Project Description
2017/11
The Seed of Abraham
‘For verily He took not on him the nature of angels;
but he took on him the seed of Abraham’
Hebrews 2:16
Here is the love and wisdom of the Father in preparing a body for His Son, in which the fullness of the Godhead would dwell.
The incarnation of Deity reveals the depths of divine love and compassion. The Son of God took on Him human nature in the seed, or family, of Abraham. Though angels were creatures of His power, He ‘took not on him the nature of angels’ (Hebrews 2:16) for He did not come to save any of them from ruin (Jude 6). Rather, in an act of amazing love, grace and condescension He took our nature upon Him, knowing that He could save man only by becoming man. God joined human nature to Himself in the person of His eternal Son. What hath God wrought! O ‘what is man that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?’ (Psalm 8:4).
In His unique Person there is to be seen God and man joined in an intimate and indissoluble union. This union is such that each nature retains its own essential properties. Here is the work of the Holy Ghost in forming that body by His overshadowing power in the womb of the virgin so that it would be sinless and be offered as a sacrifice without spot to God. Here is the love and wisdom of the Father in preparing a body for His Son, in which the fullness of the Godhead would dwell. And for this the apostle cried out in wonder, ‘without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh’ (1 Timothy 3:16).
His human nature was no phantom. It was pure humanity consisting of body and soul. He wore it on earth for about thirty three years, then carried it to heaven with Him. From heaven He declared the truth of His incarnation and death in saying:’ I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore, and have the keys of hell and of death’ (Revelation 1:18).
Without such a body, nothing could be done for the redemption and salvation of us poor sinners. As merely God, He could not endure suffering or die and as only man he could not bear the weight of our sin. Was not His incarnation that first step on the way to the cross? The sword of justice that was ready to be soaked in the blood of guilty sinners was awakened against the man who is God’s fellow (Zechariah 13:7) and so He ‘made peace through the blood of his cross’ (Colossians 1:20). There He bruised the head of the serpent and overcame him by His own blood. The glorious Son of God, the brightness of His Father’s glory has taken hold of our nature so that we might take hold of Him as our Kinsman, unto whom the right of redemption belongs. As He took our flesh, so He wears our nature that He might have us with Him forever. Let our heart’s response be: I will be for Thee and not for another, the very One who took my nature in the seed of Abraham.
Rev Leslie Curran.