Advent: The Incarnation of Jesus Christ

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind… The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (Jn 1:1-4, 14)

​Introduction
These days, we’re celebrating one of the most important seasons in Christianity called Advent. Advent is the period of four Sundays before Christmas, and today is the second Sunday of Advent.
 
Before Christmas comes, Christians celebrate the coming of Jesus by remembering the event of Jesus’ first coming around two thousand years ago and preparing for the second coming of Jesus at the last day.
 
So, today, I want us to think more deeply about Jesus’ coming into the world. There’s a specific term that has been used in the church to refer to the event in which Jesus, the Son of God, came to the world in human form—incarnation.
 
The Incarnation of Jesus Christ
The incarnation of Jesus Christ refers to one of the fundamental Christian beliefs that the Son of God came to the world by humbly emptying Himself, laying down all His heavenly privileges and authorities, and taking human form in order to save us from our sin and death. 
 
The fact that Jesus took the form of flesh implies that there had been a period of time that He had existed without a human body. We began to exist in this world from the moment we were conceived in our mothers’ wombs.
 
But, the Scriptures say that Jesus had already existed long before He was born into the world. In fact, there was no moment when Jesus didn’t exist. He existed even before the creation of the world and He will live forever even after the end of the world.
 
Jesus Himself revealed who He is through the apostle John’s visions when he was in exile on the island of Patmos. Jesus said,
 
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty” (Rv 1:8)
 
This everlasting characteristic of Jesus is also written in Messiah prophecies in the Old Testament.
 
When the prophet Micah prophesied about Jesus’ birth, He said,
 
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah… out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” (Mc 5:2)
 
And the prophet Isaiah also wrote,
“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. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” (Is 9:6-7)
 
That’s the first thing we need to know about Jesus Christ. Even though He became fully human like us in every way, He was also fully God, “without beginning of days or end of life” (Heb 7:3)
 
Keeping that in mind, let’s dig deeper into the meaning of the incarnation of Jesus Christ. John chapter 1 does a great job of explaining it clearly. Let’s read John 1:1-4 together again.
 
 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind” (Jn 1:1-4).
 
In this passage, we find significant truth about God’s creation of the world. It says that there was the Word in the beginning, and all things were made through it.
 
We can find the narrative of God’s creation in Genesis chapter 1, and there’s a key phrase that’s repeated throughout this chapter: “God said… and there was…” or “God said… and it was so”
 
 “God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.” (Gn 1:3)
 “God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water” And it was so.” (Gn 1:6-7)
 
That was the start of God’s creation. Before God spoke, there was nothing but chaos and darkness in the universe. But when God spoke, everything changed. What had not been, came to exist.
 
What’s important is that Genesis never implies that God used any materials to make things. When we make something, we always use materials. But God made everything out of nothing. He only spoke and through His word everything came to exist. 
 
That’s what John emphasizes in the first passage of his gospel. Through God’s word, all things were made. There was nothing that has been made which was made without the Word.
 
That’s the first thing that we must believe as God’s people. There are people who believe that everything in the world comes to exist naturally by itself. They think that the universe we see now is the result of a combination of an incredible amount of time, substance, and coincidence.
 
But if you closely look at how delicate, complex, and harmonious our bodies and the world are, it’s actually harder not to believe that there is a great Designer who made all things according to His plan.
 
The Word Was God
The Bible says that the great Designer is God. And the tool He used was His word. That’s what John first testifies to in his gospel. But John doesn’t stop there. He develops the concept of God’s word by personifying it.
 
Being filled with revelation and inspiration from God, John boldly proclaimed that the Word was God and went on to say that the Word became flesh.
 
“The Word was with God, and the Word was God” (Jn 1:1).
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (Jn 1:14).
 
This is the verse that most clearly shows the incarnation of Jesus Christ. The Word, who was with God, who was God, and through whom all things were made, became flesh and started to live among us.  And the Word refers to the one and only Son of God who came from the Father—Jesus Christ.
 
That’s the meaning of the incarnation of Jesus Christ. He was the Word of God through which all things have come to exist. But the Word chose to become flesh and came to the world in human form.
 
That’s what the apostle Paul also testifies to in Colossians chapter 1. He said,
 
“In [the Son] we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Col 1:13-17)
 
The Purpose of the Incarnation
If we believe this as truth then we need to ask this question. Why did the Son of God have to come to the world in human form? What was the purpose of Jesus’ incarnation? Hebrews chapter 2 does a great job explaining some reasons or purposes of the incarnation of Jesus.
 
1. To Taste Death for Everyone
Now, let’s first read Hebrews 2:9 together. “But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.” (Heb 2:9)
 
Here, Jesus being made lower than the angels refers to the incarnation of Jesus. Jesus was God far above all the angels but He was made lower than them by becoming human. And there was a reason for this. Jesus took the form of a human body so that He could taste death for everyone.
 
