Diving Deep into the Incarnation and Divine Nature of Jesus Christ

0:00 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder and his name. This is the name of Jesus. Wonderful amen, counselor. How about the third one? Say it out loud Mighty God, who is Jesus? Mighty God, the Son of God? Yes, is he God also? Yes, Welcome to the City Light Church podcast. Thanks for joining us today as we look into God's Word and discover the hope and truth that he has for us. If you want to connect with City Light Church, feel free to visit us at CityLightNYCcom.

0:41 That's CityLightNYCcom. Pastor Boyan Jansik and his team believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is already working in our hearts and minds. As you listen to today's teaching, remember that you are deeply loved by God, that you are surrounded by his grace and that he has a real hope and a future for you. Welcome to City Light Church. Those of you joining us online so glad that you're with us. Hallelujah, yeah, and that's a real dose of the Christmas spirit.

1:21 Rockettes, radio City, rockefeller, whatever. I'm walking out here feeling extra Christmassy and I love Christmas. What an overwhelming response to that. I love it. I remember when I first immigrated here, because back in former Yugoslavia we didn't have Christmas. I mean they had the term, but really it was all about the new year. The new year was the big celebration and then I come to American Christmas. It's such a big deal. Then I get saved and I really get the meaning of Christmas when I was 16.

2:03 And Christmas is extra special. And then shortly after, the Christian gringes came and other gringes they were mean one and they started telling me how Christmas was. Pagan, have you guys? You know the whole Christmas is pagan thing. If you don't want to celebrate the Lord's birthday because you're digging deep and finding some pagan roots, I mean you can do that with anything. What's today? What day is it today? Not the date, but the day. Sunday. That's the sun worshippers day, the Sunday followed by Monday or Monday.

2:50 What is it in Spanish? Don't howl at the moon when you say that. Lunes. I took French, I didn't take Spanish. In French it's lundi. Wednesday is Woden's day. You guys, it's actually not a character in the Marvel universe. It was a former God that people worshiped Odin or Woden. Odin's day followed by Thursday, which is Thursday, followed by Friday from the German goddess of fertility, free art. And so you can dig and find pagan roots in anything you know. A birthday cake is pagan. Bringing flowers to a funeral or leaving them at the cemetery, that's pagan.

3:35 I mean, we can't do anything right. And so my point is this how many people have you seen going to the first church of Thor, or the Thor temple, or Woden, or actually worshiping the sun, not going to Jones beach and getting a nice tan? I mean actually worshiping, because God, as he promised in the Psalms, has made these other gods his footstool and they are nowhere around and they have been straddled down and we have built a top of it. Amen. And so you can be a Grinch and talk about pagan roots and find some obscure verse in Jeremiah that talks about cutting down an evergreen tree and go oh, my evergreen tree isn't to some other God.

4:20 It's for Christmas and I'm celebrating the incarnation of Jesus. Amen, hallelujah, hallelujah. Thank you, lord. A wonderful thing. Was he born on December 25th? Probably not, but it's as good a day as any, I'd say, to celebrate the incarnation of God Almighty Amen. You know, because the shepherds were out when he was born. There were shepherds in the field and in December the shepherds wouldn't have been field and that region of the earth would have been probably late spring or summer.

5:02 No one knows the day he was actually born. I hope I'm not blowing some of you away. No one knows the actual day, but if I was to pick a day, december 25th seems like a good day. Amen, to actually stop our lives and recenter and focus on God being made flesh, hallelujah. So I just wanted to alleviate. If you've, some of you've been online a lot and the Grinches are coming and now you fancy yourself a historian on all things paganism. Ask yourself where are these gods today and where are their worshipers? I think it's a beautiful thing that the altars have been torn down from all the high places and where there's now just ash, we have built such a beautiful, beautiful holiday that really provokes some people to so much jealousy Really it's jealousy that they had to change it to happy holidays, if you remember when that whole shift was happening.

