A GIFT TOO WONDERFUL FOR WORDS - Just as one man (Adam) led all of humanity into rebellion, another man (Jesus) must reconcile us to God. Two millennia ago in a small, rugged Bethlehem barn, God the Son became Immanuel, "God with us" — God incarnate. He lived as we live, suffered as we suffer, died as we die, yet without sin. And He, being the God-Man, overcame the power of death in order to give us eternal life. No one, living or dead, has transformed the human heart and mind or changed the course of history as Jesus has - through the miracle of the incarnation, our God became like us so that we could become like Him - "Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words!" - Long ago in a quiet, crude place where animals sleep, Mary gave birth and felt the soft, human skin of her firstborn. The humanity of this scene appropriately pulls us in for a closer look. We can identify with Joseph's confusion, with Mary's wonder, and with the shepherds' amazement about the Son of God's quiet arrival in such an inhospitable world. All of those thoughts are magnificent to ponder. But we cannot stop there. These are only an introduction to wonders far deeper, far more significant. Just beneath the soft, newborn skin of this beautiful story is the flesh and bone of a theological truth that is older than creation: God planned to send a Savior long before time began. At its heart, Christmas is the celebration of a promise God had made to provide a Savior and King.

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A Gift Too Wonderful for Words

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Just as one man (Adam) led all of humanity into rebellion, another man (Jesus) must reconcile us to God. Two millennia ago in a small, rugged Bethlehem barn, God the Son became Immanuel, "God with us" — God incarnate. He lived as we live, suffered as we suffer, died as we die, yet without sin. And He, being the God-Man, overcame the power of death in order to give us eternal life. No one, living or dead, has transformed the human heart and mind or changed the course of history as Jesus has - through the miracle of the incarnation, our God became like us so that we could become like Him

by Pastor Chuck Swindoll

 

"Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words!" (2 Corinthians 9:15 NLT).

 

Long ago in a quiet, crude place where animals sleep, Mary gave birth and felt the soft, human skin of her firstborn.

The humanity of this scene appropriately pulls us in for a closer look.

We can identify with Joseph's confusion, with Mary's wonder, and with the shepherds' amazement about the Son of God's quiet arrival in such an inhospitable world.

All of those thoughts are magnificent to ponder. But we cannot stop there. These are only an introduction to wonders far deeper, far more significant.

Just beneath the soft, newborn skin of this beautiful story is the flesh and bone of a theological truth that is older than creation: God planned to send a Savior long before time began.

At its heart, Christmas is the celebration of a promise God had made to provide a Savior and King.

That Person is His Son, Jesus — God-Man, conceived miraculously, taking on human flesh, living among us in order to die in our place.

The incarnation — God becoming flesh — is a doctrine that remains foundational to everything we believe as Christians.

In telling the story of God the Son's incarnation, the disciple, Matthew, expresses it this way:

“An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. ‘Joseph, son of David,’ the angel said, ‘do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord's message through his prophet: ‘Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means 'God is with us.'" (Matthew 1:20–23 NLT)

God's promise to send a Savior reminds us of the reason we need a Savior in the first place.

When the original man, Adam, plunged all of humanity into sin because of his disobedience in the garden of Eden, evil entered the bloodstream of humanity, polluting all who live in it. And each of us has endorsed Adam's tragic choice by adding our sin to his.

The result is a world subject to pain of every conceivable kind: hunger, thirst, sorrow, weariness, temptation, disease, prejudice, grief . . . the list would be endless if it didn't end with the ultimate evil: death.

That's the world we live in.

In light of such bleak conditions in the world — and especially in our lives — it's not hard to wonder: How can a good God allow evil to continue?

The surprising answer: because He loves us.

He could have ended all evil before the fruit of the forbidden tree digested in Adam's stomach.

Let's not forget that the evil we would have God put an end to includes you and me.

We brought, and we continue to bring, evil upon ourselves and the world, and He would be entirely justified to condemn us to suffer the twisted and tangled mess we made of His creation.

But . . . He loves us. He is patient with us. Why?

The apostle Peter tells us: "He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent" (2 Peter 3:9 NLT).

Just as one man (Adam) led all of humanity into rebellion, another man (Jesus) must reconcile us to God.

Who among us does not deserve the penalty of death because of sin?

And if one sinless person could be found, what mere mortal would have the power to die the death you and I deserve yet be resurrected from the dead so that He could continue to represent us?

The answer is clear: only a human who is also God could do that!

Two millennia ago in a small, rugged Bethlehem barn, God the Son became Immanuel, "God with us" — God incarnate.

He lived as we live, suffered as we suffer, died as we die, yet without sin.

And He, being the God-Man, overcame the power of death in order to give us eternal life.

Who but Jesus possesses "the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord" (Philippians 2:9–11 NLT)?

No one, living or dead, has transformed the human heart and mind or changed the course of history as Jesus has.

How could He accomplish what so many before and since have failed to accomplish?

The answer is both simple and profound: through the miracle of the incarnation, our God became like us so that we could become like Him.

As you ponder the humanity of the first Christmas, remember that it is an invitation to walk slower and think deeper.

I invite you to touch the infant skin of the God-Man with your imagination.

I invite you to wonder as the shepherds wondered and to worship as the wise men did.

I urge you to imagine the infinite God in the body of a finite baby — just as Mary and Joseph saw.

You are the reason our God became incarnate — and so am I.

The best gift we have ever received came on that first Christmas — delivered in a Person from God the Father . . . to us.

"Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words!" (2 Corinthians 9:15 NLT).

Pastor Chuck Swindoll has devoted his life to the accurate, practical teaching and application of God’s Word. Since 1998, he has served as the senior pastor-teacher of Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, Texas, but Chuck’s listening audience extends beyond a local church body. As a leading program in Christian broadcasting since 1979, Insight for Living airs around the world. Chuck’s leadership as president and now chancellor of Dallas Theological Seminary has helped prepare and equip a new generation for ministry.

https://insight.org/resources/article-library/individual/a-special-gift-too-wonderful-for-words

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Down From His Glory

Lyrics by   :   William E. Booth-Clibborn

Composes   :   Eduardo di Capua - Composer

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https://puricarechronicles.blogspot.com/2019/12/down-from-his-glory-william-e-booth.html

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GOD'S FINEST HOUR - As we celebrate this season the coming of God in the form of a baby born in Bethlehem, God’s finest hour began with the birth of His Son, Jesus Christ. We are made by God and for God, but because of sin we are separated from Him. We know we need Him, and we long to be made right with Him -we just don’t know how. The coming of Christ was the beginning of God’s finest hour because it addresses this awful separation. God loved us so much that He didn’t leave us separated from Him, trapped in our own sin and its devastating effects. He loved us so much that He came to us! God Himself came to a virgin named Mary and placed His life inside her womb. And that child who was born of Mary — the one born in a manager in the little town of Bethlehem — that child was called “Immanuel,” which means “God with us.” Jesus Christ was God’s finest hour - The lives of great men and women are often recalled by a single moment that defines them — a snapshot that captures their special passion and typifies their most lasting contribution. We remember Abraham Lincoln for his brief but powerful Gettysburg address, where he envisioned a nation “of the people, by the people and for the people.” Martin Luther will be forever immortalized for nailing his 95 theses to the door of Wittenberg’s All Saints Chapel, ushering in the protestant reformation. Single snapshots can sum up the greatest moments of great lives.

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God's Finest Hour

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As we celebrate this season the coming of God in the form of a baby born in Bethlehem, God’s finest hour began with the birth of His Son, Jesus Christ. We are made by God and for God, but because of sin we are separated from Him. We know we need Him, and we long to be made right with Him -we just don’t know how. The coming of Christ was the beginning of God’s finest hour because it addresses this awful separation. God loved us so much that He didn’t leave us separated from Him, trapped in our own sin and its devastating effects. He loved us so much that He came to us! God Himself came to a virgin named Mary and placed His life inside her womb. And that child who was born of Mary — the one born in a manager in the little town of Bethlehem — that child was called “Immanuel,” which means “God with us.” Jesus Christ was God’s finest hour

by Dr. Paul Osteen

 

Jesus Christ was God’s Finest Hour

The lives of great men and women are often recalled by a single moment that defines them — a snapshot that captures their special passion and typifies their most lasting contribution.

We remember Abraham Lincoln for his brief but powerful Gettysburg address, where he envisioned a nation “of the people, by the people and for the people.”

Theologian Martin Luther will be forever immortalized for nailing his 95 theses to the door of Wittenberg’s All Saints Chapel, ushering in the protestant reformation.

Michelangelo considered himself a sculptor, but perhaps his best known and most lasting work of art was done from atop a high scaffold, painting the ceiling of Rome’s Sistine Chapel.

Winston Churchill captured the hearts of Britain and the world when he boldly declared, as bombs fell on his beloved London, “This will be our finest hour.”

Single snapshots like these can sum up the greatest moments of great lives.

I wonder, if we were to consider our all-powerful, all-knowing, supreme God, what his finest hour would be.

Would it be His creation of the heavens and the earth by the very power of His spoken word?

Or the dazzling creativity He displayed in the crafting of every living thing on the earth?

Some might argue that God’s greatest hour was the creation of man from the dust and of woman from man — but I would suggest that there was something even greater than that.

