The Purpose of the Incarnation.
The Purpose of the Incarnation
An eternal plan
Why did God come through the channel of a virgin's womb? Why was it
necessary for God, in spirit form, to take upon himself a body?
Philippians 2:5-8 explicitly explains this great theological truth.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in
the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made
himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and
was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man,
he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. The phrase, He humbled himself, and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross is the focal point of this
discussion. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit held
a meeting in eternity past and planned the entire program of
redemption. All three were, at that time, in spirit form. God the
Father was and still is a spirit (see John 4:24). The Holy Spirit was
and still is a spirit (see John 16:13). Christ was a spirit because He
was (past tense) in the form of God, which we have already proven to
be a spirit form (see Philippians 2:6).
However, at this meeting of the Trinity in ages past, it was agreed
that one of the three would eventually become a human with a covering
of flesh, and Christ was the elected member to fulfill salvation's
plan. This can all be proven from the Holy Scriptures. First Peter
1:20: Who [Christ] verily...was manifest in these last times for you.
Messiah means "sent one." If He is the sent One, He did not originate
at Bethlehem's manger. Instead, Galatians 4:4,5 pictures the facts as
they occurred. But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent
forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them
that were under the law. Does this simplistic doctrinal truth
penetrate your reasoning processes? Hear it again. God sent forth his
Son, made of a woman. There it is-Christ's deity and humanity. His
eternity and birth. God sent the Son who was in His presence, meaning
that Christ existed as God before coming to earth. However, He was
made of a woman when He was sent. This is, of course, the virgin birth
which took place in the manger centuries ago when God became man. When
the Trinity outlined the plan, all the events of future history were
foreknown. Remember, God knows everything. The plan progressed
according to the omniscience of the Godhead. Since God knows
everything about everything and all things about all things, the
following points were known thousands, yes, millions of years before
they occurred:
1. Man's disobedience and fall.
God placed man in the garden of Eden with certain restrictions.
Genesis 2:17: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou
shall not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou
shall surety die. The slithering serpent came along and said in
Genesis 3:4, Ye shall not surely die. Instead of listening to Jehovah
God, Adam and Eve listened to the devil. Say, all of us are so much
like them. We certainly are chips off the old block. Genesis 3:6
states, And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and
that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one
wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto
her husband with her; and he did eat. This wicked, disobedient act
against the Lord God Almighty brought judgment upon the entire human
race. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by
the obedience of one [Christ] shall many be made righteous (Romans
5:19).
Not only did God foreknow the fall of man, but:
2. The Trinity foreordained the temporary sacrifice.
I imagine the conversation in the heavenlies went as follows: "Because
man will yield to temptation and fall, there will need to be a
sacrifice offered. Since sinful flesh is responsible and since the
life of the flesh is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11), the decree is
established in the counsels of eternity that the shedding of blood,
which typifies DEATH to the flesh, will be the eternal sacrifice
offered. It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul
(Leviticus 17:11). Animal blood will be temporarily offered until one
of us goes to present the permanent sacrifice." Let's investigate the
facts and see if God's program was instituted. After Adam and Eve
sinned they knew that they were naked (see Genesis 3:7). The pangs of
a guilt-ridden conscience over sin were being experienced. They wanted
to cover their bodies and did so by making fig leaf aprons. However,
fig leaves that would shrivel up and die in a few days could not
satisfactorily handle the situation. Also, dry fig leaves were
bloodless and could not make an atonement for the soul. So God, in the
cool of the day, visited this couple and covered them
adequately-physically and spiritually. Unto Adam also and to his wife
did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them (Genesis 3:21).
The skins of animals adequately covered them physically and
spiritually. Why? In providing the skins, the blood of the animals was
shed. We see the same story unfolded in Genesis 4 concerning Cain and
Abel. Their parents, Adam and Eve, had taught them this soul-saving
story about the animal skins. Now when the boys were of age and wanted
to bring a sacrifice to God, Cain presented an offering of fruit and
Abel, of animals. Genesis 4:3-5: And in process of time it came to
pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto
the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and
of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his
offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. If you
should think that I am stretching the point by stating dogmatically
that Cain's offering was rejected because it was devoid of blood, I
invite you to confirm this truth in your heart by studying Hebrews
11:4 which emphatically presents the teaching just considered. By
faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent [more acceptable]
sacrifice than Cain.
