April 11

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel. — Isa 7:14 BSB

The Deity of the Son of God shines throughout the entire Scripture. It is the central point upon which all the doctrines of grace revolve, and anyone unsound in this belief is unsound in all areas of faith. The Godhead of Christ is not dependent on a few select verses; it shines through the entirety of Scripture. It is the light of the Word and the life of the Word. Remove the Deity of Christ from Scripture, and spiritually speaking, it is as though the sun were blotted out of the sky—leaving the sacred pages in complete darkness. Yet, Christ is not only divine. No one can see God and live; we could not bear to gaze upon pure Deity. This is why the Son of God took on our human nature, "taking on the seed of Abraham"—that "Holy One" conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, uniting with the second Person of the glorious Trinity so that God and man might be joined in one glorious Person, Immanuel, God with us.

To the eye of faith, there is great beauty and glory in Christ’s humanity. The enlightened soul sees the Deity shining through His manhood, and when we witness Jesus "going about, doing good," hear the words that fell from His gracious lips, or see Him, by faith, bleeding, suffering, agonizing, and dying, we behold the Godhead upholding and shining through His humanity. This union of the two natures in one glorious Person fills the heart with love and affection when received in faith.

Here the Church sees the glorious Person of Jesus and falls in love with Him. Just as natural beauty stirs natural affection, supernatural beauty kindles spiritual affection. When the quickened soul sees supernatural beauty, it immediately falls in love with it. The spiritual affections are drawn to spiritual beauty. Thus, when the redeemed and regenerated soul sees the glorious Person of Christ—God-man, Immanuel, God with us—and tastes His love, the Holy Spirit kindles spiritual affection and draws the soul with "cords of love and bands of a man."