Daily Devotional

The Incarnation

The Story of Salvation: Day 3

Through this new eight-day devotional series based on the short iBIBLE film The Real Story of Jesus, explore Jesus’ presence in all of God’s Grand Narrative. If we are to believe in Jesus and share Him with others, we must first understand the foundational elements of our faith.

Watch this clip from The Real Story of Jesus before reading today’s devotional.

Why Does the Incarnation Matter?

“The Incarnation” is the term describing the miraculous event where Jesus, Who is fully God, came to earth and became fully human. “Incarnate” comes from Latin and means “into flesh,” appropriately describing Jesus’ birth (see John 1:14). Most Christians will agree that Jesus’ birth is one of the most important celebrations of our faith. But do we really know how special the Incarnation is?

Our whole faith hinges on the true witness of the Gospel writers, including that Jesus is both fully God and fully human. A heresy is any belief that claims to be Christian but denies a core element of Christian faith like Jesus’ dual nature. We may consider heresies to be ancient history, but many are still prevalent in the church today. See if you can recognize and realize the dangers of the following heresies about Jesus’ nature.

Jesus as God: “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30, ESV). This was Jesus’ claim to the Pharisees who questioned His divinity, and from this verse it could not be more clear Who Jesus is. Yet, amazingly, there have been many heresies about Jesus’ divine nature, including ones that say He is Himself a creation of God, or that Mary gave birth only to Jesus’ human nature, meaning Jesus is not God incarnate. If Jesus is not fully God, then what right does He have to forgive sins (see Matthew 9:1–8)?

Jesus as Human: Jesus lived on earth as a human as “one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15, see Matthew 4:1–11). He cried, became angry, loved, and rejoiced like us because He was like us: fully human. Yet there are heresies here, too, that say Jesus only appeared to have a physical body and was not fully human, or that only His body was human and His mind was fully Divine. If Jesus is not fully human, how can He sympathize with our weakness (see Hebrews 4:14–16)?

Only God can forgive sins and be sinless, and only a human can understand human weakness and temptation. Jesus is both, neither more nor less, human and God.

Only God can forgive sins and be sinless, and only a human can understand human weakness and temptation.

The Incarnation in Scripture

And somehow inexplicable to us, through God’s Holy Spirit, God saw fit to send His Son into the world through a virgin named Mary. He didn’t use trumpets and clashing symbols to announce His coming to earth, that all people might take notice of the Messiah. Rather, He sent angels to shepherds, a star to wise men, and visions to prophets: Everyone who was seeking the baby Messiah to worship Him found Him (see Luke 2:8–38, Matthew 2:1–12).

Jesus’ virgin birth through Mary, who conceived through the Holy Spirit, fulfilled the prophecy in Isaiah 7:14: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” This was to be the sign of the redemption of Israel, a sign that only God could fulfill, because with God all things are possible (Luke 1:37). This Incarnation—when God became human to offer redemption from sin to all humanity—was the turning point of all history.

This Incarnation—when God became human to offer redemption from sin to all humanity—was the turning point of all history.

Jesus’ birth fulfilled many prophecies about the coming Messiah, and all who had studied the Scriptures and were longing for His coming recognized Him, like Simeon and Anna in the temple! The Gospel writers took great care to reference these prophecies when they wrote the story of Jesus’ birth so that all who would hear it later would understand.

Matthew began his Gospel with a genealogy of Jesus. He traced Jesus’ ancestry through his earthly father, Joseph, back to King David, which proved that Jesus fulfilled the prophecy that the Messiah would be the descendant of David (see 2 Samuel 7:12–16, Isaiah 9:6–7). 

In Matthew 2:6, he pointed out that Jesus fulfilled another prophecy of Israel’s redemption in Micah 5:2 that declared Bethlehem to be the birthplace of this King of the Jews. It’s no wonder that the shepherds and Simeon and Anna were so excited to see Jesus, the Messiah. His arrival meant that salvation had come to Israel! 

In Luke 9:20, Jesus asked Peter, “Who do you say that I am?” after hearing that the crowds thought of Jesus not as the Messiah, but as just another prophet. Peter answered, “The Christ of God.” So what about you? You’ve heard the prophecies and read the evidence. Who do you say that Jesus is? 

Looking Forward

Most of what we know about Jesus took place when He was about 30–33 years old, spreading the Good News of salvation around the region of Israel. Next week we will explore His core message to the people: Jesus is the only way to God, and He alone offers healing and forgiveness of sins.

Prayer for This Week

Dear Jesus, Son of God and Son of Man, we praise You for choosing to come to earth to become human and experience our weakness. You are a God Who loves His people enough to become like us in order to save us. What else can we do but worship You? We pray that we might never forget all You sacrificed for us. In Your precious name, we pray. Amen.