12/8/07
Carrying
Jesus
Luke 1:26-33
Mary’s Experience
Mary was a young woman, most
likely a teen. She was a simple person
but of great character and purity. She
was engaged to a man named Joseph, who was a young carpenter. In one night Mary’s world instantly became
both shattered and incredibly blessed forever.
This is because the angel Gabriel visited Mary, and gave her some news.
Six months earlier this same
Gabriel had visited Zacharias with similar news about his wife, Elizabeth, who
had been unable to have children.
Gabriel was fairly busy those days, you might say.
It must have been bittersweet
at first for Mary, to hear that she would conceive, and that she would carry
the “Son of the Highest.” For one thing,
in her time, and to some extent in our time as well, it was a disgrace for an
unmarried woman to become pregnant. It
usually resulted in the separation of the woman from her family indefinitely,
because of the shame and reproach it brought upon the family. And some times the woman was put to death for
the grievous sin.
So, for Mary to have
apprehension was natural. And yet,
because she was so accustomed to walking and talking with God, and listening to
His voice in Scripture, and putting into practice those things which she learned,
what we find is that Mary quickly forgets about her fears, and she surrenders
herself completely to the will of God.
What an example she is of how to respond to God’s Word.
“That Holy One”
When Mary asks the angel
Gabriel how this conception will come about, since she is not yet married, and
her relationship with Joseph is one of chastity and purity, Gabriel announces
to her just how this will be accomplished, in verse 35:
“And the angel answered and
said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the
Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born
will be called the Son of God.’” Luke
1:35
Mary learns that she is to be
“overshadowed” by the “power of the Highest” and that the Holy Spirit would
come upon her. This was to be a
supernatural happening. It wouldn’t
involve Joseph. And notice that baby
Jesus is referred to as “that Holy One.”
This was no normal conception, to be sure. Holiness was enveloping young Mary. She was carrying the Infinite Son of God
within her; One who had been with the Father from the ceaseless ages of
eternity past.
The Magnificat
The Magnificat is what we
have come to call Mary’s song of praise, in response to what is happening to
her. It’s taken from the Latin, and it means
to magnify or to give praise. She sings
this song of praise when she visits her relative
46 And Mary said:
“ My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 And my spirit
has rejoiced in God my Savior.
48 For He has
regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;
For behold, henceforth all generations will
call me blessed.
49 For He who is
mighty has done great things for me,
And holy is His name.
50 And His mercy is
on those who fear Him
From generation to generation.
51 He has shown
strength with His arm;
He has scattered the proud in the
imagination of their hearts.
52 He has put down
the mighty from their thrones,
And exalted the lowly.
53 He has filled the
hungry with good things,
And the rich He has sent away empty.
54 He has helped
His servant
In remembrance of His mercy,
55 As He spoke to
our fathers,
To Abraham and to his seed forever.”
Luke
1:46-55
Such were the words Mary used
to magnify the Lord. She realized what a
high privilege it was to carry Jesus, the Savior of the world.
“Lo, I Come . . .”
Even before our first parents
Adam and Eve fell, it had been the plan of God the Son to become one with the
human race, and to give His life as a sacrifice. It was the purpose of the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit to provide an atonement for our sins, and that this could
be accomplished only through the incarnation of the Son.
Incarnation is not talking
about sipping hot chocolate or drinking instant breakfast. Nor is it about flowers. Incarnation literally means, in the flesh (carne = flesh). Jesus wanted, indeed He HAD to experience
what we experience, suffer what we suffer, and be tempted as we are, in order
to forever silence the accusations of Satan.
You remember that Satan had accused God of several things:
1. God scares people into
serving Him, He doesn’t really love us
2. People who sin against God
have no right to be accepted by God
3. God’s law or government is
faulty; it won’t stand the test of time, and it cannot be kept
The incarnation solves these
issues powerfully. Out of love for us,
God sent His Son into the world to give His life as a Sacrifice for our
sins. As a result of our acceptance of
Jesus’ death for us personally, we are granted forgiveness of sins and are
given new life in Christ, and are blessed with eternal life! The Bible says that God does not have to
change anything about Himself or His law in the process of saving us:
“But now the righteousness of
God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the
Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through
faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is
no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom
God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to
demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over
the sins that were previously committed, 26 to
demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and
the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
Romans
3:21-26
God can still condemn sin,
because Jesus took upon Himself our sins.
