Incarnation

Definition; the appearance of God as a human

The incarnation of Jesus the Son of God is recorded for us in two of the Gospels, Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 1:26-38 (we’ll look at Luke’s account)

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.
The angel went to her and said,
“Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.”
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.
But the angel said to her,
“Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favour with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered,
“The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.”
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.”
Then the angel left her. Luke 1:26 - 38

When we think about this account, we begin to understand that Jesus’ incarnation took place directly through God’s triune sovereign action, in and through the virgin Mary!
By God’s triune action, Jesus the Son of God, the Word, became flesh just as John described it in his Gospel.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

John's words remind us that, God the Son, really did become human. The incarnation wasn’t some temporary donning of human form by God the Son, rather the Son permanently added to himself a human nature by the agent of the Holy Spirit through Mary! i.e. being born. The Son humbled himself allowing himself to be born into our world as Immanuel, which means 'God with us'

And the wonderful thing is that in human form, Jesus the Son, lived, breathed and walked among us, experiencing a full human life, not just on this earth, but forevermore!

And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.
He is alive today seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven. Luke 2:52

But sadly today many people reject the virgin conception and birth, and they do it at great cost to their immortal souls!

Scripture teaches the incarnation, and we affirm it every time we say the Church’s Creeds. As we proclaim, 'this is our faith' we do it simply because the Bible presents Jesus to us as the 'divine Son' who became our sinless Adam (human) that we read about in Hebrews 4:14-15.

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.

The virgin conception and birth is theologically sound and part of God’s eternal plan for the salvation of humanity that's centred on the coming of the promised Messiah Jesus.

Have a great advent, and God bless,
Trev.