At one point in my life, I worked in the garden department at Home Depot. It was the only work I could get. I would have liked to believe that I might have been hired at some church for a ministry job, after all I was seminary trained and was told in my exit interview from seminary that I had very strong “gift clusters” of leadership and teaching.

The cold, hard reality is that my theology is far too conservative for denominations that welcome women and denominations that might appreciate my perspective on the Scriptures, well, I was far too female.

One day when I was having a pity party for poor old Barb-n-garden and was hoisting heavy pallets onto a stack in the loading dock, I started to cry. It was hard, heavy, and humiliating work…especially when I considered that my peers from seminary, those men, were younger and stronger than I am and here I was, doing manual labor. Humiliating. Humbling. Hoisting. Hauling. Sweeping up dead leaves and dirt when I ought to have been teaching the Bible somewhere.  Such was the pity party.

Now don’t get me wrong, I was valued at the Home Depot. I loved my coworkers and our customers…and they loved me. I loved being with the plants and being useful and so I stayed for quite a few years. Even beyond the mission trip which was the reason for needing paid employment at the time.

I learned a lot about humiliation, condescension, and accommodation from being there. That pity party I’d had back in the loading dock?

It had revealed I had far too little humility and thought I deserved something better.

The truth is that I had far too much pride and deserved far worse.

*.*.*

Pride is ugly and insidious and the solution is humiliation, humbling, and accommodation.

*.*.*

What does this have to do with the Incarnation?

Everything.

Philippians 2:5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus was not arrogant in the tiniest sense though He was God in every sense. And yet, He humbled Himself. The Incarnation was God’s accommodation to mankind who deserved every last bit of wrath. And Jesus came to humbly show us the way of salvation. He was humiliated for our deliverance. He had no insidious pride and yet took upon Himself all that we deserved (wrath) so that we could receive what He would give (grace).

Thought for the day: The path to exaltation is through humiliation. The Incarnation was both God’s accommodation to mankind and the perfect display of love worth exalting.

Questions for reflection:

1. What types of things stand in the way of your attitude being what is listed in Philippians 2 above?
2. Have you ever felt like some type of work was beneath you or you were asked to stoop beneath your dignity? What kinds of feelings did it foster?
3. Re-read Philippians 2 above and also Isaiah 53:5 and highlight what Jesus gave up in the Incarnation as God’s accommodation for what we could not do for ourselves.

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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 <><

Aladdin’s Genie: What would you wish of me? The ever impressive… the long-contained… the often imitated, but never… duplicated… (duplicated… duplicated… duplicated…) Genie of the Lamp! Right here, direct from the lamp. Right here for your very much wish-fulfillment. Thank you.

Jesus is not a genie from a lamp or a genie that was put in a lamp of a human body. What happened in the Incarnation is totally unique! Jesus is always impressive, long-contained starting with about 33 years on earth and continuing into eternity.  He’s often-imitated in good ways (at least we’re supposed to be imitators of Christ), but He is lampooned by those who really have no clue what they’re doing.

One thing’s for sure: Jesus’ Incarnation is never ever duplicated and it certainly did not happen so that He could grant wishes. Why is the Incarnation unique? Because He’s God.

Wikipedia uses this definition of Incarnation:

Incarnation literally means embodied in flesh or taking on flesh. It refers to the conception and birth of a sentient being who is the material manifestation of an entity, god or force whose original nature is immaterial. In its religious context the word is used to mean the descent from Heaven of a god, or divine being in human/animal form on Earth.

Because they define it as being basically a temporary form change, a morphing, avatar, or visitation, they are able to suggest that many world religions have gods who have been incarnated. Some suggest that the Pharaohs were incarnations of gods.  All kinds of beings get all kinds of bodies.

The bad side-flip side is that some believe the flesh is bad and therefore the goal of religion is to be free from a body.

Ugh.  Whatever. People believe all kinds of bunk.

The truth is the biblical idea of the Incarnation is a huge stumbling block to all but those who are willing to see that Jesus is totally unique as The Son of God/Son of Man.

Thought for the day: Jesus didn’t just take on a human form and then go back to being an immaterial entity or change into many different bodies like Aladdin’s Genie.

