Jesus is God in the Flesh

God eternal became God incarnate, entering human history as one of us.  The Nicene Creed proclaims Jesus Christ to be “Very God of Very God” who was “made man.”

The angel told Joseph Jesus would be called “Immanuel” meaning, “God with us” (Matthew 1:23).  There was no lengthy theological or metaphysical explanation forthcoming, but Joseph obeyed without an argument.  Perhaps he recognized these words from the prophet Isaiah who wrote, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).

The thought that God could take on human form and walk among us is definitely a big idea.  Why would He?  How could He?  But as we will come to understand, the problem isn’t just with our limited human comprehension, but also with some significant presuppositions.  It is not my intention to offer a complete analysis of both, but it will be difficult to appreciate “Immanuel” if we don’t have a general awareness of some challenges posed by skeptics.