God, Manifest In The Flesh
Pastors Rodney & Adonica Howard-BrownePublish date: 12/15/2023
Foundation Scriptures:
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
1 Timothy 3:16 KJV
1. Born a Man.
a. At Christmas time we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
b. We celebrate because this was no ordinary birth.
c. He had a human mother (Mary), but He was conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit.
d. Matthew 1:18 AMPC –– Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place under these circumstances: When His mother Mary had been promised in marriage to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be pregnant [through the power] of the Holy Spirit.
e. He was the Word made flesh—God, in human form—born of a virgin (Isa. 7:14; John 1:1-14; Luke 1:31-35).
f. Matthew 1:22-23 NKJV –– So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”
g. We celebrate, because in His incarnation He became one of us, to save us from our sins and reconcile us back to the Father.
2. The Seed of the Woman.
a. Genesis 3:15 KJV –– And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
b. God referred here specifically to the Seed of a woman—not a man.
c. Her Seed, Jesus, would bruise—crush—the head of the serpent.
d. He would (and did) strip the devil of all the dominion—the power and authority—that he had stolen from Adam.
e. Galatians 4:4-5 NKJV –– But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
f. The Virgin Birth is one of the most essential and foundational doctrines of the whole plan of God.
g. Without faith in the virgin birth, and in the earthly life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, a person cannot be saved (1 Cor. 15:1-8; 1 John 4:1-6).
3. The Seed of Abraham and David.
a. Jesus, in His humanity, is called the Seed of Abraham and the Seed of David.
b. The Jews kept meticulous records of their genealogy; therefore, we are able to trace the genealogy of Jesus all the way back to Adam and Eve; bearing witness of the truth of the Word of God.
c. Matthew traces Jesus’ human genealogy all the way from Abraham (Matt. 1:1-17).
d. Matthew 1:1 NKJV –– The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.
e. And Luke traces Jesus’ genealogy all the way back to Adam
(Luke 3:23-38).
f. All the promises God made were directed specifically toward the Seed, Jesus.
g. Galatians 3:16 NKJV –– Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ.
h. Paul writes to the Romans concerning, “Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the Seed of David according to the flesh”
(Rom. 1:3).
4. Jesus Christ Came in the Flesh.
a. John 1:1-2 KJV –– In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God.
b. John 1:14 KJV –– And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
c. 1 John 4:2-3 KJV –– Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
d. Jesus Christ was born physically, and He lived, died, rose again, and ascended to Heaven, bodily, in the flesh—to redeem us from all iniquity, purify us, and make us His own peculiar people (Titus 2:13-14).
e. Any spirit that denies this is an antichrist spirit.
5. He Became Like Us to Make Us Like Him.
a. Even though Jesus was essentially one with God (equal with God), He humbled Himself and made Himself of no reputation, stripped Himself of His privileges, taking on the form of a servant, in the likeness and appearance of a man, and became obedient to the point of death—even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:5-8).
b. 2 Timothy 2:8a KJV –– Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead…
c. Jesus died physically and was raised from the dead physically, condemning sin in the flesh.
d. Romans 8:2-4 NKJV –– For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
e. Instead of the law of sin and death, the born-again believer is now subject to, and governed by, the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus.
f. This is why we celebrate His birth and His coming to Earth.