Have you ever had a thought
pound away at your mind so persistently that you believed it would never go
away? I have been thinking about the
incarnation of Christ. The whole concept
is totally incomprehensible.
Contemplating the reality of God becoming human so that he might save
filthy, depraved, unworthy, stench-filled, morally corrupt human souls by the
shedding of his precious blood is a fathomless mystery. The Prince of God left the splendor of his
eternal dwelling and clothed himself with humanity, took up temporary residence
in the womb of a very young woman who finally gave birth to him in a stall made
for sheep and donkeys. The Christ child
was laid in a manger filled with straw and his first breath was filled with the
offensive aroma of manure.
Why did he do it? He came to live the life of a human and his
coming was filled with love and purpose.
He came to reveal to us what the holiness of God looks like in a human
life. His coming provided the only ray
of hope in a world darkened by the sins of unbelief and disobedience. He lived the life he lived in order that he
might die the death that he died. He
died the death that he died so that we might have an opportunity to live the
life that he lived. Through the
impartation of the Comforter he promised to send, we can live Christ-like
lives. We can be Christians.
I went to the garage a few
weeks ago and retrieved some seeds I saved from last year. I wheeled out my tiller and worked the soil
in my small garden and then planted the seeds.
In just a few days I saw sprouts begin to grow. And I wondered as I do every year, how does
it happen? Those seeds lay in my garage
all year and never sprouted. There have
been reports of seeds having been found that were over 800 years old. These seeds were planted and they sprouted
and grew and produced fruit. Scientists
know what happens when a seed germinates but they are unsure why it
happens. When a seed is placed in the
fertile soil it will germinate and it will grow.
Paul contemplated the mystery
of the seed when he wrote to the Corinthians:
“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who
plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.” (1
Cor. 3:6-7) Who can explain this miracle
of life? The best explanation is simply
that the Author of life demonstrates his gift of life through the germination
of the seed and the growth that follows.
Men must bow their heads in humility as they contemplate what God can do
and what they cannot do.
Christ came to live the life
he lived to qualify him for the death he died.
The child born in a barn was finally nailed to a Roman cross. His body was then gently removed and buried
in a tomb and like a seed buried in the ground. Christ experienced the miracle
of life, the resurrection. This miracle
is the basis for our salvation. Those of
us who are followers of Christ share in the same hope Paul expressed to the
Philippians: “I want to know Christ and
the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings,
becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection
from the dead.” (Philippians 3:10-11)
But there is an earlier
resurrection that Christians must not overlook.
Some Christians can live their entire lives in a state of dormancy like
seeds on a shelf. If they are never
buried they will never experience germination or a resurrection. They will never know the fullness of growth
and life. The journey has just begun when Christ responds to our repentance and
forgives us. God wills that we continue
on the path that leads towards the abundant life but this life is preceded by
death and burial. The sanctification of
our souls requires that we die to our own selfish desires and bury our own ambitions
and bow in total submission to God. Then
the miracle happens. The burial of our
seeds of selfishness is the prerequisite to a resurrection into a life of
holiness and growth.
The new life that we
experience is the life of Christ indwelling within us. Many believe the deception that salvation is
available by simply offering mental assent to a list of doctrines. Even Satan and his imps believe that Christ
is the divine Son of God. The acceptance
of his divinity doesn’t save them. It
fills them with dreaded fear. God wants
more than a verbal admission of his divine nature. He wants us to wholly experience salvation. Simply having knowledge of God does not
change behavior. A radical change in
behavior comes when we have experienced the indwelling Christ. When we are filled with his love we learn to
love him properly. We are motivated to
please him, not because we want to be rewarded with heaven or escape a
horrendous hell, but because of our love for him. We don’t want to hurt him.
Just as this experience is
not based on an exercise of the mind, neither is it based on an accumulation of
good works. If we believe that we should
be granted entrance into heaven based on good behavior, why would we not stand
before God in judgment and refuse the benefits provided by the shed blood of
Christ and demand that we be judged by the law of God? Would we dare lay our righteousness, our
filthy rags, (Isaiah 64:6) alongside the righteousness of Christ and demand we
be weighed in the balance of his justice? Of course we would not.
If we have had our eyes
opened (John 9:10) we would never dare to do such a foolish thing. Some have “eyes to see but they do not see”. (Ezekiel 12:2) Those who do see understand that our only
righteousness is in Christ Jesus.
Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.
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