Notice they brought their offerings as a sacrifice. God had decreed
that blood alone could make an atonement for the soul. Abel, by faith,
brought an animal. Notice why he did it. It was by faith. Romans 10:17
says, So then faith cometh by hearing. If he brought it by faith and
faith comes by hearing, it is only a logical conclusion to say that he
heard the story from the lips of his parents, accepted it, and
practiced the shedding of blood because he believed God. Cain, the
first liberal or modernist, said, "It's all bunk. I will offer my
fruit which contains no blood, and God will have to be satisfied." But
God said, "Cain, I reject your bloodless sacrifice." Many have
rejected the only method of salvation God has given the world-the
shedding or sacrifice of blood for the remission of sins.
Self-righteous efforts, good works, prayers, creeds, and religious
observances are but offerings of fruit. The Sermon on the Mount, the
Golden Rule, and the observance of the Ten Commandments are but the
waving of fig leaves in the face of Almighty God. Many of these things
are good to practice because one is a Christian, but any method of
trying to enter into eternal life that avoids or bypasses the blood
will only result in eternal separation from the God who made the
decree. It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul
(Leviticus 17:11). Now, let's go one step farther.
3. The Trinity foreordained the permanent eternal sacrifice.
Again we hear the three members of the Godhead speaking in eternity
past: "Animal blood will be only a temporary solution because it
cannot take away sin, only cover it. Man's blood is tainted through
Adam's sin. Therefore only one option or course of action is possible.
One of the three of us will have to go to earth and take flesh as a
covering. This will be necessary because flesh contains the blood of
the body. The One who is chosen to go will have to shed that blood to
take away the sins of the human race which animal blood only covered.
"The One who goes and takes upon himself that body must have a special
birth, because all humans born through natural generation or through
the regular channels of birth inherit the old wicked sinful nature of
Adam. Therefore, the One chosen will have to have a special birth in
the womb of a virgin. The very body will be created and placed in that
womb. By this special act of creation-detouring the normal means of
reproduction through intercourse-the Saviour will be born into the
world. When His blood, holy and pure, is shed, it will take away sin."
The eternal truth
Does this conversation of the Trinity in ages past seem farfetched to
you? Are you wondering if this entire plan presented is really in the
Bible? Listen to Revelation 13:8, [Christ was] the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. When? In God's mind it was planned at the
time of the foundation of the world. That's right, even before Adam
and Eve were created. Christ's shedding of His blood did not take Him
by surprise nearly 2,000 years ago. Rather, it was part of the plan He
had helped initiate before the world was formed. That's why Acts 2:23
states, Him [Christ] being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have
crucified and slain. In other words, the wicked only did to Christ
what the foreknowledge of God had planned. Did it happen? Yes. God
came into the world in human flesh to take a body that contained
blood. It was special blood that did not have the taint of Adam's sin
integrated into it by Christ's having a human father. Instead, the
Father and the Holy Spirit placed this created miracle into the womb
of the virgin without an act of intercourse or human insemination so
that pure blood might course through the Redeemer's veins. Then He
shed that blood at Calvary to take away sin that had only been covered
by animal sacrifices. The proof of these truths is in the following
scripture. Hebrews 10:4: For it is not possible that the blood of
bulls and of goats should take away sins. Notice, animal blood could
not take away sins. The Old Testament word atonement means "to
cover"-only "to cover." The priest offering the animal blood would
say, "I know that this blood only covers the sinner's sin until your
sacrificial Lamb comes, dear God." Who was God's Lamb? Hebrews 10:5:
Wherefore [because animal blood could not take away sin] when he
cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest
not, but a body hast thou prepared me. That body was prepared in the
womb by God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. Luke 1:35: And the
angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee,
and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also
that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of
God. When John the Baptist saw Christ upon the earth, he said in John
1:29, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
Praise God, this was the Lamb sent from heaven who could take away
that which was only temporarily covered through the blood of animals.
On the cross, Christ cried out, "It is finished." He was not speaking
about His life, but about the plan that had been foreordained before
the foundation of the world. Am I certain of this? Yes. [We have been]
redeemed...with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without
blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the
foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:18-20).
Imagine, this precious blood shed for your sins was planned for you
before the world was formed. Seven hundred times the blood is
mentioned as the only-THE ONLY-way of salvation. Believe it and
receive the Christ who shed that pure blood for your transgressions.
