What was the point of God’s visit to earth in the person of Jesus?
God has given us more than enough evidence of His existence in His Creation, from the largest and most distant galaxy to the smallest cell. Why visit us in person?
God has demonstrated His power throughout historical and personal interventions. Why visit us in person?
God has shown His anger against sin, the very thing that makes our lives more difficult. Why visit us in person?
I believe the answer to those questions is this.
God came to earth in the person of Jesus, so that we could not fairly accuse Him of being a “hands-off” type of Deity. Jesus showed us that God is interested in the smallest details of our lives. Jesus showed us that God is willing to meet with us in the messiest, most shameful, most fearful, most disappointing areas of our lives. God accepts us as we are.
God came to us so that we could not accuse Him of allowing a life on earth that even He didn’t have the courage to face. God came to earth with the explicit and expressed purpose of allowing us to do our absolute worst to Him. He experienced all the pain that sin tainted human relationships have to offer. Jesus showed us that there is purpose to suffering; He showed us that there is meaning, context and purpose to life itself.
God came to us so that we could know Him in a personal way. Jesus said, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.” Jesus interacted with people in a way that left no doubt that God is willing to become friends with us no matter what has taken place in our past. God knows that we are desperate for genuine love. It is that kind of love for which He created us. God came to earth to show that anyone who gets to know the character of Jesus in a personal way, falls in love with Him, and in return, that person becomes enveloped in perfect love.
God came to us so that He could demonstrate that no one is beyond forgiveness. Thieves, murderers, prostitutes, con men, hypocrites of the worst order, cowards, and doubters. God showed that no one is so bad, so lost, or so wounded that s/he can’t be forgiven.
God came to us to show us that nothing can separate us from His love; that He will go to any length to pursue a relationship with us, to bring us safely home.
From his own jail cell, Paul sent a letter to the persecuted Church in Rome. He encouraged them with this. “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, - how will He not also, along with His Son, graciously give us all things? . . . Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8: 31 - 39.
God came to earth to show us the way home. Jesus said, “I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through Me.” God came to earth to forgive our sins and to free us from guilt. God came to earth to pay our punishment for crimes that WE have committed against Him. God came to earth to show us the way to safety, security, belonging and worth.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above ye heavenly host
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
Amen
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