December 14 | The Incarnation
John 1:14-18 (NKJV)
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ”
16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
God incarnate, full of grace and truth, gives us great cause to praise Him. When we recognize Jesus for who He who is we also see something of the glory of God. Every one of us is the recipient of the grace and truth of God. To each of us God has extended His fullness in the person of Jesus Christ. We all have received God’s fullness and blessing on top of blessing. God is not a stingy God! He so loved the world that whosoever believes in His Son Jesus might be saved.
The incarnation of Jesus did for us what the Law could not do. The law could only make demands. It gave no life, but Jesus “Came that we might have life and have it more abundantly!” Our salvation was purchased with His rich, royal blood on Calvary, blood that was offered as the payment for our sins, blood that was only made possible because of the incarnation. What is the ultimate purpose of the incarnation? To present us unblameable and unreprievable before Almighty God and that’s only going to happen if we continue to grow in Christ and that’s only possible because Jesus freely extended His grace and truth to us. It would have been one thing for God incarnate to show up and show off but He didn’t. He gave His all for our redemption.
In this Advent Season, let us once again reflect upon the undeniable fact that truth reveals our sin, but grace forgives it. Jesus fully embodied all of that as He came the first time at Christmas and dwelt among us and that He freely extended that fullness to all humanity. One day soon, Jesus is coming again so that all who believe in Him will dwell with Him for eternity.
—Rev. Lou Gulliano