She Reads Truth: EmmanuelSample

Reflection

“It had to happen this way. Only in the complete identification with our flesh could Christ be the second Adam, the perfect man that Adam was not.” - Joseph “Skip” Ryan

“For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” - John 1:17, ESV

The Word always was. He “was” in the beginning. He was with God and He was God. He was life, He was the light of men.

And then.

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. (John 1:14a, ESV)

It is not an easy thing to wrap one’s head around, that Christ, the Word, has no past or future tense. He always was, He always will be. St. Augustine said of Christ, “He ‘was’ before his own flesh; he created his own mother. He chose her in whom he should be conceived, he created her of whom he should be created.” Wow. My mind reels at the thought.

And it only gets crazier from here.

Not only did He come to us - a living version of the Old Testament tabernacle where God literally dwelt with His people - He became us.

When Christ put on our flesh, He put on our weakness. The immortal put on the whole of mortality for us.

It had to happen like this. We had to have a substitution. The law of God’s holiness had to be fulfilled.

And it would be, but not by us.

Prayer

Jesus, thank you for being who we could not be. Thank you for entering into the messiness that is human life so that you could know, in the flesh, all that we know in our lives. Thank you for understanding us, for loving us, for being our good standing before our holy God. Thank you. Amen.

Advent Action

Write down all of the things you secretly believe give you a right standing before God. Then thank the Lord that your salvation does not depend on any of those things, but on His grace alone.

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