January 22

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form. — Col 2:9 BSB

The temple that Solomon built in Jerusalem and the tabernacle Moses set up in the wilderness were merely types of the true temple—the Lord of life and glory. Jesus Himself said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” speaking of His own body. All the beauty and glory of those physical temples were figurative; they pointed to the glory of Immanuel, for “in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.”

The Son of God took to Himself a human body, as Psalm 40:6 says, “A body you have prepared for me.” It was a holy, sinless body, united with a perfect soul. As the angel declared, “That holy one who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” This holy body and soul formed Christ’s spotless human nature, united with the divine nature, making Him the God-man, Immanuel—God with us.

This is the great mystery that every living soul longs to understand. We cannot approach or comprehend the pure Godhead; it is beyond our reach. “By searching, can you find out God? It is as high as heaven; what can you do? Deeper than hell; what can you know?” (Job 11:7-8). But God made Himself known through His only begotten Son, who took on human flesh. This allows us, by faith, to approach an invisible God through the visible God-man, as John testified: “We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father,” for “I and My Father are one.”

The desire of every living soul, and my own desire when God stirs it in my heart, is to know the God-man, Jesus Christ. We long to see the glory of God shining through His humanity, and to approach the Father through the Son, experiencing sweet communion with Immanuel—God with us, taking our flesh into union with Himself.