“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” (Matthew 1:23 NKJV)
In the birth of Jesus, we see God coming in weak and vulnerable human form. God chooses to share our location and condition. God is with us. In the death of Jesus, we see God present in our suffering human form. God chooses to take our part instead of being our enemy. God is for us. In the resurrection and ascension, we see God in victorious human form. In this form, insinuating Himself into the depths of our very being, God is in us -- as the Spirit of Christ. Three views of Jesus, three views of God.
Here, then, in a cameo, is the glory of God. Here is what God is really like. He is the God who is with is, the God who is for us, and the God who is in us. In short, when God shows His face, He always shows His grace; the treasure that He offers to lodge with us is nothing other than the grace of God. For when we say “grace”, we mean precisely this: the promise of God-with-us, the pardon of God-for-us, and the power of God-in-us.
-- Lewis B. Smedes in “How Can It Be Right When Everything Is All Wrong?”
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