Word of Salvation – Vol. 21 No.18 - February 1975

The Word Became Flesh

Sermon by Rev. J. J. Van Wageningen, B.D. on Lord's Day 14

Scripture reading: Luke 1:26-38; John 1:1-18

Psalter Hymnal: 317 (opening hymn), 332 (after scripture reading),
                        336:1,3 (after sermon), 345:3,5 (before Benediction),
                        491 (closing hymn)

W

ith the Church of all ages we believe and confess the incarnation, "The Word became flesh and lived for a while among us" (John 1:14).  "God appeared in a body", "Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great!" (I Tim.3:16).  The meaning of the word 'incarnation' is 'embodiment in human flesh'.  The Catechism says: "God's eternal Son, who is and continues true and eternal God, took upon Himself the very nature of man."

This is the first aspect of this mystery we must emphasize: the incarnation is in no sense an act of man, but solely an act of God.

In the religions of this world there is a striving of man to redeem himself.  Sinful man thinks he himself must do it.  Man must reach out for God.  In some way or other man must climb the ladder to heaven, a heaven of his own making!  Desperate efforts, hopeless efforts...!

Man did not reach out for God, but God came down to men.  "God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son."  God came down to us, ever to remain with us and dwell with us!  The incarnation is the appearance of God in a body, a revelation of the living God!

God's eternal Son, who is and continues true and eternal God, took upon Himself the very nature of man.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is God's eternal Son, one with the Father, true and eternal God.  When He was born in Bethlehem's stable He was not changed into a man.  No, as God He took upon Himself our human nature.  He is and remains true and eternal God when He lies in a manger, when He grows up as a child, when He lives and works in Palestine.

He is at the same time God and man; God manifested in the flesh; God appeared in a body, for God's eternal Son took to Himself a truly human nature.  This is the mysterious, wonderful event of Christ's conception and birth.  "Conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.”

The Scriptures plainly teach the virgin birth.  The angel Gabriel says to Mary, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.  So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:35).

And to Joseph an angel says, "Do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 1:20).  It is the fulfilment of the prophecy, "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and His name shall be called Emmanuel, which means, God with us." (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23).

We cannot comprehend this mystery, we cannot explain it.  What God's Word says about it, is not an explanation, that we might understand it.  No, it is divine revelation, and we are called to believe it, and worship Him.  The shepherds returned glorifying and praising God, and after the resurrection Thomas worshipped Him, "My Lord and my God!"

Unbelief says, it is impossible.  But we know that with God nothing is impossible.  And this is an act of God, of the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  The Father sent the Son.  The Son took to Himself our human nature.  The Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary.  And so the Word became flesh, God appeared in a body.

When we meditate on this greatest wonder of all wonders, we realise how limited our understanding is.  But we want to accept believingly what God reveals concerning the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.  And then it is clear from Scripture, that He is true God and true man.  The eternal Son of God took to Himself, through the working of the Holy Spirit, from the flesh and blood of the virgin Mary, a truly human nature.

Christ was born without the will of man.  He has no earthly father.  God alone is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, also according to His human nature.  This does not mean that His human nature was a strange human nature, something special, something different from ours.  No, His human nature was real and complete, just like ours.  He took upon Himself our flesh and blood.  "But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law." (Gal.4:4).  "BORN OF A WOMAN”.

Jesus did not stand next to men, but among them.  He was of them.  Flesh of our flesh, blood of our blood, bone of our bone.  "Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death — that is, the devil – and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death." (Hebrews 2:14,15).  The Son of God took upon Himself the very nature of man, of the flesh and blood of the Virgin Mary.

On purpose our Confession expresses this truth in this way, speaking about the human NATURE of Christ, and not about a human PERSON.  The Word became flesh.  The divine Person of the Son of God took upon Himself a human nature, not a human person.  The Son of God did not unite Himself with a certain man Jesus, so that our Saviour is a combination of two persons.  No, He is the eternal Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity, and He has two natures: His divine nature from eternity, and in the fullness of time He took to Himself the human nature through the working of the Holy Spirit.  Again we must say, this is a deep mystery: one divine Person and two natures; two natures united in one single Person.

