The Word Became Flesh - Part 2

The truth that the Word became flesh is the distinguishing mark of biblical orthodoxy – the foundation of our salvation (1 John 4:1-3). It not only grounds us firmly on doctrine that is connected with our salvation; it also brings us comfort.

If a man had become God, it speaks of human potential in spiritual terms, but it would bring stress to all of us. How can we achieve the same? But the truth is: God became a man – and what a comforting truth that is! It means that the heart of Christian experience is not human effort, but divine grace. It means that we worship not a God who is far away, or even if He is sympathetic to our plight, He does not fully understand what human beings actually go through. No, for

“we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our

weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just

as we are – yet was without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).

Jesus as God, through His experience as Jesus the Man, knows all about human suffering. He faced all kinds of evil in this world, the same kinds we all face: natural, human and demonic. He has a firsthand experience of poverty, rejection, betrayal, human treachery and hypocrisy, loneliness, grief, physical exhaustion and suffering. What a God! A God who is not only beyond us, but who also chose to be with us – a divine Messiah who comes into our human mess.

No one need suffer alone in this troubled world. God has come in the flesh, to walk with us. He walks alongside us and looks at us with understanding eyes of compassion. Think of all the people who are suffering in this world today, through natural disasters, personal tragedies, social evils and injustice – the Word became flesh for them, for all of us. At times, we may feel that our personal and social worlds are going out of control, like a runaway train. But God has come to be

with us.

In a sermon he preached in America in 2005, Bono, the lead singer of U2, said:

God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the

poor play house. God is in the silence of a mother who has

infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives.

God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war. God is in

the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with

us if we are with them.

The Word became flesh so that we may come to know Jesus our Saviour, for it is through Him that we receive our salvation. The Word became flesh also for us to know Emmanuel, God with us, who brings us comfort. We know that when we pray to Him, we pray to One who has personally walked this earth like the rest of us, who was wounded by this world. All because God chose to be born into this world – the Word became flesh.

Consider this:

Why is it important for your salvation that Jesus be fully God and fully man? Discuss what the implications are if He was not fully God, and if He was not fully man. Consider Romans 3:23; 7:24-25 and similar passages.

What comfort can you have when you remember that the Word became flesh and that Jesus was tested in every way and suffered like the rest of us? Share incidents when you experienced such comfort and received courage to go on.

Excerpted from Apprenticed to Jesus by Robert Solomon. © 2023 by Robert Solomon. Used with permission. All rights reserved.