This is gonna be the first of the three part series as we look at the incarnation. And particularly how it is, the incarnation is not only necessary for our salvation, but it is in part necessary for our continual communion with God into eternal blessedness. I think the idea of incarnation is often misconstrued and misunderstood and the significance is often ignored by a sentimentality how we feel that there are these commercials they put on that Jesus understands And indeed, he does. Indeed, he's taking our human flesh, is by and which where Christ experiences all that is of us in our human experience. But there is something more profound about incarnation. Incarnation means in, inside, in, right? And carne means the flesh. So when God the Son, the eternal God, The second person of the Trinity became man in all of his acts as our mediator, the mediator between God and man. And he lived and moved and had his being as one of us, but eventually to die and to rise again as a human being. Indeed, Christ has always remained God, and yet the moment He put upon Himself human flesh, He became man, and the Confession says, continues to be unto eternity. That for whatever reason, in God's good will, His eternal counsel, He has ordained in the fullness of time that God would become man. But significance is not that God became man, I think more importantly, that God continues to be God-man. So in our series, we're gonna look at His incarnation in the earth, in the days of His flesh, as our text describes it. And then next week, we will look at in the evening service, His incarnation in His heavenly ministry now. as he's enthroned on our behalf as our not only high priest but as our king and as our prophet as well and then lastly on the third one we'll look at his his ministry in the sense of eternity when we enter into his glory After his return, so we'll look at incarnation the significance of it the meaning of it the value of it the worth of it In those specific ways. The reason is oftentimes we look at incarnation merely as christ person usually if you go to seminary and you take a course on Christology usually the category of incarnation is embedded in the person of Christ almost every theological book in a systematic theology would categorize it in the place of the person and What I would like to do is categorize it in the place not not that that's not worth it That's important as significance in the category of the works of Christ not only the person of Christ but the works of Christ and look at the significance of Christ and as he's not only earthly, heavenly, but eternal ministry as God-man. Why am I saying these things? Because I think one of the problems of the church today is not that we are immoral or we are no longer loving the Lord and desire to live for the Lord and there's a deterioration in Christianity. I don't think that's the real issue. I think the real issue is we don't know God. It's a lack of theology. lack of properly understanding who God is, and our try to articulate best as we can as an act of worship, not only with our lips, but in our mind, to think of who God is. That our God is so small when God is infinite and glorious. That our God is so boring when God is so majestic and full of glory. that we look at the beach in the sunset and we wanna take pictures of it and capture it rather than meditate upon the very nature of who God is and contemplate it on it because that will be what we'll do for eternity. And I think one of the issues of the church today, one of the problems of our church today is that we do not know God that we say we confess and believe in. So what does it mean when God became man? in his days of flesh. Now, I'm gonna go into the text, but I'm gonna try to bring it forth more generally from what is particulars of the text this morning as you look at the context and also the importance of the text. So Hebrews chapter five, verse one, actually begins this way. For every high priest chosen among men is appointed to act on behalf of man in relation to God to offer gifts and sacrifices for sin. The writer of Hebrews, which we don't know who it is, he begins the book of Hebrews to really say that long ago in many times and many ways God spoke to us fathers by the prophets in the last day he has spoken to us through his son. The writer of Hebrews is writing to the Hebrews. The one who had the Old Testament, the one who lived and moved and had his being according to the Torah, the law of God. And they knew God, they heard of God since they were little, and they particularly practiced their religion in a very peculiar way, into the obedience. And for the Jews to come to Christ, they were saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, which was the message of the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. They needed to come to grips with the fact of incarnation, that Christ became man. And what Paul, what the writer of Hebrew is doing is to persuade the Jews, if you read the Old Testament, Christ is everywhere. It's biblical theology in the Old Testament and he's looking at Christ and he's finding texts of Christ everywhere and he organizes it and he gives evidence of Christ as God-man, the one who came as a mediator, the only mediator between God and man. He's the greater Moses. He's a priesthood of the greater degree than Aaron's, and he is not only the prophet, but he's the son of David, who's greater than David. In all three offices of priest, prophet, and king, Christ is the one, the most exalted form, the par excellence. Matter of fact, all of the things in the Old Testament of the priests and prophets and the kings were merely pointing toward to the greater one who is to come. So we see here in verse chapter five, now he's focusing on the priesthood of Christ. Matter of fact, most of the book of Hebrews is really about the priesthood of Christ. Now, the significance that I want us to consider about this, excuse me, the first point is office, by the way, is, or offices, though he focuses on all one of the three, I think it's important for us to really make a general statement in the particulars here, is that not only did Christ assume the office of priesthood, but he took upon himself the offices of a king and a prophet as well. Significant of this office is that it's already in the very beginning in Genesis 1, 2, and 3. As we were doing the study in the series on Genesis, one of the things that I really wanted to focus on that Adam was ordained and was created and formed and placed in the Garden of Eden as a king, as a priest, and as a prophet. that it is these three offices, as Adam was taken upon himself, and in all three areas of his office, that he fails to obey God, when you go to Genesis chapter 3. That in all three offices, Adam fails to obey God, as a king, as a prophet, as a priest. As Adam was the office bearer. And that's a significance. And the rest of the story, after the fall, after his disobedience, now then comes, how does God establish his kingdom on earth? And you can see a glimpse of God establishing his kingdom, his eternal kingdom on earth, in the way of the formation and the opening of the redemptive history. In other words, you see Moses on Sinai, he begins to establish the office of the priesthood, that he calls the Aaron as a priest, and he gives the Levitical laws and how to obey, how to come into the sanctified place. Highest point in Leviticus 15, 16, excuse me, about the days of atonement, how the priesthood is established in Mount Sinai, and the kingship is established on Mount Zion in Jerusalem by David. And then you see the prophets begin to come to its fruition through Elijah on Mount Carmel. And what you see is all these mountains, the three offices begins to establish itself and the idea is will the kingdom come? Will there be a true priesthood and a kingship and the office of prophecy? And what you see in the redemptive history is all of these three offices begins to fail. You see Aaron and his priesthood failing. You see even Moses fails and unable to enter into the land of promise. King David sins and the way his days end, he enters into great, great suffering because of his sin. And you can see in even Elijah that how he fails as the prophet and the Lord says, you gotta come home now, can't do this. But you see, what's going on in the Old Testament is the offices, priest, prophet, and king. So when Christ came in his incarnation, as he says in verse seven, in comparison to what was given, says this, in the days of his flesh, you see, chapter five, verse one, he says, every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, he says, to offer gifts and sacrifice for sins. Parallel to that, in verse seven, it says, in the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications. There we go. Where the earthly ministry of Aaron, excuse me, the ministry of Aaron in the Old Testament is reflected in the earthly ministry of Christ in the days of his flesh, in the days not only of his incarnation, but in the days of his fallen nature. Please understand, Christ had our nature, which is fallen, not sinful nature, but fallen nature. The distinction is very important, that Christ could not sin because he did not assume to himself sinful nature. because sinful nature is given through the ordinary generation. In other words, we're born because we have a belly button, not only belly button, but we had an earthly father. We can trace our genealogy all the way back to Adam. We have inherited our sinful nature from him by the ordinary generation. But how did Christ come into his incarnation? By the work of the Spirit. He did not inherit the original sin. So Christ, and yet Christ still had a fallen nature in that he was still hungry, he was cold, he still suffered. Put it this way, everything you feel when you go up north, Christ felt it. You get it? All the limitedness of our flesh, the fact that we're aging, Excuse me for saying that. Christ was aging. The pain and anguish, the soreness, I don't know, but I'm assuming Christ roll off the bed one time. Christ took upon himself all that is of humanity in its fallenness and yet without sin. Now, of course, it changes in his resurrection with his glorified flesh, but in the days of his flesh on earth, prior to his resurrection, in this state of his humiliation and earthly ministry, please understand, Christ's