As we celebrate this season the coming of God in the form of a baby born in Bethlehem, I believe that God’s finest hour began with the birth of His Son, Jesus Christ.

If we are honest with ourselves, each of us would admit a deep longing that cannot be satisfied; a deep inner pain and emptiness that will not go away.

Education can’t satisfy it, career and money can’t quiet it, relationships can’t fill it and drugs or alcohol can’t make it disappear.

It’s always there because we are made by God and for God, and because of sin we are separated from Him.

We know we need Him, and we long to be made right with Him; we just don’t know how.

The coming of Christ was the beginning of God’s finest hour because it addresses this awful separation.

God loved us so much that He didn’t leave us separated from Him, trapped in our own sin and its devastating effects.

He loved us so much that He came to us!

God Himself came to a virgin named Mary and placed His life inside her womb.

And that child who was born of Mary — the one born in a manager in the little town of Bethlehem — that child was called “Immanuel,” which means “God with us.”

And it didn’t stop there.

The apostle Paul wrote of Jesus, “He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on by the world, was taken up in glory.” (I Timothy 3:16, NIV)

Jesus Christ was God’s finest hour.

He was born to us in the flesh, lived a perfect, sinless life, then went to the cross and suffered and died in our place.

God placed on Him every sin that will ever be committed, and Jesus willingly took our punishment.

Then three days later, the Spirit of God raised Jesus from the dead, breaking forever the power of sin.

In Jesus, the price has been paid.

In Him, we have forgiveness, and through Him, we are welcomed back into fellowship with Holy God.

So, is there a “snapshot” of this great, great hour?

I believe there is — and it lies in a story Jesus Himself told: the story of the prodigal son.

It’s recorded in Luke 15.

A wealthy landowner had two sons, and the youngest demanded his inheritance while his father was still living, left home, and squandered every cent on wild living.

When he was at his very lowest, he remembered that even the slaves in his father’s house were well cared for, so he decided to return home, not daring to hope he might be received back as a son, but planning to beg to be allowed home as a slave.

When he returned, his father recognized him from a long way off, and before the son could apologize and plead for charity, the father ran to him, embraced him, smothered him with kisses and said “all is forgiven!”

Many, many wrongs had been done by this wayward son, but all the father cared about was his return.

If you could hold in your memory one snapshot of God’s finest hour this season, will you hold this one?

The God of the universe loved you so much that through His Son Jesus Christ, He has made a way for you to come back home.

And when He sees you coming, He will run to you, wrap His arms around you, and welcome you home, making His finest hour your finest hour.

Paul Osteen, M.D. had a busy practice in general and vascular surgery in Little Rock, Arkansas for many years. In July 1999, he moved to Houston to work full-time in the ministry at Joel Osteen Ministries. Currently he provides oversight to the pastoral and discipleship ministries at Lakewood. He speaks at the Wednesday night service twice monthly and teaches the new convert class every Sunday night. Paul and his wife Jennifer have 5 children: Matt, Georgia, Olivia, Sophia and Jackson.

https://www.joelosteen.com/Pages/Article.aspx?articleid=6478

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What Child Is This?

William Chatterton Dix

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THE INCARNATION - Jesus in the Flesh - God Became One of Us - This inconceivable proposition, the incarnation, means that, beginning at His birth, the human baby named Jesus was “fully God and fully man in one person, and will be so forever.” God became man—forever. That infant in the cradle was Immanuel, God with us!

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The Incarnation – Jesus in the Flesh

God Became One of Us

Elyse M. Fitzpatrick

Everyone, Christians included, knows what it’s like to feel isolated and alone. We have all wondered if anyone really understands us or truly cares about our lives.

The good news is that we are not alone, and the gospel tells us why: Jesus, the Son of God, came to earth to be forever united with his people—to be one of us.

In fact, he has so united himself with us that the Bible says we are literally “in” him.

Far from being alone and lost, the Incarnation changes everything for the Christian. 

Part of what it means to be a Christian is to believe the unbelievable: that the historical human person, Jesus, who was born in a stable in a backwater village outside of Jerusalem some two thousand years ago, was actually God in the flesh.

This inconceivable proposition, the incarnation, means that, beginning at His birth, the human baby named Jesus was “fully God and fully man in one person, and will be so forever.” 

God became man—forever. That infant in the cradle was Immanuel, God with us!

Paul expressed the incarnation in this way: “In him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Colossians 2:9).

Think of that! Jesus was not just some special appearance of God, a theophany.

Nor was He merely a misunderstood teacher of love who ended up getting crucified.

He was God in the flesh - immortal; invisible spirit clothed with human hair, skin and blood; and supported by muscle and bone.

In his humiliation, God had to breathe, eat, drink, and sleep. When cut He bled.

