DO YOU KNOW WHY?

No less than five times in his first letter, the Apostle John emphasized the fact and the purpose of the INCARNATION of Christ the Messiah. Incarnation means that God literally BECAME MAN; the Son of God took on flesh, a human body, through the Virgin Mary, while remaining FULLY GOD! So, theologians refer to Jesus as "the GOD-MAN." Sometimes the question is asked: How do we know that Christ came from heaven to earth as the child Jesus? There are two main lines of real evidence for the fact of our Lord's birth, life, ministry, death, resurrection, ascension and exaltation!

First, HIS COMING WAS PROPHETICALLY DECLARED many hundreds of years before He came! Throughout the Old Testament we find the foretelling of the first advent of the Messiah. (In last week's blog, we looked at some of those prophecies and their fulfillment in Jesus. I encourage you to read that writing if you haven't already.) The fact and purpose of His incarnation are presented in specific words, types and promises. For example, "Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign; Behold a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14). "For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us. . .; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). We know the first advent of the Messiah Jesus is real because GOD SAID SO IN HIS WORD - THE BIBLE!

Second, HIS COMING TO EARTH AS A BABY WAS HISTORICALLY AUTHENTICATED! In all four of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) and the letters (epistles) written by Paul, Peter and John in the New Testament, we have the historical record of eyewitnesses regarding the Savior's birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension, etc. Added to this, of course, we have the independent and ancient testimony of secular historians, such as Josephus, Mara bar Serapion, Pliny the Younger, Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, Tacitus, Thallis, Lucian of Samosata, Phlegon and Celsus, who all wrote their histories about Jesus of Nazareth between 37 and 122 AD. Thus, we can say with the Apostle John, "And we KNOW that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may KNOW Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life" (I John 5:20). Further, from Scripture, we also know the reasons WHY He came!

HE CAME TO BE OUR SIN-BEARER! "You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin" (I John 3:5). The word "appeared" is very significant; it references Christ's pre-existence. The eternal Christ was united with a human body through being conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin Mary. "In the beginning (eternity past) was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (I John 1:1). "But when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman. . . ." (Galatians 4:4). Don't you love that? At exactly the right, perfect time God put it all in place!! "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16). "He Himself (Jesus) bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed" (II Peter 2:24). Again, "For our sake He (God) made Him (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God" (II Corinthians 5:21). WHY THEN DID HE COME? THE ANSWER IS CLEAR! To take away our sins! So, the essential purpose of the incarnation was not that our Lord might become our Example or Teacher or even our Friend, but that HE WOULD BE OUR SIN-BEARER! Have you let Him bear your sins?

HE CAME TO DESTROY THE WORKS OF THE DEVIL! "The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil" (I John 3:8). Satan is the instigator of ALL the sin and ALL the suffering that the human race has known since Adam and Eve; ALL the immorality, sickness, heartbreaks, murders, and wars come upon humanity because of the devil's presence in the world. BUT, Christ came into this world to ultimately destroy satan himself, and to restore to us that which we have lost through satan's evil workings, schemes, temptations and lies. JESUS IS THE VICTOR THROUGH HIS SUBSTITUTIONARY DEATH ON THE CROSS OF CALVARY! There, once and for all, satan was defeated! "Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death, He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil. . ." (Hebrews 2:14). We are not waiting for sometime in the future for satan to be rendered powerless; he is a defeated foe right here and right now because of Jesus' death and resurrection! If you are still living satan's way, you are on the side that lost the battle!

HE CAME TO GIVE US ETERNAL LIFE! The Scripture says, "By this the love of God was manifested to us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live (eternally) through Him" (I John 4:9) This is the Christmas Good News! "Whoever has the Son (Jesus) has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life" (I John 5:12). Eternal life comes only by placing our faith in Jesus Christ, as we are taught in the Scripture the exclusivity of salvation which is through Christ alone. Rejecting Him means rejecting the eternal life in heaven that God provides and offers.

HE CAME TO BE THE ATONING SACRIFICE FOR OUR SINS! "This is love; not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" (I John 4:10). The Lord Jesus not only came to take away (forgive) our sin by offering Himself as the supreme and final sacrifice for sin, in doing so He entirely vindicated the holy and righteous character of God! Jesus completely satisfied ALL the demands of God's holiness and justice, thus enabling Him to be merciful to sinners. When we receive His sacrifice for our sins and believe on Jesus, He serves as our atonement for sin. "Atonement" is "at-one-ment". Because God is righteously angry, even hating, our sinfulness, His holy and righteous nature demands sin to be punished. But the good news is that sin has been punished in the Person of our Substitute (Jesus) "who bore our sins in His body on the tree." So, the Psalmist assures us with this promise, "He (God) has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. . .As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us" (Psalm 103, verses 10 and 12). There is a north and a south pole, but there is no east and west pole. In Christ alone, God has removed our sins from us to infinity, never again to be in our account ledger!!!

HE CAME TO BE THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD! The Apostle John had this to say, "And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world" (I John 4:10). The angel's message to the shepherds on those Judean hillsides still holds true this Christmas, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:10-11). The good news is for ALL people, but that doesn't mean all people will be saved to eternal life in heaven; the gift of life in Jesus MUST BE ACCEPTED! He is the ONLY SAVIOR (Acts 4:12) and He is fully able and willing to save all who come to Him in faith! "Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him (Jesus), since He always lives to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25). You and I can be saved today; JESUS IS "ON DUTY"! So, we praise God with the angels that first Christmas night, "Glory to God in the highest. . . . !" (Luke 2:13-14).

Francesca Battistelli helps us savor the truth of Christ's Coming with the lyrics of her song "YOU'RE HERE" being addressed by Mary to her Baby:

"Hold on now, I gotta take a deep breath, I don't know what to say when I look in Your eyes,

You made the world before I was born, But here I'm holding You in my arms tonight.

I don't know how long I'm gonna have You for, But I'll be watching when You change the world.

I look at Your hands, they're still so small, Someday You're going to stretch them out and save us all.

Someday I'm gonna look back on this, The night that God became a baby boy,

Someday You're gonna go home again, but You'll leave Your Spirit and flood the world with joy.

Chorus: You're here, I'm holding You so near, I'm staring into the face of my Savior, King and

Creator.

You could've left us on our own, but You're here, Hallelujah, You're here!"