The Wondrous Incarnation — A.J. Higgins

Psalm 40 and the Marvelous Work of the Incarnation

Psalm 48, verse number 5,. Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us were. They cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee. If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire. Mine ears hast thou opened. Burn offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book it is written of me.

I delight to do thy will. So you'll notice in verse number 5, wonderful or marvelous works, and that's what we're looking at this week, some of the marvelous works of God. We consider the marvelous work of creation on Monday evening, and last evening from Psalm 139, the marvelous work of the formation of a human being.

And tonight we'll be looking at the marvelous work of incarnation, as intimated here in Psalm number 40. Now turn, if you will, to Hebrews and chapter number 2. Hebrews chapter 2, and we'll break in at verse number 5.

For unto which of the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak, but one in a certain place testify. Now he goes back to Psalm number 8, and what is being said here initially referred to Adam.

What is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that thou visitest him? Thou mayest him a little lower than angels, crownest him with the glory and honor that set him over the work of thy hands.

Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet, for in that he put all in subjection under him. He left nothing that was not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him, but we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man.

For it became him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctified and they who were sanctified are all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren.

That would be a unity of position. Then there is a unity of practice. In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. And then finally there's a unity in presentation. And again, I will put my trust in him.

And again, behold, I and the children which God hath given me. For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy or render powerless him that had the power of death.

That is the devil. And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore, in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation or I think you know the word there is propitiation, a full satisfaction, a propitiation for the sins of the people, for in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted.

The Incarnation in Hebrews 10

Now I know that's a lot of reading, but just going to ask your forbearance and read several other verses in chapter 10, just to show us the link with what we had in the Psalms. Verse number 3, speaking now of the sacrifices offered under the law, under the Mosaic law, for in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.

For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, I'll just pause there for a moment. The tense there is coming into the world. So I would take it that these were the words of the Lord Jesus as he left heaven.

As he was coming into the world, he said, sacrifice and offering now what is not but a body has now prepared me and burn offerings and sacrifices for sin. I was had no pleasure. Then said I, law, I come in the volume of the book.

It is written of me to do thy will above when he said, sacrifice and offering and burn offerings and offering for sin. Now what's not neither has pleasure therein, which are offered by the law. Then said he, low, I cut low.

I come to do thy will. Oh God. And we trust God will add his blessing to rather extensive reading of the word of God this evening. One of the foremost and best known talk show host and men that do interviewing in our generation, back at least in the late 90s into the early 20s was a man named Larry King.

Larry King was once asked if he had his choice of interviewing anyone across the span of history, who would he like to interview? And to the surprise of the person who asked him the question, he said, if I could interview anyone, I would like to interview Jesus Christ.

And the person asked him, if you could interview Christ, what question would you ask him? He said, I would like to ask him if the virgin birth is true, because if it is, that question, the answer to that question would define history for me.

The Meaning of the Incarnation

So I want you to think of the implications, the implications of the virgin birth and of the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. It literally, it literally defines history. If you think of it, in his coming, it was contrary to the generation of human beings.

He came without the aid of any man. It was contrary to the generation. At his resurrection, he overcame the law of the grave. At his ascension, he overcame the laws of gravity. And when he returns, he will return, despite the power of all the governments of the world arrayed against him.

So we want to look tonight at the tremendous truth of the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. One of the marvelous works that we read of in the book of the Psalm, Psalm number 40. A moment's reflection will show you that there's only four ways that anyone has ever come into the world.

Adam came through creation. Eve came through formation. You and I have come through generation. And the Lord Jesus came through incarnation. Now that you think of it, Adam came with neither father nor mother.

Eve came and a man was involved, but no woman. You and I came and man and woman were involved. The Lord Jesus Christ came and a woman was involved, but no man. Just an interesting assortment, if you will, of means by which God has brought individuals.

A man that came in without father or mother. A woman that came in through a man, but no woman. A man who came in through a woman, but no man. And you and I have come and we have come through both man and woman.

And so we have the four ways that we could come into the world. So I want you to think this evening, if you will, of the incarnation of the Lord Jesus. And really, we could almost pigeonhole all our remarks under two great two great headings.

The fact of his coming and the fruit of his coming. We're going to show the fact of it. And then what has come as a result of it, the fruit of the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. So I want you to think, first of all, of the meaning, the meaning of incarnation.

What do we mean when we say incarnation? Now, the first thing is not to be splitting hairs, but there is a difference between the virgin birth and the incarnation. The virgin birth was the power by which he came.