He took our condemnation upon Himself.
And God can still uphold His law, because He didn’t have to change one
bit of it in order to justify us and accept us.
So in the incarnation, God is able to deal with the sin problem
completely. And He is able to silence
the enemy Satan, because Jesus Christ kept His Father’s law every day of His
life. In fact, He magnified the law in
His life.
Jesus was in the burning bush,
the pillar of cloud, pillar of fire. He
was the fiery presence in the
But He was chomping at the
bit, because He couldn’t wait to become one with us, in the incarnation!
“Sacrifice and offering
You did not desire,
But a body You have prepared for
6 In burnt
offerings and sacrifices for sin
You had no pleasure.
7 Then I said,
‘Behold, I have come—
In the volume of the book it is written
of Me—
To do Your will, O God.’”
Hebrews 10:5-7
This passage is taken from a
Messianic psalm, Psalm 40:6-8. Jesus was
ready to take upon Himself a body, to become one with us, to give us a powerful
example of how to live, and offer Himself as a sweet-smelling Sacrifice for our
sins before the Father. It was Jesus’
delight to do this for us. He had looked
forward to it for a very long time.
Incarnation: Theology
“In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2
He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made
through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5
And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
John
1:1-5
Jesus Christ, the logos, the
Word of God. He is one with the Father,
of the same essence of the Father, co-eternal with the Father. He is in fact Creator God. Over the centuries many heresies sprang up
trying to deal with both the divinity and the humanity of Jesus. Some of those
controversies and false beliefs are still alive and well today. But it is referred to as a “mystery” in the
Bible:
“And without controversy
great is the mystery of godliness:
God was manifested in the flesh,
Justified in the Spirit,
Seen by angels,
Preached among the Gentiles,
Believed on in the world,
Received up in glory.”
1 Timothy 3:16
If it’s called a “mystery of
godliness,” then we can at best understand the basics of it probably. It’s profound. Just how does Almighty God become a human
being? It’s OK. We don’t have to know exactly how He did it. We just
need to believe that He did it!
John continues in verse 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.”
John
1:14
Jesus Christ is fully God and
fully man. This is important in order
for Him to truly save us. This is
important in order for Him to truly be our Example.
Unique to Christianity
The idea of God becoming a
part of His creation, as the incarnation involves, is unheard of in all of the
other world religions. The only thing
that comes close to it is Hinduism and the North American version of Hinduism
called the New Age Movement. It is
taught that we can be a part of the universal divine spirit through
transcendental meditation, which involves losing all of one’s sense of
personhood and having no thoughts at all.
This is actually a Satanic counterfeit to the very real incarnation of
Jesus Christ, who didn’t wait for us to try to elevate ourselves up to where He
was, but who instead came down right to where we are, and took upon Himself a
real body.
Christianity is the only
world religion that teaches that God would do something so drastic, so
unbelievable, so unselfish as to become one with His creations.
Incarnation: The Wearable Jesus
It gets even better the more
we get into the incarnation. For you
see, Jesus didn’t stop at the cross. He
wanted us to know that His intention is to live inside every believer, and to
live out His righteousness and love in the believer. In this sense, we all have the privilege of
carrying Jesus, if you will.
The apostle Paul was so
excited about this kind of incarnation, that he couldn’t stop talking about the
“mystery” that it really is:
“…the mystery which has been
hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.
To them God
willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the
Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Colossians
1:26-27
It was a divine mystery that
Jesus the Son would take upon Himself a body.
It was also a mystery kept secret for generations, that the Lord Jesus
would actually indwell His people, through His Holy Spirit.
This is
something so dramatic, so powerful, so life-changing that the devil definitely
does not want you or me to believe it, grasp it, or allow it. He knows that if we allow Jesus to live out
His life within us, his kingdom of darkness and deception will have no power
over us, and we will be a formidable foe of his.
