A God We Can See
The angel Gabriel said to Mary, “You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. … The holy one born will be called the Son of God.” Luke 1:31-32, 35
God has always desired the companionship of those he created in his image. In the garden of Eden, he initiated daily times of fellowship with Adam and Eve. Then he sought them out even when he knew they had sinned against him and opened a chasm of unrighteousness between them (Genesis 3:8). On the day he expelled them from Eden, he promised to restore that fellowship by sending a Savior who would crush evil (3:15).
Centuries later, God told Moses to make a sanctuary so he could dwell once again among his people (Exodus 25:8). But before God had even finished giving Moses the tabernacle’s blueprints, the Israelites had grieved him and returned to idol worship. The God whose splendor and holiness was hidden behind the thick curtains of the tabernacle’s Most Holy Place frightened them. They wanted a god they could see, touch, understand. God mourned their fickle, foolish unfaithfulness, yet he understood their frailty. He always intended to give them a God they could see.
Therefore, on a quiet night near a small village, a tattered group of shepherds heard the divine proclamation for which the souls of all mankind had yearned: “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). Born into the world of men was the Lord of the universe. God “became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).
The English word incarnation comes from a Latin word, incarne, which means “in flesh.” Jesus’s incarnation—deity becoming humanity—is the official manifesto of God’s never-ending desire to dwell with those he created and loves.
The God of the Universe wants a relationship with me? Unbelievable, yet true. That’s the reason Jesus came to earth as human child and grew into the man who voluntarily died on a cross for my sins and yours. That desire for a relationship is also the reason Jesus will return to earth to take all who cultivated a relationship with him to heaven. Forever together with him—the fulfillment of all God planned when he created humanity.
God’s commitment to a relationship with us is amazing, humbling, convicting. How passionately am I—are you—pursuing a relationship with him?
Dig Deeper
Why was it so important for Jesus to be “in flesh”? Read Romans 5:19 and Hebrews 4:15.
One day our relationship with God will be as pure and complete as the relationship he shared with Adam and Eve. Read all about it in Revelation 21:1-4, 22-27, and 22:1-5.
To whom was Jesus speaking when he said, “Anyone who has seen me, has seen the father”? What was he trying to explain? Read John 14: 5-11.
The Hebrew word for “dwell,” skenoo, means “to settle down” or to “abide.” It can also be translated “to tabernacle.” What light does that shed on Jesus’ comments in John 15: 1-17?
Denise K. Loock
*NOTE: This devotion appears in a slightly different form in the 2023 revised and updated edition of Open Your Hymnal: Devotions That Harmonize Scripture with Song. Order a copy on Amazon.