‘Tis the season! It’s the season for many things. Increasingly, it is the season of heightened materialism and over-commercialization. But for Christians, it is the pre-eminent time of the year we remember the first advent of our Lord. We recall in songs and hymns His birth in a manger, His sinless life and His perfect atonement on the cross for our sins. And all of these facets of His glorious life generally fall under the singular title of The Incarnation.
Even before the first words of gospel mystery were uttered in the third chapter of Genesis – “He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel,” an image of the incarnation was placed before us which exists to this day – humanity itself! Each person you come across is not just made in the image of God but in the image of the incarnate God.
Humanity is “a kind of compound of angel and beast, of soul and body; if he were only a soul, he were a kind of angel; if only a body, he were another kind of brute.” So wrote the Puritan Stephen Charnock. And in this compound, we find a daily reminder of our Savior, even as our interaction with fallen mankind reminds us of our need.
Our very nature defined the shape of our redemption. Because He had made us different from the animals, having a body and a conscious soul, in order to rescue us, He must partake of the same. As Gregory of Nazianzus stated, “What is not assumed is not redeemed.” If we have flesh and blood, our Savior must assume a like nature to rescue us. “Inasmuch as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same…” (Heb. 2:14)
And so it is that each person you meet, no matter how lowly, is a placeholder for the truest incarnation – our Lord, Jesus Christ. Our interaction with others is not with mere beasts, nor with disembodied spirits, but with those bearing the image of God. And it is precisely The Image of the invisible God Who alone brings redemption.
The concept of the “Imago Dei“, or the image of God in mankind, is a unique hallmark of biblical faith, but have we recognized it also as a harbinger of our redemption? At the very heart of the gospel is the incarnation of God in human form. Jesus, “being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.” (Phil. 2:6-7) The very thing that elevates man above the common lot of beasts – having both a spiritual and physical nature, was, in Christ, the preeminent occasion of humility. Who can fathom the depth of this mystery! As Wesley exclaimed, “Our God contracted to a span, incomprehensibly made man!”
And His incarnation is not just a thing of the past. When our Lord had accomplished His great work of redemption, He didn’t shed the shell of his body, like a used candy wrapper. No, His resurrection was the resuscitation and glorification of flesh and bone! He ascended to heaven, still bearing the scars of time, “Rich wounds, yet visible above, in beauty glorified!” Having once partaken of the man of dust, he remains as a man of glory and even still is unashamed to call us his brethren.
So, this Christmas season, don’t just “say hello to friends you know, and everyone you meet;” recognize each one of them as a fresh expression of your incarnate God. Look a little deeper into their faces. See the vestiges of the Creator’s handiwork. Marvel anew at these walking reminders of the Gospel. Remember that, just as we were made in the image of God, so the image of the invisible God took on flesh, walked among us, and laid down His life for the sins of the world. May these common incarnations lift your gaze to “Jesus, Who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, the He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.” (Heb.2:9)
