The Incarnation Is The Very Mind Of God

I have glorified

You on the earth,

I have finished

the work which

You have given

Me to do.

John 17:4

So when Jesus 

had received the

sour wine, He said,

'It is finished!' And

bowing His head, 

He gave up 

His spirit.

John 19:30

     The crucifixion was not something that just happened to Jesus. It was not that the Roman courts would appoint such a death for vile criminals. This event, the crucifixion was not something that could have been prevented. How often do we conceive of an idea, Jesus could have prevented this horrible death for He could have called down legions of angels to protect and save Him. Yes, He could have done such a thing, it was in His power to do so, He created the angels, they served Him, but, His death was the very reason why He came. His death was and is the very mind of God. Jesus was not a martyr, a martyr is someone who could, if he could prevent himself from being a martyr. Jesus did not come to be a martyr, He came to earth for that very reason, His death. It was ordained and decreed by God the Father and the Father clothed His Wisdom in flesh, just so that the Wisdom of God clothed in human flesh would die. If we believe that Jesus' death was for the forgiveness of sins, that God will forgive us because He loves us, then all we have done is to make the oblation, the crucifixion of Jesus unnecessary, and redemption to have no real meaning. God forgives sins because of the death of Jesus Christ. Forgiveness of sins could not happen in any other way than by the death of His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus became our Savior because of His finished work upon the cross, a work decreed by the Father and carried out by the Son. God does not lie, it is impossible for Him to lie, therefore, when He, in His justice, declared that sin would cause Him to exercise His justice and that sin in His justice required death, He sent His Son to do just that; die and meet the requirements of His justice. It was the death of Jesus Christ that is applied to all of God's children, therefore those who are elected to be His Children are seen by and through the death of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was and is exalted by the Father, and He receives back the glory He had before He came to earth, to become a baby, a human baby, to suffer, and live as man on earth, the creator of all things, willingly accepted and accomplished the will of the Father. No angel would be used to accomplish this event, this redemption, for no angel had the power to be the propitiation for man's sin. God Himself accomplished that which He desired, that is, to have a people for His children, to live eternally with Him, to be holy, and acceptable in every way. This God did Himself, and Jesus was the means accomplished by His death, a death upon a cross. 

     Admitting that salvation could come in any other way obliterates the Holiness of God. God is Holy, and it is His Holiness that is above all things, above His Sovereignty, His Providence. It is proclaimed, three times, holy, holy, holy is He, and the angels around the throne bow down and cast their crowns to Him, crying Holy, Holy, Holy, (Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:10). To view God in any other way is a false view of God's love, and is against the revelation of His Son. God did not save us out of His pity for us, out of sympathy for us, so that He would become a curse for us. No! Jesus Christ became a curse for man out of the Divine decree of God.

     Our portion in regards to salvation is when the free gift of grace and faith is given to us then we acknowledge our sinfulness and that Jesus Christ became a curse for us, for our sinfulness, to wipe away all sin and all of sin's effects, to destroy Satan, that deceiver who has deceived man, becoming the means by which man would sin. It is when we are convicted of sin, not just an acknowledgment of sin, rather a true conviction of  our sin, our unworthiness, we have then been given the conviction of shame and a desire to repent. This is the great mercy of God. He came for His own, He died as the Son of God, the Wisdom of God, the very Word of God, the true God of true God. This He accomplished on the cross. Then so not to leave His children without help, He sent the Holy Spirit to live in His children, to aid them in their sanctification process while here on earth. Do you feel the weight of your own sin? Are you humbled by the fact that you cannot save yourself and God came to do just that; to save you. Why? Because God in His justice required death, a death that could only be redeemed by one who would not be cumbered by inherited sin, One who had no sin, who would not sin, yet undergo humanity revealing God to man. Jesus Christ hates sin, and Calvary was the ultimate way by which He showed His hatred for sin, and His mercy, love, and all this decreed by God. Take all this seriously and you, and I, must become the first person that must leave all sin, lay sin aside, quit being the fraud that sin makes us, we do this by prayer, reading of His word, by association with those of like mind. Stay away from those who mislead people and give credit to man that man can choose God, that the death of His Son was sufficient for everyone. God sent His Son for His Children and Jesus Christ came and finished the work assigned to Him, accepted by Him, and accomplished through Him.

Thanksgiving is coming; a day to set aside to be especially mindful and thankful. Do not just be thankful because you live in the United States, that you have an easier life than others, freedoms many wished they have. Focusing on those things will only cause us to raise ourselves above others. Be thankful for those things, but most of all, be thankful that Jesus Christ came, and finished the work of the Father, and that because of that finished work, eternal life is now available to all of His children.

That all should honor

     the Son just as they

honor the Father. He

     who does not honor

the Son does not honor

     the Father who sent

Him.

                 John 5:23

May the Love of God be in you

Richard L. Crumb