You may know the Christmas Story, but do you know the Christmas Prequel?

Why did God incarnate?
In the 2nd week of the B.C. series we look for the "Why."  This will answer the importance of the Christmas Prequel.

Do you know why God decided to put on flesh and dwell among humanity? Do you know why He would choose to be a part of such a broken world?

From the very beginning God decided how far He would go to have a face to face relationship with you. This is the Christmas Prequel.

B.C. - Before Christ 2 - Why the Incarnation? from Redemption Church on Vimeo.
Before Christ 2 – Christmas Prequel: Why the Incarnation?
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Sermon notes by Chris Fluitt
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Welcome back to the 2nd week of our Before Christ Series! My name is Chris Fluitt and I serve as Lead Pastor here at Redemption Church.

 

Quick review

Everyone has a prequel that reveals the full story. We celebrate the birth of Christ but may not know the story before the story.

The Christmas story is all about the Incarnation.

The incarnation is God in a Bod.. Jesus is God clothed in flesh.

When did God decide to incarnate?

We know that Jesus rescues us from the law of sin and death but the decision to incarnate was not in response to mankind’s fall into sin.

The Incarnation was God’s plan from the beginning.

 

This week we are going to answer Why did God incarnate?

 

We received some great feedback from our anonymous text line this past week. 214 856 0550

One of the questions we received was about Revelation 13:8.

Revelation 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.(KJV)

 

If Jesus was slain from the foundation of the earth doesn’t that mean that Christ was predestined to die for our sin.  That question was well timed!  That is what we are talking about today.

Let’s dive into that question!  History tells us that Christ died around 30-33AD. This is the date he was physically slain on the cross. But does this contradict Revelation 13:8 where it says He was slain from the foundation of the earth?

 

I think we can agree that what Revelation 13:8 is referring to is the plan that we talked about last week. Remember John 1:1 – In the beginning was the WORD.. The word for WORD there is LOGOS which is means Logic or PLAN.

From the foundation of the Earth God had the LOGOS PLAN to incarnate and to have relationship with mankind. Included in that plan was the extent God would go to have relationship with mankind.  Being slain on the cross repaired our relationship with God. Revelation 13:8 reveals the extent God would go in His plan to have a face to face incarnate relationship with man.

The Incarnation is not a whimsical plan that was not completely thought out.

COUNT THE COST

Jesus the creator of the universe offers a parable as a question.

Luke 14:28 "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?(NIV)

Luke 14:29 For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him,(NIV)

Luke 14:30 saying, `This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'(NIV)

Jesus makes the point that if we are to make a decision we must count the cost before we begin.

The creator stood before the foundation of the world and counted the cost.  Part of that cost was the cross.. Before the foundation God weighed the cost of incarnating and being crucified.

God was able to see the need of the cross without predestinating the fall of man.  This possible because God has foreknowledge.

The Bible in several passages speaks about God’s foreknowledge. (Isaiah 42:9, Acts 2:23, 1 Peter 1:20…)