The “Awesome Christ”: Born of Flesh

The “Awesome Christ”: Born of Flesh
By Joseph Chambers

The Prince of the Heavenly Father, His Son from eternity, was Heaven’s only hope to redeem the fallen race. The Redeemer had to be next of kin and the entire Heavenly host was comprised of created beings. It was this unknown One and the Holy Spirit that the Father had addressed when He said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26a). This was the Word that the Father had uttered, “Let there be light: and there was light” (Genesis 1:3a), and the mighty Christ stretched light across the formless space. This Christ lived in the message of hope that Noah preached for one hundred years.

Abraham was visited by this “Son of God” in the presence of two mighty angels, no doubt cherubims, God’s earthly keepers. The Word says, “And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant” (Genesis 18:1, 3). God’s promise of a son to the aged Abraham and Sarah was given at this visitation. The classic words often repeated were spoken by the Christ Himself, “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” (Genesis 18:14a).

The repentant Jacob sought and found this Christ as he returned from Haran back to the Promise Land. Left alone, after sending all he possessed across a brook toward home, he waited in the abandonment of heart-felt surrender. Tired of being the deceiver, he was ready for a change of heart. “And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day” (Genesis 32:24). The Lord said to Jacob, “Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.” (Genesis 32:26). After his change of name from Jacob to Israel (a Prince), Jacob said, “I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved” (Genesis 32:30b).

When someone’s eyes are opened to the mystery of the Holy Scripture, this Christ literally fills the First Testament. The Son of God Himself spoke in John’s gospel, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life” (John 5:39-40). He spoke here only of the First Covenant from Genesis to Malachi. All I know to say of this profound truth is, O that men would read this Bible to search only after the “Christ.”

In the fullness of time, He stepped out of the shadows of the Old Covenant and appeared in the light of the New Covenant. I believe that John the Beloved said it best as he opened his gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not” (John 1:1-5).

The statement, “The darkness comprehended it not,” is overwhelming. The darkness could not master the light and had no escape. It simply vanished away. When anyone experiences the “light of the awesome Christ,” he can never be the same.

John adds a postscript to those first verses of his gospel, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). This is the world’s greatest moment. It is no wonder that the educated mind, locked in human wisdom, cannot make this leap of faith. He, that walked in the midst of the supernatural realm and flung great stars into their orbits, had suddenly appeared in the form of flesh. Right out of the presence of His Father, He appeared to give us this unclouded view of the Divine.

As we, of the fallen human family, allow the Holy Spirit to open our hearts, our spiritual eyes can glimpse “His Glory.” After over fifty-seven years of knowing Him, I still sense how weak my glimmer is of Him. It is no wonder that the transformed Apostle Paul said, after many years of following his Lord, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death” (Philippians 3:10). The apostle added, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).

The first chapter of Revelation is the final revelation revealed in the Holy Scripture. John the Revelator saw Him in His post-resurrection glory. Jesus Christ, the Son of man, had said to His Heavenly Father, “And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was” (John 17:5). The Father answered that prayer and John saw the results.

As John was in the Spirit, lifted into a realm where flesh could be transcended, he saw His excellent glory. “And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength” (Revelation 1:12-16).

We should devour this final revelation from God. There is no source of spiritual truth that is trustworthy except the perfect Word of God. When someone claims they have a “word from God” that is not Bible saturated, you know that person is hearing nonsense.

The “Awesome Christ” is still revealed and being revealed in this closing hour. I suggest you spread the Book of John out on your personal altar for a few weeks as you search to know Him. Pray this simple prayer, “That I may experience Him,” and accept that He really wants you to know Him and that He searches your heart to know you. Remember the song, “How Big Is God?” and the line of that song, “He’s big enough to rule His mighty universe, yet small enough to live within my heart.”

Joseph R. Chambers
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