6:04 It's been now like 30 years, because you know the word was it's offensive. What's offensive? How beautiful it is, how majestic, how glorious. Well, you know, there's a lot of people that celebrate a lot of other holidays in December. No, there aren't. It's my microphone on. No, there aren't. When was the last time you actually knew someone who celebrated Kwanzaa, chris, you know anyone who celebrates Kwanzaa? One person.

6:45 Hanukkah, all right, 2% of the population. By the way, hanukkah is a minor, minor holiday. Yeah, it wasn't even really. You can look at the graph of when it actually started in mass being celebrated, started in the 50s, where it was like all minorities everywhere, but it was 2% of the popular minor holiday. So who's it offending Atheists? Be offended. Be thou offended that we have something so majestic, so beautiful, so glorious that the God of the universe would take on human form and come and dwell among us, be born of a virgin supernaturally, live a perfectly sinless life and be innocent.

7:25 Go to the cross in our place. Hallelujah, I'm the Grinch Buster this Sunday morning and we're celebrating Advent here. I, because of how I was saved and where I was saved, advent eluded me for many, many years. I really didn't know what it was about. And I'm going to celebrate a Christmas and you know when you're a real Christian, really, christmas and Easter are every single day, right. It's just we take an extra amount of time and really focus in on it. So I kind of let Advent go over my head, really, even as a pastor, until my wife, after we had Victor, went to the first church of Trader Joe's you know where I'm going with this huh, the Advent calendar, the Trader Joe's chocolate Advent calendar, and she got it.

8:21 And of course Vivian hadn't come along yet. Victor got very excited. Every Christmas, every morning leading up to Christmas, was Daddy, let's celebrate Advent, let me get to my chocolate, you know, and I would. I'm like, let me look into Advent, like it's original roots and what it's supposed to be. And it's supposed to be a time and once again we're in the middle of Advent right now, from the beginning of December culminating on December the 25th. It's supposed to be a time where we focus in on, specifically, the incarnation, the incarnation from the Latin to be made flesh of God, having come as a man, as a human, a person, which he didn't have to do.

9:04 I mean, he had to do it if he was going to redeem mankind. But he didn't have to redeem mankind. He could have said look, you've rebelled in the garden and ever since then, every time I've reached out to you, you've turned your back on me and you've rebelled, and you've rebelled, and you've rebelled, and you've rebelled. And he could have just washed his hand of the whole ordeal. But while we were still sinners, christ loved us and Christ died for the ungodly. And so he did what he had to do, which is come in the person of a man, come as what the Bible calls the last atom, in a sinless body, perfect spirit, sinless soul, sinless soul, and pick up where Adam left off and where he messed up. Jesus wouldn't and on top of that, go to the cross as a sacrifice to take away all of our sins.

9:49 So that's what I want to talk to you about this morning the incarnation. And let's get ready for Advent. And we've got another week. Next Sunday will be Christmas Eve. We'll be here celebrating once again. Let's celebrate what Jesus did, shall we Isaiah? Let's go to Isaiah 9-6. The word incarnation means the act of being made flesh, and it comes from the Latin version of John 114, which in English reads the word became flesh, the word was incarnated and made his dwelling among us.

10:31 So let's talk about the person of Jesus, and for too long it's been a mystery who was he? Not what he did, but what was he? God, man. And that term, son of God, actually seems to confuse a lot of people today, because it had a different meaning in the Hebrew. Especially if you come from a Catholic background, it's confusing. Yes, it is. I talked to a lot of Catholics. My kids go to Catholic school and I'll go to Catholics. I'll say tell me about Jesus. Who is he? He's the son of God. Okay, is he God also? Well, and you see the head go on tilt.

11:11 They don't quite know because, yeah, there's a Mary figure that's been introduced and so now it's almost like did God have a wife? Therefore he could have a son. They don't. That's not the doctrine, but it produces this confusion. Whereas son of God to the Hebrews I'll show you that a little bit meant something entirely different than how I would say I have a son. Here's an ancient prophecy from Isaiah, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder and his name. This is the name of Jesus.

