The prophet Isaiah wrote something revealing in his 7th Chapter when he wrote this in verse 14;
Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold a virgin will be with child
and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel."
Immanuel means, 'God with us". What does that mean? It is hard for man to see how another man can be God. At the time of Isaiah, the people understood God as being a Spirit, and that is what He was. He was known as the Holy Spirit. The high priest, once a year, was the only person who could go within the veil in the temple, into the place referred to as the Holy of Holies, to make the sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. It was referred to the Holy of Holies, because the Spirit of the Living God would enter into the place beyond the veil once a year to accept the sacrifice. It was the Holy Spirit of God.
The apostle John wrote this in his gospel, when telling of Jesus conversation with the Samaritan at the well of Jacob as to where the proper place of worshiping God was. In Chapter 4, verses 23 and 24, John wrote this;
"(23) But an hour is coming, and now is, when true worshipers shall worship the
Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.
(24) God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
God is spirit, so when it says that a son will be born to the virgin and she will call His name Immanuel, God with us, How is that possible and what does that mean?
If we look at the beginning of John's gospel in the first Chapter, we start to see piece of how this is possible, when John writes this in verses 1-3;
"(1) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God.(2) He was in the beginning with God.(3) All things came into being by Him, and
apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being."
It says that the Word was God. Everything was created by God. In Genesis, it says that God spoke and what He called into being, came into being by His Word. John continues in verse 14 with this;
"And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory
as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
When it says that the Word became flesh, it is saying that God became flesh. What does that mean and how? We know that John is referring to Jesus, when it says that the Word became flesh and He was the only begotten of the Father, But how is that possible? If the word is God, then who is the Father and how?
We will soon see who, but for now I want to stay in the first Chapter of John to cover the whole reason for God becoming flesh, in the person of Jesus. John wrote this in verses 10-13;
"(10) He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did
not know Him.(11) He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive
Him. (12) But as many received Him, to them He gave the power to become children
of God, even to those who believe in His name,(13) who were born not of blood, nor
of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Previous blogs covered how a person must first be born of the flesh and then born again of the spirit, to enter into the kingdom of God. Being born of the spirit occurs when a person receives Jesus unto eternal life, through His death on the cross for the forgiveness of sin, through His burial burying the old nature in the grave, and Jesus resurrection that causes us to be raised with the glory and Spirit that raised Him from the dead. A person is now born of God and becomes His children.
So God came to the earth for the purpose of creating a new creation that He would refer to as His children, the saints. Those who would receive Jesus and what He did for them. We will cover, in Part 3, how it is that God who is a spirit, could become a man. Again, I am doing this in small parts so that it will not be overwhelming.
Jesus peace and grace be with you.
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