Maybe you think, this sounds very dogmatic, very theoretical.  Why should we go into all this?  Let us not forget, we believe and confess this with the Church of all ages as the truth concerning Christ, our divine Lord and Saviour.  The Church fought a heavy spiritual struggle, especially in the 4th and 5th century, to formulate and maintain this truth over against those who deviated from it.  The Church realised that the honour of Christ and the gospel of salvation were at stake.  And so the Church confessed concerning the two natures of Christ, on the one hand that each nature retains its own distinct properties.  They are not mixed up and changed into a new God-man.  No, the divine remains divine, and the human remains human.  On the other hand the Church confessed, that the two natures of Christ are not divided or separated.  There is a constant inner connection between His human nature and the divine, between His human mind and the mind of God, His human spirit and the Spirit of God, His human power and the power of the Almighty.  Thus Christ is true God and true man, the perfect revelation of the Father in human nature.  The Catechism points to the fact that in this way God's promise was fulfilled.  God's eternal Son took upon Himself the very nature of man, that He might also be the true seed of David.  Christ assumed His human nature from the seed of the promise, in the line of the covenant.  This line runs through Israel, and in Israel it is the tribe of Judah that bears the Christ in its loins.  "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, He to whom it belongs, and to Him shall be the obedience of the peoples." (Gen.49:10).  And within the tribe of Judah the house of David is pointed out as the everlasting royal line that must culminate in the Christ.  A shoot shall come forth from the stump of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1) and from Bethlehem Ephrathah, little among the clans of Judah, shall come forth One who is to be Ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.  (Micah 5:2).  Our Lord Jesus Christ is the true seed of David, in accordance with God's own promise.  He is like unto His brethren in all things.

He lived our life, thought human thoughts, had human desires, He spoke our human language.  He even assumed our weakened human nature from the Virgin Mary; it was subject to suffering and death like ours.  The only exception to this was His sinlessness.  He is like unto His brethren in all things, sin excepted.  "We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin." (Hebrews 4:15).

Our Lord Jesus Christ is sinless.  He did not share in the common guilt of mankind through Adam, nor in the common corruption.  We are born in original guilt and condemnation; we are reckoned in Adam, the sin of Adam is imputed to us.

With Christ it is quite different.  He is the Son of God and the Son of Man.  As to His human nature He is out of Adam, as to His Person He was not reckoned in Adam.  He came down from heaven (John 3:13).  He entered as it were our human race from the outside – conceived by the Holy Spirit – a divine Person, the Person of the Son of God; truly human, the Son of Man – born of the Virgin Mary – but not a human person.  Therefore the guilt of Adam's sin could not be imputed to Him.  Personally He did not lie under the wrath of God and under the condemnation of mankind.  He was separate from sinners.

Our Lord is sinless.  This means also that He was born with a holy human nature.  He was not depraved; His human nature was without corruption conceived by the Holy Spirit, therefore the Child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.

Christ is sinless.  This implies in the last place, that He never had any actual sin.  He never committed any sin.  His whole life, from the manger to the cross, was without spot or blemish.  He was tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin.  (Hebrews 4:15).

Christ could not sin.  This does not mean that His temptations were only apparent, not real.  The trial or test of anything does not become less real because it is certain from the outset that it will not and cannot break.  So the temptations and struggles of our Saviour were real.  The strain put upon the obedience of Christ in His sufferings and death is real and heavy, although He could never be crushed under the strain.  He went His way from the one experience to the other, from one deed of obedience to the next.  "During the days of Jesus' life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission.  Although He was the Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered, and once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him.” (Hebrews 5:7-9).

"Conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary."

This truth which God reveals is of the highest importance.  It is not just an abstract theory concerning the Lord Jesus.  No, it concerns the reality of His being our Saviour.  "For this reason He had to be made like His brothers in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that He might make atonement for the sins of the people." (Hebrews 2:17).

The Catechism wants to emphasise this too, by asking: "What benefit do you receive from the holy conception and birth of Christ?"  And the answer reads: "That He is our Mediator, and with His innocence and perfect holiness covers in the sight of God, my sin wherein I was conceived and brought forth."

He is our Mediator.  Who else could be our Mediator, but He?  True God and true, righteous man.  He alone is able to stand in our place, in Himself perfectly innocent, but burdened with the sin and guilt of His people.  We are conceived and born in sin, and therefore subject to all manner of misery, yes, to condemnation itself.

Do we believe this, not just as a general statement, but as divine truth concerning ourselves?  By nature we are so proud and conceited.  Do you realise, do you humbly confess concerning yourself, "I am evil, born in sin"?

The more we realise with a contrite heart, that we are sinful in ourselves from the very first beginning of our life, the more we see the greatness and glory of our Saviour, who with His innocence and perfect holiness covers in the sight of God, my sin wherein I was conceived and brought forth.

We must not misunderstand this.  The meaning cannot be, of course, that by Christ's holy birth my original sin is blotted out.  Only the blood of Christ, His sacrifice on the cross, cleanses us from all sins, from our original sin as well.  The Catechism does not deny this, for full emphasis lays on the first words: That He is our Mediator.  And then the consequence is drawn: Because He had no sin whatever, He could offer Himself up to God, a Lamb without spot or blemish, and thus blot out the guilt of all our sins, even of the sins in which we are conceived and born.  He covers them in God's sight.  He is our perfect Saviour!

  Rejoice, ye heavens; thou earth, reply;
  with praise, ye sinners, fill the sky,
  for this His incarnation!

Amen.