Questions for reflection:

1. What is the difference between an avatar (a manifestation or visible representation) and the Incarnation?
2. A theophany is a visible manifestation of God to humankind. Read Gen 18:1-3 and 32:24-25, 28-30. How is this different than the Incarnation?
3. This list of verses talks about “the Angel of the Lord” whom many believe are references to the pre-Incarnate Christ. Gen. 16:7-11, Gen 22:11-15, Exo 3:2, Num. 22:22-35, Jdg. 2:1-4, Jdg. 5:23, Jdg. 6:11-22, Jdg. 13:3-21, 1 Ki. 19:7, 2 Ki. 1:3-15, 2 Ki. 19:35, 1 Chr. 21:12-30, Ps. 34:7, Ps. 35:5-6, Isa. 37:36, Zech. 1:11-12, Zech. 3:1-6, Zech. 12:8. If “the Angel  of the Lord” is Jesus before He was fully man (in addition to fully God), how is His Incarnation superior to even this?

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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 <><

• Captain Hook: Fly! Fly! Fly! You coward!
• Peter Pan: Coward! Me?
• Captain Hook: Ha-ha-ha! You wouldn’t dare fight old Hook man-to-man. You’d fly away like a cowardly sparrow!
• Peter Pan: Nobody calls Pan a coward and lives! I’ll fight you man-to-man, with one hand behind my back.
• Captain Hook: You mean you won’t fly?
• Wendy: No, don’t, Peter! It’s a trick!
• Peter Pan: I give my word, Hook.
• Captain Hook: Good, then let’s have at it!

Having the power to do something yet experiencing some level of constraint is a curiosity of the Incarnation. What happened here?

It’s not exactly like Peter Pan fighting man-to-man and refusing to do what was within his power (i.e. flying) to save his own life. It is even more than Pan’s self-decision… for self-restraint. Yet, Jesus had divine power as the Eternal Word. Powerful enough to create the entire universe with it. In the Incarnation, though, His human body had certain limitations without leaving Him powerless.

These limitations are referred to as making Himself “nothing” in Philippians 2: 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

This making Himself nothing, sometimes called emptying or kenosis, is a confusing concept. It’s easier to identify what He did not empty Himself of. He did not give up His divinity, His divine attributes, His divine power, His intrinsic equality with the Father or His nature as the Eternal Word of the Godhead.

I’d like to propose that what He emptied Himself of was His independent use of His divine attributes. He depended on the Father, showing the perfect fruit of the Spirit in perfect love and perfect self-control.

How do I arrive at that?

Matthew 26: 39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” 40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” 42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”

Matthew 26:53 Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?

The spirit is willing but the body is weak. Jesus experienced all the weakness of humanity, all the frailty, all the sorrows.  Jesus knew He could call upon His Father to relieve Him of these human limitations and yet, He submitted Himself as a servant would to the will of the Father. He submitted to the full attributes of humanity, including mortality.

Thought for the day: Jesus modeled what a life looks like when a person is fully submitted to God.

Questions for pondering:

1. In what ways is Jesus the perfect man?
2. Is the perfect man in perfect control, perfect submission, or both?
3. In what ways did Jesus’ limitations not act as limitations at all?
4. Could we, if we were fully submitted to God, rely upon Him and receive full power from the Father as Jesus did?
5. Why does submission get such a bad rap?

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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 <><

The Incarnation was a very costly move.

It was costly for the Father.

It was costly for the Son.

And yet, God did it.

Why?

The Bible tells us that the Incarnation is the perfect expression and revelation of Divine Love. And strange as it seems, love and sacrifice are intimately connected.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

1 John 4:9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins

It’s Christmastime and many people give gifts to those they love. My son, remarking on how many of his friends are getting engaged this Christmas recently wrote, “Engagement Season…because nothing says ‘I Love You!’ like seasonality.”

The truth is that Christmas is a time of Love coming to mankind.

And Easter is when it was shown in its fullness.

Thought for the day: Love gave the gift of the Incarnation. The Incarnation is the gift of perfect Love.

Questions for reflection:

1. Read Ephesians 2:1 “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions– it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith– and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” How is God’s love shown to us in the Incarnation?
2. Read 1 John 4:16 “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 19 We love because he first loved us.” How does the gift of Love at Christmas keep on giving even beyond Easter?
3. How might you give to others this Gift who keeps on giving?

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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 <><

The Incarnation was God’s answer and man’s only hope.  If anything created could have saved us, then God was a fool to do it Himself.

Think about that statement for a moment.

Now think about all the things we think are going to save us:

• exercise
• diet
• health care
• concern for the planet
• jobs and the economy
• gold
• elections

Certainly you can add your own ideas to that list.

