WHY DID GOD BECOME MAN?

By Otto Kaiser

Professor at Global University

(Guest of Ada Brownell)

Why did God become a man? Why did God invade the planet Earth in this sleepy way? The answer to that question is the greatest wonder of Christmas. What brings me great joy is to realize that this event took place for me. Why did God become a baby? Because God loved me and knew that I needed a Savior. If the baby in the manger in Bethlehem was not a real baby and is not God become man, then I do not have the Savior that I need and I am still a sinner without hope.

            Some of us think of Christmas, that is, the invasion of planet Earth by God in terms of a telephone booth. We think of the comic strip character, Clark Kent. In the comics, Clark Kent in one form of his dress is a normal man; but by changing his clothes in a telephone booth, he become Superman.

            Jesus was not a Superman who changed into a human costume to hide his divinity. Jesus was fully human. Bullets would not bounce off Jesus. Jesus did not invade our world with a protective shield. Because Jesus was a real man, He could become the Savior we needed. Only as a true man, could Jesus become our substitute at Calvary.

            We need a Savior who first could identify with all our humanness and sinfulness, yet without sin; and second, we need a Savior who could deal with our humanness and sinfulness. Only as a man, could God become our Savior. God came to this earth to do, what man cannot do; but he came to do it as a man. We needed someone who could identify with our pains, our hurts, our disappointments, our emotional strain, and our fatigue. God, as a man, did all of this.

            As a baby and boy, Jesus learned to walk, to write, and to read. Jesus by experience received the news of the death of a loved one. Jesus experienced the greed and injustice of men. Jesus experienced all the sorrows and pains of raising a family. After Joseph died and before Jesus entered his ministry, Jesus worked as a carpenter to support his widowed mother Mary and raise His half-brothers and half-sisters. Jesus became tired. Jews became hungry. Jesus became thirsty. Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus. Jesus agonized in the Garden of Gethsemane over His impending death on the cross. Death was very real to Jesus.

            This is part of the reason why God invaded planet Earth as a baby. He wanted to demonstrate to us, once and for all, that He does care, and that He does understand. The Bible says, "Jesus has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin" (Heb. 4:12). Any experience that you can go through, Jesus has in some way also experienced. Jesus knows by experience what you're going through. Jesus can feel with you. Jesus has become one with us and one of us.

            As human beings, we struggle with hardships and disappointments. We live with bad weather, tornados, flooding, inflation, disease, and tears. Jesus has experienced the same. He can feel with us. He is now our High Priest because Jesus knows by His own personal experience what we are experiencing. The Bible says, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" (Hebr. 4:16). Jesus is now your high priest. In boldness bring all your needs to Him in prayer.

            God invaded planet Earth not only to identify with human sin and bondage to demon power, but God invaded planet Earth to deal with sin and demonic bondage. Jesus was born as a baby on the first Christmas not only to identify with all that we are experiencing, but Jesus was born as a baby to triumph over sin, darkness, death, and all demon power.

            Through the failure of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, every human being has become a slave to sin, sickness, and death. Through the failure of Adam and Eve, every human being has come under bondage to demon powers. No human being could deliver or set himself free. Through this slavery to sin, sickness, death, and demon power, every human being became the object of divine wrath. The Bible says,

            You were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature the objects of wrath. (Eph. 2:1-3)

            What existed in all human beings that enabled Satan and all his demons to dominate and control the human race? Every man, woman, young person, and child has sin in his life. The wages of sin is eternal death. Satan and his demons can hold each human soul in eternal hell, because sin allows that person's life to belong to Satan. Satan has a rightful claim on each human for all eternity.

            A few hours before His death, Jesus said to His disciples, "The prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me" (John 14:30). In the original Greek in which the New Testament was written, Jesus actually said, "the prince of this world has found nothing in me." What was Satan looking for in Jesus?

            Satan was looking for sin in the life of Jesus, but Satan could find none. Thus when Jesus died and went to the next world, Satan could not hold Jesus in eternal hell. Satan had nothing in Jesus; thus, Satan had no power over Jesus. Jesus came to this planet Earth as a baby to live a perfect sinless life and thus personally triumph over sin, sickness, death and all the power of demons.

            Because Jesus had no sin, He did not have to die. Jesus could have lived on this planet Earth for the last 2,000 years. Death had no power over Him.

TOMORROW: GOD INVADED EARTH TO DIE