Ask Mr Bible

A Diamond in a Clay Vessel

What really happened during that night of all nights in the Judean hills some 2000 years ago?

Two illustrations may prove helpful:

• The diamond/clay vessel illustration:
A perfect, priceless, and incredibly beautiful diamond is placed within a plain and lowly clay vessel.  One day, for a brief moment, a tiny hole appears in the container, resulting in the immediate outpouring of a dazzling beam of glory which temporarily blinds those who happen to see it.  This is, of course, exactly what happened in Luke 2 (Christ’s birth) and Matthew 17 (His transfiguration).

Note: 
1. The placing of the diamond:
“God was manifest in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16)
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same (Heb. 2:14).

2. The appearing of the hole:
“And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light” (Mt. 17:1, 2).

A case could be made here that, in all the universe, the strongest object ever created by God was the earthly body of Jesus!  Ponder this amazing thought: for 34 years this vessel of clay actually contained and confined the resplendent glory of Almighty God Himself, only allowing for one brief moment a tiny ray to escape, which temporarily blinded Peter, James, and John!

• The Rolls Royce/ox wagon illustration:
The owner of a $175,000 Rolls Royce ‘Gray Ghost’ automobile is suddenly and mysteriously transported in ‘twilight zone’ fashion to Earth’s most remote area where the residents are still in the stone age.  After recovering from the initial shock, the man notices their only means of transportation involves the hitching of oxen to crude wooden carts or wagons.  Sitting in his Rolls, surrounded by luxury, the owner soon realizes there are two courses of action open to him.

1. He can place the auto in gear and, using its awesome power, literally leave those simple natives in the dust.

2. He can keep the motor running, ease the auto in neutral, and allow his magnificent machine to be pulled by a lowly oxen.

After some thought, the second option is decided upon.  But why?  For some reason, he feels a strong desire to know these people.  He wants to travel at their pace, learn their language, experience their pain, and to befriend as many as possible!  This is exactly what Jesus did when He came to our God-rejecting planet, carrying with Him all the glorious attributes of His Divine nature.  He then clothed Himself in human flesh, agreeing to eat our food, drink our water, speak our language, and die for our sins!

Special Delivery

While a student at the Moody Bible Institute my Christian service assignment one semester was to conduct a Bible class for a group of junior boys and girls in the south side of Chicago.  In those days I was totally inexperienced in teaching (especially children) and was somewhat nervous as I prepared (for the first time) to tell them the Christmas story.  How could I make them understand what really happened at Bethlehem?  What illustration could I use?  As it turned out I had little need to worry, for one of the little girls in that group offered one of the most precious and profound bottom line statements ever heard on planet earth regarding the incarnation.  With incredible simplicity she said: “At Bethlehem, Mary was God’s envelope, and Jesus was God’s letter!”

God’s earth walk

“And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7).

In the latter part of 1971 an American astronaut named James Irwin wrote a book titled, Moon Walk which described how he had once left a beautiful and hospitable planet called Earth (on July 26, 1971), and by way of a special vehicle (Apollo 15), had, thirteen days later, touched down upon a dangerous and totally inhospitable planet known as the moon.

For three days he walked its rough surface and then returned home. If rightly understood, the incarnation could well be entitled, God’s Earth Walk, for it relates the amazing story of how Jesus Christ once left a beautiful and blessed place known as heaven, where He had constantly enjoyed being worshipped by all the angels (Heb. 1:6), and by way of a special vehicle (the body being prepared for Him in Mary’s womb), had touched down upon a sin loving and God hating planet called Earth. For the next thirty-three plus years He traveled its dusty roads, agreeing to eat our food, to drink our water, to breathe our air, to go to the cross and have His face covered with our spittle, and His ears filled with our curses in order to save us from our sins! THIS IS THE STORY AND GLORY OF THE INCARNATION!