The Greatest Mystery of All: When Infinity Became Infancy!
An Eight-Part Series Exploring Jesus’ Lifesaving Incarnation
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Part Seven
As One of Us, Jesus Defines
What Lies Ahead for Us
David Bryant
Introduction Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
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In December 2024, NBC news reported a most amazing event:
Marjorie Fiterman and Bernie Littman . . . who fell in love after they moved onto the same floor of a senior living facility in Philadelphia, set a world record for the oldest couple to marry when they tied the knot on May 19 [2024] after nine years of dating . . .
The bride is 102, and the groom is 100.
Their granddaughter said there came a moment when they decided, “I don’t want to live without you.” What a beautiful illustration of the truth I will share in this post!
Here’s the deal: Jesus became one of us to redeem us. So, when we come to him, we are basically saying, “Whatever amount of time is left for me to live, I don’t want to live a moment longer without you. So, I commit myself to you far more fully than lovers profess to each other in a wedding.”
Of course, for these centenarians, their new bond probably has only a few weeks or months left for them to enjoy before one of them is gone forever.
Not so for every Jesus follower. Our eternal certainty is that our union with God’s Son in his humanity secures for us the everlasting joys of the Kingdom of God.
What will our future look like? The answer is simple. Look at Jesus himself. As one of us, he reveals it to us.
Jesus defines everything about our future. To do so, he had to first become like us, beginning in a mother’s womb. We celebrate this at Christmas. Consequently, as God in the flesh—flesh of our flesh—he gives us hints of what’s ahead of us including:
- the beautiful character he displays
- what he desires and cares about
- how he relates in his deep love for others
- how ferocious he is about sin
- as well as the victories he has won over every enemy including death itself, which now determines where he is headed.
None of these descriptions and deeds are about Jesus alone. They also foreshadow who WE are becoming and where WE are headed.
To put it another way: Who our Lord Jesus Christ is at this moment as “the man in glory” and what his reign encompasses—now and for all ages—defines what lies ahead for us. The Incarnation that shapes his future is now the future of all who belong to him. Let’s explore some of the riches of this mystery.
Think of this: Right now, Jesus is the most
fully alive human personality in the universe!
In him—“the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15)—we behold what every human should look like, given our inherent capacity to glorify the living God.
Jesus encompasses the whole range of what it means for human beings—made in God’s image from the beginning (Genesis 1)—to love God with all our affections, words, and deeds.
In our Savior, we see all the goodness, grace, and gifts of which every believer is capable, to the extent that we are living in the power of the Holy Spirit.
To see Jesus is to behold
what it means to be truly human.
How he lived is the way human life is meant to be lived.
As the man Jesus, he is himself the revealing Word of God; he is the source of our knowledge of the nature of man as created by God (Karl Barth).
In other words, God’s “Word-in-the-flesh” not only reveals the Father to us but also reveals us to ourselves.
Accordingly, he passed through every stage of life, restoring the totality of who we are back to all true communion with God . . . (and) recapitulating in himself the ancient formation of man that he might kill sin, deprive death of its power and vivify man (Irenaeus, Church father).
Jesus, the revelation of God, is the PROTOTYPE. He is the only one among us who faithfully and perfectly represents what God, the Creator, wished for the human person, created in his image, to be (Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, emphasis added).
Despite his deity, Jesus is the real deal—as fully human as we are meant to be. Bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, our Jesus is not fake or fantasy.
With him, there is no pretense, playacting, or shadowy sleight of hand. The Palestinian multitudes who surrounded him, listened to him, watched him, and walked with him, saw in him how God wants all of us to feel, think, act, react, triumph, serve, love, and worship. In Jesus, we too come face-to-face with how God intends all of us who belong to his Son to become like his Son.
More than any other title, Jesus called himself
“the Son of Man.” Why is that?
This phrase could literally be translated “the Son of Adam.” God’s Genesis design for the first Adam—and for the humanity descended from the first couple—has now been recovered and redesigned in Christ alone. In him, we see not only what we were meant to be but also what we can be—and what all the saints of all the ages will be.
Jesus is the second Adam. For women and men who trust him, the meaning of our human existence has been reconstituted and made new in him.
In addition, calling himself the “Son of Man” meant he was willing to identify not only with our humanity but also with our mortality.
He was coming to die like us, as well as die for us, so that we might one day live like him, not just for him.