Unless God is the only point of hope for you, the list contains created things.  Even if some of the created things were done by created beings.  And yet think about it: none of those created things are going to save us.

Death still happens because sin still happens. And why does sin still happen?  Because we have a sin nature.

It takes God to redeem our sin nature.  And here is our hope…not in something created, but in the Eternal Word made flesh.  Our Hope is in Christ Jesus.

In His Incarnation. Nothing created could do it.  So, God did it Himself.

Thought for the day: God’s holiness and our sin are such opposing opposites that God had to save us Himself.

Questions for reflection:

1. When a person insists on doing something himself, what are some of the reasons?
2. How is God doing it Himself different?
3. How is God’s eternal and infinite being sufficient to save all who are willing to be saved by faith?

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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 <><

Q: Why did Jesus come as a man and not some other sort of creature?

A: Because only man bears God’s Image.

Jesus, as a man, was not only an Image bearer of God, He is the Image of God.

Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Hebrews 1:3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

Jesus was Incarnated in human flesh in order to rescue the Image of God from mortality. It was through Jesus’ humanity that God would reconcile man and all the rest of creation groaning under the weight of human sin…and reconcile to Himself these things through Jesus’ blood shed on the cross.

Thought for the day: No other man bears God’s Image the way Jesus did.  Jesus is God’s Perfect Image, His Perfect Reflection, and His Perfect Revelation.

Questions for pondering:

1. What is the significance that Jesus IS the very Image of God?
2. Read 2 Corinthians 3: 17 “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” When will we reflect God’s Image perfectly? Even so, will we ever BE the very Image of God?  Look at the reflection in the photo and ponder the distinction between an object and its perfect reflection.
3. How does a perfect and eternal being provide a sufficient and complete sacrifice for all mankind?  Would a near-perfect reflection on account of behavior alone have accomplished the same thing?  Jesus did not earn heaven and achieve godhood by being a well-behaved guy.
4. What role does our faith accomplish if Jesus paid it all in the death of God’s perfect Image bearer?

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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 <><

Strange, isn’t it, to think that Jesus still has a body? Once incarnated, He would have a body forever. No return to being some sort of spirit minus a body like the Father or the Holy Spirit. No return to being uncontained, as it were.

My first thought as I was pondering this was a song by the Talking Heads titled “And She Was”—a rock tune written by David Byrne. In talking about his inspiration for this song, he wrote, “I used to know a blissed-out hippie-chick in Baltimore…She once told me that she used to do acid (the drug, not music) and lay down on the field by the Yoo-hoo chocolate soda factory. Flying out of her body, etc., etc. It seemed like such a tacky kind of transcendence… but it was real! A new kind of religion being born out of heaps of rusted cars and fast food joints. And this girl was flying above it all, but in it too.”

Okay, that’s pretty weird.

Jesus didn’t have an out-of-body or rather in-the-body experience as some sort of drug-induced trip from which He’d return to reality. Nope. For Him, He existed before all time and then, in God’s perfect timing, He added full humanity to His full divinity and it would be a forever thing.

The Infinite would gain—through the Son’s Incarnation—the experience of being finite. (Aw go ahead and say, “Whoaaaaa”)

The experience of death. (Whoaaaa.) The experience of knowing what created beings feel and know…even if Jesus was never created.

Jesus was Incarnated—in part—to experience full humanity. (Whoaaaa…)

Thought for the day: Once Jesus was Incarnated, He would be the Word made Flesh. There would be no Flesh going back and returning as simply the Word.

Questions for reflection:

1. When Jesus returns, what does the Bible say? Read Luke 21: 27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Will Jesus have a body?
2. Read Luke 24:13-31 about Jesus walking with the two men on the road to Emmaus. Did Jesus have a body? Was it a regular human body? In what ways was it different?
3. Why is it important that Jesus’ resurrection wasn’t just His spirit but also His body? What if His body was still in the tomb…what could anyone prove?
4. Does Jesus’ body still serve some function, and if yes, what functions does His humanity serve? For thinking about “in Him”, read 2 Corinthians 5:21 “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (Consider also Eph 1:4-14, Eph 2:21, Eph 3:12, Eph 4:21, and Col 2:6-7)

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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 <><

We cannot get into the mind of God to know why He does things, but the good news is He tells us all that we need to know. The Incarnation is mysterious. He doesn’t expect us to know how He did it.

How can God simultaneously be the Son of God and the Son of Man? Isn’t it a contradiction?

No, it’s a mystery.