work and his ministry was that of the offices. Here, focus is on his priesthood, but we can say that of his other two offices as well. that Christ in all of his days, please understand, this is not referring to his crucifixion only, but his entirety of his days on earth was that of offering himself up. And that is his priestly office. But it is true of his incarnation in all of his areas as a king. He was king from the birth, do you remember? where he received the gifts as a king, though he was born in a manger, that he was a base in a lowly place, and yet he is still the King of kings and the Lord of lords. The angels proclaim of his glory, and the shepherds heard it. So in every sense, from his birth to his crucifixion, Christ took the office of a king, and he was the office of the prophet, that even as a child, he spoke, Of course, he had to, as Luke tells us, that he had to learn to speak in some ways. He still was a baby. It's not that he, as soon as he was born, he was able to speak. He grew because he took true body and the rational soul that we have, just like us, we had to grow. So did Christ grow. But the importance that I want us to see is that Christ was a prophet in all of his earthly ministry, speaking only the truth. without any bias, without any hint of lie or misunderstanding. He spoke truth in all of his ways. So there it is that Christ is the king, the priest, and the prophet in its perfection where Adam failed, where Christ fully was a king, priest, and prophet in his incarnation. It is something to fathom, or should I say, try to fathom the unfathomable. How can God become a man? That he is fully God and fully man. Or, just like R.C. Sproul, late R.C. Sproul used to say, he's truly man and also truly God. There's not a hint of him that is not truly human. That there is a union of the two natures in one person And that's why he is the Lord. He's the son of God and son of man. And in him as a man, he is our king, our priest, and our prophet from his birth to his crucifixion. Now, second point that I want us to look at is obedience. So first is office, second is obedience. It says this, in the days of his flesh, verse 7, Jesus offered up prayers and supplication with loud cries and tears to him who is able to save him from death. And he was heard because of his reverence. Please understand the relationship between God in the sense of the Son and God, not in the sense of in the inter-trinitarian relations, but in Christ as the God-man. That Christ offers himself as a priest, and in one sense, he's fulfilling the all three offices as a man before God. Right? He offers up, as in the Levitical setting, that it is the priest, high priest, who offers up sacrifices. But over here, Christ offers up himself, and the way he does it is through prayer and supplications. The prayer there, the Greek word there is probably deals with the things of sin, what we call expiation. He's removing our guilt and our shame. And the supplication there is what we call a propitiation, that he satisfy God's justice and reconciling us to himself. In the totality, what we call an atonement, make us one with God to reconcile us to himself. In the two aspects of dealing with God's justice and our sin, But the significant important thing that I want us to see is that Christ is fulfilling that office fully in himself, that he did not bring a bull and a goat, that he was fully self-sufficient in his bringing of his sacrifice, that he could not bring a bull and goat because he alone is a sufficient one. In every sense, he alone is only one in himself is sufficient to be the king. and also to be the prophet. That every word that he taught and every word he spoke, it was perfection. And his rule and his guidance is protecting, is governing all the creatures in all their actions. Christ has done it all perfectly and fully. as he bore that office. But the significance of this really comes down in verse 8. It says this, Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. There's a focus, as a king, priest, and prophet, what Christ was doing, please understand, is to obey. How did Christ make an atonement for us? John Murray, in his book, Redemption Accomplished and Applied, he says the importance of Christ's atoning work is not his sacrifice, though that's important, the importance is his obedience. So if you look at Romans chapter five, this is what Paul says when he talks about this, verse 18, chapter five, verse 18, talking about Adam, the first Adam, and Christ, the second Adam, says this, verse 18, therefore, as one trespass leads to condemnation to all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men, verse 19. For as by one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience, the many will be made righteous. Christ's atoning work of salvation, at the center of it, is not merely his sacrifice, but it is obedient sacrifice. Or should I say, it is his sacrificial obedience is the ground of our salvation. and it is his sacrificial obedience not only as is in his priestly ministry but in his ministry as a king and also as a prophet. It is that obedient life, that obedient birth, that obedient teachings and obedient rulings, obedient