11:51 Wonderful amen, counselor, counselor, Counselor, counselor, counselor. How about the third one? Say it out loud Mighty God, who is Jesus? Mighty God, the son of God? Yes, is he God also? Yes, mighty God. What about the next one? This will really bake your noodle. Everlasting Father. Jesus said when you see me, you see the Father. I and the Father are one. Wonderful Counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, prince of peace. So is he the son of God?

12:32 Is he God? Yes, is he mighty God? Everlasting Father? Yes, but is he also? If he's a king, is he also a prince? Yes, hallelujah John, chapter 8, verse 56, going to 58. I just want to bask in the glory of the Lord and focus on his beauty, his magnificence, and let's begin by first acknowledging that Jesus always was. He wasn't created on December 24th and he wasn't. He wasn't, he's not a creation that came right before Mary got pregnant with him supernaturally.

13:15 He always was your Father. Why is the anointing so strong on this verse? I think it because it's so loaded and so dense with truth. I mean, imagine beautiful Jesus, god in the flesh, surrounded by cynics. You know, jesus didn't mind skeptics. Even today, he doesn't mind skeptics, but cynics. There's a difference If you're skeptical, he'll work with you. I came to Christ very, very skeptical, not knowing what I believed, but I wasn't cynical. Here he's surrounded by cynics and he says your Father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad.

14:02 Then the Jews said to him you are not yet 50 years old and have you seen Abraham? And Jesus said to them most assuredly I say to you before Abraham was I? am. I am, have no beginning, have no end, have coexisted with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit since the beginning, before Abraham was, I am, and this is how God revealed himself on the Old Testament as the great I am. This, by the way, in the Gospels not all of them, but I believe one of them At least one where the soldiers come in and arrest him right before that sham of a trial in the middle of the night that broke countless Jewish laws.

14:50 The soldier said is that the one? Are you the one? And he said I am. He and 50 soldiers fell to the floor. Bible says they fell prostrate. It's something they never show you in any of the Jesus movies not the 70s ones with the surfer Jesus and not the modern ones None of them. I want to see that scene where he says I am and they hit the deck, falling under the power of God, hallelujah. Let's look at Matthew 1.18, talking about the birth of Jesus.

15:34 Thank you, lord, for coming. Thank you, lord. You were always a person, but you were made a man. When you were on earth, you were 100% God and 100% man at the same time. Now, the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows After his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph. After his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. I thought the father was Jesus' father. I thought Jesus was a child of the father. Here it says she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.

16:17 Which one is it? Yes, yes, yes. What I'm trying to get you to see and get you to dive in and enjoy is the reality of God taking his esusia, his essence, his substance, his spirit and putting it inside the womb of the Virgin Mary. She gave birth to God in the flesh. All three involved in the incarnation the father, the Holy Spirit and the word. Who is Jesus?

16:57 She was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Let's go to Luke to just get a little bit of a better glimpse of how this actually happened. Now, in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary and, having come in, the angel said to her rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you, blessed, are you among women. But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her do not be afraid, mary, for you have found favor with God.

17:41 And behold, you will conceive in your womb. How will that conception take place? You will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the highest and the Lord. God will give him the throne of his father, david, and he will reign Thank you, lord Over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there will be no end. And Mary asks a fair question how can this be, since I'm a virgin, since I do not know a man?

18:21 And the angel said to her the Holy Spirit will come upon you. Can you imagine the full volume, anointing blast that came upon her, covering her, surrounding her, going inside of her? The Holy Spirit, god's Spirit, yahweh's Ruah, the creator, god, the one who made the heavens and the earth, that Genesis says he formed the stars also. Have you ever caught in Genesis how it says that God? Just it says it goes into the detail of the earthly creation. And it just says and he formed the stars also, almost like it's an afterthought. He was so focused on the earth and he formed the stars also, kind of just set him up billions of them in the cosmos.

