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Why God became man
Mike Fletcher
God became man. Have you ever wondered why?
Here's the Biblica truth of the matter. There are four reasons?
First, God became man so he could die. So Jesus could redeem you and me. Think of it, God, in the beginning, before there was a world or a lost race of men, God foresaw all human history and knew he needed to save the race. Remember when the angel said to Joseph (Matthew 1:21) “You shall call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins.” Jesus became man to save us. That’s the first reason.
There is a second reason that Jesus became man. The very fact that Jesus knew and experienced all that it means to be human makes it possible for him to be touched by our weaknesses. Hebrews 4:15 makes it clear: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are---yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.”
Jesus understands. Whatever you’re going through, whatever temptation you face, whatever fears or insecurities, Jesus knows and understands. Are you weary? Jesus was weary to the point of exhaustion. Have you been misunderstood and unfairly treated? Jesus was misunderstood and unfairly treated. Are you disappointed? Jesus sure knew disappointment. Bring it all to him. He’s been there.
There’s a third reason God became man. And what a gift it is to us. Jesus became man as an EXAMPLE. Jesus became man to go through all sorts of situations with all sorts of people so that we can see by reading the Bible how he behaved and pattern our life accordingly. In your field, in business, in law, medicine, at the university, on the assembly line or the unemployment line or wherever you are in life, do you ask yourself how Jesus would react to the circumstances you find yourselves in?
God became man so you would know. 1 Peter 2:21 says Christ came “for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps.”
And there’s a fourth reason. God became man to sanctify the value of human life in a way that had not been done previously. Before Jesus came to earth, life, in that ancient world, was cheap. But look at our world. Drive-by killings are so common now my television station and the rest of the media barely reports them anymore. They aren’t news anymore. News, by definition, is something out of the ordinary. Drive-by shootings are an ordinary part of life today.
Then there’s abortion. How our Lord and Savior must grieve over a society that has murdered 26 million babies since 1973. I don’t use that term loosely. Abortion is murder, premeditated taking of life. Virtually every medical and biological textbook agrees, life begins at conception. Yet we snuff it our at the rate of 1.6 million a year.
I’ve seen four-month old dead, aborted babies pulled from dumpsters behind abortion clinics. Don’t tell me that wasn’t life. Perfectly formed little hands and feet, ears, eyes.
Abortion. Drive-by drug murders. TV shows and movies that glorify violence cheapen human life.
Jesus came to offset that. Christianity values life first, because God gave it and, second, because the Lord Jesus sanctified it by assuming a full human nature by means of the incarnation. Jesus Christ became like you and me.
So God became man to teach us some lessons.
And that's the Biblical truth of the matter.
Mike Fletcher is the publisher of the Online Christian Shopper, which offers llifestyle evangelism resources like Christian T-Shirts, Christian clothing and Christian jewelry. |