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THE PURPOSE OF THE INCARNATION OF THE WORD OF GOD.


JOH 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. JOH 1:2 He was in the beginning with God. JOH 1:3 All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. JOH 1:4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. JOH 1:5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.


HEB 2:9 But we do see Him who has been made for a little while lower than the angels, {namely,} Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. HEB 2:10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. HEB 2:11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one {Father}; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, HEB 2:12 saying, #"\I will proclaim Thy name to My brethren\, \In the midst of the congregation I will sing Thy praise.\"# HEB 2:13 And again, #"\I will put My trust in Him.\"# And again, #"\Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me.\"# HEB 2:14 Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil; HEB 2:15 and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. HEB 2:16 For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham. HEB 2:17 Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. HEB 2:18 For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted. HEB 3:1 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. HEB 3:2 He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house. HEB 3:3 For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house. HEB 3:4 For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.


For us to truly celebrate this season of the birth of Jesus Christ, it is necessary to go back into eternity a short distance. If we begin with Jesus in a manger or the conception of Jesus in the womb of Mary we may miss the eternal purpose for which the incarnation was designed. To get a clear understanding of the incarnation it would be necessary to go back and study all the prophesies pertaining to the coming of the Messiah and what He would accomplish. What He was purposed to accomplished was exactly what He accomplished.


If we separate the birth of Jesus Christ from the purpose for which He came, we will just have a Christmas celebration that can be enjoyed by all. We can party and give gifts and eat and watch the football games, and a good time can be had by all. However if we see the purpose for which He came into this world, we can't party and turn it into a carnal celebration. The media hasn't been faithful to present more than a baby in a manger and give the incarnation of the Word Of God a fairy tale atmosphere with a Disney World hype. The media presents Christmas from the viewpoint of sales and promotion.


The purpose for which the Word of God was made manifest was to complete the eternal purpose of God that was designed from all eternity past.


I just want to look at one prophesy in Luke 1:67- 79. LUK 1:67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying: LUK 1:68 #"Blessed {be} the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people, LUK 1:69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of David His servant-- LUK 1:70 As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old-- LUK 1:71 Salvation \from our enemies\, And \from the hand of all who hate us\; LUK 1:72 To show mercy toward our fathers, And to remember His holy covenant, LUK 1:73 The oath which He swore to Abraham our father, LUK 1:74 To grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear, LUK 1:75 In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days. LUK 1:76 "And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; For you will go on \before the Lord to prepare His ways\; LUK 1:77 To give to His people {the} knowledge of salvation By the forgiveness of their sins, LUK 1:78 Because of the tender mercy of our God, With which the Sunrise from on high shall visit us, LUK 1:79 \To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death\, To guide our feet into the way of peace. "


The world knows nothing of the purpose of the incarnation that is recorded in LUK 1:71 Salvation \from our enemies\, And \from the hand of all who hate us\; LUK 1:74 To grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear, LUK 1:75 In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days. The real purpose ( along with many others) was to deliver us from our enemies and the hand of all who hate us so that we might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness all our days. That surely includes the present time plus all eternity.


One purpose of the incarnation was to gather together a people who would serve God in holiness and righteous. This prophesy was delivered by the Holy Spirit through Zacharias, the priest and the father of John the Baptist. Christmas is not just a religious celebration but an announcement that God is gathering together a people who will serve Him and fulfill His eternal purpose. This is only celebration time to those who have been chosen by God to know God's purpose and to those have given themselves to it.


The gifts, the parties, the decorations, and the nativity scenes are just a smoke screen to hide the real purpose of the incarnation. It is the enemies that have turned this into a Mardi Gras of frenzied, carnival activity and shopping.


This ignorance is dangerous because it permits a darkness that hides the reason we have received life from God. Multitudes will receive natural life and die without knowing the reason they have lived. Ignorance is our number one enemy. Satan's greatest weapon is to keep us ignorant and to hide the Truth from us. Ignorance hides from us the reason for our existence. If we are ignorant of God's purpose, we may put function ahead of purpose and waste our life pursuing a function and ignoring God's purpose. All function must be secondary to God's purpose.


We can make the most of opportunity and find a function but to fit into God's eternal purpose requires that we walk in constant fellowship with Him. We can function in our family or in the church and miss God's purpose. We can function in the family and in the church through our own experience or by instruction from others but still have no intuitive knowledge from God. To participate in God's purpose requires a supernatural knowledge and insight beyond human capacity to know. Purpose requires spiritual vision.


Another peril of our participation in the purpose of the incarnation is discouragement and despair. These are tools and weapons of our enemy. He will surely show us the great distance between our vision and our experience. Faith holds to the hope that what we have seen will one day become our experience. If we backslide in our relationship with God, we will lose the vision and despair will sink us. Through a continuous intimacy with God we maintain and strengthen our vision and participate in His purpose. Out of that flows our function.


If we get function ahead of purpose we will be in danger of turning function into a golden calf and begin to worship function. Too often our expectations and desires run ahead of God's subjective work so we become impatient and discouraged. God never gives us enough information and spiritual knowledge ahead so we can operate independent of Him. This is a great problem for those who are in a hurry to begin a function. When we step out and begin independent of God's design, we are open for deception.


God has designed that the Holy Spirit Lead us into all Truth. He is not a good follower. He is God. Those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. This is the dispensation when we must develop a relationship with the Holy Spirit and submit to His work in us and His correction. He will surely give us a function when we have fit into God's purpose.


The purpose of the incarnation is to prepare man to fulfill God's eternal purpose and bring joy to God's heart. Any celebration that ignores or is ignorant of this fact will just be partying in darkness.