19:05 He's gonna overshadow you, he will come upon you and the power of the highest will overshadow you. Therefore, also, that holy one who is to be born will be called the son of God. Hallelujah, merry Christmas everybody. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. He did that for you, he did that for me. My son the other day was asking me who killed Jesus. You know what I said? I said I did and you did.

19:48 You gotta get the look of horror first before you can hit. I did, you did, we all did. We killed him because he came for our sin. If we didn't have sin, he wouldn't have died. He was born to die. In fact, if you look at a picture of mangers from that era, you'll see they were made of stone. Google Middle Eastern manger, first century, and you're gonna see it hewn out of stone. You know what it looks like a tomb. I say that because in the Hallmark Cards and the way mangers always presented, like in the little setups in front of churches, it's kind of like two wooden slats with some hay in it.

20:33 That's not what the mangers were like. They were made out of stone, held the water or held hay. Could you imagine baby Jesus lying in a sarcophagus, in a tomb? That's what that manger was. It was a prophetic foreshadowing of that. He was born to die. He came to take away our sins. Hallelujah, revelation 3.14. Thank you, lord and the angel of the church, excuse me, and to the angel of the church of the leo de Sien's right, these things says the amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.

21:23 Who is Jesus? The beginning of the creation of God? Now, this can throw someone off, because it almost sounds like. Almost sounds like he was the first thing that God created, the beginning of the creation of God. That's not what it's saying. It's saying that he's the origin of the creation of God. He is the source of the creation of God. God spoke and released the word and creation happened. Jesus was right there at creation from the beginning. The Bible says all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. Everything is held together this is scripture by the word of his power. In him we live and move and have our being, and that all things are held together, the molecules in our bodies held together, the universe, and the universe of universe is held together by the word of his power.

22:17 Thank you, lord, hebrews 10.5. So we have God putting himself in the womb of the Virgin Mary, who was called blessed among women. I'll just leave it at that. That's all. The scriptures called her Blessed among women, not to be worshiped among women, not to be prayed to among women, but blessed among women. And to this day we bless her and acknowledge the contribution. But he bypassed God, bypassed this world system and bypassed the natural order of things, because he had to be made flesh, he had to become in human form, and so Mary was a vessel filled with the Holy Spirit and God was made flesh, incarnated through her.

23:13 A special body was prepared for him and he was different. He was 100% God, he was 100% man, but he was different than any other human because he didn't have a sin-spotted soul. Let me try that again another way. Jesus didn't perform any miracles until he was anointed at his baptism, the Bible says he had emptied himself out, he had laid aside some of his divine attributes when he was on earth. And this is a great paradox because then the Bible says when he was anointed, he was anointed with the Holy Spirit without measure. So on the one side he laid aside his divine attributes, on the other side he received the anointing.

23:57 We all get it with a certain measure, but Jesus received it without measure. But he never did any miracles. When I was in Ethiopia there was this old church, an old mosaic, and they showed like an eight and nine-year-old Jesus picking up pieces of clay and it was a mural that went on, kind of like a comic strip, picking up pieces of clay and then turning it into doves that flew away. Pretty mural, completely unscriptural. He didn't do that. He couldn't have done that. There's no recorded miracle of Jesus until he was anointed by the Holy Spirit.

24:38 That's when the power of God came upon him, although before that he was still fully God and fully man. But there's this interesting passage in Scripture where when he was 12 years old he got lost. Must have been a very large caravan, because his parents didn't even notice for three days. What kind of neglect is that they must have thought he was in the back coach on his iPad or something. Just, oh, boys will be boys. Three days it took him to realize, oh, where's Jesus? I mean, remember the scene in Home Alone Where's Kevin? They were rushing back. I mean, even they didn't even take them three days, took Mary and Joseph three days. And they come back and they see Jesus in the temple in Jerusalem, surrounded by the doctors of the law, and it says he was both asking them questions and teaching them, asking inquisitive, and that they were all confounded.

