The Creator Incarnate

[Thompson, Darryl]

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Ellen G. White Estate, Devotional for March 4
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The Creator Incarnate

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was
manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached
unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. 1
Tim. 3:16.

The incarnation of Christ is the mystery of all mysteries.

Christ was one with the Father, yet . . . He was willing to step down
from the exaltation of one who was equal with God.

That He might accomplish His purpose of love for the fallen race, He
became bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh.

How wide is the contrast between the divinity of Christ and the helpless
infant in Bethlehem's manger! How can we span the distance between the
mighty God and a helpless child? And yet the Creator of worlds, He in
whom was the fullness of the Godhead bodily, was manifest in the
helpless babe in the manger. Far higher than any of the angels, equal
with the Father in dignity and glory, and yet wearing the garb of
humanity! Divinity and humanity were mysteriously combined, and man and
God became one.

It would have been an almost infinite humiliation for the Son of God to
take man's nature, even when Adam stood in his innocence in Eden. But
Jesus accepted humanity when the race had been weakened by four thousand
years of sin. Like every child of Adam He accepted the results of the
working of the great law of heredity. What these results were is shown
in the history of His earthly ancestors. He came with such a heredity to
share our sorrows and temptations, and to give us the example of a
sinless life.

Those who claim that it was not possible for Christ to sin, cannot
believe that He really took upon Himself human nature. But was not
Christ actually tempted, not only by Satan in the wilderness, but all
through His life, from childhood to manhood?

Our Saviour took humanity, with all its liabilities. He took the nature
of man, with the possibility of yielding to temptation. We have nothing
to bear which He has not endured.

>From Devotional: Our Father Cares, pp. 65, 66.