Category Archives: Incarnation

>Celebrating the Incarnation of our Lord III – for little souls-

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Today I am writing for the little souls in your home; this post is for them.

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This story my little one, is true, so pay attention to what I have to say.

Remember the garden your mom has told you about, the most glorious garden that has ever existed? Yes, the Garden of Eden, the beautiful garden where God used to walked with Adam and Eve. It all started in that beautiful place. The serpent came, with lies that Eve believed and they, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God by eating from the only tree God had forbidden them to eat. You know what was the big lie they believed? The serpent told them that they were going to be like God if they took a bite of that forbidden fruit which, of course, looked delicious and pleasant to the eyes. Maybe you say that if you were there you would have never done that; but that is not possible. We all like to believe that same lie; we all like to be our own god. We want to do things our own way, we don’t like to hear precepts and commands, and we don’t like to obey dad or mom. We love our sin; we don’t want God to rule our lives.

Do you know what happened next? Adam and Eve died. First they died spiritually, they were not longer happy in God’s presence; instead, they wanted to run away from Him; they became fugitives. They did not want to seek God. They were, instead, always looking for darker places to hide from Him. Years later they also died physically. And so it is today, sinners are running away from God they are dead, even when we see them walking and shopping. They are fugitives; they do not look for God, they are hiding from Him. All sinners from Adam to the last baby who was born this past second deserve the penalty of death; we all deserve to live far from God, in darkness, in our sin. We all are fugitives.

But God had a plan. He had a plan even before He created Adam and Eve. He had a plan to rescue men and women whose names He had already written even before they were created in a beautiful book which is in Heaven called the Book of Life. The plan was amazing, listen to this:  God, the Son, would become flesh to pay the penalty of those whose names were written in the Book of Life. Who could have imagined such a thing? Yes! He, God-the Son would have to come to this ugly world full of sinful people, in the form of a man; He was going to come, not as a king or an important person, but as a servant. He was going to come to the world He had created; and walked under the sun He had created and eat the fish He had created. He had to come and no one would recognize Him. Isn’t that incredible? Yes, it amazes me too, to think that He left all His glory in Heaven to come as a man so every one who saw Him did not recognize Him as God, as the Creator of all.

This is what Christmas is all about, my little one; it is about the coming of God to this world as a Baby in a manger, who was born with no sin and who never sinned. It is about God taking the form of a man and laying His perfect life on the cross to pay the penalty of death which we deserved and could not pay with our own lives. It is about Jesus’ coming to defeat death; It is about Jesus, the Light of The World who shines with such a splendor that darkness flees from Him. It is about Jesus, the Author of Life conquering death; defeating it when He rose from the death.

This story is about you and I, too. It is the story of our redemption. Now we can walk again with God, not fleeing from Him; we are no longer fugitives, trying to hide in the darkest place, not to be found by God. He came to rescue us. We didn’t do anything! We did not choose to be rescued; we did not write the plan; we were death in our sins; we wanted to be our own gods. But He had a plan, He made a promise and He fulfilled His promise.

He came to us, now we can come to Him.

Peace and Joy be to you, little one.

Related posts in this series:

Celebrating the Incarnation of our Lord -This is what Christmas is all about-
Celebrating the Incarnation of our Lord – Gifts we Bring, by Elizabeth DeBarros-
Celebrating the Incarnation of our Lord – A read aloud for little souls-

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>Celebrating the Incarnation of our Lord – Quotes that Nourish-

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Adoration of the Shepherds; Honthorst, Gerard van, 1622.

These are excerpts from a Sermon on the Nativity of Jesus Christ preached by John Calvin.

“…in the history which St. Luke here recites, on the one hand we learn how the Son of God emptied Himself of everything for our salvation, nevertheless, on the other hand He did not fail to leave certain and infallible testimony that He was the Redeemer of the world promised from all time. Even though He took our condition, He was able to maintain His heavenly majesty. Both sides are here shown to us. For our Lord Jesus Christ is here in a manger and He is, as it were, rejected by the world. He is in extreme poverty without any honor, without any reputation, as it were, subject to servitude. Yet He is magnified by Angels from Paradise, who do Him homage.”

