The Word Made Flesh

By Thomas Smith

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

This is a wonderful time of the year for those who understand the greater significance of the holiday message. The exact date of Jesus’ birth is not important. We do not worship a day, nor even a tradition, but a Person–the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not wrong to celebrate the fact that God became a man; our Savior was born of a virgin. We rejoice that the “Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” The incarnation, as God robed Himself in human flesh, is one of the most glorious and absolute essential of Bible doctrines.

From this wonderful truth, we are able to appreciate many other aspects of God’s greatness. The faithfulness of God is seen in the birth of Christ. The Old Testament prophesied many times that a Messiah would come. Isaiah said that He would be born of a virgin and that His name would be called Emmanuel, meaning “God with us.” God kept His promise; and when the fullness of time had come, He sent forth His Son. God is faithful and His Word can be trusted.

The love of God is also seen in the incarnation. God loves us so much that He sent His only Son to become the sacrifice for our sins. The love of Jesus caused Him to leave the glories of Heaven to become our Savior. We should never doubt God’s love for us, for it is clearly seen in the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ.

The condescension of God is also made clear in the Word being made flesh. This is the nature of God. He created us to fellowship with Him. When our sins prohibited us from rising to where He is, He came to us. Jesus humbled Himself and became a man that He might redeem sinful men. He took upon Himself the form of a servant and was obedient unto the death of the cross.

The virgin birth also speaks of the completeness of salvation. Sinful man could never provide a sinless sacrifice for our lost souls. The sacrifice had to be both sinless and eternal. The best of men could never qualify. God Himself became the sacrifice. Since the sacrifice of Christ on the cross was sinless and eternal, we can receive forgiveness of sin and everlasting life.

What a wonderful truth it is, that God would come and dwell among us, allowing us to behold His glory, and to know Him as Savior.

SHARING

Fundamentalism

A simple explanation of fundamentalism may be: “We believe in Bible truth, the whole Bible truth and nothing but the Bible truth.”

Fundamentalism is claimed by many, but practiced by few. Many know how to sound like a fundamentalist, inspire a sense of pride about being a fundamentalist and raise support, supposedly for fundamentalism. But when it comes to operating like a fundamentalist, well, that’s fundamentally another story.

A practicing fundamentalist is accused of being too narrow minded and ugly spirited. But the attacks against fundamentalism are not coming from true fundamentalists. They are rather coming from those who consider it to be “more Christian” to compromise the truth for the sake of pleasing men, than to uphold the truth in order to remain faithful to God’s Word.

However much we believe in fundamentalism, we also must humble ourselves before God, lest we pollute it. It must remain a practice of unfeigned faith, rather than become a sense of self-righteous pride. We must not become more interested in marking one another’s faults than we are in doing the work of the Lord.

I recently read an article that stated: “Doctrine is basic and if we have no sure, clear message from the Lord, there is no point in our approaching others. It is utter folly to cry, ‘Forget about our differences and get on with the work!’ It is only as we grasp the truth of God and as it lays hold upon us, that we can be used in gospel work.” End quote.

Let us also discern the difference between earnestly contending for the faith once delivered to the saints, from becoming of a contentious and hard spirit. God’s truths are to clear our hearts and minds about our mission. They are not intended to make us bitter and resentful against doing God’s work.

Another good rule of Christian faith is that unless we have the inspiration within ourselves to really do what we claim to be contending for, we are simply entertaining ourselves with our religion instead of living by faith. While we may denounce as false doctrine that which says there is no literal hell, we ourselves may not be doing anything in support of the truth that people need to be witnessed unto, lest they come to that awful place of torment. It has been stated that our protest against error should be equaled and surpassed by our positive and practical devotion to the truth.

Fundamentalism is bred by repentance and saving faith. It is the true spirit behind submission and obedient faith. It is the principle that allows consecrated, separated Christian living. It grounds us in God’s plan and purpose. It teaches us accountability to God’s Word in all we do. It fills us with expectant joy in God’s promises.

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Exampleship

Though exampleship is not a ship, it is in the same ship as discipleship. “Be thou an example of the believer”; “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.”; “Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”

Exampleship is not exampleship until it is exampleship! We are to set before others in real living that which the Bible teaches our living is to be. Apart from this, our living may very well be an open contradiction to God’s Word, which God will judge.

