By Lynda McKinney Lambert<\/strong><\/p>\n December 25, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Please enjoy <\/strong>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=M7670CXvPX0<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n It is documented in the ancient historical accounts that Jesus is God\u2019s son, who was born of a woman. This is the reason we celebrate Christmas annually for over 2,000 years. We celebrate because we understand that God fulfilled the prophecies and promises made to the Israelites, that he would send his son to them to be their deliverer.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Also, these scriptures clearly state that Jesus is God. We can read in Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament, that in the beginning, before the creation of the world, there is a conversation between the 3 parts of the God-head. The Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit existed and created all that is.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is the Incarnation \u2013 the in-dwelling of the divine, inside of Mary\u2019s body. She safely carried her baby who was both human and divine, and delivered him on that miraculous night in Bethlehem.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n David Mathas writes, Deairing God – Read it here!<\/a><\/p>\n (The articles on this site are fantastic. Below is a quote from him.)<\/p>\n The doctrine of the incarnation claims that the eternal second person of the Trinity took on humanity in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. A helpful way to remember the key aspects of the incarnation is the summary statement of\u00a0John 1:14<\/a>: \u201cThe Word became flesh.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Christians have puzzled over this for centuries. It is normal to struggle to understand how the relationship between God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit works. The Trinity existed before the foundations of the world. They are outside of time. They have no beginning, middle or end. Now, that is hard to grasp, isn\u2019t it! As finite creatures it is difficult for humans to understand that which is infinite. Our minds cannot grasp what it means to have no beginning and no end. Eternity.<\/p>\n Do you recall at some point in your life, you were learning how to count? Did the time ever come when you realized you could never come to the end of counting?<\/p>\n I have heard someone say at one time that when he realized there was no end to the numbers and he could go on counting forever, he was overwhelmed with this realization. How can we grasp it with our human mind?<\/p>\n When I was a small child, I often tried to think about what life is as I lie awake in my bed at night. I thought about eternity and tried to imagine what it is. This was a puzzle to my child\u2019s brain and to be honest, it is a puzzle to my well-educated, well-read, brain. I am a finite creation. I have a beginning-of-life story. Now, in my seventh decade of life, I am often aware of mortality as friends and family members are no longer here with us. I think about how I, too, am moving toward my own end-of-life story. As humans, we seem to have a linear timeline and we consider our past, live in our present, and hope for our future.<\/p>\n I think the most exciting verse in the entire Bible is this:<\/p>\n And\u00a0the Word became flesh<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0and dwelt\u00a0among us<\/strong><\/em>, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten\u2026.–The Greek word means “tabernacled<\/strong><\/em>.\u201d John 1: 14.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n We can understand the meaning of God coming to earth as a baby. Mary\u2019s body became a tabernacle of God. God dwelled inside of Mary. She was carrying God inside of her \u2013 in the form of Jesus who is The Word. This was planned in eternity, before anything was created by The Trinity.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jesus became human<\/em>\u00a0so that he could enter into our world and\u00a0die for humans<\/em>. The Bible treats this as something to marvel at: … Jesus Christ \u2018though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.\u2019 (Philippians 2:6-8<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The actual\u00a0 mechanics \u00a0of how God had a human son are not explained to us, but we are left in no doubt that Mary\u2019s conception and pregnancy are miraculous.<\/p>\n We can read chapter 1 of the gospel of Luke to see the angel tell Mary that she will fall pregnant. The gospel of John, which is written in symbolic language at the beginning, speaks about \u2018the Word becoming flesh\u2019. \u2018 This makes it clear that Jesus is the eternal God becoming human.<\/p>\n Deuteronomy 6:4<\/a>,\u00a0Galatians 1:1<\/a>,<\/p>\n John 1:1-18<\/a>, and\u00a0Matthew 28:19<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the book of John, Jesus explains himself. We can get the picture of the whole gospel and how it builds together our picture of the relationship of the Son to the Father, especially as the Son came to earth as a man to reveal the Father to us.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In the Incarnation I can see something that is unique and true about God.<\/p>\n God wanted to live in a human form in order to fellowship with us. This means that when we accept Jesus into our life, ask him to come and indwell us, to live in us, and to be a part of us \u2013 he does! Our God is the God who lives INSIDE \u00a0of us. He is not out there in space or beyond our reach or knowing. He is not \u201cthe Universe,\u201d but is the creator of the entire universe and that includes humanity. When we ask God to be with us, he enters into our very being \u2013 becomes a part of us, indwells us. We are no longer only flesh and blood, but we are a dwelling place for God as the Holy Spirit as well. We are complete, as we were created to be in the beginning.<\/p>\n I will bring this essay to a final thought from my own life story. In the summer of 1973, we hosted 2 people who had come from Vietnam to stay with us for a short weekend. Don and Alta Warren \u00a0were the missionaries who lived for a number of years in Vung Tau, Vietnam. My husband, Bob, and I adopted a little boy through their help. Our new son, Robert Andrew Lambert, \u00a0arrived in the US on December 28, 1972. They \u00a0came to visit us and him that summer. Before they left, the woman gave me a little book she thought I would like. The book is Come Away, My Beloved<\/em>, by Frances J. Roberts. (Copyright 1970.) While reading this book, I began to feel the presence of Jesus and I was deeply moved. Bob and I gave our life to Jesus in October, just 3 months after Don and Alta visited us.<\/p>\n I’ve always loved to read philosophy and personal life stories. That summer I was also reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book, The Cost of Discipleship.<\/em>\u00a0 I was being prepared to make a decision that would change my life forever, but I did not know that yet. Here’s what I read in Bonhoeffer’s book:<\/p>\n The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. It is that dying of the old man which is the result of his encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death\u2014we give over our lives to death. Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u2015\u00a0Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
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<\/a><\/p>\nHow can Jesus be both God and God\u2019s son?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
Before any human was created, there was <\/span><\/h2>\n
\u201cThe Word.\u201d <\/span><\/h2>\n
The Word is the Trinity \u2013 God.<\/span><\/h2>\n
WHY did Jesus come to the earth?<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n
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What does this mean to me?<\/span><\/h2>\n
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