I listened to a message by Dr. R. C. Sproul the other day
that focused on the incarnation of Jesus. He asked the thought-provoking
question, “Did the baby in the manger know that the world was round?”
How would you answer that?
The Christian Church has always maintained the position that
Jesus was fully human and fully God. Whereas God is three persons with one
essence, Jesus, in His incarnation, was/is one Person with two essences (human
and divine).
Various religions and sects deny the divinity of Jesus, and
in fact, I firmly believe that one of the silver linings running through all
false religious teaching is the rejection of Jesus as being God. Oftentimes you’ll
hear the argument that the emperor Constantine or various Church councils “decided”
to make Jesus God.
Nonsense.
Around 700 B.C., the prophet Isaiah wrote:
“For a child will be
born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government
will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be
called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6, my emphasis).
I’m going to go out on a limb and say a statement made 700
years before Jesus’ birth that references his divinity pretty much decimates
the whole “Constantine made Jesus God” argument. But there’s actually some hard
archaeological evidence that also helps put an end to the claim that Jesus was
only referenced as God very late in Church history.
Megiddo is best known for being linked up with the book of
Revelation and the site of the last epic war that precedes Christ’s second
coming (cf. Rev. 16:13-16). But Megiddo also has what many archaeologists
believe is the earliest church building found to date. The remains contain a
Christian prayer hall that is dated to the early third century.
The floor of the hall contains a mosaic that has an image of
a medallion and a Christian ichthus (the fish symbol whose name is an anagram
of the Greek words Iesous Christos Theou
Yios Soter – Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior”). But another inscription found
on the floor is the following:
The translation is: “Akeptous (a woman), the God-loving,
offered this table for (the) God Jesus Christ, as a remembrance”.
It would seem that those early Christians were pretty clear
on who they believed Jesus to be – God Himself.
Did the baby in the manger know that the world was round? In
His humanness, no, Jesus was a baby. But as God, yes, since He is the one
through whom the creation was carried out (cf. John 1:3).
The incarnation defies the best theological minds to fully
understand or explain it, but Scripture says it, and being the inerrant Word of
God, we believe and accept it.
Merry Christmas!
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