Well, we're at question and answer 22 in the Shorter Catechism. Question and answer 22. You can find that in the back of your hymnal on page 969. Question and answer 22. How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man? Christ, the Son of God, became man by taking to himself a true body and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and born of her, yet without sin. In the previous lesson, we learned the only Redeemer of God's elect is the Lord Jesus Christ. The second person of the Godhead, the eternal Son of God, became man. And He is and will ever be the God-Man. That is, He is one person with two distinct natures. He is truly God and He is truly man. And this week the Catechism is explaining the historical situation where God clothed Himself with human flesh. It's what we call the Incarnation. Something we began to celebrate this time of year. You probably know the word Incarnation is a compound Latin word. In means in, and carne means flesh. So when we speak of the Incarnation, what we're saying is that God enfleshed Himself, if you will allow me to say it that way. And the first thing our catechism tells us about the doctrine of the Incarnation is that Jesus took to Himself a true body, that is a real flesh and blood body. His heart Beat like our hearts beat. Blood ran through his veins like it runs through ours. If he smelled something he was allergic to, he sneezed. If you beat him with whips, it was agonizingly painful. If you drove nails through his wrists and feet, they would bleed profusely. If you pierced his side, bodily fluids would pour out. If you afflicted his body with too much trauma, he would die, which he did for our sins as a substitute who paid the wages of our sins, which is death and only a flesh and blood savior. could be our Redeemer. Because it was flesh and blood man that sinned against our Creator, and justice could not have been satisfied by one who didn't fully share in our human nature. And incidentally, that's why the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sins. They weren't created in God's image, so they couldn't stand as an atoning sacrifice in our place. It would have been unjust. All they could ever do was point to the need for a better sacrifice. The only way Jesus could be our all-sufficient Savior was for Him to take upon Himself a true But our catechism also tells us he possessed a reasonable soul. Now this was using language that actually dated all the way back to 451 A.D. and was called the Formula of Chalcedon. It was an early church council where they were pressing back against different Christological heresies. And what it was asserting was that Christ's human nature not only assumed the outward physical parts of man, this stuff that you can see and touch and feel, but also Christ assumed upon Himself all the parts that constitute inner man. And so when our catechism says Christ took to Himself a reasonable soul, It means he had a real human mind. He was capable of real human thoughts. He had a real human will. He experienced real human emotions, affections, all the constituent parts that make up the inner man. So Christ possessed a true and total human nature, body and soul. And then our catechism tells us how the second person of the Trinity assumed this human nature, by being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and born of her, yet without sin. In many ways, the virgin birth is the great miracle of the Christian faith. Because it was the way God would provide us, His children, with the perfect Redeemer. the God-man. We needed a Redeemer who wasn't tainted with Adam's sin. And when the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary and she conceived, she was carrying a true human little baby, but one that didn't have a human nature, something Joseph could never have provided. And we needed a Redeemer whose earthly lineage would fulfill the promises that God had made to Abraham and David. As I alluded to a moment ago, we needed a Redeemer who could so identify with our humanity that God would accept Him as a substitute to satisfy justice. We needed a Redeemer who could bear up under the wrath of God. And that was something that only God could do. We needed a Redeemer who could sympathize with our human weakness and be our great, compassionate High Priest. And we needed a Redeemer who would not only lay down His life, but would have the power and authority to take it up again. In other words, we need the Redeemer God's provided. The only Redeemer of God's elect. The God-Man. The Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to how the Apostle Paul pulls several of these themes together in Galatians 4, verses 4 and 5. When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. God has come. And the God-man eternally exists. And one little practical application, I just want to throw out there, it validates our physical lives. What it means to have flesh. The fact that Christ now has glorified flesh, and he will be united to glorify flesh forever. Which means when we're in heaven and we're united to him, it will be forever. Well, let's continue praising the Lord, singing number 319. Number 319, O come all ye faithful.