All Glory to God the Father and to our Savior Jesus Christ
From Westminster Shorter Catechism, questions 19 to 22:
Q19: What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell?
A19: All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever.
Q20. Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?
A20. God having, out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer.
Q21: Who is the Redeemer of God’s elect?
A21: The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was, and continueth to be, God and man in two distinct natures, and one person, forever.
Q22: How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?
A22: Christ, the Son of God, became man, by taking to himself a true body, and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and born of her yet without sin.
I am still thinking about verse 14 and the import that it has in our understanding of Christ. God came to this world, to interact with His creation. He who is without end, walked among us. Our Creator’s love is shown to us in Christ.
From MacArthur’s Devotionals:
John 1:14 is the most concise biblical statement of the Incarnation. The first four words, “the Word became flesh,” express the reality that in the incarnation God took on humanity; the infinite became finite; eternity entered time; the invisible became visible (cf. Col. 1:15); the Creator entered His creation. God revealed Himself to man in the creation (Rom. 1:18–21), in the Old Testament Scriptures (1 Cor. 2:7–14), and, supremely and most clearly, in Jesus Christ (Heb. 1:1–2).
Jesus Christ, God’s final “Word” to mankind (Heb. 1:1–2), “became flesh.”
That He actually “became” flesh affirms Jesus’ full humanity.
When John says He became flesh, this does not mean Christ ceased being the eternal Word when He became a man. In the Incarnation the unchangeable (Heb. 13:8) God did become fully man, yet remained fully God. Think of it—He entered the realm of creatures who are limited by time and space, and experienced life as it is for those He created.
No wonder Paul wrote of the Incarnation, “By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, was vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory” (1 Tim. 3:16).
And yet, their eyes could not see nor their ears hear, as foretold to us by Isaiah 600 years before:
Isaiah 6:9-13
9 He said, “Go, and tell this people:
‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive;
Keep on looking, but do not understand.’
10 “Render the hearts of this people insensitive,
Their ears dull,
And their eyes dim,
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
Hear with their ears,
Understand with their hearts,
And return and be healed.”
In general, people seem rather uninterested with talk of scripture. Like the world has worn them down. You did know that our sole purpose in this world is to glorify God, this being from God’s point of view. What is your point of view? Are your eyes veiled, your ears dulled? And if so, why is that? We have His word, His promise to us, is it not enough, we who are His clay? (Jeremiah 18) We have what no other people have had, the whole bible, the complete story.
The next verse in this chapter is this: 15 John *testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’”
God does not send us prophets anymore, at least it does not seem that way and that’s probably a good thing considering how they had been treated. (Luke 13:34) But we have His Word, and that Word is Holy and True. And we have it in book form, audio form and on the internet in video format. Lots of prophets in any content style you prefer. So you don’t need a hairy man who is rumored to eat bugs to tell you the Good News.
What the book tells us next is: 16 For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. 17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.
I would call receiving our daily bread from a God who loves us “grace upon grace.” And I have read of the Law given to Moses and accepted the Truth of Jesus Christ in this book that God has breathed out. All this is in this Book. And it is a fascinating story, one that I love.
A strange thing though, I have talked to people, church people, that have told me they don’t like to read. There is an emphasis on READ, and the inference is “read the bible.” Ok, how about listening,” I say. “Well”, they pause, “I’m kinda busy most of the time and…” Oh, I get it. You want your religion on your terms. Light and non-intruding into your busy life. I did too. Quite often looked at my imaginary watch when the preacher strayed from his allotted time. We called ourselves Christians too. Funny that. If you read in the “Book” you find out that in reality we would be called dry branches, to be cut off and thrown in the fire.
John 15:6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.
My point is this, while we were dry branches, pagans, idol worshipers, we had no desire to read the Word, listen to the Word, or have time to hang around people of the Word. We were in darkness. We liked the darkness. Would tolerate sitting in a pew once a week and spending an hour listening to things that did not make sense or were uninteresting. That’s what “Good” people did. And then we went home and lived our lives like the pagans that we were.
Romans 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: Clue alert, righteous is good in this case. Jesus is saying there is no one good, only God. How, in this sin drenched world do you call yourself good? Have you stopped sinning? Are you even able to acknowledge that you sin or have your sins been forgiven and you are good to go from now on? Sanctification is a process, not an event.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Because our sins have been forgiven and not remembered (Hebrews 8:12), this does not keep us from sinning daily. What about those sins? A free pass or do we atone? Matthew 6:14-15 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
When you are drawn to the Word, by the Father, all of those excuses you once had vanish. I speak as one who said I would not go to bible study, I would not read the bible. Once convicted by the Holy Spirit, and you will know when it happens as it is a realization of every one of your sins played out in your mind in living color, now you know that you are held accountable for every one of them.
Eph 5:11,13 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose [YLT: convict] them… Everything exposed by the light becomes visible.
2 Corinthians 2:15-16
15 For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; 16 to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?
That is called being converted from darkness to the Light. Your branch has been plucked from the fire and infused with the Living Water.
John 7:38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’
So now tell again of your hesitancy to read the Bible, or listen to it. With the Holy Spirit dwelling within you, those excuses don’t hold.
John 16:13 “Yet when that one I have spoken to you about comes–the Spirit of truth–he will guide you into everything that is true.”
I know, because where I once said I would not go to bible study, now I teach it. Not because I have to, because I want to. And those nights when I cannot sleep, I tune into the Grace Stream and listen to 50 years of John MacArthur expounding the scripture in a most forthright manner, and drift off into sleep with a smile on my face. Not for everyone I admit, but, choose your shepherds wisely.
These are troubling times. Look at Romans 1 verse 18 and beyond. Tell me, after reading this, that God has not removed his Blessing upon the land. Have we had a sexual revolution? A homesexual revolution? A depravity of the mind? Do you suppose God will overlook any of these things? Did you know Sodom and Gomorrah where destroyed for homosexual activity? Read Genesis 19. It is very instructive.
What then did God do when these things accrued? He gave them over to it. Minneapolis, New York, Portland, Austin, Seattle… Seeing a trend?
There is Good News in all this and no I am not joking. Jesus Christ, God, died on the cross for our sins, for the sins of those who would believe. John 8:14 I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”
God the Father has drawn us and handed us over to Christ, our Lord, King and Savior.
John 6:44 “No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.
I call that Good News. Go spread it around and serve your King!