Look for a moment at how the
servant of the Lord described the power of holiness and obedience, and why the
devil is scared. From the book Christian Experience and Teachings:
“Ministers
and all the church, let this be our language, from hearts that respond to the
great goodness and love of God to us as a people and to us individually,
"Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and forever." "Ye
that stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God,
praise the Lord; for the Lord is good: sing praises unto His name; for it is
pleasant. For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto Himself, and
Satan
has a large confederacy, his church. Christ calls them the synagogue of Satan
because the members are the children of sin. The members of Satan’s church have
been constantly working to cast off the divine law, and confuse the distinction
between good and evil. Satan is working with great power in and through the
children of disobedience, to exalt treason and apostasy as truth and loyalty.
And at this time the power of his satanic inspiration is moving the living
agencies to carry out the great rebellion against God that commenced in heaven.
{CET 207}
At
this time the church is to put on her beautiful garments,--"Christ our
righteousness." There are clear, decided distinctions to be restored and
exemplified to the world in holding aloft the commandments of God and the faith
of Jesus. The beauty of holiness is to appear in its native luster in contrast
with the deformity and darkness of the disloyal, those who have revolted from
the law of God. Thus we acknowledge God, and recognize His law, the foundation
of His government in heaven and throughout His earthly dominions. His authority
should be kept distinct and plain before the world; and no laws are to be
acknowledged that come in collision with the laws of Jehovah. If in defiance of
God’s arrangements the world be allowed to influence our decisions or our
actions, the purpose of God is defeated. However specious the pretext, if the
church waver here, there is written against her in the books of heaven a
betrayal of the most sacred trusts, and treachery to the
The
Lord has provided His church with capabilities and blessings, that they may
present to the world an image of His own sufficiency, and that His church may
be complete in Him, a continual representation of another, even the eternal
world, of laws that are higher than earthly laws. His church is to be a temple
built after the divine similitude, and the angelic architect has brought his
golden measuring rod from heaven, that every stone may be hewed and squared by the
divine measurement, and polished to shine as an emblem of heaven, radiating in
all directions the bright, clear beams of the Sun of Righteousness. The church
is to be fed with manna from heaven, and to be kept under the sole guardianship
of His grace. Clad in complete armor of light and righteousness, she enters
upon her final conflict. The dross, the worthless material, will be consumed,
and the influence of the truth testifies to the world of its sanctifying,
ennobling character. . . . {CET 208}
The
Lord Jesus is making experiments on human hearts through the exhibition of His
mercy and abundant grace. He is effecting transformations so amazing that
Satan, with all his triumphant boasting, with all his confederacy of evil
united against God and the laws of His government, stands viewing them as a
fortress impregnable to his sophistries and delusions. They are to him an
incomprehensible mystery. The angels of God, seraphim and cherubim, the powers
commissioned to co-operate with human agencies, look on with astonishment and
joy, that fallen men, once children of wrath, are through the training of
Christ developing characters after the divine similitude, to be sons and
daughters of God, to act an important part in the occupations and pleasures of
heaven. {CET 208}
To
His church, Christ has given ample facilities, that He may receive a large
revenue of glory from His redeemed, purchased possession. The church, being
endowed with the righteousness of Christ, is His depository, in which the
wealth of His mercy, His love, His grace, is to appear in full and final
display. The declaration in His intercessory prayer, that the Father’s love is
as great toward us as toward Himself, the only-begotten Son, and that we shall
be with Him where He is, forever one with Christ and the Father, is a marvel to
the heavenly host, and it is their great joy. The gift of His Holy Spirit,
rich, full, and abundant, is to be to His church as an encompassing wall of
fire, which the powers of hell shall not prevail against. In their untainted
purity and spotless perfection, Christ looks upon His people as the reward of
all His suffering, His humiliation, and His love, and the supplement of His
glory,--Christ, the great center from which radiates all glory. "Blessed
are they which are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb." {CET 209}
Indeed,
God wants to empower His people to live in such a way that “transformations so
amazing” occur, to the extent that Satan and his host find our lives to be
impregnable, untouchable, unconquerable fortresses of grace.
The
Lord Jesus, living out His life in us, can elevate us to heights unimaginable!
“Higher than the highest
human thought can reach is God’s ideal for His children.
