He’s Only Just Begun – by Greg Albrecht
Christmas is the hinge and fulcrum of all history. Points in time before the first Christmas are B.C. or B.C.E. (before the Christian era) and events after that first Christmas are A.D. (anno Domini – year of our Lord). The birth of the Christ child, God in the flesh, is a new beginning…his new beginning and our new beginning. But make no mistake, Christmas was not the end of God’s revelation to humanity, it was only the beginning.
God has gradually revealed himself and the abundance of the gospel over time with greater clarity and fullness. In the beginning, Genesis speaks of God as “we” by saying let us make mankind in our image… (Genesis 1:26). However, the full revelation of God in Three Persons, working in unity and complete harmony, was not revealed in the Old Testament. In the New Testament account of creation, the first chapter of John speaks of how important the birth of Jesus was and is:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it… to all who receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent… but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us… For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
– John 1:1-5, 12-14, 17
In this same account, in the first chapter of the Gospel that bears his name, John also speaks of the ongoing and continual revelation of God: Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given (John 1:16). Peter tells us that we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18).
The Incarnation, when God became human, in the person of Jesus, was only the beginning of the fullness of his revelation. Christmas celebrates the beginning of the divine revelation in Jesus, who was and is God with us (Matthew 1:23). But it seems that for some who place great credence on what is called “incarnation theology,” Christmas is the beginning and the end of the gospel.
Some erroneously believe that “incarnation theology” means that when God came to us, in the person of Jesus, all that we need to know and believe was revealed. But Christmas is only the beginning of the gospel.
The progressive revelation of God in Christ began with the Incarnation – the first coming of Jesus: THEN it was followed by his ministry and teaching; THEN the Lamb of God willingly went to his cross; THEN the Sun of Righteousness was victoriously resurrected; NOW the Risen Lord indwells us, living in and through us, now and forevermore; AND HE WILL COME AGAIN, IN HIS SECOND COMING.
Yes, I know the gospel begins with the Incarnation – the gospel starts with Christmas, but thank God, the Incarnation is not the full and complete story of God’s revelation to you and me!
While we are in this mortal body, our Risen Lord lives the life of the age to come in us, and all the while we eagerly anticipate his Second Coming. Who Jesus is and all he will forever be is progressively unfolded. The birth of God in the flesh is ONLY
THE BEGINNING. Indeed, Paul wrote,
“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no mind has conceived” – the things God has prepared for those who love him – these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. – 1 Corinthians 2:9-10
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! (1 John 3:1).We are children of God “NOW” while “WHAT WE WILL BE” is yet to be made known:
Dear friends, now are we children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. – 1 John 3:2, my emphasis.
God progressively reveals himself to us even as the dawn of a new day gradually overcomes the darkness with light.
The Son is the RADIANCE of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being… – Hebrews 1:3, my emphasis.
The Magi followed the STAR to Bethlehem. Jesus, the LIGHT of the world, the SON of Righteousness, overcomes the darkness. Jesus the SON rose from the dead with the rays of the sun he created. He rose and exploded out of the darkness of the tomb. The LIGHT of Jesus carries through his birth, his life and teaching, his death, burial and resurrection and finally to his Second Coming.
With a singular focus on “incarnation theology,” some seemingly conclude the First Coming was the central and core teaching of the gospel. It is true, without the first coming of Jesus – the life, teachings, crucifixion, resurrection and Second Coming would not progressively unfold. But the Incarnation is ONLY THE BEGINNING of the full revelation of God – it is not the totality of the revelation of God.
Paul said we preach Christ crucified (1 Corinthians 1:23). While Christmas is a grand and glorious beginning of the gospel, Paul unequivocally links the birth of God in the flesh with the cross of Christ, the cornerstone of our faith, by saying:
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. – Colossians 1:19-20
Christmas is an unbelievable miracle – the Incarnation of God in the person of Jesus means that Jesus becomes our center – for in him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). All that Jesus was, is and is to be is the ultimate fullness and the consummate final revelation of God, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus reveals, I am the Alpha and the Omega… who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty (Revelation 1:8). The revelation of the Triune Nature of God illustrates progressive revelation. From our vantage point in history, we can see many clear references in the Old Testament to the Second Person of the Triune God, Messiah, who would come and be Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14) and Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). In hindsight, the Second Person of the Godhead can be clearly seen by you and me in the pages of the Old Testament, but his divine identity was not so clear to the nation of Israel, who only perceived God as Father.
The Deity of Jesus was far from clear to the religious world he encountered during his earthly ministry, such that they sought to kill him for what they regarded as an idolatrous, heretical and preposterous claim as being one and the same as the Father.
For this reason, they [the Jews] tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. – John 5:18
Christmas is filled with mystery, majesty and the miraculous, but it is only the beginning – it is not the end – it is only the beginning. God the Holy Spirit was not fully revealed until the Day of Pentecost, following the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus (see Acts 2). Jesus told the disciples that God the Holy Spirit, the Comforter (John 14:16, 25), the Spirit of Truth (John 14:17) would guide them into all truth (John 16:13).
The Incarnation is the story of the First Coming, but there is a Second Coming. In his First Coming, Jesus came to be with us as one of us. He still is. He is still with us, now and forever. In his Second Coming, he will usher in the end of human life as we know it. Then the beginning of eternity will be fully revealed, when God makes his home with all mankind here on earth:
“… God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. – Revelation 21:3
Christmas begins the fullness of the progressive and transforming revelation of God, so that eventually something better will come to his world than life as we know it:
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. – Revelation 21:4
Thanking God for his new beginning, wishing a Merry Christmas to you and yours, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Your brother in Christ,
Greg Albrecht
Friend and Partner Letter from December 2018
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