“Now we see the summary of this history. That is, in the first place, we know that the Son of God, even our Mediator, has united Himself to us in such a way that we must never doubt that we are sharers both of His life and of all His riches. Let us know also that He brought with Himself to us everything that was required for our salvation. For (as I have already said) He was not thus emptied without always retaining His Divine majesty. Although before men He was made of no reputation, yet He always remained not only heir of this world (since He is the Head of the Church), but also always true God. “

 “Let us bethink ourselves to profit from this history, so that we may be able to be in tune with the song of the Angels in glorifying God, and to so receive what He here gives us for the rejoicing of our souls. In the first place the Angel says (that is the one who bears the message of the shepherds), “Fear not. I announce to you a great joy.” Then there is this testimony in common from all the army that God sends, “Peace on earth to men.” This, then, is what we have to remember first of all: that we seek our joy in Jesus Christ. For, in fact, even though we had all kinds of delights and luxuries, it would only be a matter of drowning ourselves in our pleasures. Yet even if we are too sleepy, even entirely stupid, our conscience will never have rest. We shall be tormented without end and without ceasing. This worm (of which the Scripture speaks) will eat us away, we shall be condemned by our sins, and we shall feel that with perfect right God is opposed to us and is our enemy. So, there will be a curse upon all the enjoyments of the world, since they will be changed into gnashing of teeth, until men are right with God.”

“But as we cannot praise God until He has declared to us His goodness, let us also learn not to have a faith dead or idle, but may we be incited to bless the Name of God, when we see that He has so displayed the great treasures of His loving-kindness toward us. May our mouth, on the one hand, perform its function, and then may all our life correspond to it. For this is the true song, that each one dedicates himself to the service of God, knowing that, since He has bought us at such a price, it is reasonable enough that all our thoughts and our works be applied to this use, that His Name be blessed.”

“This is also why the holy table is made ready for us, so that we may know that our Lord Jesus, having descended here below and having emptied Himself of everything, was not, however, separated from us when He ascended into His glory in heaven. But rather it is on this condition that we are sharers of His body and His blood. And why so? For we know that His righteousness and His obedience is the satisfaction for our sins and that He appeased the wrath of God by the sacrifice of His body and of His blood which He offered in this humanity which He took from us. “

May His grace abound in us as we meditate on these words today.

Read the whole sermon here.

>Celebrating the Incarnation of our Lord II -Guest Post by Elizabeth DeBarros-

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Christmas time is a season in which you invite friends into your home to celebrate with you the greatest miracles of all, the Incarnation of our Lord! This blog is not my home, but it is, in a sense, a cozy room with a coffee table where I share with you, my friend, my journey. Today a special friend of mine, Elizabeth DeBarros, is sitting at this coffee table, would you like to grab a cup of coffee and join us?

Gifts We Bring

I stall. I look out of the window. Sometimes, wandering around the house affords me a glimpse beyond the horizon. I wait.

To distill into words the Incarnation of Christ does two things: Brings me to my knees and causes me to question whether I have what it takes to approach such mystery. Is this something of what it means to tremble? It’s no light matter to discuss the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Who is worthy of such a task? To pontificate over Deity come down is to tread upon holy ground, a place where even angels fear to go.

Great indeed, we confess,  is the mystery of godliness:
He was manifested in the flesh,
vindicated by the Spirit,
seen by angels, 
proclaimed among nations,
believed on in the world,
taken up in glory.

I Timothy 3:16 (ESV)


Indeed, He has come. The Promised One, in the form of a helpless baby, appeared before men, kings and angels under a Sovereign sky. Heaven and Earth rejoiced. Immanuel, God with us. The One who, for our sakes, descended among the ranks of flesh and blood and by whose account we may now approach.

But how? How do we approach?

