A hinge of the whole story
The Incarnation
After the silence, God speaks, not only a word but the Word. The incarnation is the hinge of all history: the Creator enters the story He has been telling, God becomes man, and the whole longing of the Old Testament begins to be answered in a manger.
“And the Word was made 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 1:14
What happened
What happened. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). This eternal Word, through whom all things were made, did what no one could have imagined: "And the Word was made 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 1:14). The angel came to a virgin named Mary in Nazareth: "thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS" (Luke 1:31), and "that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" (Luke 1:35). He was born in Bethlehem, laid in a manger because there was no room, and heaven's armies announced Him to shepherds: "unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:11). Matthew names Him "Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us" (Matt 1:23). The infinite God took up a human life, entering His own creation as one of us.
Why the whole story turns here
Why the whole story turns here. The incarnation is the hinge on which the entire Bible, and all of history, turns. Every earlier turning point had been God working within the story from outside it, speaking through prophets, acting through kings and rescues. Now the Author steps onto the stage as a character; the God who has been telling the story enters it in person. All the threads gather here. The seed of the woman promised in Eden is born; the offspring of Abraham through whom the nations are blessed has come; the son of David who will reign for ever is laid in a manger; the presence of God that departed the temple returns, now clothed in flesh; the deep exile of humanity from God begins to end, for God has come near. This is why the calendar of the world is dated from His coming. And it reveals the astonishing shape of God's rescue: He does not save from a safe distance but by joining us, taking our nature so that He might redeem it from within. The whole story bends around the moment its Author becomes its central character.
How it points to Christ
How it points to Christ. Here the pointing and the fulfilment are the same, for this is Christ Himself, the One toward whom every earlier hinge was leaning. The incarnation is why He can be our Saviour: being truly God, His life and death have infinite worth; being truly man, He can stand in our place and bear what we owe. "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given... The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" (Isa 9:6). He is Emmanuel, God with us, ending the long distance that began at Eden. Paul marvels that though He was rich, "yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich" (2 Cor 8:9). The One who framed the worlds slept in a manger and grew as a child, that He might grow up to die and rise for us. All that the prophets foresaw and the silence awaited stands here in a single human life.
Questions people ask
What does incarnation mean?
It means that the eternal Son of God took on human nature and became a man in Jesus Christ, without ceasing to be God. John puts it simply: "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). Jesus is fully God and fully man.
Why is the incarnation called the hinge of history?
Because in it the God who had been telling the whole biblical story enters it in person. Every earlier promise, the seed of the woman, the offspring of Abraham, the son of David, God's presence returning, converges in His coming. The Creator joining His creation to redeem it from within is the turning point around which everything else bends.