Revelation in itself is not a sufficient reason for the incarnation. God was not manifest in the flesh to mock sinners by giving them an example of a perfect life that they had no power to imitate. The God-man is an example for the saint to follow but not for the sinner. 

Again, Jesus Christ did not come to impart teachings that the natural man could obey. Nor did He come to earth to make it a more comfortable and habitable place for the sinner through the social reforms He would affect. Nor did He come as the founder of a new religion, the spiritual head of another sect, which would go beyond other religions in resuscitating the old creation and lifting the human race through gradual development to a higher moral and spiritual attainment.

Jesus Christ clearly conceived His mission to this sinful world to be that of a Savior. Scripture always speaks of the incarnation in relationship to sin and God’s redemption purpose. Redemption is the primary purpose of the incarnation. Christ came to save sinners like you and me.

Luke 19:10

“For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Galatians 4:4-5

⁴“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, ⁵ to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”

1 John 3:5

“And ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him is no sin.”

The incarnation is undoubtedly the first span in God’s bridge of salvation. But in what way is the fulfillment of God’s redemptive purpose begun in the incarnation? What part does it have in man’s restoration to the favor and fellowship of God?

We have already stated two consequences of the fall; first, the utter failure of God’s first man to fulfill God’s original intention in His creation; second, the total ruin of the old order of humanity of which Adam was the head. The first Adam failed both as a man and as a representative man. Through his sin, God’s union established in creation with himself, and through him with the whole human race was broken. This must be restored. Sin had injected into man an evil nature which made man hostile to God. He must be reconciled. Salvation demands reconciliation, and reconciliation must be followed by conformity. From God’s viewpoint, salvation does not mean merely the recovery of men from the guilt, penalty, and power of sin, but it means restoration to the likeness of God, even conformity to the image of His Son. It is not only a negative deliverance from a state of estrangement from and hostility to God, but it is a positive entrance into a state of righteousness and holiness in God.

To accomplish such a salvation, an altogether new union with the race must be made, and it must be a union based on the kinship of nature so that both God and man could find their fullest satisfaction and greatest blessedness in such fellowship. It was impossible for God to permit, or for man to enjoy, such a union as long as man had only an evil nature. For man to enjoy fellowship with God, he must have a nature like God’s. But how could he become a partaker of the divine nature? Here we discover the measure of God’s grace. Here God’s grace at its highest height stoops to man’s need at its deepest depth. In order for man to become a partaker of the divine nature, God would become a partaker of human nature. In order to condemn sin in the flesh, God would send His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.

Hebrews 2:14, 16-17

¹⁴ “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same, that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death — that is, the devil.”

¹⁶ For verily He took not on Himself the nature of angels, but He took on Him the seed of Abraham.

¹⁷ Therefore in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.”

Romans 8:3

“For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.”

The incarnation is the act of the Son of God in becoming a partaker of our nature. This is followed very shortly by His death, resurrection, and ascension by which we may become partakers of His nature. Thus, in the incarnation, we find the cornerstone of the new union between God and man. But let us go further into its meaning.

Source: “Life on the Highest Plane” by Ruth Paxson

Gracious God, what a mystery. The Son of God partaking of the nature of man, so man can be a partaker of God’s nature.