The Incarnation — Word Made Flesh
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God — and then the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:1,14). The prophets named him before he arrived: 'Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel — God with us' (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23). Isaiah went further: 'Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace' (Isaiah 9:6). The God who made all things chose to enter a body, a family, a particular occupied province. 'He who was in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant' (Philippians 2:6-7). The descent is not a demotion. It is the shape of love taken to its most precise expression.