Incarnate Deity

In this verse of a Charles Wesley hymn on the Holy Trinity, my mind is totally be-shackled. I mean, I am loose yet bound; lifted yet lowered; silent yet loud; calm yet excited. Who is sufficient for such learning?

Keep me safe in Your holding arms please, Lord Father. Amen!

Here is the second verse of the hymn, ‘Father, in whom we live’. 

Incarnate deity,

Let all the ransomed race,

Render in thanks their lives to Thee,

For Thy redeeming grace.

The grace to sinners shown,

Ye heavenly choirs proclaim,

And cry: Salvation to our God,

Salvation to the Lamb.

From the entrance of this verse, as it opens up to me, I feel like when one disembarks the plane at the airport, after a long flight. Not just a long flight, but a long flight coming from a temperate climate, especially in a winter month. Coming to a tropical, hot, sunny climate, I tell you that wave of heat which bolts straight at you, is never unnoticed. It always brings gasps and blinks and adjustments of mind, as the wave of heat lashes mercilessly at you. This is somewhat of what I felt, when I was literally hit spiritually, by these two words of the verse. Incarnate Deity.

O yes, I know the words and I also know what the words mean, but somehow, I did not know really, or I did not realize what I thought I had known. I know that many of you have shared similar experiences and happenings in different areas and atmospheres. Let’s spend some time on this Holy phrase. 

Incarnate Deity – In flesh God! God in human flesh!

I don’t know whether these were exclamations or questions, but this I know, I was totally emptied of all I knew, all I thought and spoke and lived. Straightway, I heard, Human God, begotten not made. God the Father begat God the Son. Boy, was I totally taken, becoming more and more unbound, yet bound. Then came even more and deeper mind and heart stirring, as I was kept on the words, begotten, not made.

Suddenly, I heard myself responding and saying that Abraham begat Isaac.  These are words I would have grown up hearing and reading, as the King James Bible was all we knew at that time, in our home and in our church.  I found the relevant Scripture and read it as if I had never seen the word, begat, before. Matthew 1: 1 – 2. The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren. 

Just for curiosity and perhaps more clarity, the NKJV records it in this fashion. The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers.  Later on as we come to the end of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, we read this. And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. Matthew 1: 16. 

My friends, I stop here, and leave you to listen to the Scripture again. Moreover, I strongly encourage you to read it for yourself and read all of Matthew 1: 1 – 17. You will find much being revealed to you that you never noticed before.

Holy Father, we thank You for this Word. Amen!