25:30 As who is this kid? This is so profound. Until I studied it further, I used to think, oh, of course he's the person who wrote the whole Bible and he's God, and so he would just be able to refer to them in that way and confound them. But it wasn't him operating as God, it was him operating as a man, but a different kind of man, because his mind, his soul, was unspotted and untainted from sin. Ours is, by the way you know, spotted with sin, and our minds can be renewed. Tell me somebody, how do you renew your mind? The word, picture the word as a giant bar of soap that renews your mind every single day.

26:13 Our soul, our psyche, our mind, will and emotions are being constantly renewed whenever we're in the Word of God. But Jesus came with a totally perfect soul, came with a totally sinless body and, of course, a sinless spirit. Therefore, when he came into the world he said sacrifice an offering you did not desire, but a body. I'm hammering this because it's important. The entire letter of John, first John, is written to nastics who didn't believe that Jesus had a physical body. They believed anything physical was evil. Therefore, jesus must have just been a spirit gliding around. But there's a power when you confess biblical truth, that Jesus came in a body, that he was man.

26:58 He often referred to himself as son of man and yet fully God at the same time. Hallelujah, hallelujah. I wanna just answer this question cause I hear it often to those who are brave enough to ask, because I find a lot of people have this question but they don't ask. But you can ask, and you should ask some important questions such as if Jesus is God, why is he called God's son? Isn't that a fair question? Talk to me, church Right.

27:38 Doesn't that get a little confusing? Am I the only one that asks questions of others? No, you should ask your friends, even your Christian friends, ask them what do you believe about the makeup of Jesus? What do you believe about the identity of Jesus? Do you believe he's God's son? Yes, well, how could he then be God and then watch the? You should have an answer to that, amen. And it gets even more confusing today in America, because son only means one thing, like I have a son, but he's a separate person than me, so it has his own unique identity.

28:22 Here's what son meant in the Hebrew Equal in likeness to, identical to. And you know the Jews understood this. Go to John 5.18. Equal in likeness to, identical to. So when you say Jesus is God's son, you're saying he's equal in likeness to, he's identical to God. In fact, jesus said I came forth from him and I will return back to him, hallelujah. Therefore, the Jews sought all the more to kill him because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was his father, making himself equal with God.

29:06 That's why they wanted him dead. For a lot of reasons. They were very jealous. He threatened their whole system, but he also allowed people to recognize him as the son of God, which they immediately knew. If you're saying you're the son of God, you're making yourself equal to God, hallelujah. And there's a power also in saying Yahweh, god of the Old Testament, is Jesus Christ of the New Testament, hallelujah. I think it's healthy right that we talk about these things, since we spend our lives worshiping Jesus, we should know who he is and where he stands in the Godhead, amen, so that when we begin praying we don't sound confused and confuse others and just throw in every name there Father, god, in the name of Jesus, holy Ghost, lord, jesus Christ, father, daddy, god, holy Spirit, just like.

30:01 Let me name them all three several times, so I hit each one. I don't know who's gonna answer me today. They're one, amen, amen. The Holy Spirit is also called the Spirit of Christ. It's God's spirit. They're separate, though yes, they're also one, hallelujah. Let me read from Philippians Philippians talking about how Jesus emptied himself. Philippians, chapter two, verses six, through eight worship team. Come on up. Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage.

30:49 Rather, he made himself nothing or he made himself of no reputation. That's what he did when he left heaven and the glory of heaven, and once again, he didn't have to, but he did it because he loved us. I don't know what that was like for him, but I imagine pretty different. I mean the glories of heaven where everything is perfect, coming down here. I mean I don't want to sound sacrilege. My first thought is oh the smell. You guys, I'm trying to give you permission to let your mind wander Everybody.

31:33 Just fluff your tush a little bit right now. Would you do that for me On this beautiful Advent season? Just rotate it around a little bit in your seat. May your sphinxster be loosed. There is a power when you gaze upon him. There's a power when you look at him. And if you don't ever give yourself an opportunity to just go into your sanctified imagination and think about what happened during Christmas, and what was that like? God himself, the creator of the universe, came and dwelt among us, incarnated, was made flesh Hallelujah.