Though never perfect in the flesh, we need to be blameless in our efforts and faithful in our endeavors. This is the manifestation of our love for God, in choosing to keep His commandments. For others to see us as an example, they must see our observing all things God’s Word commands, with great expectation. On the other hand, if others think of us as an example when we are not, they can pick up on our unfaithful ways, thus making ourselves guilty of betraying their trust and misleading them.

While it is true some things are not specifically spelled out in detail in the scripture, which calls for prayerfully making decisions on scriptural comparison and principle, other things are unmistakably clear on what God’s will is for us. To be an example, we must not only prove what God’s will is, but we must also consecrate ourselves to the actual doing of it. To know of the will of God without seeking to obey it, becomes the sin of omission, which if let go, will sear our conscience, while quenching the work of the Holy Spirit.

“Without faith it is impossible to please God.” We must not be permissive of neglect and unfaithfulness, lest we lose the grand vision of the glory and honor of Christianity.

Being an example eliminates regrets, qualifies for God’s blessings, lays up treasure in heaven, reaps a good harvest, brings joy and fulfillment, and makes right living important in the minds of others, while the lack thereof will vex our own soul.

“Wherefore, be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.”

SHARING

Confusion’s Distraction

“And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.” Matthew 24:10

Nothing produces confusion any more than hatred. Hatred, apart from the truth of God’s Word, is based on prejudice, which perverts judgment.

The hatred towards Christ (which was without a cause, John 15:25) had so prejudiced the minds of the people, to the extent they sought false witnesses against Christ: they voted for the release of a criminal, instead of letting innocent Jesus go free; they ignored the legal findings that there was no fault to be found in Christ; they pressured the legal system until it finally caved into their demands for Christ to be crucified.

When it came to the opposition against Christ, truth was not a part of the equation, as was expressed by Pilate’s remark, “What is truth?” John 18:38.

Where confusion abounds, Satan manipulates. Satan, as the god of this world, the prince of the power of the air, manipulated the world into crucifying Christ, with unrelenting resolve. This was done with only one side of this fiasco being made up of sinful people. How much more Satan has to work with, when all sides are imperfect (sinful).

The confusion that is abounding today, driven by all the prejudice that hatred affords, is keeping people distracted from the greater problem: Satan’s advancing of his anti-Christ agenda. God is being removed from the thought processes of this generation. God’s Word is being shredded as the moral authority of society, while society is transforming into a modern Sodom and Gomorrah. These major transformations have become insignificant issues compared to the confusion that has everyone’s attention.

“And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.” Isaiah 59:14 Don’t expect resolution. With all the laws in place, and all the judicial institutions that exist in our society, if it was a matter of justice and judgment being exercised, the issues would have been settled a long time ago.

As we witness the snare of confusion as God’s Word spake would come, “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be able to escape all these things…” Keep your eyes on the Lord!

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Take Up The Stumbling Block

“Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling block out of the way of my people.” Isaiah 57:14

The subject of a stumbling block is often dealt with as being someone else’s problem, but not possibly our own. But denial, instead of full consideration, may very well indicate this is a problem with ourselves.

A stumbling block is something that trips us up in the course that God would have us take. And all too often, rather than take it up, we just let it remain as a limiting factor to what we do. So we limp along, with unfinished business, failing to press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. And, we let the circumstances created by the presence of the stumbling block become our justification for things being the way they are.

But God tells us: rather than readjust our whole life to accommodate the stumbling block, we are to exercise our faith in not letting that particular circumstance interfere with going ahead and doing what God wills for us to do. We are to overcome by faith, rather than let circumstances prevent us.

Stumbling blocks impede the needed progress. The things we do while letting the stumbling blocks remain in our way, are not sufficient enough to amount to real progress. Whatever it is that the stumbling block is preventing, is the very thing we need to make real progress.

God has also assured us that He will not suffer stumbling blocks to be laid in our pathway, that He will not grant us a victory over, should we seek this victory from Him by faith: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13

Where our stumbling blocks are concerned, we need to seek a revival from God to the extent we will no longer allow stumbling blocks to hinder our doing of His will: “And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.” 2 Corinthians 5:15

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