Why Jesus Came into the World

In a season when COVID had closed the doors to gathered worship, Christmas raised the question once more: why did Jesus come into this world? The usual answer is simply that he came to atone for sin, yet the sermon turned to the word that no one has ever seen God, and that the one who is at the Father’s side has made him known.

The purpose of the incarnation reaches beyond the forgiveness of sins; it lies in the revelation of God himself. Eternal life, Jesus said, is to know God and the one whom he has sent. His divinity, his person and character, and the whole of his ministry, in which he broke the power of the devil and established the Kingdom of God, were presented as a revelation of who God is.

The message went on to describe the church as the bride and the body of Jesus, his family and his temple. It closed with an exhortation: rather than resting in the fact of their salvation, Christians must seek to discern how God desires to reveal Jesus Christ through their lives.