Just as there is an earthly body, there is also a spiritual body. It is written:
“The first man Adam became a living person.” The last Adam became a spirit that gives life . . . The first man came from the dust of the earth. The second man came from heaven. Those who belong to the earth are like the one who came from the earth. And those who are spiritual are like the one who came from heaven. We are like the earthly man. And we will be like the heavenly man(1 Corinthians 15, NIRV, emphasis added).
Jesus among us has become the fountainhead of a new breed of people—a fresh beginning for the human race.
As the new Adam—the second Adam—Jesus has restored the “image of God.” In him, the failures of the first Adam have been repaid and reversed. Because of Adam, all people die. So, because of Christ, all will be made alive (1 Corinthians 15).
God’s gift can’t be compared with Adam’s sin. Many people died because of the sin of that one man. But it was even more sure that God’s grace would also come through one man. That man is Jesus Christ . . . One man sinned, and death ruled because of his sin. What will happen is even more sure than this. Those who receive the rich supply of God’s grace will rule with Christ. They will rule in his kingdom . . . This will happen because of what the one man, Jesus Christ, has done (Romans 5:15, 17, NIRV, emphasis added).
Reflecting on 1 Corinthians 15, third-century church leader Methodius wrote: “He bore flesh for no other reason than to set flesh free and raise it up with him.”
Ultimately, all of God’s children will be transformed—better yet, re-formed—to look like God’s incarnate Son.
God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of the humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him.
After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun (Romans 8:29-30, MSG, emphasis added).
The world-renowned Protestant Reformer/theologian/city builder (Geneva), John Calvin, said it well:
This is the WONDERFUL EXCHANGE which, out of his measureless benevolence, he has made with us.”
Becoming Son of Man with us, he has made us sons of God with him; that by his descent to earth, he has prepared an ascent to heaven for us; that, by taking on our mortality, he has conferred his immortality upon us; that, accepting our weakness, he has strengthened us by his power; that, receiving our poverty upon himself, he has transferred his wealth to us; that, taking the weight of our iniquity upon himself (which oppressed us), he has clothed us with his righteousness.
The moment Christ embraced our humanity he sealed our destiny. Now, our future, and the future of all things, is inseparably linked to the future of the “Lamb on the Throne.”
God was pleased to have his whole nature living in Christ. God was pleased to bring all things back to himself. That’s because of what Christ has done. These things include everything on earth and in heaven (Colossians 1:19-20).
Christ’s incarnation invasion propels God’s people
onward toward God’s new creation.
Here’s how Paul thought about this, writing in 2 Corinthians 5:
So, from now on we don’t look at anyone the way the world does. At one time we looked at Christ in that way. But we don’t anymore. When anyone lives in Christ, the new creation has come. The old is gone! The new is here! All this is from God (vv. 16-18, NIRV).
Again, in Romans 8:
As his children, we will receive all that he has for us. We will share what Christ receives . . . Everything God created looks forward to the future. That will be the time when his children appear in their full and final glory . . . Then he will give us everything he has for us. He will raise our bodies and give glory to them (vv. 17-23, NIRV).
What a great day lies before us when the ultimate demonstration of how the future of our Lord Jesus Christ and ours become inextricably banded together when these words of Philippians 3 come to pass:
But our citizenship is in heaven, from where also we wait for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our body of humiliation, so that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working of His power even to subdue all things to Himself (vv. 2o—21, MEV, emphasis added).
How better can we respond to this incredible future before us than singing this carol, not only at Christmas but all year round (emphasis added):
Good Christian men, rejoice
With heart and soul and voice;
Now ye hear of endless bliss;
Joy! Joy!
Jesus Christ was born for this!
He has opened the heav’nly door
And man is blessed evermore.
Christ was born for this!
Good Christian men, rejoice
With heart and soul and voice;
Now ye need not fear the grave;
Peace! Peace!
Jesus Christ was born to save!
Calls you one and calls you all
To gain his everlasting hall.
Christ was born to save!
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About the Author
Over the past 50 years, David Bryant has been defined by many as a “messenger of hope” and a “Christ proclaimer” to the Church throughout the world. Formerly a minister-at-large with the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, president of Concerts of Prayer International (COPI), and chairman of America’s National Prayer Committee, David now provides leadership to ChristNow.com and Proclaim Hope!, whose mission is to foster and serve Christ Awakening movements. Download his widely read ebooks at ChristNow.com. Enjoy hundreds of podcast episodes. Watch his vlogs at David Bryant REPORTS. Meet with David through Zoom or in-person events through David Bryant LIVE!
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