God With Us: 365 Devotions on the Person and Work of Christ

The goal of this devotional is to expand upon a simple yet elegant line from George Herbert that captures two essential features of Jesus Christ: “In Christ two natures met to be thy cure.”*

The first is the person of Jesus Christ, who is fully God and fully man. At the Father’s bidding and by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Son assumed human nature at the incarnation: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). The divine nature and human nature “met” in the one person of Jesus Christ.

The second is the work of Christ. The Lord took on the form of a servant to be our “cure.” By subjecting himself to the frailties and tempta- tions of our condition and yet remaining without sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, undoing the consequences of sin. In His incarnation, obedience, death, resurrection, ascension, and future return, Jesus Christ accomplished redemption.

Let us ponder the astonishing truth that, as the Nicene Creed eloquently states, the Son of God “for us and for our salvation came down from heavenand became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and of the Virgin Mary, and was made man.” The Nicene Creed, the cornerstone of orthodox Christian belief, attaches saving significance not only to Christ’s death and resurrection but also to His incarnation and birth.

This book celebrates that Jesus Christ is God with us and God for us. It explores the abundance, capacity, and immensity of Christ’s tender and powerful love for you. It explores His sovereign rule as Lord and King. We will see that the person and work of Christ have very personal implications for you. Those same implications are also comprehensive for all creation. The Lord delights in showing mercy to you and He is making all things new.

The selected texts in this devotional display the wonder of the person of Christ, the fullness of His marvelous works, and the tenderness of the very heart of God incarnate. These excerpts from classic Christian writers, theologians, and pastors have been gently edited to enhance their readability.

*George Herbert, from The Temple (1633). For more on the two essential features of the Christian teaching about Christ, see Scott R. Swain, “In Christ two natures met to be thy cure,” Modern Reformation 24:6 (2015), 20-23.