Get Your Pretense On!

28 • Get Your Pretense On!

the prophets, they persisted in their idolatry and sin, and ultimately were taken into exile (i.e., the northern tribes into Assyria, and the southern tribes into Babylon). Though they deserved his just judgment, our God refused to forget his promise to their fathers. He would keep his word in the Garden, to Abraham, to Moses, and to David. In his mercy and covenant faithfulness, he would bring from exile a remnant of his people – to keep his promise, and to be true to himself, and his word of redemption for the world. The Greatest Mystery of All: The Word Becomes Flesh In the fullness of time, God set into motion the events which would lead to the birth of the babe of the Virgin Mary. From the line of David, and in sync with his great promises given through the prophets, God Almighty sent his Son into the world. By God’s high decree, his one and only Son would enter into his creation. Being conceived of the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary, God’s true Son and our Savior became incarnate. The same Word that was with God and was God entered into the realm of human life, taking on the form of a servant, and was found in the likeness of humankind, taking into himself our brokenness, vulnerability, and suffering. As the Last Adam who would undo the damage caused by the first Adam’s disobedience, Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled the Father’s moral will. Through his words he displayed the Kingdom’s wisdom, and through his works he displayed the Kingdom’s power. Through his exorcisms he displayed the Kingdom’s authority, and through his miracles he demonstrated the Kingdom’s release from evil, the Curse, sickness, sin – and even death. Neither Hades, nor death, nor disease, nor the devil could withstand his clear and true representation of the Father. In him the Kingdom was inaugurated; the very word sworn to Abraham became visible for all to see.