Jesus Came And Crowned Creation With His Incarnation

What Did Jesus Do?

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son,
born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law,
so that we might receive adoption as sons.
Galatians 4:4-5

When we finish a job, we like to rest and recreate. When we’ve done a good job, we are sure we’ve earned some “R & R.” And, if the work we have completed is very good, well, surely, there should be some extended rest and recreation. And why not, God established the rhythm of work and rest in the beginning, when he ceased from his labors on the seventh day, going so far as to make the seventh day holy (Genesis 2:2-3). The finished work of God in the beginning, which, it must be acknowledged, was “very good” (Genesis 1:31), was tragically broken, and God had to get right back to work to keep all creation from going to, well, hell. And it all but did (Check out Genesis 6-9, and the balance of the Old Testament to see how close a call it was). But, though God had to get back to work to clean up the spill, the Fall actually, in the middle of the Garden of Eden (And it would take more than Adam and Eve could have ever imagined to clean up the mess they made.), the ordinance establishing a regular time of rest and recreation has remained, all modern evidence and lifestyles to the contrary not withstanding. For God perseveres; he’s not a quitter you know. So, through call and covenant, through patriarchs and prophets, through kingdoms that crumbled, and exiles who exited, and remnants who returned, he was faithful, until, when the fullness of time had come, he sent forth his Son. And, from Bethlehem to Egypt, from Egypt to Nazareth, from Nazareth to Jerusalem, from Jerusalem to the Cross, from the Cross to the Grave, from the Grave to Glory, Jesus came and crowned creation with his incarnation.

In other words, knowing all along that it would be necessary for his work to be consummated in the passion and the glory of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of his Son, the Father created, so that Jesus would, in the absolute ripeness of the most Kairos of kairos moments, perform the work of re-creation, that would redeem, would transform and radically make over, humanity, in and through himself by the power of the Holy Spirit. In and through Jesus, the creation, which was very good from the beginning, becomes glorious through the Father's works of re-creation in and through the incarnation of the Son.

Now, here’s the thing, God is still glorified through the re-creative power of incarnational lives. That’s right, the work which Christ completed on the Cross continues, and shall continue, to re-create, to transform, to radically make-over those who are fallen and broken, as the Lord’s disciples live like Jesus by loving like Jesus. The power of the incarnation, the power to re-create, is nothing other than the power of God’s love manifest by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. As it was the power of the Holy Spirit in the Son that enabled him to accomplish the work the Father sent him to do, so the Father gives the same Spirit to all who follow Jesus, that we would be enabled to live incarnationally.

You see, redemption is so much more than restoration, so much more than being made as good as new. If in Christ we are made no better than good as new, we would be no better than Adam. Praise God that, in and through Jesus by the power of God’s love and the work of the Holy Spirit, what was very good in the beginning is made perfect unto the end of time, and forever and ever. Creation is crowned by the Incarnate One who lives in those who believe in and bear his name!

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4