The Mystery of the Incarnation

Oswald Chambers gives some enlightening words regarding Jesus' incarnation in us that are recorded in the book, Our Brilliant Heritage:

"There are three big mysteries. The Mystery of the Triune God--Father, Son and Holy Ghost; the Mystery of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is both human and Divine, and the Mystery we are dealing with--the mystery that I, a sinner, can be made into the image of Jesus Christ by the work of His Atonement in my life.

"Have you ever noticed how our Lord's death is explained and applied by the Spirit of God in the Apostle Paul's teaching? For instance, 'Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life' (Romans vi. 4) means that all that our Lord's death is stated to mean in the New Testament can be made real in our experience. We can go through identification with the death of Jesus until we are alive only to the things which He was alive to. Jesus Christ does not give us power to put the 'old man' to death ourselves: 'our old man was crucified with Him' (Romans vi. 6 R.V.); we can be identified with His death and know that this is true. We are not merely put into a state of innocence before God; by identification with Our Lord's death we are delivered from sin in every bit of its power and every bit of its presence.

"God never removes from us the power of stepping aside; we can step aside any moment we like. Read the First Epistle of John--'If any man step aside . . .' John's thought is surely that it is a rare thing for a man to step aside. Our attitude seems to be that it is a rare thing to keep in the light!

"'And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places'--like Christ Jesus? No, 'in Christ Jesus.' The very Spirit that ruled Jesus in His life now rules us. How has it come about? Read Romans viii. 10. 'And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.' John the Baptist said of Jesus--'He shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.' The Spirit of God Who wrought out that marvelous Life in the Incarnation will baptize us into the very same life, not into a life like it, but into His life until the very holiness of Jesus is gifted to us. It is not something we work out in Him, it is in Him, and He manifests it through us while we abide in Him. This explains why in the initial stages of sanctification we sometimes see marvellous exhibitions of Christ-like life and patience. All that was wrought out in the life of Jesus was wrought out by the Holy Ghost Whom our Lord has shed forth by His ascended right, and by the baptism of the Holy Ghost the perfections of Jesus are made ours. We are not put into the place where we can imitate Jesus; the baptism of the Holy Ghost puts us into the very life of Jesus.

"Are you hungering after sanctification? Have you such confidence in Jesus that you can pray this prayer, the prayer of a child--'Father, in the Name of Jesus, baptise me with the Holy Ghost and fire until sanctification is made real in my life'?"