guiding and obedient worship and sacrifice Christ gave from his birth to his crucifixion, that obedience as God-man before God. Please understand, this is a weird theological position that I think oftentimes we overlook, that Christ as God-man had two wills. You're like, what? How could God have two, how could Christ have two wills? He had a will in his divine nature that is same and equal with the triune God that he is. But he had a human nature, and in that human nature, as we read earlier in the confession, that he had true body and also, in Old English, reasonable soul or rational soul. that God Jesus just didn't take your body. He was not God walking around in human body. He was truly human in that he had human rationality, that he has human volition, and he had human emotion. He experienced everything as a human. And as a human, he gave obedience to God. And what's interesting about this, he doesn't say he obeyed God. Verse 80 says, though he was son, he says he learned obedience. Incredible statement. He learned obedience. John Mer, excuse me, John Owen says about this particular position, this is what he says. John Owen says this, and he can be said to learn obedience only on the account of having an experience of it in its exercise. So a man knows the taste and savor of meat by eating it. I love that illustration. And as for savior is to taste death or to experience what was in it by undergoing of it. And it was one special kind of obedience that is here intended as was declared before, namely a submission to undergo great, hard, and terrible things. accompanied with patience. So he is going through this hardship and suffering, but there is the side of Christ where how not only that he obeyed God as he's receiving the punishment and the suffering, but he's actively obeying God in a profound way. This is what he says. He says, that suffering, submission, he says, was accompanied with patience and quiet endurance under them and faith for deliverance from them. and this could have no experience of, but by suffering the things he was to undergo, an exercise of the graces mentioned therein." In other words, there's two obediences of Christ, the passive obedience where Christ suffered, but there's an active obedience in his suffering he did not sin. In his suffering, he actually gave glory to God. In his suffering, he trusted as God-man in God on your behalf. Because that's what the three offices are supposed to do. As a king, Adam was to trust in God. As a prophet, he's supposed to trust in God. As a priest, he was to trust in God. When the devil say, did God really say? He's supposed to say, yes, God really said. and trust in the word, and trust in his promises, trust in who God is. But where Adam failed, Christ, as God-man, as the second and the last Adam, he trusted God in his suffering. And he experienced suffering to its fullest measure because he took upon himself God's wrath. Have you taken God's wrath yet? You took a sip of it yet? You may feel like this suffering world seems like we're taking a sip of God's wrath. It's probably one little molecule of God's wrath, our human suffering that we're experiencing today. God's eternal wrath is coming on the day of judgment. But Christ, please understand, took every drop of God's wrath upon himself that's given to us. that was prepared for God's elect, that Christ's suffering as God-man, God, he took truly the full wrath of God on his obedience. Have you ever touched something hot and said, ooh? I mean, my reflect, I have really sensitive hands apparently. Whether my mom, she can't just pick up hot things, you know? She'd be like, can you put this on the, over there? I'm like, ooh, okay, okay, okay. I'm trying to grab this, and she'll get frustrated. Ah, just move it over here, and she puts it down. Like, you're such a girl. I'm like, excuse me? But that little, little heat. But Christ took the hell's heat. Not in the sense of he went to hell, but in the sense of the wrath that was destined for sinners. Significance of incarnation is that Christ truly experienced suffering that you and I could not even fathom of on his earth as he is rejected by the Father upon that cross of Calvary. For he took the wrath of God as our king, as a priest and prophet. And so doing, it says, verse nine, being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation. And then last point, sorry, I couldn't do an O there, salvation, salvation. Christ's, his assuming of the offices of the king, priest, and prophet, and his execution of those offices in his full obedience to God, the goal of it was that he is to be the source of eternal salvation for all those who believe. And what writer of Hebrew does, I think, so fascinatingly, he says, all who, at the end of verse nine, says, all who obey him, He's not saying you can earn your salvation. The part of disobedience is trusting in the Lord as Christ trusted in the Lord. Disobedience is the one, the faith, that leads into obedience. You see, faith without works is dead. And indeed, if you understand God's incarnation, if you understand Christ, why he became man, because of Adam's disobedience, Christ came to obey God fully and perfectly, you