The First Coming and the Second Coming

It’s the Christmas season, and of course the arrival of Jesus as an infant is a key concept in the Christian faith. The coming of “Emmanuel,” God with us, has enormous implications on how we understand Jesus.

The doctrine of Jesus taking on human form is known as the Incarnation. That word literally means “to take on flesh.” It’s why Christians believe that Jesus was fully God and fully human. That’s the process God used to bring about salvation, making it possible for humans to have a relationship with Him.

The Gospels are filled with verses about the Incarnation—the “First Coming” of Jesus. But did you know that references to the Second Coming of Jesus outnumber references to the Incarnation eight to one?