Sundays at 10:30am

 

Menu

Advent Devotional - December 16, 2014

“Veiled in flesh the Godhead see /
 Hail the incarnate Deity /
 Pleased as man with man to dwell
 /  Jesus, our Emmanuel /
 Hark! The herald angels sing /
 "Glory to the newborn King!"

-Hark the Herald Angels Sing

“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.” With these words Charles Dickens opens his famous novel A Tale of Two Cities. They might as well describe Genesis 2 & 3, if you take them in order. In Genesis 2 creation is ordered, marriage is created, and, best of all, God is present. It was the best of times. But a simple turn of page and all that is good is marred by sin. Discord replaces harmony, death takes up its reign, and, most significantly, distance between God and man is introduced. Indeed, an eviction notice from Eden and God’s presence is served. It was the worst of the times.

The rest of the Bible is, in a sense, the story of reunion. And while there are tokens of that reunion all along the way, the hope climaxes not in a garden paradise but in gospel paradox. Man doesn’t ascend to be with God; God descends to be with man. He is with us, not because we found Him at last, but because He loved us at first. There is certainly mystery in all this. He is pleased as man to dwell with man, even as His deity remains perfectly intact. The Second Person of the Trinity, the Son of God, added humanity, yet He did not in any sense relinquish His divinity. These are heady theological truths. But don’t miss what the mystery is all about. Ultimately, the incarnation is not a riddle to be solved but a truth to be cherished. So “hail the incarnate Deity” and give “glory to the newborn King,” for our God is with us!