Reasons for the Incarnation – Revelation

Why did Jesus come into the world? Last week we learned that Jesus came into the world to redeem the lost. He told a man by the name of Zacchaeus that the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost, (Luke 19:10). Jesus came to redeem sinners and to save them from their sin. If you’re here this morning, and you’ve never confessed Christ as your Savior and Lord, then the gospel is for you. Come to Christ and be saved.

Jesus also came to show us the Father. My goal for this Advent season is to explain why Jesus came into the world. Last week the key idea was redemption. This week the key idea is revelation. Jesus came into the world to reveal the nature and character of the true God who is Creator and Sovereign. To know Jesus is to know God.

On November 26, 2021, the New York Times newspaper ran a lengthy article in it’s print edition that included a half-page color photo of a woman named Carissa Schumacher. Who is Carissa Schumacher? Well, that’s the story. She’s a Medium who claims to channel dead people for Hollywood celebrity clients. She purports to speak to the dead, and the dead supposedly speak to and through her. Her website claims she is “Dedicating herself to helping others train their own empathic intuition, she conducts Pure Source energy channelings and guided Sacred Spirit Illumination Journey tours to help participants cleanse and align their energy fields to find heightened abundance, balance and joy.” (Now, if you can understand that spiritualist mumbo-jumbo, maybe you can explain it to me).

Normally, we could ignore the story as just one more example of the new-age spiritualism popular among Hollywood elite, and their gullibility for spiritual charlatans. Considering that Ms. Schumacher charges, $1,111.00 an hour for her prognostications, only the “rich and famous” can afford her. What makes Carissa Schumacher so unique among those in her profession is who she claims to channel. The Time’s story tells us, that the “dead person” she most regularly channels for her hosts is Yeshua of Nazareth. Now, for those who may not know, Yeshua is the Old Testament name for Jesus. Yes; Ms. Schumacher claims to channel Jesus Christ for her paying public. The Time’s article is about a channeling session held last weekend at the home of actress Jennifer Aniston. Ms. Schumacher introduced herself saying, “For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Carissa. I knew my whole life that I would be a channel for Yeshua.” Unfortunately, at last week’s gathering, Ms. Schumacher decided that the atmosphere wasn’t conducive to channeling Yeshua, and Jesus failed to show up. But, if you would like to know the wisdom of Yeshua you can purchase her new book — The Freedom Transmissions — for a mere $23.19 (marked down from it’s normal $28.99 or the Kindle edition for $14.99).

What’s the point? I would submit to you this morning that Jennifer Aniston and her friends could save themselves a heap of money if they’d only pick up an old, old book that “channeled” everything Jesus wanted us to know about himself and the Heavenly Father 2,000 years ago. It’s called the Bible. One of the reasons God the Father sent God the Son into the world was so that sinners could actually come to know God the Father. “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3, ESV)

What does Jesus reveal about God?

I. THE INCARNATION REVEALS THAT CHRIST IS THE ETERNAL SON OF GOD

1. the Apostle John begins his gospel in a way reminiscent of the very first book of the Bible

a. in Genesis we read: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, (Gen. 1:1, NIV)

b. in the Gospel of John we read: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1, NIV)

2. Genesis begins with the creation of the world and tells us of God’s creative efforts

3. but in his gospel, the Apostle John goes behind the creation account into eternity past and tells us the story behind the story of creation

4. that story is of an eternal Christ in glory with the Father, high and lifted up and on His throne

ILLUS. This is what the Prophet Isaiah sees (Isa. 6) in his vision of heaven’s throne room. He sees the “... Lord high and lifted up.”

a. Jesus was the Word that was with God and indeed was God

1) words are used to express our thoughts, ideas and intents

a) words can be like a soothing balm or an exploding bomb — healing or destroying

b) a positive word makes you feel good, but a negative word leaves you feeling depressed and defeated

c) a discouraging word can defuse your enthusiasm for a project, but a positive word encourages you, and becomes a motivating force

3) behind every word there is an image that conveys meaning to us

b. Jesus Christ — as the Living Word — is the expression of God’s thoughts and intents toward us

1) it’s one thing to say, I love you

2) it’s another thing altogether to be loving – to inflesh our love through personal direct actions

““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, ESV)

5. in Christ, God showed us Himself

a. if you want to know what God thinks about your life, all you have to do is look at the life of Jesus

ILLUS. The great rocket scientist Robert Oppenheimer once said, "The best way to send an idea is to wrap it up in a person."

b. that’s exactly what God did in Jesus

A. JESUS CHRIST IS ONE WITH THE HEAVENLY FATHER

1. Jesus is and forever has been and will always be eternal with the God because He is God

a. three times in the first verse, the Apostle John uses the word was

b. now, I know most of you don’t care for grammar lessons, but it’s important that I give you one very quickly

1) the word was in this passage is the imperfect form of the verb to be

c. there is no adequate translation for the verb in the English language

1) in the original language of the Bible, to verb to be is a word that expresses timelessness

a) thus, we might read the verse like this: In the beginning always forever was the Word, and the Word always forever was with God, and the Word always forever was God.