The incarnation was the person who came, not just that there was a birth that did not involve a man, but that there was the God, God, the son taking human flesh and coming into the womb of Mary. So the incarnation is the, the Lord Jesus Christ taking flesh to himself.

The virgin birth was the means by which that came about the power and the person. And so the Lord Jesus Christ is 100 deity and 100 humanity. He is not, and I'm not making anyone an offender for a word, but sometimes when you hear people refer to him as the, as the God man, it almost suggests he's 50 God and 50 man.

But in reality, he is 100 God. He sacrificed none of his deity when he took perfect, sinless humanity into union with himself. Deity was poured into humanity and joined together and eternally. The tremendous truth is this eternally.

He will be a man in a real body. Upon a throne forever. And so we are reminded here that there are two natures in one man. Now, a corollary to that is when you think of the Trinity, father, son, and spirit, there is one nature in three persons.

So when you're thinking of the Lord Jesus himself, there are two natures in one person. When you're thinking of the Trinity, there are, there is one nature in three persons. And so we have the tremendous mystery that perhaps we cannot conceive of in the sense that we have nothing earthly to, to kind of link it with, or as a, as a model for that.

But this is what the word of God teaches the meaning of incarnation, that God, the son eternally existing in the Godhead as the son of God chose voluntarily to take human nature, sin apart, and to join his deity to his, to humanity, the meaning of incarnation.

The Method and Necessity of the Incarnation

What was the method of incarnation? Now, if you read carefully, you would have read in where you would have heard us reading in Hebrews chapter 10, that a body has style prepared me so that when we're looking in Hebrews chapter 10, it is God, the father preparing a body for his son.

But if you were listening while we read in Hebrews chapter two, it said in as much as the children, that would be all of us in as much as the children are partakers of flesh and blood. He also himself likewise took part of the same.

So Hebrew says he did it. And if we go back to Luke chapter one, we all know the Christmas story and the annunciation that was made to, to Mary. When Mary was wondering, how can this thing be as the angel Gabriel came and announced the coming, the fact that she would become the vessel, the mother of the Lord, Jesus Christ.

She said, how can this be saying, I know not a man. And he says, the Holy Spirit shall come upon thee and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore, that which is born of thee shall be holy son of God.

And so Luke chapter one ascribes the incarnation to the spirit of God. So Hebrews 10, it is the father who gives him a body. Luke chapter one. It is the spirit of God that gives him a body. And in Hebrews chapter two, he himself took part of the same so that father, son, and spirit are all linked with this tremendous event of the incarnation of the Lord, Jesus Christ.

Now, just as an aside for you to consider every place you see a significant event in the life of the Lord, Jesus, all three persons of the Godhead are present. So whether you're looking at his birth, whether you're looking at his baptism, a voice from heaven, the spirit of God, the sending, the Lord Jesus Christ coming from the board, from the banks of Jordan, the three persons of the Godhead there, whether you're looking at his work at Calvary, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, whether you're looking at his resurrection, whatever you're looking at concerning the Lord, Jesus, the entire Godhead is moving together in absolute harmony and an absolute unity relative to all of these tremendous truths of the, of the person of the Lord, Jesus.

So father, son, and spirit all united in the Lord, Jesus becoming a man, the, the method of it. We need to be clear also that he is true, genuine humanity. I say this reverently and I say it guardedly.

Mary's womb was not merely an incubator. He was the seed of the woman. He must be genuine man. If he is going to be a kinsman redeemer. And so the, the mandate then for incarnation is very, very clear.

We read in Hebrews chapter two. Now I'm just going to condense it and simplify it for our thinking and for our discussion because of time, God placed the world at creation under the dominion of Adam. We read that in Hebrews chapter two, that God set a man over his creation crown with glory and honor.

Everything put beneath his feet. Adam was Lord over all God's representative to rule and reign for God. Now there are lots of possibilities. It may be, and this is just pure speculation. This is, I don't have scripture for this.

It may be that Satan, Lucifer, the highest of all the angelic beings, it may be that he thought he deserved that place of Lordship over the earth. And when it wasn't given to him, and when it was given to a mere man, someone lower than angels, as we read in Hebrews chapter two, when it was given to someone lower than he, he rebelled and he sought to mar all of God's purposes.

And so here was the man that God intended to rule. And if Satan could topple him, his thinking was he had totally frustrated all of God's purposes and all of God's plans for a man to rule over creation.

And of course, you know what occurred. Satan entered the garden and Satan caused Adam to fall. And the result was that it appeared on the surface as though all of God's purposes had been frustrated that Satan has been successful in defeating and in bringing to naught God's intention for a man to reign on the earth.

