MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
December 21, 2022
THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS UNVEILED BEFORE THE EYES OF MAN AND ANGELS IN GOD INCARNATE IN A MANGER OF ANIMALS
First, you can, if you will, find time in your multi-layered, multi-tasking hectic and stressful schedules during these unprecedented, mind-boggling times, to literally take a pause. Take your Bible (preferably the KJV or NKJV) and read, “pondering in your heart,” the following verses in this order, focusing on the “Seed of the woman”: Genesis 3:15; Galatians 4: 4, 5; John 3:16: Matthew 1: 21-23.
Then follow these scriptures (all emphasis and bracketed words mine]:
“And without controversy, GREAT IS THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS: GOD WAS MANIFEST IN THE FLESH, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels [both the holy and the fallen angel-demons], preached [first to His own people, the Jews, then to the] Gentiles, believed on in the world [by the true believers], received up into glory [after His death, resurrection, and ascension].” 1 Tim. 3: 16, KJV.
If we are truly convinced and fully convicted that Christ indeed is the REASON we celebrate the Christmas SEASON, then our most precious thoughts and affections would center upon the glorious revelation of the great mystery of godliness, when, according to the plan of redemption, God Creator was manifested “before man and angels” as the promised “Seed of the woman,” made in the flesh and blood nature of man four thousand years after the Fall in Eden.
Love divine and love excelling, unfolded in the humblest yet immaculately-pure and majestic simplicity of the birth of the only begotten Son of God into the Son of man, when and where divinity was manifest in humanity in the unfallen universe in greatest act of divine condescension—-the incarnation!
Without ever ceasing to be God, the Creator became a Man to walk among men for thirty-three and a half years, beginning as every human does “according to natural law, an infant “born of a woman” but of a virgin birth,” Mary being “overshadowed by the Holy Spirit.”
In the Incarnation God Bound Himself to Humanity with Ties that can Never be Broken.
“In STOOPING to take upon Himself HUMANITY, Christ [the Creator] revealed a character OPPOSITE the character of Satan [the fallen covering cherub, Lucifer]. But He stepped STILL LOWER in the path of humiliation. [Phil. 2:8].
“Christ was treated as WE deserve, that we might be treated as HE deserves. He was condemned for OUR sins, which He had no share, that we might be justified [forgiven; pardoned] by His righteousness, in which we had no share, He suffered the DEATH which was OURS, that we might receive the LIFE which was HIS. ‘With His stripes we are healed.’. . . .
“In taking our nature, the Savior has bound Himself to humanity by a tie that is never to be broken. Through the eternal ages He is LINKED with us [John 3:16 quoted]. He [the Father] gave Him NOT only to BEAR our sins, and to DIE as our sacrifice; HE GAVE HIMSELF TO THE HUMAN RACE. [God gave divinity to to humanity, even to the depths of fallen humanity].
“To assure us of His IMMUTABLE COUNSEL OF PEACE [Zech. 6:13; Heb. 6:17), God gave His only-begotten Son to BECOME ONE OF THE HUMAN FAMILY, FOREVER TO RETAIN HIS HUMAN NATURE.” E.G. White, Desire of Ages, pp. 25-6 (emphasis mine).
In the incarnation, as visibly manifested in Christ’s birth, fallen humanity gained a new member of its family—the sinless “second Adam.” He partook of and will forever retain the human nature which He did not possess prior to the incarnation. And yet He never gave up His divinity. He who is “the same yesterday, today, and forever,” the “great I am,” “who changeth not,” never ceased to be God Creator when He became the Man Christ Jesus, the Savior of mankind whose promised second advent “draweth nigh: even at the door!”
It is only when we hold these profound, precious and glorious truths close to our hearts that we will truly understand, appreciate, and receive the specific blessings enfolded in the grand anthem sang by the celestial choir over the plains of Bethlehem at Christ’s birth. “Glory to God,‘peace on earth and good will towards man!”
Bless all, NMF.