Godliness--godlikeness--is the goal to be reached. Before the student there is
opened a path of continual progress. He has an object to achieve, a standard to
attain, that includes everything good, and pure, and noble. He will advance as
fast and as far as possible in every branch of true knowledge. But his efforts
will be directed to objects as much higher than mere selfish and temporal
interests as the heavens are higher than the earth.”
Education, 18-19
All of this is possible
because God is willing to live within us! The incarnation
continues! It hasn’t ever stopped! If
we allow Him in to every part of our lives; if we allow Jesus to throw His
weight around, and to have His way with our thoughts, our behavior, our time,
our attention, our diet, our favorite sins—if we allow Him to show us what areas of our lives need His help the
most, HE WILL TAKE US WHERE WE ARE AT, AND BLEND HIS HEART WITH OURS:
“And if we consent, He will
so identify Himself with our thoughts and aims, so blend our hearts and minds
into conformity to His will, that when obeying Him we shall be but carrying out
our own impulses. The will, refined and sanctified, will find its highest
delight in doing His service. When we know God as it is our privilege to know
Him, our life will be a life of continual obedience. Through an appreciation of
the character of Christ, through communion with God, sin will become hateful to
us.”
Desire of Ages, 668
What
an incredible statement! I first read
that statement as a teen. It has never
left me. I am still amazed and blown
away by what God is willing to do for me, if I let Him.
Can
you imagine being able to obey God and live a righteous life simply by carrying out our own impulses? How’s that for a change? Since when are our impulses anything but
selfish and sinful? But God is able to
do it, my friend. In fact, He can do it
best with the weakest of people! That’s
because people who know they’re weak know that they need help. The fact is we are all weak, but we don’t all
admit it.
That’s
the power of the incarnation. “Christ in
you, the hope of glory.” That’s exactly
what Jesus wants very much to do for us.
That’s exactly what Satan is scared to death about.
Incarnation: Implications for Ministry
Because
of Christ’s incarnation, He has modeled for us not only how to depend on God
the Father for strength and for power to live a new life. He has also modeled for us how to reach
people for the
How
did Jesus engage in ministry? How did He
do evangelism? How did He engage in
soul-winning? The answer is quite simple,
but before we find an answer, I want you to close your eyes for a few moments
and picture Jesus going about His ministry of teaching and healing and
conversing. Picture Him at the well, at
Peter’s mother-in-law’s house, in the boat on the lake, at the marketplace,
with Nicodemus under a tree, in the synagogue, in Martha’s living room . . .
What
did you see? Did you see Jesus hanging
out with people wherever they live and
work and chill? Then you have the
answer.
“Christ’s method alone will
give true success in reaching the people. The Saviour mingled with men as one
who desired their good. He showed His sympathy for them, ministered to their
needs, and won their confidence. Then He bade them, "Follow Me."
Ministry of Healing, 143
Jesus did a lot of
mingling. To Him, ministry was a way of
life. So should it be for us. Our mission field is wherever we are. An
incarnational ministry will carry us into the lives of people, so that we
befriend them, show them we authentically care, and earn their trust.
We are really an extension of
Jesus Christ to the people in our lives.
Our very presence in these people’s lives gives Jesus the opportunity to
walk around with them, the way He once did.
He would like to continue that kind of ministry of mingling. He does it these days through us.
We don’t wait for people to
come to us; we go to them. We don’t wait
until they are perfect or just like us in every way before we love on them; we
love them as they are. We don’t expect
them to have the same tastes or habits as we do; we accept them.
An incarnational emphasis in
outreach means that we try to look through the eyes of unchurched people at
church, worship, liturgy. Incarnational
means we consider the needs of the people we are trying to reach, and start
there. Incarnational means that we
become the best friend we can be to someone, without participating in their
sin. If we do that, then they have influenced us, and we haven’t
helped them at all. Incarnational means
we come beside a person in his/her life situation, and simply love them in a
practical manner. Then we begin to show
them that God is a Healer, and that He can show them a better, happier way.
And so let us allow Jesus to
live within us through His Holy Spirit, so that we can be a living example of a
changed life, which is extremely attractive to people. And let us resolve to engage in ministry as a
way of life, as the Jesus loves people through us.