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The Will of His Good Pleasure: His Coming Reveals the Father's Heart |
For Luther, as the church reflects on Christ's incarnation, we are able to look into the very heart of God. As we gaze upon the Child lying in Mary's lap or upon the sacrificial victim suspended on the cross, we behold the very heart and will of the Father. It was the sole purpose of His coming to reveal the Father's heart and to draw all people to Himself."We must reflect on God's ordered power, that is, on the incarnate Son, in whom are hidden all the treasures of the Godhead. Let us go to the child lying in the lap of His mother Mary or to the sacrificial victim suspended on the cross; there we shall really behold God, and there we shall look into His very heart. We shall see that He is compassionate and does not desire the death of the sinner but that the sinner should 'turn from his way and live.'" (LW 3:276-277). | |
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The Will of His Good Pleasure: His Coming Reveals the Hidden God |
He is an invisible God and you will not make Him visible. It was the sin of Adam and Eve, when they were not satisfied with the Divinity that had been revealed, to seek to penetrate the depth of His Divinity and ascertain why God had forbidden them to eat of the fruit of the tree. As a result of their sin, God sought to counteract this curiosity of man by setting forth His will by promising a Savior. In this Promised Seed, the Hidden God would become a Revealed God (LW 5:45).In His incarnation, God Himself would be present yet hidden and concealed (LW 23:104) so that He could be seen, touched and apprehended (LW 23:123) without the beholder being consumed by His majesty. In Christ, God is found, and outside of the Person born of Mary, He is not to be found. Therefore, He who encounters this flesh encounters God (LW 23:125-126). If one is to meet God, he must come to Christ; for His incarnation is the only view of the Divinity permitted and possible in this life (LW 2:49). Thus, if you want to encounter God, you must first see Him under a mask. | |
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The Will of His Good Pleasure: Jacob's Ladder and the Mystery of the Incarnation |
According to Luther, the dream of Jacob (Genesis 28), whereby he sees a ladder set upon the earth with its top reaching into heaven with angels descending and ascending, reveals the mystery of the incarnation in which the same Person is both true God and true man.As the angels descend they adore the Child at His mother's breasts and on the cross (LW 5:220-221). As they ascend, they behold the Son of God from all eternity. If they look down, they see God and the Divine Majesty subject to demons and to every creature. "If they lift up their eyes, they see the incomprehensible majesty of God above them" (LW 5:218). Thus, the ladder is the wonderful union of His divinity with our flesh. His flesh must be true flesh (LW 5:229) born from a flesh outstandingly sinful and contaminated by sin. In support of this assertion, Luther recalls the story of Tamar becoming pregnant by Judah through the shameful act of incest (LW 7:31). Yet, if He is to be the Savior of the world and not just of the Jewish people, Gentile seed must be mixed with that of Abraham so that He would be born of and for all people (LW 7:13). Therefore, His father's side was Israelite but His mother's side were "Gentiles, Moabites, Assyrians, Egyptians, and Canaanites" (LW LW 7:15). In summary, this Promised Seed would be a human being whom people could see, touch, hear and feel (LW 23:14). This Jesus is indeed the Right Man (LW 23:195) who was set plainly before our eyes. At the same time, He must be true God because only the Son of God is able to reveal God (LW 23:93). It was the purpose of His coming to show us the way (LW 22:329-330). Finally, this dream was given to Jacob that he might understand that His incarnation would take place in a definite place (LW 5:229). This very place would become the place of His earthly ministry as He preached, healed and taught (LW 5:252). Luther even went so far as to maintain that He was crucified at this very place, slept in the sepulcher, and rose again where the angels ascended and descended (LW 5:243). Later in Jacob's life, the Lord came to him and wrestled with him until daybreak. He came in this way, suggests Luther, so that Jacob, and his descendants, would know that one day He would dwell among them in human flesh and that only by faith can anyone accept the revelation that He is true God and true man. | |
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