God bless you.
An eternal plan
Why did God come through the channel of a virgin's womb? Why was it
necessary for God, in spirit form, to take upon himself a body?
Philippians 2:5-8 explicitly explains this great theological truth.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in
the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made
himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and
was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man,
he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. The phrase, He humbled himself, and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross is the focal point of this
discussion. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit held
a meeting in eternity past and planned the entire program of
redemption. All three were, at that time, in spirit form. God the
Father was and still is a spirit (see John 4:24). The Holy Spirit was
and still is a spirit (see John 16:13). Christ was a spirit because He
was (past tense) in the form of God, which we have already proven to
be a spirit form (see Philippians 2:6).
However, at this meeting of the Trinity in ages past, it was agreed
that one of the three would eventually become a human with a covering
of flesh, and Christ was the elected member to fulfill salvation's
plan. This can all be proven from the Holy Scriptures. First Peter
1:20: Who [Christ] verily...was manifest in these last times for you.
Messiah means "sent one." If He is the sent One, He did not originate
at Bethlehem's manger. Instead, Galatians 4:4,5 pictures the facts as
they occurred. But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent
forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them
that were under the law. Does this simplistic doctrinal truth
penetrate your reasoning processes? Hear it again. God sent forth his
Son, made of a woman. There it is-Christ's deity and humanity. His
eternity and birth. God sent the Son who was in His presence, meaning
that Christ existed as God before coming to earth. However, He was
made of a woman when He was sent. This is, of course, the virgin birth
which took place in the manger centuries ago when God became man. When
the Trinity outlined the plan, all the events of future history were
foreknown. Remember, God knows everything. The plan progressed
according to the omniscience of the Godhead. Since God knows
everything about everything and all things about all things, the
following points were known thousands, yes, millions of years before
they occurred:
1. Man's disobedience and fall.
God placed man in the garden of Eden with certain restrictions.
Genesis 2:17: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou
shall not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou
shall surety die. The slithering serpent came along and said in
Genesis 3:4, Ye shall not surely die. Instead of listening to Jehovah
God, Adam and Eve listened to the devil. Say, all of us are so much
like them. We certainly are chips off the old block. Genesis 3:6
states, And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and
that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one
wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto
her husband with her; and he did eat. This wicked, disobedient act
against the Lord God Almighty brought judgment upon the entire human
race. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by
the obedience of one [Christ] shall many be made righteous (Romans
5:19).
Not only did God foreknow the fall of man, but:
2. The Trinity foreordained the temporary sacrifice.
I imagine the conversation in the heavenlies went as follows: "Because
man will yield to temptation and fall, there will need to be a
sacrifice offered. Since sinful flesh is responsible and since the
life of the flesh is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11), the decree is
established in the counsels of eternity that the shedding of blood,
which typifies DEATH to the flesh, will be the eternal sacrifice
offered. It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul
(Leviticus 17:11). Animal blood will be temporarily offered until one
of us goes to present the permanent sacrifice." Let's investigate the
facts and see if God's program was instituted. After Adam and Eve
sinned they knew that they were naked (see Genesis 3:7). The pangs of
a guilt-ridden conscience over sin were being experienced. They wanted
to cover their bodies and did so by making fig leaf aprons. However,
fig leaves that would shrivel up and die in a few days could not
satisfactorily handle the situation. Also, dry fig leaves were
bloodless and could not make an atonement for the soul. So God, in the
cool of the day, visited this couple and covered them
adequately-physically and spiritually. Unto Adam also and to his wife
did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them (Genesis 3:21).
The skins of animals adequately covered them physically and
spiritually. Why? In providing the skins, the blood of the animals was
shed. We see the same story unfolded in Genesis 4 concerning Cain and
Abel. Their parents, Adam and Eve, had taught them this soul-saving
story about the animal skins. Now when the boys were of age and wanted
to bring a sacrifice to God, Cain presented an offering of fruit and
Abel, of animals. Genesis 4:3-5: And in process of time it came to
pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto
the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and
of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his
offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. If you
should think that I am stretching the point by stating dogmatically
that Cain's offering was rejected because it was devoid of blood, I
invite you to confirm this truth in your heart by studying Hebrews
11:4 which emphatically presents the teaching just considered. By
faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent [more acceptable]
sacrifice than Cain.
