◄ What Does Hebrews 5:8 Mean? ►

The incarnation of Christ is a profound mystery .. that God should become a Man.. to take the punishment that men justly deserves - in order to save the human race from sin and death. God is Spirit and in order to be identified with man and take on the role of Kinsman-Redeemer He had to enter the human race in a physical body and live His entire life in exactly the same way that we live:- living, breathing, eating, sleeping, working.. with His own life-blood pulsing round His human frame and subjected to every trial and temptation that is common to all humanity.

Christ's whole life from start to finish was an education on how man should live his life the way God expects man to live. He had to find out what it was to be hungry and thirsty, despised and rejected, hated and betrayed.. and even facing death, so that He would be able to sympathies with all the difficulties that we have to face. He had to learn how to live as an obedient servant, Who was entirely dependent upon God as His sole Provider and great Protector.. He had to learn how to resist the many and diverse temptations that we all are faced with in this life.

The eternal Son of God came to earth as a man in order to rectify all the damage that was done to God's creation by the first man, Adam.. when he sinned against God and caused the earth to be cursed and the entire human race to fall from its dignified position - as God's regent and representative. Having become part of His own creation in order to deal with sin, death and Satan, Jesus had to discover what it was to live in a frail human body in a sin-sick, fallen world.

The only way that man can survive in a fallen environment is to carefully follow God's instructions on how to live, which are all written in His Word. This requires utter obedience to God's Word and His Will.. and it also requires total denial of Self and one's own Self-will.

To live as God created man to live is to remain entirely dependent upon God as sole Provider and great Protector - and Christ lived His life this way, by obeying God's every Word and carrying out His every Will in thought word and deed - for although He was the eternal Son, Jesus learned how to be obedient to God's Word and Will - and He learned this through the things that He suffered.

God in the Person of Jesus Christ chose to be born into the race that He Himself had created, so the He could live His life exactly as God created men to live. He not only lived this way as an example to us on how we should live - but in so doing He became qualified to become the Head of a new race of humanity that would once again be obedient to God's Will and Word, a new creation that would live in total dependence on God and utter denial of self - in the power of the Spirit and to the glory of God

Heavenly Father thank You that Jesus came to earth as my kinsman-Redeemer and learnt how it was to live in this sin-sick fallen world.. Thank You that He was prepared to lay aside His heavenly glory and to be born into the race He created.. in order to live a perfect life as an example of how I should live - but also that He died a sacrificial death so that by faith in Him I might be forgiven of my sins and redeemed by His precious blood - To Him be all praise and glory for ever and ever, AMEN.