One thing we know about God is that He is Spirit. Because He is Spirit and doesn’t have a physical shape, it’s impossible for us to see Him with our physical eyes.
 
But Jesus, the Son of God, became human so that people could see Him, touch Him, and feel the warmth of His hands. As John said, “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son… has made him known” (Jn 1:18)
 
In other words, by taking the shape of a visible human body, Jesus showed us the invisible God. That’s what these verses mean: “The Son is the image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15), and “the Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” (Heb 1:3).
 
Even though we can’t see God, we know that He is real because God revealed Himself through His Son, Jesus Christ. Through Jesus, we can see God.
 
But that wasn’t the only purpose of His incarnation. The most important purpose was for Him to taste death for everyone. Jesus became a human being primarily to suffer, shed blood, and die. And, the purpose of His death was to make atonement for our sins by paying the price on our behalf.
 
In the Old Testament we can find an important principle God set about the forgiveness of sins. Leviticus 17:11 says, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood… it is the blood that makes atonement by the life” (Lev 17:11).
 
God set up the method through which people could make atonement for their sins according to this principle. It was to attribute their sins to animals without defect by laying their hands on them and killing them. The blood of animals made atonement for their sins. Countless animals without any blemish had to die because they bore people’s sins in their bodies.
 
And the animal sacrifice represents what Jesus would do to atone for our sins. Since a spirit can’t bleed or die, Jesus took a human body to bear our sins in His body and shed His blood to pay the ransom for our sins.
 
Before being arrested by soldiers, Jesus said to His disciples, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Mt 26:28)
 
That’s the foremost reason for the incarnation of Jesus—to shed His blood and suffer death for us. No one lives to die, but Jesus came to the world to die. He gave up His life to give us new life.
 
2. To Break the Power of Death and Satan
Let’s move on to the second reason for Jesus’ incarnation. Let’s read Hebrews 2:14 together.
 
“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death - that is, the devil” (Heb 2:14)
 
When the author of Hebrews talked about Jesus’ death, he intentionally used the verb ‘taste.’ What does it mean to ‘taste’ death? Death has absolute power, which means that no one can resist or overcome it. All people die, but death happens only once in our lifetime.
 
So, the verb ‘taste’ doesn’t seem to go with death since it is not repeatable.
 
But verse 9 says that Jesus only tasted death, which means that death couldn’t completely control or exercise its absolute power over Him. For everyone in the world, death is the last stop of their lives without exception. But Jesus’ death ultimately resulted in glorious victory because He overcame death by being resurrected.
 
By tasting death, and by being raised from the dead, Jesus broke the power of Satan, who holds the power of death. Sin, condemnation, and death are the strongest weapons Satan uses to make us afraid and to enslave us.
 
But the weapons lost their power when Jesus was resurrected and thus overcame the power of death. As Paul said, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1Co 15:55-57)
 
Now, we know that our physical death is not the end, but only the start of a new, eternal life because Jesus Himself showed us there’s an eternal life waiting for us after death through His death and resurrection.
 
That’s what we’re to keep in mind as Christians. Our lives in this world are temporary, but there’s eternal life waiting for us. If we truly believe that Jesus was raised to life and that there’s eternal life in Him, we won’t be afraid of anything in the world, not even death.
 
3. To Free Us from Death
This second reason leads us to the third reason. Jesus became human to taste death and to break the power of death by His resurrection. And by doing so, Jesus “[freed] those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Heb 2:15).
 
Hebrews chapter 2 describes our three enemies—sin, death, and Satan. Before we believed in Jesus, we were heading towards eternal death because of our sins. We were slaves to sin and Satan who captured us and controlled our lives with his powerful weapon, death.
 
But, the good news is that by becoming human, tasting death, and being resurrected from the dead, Jesus defeated all our enemies and has set us free from the reign of sin, the fear of death, and Satan.
 
Even though they still have a powerful impact on our lives, they can’t rule over us anymore because we’re now under God’s grace in Jesus Christ. So, we find true freedom and joy in Jesus. Jesus said,
 
“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (Jn 8:32)
 
4. To Make Atonement for the Sins of the People
Now, let’s move on to the fourth reason for Jesus’ incarnation. Let’s read Hebrews 2:17. “For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that… he might make atonement for the sins of the people” (Heb 2:17)
 
The fourth reason that Jesus became human was to make atonement for our sins like we talked about earlier.
 
Jesus had to take the form of a human body so that He could bear our sins in His body and die, shedding His blood, which makes atonement.
 