We’re all little drummers boy at heart, eager to bring our finest gifts to lay before Him something worth. Even if it’s just a rum pum pum pum on our lowly drum, we long to give something that will please Him.

But if we examine ourselves aright, we have nothing to bring, in and of ourselves. We are all weak, vile creatures before this Holy One, this God who need. As it says,

“Who has ever given a gift to Him that he might be repaid?”
Romans 11: 35 (ESV) 

He bids us to come, nonetheless. So we offer Him our yearnings and flailings of heart, reveailing our frail estate. We acquiesce to the fact that we are but dust. Our souls heave a sigh. Do we dare allow God to be God?- the One who renders a righteous judgment by convicting us of our need of Him, but here is where we must break: under the fragile yet unbending beauty that he doesn’t condemn us for our humanity, for He made us in His image.

“What is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?”
Psalm 8:4 (ESV)

This is where God brings us face to face with our plight, our utter need for Him. And He spreads a table before us in the midnight fields of our desiring and feeds us with Himself.

This Advent season, there is something far more glorious to consider than how we might approach Him. Let us acknowledge that it is He Who first approached us. Then we may come, humble in spirit, bowing before Him in truth with gifts to bring.

O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O might divine, the night when Christ was born;
O night, O holy Night, O night divine!
O night, O Holy Night, O night divine!


By Elizabeth DeBarros
December 2010

Historical background on O Holy Night:

The words and lyrics of the carol ‘O Holy Night’ were written by Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure in 1847. Cappeau was a wine seller by trade but was asked by the parish priest to write a poem for Christmas. He obliged and wrote the beautiful words of the hymn. He then realized that it should have music to accompany the words and he approached his friend Adolphe Charles Adams (1803-1856). He agreed and the music for the poem was therefore composed by Adolphe Charles Adams. Adolphe had attended the Paris conservatoire and forged a brilliant career as a composer. It was translated into English by John Sullivan Dwight (1812-1893).

Text and image of a Glorious Sky are property of © Elizabeth DeBarros. 
Used with permission.

If you know of another post worth visiting to Celebrate the Incarnation of the Lord, please, feel free to add the link into the comment box. 
Related Posts:


Quotes that Nourish
Celebrating the Incarnation- Part I-
On the Incarnation

>Quotes that Nourish

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>I found this new place that I want to recommend to you today, The Reformed Quotes Fellowship,  a place created to “bring together those of us throughout the internet who have created and administer websites, blogs, and other media outlets that are dedicated to routinely posting quotes from writers, preachers, teachers, and scholastics of the reformed faith…” keep reading here

 Some of the members of this fellowship are J.C Ryle Quotes, Real Men Love Pink, The Daily Spurgeon, and The Octavius Winslow Archive among others.

Inspired by them and by some of my friends like Christina at Heavenly Springs and Diana at Theology for Girls, who also love to post quotes that encourage us to live a life that glorifies Christ; I will start posting every Thursday, quotes that nourish my soul – and hopefully yours too-   I will be quoting from “saints of the past and present”. (You can read other posts I have written in this category by clicking “Borrowed Words” and “Valley of Vision“under Labels on the right side bar -other quotes are scattered among other posts.)

This month I will be posting quotes that have to do with the Incarnation of Our Lord. 

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“Christmas has really become a hopeless muddle of confusion. The humility and the poverty of the stable are somehow confused with the wealth and indulgence and selfishness of gift giving. The quietness of Bethlehem is mingled with the din of shopping malls and freeway traffic. The soberness of the incarnation is somehow mixed with the drunkenness of this season. Blinking colored lights somehow have some connection to the star of Bethlehem. The room in the inn, so obscure, so dirty with such meager fare, somehow embraces the thought of a warm house, a fireplace and opulent feasting. Cheap plastic toys for little kids with which to play out their follies are mixed with the true value of the gifts given by wise men. Salesmen somehow get mixed up with shepherds. Angels are confused with flying reindeer, one of which even has a red nose. The pain of childbirth is mixed with the parties. The filth of the stable is confounded with the whiteness of fresh snow. And then there’s Mary, Joseph, Perry Como and Bing Crosby. And so it goes.
Humility is the theme of Christmas…humility

