Hope was heard in a baby’s cry when the Creator entered His creation. Of all the mysterious activities of God, the incarnation of Jesus, when the second Person of the Trinity took on flesh and bone to live among us as one of us, is one of the greatest surprises ever foretold. That the Messiah would one day rescue Israel was a dimly lit beacon of hope guiding the people of God through many dark days. But, that God Himself would be born a baby to a virgin, and the Messiah would die as a sacrifice for sin—our sin?!
Unfathomable! Almost… but not for the one waiting in Jerusalem’s temple, waiting for the consolation of Israel about whom he declared, “…my eyes have seen your salvation…a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”*
In biblical hindsight, the incarnation of Jesus seems evident considering God’s redemptive purposes and actions in both the old and new covenants. Jesus declared and proved himself to be the Son of God, the Son of Man. His incarnation is distinct, exceptional in the unpretentious nature of Jesus’ divine humility, and matchless in His choosing joy while enduring the cross. The Apostle Paul insists that all Christ-followers are to have this same mindset that was in King Jesus.
Unfathomable! Almost… but not for Holy Spirit-empowered disciples of Jesus who look after the interests of others, in addition to their own, and who invest their lives in the service of others for their best interests.
For Christ-following Paul, the incarnation became his model for being a Christian and his way of living as a Christian. As the Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul intentionally entered the lives of different peoples, from those of similar and vastly different cultures and worldviews than his own, so that he might win some faith in Christ. Roughly thirty-plus years after Christ, Paul surveyed his first-century world and declared there was no longer any need for him to continue his missionary calling there, so he was looking to people who had yet to hear the name of Christ.
Unfathomable! Almost… but not for local churches sending and sustaining missional efforts to all peoples because they knew that Jesus was the blessing promised to Abraham for all the families of the earth.
Hope is heard in a local language when a missionary enters another’s world and communicates the gospel concerning the incarnate Jesus. To do so requires the self-sacrifices of leaving and entering—leaving one’s home and way of life to enter another’s world—in obedience to the Lord who sends us as He Himself was sent. We are compelled by the love of God, which we experience in Christ, to make every effort and sacrifice so that others who have yet to hear and believe may encounter “the one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus who gave himself as a ransom for all.”*
And yet, in the twenty-first century, there are still billions throughout the world who don’t know Jesus.
Unfathomable! Almost… but not for WorldVenture and other missionary communities who yield to the incarnate King and His redemptive agenda, longing for that when the cries of “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb”* ring out from a “great multitude from every nation and tribe and people and language.”*
Fathom that!
*Scripture from Luke 2:30-32, 1 Timothy 2:5, Revelation 7:9-10
An essay by
Jeff Denlinger
President | WorldVenture