At the beginning of the Old Testament, the Triune God had not yet been processed. But at the beginning of the New Testament we have the first step of God’s process-incarnation. The Triune God, who created everything, entered into the womb of a human virgin and remained there for nine months. This certainly was a process.

John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” God here is the Triune God. This Triune God, as the Word, became flesh (v. 14). Christians often say that the Son of God became flesh, but they rarely say that the Triune God became flesh. However, the Bible does not say that the Son of God became flesh. Instead, the Bible says that God was manifested in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:15-16). The God who became flesh, who was manifested in the flesh, was not a partial God but the whole God-the Father, the Son, and the Spirit-the Triune God. This very God was begotten of the Holy Spirit in the womb of a human virgin and came forth from the womb with the human essence, the human nature. Therefore, in this wonderful One we can see both the divine essence and the human essence, both divinity and humanity. Our Jesus is both the complete God and a perfect man. He is the God-man.

Eventually, after spending some time in Egypt, the Lord Jesus was brought to Galilee and grew up in Nazareth. Thus, He became a Nazarene. As a Nazarene, He lived in the home of a poor carpenter for thirty years, doing the work of carpentry. For the Triune God to remain in the womb of a human virgin for nine months was amazing, but for the God-man, as a Nazarene, to live in a poor carpenter’s home for thirty years and do the work of carpentry was even more amazing.

At the age of thirty, the Lord Jesus came forth to minister. When He was baptized by John, “the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and coming upon Him” (Matt. 3:16). Then, as the One who was begotten of the Holy Spirit in the womb of a virgin to be the God-man, He, with the Spirit upon Him, began to minister. In His ministry He called certain ones to follow Him, attracting them to Himself.

One day, the Lord Jesus brought three of His disciples to the top of a mountain. There on the mountaintop “He was transfigured before them, and His face shown as the sun, and His garments became white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah were seen by them, conversing with Him” (Matt. 17:2-3). While Peter was making the foolish suggestion that they build “three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah” (v. 4), “a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I delight; hear Him!”(v. 5). God was telling the disciples not to hear Moses and Elijah but to hear His Son.

After the Lord was transfigured, He spoke to His disciples about His death and resurrection (Matt. 17:22-23). Following this, He went to Jerusalem, where He was judged by the Jewish religion and the Roman government, and then He was crucified and buried. The disciples, of course, were deeply disappointed.

On the third day, the Lord Jesus was resurrected from among the dead. In the evening of the day of His resurrection, He appeared to the disciples in a very mysterious way, in a way that we cannot understand. It is difficult to say whether He appeared physically or spiritually, because He had a physical body that could be touched, yet He suddenly appeared in the room without coming through the door. At that time, “He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). The wonderful One, who is the embodiment of the processed Triune God, had become, through death and resurrection, a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). He became the pneumatic Christ. As such a One, He breathed Himself into His disciples.
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