I read an amazing article in the latest edition of "HomeLife" magazine, of all places. Entitled "In the Flesh" by Scottish writer Christian George, it addresses the astonishing truth of God in human form, Jesus Christ, in a new and refreshing way. The article had my attention from the opening lines-

"Let's get right down to business. Jesus took off His clothes. From the beginning of time, He planned to trade heavenly silk for soiled humanity...What a thought! That God would feel the fever of an infection and the throb of a headache... God stripped Himself that we might be clothed."

I don't think we fully appreciate the stupendous declaration found in John 1:14- "The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us." We miss the utter vulgarity & seeming absurdity of deity setting aside glory and trading it all for dirty humanity. As George further explains, "Jesus knew pain firsthand. He was not an airbrushed model who never knew a wart or wrinkle. No, God became real blood and real bone."

Last Sunday night, Kevin Miller explored this further in his sermon. Addressing the heights and depths of deity putting on humanity, he began by pointing out where Jesus came from. Reading from Isaiah 6:1-4, he "pulled back the veil" so to speak, revealing the incomprehensible glory and majesty Jesus came to us from. A massive throne, the Lord seated on it, His robe filling the temple, with 6-winged creatures flying about Him, shouting His praise, His glory like smoke filling the chamber, and His voice shaking the foundations. It reminded me of a similar scene that John saw and recorded in Revelation 4:1-11. That passage defies description. To read it and try to imagine it is beyond comprehension. A description would fail here. Go read it.

And yet Jesus left all that to put on human skin, and start off a helpless human baby. The Jews were looking for a military messiah, who would rescue them from the Romans and restore the kingdom of David, making them a world power again. Instead, God did just the opposite. Jesus became a man from a dirt-poor little town, who never traveled farther than 100 miles from His birth home, and was mocked, ridiculed, spit on, beaten, and rejected by those He came to save. "How odd of God!" George exclaims in his article. And yet as he points out, Jesus understands what its like to be in our skin. "He knew the agony, numbness, and intensity of being human. No other 'god' took so radical a jump as Jesus... The incarnation (literally 'into flesh') is unique to Christianity because the kamikaze Christ plunged into death so that we might have life. Because Jesus was man, God identifies with us. Because Jesus was divine, we identify with God."

I found myself in Isaiah 53 a couple of days ago in my morning quiet time. The passage describes the complete degradation and humiliation the Christ would endure for fallen humanity. When I read it all, and thought back over the Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4 chapters, I was dumbfounded at the "furious love of God" for us, as Rich Mullins used to describe it. That Jesus would leave all that He left behind (creatures specifically created to constantly worship Him, for pete's sake!) to walk among us and endure what He did at our hands, all to restore us to a right relationship to the Father- leaves me speechless before Him. My praise and worship seems so inadequate.

Yet I will praise Him, with my words and my works- this upcoming holiday season, the rest of my life, and all eternity.

"My utmost, for His highest."