Tuesday: The God Who Became One With Us
Daily Lesson for Tuesday 3rd of October 2023
The Old Testament presents how the Creator began to implement a plan through a people who were supposed to represent His nature and purpose to the world. Everything God did was according to His missionary strategy. Through the prophet Isaiah, God said: “ ‘I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, . . . saying, “My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure” ’ ” (Isaiah 46:9-10, NASB).
Image © Jim Gerlitz at Goodsalt.com
In the New Testament, however, God’s desire to be with humanity takes a new dimension. Through Christ’s incarnation, what was only a promise in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:15) becomes a reality.
Read the narrative of the announcement of Jesus’ birth in Matthew 1:18-23. What essential things does this account tell us about God?
“God with us.” Immanuel. God had dwelt among His people within the sanctuary, and now He dwelt with them in the physical person of Jesus of Nazareth. Indeed, with the birth of Jesus, God presented in concrete ways His continuous desire to be with us in nature and mission: the Son of God was fully human and fully divine, and He is the One who affirmed, “ ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me’ ” (John 14:6, NKJV).
Read John 1:14-18. What can you learn from Christ’s incarnation about God’s mission to us?
God moved forward with His mission and then, through Jesus Christ, was present in the flesh among His children. The “one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14, NIV), fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies and, in accordance with the divine plan, became one with us, God in human flesh. The God of mission was continuing to accomplish His purpose.
Think what it means that God’s love for us is so great that He would come to us in our own humanity. How should we respond to this love, especially in terms of mission to others?
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Most religions have more in common than we like to admit sometimes. Typically there is some belief that there is a supernatural being or beings who is/are in charge. There is the promise of some sort of eternal state of bliss. And there is an admonition and a moral framework for behaving yourself. Generally, eternal bliss in the future is linked to compliance with rules for behaving yourself in the present life.
However, there is a fundamental difference between Christianity and most other religions. Christianity's salvation is a gift and not a reward. That statement seems so obvious to us because most of us have just finished studying Ephesians where Paul says:
The really important thing about Christianity is that God came among us to give us this gift. C S Lewis highlights how important this is in his book, "Mere Christianity":
God became man to save us. This was not "action at a distance". it was participation and involvement.
An important corollary to this is the notion that salvation is not just a hope for eternity, it is a state of being now. Importantly, one of Jesus' names is "Emmanuel"; "God with us". He did not come to earth to show us how to be saved. He came to be one with us and save us. And that is the shocking difference between Christianity and most other religions.
God will always stand up for us because we are his special creation
We can only respond to someone's love if we know and feel love. Love has been rare and sometimes misunderstood. I could not deprive myself today from citing Paul:
"Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance... Three things will last forever - faith, hope, and love - and the greatest of these is love." (1 Corinthians 13:4-7,13)
I remember my first experience with God and His Presence: I took what, Norman Vincent Peale, said in his book, "The Power of Positive Thinking," where he very clearly stated that there was power in using the name of Jesus in our prayers. I was about 21 years of age then. I do not remember much about the details here but I do remember that when I was done with my prayer after making sure that I included Jesus' name on it, I felt a presence of spiritual power that I had not experienced before. Then, yeas later, when I was about 28 years of age, I attended a Seminar that taught the "Principles of the Prayer of Faith," in seven lessons and took seven weeks, one lesson per week; all Bible and Ellen WHite based information to the lessons. Since then, God has blessed me and still blesses me and I experience God's Presence each and every day.
He is always here with us, Pete... We have to restore this sensitivity lost because of our sinful nature! And there are so many ways to do that; prayer is one of the most effective! Gaze at nature, the human body, and the stars; God's signature is present in every inch of His creation! How about a man falling in love with a woman? What a diverse and infinite God we have!
So, Mr. JC Zielak, do you feel that there are many ways other than Jesus and His name in our prayers to restore your so called "God's presence in every inch of His creation?"
I do accept that i worship the living God ,real God so Christianity is real religion because we worship God who is with us for ever and ever