By sending His Son God Himself was incarnated. Actually, God sent His Son through the incarnation. The New Testament way of speaking about the incarnation is to say that the Word, which is God, became flesh (John 1:1, 14) and that God was manifested in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16).
It was surely a marvelous thing for God to come into man and to be born of mankind through a virgin. Our God became a man! In creation He was the Creator. But though He created all things, He did not enter into any of the things He created. Even in creating man He only breathed the breath of life into him (Gen. 2:7). He was still outside man. His breath, according to Job 33:4, gave man life; however, He Himself did not come into man. Until the incarnation He was separate from man. But with the incarnation He personally entered into man. He was first conceived and then remained in the virgin’s womb for nine months, after which He was born.
It is important for us to realize that it was the entire God and not only the Son of God who was incarnated. The Word, which was God, became flesh. We need to realize that this God, who the Word was, is not only a partial God, that is, not only God the Son but God the Son, God the Father, and God the Spirit, the entire God. The New Testament does not say that the Word, who became flesh, was God the Son. Rather, the New Testament says that in the beginning was the Word, and this Word was the entire Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. It was the entire God, the complete God, that became flesh. The whole God was manifested in the flesh.
When God the Father sent the Son, He came with Him and worked within Him. The Gospel of John reveals that the Father, who is the source and the Initiator, sent the Son (John 5:24, 30, 36-38; 13:20; 14:24). There are two Greek words used for the English word “sent,” one of which means to be sent with a special commission. This indicates that the Father sent the Son as an envoy with a special commission.
The New Testament reveals that the Father sent the Son and that He came with the Son (John 17:8). As a rule, if someone sends you to a certain place, that person will remain where he is, and you will go to the designated place. But when the Father sent the Son, it was not like this. When He sent the Son, He came with the Son.
John 6:46 says, “Not that anyone has seen the Father, except Him who is from God, He has seen the Father.” In his note on this verse J. N. Darby says that the Greek preposition translated “from” here has the sense of “from with.” The Lord was not only from God but also with God. This means that while He was from God, God was still with Him. When the Son came, the Father came with Him. John 8:16 also indicates that God came with the Son: “I am not alone, but I and the Father who sent Me.” In verse 29 of the same chapter the Lord clearly said, “He who sent Me is with Me.” Furthermore, in John 16:32 the Lord said, “I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.” All these verses indicate that, in His work in the new dispensation, God came with the Son.
Other verses reveal that God worked within the Son. John 14:10 and 11 say, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words which I speak to you, I do not speak from Myself; but the Father who abides in Me, He does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me; but if not, believe Me because of the works themselves.” The Father remained and worked in the Son. The Father not only came with the Son, but He remained and worked with Him. John 14:10 and 11 tell us clearly that when the Son spoke, the Father worked in Him.
The Father sent the Son, and the Father was with the Son; that is, the Father came with the Son. In the divine economy the Father sent the Son, and when the Son came, the Father came with the Son. Therefore, Acts 10:38 says, “God was with Him.”
Home | First | Prev | Next