“The Word became flesh” then so that He might be made flesh in us now (John 1:14).
The Son of God became “Emmanuel” (God with us) so that He might be “God with us” here-and-now.
The Son of God became “Emmanuel” (God with us) so that He might be “God with us” here-and-now.
“Jesus … has risen” (Matthew 28:5-6) – so that, as the living Christ, He might live in us.
Our faith is grounded in the great facts of the Gospel: The Word became flesh, Jesus has risen. The Saviour was born for us. He lived for us. He died for us. He rose for us.
All that He has done for us must become a powerful reality in us. This is the work of the Holy Spirit.
‘For us’ – we must never forget this. We do not jump straight to ‘In us.’
To those who speak of a inner spirituality which is not grounded in the historical reality of the great events of the Gospel, the Word of God says, “Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God” (1 John 4:2-3), “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17).
There is no ‘Christ of faith’ without ‘the Jesus of history.” A ‘Christ of faith’ who is not also ‘the Jesus of history’ is very different from the Jesus Christ of the Bible.
‘In us’ – we must never forget this. We are not to rest content with a Jesus who belongs to a world that is both far away and long ago.
The Gospel does not leave us in the past. Jesus comes to us from the past. He comes as the living Saviour.
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