2. what’s the big deal?

a. it means that Jesus Christ, is and forever has been and will always be eternal

3. at Christmas, we celebrate the birth of the Savior

a. his name is Jesus, and he is the Christ

b. just because He was born of a woman and had flesh and blood as we do does not contradict His claim to deity and oneness with the Father

“No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father.” (John 6:46, NIV84)

“I and the Father are one.”” (John 10:30, NIV84)

c. I don’t think you can get any clearer than that

4. Jesus has absolute equality with the father

a. the nature of Christ has been discussed since the earliest days of the Church, and many errors about his nature have had to be refuted

1) some have maintained that Jesus was merely human and had great wisdom and spiritual insight

2) some have believed that He was adopted by God at His baptism and was divine only until abandoned by God at His crucifixion

3) and a few have even advanced the idea that Jesus is divine, but not on equal footing with the Father – in essence he is second-banana in the universe

b. but Scriptures clearly teach that Jesus is God, come to us in the flesh

1) He was made in the likeness of men, yet he is God Who over all, blessed forever

2) in the Book of Hebrews, the Bible says that God, in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son who is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being

3) to believe anything different is heresy

5. why would God do this?

a. why would God come in the flesh?

ILLUS. Shortly before His arrest and crucifixion, Jesus is attempting to prepare His disciples for the events which are about to take place. In John 14:7, He tells them, “If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well . . . “ The apostle Phillip responds, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Phillip is saying “Lord, if you could just pull back the curtains of heaven, and show us the Father, give us a vision of God on His throne then we could really, really believe.”

b. what was our Lord’s response? — Whoever has seen me has seen the Father

6. the essence of Christianity is personally knowing God

a. everything else in the Christian faith comes after that

“Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.”” (Jeremiah 9:23–24, ESV)

a. do you hear what God is saying there?

ILLUS. Suppose for a moment that you were the smartest person on earth — the Albert Einstein of your generation, and you were able to unlock the secrets of nuclear fusion and give mankind clean cheap energy. Or suppose you were the most powerful person the era — able to influence the course of nations. Or consider if you were the wealthiest person in the world — a Jeff Bazos and be rich enough to begin your own space exploration program. According to Jeremiah, none of these things can compare with knowing God. God says, “There is nothing compared with the thrill and satisfaction and fulfillment of knowing me.”

.. The Incarnation Reveals That Christ Is the Eternal Son of God

II. THE INCARNATION REVEALS THAT CHRIST CAME IN THE FLESH TO REVEAL GOD TO MEN

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14, ESV)

1. God wants to be known

a. He wants to have fellowship with His creation

2. to be known by another means you must take the risk of revealing things about yourself

a. God took that risk

b. God hides nothing

1) His very work from the beginning is revelation — a casting aside of veil after veil

2) on and on throughout the Scriptures He reveals Himself, until at length in his Son, Jesus, he unveils his very face

3. Creation ... Scriptures ... Jesus ... are all God shouting at the top of His lungs “Here I am; see me, know me, come to me”

A. HE BECAME FLESH AND DWELT AMONG US

1. Christ, the eternal Word, who is God, was born into this world as a man of flesh and blood ... experiencing all our weaknesses, pains, and sorrows

“Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:14–16, ESV)

a. in Christ deity took on flesh — he is the God/Man

2. when John writes that Jesus was with God, he literally says that Jesus was face-to-face with God ... eyeball-to-eyeball with God

a. still today, to refer to being eyeball-to-eyeball with someone means to have equal status to that person

b. the Gospel writers — fiercely monotheistic Jews — would not have made such a blasphemous statement unless they had a compelling reason for doing so

ILLUS. As a pious Jew, John and the other Apostles would have begun their day every morning by reciting the Shema Yisrael — “Hear, O Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.” It is a Jew’s central confession of faith.

c. John gives that compelling reason ... “ ... and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14, ESV)

3. after spending three years by the side of Jesus, listening and watching, there is absolutely not doubt in John’s mind as to the true identity of Jesus

a. at the end of his Gospel, the Apostle John writes ...

“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:30–31, ESV)

... the Incarnation Reveals That Christ Came in the Flesh to Reveal God to Men

III. THE INCARNATION REVEALS THAT CHRIST OFFERS SINNERS ETERNAL LIFE

1. the essence of Christianity is knowing God, and knowing God — not merely knowing about God — but knowing God is, according to Jesus eternal life

a. and Jesus made it clear that only through him can we know God

1) this is the exclusivity of the gospel, and the world hates it and it hates those who stand on it

2) people hate that fact the Jesus is making these tremendous claims

a) he says, If I’m going to be in your life, there can be no halfway things. I have to be the way, the truth, and the life of your life. I have to be Lord because there are no other ways to the Father

b) that does not go over well in a pluralistic, progressive society

2. in order to know God you have to know three things ...

