The Divine Incarnation:

Its importance and blessings for our life

The churches all over the world, and in particular the Coptic orthodox ones celebrate the glorified birth of Jesus through spiritual concepts, which will help to rescue every church member and allow him/her to stand firm as part of ‘Jesus Body’, that is the church.

1. ‘Divinity’ aspects of the incarnation

Our Lord Jesus Christ has 2 births – An eternal everlasting birth before all times, when He was born from The Father. This may be best described as a light ray emerging from the sun.

The second birth is a timely birth, which took place within the fullness of time, when He took body directly from the spotless, stainless The Holy Virgin Mary, without the agency of human father. The Virgin Mary became pregnant after She was overwhelmed by a Divine power, then The Son of God – The Word – is conceived in her by means of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, the invisible became visible, the untouchable became felt, the indefinite has appeared in a ‘limited nature’, and the timeless has appeared within the times.

To that end, St John has announced through the power of the Holy Spirit that:

‘That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life’ (1Joh 1:1)

The Bible has provided a simple explanation for the Divine Incarnation in the Old Testament, when God wanted to save Moses and the children of Israel, and deliver them from the slavery in Egypt. (As their cry has reached up to God, and God wanted to descend to earth to save them)…

‘Moses has looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush [was] not consumed’

‘‘So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." (Exod 3:4)

This is an example of the union that took place between the Divine nature presented by the fire, and the human nature presented by the bush.

This union took place without affecting any of the 2 natures: None of them has changed, mixed or transformed when united with the other one.

The union took place between the strong Creator and a feeble creature…an Unseen Creator and a visible creature.

This example, among others, had a target to explain in a simple way the Divine Incarnation, which was to take place in the fullness of times.

In all religions, there has been a confirmation of the idea of the bush that took fire.

Now, we come to a point, which you think is better for the Creator to save human beings? Is it to unite with a bush, or with the human being himself?

This is what has been realised in the fullness of times when The Son of God – The Word – is conceived in the Virgin Mary by means of the Holy Spirit.

This explains the hymn we say through the month of ‘Kiahk’

            ‘’The bush that Moses had seen in the desert, eaten by the fire but not consumed – This being an example of the Mother of God as she conceived the Divine Fire in her for 9 months, while her virginity is maintained’’

This union also takes place with everybody who believes, and is baptized; therefore becomes united with God – the Savior – through the holy 7 Sacraments of the church. These Sacraments convey to us the blessings of redemption and salvation…

The Holy Spirit has announced: ‘Great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifested in the flesh’ (1Tim 3:16)

It implies that the Incarnation is the secret behind the human godliness, through which our sins are forgiven, our entity is consecrated and our mind is illuminated as we were given a share in the Divine nature.

We can find this ‘Union’ in the sacraments

Ø    In the water for baptism, the unseen Spirit of God which provides the new birth within the visible water – through which there is death (in the water) then resurrection with Jesus Christ to a new life, in an act of ‘washing’ out all the sins.

Ø    During the sacrament of ‘Repentance and Confession’, we only see the priest and the confessor, however, what we don’t see but takes place behind the scene is that the Holy Spirit taking the sins away from the repenting person, and offering forgiveness through the priest’s words. This forgiveness would then be deemed complete following the communion when we partake the Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, which purify us from all sins.

Ø    As for the Communion, the visible bread and wine are symbols which the unseen Holy Spirit transform into the true ‘Body and Blood’ of Jesus Christ – those which are sacrificed for our salvation and the forgiveness of our sins, to give eternal life for all those who partake in them.

The union has taken place, and it will continue through the eternal life. The Lord has acquired our nature, and He took it with Thy up to the Heavens while He left ‘His Body and Blood’ as well as the ‘holy Spirit’ to unite to us during our outside trip until He transfers us to the Heavens on the last day.

In summary, the blessings of the Divine Incarnation are:

1. Spiritual Aspects of the Incarnation

1) The Incarnation paved the way towards the redemption

How the Lord would have redeemed us, die for us and have His Blood shed for us if He did not take a mortal human body?

2) Through the Incarnation, we knew God

After the human creature has abandoned its Creator, its mind was left in the dark, and has therefore invented all sorts of evil. They worshiped false gods and evil spirits, and they became slaves for their desires, magic arts and foretelling. The man had lived in the darkness of ignorance, and perished because of the lack of knowledge

            ‘My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge’ (Hose 4:6)

This target turned into reality as the Lord His last words:

            "And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare [it], that the love with which  You   loved  Me may be in them, and I in them." (John 17:26)

3) Through the Incarnation, we became united to God

Not only we needed a Saviour to alleviate or ease the death penalty we were supposed to endure, or that we needed God’s Words to fill our minds and hearts with wisdom and the knowledge of God, but moreover, how could our perishing nature have been sanctified after it has been soiled because of the sin, which has eventually separated us from God, and led to us being removed from Heavens?

Therefore, humans needed God to revive and sanctify their nature.

This is why we needed the Incarnation, through which God had a place in the heart of each of us, became united to us, reviving our nature and remains live in us so we transformed into a non-perishing nature.

            "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.’’ (John 6:56)

            ‘Do you not know that you are the temple of God and [that] the Spirit of God dwells in you?’ (1Cor 3:16)

            ‘I in them, and You in Me’ (John 17:23)

            "And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare [it], that the love with which  You   loved  Me may be in them, and I in them." (John 17:26)

q       Therefore, through the Divine Incarnation, the human being was able to overcome the isolation and meaninglessness, when Jesus has provided the fullness, satiety, comfort and peace

q       Through the Divine Incarnation, the human being was able to defeat ‘death’ as Jesus, when He died on the Cross, has defeated death and Has gifted those who were in the graves with an eternal life.

q       Through the Divine Incarnation, man had received a share in the Divine nature. Saint Athanasius the apostolic said: ‘Through this union of the immortal Son of God with our human nature, all men were clothed with incorruption in the promise of the resurrection.’

Being ‘Partakers of the Divine nature’ (2Pet 1:4) does not mean that we are gods, but partakers of His Holiness as we live in virtue and good deeds; so we share His passion as well as His resurrection, glory, joy and divine love.

            ‘’That the love with which You   loved Me may be in them, and I in them." (John 17:26)

May the Good Lord who has blessed us, shared our nature, and allowed us to have His, provides you all with the blessings of the Divine Incarnation.

May we allow the Holy Spirit to configure us and fill us with love, holiness, light, joy and peace; so that we may reflect this light around us to replace the darkness that may exist as a result of offence or imperfection?

May everybody finds the Incarnated Christ illuminating among us and through our good deeds, so others would glorify our Heavenly Father.

With the intercessions of the Virgin Mar – our mother, and Saint Mark the Evangelist, and with the prayers of our father Pope Shenouda III – May the Good Lord keep him for many years to come.

Glory is to Our Lord, now and forever. Amen.

Happy Christmas and New Year for all of you.