Notice they brought their offerings as a sacrifice. God had decreed
that blood alone could make an atonement for the soul. Abel, by faith,
brought an animal. Notice why he did it. It was by faith. Romans 10:17
says, So then faith cometh by hearing. If he brought it by faith and
faith comes by hearing, it is only a logical conclusion to say that he
heard the story from the lips of his parents, accepted it, and
practiced the shedding of blood because he believed God. Cain, the
first liberal or modernist, said, "It's all bunk. I will offer my
fruit which contains no blood, and God will have to be satisfied." But
God said, "Cain, I reject your bloodless sacrifice." Many have
rejected the only method of salvation God has given the world-the
shedding or sacrifice of blood for the remission of sins.
Self-righteous efforts, good works, prayers, creeds, and religious
observances are but offerings of fruit. The Sermon on the Mount, the
Golden Rule, and the observance of the Ten Commandments are but the
waving of fig leaves in the face of Almighty God. Many of these things
are good to practice because one is a Christian, but any method of
trying to enter into eternal life that avoids or bypasses the blood
will only result in eternal separation from the God who made the
decree. It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul
(Leviticus 17:11). Now, let's go one step farther.
3. The Trinity foreordained the permanent eternal sacrifice.
Again we hear the three members of the Godhead speaking in eternity
past: "Animal blood will be only a temporary solution because it
cannot take away sin, only cover it. Man's blood is tainted through
Adam's sin. Therefore only one option or course of action is possible.
One of the three of us will have to go to earth and take flesh as a
covering. This will be necessary because flesh contains the blood of
the body. The One who is chosen to go will have to shed that blood to
take away the sins of the human race which animal blood only covered.
"The One who goes and takes upon himself that body must have a special
birth, because all humans born through natural generation or through
the regular channels of birth inherit the old wicked sinful nature of
Adam. Therefore, the One chosen will have to have a special birth in
the womb of a virgin. The very body will be created and placed in that
womb. By this special act of creation-detouring the normal means of
reproduction through intercourse-the Saviour will be born into the
world. When His blood, holy and pure, is shed, it will take away sin."
The eternal truth
Does this conversation of the Trinity in ages past seem farfetched to
you? Are you wondering if this entire plan presented is really in the
Bible? Listen to Revelation 13:8, [Christ was] the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. When? In God's mind it was planned at the
time of the foundation of the world. That's right, even before Adam
and Eve were created. Christ's shedding of His blood did not take Him
by surprise nearly 2,000 years ago. Rather, it was part of the plan He
had helped initiate before the world was formed. That's why Acts 2:23
states, Him [Christ] being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have
crucified and slain. In other words, the wicked only did to Christ
what the foreknowledge of God had planned. Did it happen? Yes. God
came into the world in human flesh to take a body that contained
blood. It was special blood that did not have the taint of Adam's sin
integrated into it by Christ's having a human father. Instead, the
Father and the Holy Spirit placed this created miracle into the womb
of the virgin without an act of intercourse or human insemination so
that pure blood might course through the Redeemer's veins. Then He
shed that blood at Calvary to take away sin that had only been covered
by animal sacrifices. The proof of these truths is in the following
scripture. Hebrews 10:4: For it is not possible that the blood of
bulls and of goats should take away sins. Notice, animal blood could
not take away sins. The Old Testament word atonement means "to
cover"-only "to cover." The priest offering the animal blood would
say, "I know that this blood only covers the sinner's sin until your
sacrificial Lamb comes, dear God." Who was God's Lamb? Hebrews 10:5:
Wherefore [because animal blood could not take away sin] when he
cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest
not, but a body hast thou prepared me. That body was prepared in the
womb by God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. Luke 1:35: And the
angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee,
and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also
that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of
God. When John the Baptist saw Christ upon the earth, he said in John
1:29, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
Praise God, this was the Lamb sent from heaven who could take away
that which was only temporarily covered through the blood of animals.
On the cross, Christ cried out, "It is finished." He was not speaking
about His life, but about the plan that had been foreordained before
the foundation of the world. Am I certain of this? Yes. [We have been]
redeemed...with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without
blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the
foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:18-20).
Imagine, this precious blood shed for your sins was planned for you
before the world was formed. Seven hundred times the blood is
mentioned as the only-THE ONLY-way of salvation. Believe it and
receive the Christ who shed that pure blood for your transgressions.
God bless you.
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