St. Augustine wrote so beautifully of His humility, so beautifully. “The word of the Father,” he said, “by whom all time was created was made flesh and born in time for us. He without whose divine permission no day completes its course, wished to have one of those days for His human birth. In the bosom of His Father He existed before all the cycles of the ages. Born of an earthly mother, He entered on the course of the years on that very day. The maker of man became man that He ruler of the stars might be nourished at the breast, that He the bread might be hungry, that He the fountain might thirst, that He the light might sleep, that He the way might be wearied in the journey, that He the truth might be accused by false witnesses, that He the judge of the living and the dead might be brought to trial by a mortal judge, that He justice itself might be condemned by the unjust, that He discipline personified might be scourged with a whip, that He the foundation might be suspended on a cross, that He courage incarnate might be weak, and He security itself might be wounded, and He life itself might die.” Humility.” 

John Macarthur, The Incarnation of the Triune God

Related Posts:

Celebrating the Incarnation of Our Lord -part I-
Borrowed Words, from the Valley of Vision
Borrowed Words -Holy, Holy, holy

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>Celebrating the Incarnation -Part 1-

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The Christmas lights are shining in our homes, in the mall; some main streets  have decorations hanging down from the roof tops already. Many people love this time of the year because peace and goodwill to all men are promised; but what is this season really about?

This is the time of the year when believers make a stop and meditate and celebrate the coming of our Savior; the Incarnation of our Lord. Those who are not believers and celebrate this season, doesn’t know that for them, if they do not repent, the coming of our Lord Jesus doesn’t bring peace but grief; it brings condemnation instead of life; tears instead of joy.

We can only celebrate with joy this time of the year if we have been saved by grace through the coming, the death, and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you have not repented from your sins, for a life lived in vanity; I urge you to listen, to see, to repent. Just as John the Baptist preached repentance before the manifestation of the Christ; so the Spirit urges you to repent from your sinful ways, before the coming of the Christ to your life.

The heart of Christmas; is not  celebrating “Jesus’ birthday”; it is the celebration of the Incarnation of God. The second person of the Trinity took the form of a man to do the most amazing thing ever: pursue sinners; rescue His enemies; adopt those whose names were written in the book of Life even before the foundation of the world, and did not know that yet. He came to give His life for fugitives like me, for slaves of sin, and children of the devil. This is what this season is about; it is not only about a baby born in  a manger, it goes beyond, it doesn’t stop there; it is about the Son of Man living a perfect, sinless life to die on a cross bearing our sins, the guilt of His own people, and the wrath of God on his whole being. It is about Him wrapped not in swaddling clothes, but in burial clothes in a tomb for three days and coming back to  life, because death could not hold Him back. It is about  Life conquering death; it is about Light piercing darkness; it is about peace made between God the Father and those who once were His enemies. It is about the forgiveness of our sins, and the glorious hope of seeing Him one day face to face in glory.

This is what the Incarnation is all about, God breaking the time-line in which we live and entering the time and space He created.

For centuries, the people of God heard promises of the Messiah; they lived in the shadows of what was to come. In Hebrews 1 we read about Jesus coming to fulfill those promises and to be the voice of God to us; we read “the Divine commentary by God himself on the Incarnation” (1)

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in  these last day he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things,through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. after making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” Hebrews 1:1-4 ESV

This is why we turn on lights, we want to celebrate that we now live in light; that we no longer live in shadows; Jesus has come to be the Light of the World and to speak to us, to draw us to the Father of lights!

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” James 1: 17

We can celebrate this season fully only if we understand by God’s grace what does it mean  the Incarnation and only if  we have eyes to see who Jesus is.
Lord, open our eyes to see our sinful nature; give us the gift of repentance; open our eyes so we can  see You, and your wonderful grace reaching toward us this Advent season.

