Word as Witness
Book Club | On the Incarnation: Chapter 6
“What more is there for their Expected One to do when He comes?
To call the heathen? But they are called already.
To put an end to prophet and king and vision? But this, too, has already happened.
To expose the God-denyingness of idols? It is already exposed and condemned.
Or to destroy death? It is already destroyed.
What, then, has not come to pass that the Christ must do?” (p. 112)
In this painting, Isaiah and Ezekiel stand as witnesses to the fulfillment of their prophecies—the Shepherd-King of Israel born to a virgin, come to save the World.
This is the core of Athanasius’ thought in this chapter—Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh, is the Messiah which the Jews were waiting for, and who all of their Scriptures were pointing to.
Who will do more signs and works than Jesus of Nazareth? Who will do greater works than Him? There is no longer any need to wait, for the Christ has come. He has fulfilled every prophecy, defeated Death, begun to fill His Kingdom, and is awaiting the time set for Him to judge the World.
Peter bears witness to his Jewish brothers in Acts 4, “11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Athanasius lays Scripture upon Scripture, establishing the fact of Jesus’ fulfillment of every messianic expectation, and barely scratches the surface of the Old Testament’s witness of Christ.
This was the habit of Paul each time he entered the synagogue in a new city: “he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.’” (Acts 17:2b-3)
The Scriptures are the basis of our confident assertion, not intuition or hearsay or unverified “revelation”. The Word is our solid ground to stand on, trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance.
But He was not only witnessed by the Old Testament Scriptures.
“The witness to His birth was not a man, but a star shining in the heavens whence He was coming down.” (p. 102)
From the Heavens He came, so in the heavens His witness shines.
And His Heavenly witness does not end there, for the Heaven-sent angels proclaim to the lowly shepherds, “behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14 ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!’” (Luke 2:10b-14)
The Heavens literally declaring the glory of God.
And this Christ, this Savior, this Lord is lying in a manger—wrapped up and set into an animal’s feeding trough. He is not visited first by kings or priests, but dirty shepherds and surrounded by livestock.
The Messiah’s humble entry into the world, which mirrors His humble first-exit from this world—His self-sacrifice on the tree, which Athanasius calls us to stand in awe of:
“O marvel at the love of the Word for men, for it is on our account that He is dishonored, so that we may be brought to honor.” (p. 99)
He draws our minds to Isaiah 53, “like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;”
“He is the Life of all, and He it is Who like a sheep gave up His own body to death, His life for ours and our salvation.” (p. 106)
Our gentle and lowly Savior, Jesus.
Behold Him.
Come to Him and find rest for your soul.
Offer to Him your entire self—body, mind and soul— “which is your spiritual worship.”1
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts now!
What in this chapter drew you to worship?
Did you collect any new insights from this chapter?
Were there any passages or ideas that you didn’t understand?
Answer these questions or share your own thoughts in the comments!
Next week’s reading will be Chapter 7!
Romans 12:1b
I must say your chapter recaps are appreciated 😁
Not sure why this particular chapter was difficult for me to get through, hard to understand in some parts and hard to hold my attention in the rest 😅
However, I really liked the sentence on page 102: "the witness to His birth was not man, but a star shining in the heavens whence He was coming down."
I think we all know at least one person who puts a lot of faith in astrology.
How blessed we are to have faith in the Creator of the stars 🙌 (and may starry nights remind us to pray for our friends that don't) 🌟