Church history is fascinating to study, because it shows that for 2000 years, one single truth has been the hinge of Christianity, the ultimate distinguishing factor from the rest of the world, and the object of our utmost awe: the truth that the Word became flesh. Jesus Christ was both fully God and fully man; no other fact in human history has been as important. In the early days of the church, church fathers emphasized Jesus’ full humanity which allows us humans to personally receive salvation and blessings from God. Then in the last century, with man-centered thinking running rampant, theologians like Karl Barth have been emphasizing Jesus’ full divinity which reminds us that God’s majesty and sovereignty is the basis of every part of our lives. Fully God and fully man—that truth, throughout all of history, has revolutionized the Christian faith.
And such is the absolutely incredible reality of the person of Jesus Christ! This is why he is central to everything—why every passage of Scripture points to him, why every sermon can’t help but mention him, why we say that Jesus is always the answer. He is God, physically and visibly present with us. We were designed to dwell with God, but then sin cut an impenetrable divide between us and him—but then the man who was God bridged that gap! What a glorious thing his incarnation must have been; imagine getting to see and know him in person! This is why John the Baptist and John the apostle and so many others witnessed about him so excitedly. Christ was the very glory of God wrapped in human skin.
Grace and truth: that’s what the Godman now brings into our lives. We are free from our own sins and guilt and failures and self-deceptions! In the words of the church father Athanasius, the Son of God became the son of man so that the sons of men could become sons of God. We have the glory and blessings and love of God personally available to us, and we can know him personally, because the Word became flesh. This is how John introduces his gospel before he ever gets to the narrative, because he wants us to grasp the insurmountable glory of this gospel we proclaim. And we can never grasp it enough! But we can stand always more and more in awe of the incarnation and the glorious miracle of who Jesus Christ is.
