| CHAPTER 3 — IMMANUEL— GOD WITH US The Infinite Sacrifice God’s unwavering dedication to freedom would cost him dearly. Not only would it cost him untold pain and sorrow—it would cost him imprisonment in a finite body of his own creation. In order to be able to die, the eternal Creator would become a created being, and would bear throughout eternity his human form. The Almighty would become helpless, vulnerable, dependent on others for protection. He who hung the stars in space, who took a handful of dust and formed man, took a form where he would get tired, hungry, thirsty, feel pain. The Source of all knowledge would have to learn how to walk and talk. He would walk a lonely path, never understood by even his own family. Unto Us A Son Is Born “Before the world was created, the Word already existed; he was with God, and he was the same as God. From the very beginning the Word was with God. Through him God made all things; not one thing in all creation was made without him. The Word was the source of life, and this life brought light to mankind. The Word became a human being and, full of grace and truth, lived among us. We saw his glory, the glory which he received as the Father’s only Son.”[52] “Since the children, as he calls them, are people of flesh and blood, Jesus himself became like them and shared their human nature. He did this so that through his death he might destroy the Devil, who has the power over death.”[53] One of the three persons of the Godhead[54], the One we now call “the Son,” became a human being. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given... and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”[55] God became a man![56] Four thousand years had passed since the creation of the world, and God had faithfully recorded his dealings with mankind in the Old Testament. God had not always looked good in parts of the Old Testament—there are many actions that appeared at first glance support the enemy’s charges that God is arbitrary, vengeful, exacting, unforgiving and severe: the flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, turning Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt, opening the earth and swallowing people up, commands to destroy entire cities and leave alive nothing that breathed—the list goes on and on. Much like a loving father would raise his voice and shout at his children as they near the edge of a cliff, God had raised his voice for 4,000 years with his unruly children nearing disaster. He was never angry, but he had to appear so for people to take him halfway seriously. He hated having to use threats and all the drastic measures called for in the Old Testament. Satan had capitalized on the emergency measures God had taken to keep us from annihilating ourselves. Imagine him touring the universe with glee—“I told you so! This is what God is like—‘Love me, or I’ll drown you! Love me, or I’ll burn you! Love me, or I’ll turn you into a pillar of salt!” By the first century CE, the whole world was dark with misapprehension of God. But now would come the clearest demonstration of what God was really like. “In the past God spoke to our ancestors many times and in many ways through the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us through his Son.”[57] And it was not another, a lesser being that God was sending; God himself, the very one who had acted in the Old Testament[58], was coming so we could see firsthand what he was really like. “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory, and the exact representation of his being.”[59] The ruler of the universe, the One before whom mighty angels bow their faces in reverence, became a harmless and gentle little baby. And he remained that harmless and gentle all his life. Where were Satan’s accusations that he was arbitrary, vengeful and severe? Carefully choosing the circumstances of his earthly life, he was born relatively poor, and physically unattractive.[60] He came so humbly that the only authority he had was that he told the truth. He wanted only the beauty of truth and love to draw others to him. |
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| 52 John 1:1-4, 14 53 Hebrews 2:14 TEV 54 The third Person of the Godhead is known as "the Holy Spirit.” He is just as much a Person as the Father and Jesus. 55 Isaiah 9:6 56 see Hebrews 2:14, I John 3:18 57 Hebrews 1:1 GNB 58 I Corinthians 10:4; compare Nehemiah 9:6-21 with John 1:1-3 and Colossians 1:16 59 Hebrews 1:3 NIV 60 Isaiah 53:2 |
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