And so the writer of Hebrew says, God once put everything under his feet, but we see not yet. We don't see everything under his feet. Now, the man does not rule the lion. The man does not control the beasts of the field.

The man is not Lord of creation. We don't see that yet. It's not happening now. He says, but we do see Jesus made a little lower than angels with a view to the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor to taste death for every man.

And we're reminded there that he is going to bring many sons to glory as a result. And so God's purposes that appeared to have been appeared to have been frustrated by the stratagems of Satan. God has brought another man into the world, a perfect man.

And that man will reign as a man over the earth eternally for God. God has frustrated the purposes of Satan in the person of his son. So he must be a kinsman. You ever notice why Dr. Luke who signs the birth certificate that it's a virgin birth.

He signs the birth certificate himself. And it's Dr. Luke who is so careful to tell us about his true humanity. Matthew tells us about about Joseph and about Joseph's background and about the wise men coming.

And while there are different things in Matthew chapter one that would substantiate the virgin birth of Christ, it's Luke that really stresses his true humanity. And it's Luke who tells us about five widows.

Why the connection? Why would Luke who tells us about five different widows in his gospel record? Why would he stress for us that the true humanity of the Lord Jesus? Because the widow was always looking for the kinsmen redeemer had to be a kinsman, had to be related, had to be real in the connection.

And so he is going to stress for us that the one who has come is truly a man. And so Luke alone tells us about his boyhood, about growing, that the child grew and increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

Tells us about the boy of 12 years of age. Tells us about the child that went down and was subject to them in Nazareth. And so Luke would stress for us genuine, real humanity, a real man, set apart that moved and lived here.

A genuine kinsman because God had ordained that it would be a man who would rule over the earth and have lordship and everything subdued beneath his feet. Now we have to go and we won't do it for time.

We have to go to 1st Corinthians chapter 15 and it tells us there he must reign and everything will be subdued beneath his feet and every enemy a footstool of his feet. And in that day when the kingdom is complete, he'll hand it back to his father that God might be all in it all.

And so God has found a man into whom he can commit the responsibility, the stewardship of a coming kingdom and world dominion. And it will be this man, a real man. That's why it was necessary for him to be a real man.

One of the many reasons we're going to see the rest of there in Hebrews chapter 2 in just a moment. But we must stress the genuine manhood of the Lord Jesus. Now among the Greek and Roman pantheon of the gods, they would have some of their gods who would come and assume human form for a period of time or come and assume human form to accomplish something.

But the idea of a God actually becoming, linking deity with humanity and remaining that way forever was totally foreign to any of their thinking. Here is one of the tremendous truths of the Word of God, that God became a man.

We read in Philippians chapter 2, you all know those wonderful words. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, though being in the form of God. 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 reminds us though being rich.

Hebrews chapter 5, though being son. All of those remind us of the tremendous down stooping of the Lord Jesus. You know one of the most remarkable things. I don't know if you ever thought of it in this light.

Philippians chapter 2 tells us of the Lord Jesus humbling himself. We read those words. Let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus, though being in the form of God. Thought it not a thing to be grasped that, to be on equality with God, but made himself of no reputation, took upon himself the form of a servant, being found in fashion as a man, and he humbled himself.

He humbled himself. I know we, I think I can speak for all of us. We all find that the most difficult thing to deal with is our own human pride. And it takes blows at times, because we find ourselves being so inconsistent.

You know you preach something today, you tell your kids something today, and tomorrow you find yourself kind of falling in the very thing you told them. And you're humbled. And not just your inconsistencies, but your inadequacies.

You find that, you know, someone comes with a need, a spiritual need, and you can't meet it. You don't know what to say, and you feel so helpless, and you feel so inadequate. And that's another blow to your pride.

And then other times you're made very, very conscious of your own infirmities, just how weak you are. And, you know, you try to pray and you fall asleep. And you're reading your Bible and after a few minutes you wonder, what did I just read?

You know, your mind's on autopilot. And you're reading, and you hardly know what you read. And you have to go back over it again. And, you know, you'd like to spend more time reading, but you find yourself just so weary.

And other times it's your own ignorance, and you feel like, I wish I knew this book better. And you just feel so humbled because you find yourself just unable to grasp the tremendous truths of the Word of God.

And then, of course, other times it's our failure, our iniquities, and they humble us. So our ignorance, our inadequacies, our infirmities, our inconsistencies, our iniquities, they humble us. The Lord Jesus had no ignorance, no infirmities, no inadequacies, no inconsistencies, no iniquity.

