“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory” (1 Timothy 3:16 KJV).
This reference to “God was manifest (or revealed) in the flesh…” is a statement that merits close attention. For instance, the Gospel of John provides us with the following information regarding Jesus, the Word of God…
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1-3, 14).
The New Testament book of Philippians adds this…
“Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6-8 NLT).
Taken together, these passages underscore an astounding truth: the all-powerful Creator added humanity to His deity, lived among us, and sacrificed His life on our behalf. In other words, God became a man in the person of Jesus Christ and dwelt among us. But God not only became a Man; God became a Man who subjected himself to the same environment that humanity created in rejecting Him.
In His humanity, Jesus did not subject Himself to the perfect world He had created (Colossians 1:16) but to the world it had become as a result of humanity’s sin. Because of this, Jesus is personally familiar with rejection, humiliation, sorrow, and other negative human emotions that we experience as a part of life in a fallen world. Therefore, God fully understands the challenges and difficulties we experience in life for “…the Word (Christ) became flesh, and lived among us” (John 1:14 AMP).
As we’re told in the Biblical book of Hebrews…
“Therefore, he had to become like his brothers and sisters so that he could be merciful. He became like them so that he could serve as a faithful chief priest in God’s presence and make peace with God for their sins” (Hebrews 2:17 GW).