Christ the Word Made Flesh by Charles Lindsay Taylor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jun 17, 1908

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 34, No. 25.

Christ the Word Made Flesh

By Charles Lindsay Taylor

"And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us." John 1:14.

HOW wonderfully brief is this summing up of the great story of the incarnation!—"the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us." And yet in these few words the truth is all told.

It is not for us to inquire how the Word could be made flesh; God says it was, and that is sufficient. It is a great "mystery" which neither the power of reasoning nor the weight of intellect can ever unravel, but, nevertheless, it is that which is understood and known in experience by every child of faith.

But look, first, at the great fact. The Son of God whose goings forth had been from the days of eternity (Micah 5:2, margin), who dwelt in glory ineffable before the foundation of the world, whose presence caused ten thousands of angels to rejoice, whose power was infinite, and whose greatness filled the universe, suddenly became a babe. Somewhere, somewhen, in some way, He was transformed; He ceased to be in heaven, and began a course upon earth. This is the fact, the mystery of godliness.

The Scriptures have much to say regarding this tremendously important fact; for had it not been that the Word of God became flesh and dwelt among men, man would have perished in his sins and earth would have been a blighted wilderness.

And what is the record? To the Philippians the apostle wrote, "Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men." Phil. 2:5-7. In other words, Christ Jesus was not content to remain on an equality with His Father, so long as man, sinful and fallen, was doomed to die. The great fulness of His love and pity and unselfishness longed to break into and destroy the terrible vacuum which sin had made in man's heart and home.

In Heaven's councils it was therefore settled that the Creator should take the creature's place. Fully and absolutely He would step down from His exaltation and, assuming all man's weaknesses and sins, He would become the brother of humanity. "Since then the children are sharers in flesh and blood, He also Himself in like manner partook of the same." "It behooved Him in all things to be made like unto His brethren." Heb. 2:14, 17.

"Like unto His brethren" was simply to be like unto sinners, for all His brethren had sinned. Rom. 3:23. He was therefore "made to be sin on our behalf." 2 Cor. 5:21. Like all men born in sin and subject to the laws of heredity, so He was "born of a woman, born under the law." Gal. 4:4. He was one of David's descendants "according to the flesh." Rom. 1:3.

In all this, however, there is no hint of an "immaculate conception," but on the other hand there is the direct statement that His was "sinful flesh." Rom. 8:3. The fact that our Lord stooped so low that He descended into the very pit of human vileness, that He voluntarily took into and upon Himself all that man because of sin is forced to bear, is that which gives man courage to hope and power to grasp that which God has provided. Had Jesus Christ been preserved from all hereditary taints, His life of perfect righteousness would have been

so far removed from human kind that there could have been no connection between.

The work of our Redeemer was beautifully set forth in the law given to Israel. The word "redeemer" comes from the Hebrew word which is also translated "kinsman." See Ruth 3:9, margin. A redeemer had always to be a kinsman, and not only a kinsman, but a near kinsman. Verse 12. It was required that he belong to the family whose inheritance he would preserve and whose name he would perpetuate. Thus when Jesus became the Redeemer of mankind, He took man's nature in all its sinfulness; He became a near kinsman, a Brother of the lowest degree, of whom it was written, "The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Isa. 53:6.

That the Lord Jesus Christ became the Brother of sinners was one of the great truths which strengthened and upheld the leader of the Reformation. Luther wrote, "Thou, Lord Jesus Christ, art my righteousness, and I am Thy sin. Thou hast taken what was mine, and hast given me what was Thine. What Thou wast not Thou didst become, in order that I might become what I was not." And another has said, "Into the world where Satan claimed dominion God permitted His Son to come, a helpless babe subject to the weakness of humanity. He permitted Him to meet life's peril in common with every human soul, to fight the battle as every child of humanity must fight it, at the risk of failure and eternal loss."

"The Word became flesh." "God was manifest in the flesh." 1 Tim. 3:16. When God manifested Himself in and thru the sinful flesh borne by His only-begotten Son, it was only that He might thus open the way to reveal Himself in sinful flesh whenever and wherever flesh would submit itself to His control. The Word of God which became flesh in the babe of Bethlehem seeks now to become flesh in you and in me.

The Word made flesh was the Son of God made to be a Son of Man, and as Son of Man living only to reveal God the Father. By taking man's nature and compelling that nature to submit to divine dictation, He set man an example and furnished him power. "By His humanity, Christ touched humanity; by His divinity He lays hold upon the throne of God. As the Son of Man He gave us an example of obedience; as the Son of God He gives us power to obey." In Christ, the Word made flesh, man finds the Link which connects him with heaven.

From the foundation of the world God has looked upon humanity only thru His Son. "God has adopted human nature in the person of His Son," and given His only-begotten Son "to become one of the human family, forever to retain His human nature." And so fully does God carry out His plan thru the Word made flesh that "in Christ we become more closely united to God than if we had never fallen."

When the Word became flesh, then was flesh—humanity—lifted up. When Divinity took its place in humanity, it was to the end that humanity might forever dwell with Divinity. And this is now assured. Christ—the Word—was made flesh, therefore believers shall share in the divine; He was treated as men deserve; therefore man shall be treated as He deserves; He bore man's sin, therefore man shall have His righteousness; He did suffer man's death, therefore man shall enjoy His life.