Day 8
No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. (John 1:18)
In heaven, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit live together in perfect harmony. The Trinity desires that this same perfect togetherness—this same life in the love of God— be known to each and every one of us.
But how could people understand this? How could we begin to comprehend God’s heavenly love? How could we know His feelings toward us? How could God communicate Himself to us? After the fall, people were cut off from God; their blind eyes couldn’t see Him as He really was.
Imagine yourself watching an ant colony. The ants scurry around unaware of your presence. Some are searching for food. Others are digging a nest. Then you notice that a nearby stream is flooding and the colony is in danger of being destroyed. You see a better nesting site with abundant food just a few paces up the hill and out of danger from the waters. So you call down to the ants, “Run to higher ground. Come live in a safe place.” But they continue working on the old nesting site. You bend down and try to redirect their path with a stick. But the ants swarm about in confusion as if you are trying to hurt them.
What can you do to help them? What if you became an ant yourself and communicated with them in a way they understood?
In this sense, God the Son willingly became an ant for us.
In Jesus, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Jesus is the Word; He is the essence of communication. And what is He communicating? What is Jesus expressing?
Jesus is expressing God, who is love. As a man with a nature and feelings like ours, Jesus cared for people with loving-kindness expressed in actions and words we can understand. The Son of God came to share God with us in tangible, human ways we can see, feel and relate to.
In Jesus’ life on earth, He communicated to us who God the Father really is. Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Hebrews 1:3 describes Jesus as being “the brightness of His [the Father’s] glory and the expressed image of His person.” When you see Jesus, you are seeing God in human form. The actions and words that pour forth from Jesus show us the Father’s heart.
In Jesus, we see God walking around in the time and space of earth; we see God as Someone we can relate to. He is not angry at us. He is not waiting to punish us for our failures or unbelief. He does not hold Himself apart as holy or superior. Rather, He is welcoming to those rejected by society and actually enjoys being with common people. He is up-close, personal, and intimately concerned with your physical, emotional, and spiritual needs.
In Christ, the God we perceived as powerful and punishing, high and holy, became a helpless baby born to an unwed mother in a filthy animal shed. As a man, Jesus reached out to the poor, the sick, and those shunned by society. He befriended prostitutes and adulterers. He welcomed little children. He turned aside to talk to tax collectors, thieves, and those crazed by demons. And to the scribes and Pharisees who thought they understood God, He spoke words of truth that cut to the heart and showed them how lost they too really were … so they also could be made whole.
With the purpose of bringing God’s life to all, Jesus showed us the greatest love the world will ever know. The “friend of sinners” (Luke 7:34) died on the cross for us.
This is God in our language; this is love in a language you and I can understand.
Ponder for a Moment
Why do you think Jesus was willing to come to earth as a man?
How would you communicate to someone who didn’t understand your language that you valued and treasured them?