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“To whom Christ came. Was it to his friends? No; he came to sinful man. Man that had defaced his image, and abused his love; man who was turned rebel; yet he came to man, resolving to conquer obstinacy with kindness.”  Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity
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Please, be welcome to share with us how do you celebrate the Incarnation of our Lord; how do your family  keep a Christ- centered Holiday season; you can also share with us a quote from your Advent devotional reading, or your thoughts about the Incarnation of Our Lord

Link to your blog post or simply leave a comment here. (The linking tool will be open a full week)

Let us join our voices and praise the Incarnation of our Lord!

Every Wednesday in December, we will be Celebrating the Incarnation here, at Daily On My Way to Heaven. (see more on the side bar)

I used the picture on the top this post as my desktop wallpaper and I love how it looks; so I invite you to grab the image and use it too.

Gennine is also offering a free desktop calendar this month that I am sure you would like.

This post is linked to Bonnie Gray’s blog

On The Incarnation

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Rebecca gave me permission to repost her article on the Incarnation today; Thank you, Rebecca!

Incarnation

The act of God in which God the son, the second person of the Trinity, took upon himself a human nature so that his divine nature and human nature were joined together in one person who is both truly God an truly man.

  • From Philippians 2:5-8:

    Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (ESV)

  • From The Belgic Confession, Article 18: The Incarnation:

    The Son took the “form of a servant” and was made in the “likeness of man,” truly assuming a real human nature, with all its weaknesses, except for sin; being conceived in the womb of the blessed virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit, without male participation.
    And he not only assumed human nature as far as the body is concerned but also a real human soul, in order that he might be a real human being. For since the soul had been lost as well as the body he had to assume them both to save them both together.
    Therefore we confess … that he “shared the very flesh and blood of children”; that he is “fruit of the loins of David” according to the flesh; “born of the seed of David” according to the flesh; “fruit of the womb of the virgin Mary”;”born of a woman”; “the seed of David”; “a shoot from the root of Jesse”; “the offspring of Judah,” having descended from the Jews according to the flesh; “from the seed of Abraham”— for he “assumed Abraham’s seed” and was “made like his brothers except for sin.”
    In this way he is truly our Immanuel— that is: “God with us.”

  • From The Wonder of God Over Us and With Us by John Frame:

    Have you ever considered the utter mystery surrounding the incarnation of Christ – God entering our time and space while remaining above time and space as our sovereign Lord? The eternal becomes temporal; the infinite becomes finite; the Word that created all things becomes flesh. It is beyond human comprehension. The one who knows all things (John 16:30, 21:17) must “grow in wisdom” (Luke 2:52). The all-sufficient one (Acts 17:25) must hunger and thirst (Matt. 4:2, John 19:28). The creator of all must be homeless (Matt. 8:20). The Lord of life must suffer and die. God in the flesh must endure estrangement from God the Father (Matt. 27:46).
    In Jesus (God the Son), God, who knows the end from the beginning (Isa. 46:10), must watch His eternal plan unfold bit by bit, moment by moment. He grows from infancy to childhood to adulthood, responding to events as they happen. One time He rejoices; another time He weeps. From day to day, from hour to hour, the changeless God endures change. But God the Son incarnate is still God, still transcendent. As He responds to events in time, He also looks down on the world from above time and space, ruling all the events of nature and history.
    Why did God enter time in Christ? Joseph named his baby Jesus, “because he will save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). It was the Father’s love (John 3:16) that sent His Son, “that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” The Son of God took on the limitations of time, even death, so that we who deserve death can have life without limit, forever with God. He died in our place, that we might never die.

Learn more:

  1. J. I. Packer: Incarnation: God Sent His Son, To Save Us
  2. Paul Helm: Incomprehensibly Made Man
  3. Bob Deffinbaugh: The Importance of the Incarnation
  4. Wayne Grudem: The Person of Christ (mp3s): Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

 

 

Today I am praying  Psalm 100