His Incarnation
ķA/103. God was himself in Jesus Christ to reconcile people
to God. Conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, He
joined together the deity of God and the humanity of humankind.
Jesus of Nazareth was God in flesh, truly God and truly human. He
came to save us. For us the Son of God suffered, was crucified, dead
and buried. He poured out His life as a blameless sacrifice for our
sin and transgressions. We gratefully acknowledge that He is our
Savior, the one perfect mediator between God and us.
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Matthew 1:21 She will give birth to a son, and you
are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his
people from their sins."
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Matthew 20:28 …just as the Son of Man did not come to
be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom
for many."
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Matthew
26:27-28 Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered
it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. This is my
blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the
forgiveness of sins.
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Luke
1:35 The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon
you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So
the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
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Luke
19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what
was lost."
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John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
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John
1:10 He was in the world, and though the world was made
through him, the world did not recognize him.
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John
1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among
us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only,
who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
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2
Corinthians 5:18-19 All this is from God, who reconciled
us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of
reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to
himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And
he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
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Philippians 2:5-8 Your attitude should be the same as
that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not
consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made
himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being
made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a
man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even
death on a cross!
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Hebrews
2:17 For this reason he had to be made like his brothers
in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and
faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might
make atonement for the sins of the people.
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Hebrews
9:14-15 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished
to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to
death, so that we may serve the living God! For this reason
Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are
called may receive the promised eternal inheritance--now
that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins
committed under the first covenant.
His Resurrection and Exaltation
ķA/104. Jesus Christ is risen victorious from the dead. His
resurrected body became more glorious, not hindered by ordinary
human limitations. Thus He ascended into heaven. There He sits as
our exalted Lord at the right hand of God the Father, where He
intercedes for us until all His enemies shall be brought into
complete subjection. He will return to judge all people. Every knee
will bow and every tongue confess Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory
of God the Father.
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Matthew
25:31-32 When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all
the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly
glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he
will separate the people one from another as a shepherd
separates the sheep from the goats.
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Luke
24:1-7 On the first day of the week, very early in the
morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and
went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the
tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of
the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this,
suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning
stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with
their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do
you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he
has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with
you in Galilee: `The Son of Man must be delivered into the
hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be
raised again.'"
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Luke 24:39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I
myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and
bones, as you see I have."
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John
20:19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when
the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear
of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said,
"Peace be with you!"
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Acts
1:9-11 After he said this, he was taken up before their
very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were
looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when
suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. "Men of
Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the
sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into
heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go
into heaven."
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Acts
2:24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from
the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to
keep its hold on him.
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Romans
8:33-34 Who will bring any charge against those whom God
has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that
condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was
raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also
interceding for us.
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2
Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is
due him for the things done while in the body, whether good
or bad.
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Philippians 2:9-11 Therefore God exalted him to the
highest place and gave him the name that is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in
heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father.
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Hebrews
1:1-4 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through
the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these
last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed
heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.
The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact
representation of his being, sustaining all things by his
powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins,
he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So
he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has
inherited is superior to theirs.
Taken from: The
Discipline of the Free Methodist Church of North America 2003 |