God even tells us so.

Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

A finite human child is born who is the everlasting Father.

To us a son is given (the Son of Man) and yet He’s also called Mighty God (the Son of God).

How can a child be the Father or how can the Son of Man be God Himself?

Jesus’ mother Mary even asked how God was going to do it.  God didn’t tell her specifics.

He only had an angel reassure her.

Luke 1:30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” 34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. 37 For nothing is impossible with God.

This is the mystery of the Incarnation. Fully God. Fully human. Full of logical inconsistencies from a human rational perspective and yet, to God it is no conundrum, no riddle, and no inconsistency. It’s a mystery to us, but not to Him.

1 Timothy 3:16 Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.

Thought for the day. The mystery of the Incarnation is a wedge of faith. It divides those willing to let it be a mysterious truth from those who refuse to accept anything unless it can be understood.

Questions for reflection:

1. How are we helped in our faith by knowing that nothing is impossible with God?
2. In what ways is the Incarnation a wedge of faith?
3. What would we have to know in order to have a mind expansive enough to understand this mystery completely?
4. Read Hebrews 1:1 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” Identify the mysterious elements in this passage.
5. Is it enough just to have Jesus reveal God to us? Read John 14:9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.”

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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 <><

So, was the Incarnation God’s “Plan B” after Adam and Eve went AWOL and became rogue humans?

Nope. It was the plan all along.

Even before He created Adam and Eve. 

It was pre-existing.

Perhaps it seems rather odd to you that God would plan to send Jesus to die before He created the ones who would bring death into the picture. Yeah. It is rather strange. Especially since God is all about life.

John 1:4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

And yet, He contemplated human mortality and prepared His solution to it. He knew we’d rebel and yet He created us anyway.

In the Godhead (Father, Eternal Word, Holy Spirit), there was no death, only life and life-giving. Yet Scripture says,

Ephesians 1:4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will– 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

God’s choice to redeem us as holy and blameless—rebels though we have been—was a choice God made even before Creation. It was pre-existing. And our God who is all about life would bring about eternal life for us through His Son’s Incarnation and death for us.

Thought for the day: The very same God who is all about life and gave us life at Creation—even knowing that we’d bring death into the picture–would give us the Incarnation as His solution to human mortality. In doing so, He amplified the beauty of eternal life through the ugliness of death.

Questions for reflection:

1. How did God know that death existed if He’s all about life? Read Genesis 3:22 And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”
2. Genesis 3:23 “So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” How did God keep us from taking matters into our own hands? Would living forever in a sinful state be eternal life or more like a forever death sentence?
3. How does death make eternal life all the more glorious?

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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 <><

Why Incarnation? Why not some other way?

Well, the truth is, there was no other way possible.

Today, we’ll look at the first of the reasons why it was the only possibility. The first hint of the Incarnation—the first occurrence of the Gospel in the Bible—was proclaimed, prophesied to mankind.  But it was also a shot across the bow to the serpent all the way back in Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

Adam and Eve used to be in the Garden of Eden, naked as the day they were created. But then they disobeyed God, they rebelled against Him and they reaped the consequences that God told them ahead of time were going to happen.

Boom. Mortality.

Genesis 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”

Once mortality happens, there’s no going back. Not even for God. There’s no rewind, do over, replay, or sending the video up to a booth for an official review. Why? Because God saw the play, the promised consequences happened (cause and effect!), and now Adam and Eve are mortals with a sin nature and they die. They surely die. While it may mean the end of their lives, it’s surely not the end of our story.

Hope is as sure as God’s promise…which is as sure as it gets. Why?

Boom. Love.

God enters the picture with a promise—a prophecy—telling humanity that there’s hope for their mortality. Sure, we aren’t going to like death—most people hate and fear the very idea at least of our own death—but eventually God will send a seed, an offspring of humanity, but not through Adam. Through Eve. This promised Messiah will defeat death.

Romans 5: 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ..12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned– 13 for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come. 15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!

Thought for the day: Jesus, the prophesied seed of the woman, needed to become incarnated (God with us!) as the only way to overcome human mortality.

Questions for reflection:

1. Read all of Romans 5. Why is God’s action more than enough to overcome the action of one man named Adam? Both had lasting consequences. Why are the actions of Messiah eternal whereas Adam’s consequences only last until death?
2. Why was the seed prophesied to be from the woman Eve and not Adam?
3. In Romans 5, why does the Apostle Paul say the law was useful but not effective in saving anyone?

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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 <><