Veiled in Flesh

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This is a sermon that was given on Dec. 27, 2015 at Wayside Community Church. It is based on John 1:1, 14.

Written Exerpts:

1 Timothy 3:16 (NKJV) 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.

Introduction:

For the message today I wanted to share a message on the theme of Christmas. Even though we have been emphasizing the Christmas message for a few weeks, I felt it was too soon to move on to another subject.

Perhaps you would enjoy some Christmas humor before we go on…

·     If biblical headlines were written by today’s biased and politically correct media…  On the birth of Christ: HOTELS FULL, ANIMALS LEFT HOMELESS Animal Rights Activists Enraged by Insensitive Couple

·     For Christmas this year, in lieu of gifts, I decided to give everyone my opinion.

·     You do know what would have happened if there had been three wise WOMEN instead of men, don't you? They would have asked for directions, arrived on time, helped deliver the baby, cleaned the stable, made a casserole, and brought disposable diapers as gifts!

There is a phrase in one of the Christmas carols that caught my attention, and I want to use it to introduce my subject today. The phrase comes from the carol, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” and it goes like this: “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see…”

For a little while this morning, I want to explore the biblical truth that God was manifested in the flesh.

I.    Reminder of Progressive Revelation

To begin this message, I want to remind us of a concept called “progressive revelation.” This is a term used to express the view that truths found in the Bible are progressively revealed in greater detail over an extensive period of time as more and more biblical authors speak on the subject.

For example, if someone only read part, or even all of the OT, they might not gain much of an understanding about eternal life or life after death. Much more is revealed in the NT and it all needs to be considered as a whole in order to end up with a truly biblical understanding.

The same can be said about the coming of the Messiah. There are many texts that we look at today, especially in the OT, and we recognize that they “clearly” teach that God has come in the flesh. However, probably most Bible scholars would agree that when the individual biblical authors penned the words they wrote, they didn’t have a full or complete understanding of the meaning.

OT prophets gave us the initial predictions of the incarnation, but NT authors gave further interpretations and explanations of those OT texts. Even after the NT was written, there were intense discussions for centuries over the exact meaning of the incarnation.

I just want us to understand that some of the texts of the Bible that we may think are so straight-forward and relatively easy to interpret, seem that way because we have the whole Bible, as well as the valuable insights of knowledgeable and godly people who’ve come before us.

Having said that, I do want to look at a few texts of Scripture today to support the important truth that God was revealed in the flesh so we could be redeemed.

II.  He was God.

First of all we’re going to look at some of the Scripture references that show the Messiah, Jesus the Christ, was actually divine (God nature). To use the words of the ancient church fathers who developed the creeds, He was “very God of very God.”

As I mentioned earlier, I’m not completely convinced that the prophets or authors of these passages fully understood the implications of what they were saying/writing, but God inspired their words so people could study them and find out the truth even up till now these many years later.

Isaiah 7:14 (NKJV) Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.

Isaiah 9:6 (NKJV) For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

These prophecies emphasize that a human child will be “God with us” and “Mighty God, Eternal Father.”

John 1:1, 14 (NKJV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 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.

Colossians 1:15-17 (NKJV) He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷ And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

Both of these texts (John 1 and Col. 1) emphasize the deity of Christ (Jesus, Word) by virtue of the fact that He is credited with the work of creation, and Gen. 1 clearly tells us that God is the creator.

Philippians 2:5-6 (NKJV) Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,

What does it mean “in the form of God?”

(The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.) “Form" is a term which expresses the sum of those characterizing qualities which make a thing the precise thing that it is.  Thus, the "form" of a sword (in this case mostly matters of external configuration) is all that makes a given piece of metal specifically a sword, rather than, say, a spade.  And "the form of God" is the sum of the characteristics which make the being we call "God," specifically God, rather than some other being—an angel, say, or a man.

(Miley's Systematic Theology, Vol. 2) Only the possession of divine perfection could be the ground of a rightful claim to such an equality with God. Thus these two facts come into harmony, and each interprets the other.

III.   He was in the flesh (human).

Philippians 2:7 (NKJV) but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.