He longed for companionship and truly suffered when his friends deserted Him.

He is one of our kind, and as we “share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same things” (Hebrews 2:14).

To this day He remains one of us. This truth is the “foundation for all our comfort” forever. 

The incarnation brings unceasing hope and an end to our exile, wandering, and despair. There is great comfort for our souls in the truth that He is just like us.

Here is why: the incarnation tells us that even though we sin, we are not alone.

Even though we are weak and finite, He knows what weakness and mortality are because He was weak and mortal just like us.

And even though we continually fail He has committed Himself to be part of a race of failures—and He has done so forever.

He does not use our flesh merely as an impersonal dwelling place, like some seedy motel room He cannot wait to vacate.

Rather, He assumes our nature completely and will be the God-man forever, throughout eternity!

He Is One of Us

The incarnation sets Christianity apart from every other religion.

The thought that God would become man is simply without parallel in any other faith.

In no other religion does a god do anything more than tell his subjects what to do to become like Him, earn his favor, or give instruction on how, if they are lucky, they might avoid ticking him off.

In no other religion does a creator god become weak and an indistinguishable part of his creation.

In the incarnation, God became so completely one of us that the people who lived with him did not notice anything special about him; Jesus’ deity was perfectly veiled in human flesh.

In fact, when He went to His own village, Nazareth, “the people who had known him for many years did not receive him.” “Is not this the carpenter’s son?” they asked. “Is not his mother called Mary?” (Matthew 13:55).

Even his own family did not know he was the incarnate one. Think of this: “Not even his brothers believed in him” (John 7:5).

What did Jesus look like? A regular Joe.

His form was just like ours. Put this book down for a moment and look across the room at someone.

That is how ordinary he looked. Or, better yet, look at yourself in a mirror. He looked just like you!

He had eyes, pores, hair, and teeth. If you had seen him, you would not have thought he was anything special.

He did not have any sort of magnetism that would make you take a second look. He looked like any twenty - or thirty-something carpenter on any construction job.

His complete identification with us should not have taken His contemporaries by surprise.

Seven hundred years before His birth the prophet Isaiah spoke of how normal the Messiah would appear: “He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2).

He willingly took a servant’s form and was born in the likeness of men. He was fully human (Philippians 2:7–8).

What was baby Jesus like? Did he have some sort of radioactive glow about him?

Maybe a little halo or cherubs floating around his head?

No. He looked like any Middle Eastern infant, wrapped in rags and nursing at his mother’s breast.

And contrary to the sweet carol “Away in the Manger,” he did cry when awakened by the cattle’s lowing.

He cried just like us.

Unlike ancient mythological gods, Jesus was no naughty demigod stripped of His superpowers and banished to earth as punishment.

Jesus is not Thor. No, God the Son freely volunteered to become one of us and to forever take to His person all that it meant to be human.

“Though he was rich, yet for your sake he [voluntarily] became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).

The incarnation is not a punishment on the Son; it is an act of His love, a “voluntary humiliation.” 

He gladly “made himself nothing” (Philippians 2:7 NIV).

He who had everything, who was Lord of all, God Most High, Creator, became a poor servant - your servant - out of love for you, His beloved.

He came to serve you and win you with His love. He became one of our own so that we could be His own.

Would you want to have a deeper relationship with God?

God has made it possible for you to know Him and experience an amazing change in your own life by receiving His Son, Jesus Christ, and have eternal life.

Say the following prayer:

“Father God, I confess I am a sinner and my sins have separated me from You.

I am truly sorry. I now want to turn away from my past sinful life and live a new life pleasing to You. I receive Your free gift of salvation.

Please forgive me, and help me avoid sinning again.

I believe that Your Son, Jesus Christ died for my sins, was resurrected from the dead, is alive, and hears my prayer.

I invite Jesus to become the Lord of my life, to rule and reign in my heart from this day forward. Thank You that according to your Word, I am now born again, has eternal life, and I am now Your child.

Please send Your Holy Spirit to help me obey You, and to do Your will for the rest of my life. I promise to study Your Word – the Bible.

Please use me for Your glory.

In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.”

If you have just put your trust in Jesus Christ, you have been born into God’s family.

As a spiritual baby, you need to grow by feeding on God’s Word – the Bible (1 Peter 2:2).

You must have a good modern translation Bible and begin prayerfully reading it. Start in the New Testament, such as the Gospel of John or Paul’s letters to the Ephesians.

Also, you need to join a Christian fellowship where the Bible is taught and where God is truly worshiped.

God bless you as you begin your new life with Him!

Taken from Found in Him: The Joy of the Incarnation and Our Union with Christ, by Elyse M. Fitzpatrick.

http://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/god-became-one-of-us.html