What does First B Jackson teach about incarnation?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At First Baptist Jackson, the teaching on the incarnation starts with the prologue of John's Gospel and insists that what happened at Christmas was not a softening of God's transcendence but a full expression of it. Pastor Ray and Pastor Ron have both walked through John 1:1-18 during Advent and arrived at the same center: the Word who was with God before creation, and who was God, entered human history in flesh. The Greek word behind "dwelt" means tabernacled, or pitched a tent. God did not observe from a distance. He camped among us, and John the apostle, as both pastors noted, literally camped with him.
The movement the prologue makes, from eternity into a specific human life, is the movement the whole Christmas story makes. Grace and truth were not merely announced through Christ; they were made present and embodied in him. The law given through Moses could identify the shortfall but could not close it. What Jesus brought was different in kind, not just in degree. Receiving him and believing in his name are treated throughout John's prologue as the same act, and the right that follows, to become a child of God, is given rather than earned.
Pastor Mark and Pastor Matt have pressed the same claim from Hebrews 1 and 2 and Philippians 2: the one who is the radiance of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's nature did not skip over humanity. He was made lower than the angels, born into the human condition, lived it without sin, and passed through death and out the other side. He became what we are so he could go where we could not. That is what Christmas is marking, and none of it stops being true based on how anyone feels about it.
Taught from John 1:14 · John 1:1 · John 1:12-13 · Hebrews 1:1-4 · Philippians 2:5-11
The passage taught · 2 Thessalonians 3:16
16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways. The Lord be with you all.
World English Bible
Messages that go deeper
- December 4, 2022 The Word Became Flesh and Pitched His Tent Among Us Pastor Ray walks through John 1:1-18, tracing how the transcendent God became flesh in Christ, and shares three stories of lives changed by the Gospel of John.
- December 4, 2022 In the Beginning Was the Word The pastor walks through John's prologue to show how the eternal Word became flesh at Christmas, and why believing in Jesus transforms ordinary lives.
- December 22, 2019 Jesus Christ Really Is That Awesome Hebrews 1 and Philippians 2 show why Christmas matters: Jesus Christ really is the radiance of God, the heir of all things, who emptied himself to redeem us.
- December 21, 2014 Christ Really Is That Awesome Hebrews 1 and 2 show why Christ alone is worth celebrating: Creator, sustainer, high priest, and the only one who could taste death so we would not have to.