A. WHO WE ARE

1. we are God’s creation

a. God created us and built us for a relationship with him

b. we belong to him, and we owe him gratitude for every breath, every moment, for everything

c. because humans were built to live for him (to worship), we will always try to worship something — if not God, we will choose some other object of ultimate devotion to give our lives meaning.

2. we are sinners

a. we have all chosen to reject God and to make our own joy and happiness our highest priority

b. we do not want to worship God and surrender our self as master, yet we are built to worship, so we cling to idols, centering our lives on things that promise to give us meaning: success, relationships, influence, love, comfort, and so on

3. we are spiritually dead in trespasses and sin

a. because of that we lost and cannot find God on our own, in fact, the Bible says we are not even trying to find the true God, but we are more than willing to settle for lesser gods

B. WHO GOD IS

1. He is grace and mercy ... He is justice and judgement

a. His active concern is for our joy and well-being

2. most people love those who love them, yet God loves and seeks the good even of people who are his enemies

a. but because God is holy, he cannot tolerate sin

b. sin defiles us ... sin alienates us from God ... sin condemns us and unless something is done to bridge the gap between sinner and God the Lake of Fire is man’s ultimate destiny

3. Jesus Christ is the answer

a. Jesus is God himself come to Earth

1) he first lived a perfect life, loving God with all his heart, soul, and mind, fulfilling all human obligation to God

2) Jesus perfectly fulfilled all Old Testament Law — the only one ever to do so

a) he was himself perfectly holy and never sinned

3) he lived the life you owed God — a perfect record

b. then, instead of triumphantly claiming his Kingdom, Jesus gave his life as a sacrifice for our sins, taking the punishment and death each of us should receive

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21, ESV)

4. when we believe in him two things happen according to 2 Corinthians 5:21

a. 1st, our sins are paid for by his death, and

b. 2nd, his perfect life record is transferred to our spiritual account — God accepts and regards us as if we have done all Christ has done

ILLUS. Theologians call it “the great exchange.” God lays our sins on Christ and punishes them in him. And in Christ’s obedient death, God fulfills and vindicates his righteousness and imputes (credits) it to us. Our sin on Christ; his righteousness on us. Keith Getty got it right in his hymn In Christ Alone (My Hope Is Found). In the second stanza we sing, ‘Til on that cross as Jesus died The wrath of God was satisfied; For every sin on Him was laid; Here in the death of Christ I live.”

c. because of Jesus, sin’s curse has lost its grip on me

C. WHAT WE MUST DO

1. 1st, you must confess that you’re a sinner whose sin condemns you

a. the bible calls this repentance

b. it’s the admission that you have been living as your own master, worshiping the wrong things, violating God’s loving laws

c. repentance means you ask for forgiveness and turn from your own effort to gain God’s acceptance

2. 2nd, you must confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God and in him alone is there forgiveness for your sin

a. the bible calls this faith

b. faith is transferring your trust from your own efforts to the efforts of Christ

1) our own good works, our own righteousness, our own practice of religious ritual earns us nothing in God’s sight

2) if you’re relying on anything you’ve done to make yourself acceptable to God, you’ll never be acceptable to God

3) the Prophet Isaiah reminds us that even the very best things about us; our most selfless deeds, our most noble thoughts are compared to filthy rags (Isa. 646)

a) if the very best part of our lives our like filthy rags, what does God think about the very worst of our lives?

3. 3rd, repentance and faith are communicated to God through prayer — by having an honest conversation with God about who you are, and who He is, and what you must do once the Holy Spirit has convicted you of sin, judgement, and righteousness

ILLUS. Pray something like this: “I see I am more evil and sinful than I ever dared believe, but that I am even more loved and accepted than I ever dared hope. I turn from my old life of living for myself. I have sinned against you, and been in rebellion to this moment. I have nothing in my life to merit your approval, but I now rest in what Jesus. I confess him as Savior. I take him as Lord, and ask to be accepted into God’s family for his sake.”

a. when you do this, two things happen at once: 1st, your sins are wiped out permanently, you are adopted legally into God’s family and 2nd, the Holy Spirit enters your life and begins to shape your character into the character of Jesus

What are the reasons for the incarnation? Last week, we learned that the incarnation is about redemption. This morning we learn that the incarnation is about revelation. God wants to be known.

J. I. Packer wrote: “God became man; the divine Son became a Jew; the Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, unable to do more than lie and stare and wriggle and make noises, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child. And there was no illusion or deception in this: the babyhood of the Son of God was a reality. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as is this truth of the Incarnation.”

“We know also 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—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.” (1 John 5:20, NIV)