And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. 1 Timothy 3:16
There is something that you and I share with the atheists. Of course, there is much that we disagree on. For example, they reject the truth most precious to us that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world (1 John 4:14). They reject our appreciation of the love of God that caused Him to give His only begotten Son (John 3:16), because they reject any concept of God altogether. Atheists will tell us that they cannot accept or understand how God could become a man and die for sinners. You and I do accept that God could – and did – become a man and die for sinners. But just like the atheists, we cannot understand it. It is only by faith that we accept it; it is a mystery, just as our text declares.
We do not argue with the atheists that the incarnation is a great mystery. But all of our hopes for time and eternity are based on the truth that God was manifest in the flesh. We who are great sinners before a holy and righteous God confess that we are unable of ourselves to stand before Him. So it is precious to us that a Man without sin stood before Him. ‘But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons’ (Galatians 4:4,5).
There was a time when the Lord Jesus was not a man. His humanity did not occur until the events recorded in Matthew and Luke concerning His birth. But there was never a time when His humanity was not part of God’s plan and commitment. Throughout the Old Testament are promises and pictures of His coming humanity, and of His vicarious suffering for our sins. And in the New Testament, we rejoice at the account of God being manifest in the flesh.
With the incarnation behind us, we reflect on Who the Lord Jesus is, what He became when He came into the world, and how He appears in Heaven. And we conclude that there will never be a time when He ceases being a man. The angels who addressed the disciples as they watched Him rise into the heavens declared that this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven (Acts 1:11). They had seen, after His resurrection, that He was not just a spirit, but a Man. They had touched Him, had watched Him eat, and had listened to His teaching. They knew that He was a living Man. And this same living Man is exalted in Heaven, where He intercedes for us every day.
There is a throne before which every atheist will stand, and they will all confess that God was manifest in the flesh. That confession will condemn them forever. The same confession that we make today assures that we are saved forever. – Jim MacIntosh