Had there been no Incarnation there would be no Salvation for lost ruined, sinful mankind.

The first man, Adam, created in innocence and placed in the Garden of Eden, was given one commandment to keep. He disobeyed God and ate of the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. By so doing, according to the warning of the Lord God, he died. In fact, he was immediately cut off from fellowship with God and became spiritually dead in trespasses and in sins (See Ephesians 2:1). With the seed of death implanted in him, he began to die physically, and eventually died at the age of 930 (Genesis 5:5). "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Romans 5:12).

The Second Man, the Lord from Heaven, was in God's eternal counsels to redeem sinful man. Man had sinned and must pay the penalty. But there was none among the sons of men able to offer a sinless, holy sacrifice for sin. Only God could provide a sacrifice that effected salvation for sinners. He assumed a human body to do so. He became flesh. He became God and Man in one unique Divine Person— Son of God and Son of man.

We first read of Incarnation in Genesis 3:15 when the Lord God spoke to Satan after pronouncing judgment upon him. He said, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her Seed; It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel." (Here begins the "Highway of the Seed:" Abel, Seth, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, David and Immanuel-Christ. Scofield Bible).

The Incarnation of the Son of God is prophesied in Isaiah 7:14: "Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son and shall call His Name Immanuel." In Matthew 1:20-25 we read the fulfillment of this prophecy when the virgin Mary brought forth her Son, conceived by the Holy Spirit. He was named "JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins" and "Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us."

From the manger in Bethlehem to the Cross of Calvary, He could say, "I do always those things that please Him [His Father]" (John 8:29). Adam disobeyed and brought sin and death into the world. The obedient Lord Jesus came to bring life, to "deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Hebrews 2:14-17). In John 10:18, facing the agonies of death and judgment for sin, He declared, "No man taketh it [My life] from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father." Perfect God and perfect Man are seen in this obedience to the death of the Cross which has provided salvation for all mankind who will have it.

Is this salvation yours? It is God's gift to you when you trust the incarnate Son of God as the One who died for you, and rose again. "For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8). This complete, eternal salvation for all believers is possible because of His Incarnation.