The Mystery of the Incarnation: God Among Us

"But he spake of the temple of his body. Now this Christmas season is a value to us all because it directs our attention to the person of our Blessed Lord and Savior. There are parents who might try to tell us that we can't be sure of the dates and that the observance of the 25th of December was the baptizing as it was called of a pagan custom. Well, that doesn't make the slightest difference. What makes the whole difference to us is the great fact, the great event itself." [00:19:56]

"Now as with no other teaching, the person is here not only simple but absolutely vital. There are many religions in the many teachings, many of them associated with the names of particular men, but these men are not essential to them. Somebody else might equally well have taught the same thing. Doesn't that detract from the greatness of the particular men, but is not light after it is not essential to it. It is the teaching that metals, but here it is the person himself that counts and the matters." [00:20:24]

"On the one hand, there are those who say that he was only a man, nothing but a man, a great male they're prepared to grant, an unusual men and outstanding men, but nothing more than a man. Some of them are prepared to say that he achieved live as the result of his good faithful obedient life. He achieved divinity father say that because of the life he lived and the obedience that he rendered and the godly that he became one through whom God could many FISC himself to us." [00:03:50]

"Now those of you are familiar with your scriptures will know that there's nothing neve about all this. This is something that has been said about him from the very beginning with their extraordinary honesty. The New Testament Gospels regard all these things that were said about him from the moment of his birth until his ascension into him. There's nothing new about this, but the world in its blind isn't in its folly always gets excited about this very thing during this first week." [00:05:00]

"Well, now let me take this opportunity of saying this about what is called scholarship and at the sight of which some people always begin to tremble with Allah. There is no peculiar Authority possessed by what is called scholarship. It just means that a man has given his life to doing a certain amount of work along a certain given line, but it doesn't endure him with any unusual faculties or powers and we need never be afraid of scholarship for this reason that it always cancels itself out." [00:05:36]

"Now hear this teaching concerning him is given in many ways as we've got these wonderful stories of the announcement of his birth who actually was born and all the wonderful details that are given at the beginning of the other three Gospels in particular, particularly Matthew and Luke, but in addition to that and all about the shepherds and Mary and Joseph and all the gladness and the joy and the rejoicing of the singing in the heavenly places and so on." [00:10:42]

"Now this could be translated like this he speak of the right the shrine of his body. What does this mean? Well, you see our Lord was speaking here in a kind of enigmatic manner. He was speaking with a double meaning. He just claims the literal physical temple and everybody's mind is on death, but he had one of the same time talks about the literal temple and his own body and in doing that we are given very wonderful teaching with regard to what happened at the Incarnation when our Lord was born in Bethlehem." [00:12:49]

"Jesus of Nazareth is God God the eternal son and his body is the house in which he dwells the Bobby of that infant that bed lying in the manger is that the dwelling place of the eternal God in the person of the son now we've had this same idea innocence in the first chapter of John's Gospel in the 14th verse the word was made flesh and dwelt among us which as you know should be translated the word was made flesh and tabernacled amongst us." [00:17:42]

"Now then our Lord you see is confirming this teaching and he's explaining it he insane destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up he is referring primarily as John tells us to himself and to his body in particular destroy this my body he says and I will raise it up in three days but he knows that they are thinking of the temple and innocence he is suggesting that they are right that these two things go together so the light that we get on the Incarnation is this." [00:17:02]

"Now that's what Christmas means that's what the birth of the child in Bethlehem means God was manifest in the flesh in the old temple God was manifest in the Shekinah glory but now God is manifest in flesh and blood in human form in a child lying in a manger so that the little him the children's him which unfortunately is not in a book otherwise we would have sang it just now it's quite right I love to tell to tell the story." [00:22:06]

"Now this very incident brings a third aspect there's a double meaning here and there is one of these people were confused they missed it and while he was here on earth most people missed it the Pharisees and scribes they never recognized him he spoke amongst them they saw his miracles they questioned him and he was never ever lost in the matter of answering them and yet they never saw him they saw nothing by the carpenter but Jesus they one whom they felt was an impostor." [00:23:19]

"Now as Christian people the temple in which he dwells and takes up his abode by the Spirit he spake of the temple of his body all the more of the wonder of the mystery the Meerut of the glory of it all may God give us increasing understanding of all these things above all may he enable us to realize that as members of the Christian Church we are part of this temple in which he dwell and that in us individually he comes to dwell in our hearts by faith he and the father come and they take up their abode in us." [00:46:04]