|
The Incarnation of God by Esther Swyer
I've been thinking fo the Incarnation - when God became man - and all that it means to us.
Wondering - and these questions come to mind. What did it mean to
God the Father - or to God the Son before He took on human flesh?
What did it cost Him? When did that cost begin? Why was it
necessary? Why couldn't it have been anyone else?
And I find myself thinking how we have made the story of Jesus' birth
almost like a "children's" story - "just another of the Biblical stories
that we often use to teach a lesson to children. I believe we adults
have lost some of the wonder of that blessed story - perhaps because it
has become so familiar we've stopped really thinking about all that it
means, and how, and why it happened.
We've focused on the "Baby
Jesus", the shepherds, the wise men, even Mary and Joseph, and Jesus
Himself, as He grew up. But we don't think much about God the
Father's part in it, or how much it cost Him to send/give His Son to us -
for that is what He did - He gave Him as a sacrifice for us, and to us,
just as much as Jesus gave Himself. I find myself thinking about
Abraham offering up Isaac - perhaps a type of God the Father offering
Jesus?
And what about what it must have meant to Jesus, before He became Jesus, when He was
only known as God the Son? What must it have cost Him to agree to
come? For He, unlike Isaac, knew what it would mean - how much the cost
would be to Himself. He knew He would have to die. And what's more,
He and the Father and the Holy Spirit all knew what all this would mean
"from the foundation of the world".
There is another thought - I believe we have put too much "distance between the "story" of the Baby Jesus
being born, and the Man, Jesus dying on that cross. In the life of Jesus
there was 33 years between Christmas and Easter as He walked this earth - but in
our hearts and minds - even more, in our spiritual understanding of His purpose
in coming, the two events should be inseparably linked. He came to
die. The in-between years are simply the way it happened.
Jesus
had to grow up and become a man, experiencing all that would mean - suffering,
pain, joy, laughter, love, friendships, rejection, - everything that we as human
beings experience, in order for Him to become our perfect representative - in
order that He might become the Perfect Sacrifice on our behalf. In Jesus,
God Himself lived a fully human life. Colossians 2:9 says, "In Him the
whole fulness of Deity (the Godhead) continues to dwell in bodily form - giving
complete expression of the Divine Nature." - the Amplified Bible.
Yet as a human being Jesus had to grow and learn just as we do.
Hebrews 5:8 says, He learned obedience by the things which He suffered."
Imagine the Son of God having to learn how to obey His Father!
Imagine He had to learn also to depend on the Holy Spirit for His
strength, and guidance, as He walked those years. Think about Him as
He prayed in the garden, and sweat those drops of blood - then later went
mute to the cross - as a sacrificial lamb. Think about that final
cry - "It is finished" - what else could it mean than that He had
completed all He came to do? That task began with His conception in
Mary's womb, and ended on that cross. It was not just that act of
sacrifice. His whole life on this earth was a part of that sacrifice
- the cross was only the completion of it.
How can we separate Christmas and Easter? We cannot fully understand
one without the other. The wonder and joy of Christmas should
culminate in the wonder, awe, praise and gratitude of Easter. Why
was it necessary? How could it be otherwise?
about the author
Esther Swyer was born in Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia. The eldest of eight children she married at twenty-one and promptly had six children. She became a Christian in October of 1958 at the age of twenty-five and was baptised in December of that year. She began teaching a Sunday School class of a dozen nine to ten year olds in 1961 or 1962 and has been teaching various age groups ever since.
Esther began teaching adults and leading Bible studies sometime in the seventies. She became involved in WMS in the late sixties and held various positions over the years, then in the early to mid-seventies she started serving on the Association Council. On top of all that she was involved for many years in ladies retreats serving as small groups director for around twenty years. Currently Esther is president of the WMS on the Association level, treasurer of her church, adult ladies class teacher, and is completing her third year as a church deacon.
Her first marriage ended after twenty-two years. She re-married thirteen years later in December 1988 and was widowed in June of 2000. She has eighteen grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Esther has just published a book about her spiritual journey.