(The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.) The term "form" here, of course, bears the same full meaning as in the preceding instance of its occurrence in the phrase "the form of God." It imparts the specific quality, the whole body of characteristics, by which a servant is made what we know as a servant, our Lord … became an actual "servant" in the world.…  What is meant is that our Lord took up into His personality a human nature; and therefore it is immediately explained that He took the form of a servant by "being made in the likeness of men."  

He didn’t come into our world in the likeness of some animal. He didn’t come in the likeness of an angel. He came in the likeness of a man; a human being; assuming all the qualities and attributes of humanity.

1 Timothy 3:16 (NKJV) 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.

IV. He Came on a Mission

Why did the Son of God become a man? Well, the answer can be quite lengthy and detailed, but the short answer is: “to provide redemption for the human race.” He came to reinstate the relationship between God and humanity that had been broken due to disobedience and sin.

God’s Son became a man because He was on a mission in the sense that He knew why He was coming before He took upon Himself human flesh.

I want to read a quote to you that I shared several years ago, but it’s worth sharing again. The quote comes from one of the Early Church Fathers, Athanasius.

God has made man and willed that he abide in incorruption; but man despised, rejected the contemplation of God and received the condemnation of death which had been threatened. Transgression of the commandment had turned them back to abide in death and corruption. Since death gained upon man the race was perishing and God’s handiwork was in a process of dissolution, because death had gained a legal hold over us. It was now impossible to evade the law since it was laid down by God and the result was both monstrous and unseemly.

It was monstrous that God should prove false and man should not die after God said he would. It was unseemly that the creatures once made in the image and likeness of God should waste away and be left to neglect and ruin.

Here’s another insight given by Athanasius regarding the need for the God-man to die for humanity and reverse the sentence of death and the process of corruption.

The Word, perceiving that not otherwise could the corruption of men be undone but by death as a necessary condition, while it was impossible for the Word to suffer death, being immortal, and Son of the Father; to this end he takes to himself a body capable of death, that it, by partaking of the Word who is above all, might be worthy to die in the stead of all, might, because the Word which was come to dwell in it, remain incorruptible, and that thenceforth corruption might be stayed from all by the grace of the resurrection.

In other words, Athanasius is saying that the Son couldn’t die because he is eternally divine and therefore immortal. Neither could a mortal human be worthy to die because of being under the curse of the corruption that was eating away at humanity.

Therefore, the fusion of human and divine was necessary in order to make the redemption plan effective.

Oh the love that drew salvation’s plan

Oh the grace that brought it down to man
Oh the mighty gulf that God did span
At Calvary!

Conclusion:

Coming back to our title, some may ask, “Why does the Christmas carol, ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,’ include the words, ‘Veiled in flesh the Godhead see?’”

Well, I can’t speak for the author with certainty, but it seems to me that he is merely emphasizing the point that the eternal Word of God willingly restrained certain privileges or prerogatives of deity in order to fully identify with our humanity. Now, notice that I didn’t say He surrendered aspects of His deity. I specifically said He restrained certain privileges that He could have employed as God. For example, Jesus laid aside the prerogatives that accompany omnipotence (unlimited power) in order to experience human weariness. He is still God in His divine nature and He can exercise omnipotence any time He chooses, but as a man He willingly chooses to experience weariness and weakness. In that sense the full realization of His deity is hidden or veiled from our view as we see Him experience human weaknesses just like us.

In the OT account of the people of Israel at Sinai, God warns them to stay back from the mountain lest they die from getting “too close” / “too familiar” to the divine majesty. He tells Moses that He will only reveal His “back” because Moses would not be able to live through the experience of seeing God’s “face” or His full glory / majesty.

In the NT gospel record, we read about a mountain experience that Peter, James and John had with Jesus when He was “transfigured” in their sight and they caught a glimpse of His glory. It apparently was quite a glorious experience for them. It was something quite different than the normal view of Jesus. Somehow I think that this partially explains what it means to say, “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, Hail the incarnate deity.”

Through the revelation of Scripture we have been given a vivid description and picture of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ the Messiah.

We haven’t had a full revelation of His glory, but one day we will see Him face-to-face, and we will behold His majesty and glory as we worship Him and praise Him for the redemption He provided for fallen humanity!