Siloam Baptist Church, Marion
We are faced with three big words and one big choice.
Incarnation. It is a Latin word meaning “in the flesh.” In Jesus, God became one of us. The Message author Eugene Peterson memorably phrased John 1:14, “The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood.” Imagine that: God moving in just down the street from you. In Jesus, that is exactly what happened.
There are some who say Jesus was just a man who exhibited godly qualities. Others say He was just God who took on some human qualities. This simply is not an option from the biblical witness. Scripture is abundantly clear that Jesus was God in the flesh.
God did not take on human flesh in order to better understand us. He took on human flesh so we could better understand Him. Our understanding of Him is clarified once and for all at the cross, which leads us to another big word.
Substitution. We all understand the concept of substitution; we’ve experienced substitute teachers or been a substitute in a ballgame. A substitute takes the place of another, and that is just what Jesus did for us. The apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake, He (God) made Him (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him, we might become the righteousness of God.” Jesus took our place. He paid a price He did not owe, the price you and I owe.
Jesus did not take our place because He owed some sort of debt. He took our place because we owed so great a debt we could never pay it. He took our place because He loved us. The Incarnation was necessary for Him to become our substitute. And in His substitutionary death, we discover the third big word.
Salvation. Jesus made it abundantly clear that He was here for one reason: “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). In case you are wondering just who “the lost” are, they are us, every single one of us. Have you been found by Him? He’s looking for you.
You might start by praying something like, “Lord Jesus, thank you for coming to take my place. I need you to find me and save me today. Thank you for looking for me! Amen!”
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