“He gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.” (Philippians 2:7).
Christ didn’t just come to us. He became like us. No other god does that.
At creation, the Godhead makes man in his image. At the incarnation, the Son of God sets aside his “Godness” and takes on “made in the image of God”, human flesh.
What does it mean that Jesus became like us?
It means that he felt our emotions. He was hurt by rejection, saddened by mean words, angered by wrongdoing, warmed by a friendly smile, filled with joy by a celebration.
It means that he struggled like we do. He made tough decisions. He faced temptation.
It means that he understands every circumstance, pain, triumph, battle, and incentive we experience.
But most importantly, Jesus not only became like us, but he did what we could not do. He lived a sinless, perfect human life. He lived the life God created man to live, but which man fell short of in Eden.
Because Christ became like us, we too, can live that perfect life. We can partake of his “becoming like us” by surrendering our hearts to him. We can enter in to his perfect life, but we have to let go of our failure to be “truly” human. We have to admit that there’s this sin problem that has cut into our ability to live as God originally created mankind to live.
Let us rejoice that God is not only Emmanuel (with us), but became like us, and lived a perfect human life, so that we can return to that place of perfection before God.