Daily Bread - Oct 19 2006

John 1:14 - "And the Word became flesh and came and lived with us and we saw His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth."

The Greek word 'sarx,' which means flesh, would not only have been very specific concerning the humanity of God incarnated but would have equally been a strong rebuke to the Gnostics of the time who viewed the flesh as innately evil and unable to contain or express any attributes of God - especially the Divine Person Himself. The Greeks who admired the logos as that which formulated the order or the world aspired to be joined with God through a mystic relationship in the Universe. To them, the idea of encountering the logos of God in flesh was unthinkable. Yet God, in His love and mercy, took on the likeness of sinful flesh and condemned sin in the flesh. The great Grace and Blessing of God can only be viewed with wonder and amazement as Paul said, "Great is the mystery of Godliness; God was manifest in the flesh." (1 Timothy 3:16).

Today, as God's people, we fully embrace this glorious reality that Jesus is come in the flesh. He not only came 2000 years ago when he was born of a virgin named Mary, but He has come into His temple so that we can say, "greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world" (1 John 4:4).

The Authorized Version translates sarx - flesh 147, carnal 2, carnally minded 1, fleshly 1 time. It occurs in the Septuagint 215 times, and its Hebrew equivalent is "basar." The first occurrence in the Old Testament is in Genesis 2:2 and in the New Testament, Matthew 16:17.

Blessings,

Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
www.abidingplace.org