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Amazing is a superlative which
like most superlatives today is diminished by overuse. Amazing! is
attached to items as mundane as toothpaste and toys; sandwiches and
soap; fabric and fruit.
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| “One Moment” In one moment, one seemingly insignificant measurement on the span of time, “The Word became flesh”. In that moment undiminished Deity became humanity. What an incomprehensible thought! In one moment the one for whom are all things and by whom are all things, became a thing #—like you and me—God with us. In one moment “the Lord of Glory became a child of earth. The tiny Babe lying in the manger of Bethlehem was the One without whom was not anything made that was made. The tiny, chubby baby hand upon the cheek of the virgin mother was the hand of Him who holds the universe in the hollow of his hand. The baby arm about the mother’s neck was the arm of the one whose everlasting arms are underneath all things. The lisping words of the toddling Child of Nazareth were the words of the One who spoke the earth into being and who created a universe by the Word of His mouth.” That one moment was not filled with pomp and ceremony. You see he made himself of no reputation and took upon himself the form of a servant. # Jesus Christ was made a little lower than the angels and it behooved him to be made like his brethren —that is, like you and me. We don’t like to think of him as being “just like us” but the “King of the Jews” sometimes had a dirty diaper. The “Rose of Sharon” sometimes needed a bath. The “Altogether Lovely One” sometimes needed to comb his hair, brush his teeth and wash his face. There may have been times when he had a cold or the flu or maybe heartburn from his mother’s chili. Did you ever wonder if he had a girlfriend? Did Joseph sometimes chide Him for not planeing the board smoothly enough, or for not framing the window squarely enough? Did he have a big nose or funny teeth? I wonder if he had any cavities.# In one moment non-corporeal became corporeal, spirit became flesh. The very God of very Gods entered the womb of a peasant girl. In one moment God took on skin and hair, teeth and toenails. In one moment the invisible God became the visible, touchable, pierce-able, whip-able, nail-able, Emanuel—God with us. In one moment divinity took on the garb of humanity so that depravity might be rendered savable. The handwriting that was written against us could now be blotted out. But that blotting would not be accomplished with ink, it would not accomplished with decrees from the courts of the finite, it would not be accomplished by the justice of the unjust, it would be accomplished, it was blotted out because in one moment the Word became flesh. In one moment true grace appeared and we received grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. In one moment the personification of truth was revealed and now we no longer stumble in darkness. The truth of Christ is like the light of the sun multiplied by infinity, in him is no darkness at all. He is the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. When the Word of God says that the Prince of Heaven humbled himself what it is saying is simply: God with us. In one moment God became a man. 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. In one moment God became a man, fully man without sin together with undiminished deity. Oh, Praise his name for that one moment! Pastor Jim Alter |