Just as the animals used for sacrifices in the Old Testament were cruelly killed, skinned, cut into pieces, and burned, Jesus Christ was crucified because He bore the sin of the world along with God’s curse, wrath, and judgment that were being poured out on the sin.
 
The prophet Isaiah foresaw Jesus’ suffering and prophesied,
 
“We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all… my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.” (Is 53:6, 11)
 
Because Jesus Christ made atonement through His own blood, not the blood of an animal, the effect of His sacrifice is eternal.  Now, all those who believe in Him and accept everything He did on the cross as the truth can experience true forgiveness of their sins. We don’t have to pay for our sins because they were already paid in full on the cross 2,000 years ago. As Paul said,
 
“God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood - to be received by faith.” (Rm 3:25) “in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col 1:14)
 
5. To Help Us
Now, let’s move on to the last reason for Jesus’ incarnation. Let’s read Hebrews 2:18 together. “Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (Heb 2:16, 18)
 
Another reason that Jesus became a human was to understand us by becoming like us. In the world, we encounter many difficulties and all kinds of suffering that make us frustrated. We’re also exposed to many temptations that make us lose sight of God.
 
And as weak human beings, we don’t have the power within us to overcome these temptations. We can’t stand on our own, so we always need a helper.
 
In that sense, Jesus is the perfect helper. He can perfectly understand our difficulties, emotions, and situations not only because He is God who knows everything but also because He Himself experienced all of them as a human.
 
Before starting His ministry in earnest, Jesus was tempted by Satan for forty days. Even though it may be different from what tempts us now, the essence is the same—it’s about whether or not we trust God, rely on Him, and surrender to Him in every situation.
 
Because Jesus also suffered and was tempted just as we are, He is able to perfectly understand and help us in our times of need. And He also showed us a perfect example of how to overcome our trials and temptations with the power of God’s word so that we can be victorious in every situation.
 
If there had been no incarnation of Jesus, we would have claimed that God can’t truly understand us because he is God who is essentially different from us. But the Bible says that our God can really understand us and help us because He was also tempted in every way as a human.
 
So whenever we become weary and frustrated because of our situations and temptations, we are to remember and proclaim that Jesus is not far from us but right here with us. He understands us and helps us in our times of need. Let’s read Hebrews 4:15-16 together.
 
“We do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Heb 4:15-16)
 
This is one of my favorite passages in the Bible. Whenever I face hard times, I remind myself of this passage. It reminds me that Jesus is truly able to empathize with me and that there’s nothing that He can’t understand. He even understands my weaknesses. He understands my deficiency.
 
And rather than rebuking me for my mistakes, failures, and sins, He always embraces me with His open arms and covers my sins with His blood. There are times that we may think that God couldn’t understand us or love us because of what we’ve done. We might think, “How can the holy God be with such a sinner and a troublemaker?”
 
But if that were true, Jesus wouldn’t have come to the world. The reason Jesus came into the world in human flesh was to understand us and help us in our times of need. We always need a helper and Jesus will never leave us but will be with us always. Amen.
 
So, we talked about what the incarnation of Jesus Christ is and why Jesus became like us in human form. He did it in order to taste death for us and break its power to set us free from it. Jesus became a human so that He could bear our sins in His body and pay the ransom for them through His blood and death and thus make atonement for our sins. Jesus became a human so that He could fully understand us and help us in our times of need.
 
This is Jesus whom we believe in. Today is the second Sunday of Advent when we remember and celebrate the coming of Jesus Christ into the world. I hope and pray that we all are filled with His love during this season so that we can better understand what He has done to save us and so that we can check our faith and build it up again on the foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
 
Let’s pray.
 
[Closing prayer]
Dear Lord, we can’t fully express how thankful we are for sending Your Son to save us. We can’t fully comprehend the salvation You achieved through Jesus Christ. So we just say, ‘thank You,’ because that’s the only thing for us to say.
 
We believe that Jesus became a human to make atonement for our sins and to die on the cross. We believe that He rose again from the dead and broke the power of sin, death, and Satan, and we believe that Jesus is able to completely understand us and help us in our times of need.
 
We thank You for every blessing that You’ve given us through Jesus Christ. Please allow us to know more about Him day by day until we reach the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
 
We love You, Lord.
We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. Amen.
 
[Reflection Questions]
1. We talked about 5 purposes of Jesus’ incarnation.
1) To taste death
2) To break the power of death and Satan
3) To free us
4) To make atonement for the sin of the world
5) To understand and help us
 
Out of the five reasons, which one resonates with you most today? Why?
 
2. Jesus’ incarnation is also a great example to follow as Christians. Even though we can’t incarnate like Jesus did, we can live incarnationally, following Jesus’ way. What do you think it means for us to live incarnationally? What are some ways for us to practice His incarnation in our lives?