It Makes Sense Of Everything Else

The Word became human and made his home among us.   John 1:14

Once we’ve grasped that Jesus is God, it’s just as important for us to grasp that he is a human. He took human flesh and was born as one of us, sharing our life. This is the mystery that makes sense of everything else.

The fact that Jesus is a human is as important to our salvation as the fact that he is God. God the Son came from heaven because only God can reconcile people to God. But he became human because only a human can bear the punishment for human sin.

God appeared in visible form on many occasions in the Old Testament. These appearances are called theophanies. God was reaching out so that men and women could know him. God made himself visible to Adam and Eve in the Garden and to Abraham in the desert, but these appearances were only temporary.

A theophany is like an actor putting on a costume. When the show is over, the actor changes his clothes and leaves. But the birth of Jesus is entirely different. The Son of God took on human flesh. He became human, but he did not cease to be God.

You will never be able to fathom how God could become human, but when you believe that he did, you will not find it difficult to understand his claims, his miracles, or his resurrection. Everything else in the New Testament revolves around this one miracle. If God became human in Jesus, it all begins to fit.

If Jesus is “God with us,” no one should be surprised that he claims to be the way to God or that he tells us there is no other way. If he has come from heaven, we may be astonished that he would allow his enemies to nail him to a cross, but it will not surprise us that he should rise from the dead.

If Jesus is the help that God has promised since the beginning of time, you can be confident that he is able to do in your life what no other person and no other teaching could ever do.

For further reading, see Genesis 18