The Incarnation…Not Just for Christmas!

I grew up in the UK, and every year when I was a child, there was a commercial on TV by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (the equivalent of the ASPCA in the U.S.) addressing a common problem. People would buy dogs as Christmas gifts for their families. However, after a few weeks, many families would realize they didn’t really want the dog and end up taking them to them to the pound. The slogan for the commercial reminded people: “A dog is for life… not just for Christmas!”

That slogan reminded me of a theological truth. The incarnation – the truth that the Son of God became a human being – is not simply a truth that we can or should celebrate at Christmas but something we can be thankful for every day. In this short article, I want to explore two very simple questions: Why did the Son of God become a human being, and why does the Son of God remain a human being?

The Son of God became a human being so He could be like us

Hebrews tells us that Jesus became a human being so that He could become like us in every way. He tells us that “since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity” (2:14). And He shared in our humanity so that “he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil” (2:14). The Son became a man so that He might destroy the devil, the one who holds the power of death. Jesus came into the world and was born to destroy the devil. In the very first chapters of Genesis, Satan brings death into the world by tempting Adam. Praise God, a second Adam has come into the world to destroy the devil and death. The way He destroys the devil—the one who holds the power of death—is by dying.

Hebrews speaks graphically of the hold that death has on us. Scripture describes those Jesus frees as those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death (2:15). And this accurately captures our world, even today. Not that people are always in conscious fear of death—but death casts its shadow over us continually. It shapes the way we live, the way we feel we have to get the most out of this life, the way it stalks us and our loved ones, the way it ruins the best things in life. But Jesus has defeated it. He has rendered death powerless. It is not that Christians do not die or are somehow unaffected by grief, but the sting has gone. Death for the Christian is like sleep. There is not the terror of the unknown or the terror of eternal judgment because Jesus has defeated death; He has ended its reign.

Jesus became a man to defeat death – and that is a wonderful truth that makes Christmas worth celebrating! However, as wonderful as that is, there is more.

The Son of God remains a human being so we can be like Him

Our tendency is to think of Jesus becoming human only for the duration of His time on earth. However, the Bible is clear that Jesus remains a human being for eternity. He became a man so He could be like us, but our great hope is that one day we will be like Him. Paul tells us that “just as we have borne the image of the earthly man [Adam], so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man” (1 Cor 15:49). Jesus remains a man – He is the man of heaven and just as we have borne the image of the first Adam with all the problems that has brought, we will one day bear the image of the man of heaven. We will be like Him.

Paul fleshes that out in Philippians 3:21, when he reminds the readers that when Jesus returns, He “will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” Our bodies will be like His body. We will be like Him. Jesus transforms our humanity. When He became a man, He was subject to all the limitations that we face living in a fallen world. He was subject to tiredness, to sadness, to weakness. But when He was raised, He was raised into glory – but He still remained a human being. In other words, He brings humanity into glory. He secures a perfect future for us – we will be like Him. He will change our bodies so they will be like His body.

The truth of the incarnation is a truth that is for life – not just for Christmas, because Jesus remains a man for eternity! Praise God… and Merry Christmas!