Friends: Why did God bring His Word to humanity in the flesh, rather than in the Spirit? Maybe because flesh is common to everyone? Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #938

November 5, 2024

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

All Systems Go, er, God

By Bob Walters

“And the Word became flesh.” (John 1:14)

“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” Jesus speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well, John 4:24

Listening to Moody Radio’s Christian programming while running errands late Friday morning, a message about marriage being a covenant with God (agreed) sent my mind in another direction.

The preacher noted that we often sort and prioritize our jobs, faith, marriage and many other things in different “compartments” of our lives. His point was that faith in God should never be separated from other parts of our existence.  Agree, and agree.

What got me was when, speaking of Jesus, he said this: “God didn’t come as spirit; he came as flesh,” i.e., a human being. I caught on right away. “God is spirit,” but Christ came as a human. Hmm. I thought about how many people I’ve heard in my own life, declare, “I am a very spiritual person, and/but I don’t need Jesus to be spiritual.”

Those are the words of a secular person whose God-given soul may well strive beyond mere flesh, but has not yet discovered that statement’s dead-end emptiness.  There are many spirits out there, and it is only in and through Jesus that we find the life-giving and eternal Spirit of God. We are wise to be very picky about the spirit we seek.

I searched the word “demon” in the BibleGateway.com ESV app. The word appears just three times in the Old Testament, but 73 times in the New Testament including 64 times in the four Gospels. Point: Jesus encounters and deals with demons – bad spirits, Satan’s spirits – a lot. Early in my Christian life I heard pastor Dave Faust preach, “The reason you don’t mess with the occult (demons, witches, Satan worship, and the like), isn’t because there is nothing to it, but because there is something to it.”

I suppose this is timely since we are just coming out of Halloween “celebrations” (not a fan), but let’s be sure we are pursuing the proper spirit, the Holy Spirit, in Jesus.

Given how often evil spirits are mentioned in the Bible, I’m convinced they are real, and have known people who have journeyed into and out of occult practices. Even famed news commentator Tucker Carlson last week released a video about his “very intense desire to read the Bible” after being attacked by demons in his sleep [LINK].

My late mentor George Bebawi’s advice when we feel the presence of demons is to pray Psalm 91, cling closely to Jesus, and don’t talk to the demons (or Satan).

The Moody Radio pastor’s core point was God’s presence in, and the Bible’s comments about, marriage (all good stuff).  But he recited a good chunk of John 1:1-14 to make the point that Jesus is the Word of God (the Logos), and that “the Word became flesh” (v14).  “It doesn’t say, the Word became Spirit,” the radio voice intoned,

Wow, I thought. “The flesh.” That’s every bodily system, organ, and structure, and every physical action and interaction we experience. God is Spirit, and Jesus is us.

Some may brag about being a “spiritual person,” but God coming as the human Jesus tells us God is part of our entire life and not just one mental “faith and spirit” compartment of it.  He’s in every spiritual, physical, and mental aspect of our existence.

Jesus tells us to worship “in spirit and truth.” That’s the system of God’s love.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) knows there is an election today. Here’s a warning.