Ignorance

"Ignorance is generally confident, because it is ignorant;" - JN Darby.

What a great quote.

With most Christian Blogs likely posting today about the unimaginable virgin birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ I thought I'd take a different approach.

The subject of Almighty God actually coming to Earth and taking on human flesh is amazing. Almighty, limitless God put on the limits of being a human being. The Word says He came to Earth to learn obedience. He came here to be tempted in every way. It wasn't that He was ever disobedient, He wasn't. He always did the will of the Father. But He learned by the experience of it about how we live. This is how He prepared to be our Great Mediator in Heaven. There is nothing that we go through in our lives that His life didn't prepare Him to speak to the Father on our behalf about.

Think of it this way. Look down at a group of worms moving about in the mud. They have a great deal of limitations compared to us as humans. Imagine loving them enough that you would become one of them. To surrender all the abilities you have as a human and become like them. Then imagine the experience of it. You would know what it was like to be human, but now you would also know what it's like to be a worm. Imagine Almighty, limitless God becoming like us. To "live among us". Which is what the title Immanuel means.

Yes Christ came to earth to be the ultimate and final sacrifice for sin. And He was born in the shadow of the Cross. His full purpose was to save us. Hence God the Father chose the name Jesus or "Jehovah Saves" for Him. But the first sacrifice Christ made was to give up the Glory of Heaven to become limited flesh. A babe. Hungry, cold, dependent on parents to protect and provide for Him.

That we don't think of this part of His life here with us in this way really agrees with the rest of John Darby's quote which comes from the Preface to his multi-volume work "Synopsis of the Books of the Bible". Here is the quote in full;

"Ignorance is generally confident, because it is ignorant; and such is the mind of man in dealing with the things of God. The writer must be forgiven for speaking plainly in these days on this point. The pretensions of infidel reason infect even Christians." - JN Darby.