“Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!”
God in the flesh. The purest of God and the purest of man. The incarnation of our Lord has been a stumbling block for many as their mortal minds cannot conceive of God condescending to take a human form for 33 years and yet fully retaining the God characteristics He has possessed for an eternity.
The incarnation of Christ displays the depth of the riches, wisdom and knowledge of God in that He initiated the process whereby He could both redeem man and destroy the devil. Now while there is a complete theological argument for the incarnation, there is also a beautiful yet simple argument that satisfies the lover of Christ.
I know God because the man Jesus reveals him to me. We are told by scripture that Christ is the express image of the person of God. (Colossians 1:15) Likewise, “God who commanded the light to shine out to darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God IN THE FACE OF JESUS CHRIST.” (II Corinthians 4:6) I see Jesus and I see God! Therefore, the incarnation is both priceless and timeless.
Think for a moment about a cross section of our Savior’s life as a man. As a babe, angels broke the silence of a serene evening as they joyfully announced to the world “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.” The same night a star was born to illuminate the manger with God’s approval of His Son.
As a man, thousands came to hear him, beggars accosted him and lepers asked for and received cleansing. A woman who was a sinner wiped his feet with her hair and John could feel and hear the heartbeat of the Savior as he pressed hard upon his breast. The traitor, Judas, betrayed him with a kiss. And later that night, Jesus experienced abuse to his body beyond torture and he was nailed mercilessly to a cross. After the resurrection, Mary held to his feet and Thomas was free to feel the nail prints and thrust his hand into the wounded side of the Son of man.
It has been said that one demonstration is worth 1000 arguments and the incarnation proves just that. In the face of Jesus, we find the precious heart of God seeking lost humanity with unselfish and limitless love and mercy. As I see Jesus I am led to the presence of God.
For most, it is easier to learn through the eye-gate of our understanding than through the ear-gate. Geometry is illustrated by drawings; arithmetic by written numbers and geography cannot be learned without maps. Even stories need to be illustrated with pictures.
In a much deeper sense, the face of Jesus is the convincing illustration of God’s love. On his face I see God’s love, anger, compassion and acceptance as he moved among the people. On his face I see and feel the forgiveness of my sin which I so desperately need. His outstretched arms on the cross are a visible map of God’s compassion in the geography of the world. No mathematics could ever compute for us the awful price of sin and the proof that the ultimate price was paid like the visible torrent of blood that gushed out from the wounded side of my Savior or the trickle that ran down his face, his hands and his feet!
“Behold the man!” cried Pilate. I never knew that God loved me until I beheld His Son. I never knew that I could approach God until Jesus touched me. I never knew the great Son of Man longed to forgive me, until I heard his human voice cry from the cross: “Father forgive them!”
Pastor Chester Jones, Calvary Bible Chapel
