by J. Flanigan (Northern Ireland)
The Humanity of the Lord Jesus is as real and as true as is His Deity. But what wondrous grace is this, and what mighty incomprehensible condescension, that He who is God should for us become a Man.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see,
Hail, Incarnate Deity!
From that scene of light, robed in honour and majesty, the Son of the Father came forth to be wrapped in swaddling bands as the firstborn Son of a Jewish maiden. The miracle of His conception is not to be pried into. We are neither asked to understand it or explain it, but to believe it. "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son," Isa.7.14; Mt.1.23. "When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman," Gal.4.4.
Bethlehem is a divine blending of sovereignty, simplicity, and mystery. In the plan and purpose of God it was the decree of a Caesar in Rome which brought Joseph and Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem. It was a long and hazardous journey, especially for a maiden carrying her Child, as Mary was. But the prophet had predicted Bethlehem in the land of Juda as the birthplace of the promised Messiah, and so it must be, Micah 5.2; Mt.2.6. Sovereignty therefore arranged it so and when the Child was born all was in accord with the prophetic word.
What simplicity there was! A Baby, a manger bed, and swaddling clothes. No palace, no royal welcome from earth’s great ones, and no regal splendour. "A Child is born," Isa.9.6. Mary brought Him forth; Joseph stood by; shepherds came to see the Babe, and in these, the most humble of circumstances, there began on earth the story of a Life that was to bring inestimable pleasure to the heart of God.
The mystery of the Incarnation is the wonder of God manifested in flesh. We bow in worship as we acknowledge with the apostle, "Without controversy, great is the mystery," 1Tim.3.16. He was "seen of angels." How they must have looked upon Him whom they had known only in the unveiled splendour of Deity, now become so approachable in a body of flesh and blood. It was indeed the beginning of a life of incomparable moral glory, to be lived in Galilee, Judea, and Samaria.
The uniqueness of the Saviour’s birth was in perfect keeping with the uniqueness of the holy Manhood which it introduced. For thirty wondrous years He would live in the defilement of Nazareth, but remain undefiled. For three years and more He would minister among men who would oppose His every word and deed, and criticise His every movement, and still He would be constant, perfect in all His ways. He did not sin, not because He would not sin, but because He could not sin. His was an impeccable Manhood. Impeccable means "no ability to sin."
This inability to sin is proven by several considerations. How could He sin who was "Altogether lovely?" SofS.5.16. There was nothing in His loveliness which would respond to sin or to sinful suggestions. He alone among men could say to His critics, "Which of you convinceth Me of sin?" Jn.8.46. How could He sin who, although truly Man, was, nevertheless, God? In one holy and indivisible personality Godhood and Manhood were His indivisibly. In becoming Man He never ceased to be God and it is always true that God cannot be tempted with evil, Jms.1.13. It matters not if this be God enthroned in the high heavens or God dwelling in Nazareth, for the character of Divine Persons can never change. How could this Man sin therefore, who is God incarnate?
Sometimes however, it is argued that if He were really and truly Man then surely He could have been tempted and He could have sinned. Those who advance this argument have not thought it through, for the question must then be asked, "Is He not still a real Man?" By their reasoning does this mean that the Man in the glory is still vulnerable and liable to sin because He is a Man? Every adoring heart will recoil from such a thought.
Yet still the argument will be pressed that Heb.4.14 does clearly say that He was in all points tempted like as we are. The word "tempted" must be understood in a two-fold way. Sometimes it implies an attempt at seduction to sin, an appeal to the sinful tendencies of our fallen nature. Men in the flesh are all too aware that this is so often the case with them. If the believer is so tempted, but resists the temptation, refusing to yield to sin, then this is to his credit. But he has been tempted nevertheless. Not so our Lord Jesus. As we have already seen, there was nothing in Him to respond to the evil suggestions which so often reach the hearts of other men.
"Tempted", therefore has another meaning. When God tempted Abraham (Gen.22.1) it was certainly not with any evil intent. It was to test and prove the patriarch. The Saviour was so tested and tried. He suffered hunger and thirst, loneliness and disappointment, grief and pain. He was misrepresented and misunderstood, He was falsely accused and unjustly condemned. It is likely too, that in early life He suffered bereavement, in the death of Joseph. So the writer to the Hebrews qualifies his words and says, "apart from sin." He was in all points, apart from sin, tempted like as we are.
Then it must be remembered, as has already been emphasised, that our Lord’s Manhood was unique. He had something that we do not have and we have something that He did not have. We have fallen natures, inherited from Adam. He did not. He was God. We are not. As has often been said, and so aptly, "He was as much a man as I am, but He was not such a man as I am."
So the little One wrapped in swaddling clothes was indeed wearing the garments of humanity, beginning life on earth apparently as many another Jewish infant. It is touching to remember the purpose of the swaddling bands. They were firmly wrapped around the tiny body of the new-born to give to it a feeling of security, a sense that it was being safely held. What mystery is this! The Omnipotent One wrapped in swaddling bands! The Almighty lying in a manger! He who was sustaining the mighty globe, who was maintaining the heavenly bodies in their ordained orbits, now in a body of flesh and blood and being held securely in the arms of a gentle maid from Nazareth. We say like the psalmist, "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it," Ps.139.6.
No less almighty at His birth
Than on the throne supreme;
His shoulders held up heaven and earth
While Mary held up Him.
We bow in wonder. A Divine Person has been in our world. "What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that Thou visitest him? Ps.8.4. It was a visitation which took Him from Bethlehem to Golgotha, from the manger to the cross.
—to be continued (D.V.)