With man to dwell

When you think about it, “God with us” should be a scary thought. Look at this passage—

Clouds and thick darkness surround Him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. Fire goes before Him and burns up His adversaries round about. His lightnings lit up the world; the earth saw and trembled. The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. —Psalm 97:2-5

Darkness? Fire? Earthquakes? God sounds dangerous! Things shake and break when He’s around. They melt away in His heat. The scene sounds a lot like this one in Exodus 19:18-22—

Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder. The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain; and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go down, warn the people, so that they do not break through to the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish. Also let the priests who come near to the Lord consecrate themselves, or else the Lord will break out against them.” 

When the people of Israel were camped in the wilderness, God positioned the Levites as a barrier between them and the tabernacle—between man and God—“so there would be no wrath on the congregation” (Numbers 1:53). 

As near and dear as the people were to God, they were in perpetual danger of displeasing Him and suffering His wrath, often in the form of plague (Num. 8:19, 16:43-49, 25:3-8).

The thought of God coming to live with men should, therefore, give us pause. We’re too sinful! When Peter realized who Jesus was, he said, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” He was properly but unnecessarily fearful (Luke 5:8).

So why is Jesus' coming good news?

Jesus was here to heal and save, not judge and punish. He was gentle, patient, compassionate, and humble. He touched people without giving them plague; they bumped into Him without being consumed in fire. He had been a baby who could be cuddled and kissed. Jesus wasn’t scary (or at least, not that scary).

Philippians 2:7-8 describes how this could be possible—

He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

Jesus was fully God and fully human. In the incarnation, the Son of God laid aside the white-hot heat of divine wrath in order to fulfill the promises of Messiah, including those found in the last few verses of Psalm 97—

The Lord…preserves the souls of His godly ones; He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
Light is sown like seed for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart.

Because Jesus suffered the wrath of God in our place, He saves our souls and delivers us from death. Unlike the terrifying glare and flash of lighting, Jesus sheds light in our lives that offers illumination and guidance. He spreads joy! 

We can be safe with God because of the incarnation. Put your trust in Him and draw near. Rejoice! Give thanks! Merry Christmas!