During the month of December we are looking at the prophecies concerning Christ in the Old Testament and the fulfillment in the New Testament. Today’s Old Testament prophecy comes from Is. 9:6 and its fulfillment is in Luke 2:6-7, 11. Prophecy - For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Fulfillment - While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. I’d like you to take a moment and think about the incarnation. A young virgin had been chosen by God to bear the Savior of the world. Mary became known as the “God carrier.” And that’s exactly who she was. God chose her to bear Jesus, nurture him, and raise him. It was through her that the God/man came to save mankind. How do you view Christ? Do you view him as a man with all the frailties that come with being human? Do you view him as God, all-powerful, all-knowing, and perfect? Or do you view him as God/man one who is able to relate to us in all that we have and yet to be God? Over the 2000 years since his birth heretics have argued that he is one or the other. He’s either God or man. Some have viewed his nature to be mixed so that he is neither truly God nor is he truly man. But Athanasius in the fourth century A.D. successfully argued that Christ was fully God and fully man. There was no mixture of his natures, they were separate but one, not mixed together. You see, if Jesus wasn’t fully God he could not be perfect. And if he wasn’t fully man he could not be our Savior. He has to be both. We cannot explain how the incarnation works, all we can say is that it does work and it is to our benefit. Who do you say Christ is?
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 11:00:01 +0000
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