. He had so much plenty, but He was willing to empty Himself. After He had emptied Himself of all His glory and majesty and power, then He took the form of a servant, in the likeness of men. Tremendous emptying!
Dear brothers and sisters, you know the way of Christ is the way of emptying. He not only emptied Himself of all that He had in heaven, but when He was on earth, He continued emptying Himself of everything as man. He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to the Father even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.
Is there a lesson for us to learn? The way of Christ is the way of emptying.
If we follow the Lord, we have to empty ourselves. We who have so little, we who have almost nothing, and yet we find it so difficult to get emptied. Sometimes, when God arranges our circumstances to empty us of a little thing, we cling to the very little we have. We think that if we empty it, then we will have nothing.
Dear brothers and sisters, the most difficult thing to us is to be emptied. God uses various ways to empty us. Sometimes He uses environment. Sometimes He uses people to empty us. But how we fight against them! How we hold on to ourselves!
He that saveth his life shall lose it, but he who loses it for the sake of Christ shall gain it unto eternity. This is the way of Christ.
What is incarnation? Incarnation is God with man.
You remember in Matthew, when the child is born, He shall be called Emmanuel—God with us.
There was a great distance between God and man. But in Christ, in incarnation, you find the ladder of Jacob that connects heaven with earth. In Him, God and man are joined in one.
He is perfect God, and He is perfect man. He is very God, and He is very man. He is the God-man, Emmanuel. In Him, God and man are joined into one.
This is not only true of His life; it is also true of the nature of His work. He is the first God-man, and by His finished work He is bringing a new race of God-men.
The only begotten Son became the firstborn, and He shall lead many sons into glory. Oh, brothers and sisters, this is the meaning of incarnation.
If the Word does not become flesh, there can be no salvation. God is eternally God, and man is eternally lost. But thank God, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.
Dear brothers and sisters, the birth of our Lord Jesus has tremendous meaning to us. It is not just a story. You find that from it, God’s love is fully proved.
In that story, you find how God emptied Himself. In that story, you find God’s purpose for man: that God and man may be joined into one. That is first demonstrated in Christ, and it will be spread over to those who are redeemed by Him.
Now that is incarnation. Brothers and sisters, if He should give us a revelation of His incarnation, what can we say?
We can only worship Him, because He is worthy. I think we will just stop here. May we just have a time of prayer.