The sine qua non of the faith of Jesus is His incarnation. He stepped down from heaven, relinquishing all the prerogatives of divinity (but not His divinity!), became a man, a descendant of the fallen Adam, came with a sinless nature but "took" upon His sinless nature our sinful nature, was "in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15). He "condemned sin" "in the likeness of [our] sinful flesh" (Rom. 8:3). No "exemption" was granted Him from bearing the full weight of the conflict we have with sin; He never sinned in thought, word, or deed, yet was "made ... to be sin for us, who knew no sin" (2 Cor. 5:21), took upon Himself the guilt of all the sins of all the human race. So closely was He with us that He felt that He was the world's sin; from a broken heart He cried in anguish, "My God, why have You forsaken Me?"
The horror He endured was the death that God told Adam in the Garden he would suffer if he sinned, the second death, the one that ends all hope and life forever. Jesus "tasted death for every man" (Heb. 2:9) which means He died the second death of "every person" in the world. We can realize: the Son of God was incarnate but still the Son of God, and thus His death on His cross was an infinite sacrifice for us each, individually.
He is infinite; thus He knew you intimately when you were in your mother's womb, counted all the hairs on your head; knows all the secrets of your soul, why your personality is as it is. If you were abused as a child, He knows, and still He is your Savior, your Great Physician, the Healer of your wounded soul. Your job is to let Him heal you. "As though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God" (2 Cor. 5:19, NKJV).
So, don't abide in alienation from sunshine and joy, or embrace the hell the devil wants to cast you into, or mistakenly blame God for the ill that has befallen you. Don't join Satan's accusations against the Lover of your soul.
The great controversy between Christ and Satan is fought in our hearts. Meanwhile, that unbounded grace is teaching us to say "No!" to these allurements of Satan, and to "live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us" (Titus 2:11-14, NKJV; cf. NIV).
The Teacher will teach if we will let Him!
--Robert J. Wieland