He had nothing external to humble Him. He humbled Himself. Do you ever think that you have a God who is a self-humbling God? 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, He's a self-impoverishing God. Revelation 1, I am the living one who became dead.

He is a self-sacrificing God. That's the kind of God we have. A God who humbled Himself at the mighty stoop of incarnation. The mandate for incarnation. But what motivated the Lord Jesus to take human flesh to Himself?

The Motives of Christ’s Coming

Perhaps the greatest reason. You may say, well, it was to save us. Yes, but I think there was something greater than that. In sacrifices and burnt offerings for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. Lo, I come to do thy will, O my God.

Thy law is within my heart. So could I say, first of all, I think the primary reason the Lord Jesus Christ became a man with a view to the cross was to bring pleasure to the heart of God. Now think of every other sacrifice.

Think of every time a Jewish man, boy, woman, girl, whatever it was, every time a Jewish person approached an altar with a sacrifice. Every time. It was a confession there was something lacking in him or her.

Whether it was a burnt offering, or a meal offering, or a sin offering, trespass offering, they were confessing, I lack. And this sacrifice is to make up for what I lack. And every time they came, it was with a victim that was coming ignorantly and involuntarily.

So there was something lacking in the offerer. And there was something lacking in the offering. And as a result, God had no ultimate. Now, when it says God had no pleasure, obedience always pleases God.

So when men brought their sacrifices in obedience, there was in that sense, pleasure for God. But in the sense of absolute satisfaction that it satisfied God and the throne of God as to the matter of their sin, God had no pleasure.

It did not bring full total satisfaction to God. But there was a man who came with an offering to God. And there was nothing lacking in the man. And there was nothing lacking in the offerings. Unlike others that came confessing their failure, he came.

And as he approached Calvary, he could say, I have glorified the on the earth. And as far as the sacrifice, nothing lacking in the sacrifice by one offering, he has perfected forever them that are sanctified.

And so he came to give pleasure to the heart of God. Law, I come to do thy will. Oh, my God, thy law is within my heart. And he gave ultimate total satisfaction. He came not ignorantly, but intelligently.

In fact, it's John. It's interesting. In John's gospel, virtually every chapter of John tells us something that Jesus knew. His perfect knowledge. So in Chapter 18, Jesus, knowing all things, went forth over the brook.

He drawn Jesus, knowing all things, went forth. He went with full awareness of all the cross meant not only intelligently, but voluntarily only John. And again, it's not in our authorized version. Mr. Darby and other versions would give it to you.

Jesus taking the cross for himself went forth. He bearing his cross for himself went forth, voluntarily going, voluntarily yielding himself to man, a sacrifice that brought pleasure to God, but as well, not only bringing pleasure to God, but the purposes of God.

I come to do thy will. He came to accomplish the will of God. And it's again John's gospel that reminds us his meat was to do the will of him that sent him. He came down from heaven to do not his own will, but the will of him that sent him.

He delighted to do that will. Unlike every every other person that has ever lived. There are times that we do the will of God and we do it out of duty. Tragically, there are times you can do it out of drudgery.

But for him, every moment he did it was out of delight, out of delight. Now I cannot explain it and I cannot, I cannot put it into words that we're able to comprehend, but there was in the Lord Jesus both infinite joy going to Calvary and infinite sorrow.

Joy that he could do the Father's will. Sorrow all the cross meant for him to bear sin in his own body on the tree. In this one man, the motivation, the pleasure of God, the purposes of God, the precepts of God, to complete and fulfill the word of God.

Christ’s Fulfillment of Scripture at Calvary

Did you ever notice John's gospel again? Jesus, knowing that all things were now fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there were three different occasions. Three occasions on the cross that men offered the Lord Jesus something to drink.

When they came to Calvary, they offered him the gall, that which would mitigate some of his suffering and when he tasted, he refused it. Luke tells us that the soldiers coming, mocking him, offered him vinegar.

And I would take it that in the sense in which is being said, that what they were doing was just toying with him like you would toy with a trapped animal, taking the vinegar and bringing it close to his lips and pulling it away.

Knowing the tremendous searing dehydration that was going on in his body and the incredible thirst and they would just toy with him. But John tells us that the scriptures might be fulfilled. He said, I thirst.

And the soldier offers him that drink and when he receives it, he says, it is finished. Shouts, it is finished. And he bows his head and gave up his spirit. What's the significance of that? There was one scripture that had to be fulfilled.

In my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink. So the first offering was not on his thirst. The first offering was that offering to slake his pain and suffering. The second one was in mockery. But the Lord Jesus says he scans the vast prophetic scriptures.

