Incarnation: Preparing the Way—Advent 21 (2015)

The Incarnation was never the end game. It was always preparing the way. The way of peace. The way of reconciliation. The way of ongoing presence of God. And the way for the Holy Spirit to come.

In the Incarnation, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all had some skin in the game, even if Jesus was the only one who would ever have actual skin.

Up until now, we’ve primarily looked at the Incarnation as solving a problem. That problem is what to do when a holy God still wants to maintain relationship and preserve His Image … but when His Image bearers are a bunch of sinners.

Today, however, I’d like for us to look at the Incarnation as preparing the way. In John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Yes, the Incarnation paved the way and Jesus is the Only Way. Eternal life is the future awaiting believers in Him.  That is a forward look.

Between now and the afterlife with Christ, we see the Incarnation preparing another way. The way to an ongoing presence of God for today in His Holy Spirit. The Bible has always looked forward to this.

Jeremiah 31: 31 “The time is coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. 33 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD

Read Joel 2:15-32, especially verses 27 Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the LORD your God, and that there is no other; never again will my people be shamed. 28 ‘And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. 29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. 30 I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 31 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. 32 And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the survivors whom the LORD calls.

Thought for the day: The Holy Spirit came at Pentecost and is God’s ongoing presence in the hearts of believers.  Were it not for the Incarnation preparing that way, we’d be unable to know God and the blessing of having His Holy Spirit to guide us.

Questions for pondering:

1. Read John 14:1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  What preparation work is Jesus doing?  How is He preparing it and us?
2. Read John 16:4 I have told you this, so that when the time comes you will remember that I warned you. I did not tell you this at first because I was with you. 5 “Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. 7 But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; 10 in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. 12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.”  How does this describe the work of preparing and the ongoing presence of God in the lives of believers?

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Incarnation (2015 Advent Devotional Series) began November 29th.  By way of reminder, if you haven’t signed up yet, you can receive these devotional studies in your email throughout Advent 2015 by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Or “Like” the SeminaryGal Facebook page to access them there.  If you like these devotionals, I’d really appreciate your letting others know so I can continue to spread the Good News far and wide.  Blessings to you, in Christ always, Barbara <><