32:19 What was that like? Ask him, pray about it, sing to him, make a song on the spot, a spontaneous spiritual song. Sing to him about it. He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant. That's what it was like for God Almighty to come and just be born in human form, the nature of a servant and being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.

32:59 Another question why did God come to earth as a man? Why did he have to? Why was it important that he come as a human? We actually just read this, but let's do it again. In Galatians, during our series on Galatians, we touched on this. Galatians four, four through five Hallelujah. You know what I think of when I hear that he was a man is that he knows and he gets me, he understands, he understands. The Bible says he was tempted in all points, like as we are, but without sin.

33:42 Sometimes you think of Jesus just in his resurrected form. You think, does he get it? Yeah, he gets it. I love reading in Revelation to the seven churches. He always starts off with I know, I know your works, I know your deeds, I know, I know you just keep reading in Jesus as I know. I know, I know and he just hit me one day that he's saying whatever your thing is, I know, I know I love you, lord. You know every yes and I still love you and I'm for you. I'm not against you, I'm with you. I hold you in the palm of my hand, I know.

34:22 But when the fullness of the time had come, god sent forth his son, born of a woman. He had to be born of a woman. He had to come down to earth. He had to be the last Adam Born under the law. He had to be born under the law because he fulfilled the law perfectly. Jesus never, ever, sinned To redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. I'll close with this, john, chapter three and verse 14.

35:04 I'm just encouraging you right now, as it's a week before Christmas, especially with other people, to talk about Jesus, with your families, with your children, with your roommates, with your friends. Talk about the nature of Jesus, the person of Jesus. Behold him, look at him. Jesus talks about the importance of this here in John 3, 14, when he says and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so, must the son of man be lifted up Now.

35:44 To really understand this and get the benefit of it, you have to know what happened here. When Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, thousands of vipers were attacking the children of Israel. It was actually a judgment, it was a curse against them, and they were dropping like flies. It was complete pandemonium. You ever see snakes on a plane? Imagine that times a thousand. Actually haven't seen it, but I saw the trailer. I just imagined thousands of vipers, one bite. They're going in a catatonic state. This wasn't like. I got four days to make it. They were literally dying. And Moses rushes to God and says God, he begins to intercede for the Hebrews.

36:28 And God said make a bronze serpent, put it on a pole, and whoever looks at the bronze serpent on the pole will be healed. And as the children of Israel began looking and gazing and setting their eyes on this bronze serpent on a pole, they got to get healed and the curse was lifted. And Jesus says even as Moses was lifted up excuse me, as Moses was lifted up, the serpent and the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, because that serpent on a pole was prophetic and was foreshadowing what Jesus would do. Jesus was lifted up on a cross and Jesus became like a serpent on a pole.

37:10 How is that? He who knew no sin was made into sin, like this satanic serpent, like creature. He became sin. Beautiful Jesus, glorious Jesus Didn't just take on sin, he was made sin. And that when you set your eyes and set your gaze on him, you're healed. Hallelujah, hallelujah. So we're gonna take a moment here and set our eyes on Jesus. One final verse Hebrews 12-2. Fixing our eyes on Jesus.

37:51 And I'm gonna invite you, during this next song, to fix your eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, the author and the finisher of our faith, for the joy set before him. He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Father, we're so grateful for the incarnation. We're grateful that you were made flesh, that you were made man, born under the law, fulfilling the law perfectly, ultimately paying the price for our sins, being raised again on the third day.

38:32 Will you look to him right now? Look to the serpent on the pole. Look to Jesus. Fix your eyes on him. Merry Christmas everybody. This is the City Light Church podcast. If you've missed any part of today's message or if you would like to find out more about Pastor Boyan Jansik and City Light Church, visit us at citylightnyccom. That's citylightnyccom. Feel free to visit us online or in person anytime. We would love to connect with you. We pray that you have been encouraged today, that you have been reminded how much God loves you and that you are surrounded by grace.

39:13 Thank you for listening. Make sure that you subscribe to City Light Church podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.