The scripture is taken from the New Living Translation.
Oh the Blessed Condescension of Christ, the birth of God’s Son, coming down to earth, even though he had everything perfect in heaven, he chose to come down to us to save us. Oh how incredibly blessed we are....how could we have ever lived without this blessed coming of our Savior? We couldn’t!!
“The scriptures tell us, “The first man, Adam, became a living person.” But the last Adam—that is, Christ—is a life-giving Spirit. What comes first is the natural body, then the spiritual body comes later. Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, and heavenly people are like the heavenly man. Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like the heavenly man.” 1 Cor. 15:45-49
God came down. He came as a life-giving Spirit in the form of Jesus, a perfect human being. “For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body [in him dwells all the completeness of the Godhead bodily].” Col. 2:9 He could have stayed in heaven but “instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.” Phil 2:7 “So the Word became human [became flesh] and made his home among us.” God dwelt among us, the ones He created, He made His home among us! Even though this world was full of darkness and man was doing their own thing, ignoring God and they had not heard a fresh word from God in 400 years, at this point the fullness of God came down to this world....Wow! “He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness [full of grace and truth]. And we have seen His glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.” John 1:14 “The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.” Heb. 1:3
God said “I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier, because he exposed himself to death. He was counted among the rebels. He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.” I sa. 53:12 Jesus interceded for me! A rebellious teenager and adult, a sinner...he interceded for me and for you so that we would not have to spend eternity apart from him but with HIM forever!
“When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.” Phil. 2:8 Oh my Jesus, was completely obedient to his Father, his Abba. “He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.” Isa. 53:7 And even though “God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.” 2 Cor. 5:6 They still arrested him cause they hated him so. They could not bear the perfectness of Christ and hated him for pointing out all their religiosity and their hardened hearts. Christ did not allow their pious views to change who he was or what he came to do. So even though the glory of God shone in him, “they spit in Jesus’ face and beat him with their fists. And some slapped him.” Matt. 17:2 Even though “as men watched, Jesus’ appearance was transformed so that his face shone like the sun, and his clothes because white as light.” Matt. 17:2 They treated my Lord as a hardened criminal rather than the Son of God. But don’t you see? This needed to happen in order for the Scriptures to be fulfilled, in order for Christ to save mankind by dying on the cross, in order for us to be given the gift of eternal life! This all needed to happen this way.
“He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him.” John 1:10-11 They took him out to the hill called Golgotha and nailed him to a cross. “By the time it was noon, and darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. The light from the sun was gone. And suddenly, the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn down the middle.” Luke 23:44-45 He asked the Father to “forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” And he gave up his spirit and died on that cross that Thursday so many years ago. He died for me and he died for you. “He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. BUT to ALL who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.” John 1:10-14 Oh Hallelujah!! What a Savior! Hallelujah what a Savior!
“The Blessed Condescension, the stooping down of God – to stoop down to us and take on flesh. (Beth Moore)
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