Sunday, January 24, 2016

“THE LOGOS BECAME FLESH AND DWELT AMONG US”

“And the Logos (word) became flesh . . .full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

     The divine Logos is God and it was the Logos of the Father who came down and dwelt in the womb of the Virgin Mary in order to become a man among men. This is among the greatest of events ever to occur, for He the God who thought of creating a man with full freedom to do as He wills and the first man He created was Adam, from whom He also made Eve and married them.

    He had a wonderful way of life prepared for them and everything was beautiful and there was no death. But disregarding the warning of God concerning possible death, Eve succumbed, then Adam to the deceptive words of the Devil who promised that she could disobey God and eat the forbidden fruit, even though God had warned them not to eat of the tree: “On the day you eat you shall surely die.” The Devil who appeared to her in the form of a serpent was successful in deceiving her which caused sin and death to come into the pristine world.

     Of course the Lord knew that this would take place as there is no ignorance in Him, and His eternal plan alone would be successful and would overthrow the Devil’s authority and nullify his power. He would not only overthrow the Devil’s plan but God would also fulfill His majestic plan for the sake of which He established the heavens and earth. The wisdom of God being perfect can never be overcome for it is divine.

God’s original plan is filled with His compassion and love and He will fulfill a double purpose. His original plan is found in the beginning of the Book of Genesis: “Let us make man in our own image and likeness.” This was the destination of the first man, who, instead of becoming  a perfect man, he became a prisoner of sin and death in Hades.

“And the Logos became flesh . . . “
     But God the Son and Logos following His unchanged and original plan would become flesh and become the first man among many being perfect in His image and likeness.  He would strip away the power of the deceiving Devil, who through the power of death tyrannized man, fomenting misery, evil, hatred and death to become a part of their daily lives. Also Christ would save man from death by putting death to death by His own death. “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs bestowing life.” Death is no longer a threat to those who follow Christ, but is the door to eternal live and the joy of our Lord.

And the Logos became flesh . . .”
     God the Logos became flesh which enables us to learn much about God, then we can never praise and glorify Him sufficiently when we reflect on the wonderful benefactions He has bestowed upon the human race. It was no small thing that Adam and Eve by disobedience brought sin and death into the world and that each us were affected and added our own senseless sins. We cannot realize this without considering that the Devil’s chosen occupation is to take as many of us as possible to co-suffer with him, for he knows his own ultimate end of eternal perdition where there is continuous weeping and gnashing of teeth.  He chose to fight against the kind and merciful God and with his demons this is the path which he has chosen. He is well experienced knowing all our weaknesses and the various methods of destroying us. If we have entered into combat with him will we will understand his clever abilities. He is powerful, pernicious, unsleeping and invisible, and is a formidable enemy. 

     Experiencing his various temptations enables us to see our many infirmities, weaknesses and the sinful passions that can rule over our souls. It takes much struggle to rid ourselves of these evil sins and passions and other wickedness in our thoughts and actions.

“And the Logos became flesh . . .”
    The Logos became the Godman Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior and our physician and teacher who will guide us to holiness and perfection. While on earth He performed only good and kind deeds and He preached divine truths to the many who would enter His eternal kingdom. Many time He warned of the judgment to come and that He is the Judge for “He will come in glory to judge the living and the dead. He is loving kindness, compassionate, overflowing with mercy and goodness; He is the bountiful giver of our life and happiness! The Logos tells us that He is a holy and perfect, the man desired by God, and His desire is that we become like Him. That is why He teaches us: “Be holy for I am holy.” “Be perfect as your Father in heaven."  How can we possibly reach such a noble and seemingly difficult objective? He  answers wisely for He became a man like us but without sin, saying: “Learn of me for I am meek and humble in my heart. The one who created us became one of us in order to save us and change us into His image and likeness and although we are all unworthy, in His mercy He grants us everlasting life.

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