One more scripture still to be fulfilled. That's how careful he was with the word of God. One scripture had to be fulfilled. And he said, I thirst so that it could be fulfilled. That's tremendously encouraging because it reminds us that there is not one word of this book that he will fail to accomplish and carry out.

Every promise he has made to you and to me relative to time and eternity, he will see to with absolute assurance. So we're reminded here of the pleasure of God, the purpose of God, the precepts of God, and then finally we're reminded about the people of God.

He came. He came to give his life. So what motivated him? I want you to think of the manner in which this servant lived and the incarnation. You notice perhaps that when we read in Psalm number 40, it says, Mine ear hast thou opened or digged.

And when you come to Hebrews chapter 10, it changes it to a body hast thou prepared me. Now, just so you understand the difference there, when the Hebrew writer is quoting, he's quoting from something called the Septuagint version of the Bible, which was a Greek translation made in Alexandria, Egypt, because there were so many Jews living there that the Hebrew scriptures were difficult.

The Old Testament was translated into Greek for them. And many of the quotes in the New Testament were from that Greek translation. You might say, you mean we're allowed then to change words? No, we can't.

But the Spirit of God can. And the Spirit of God chose to use those words in the New Testament because mine ear hast thou digged or opened means God had possession of the whole person. And so in Hebrews, it says a body.

If God has my ear, he has my body. If I will listen and obey everything God says, that means my body is at his disposal. So Hebrews tells us then and changes the wording and tells us about the servant's ear and the servant's body.

And so we are reminded there that his consecration in incarnation, his consecration was total, absolute, uncompromising, unconditional. He was totally given over to do the will of his Father. The servant's ear.

But in his incarnation, we have a system's end. The Lord Jesus did not cancel the Old Testament sacrifices. He did not cancel the law of Moses. The Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled it. Big difference. He didn't cancel the sacrifices.

He fulfilled them. No more need for them. He was the ultimate. And in his giving of himself, he fulfilled all of those sacrifices and a system came to an end. We're reminded here of the Scripture's emphasis.

It was absolutely consistent with what the Word of God in the volume of the book it is written of me. I come to do thy will, O my God. What he did was consistent with the Word of God. And we are reminded here of his deep delight in doing the Father's will.

The fact of his coming. A true man. Seed of the woman who came to bring pleasure to the heart of his Father. But let me come in the remaining moments to the fruit. And we'll just mention from Hebrews chapter 2 a five-fold fruit that is the result of the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Incarnation Secures Glory for God

We read of it in Hebrews chapter 2 In as much as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same. Fruit number one. Result number one. He came to secure glory for God.

He came to secure glory for God. We read that in earlier. In the verses 9 and 10 with a view to the suffering of death. Tasting death for every man. For it became him. It was consistent with God in bringing many sons unto glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect.

What does it mean to bring many sons unto glory? Well, normally we think of that as that's how he's going to bring us to heaven. But I think something more is in view. I think that really what is in view here is this.

God intended the earth to be filled. We read it in Habakkuk. We read it in Numbers 14. We read it elsewhere in the Word of God. The whole earth filled with the glory of God in the coming millennial age.

And the Lord Jesus Christ is securing that period of earthly glory. That millennial glory. And bringing many, many sons into that glory. God intended a thousand year reign of his son over the earth. When again, whether we're looking in Psalm 72, whether we're looking in Isaiah chapter 6, Numbers chapter 14, Habakkuk 2, the whole earth filled with the glory of God.

What a day that will be when the entire globe is bathed in the fullness of divine glory. And that has all been secured. That plan of God for a man to reign, for glory to permeate, for others to enjoy that glory, for sons to be brought to that glory, all been secured by the incarnation, the down stooping, and the cross of Christ.

He tasted death for every man. Actually, the rendering there is he tasted death for everything. Tasted death for the creation. Tasted death for the sons of Adam. Everything will be brought to God's purposes in a coming day because he tasted death.

And that doesn't mean he sampled it. It's not the idea like, you know, just take a taste of this and see if you like it. It's the idea that he entered into it in all of its fullness. He experienced it in all of its bitterness, in all of its finality.

He knew death at Calvary. So we're reminded that he came to secure glory for God. There was a seeming interruption, wasn't there, in the purposes of God. There was a seeming derailment of all that God intended.

But there has been divine intervention. He has come, and he has come that he might bring many sons unto glory. Everything confirmed and spoken of there as being the chief leader of our salvation. It's the same word that we have in Hebrews chapter 12, the author and perfecter of the life of faith.