Incognito

 

“He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.”

—Isaiah 53:2b

“He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.”

—John 1:10

If you have seen the television show, “Undercover Boss,” you know that a corporate CEO arrives at various places within the company as a trainee, so that he or she can meet various employees without being known and to also find problems existing within the business. These undercover bosses wear hair pieces, glasses, and unlikely clothing. Poor employees get “found out” and good employees get rewarded at the end of the hour long program.

Did you ever think about the fact that God came to earth incognito, too. According to scripture, He had no outstanding qualities that would speak of His royal position as Lord of All. Therefore, even religious leaders missed identifying Him as the promised Messiah. Even John the Baptist, who God sent as the forerunner of Jesus seemed to confess that he did not recognize Him as the Son of God. In fact, John the Baptist said in the story recorded in John 1:29-34, that he would not have known Him except for the Holy Spirit’s identification by the dove lighting on Him.

Which leads to the Biblical truth that no one can possibly know Jesus unless the Spirit reveals Him to us. In 1 Corinthians 2:7-8 Paul writes:

We speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

We remember the story from Luke 24:13-35 of the disciples walking along the road to Emmaus after the Resurrection and how the resurrected Christ joined them. For several hours these disciples talked with Him. But, they didn’t recognize Him. Only after Jesus broke bread did the Holy Spirit open the travelers eyes to see that they had been speaking with Jesus.

In this Advent season, when we admonish each other to watch for the second coming of the Messiah, I wonder how many of us will recognize Him when He comes. The words of Jesus, recorded in Matthew 24:10-13 warn us of such blindness:

At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.

I am comforted by the presence of two very dear saints, Simeon and Anna, in the Christmas story. Unlike most of the religious leaders, who never recognized the Messiah at His first coming, these two godly people prayed and waited, watched and worshiped. The moment that Mary and Joseph appeared at the temple to present their Baby, these two ran to Him in acknowledgement. The Spirit of God revealed to them that the promised Messiah had arrived. It seems that the true identity of Jesus was hidden from natural eyes. That He had arrived incognito and incarnate.

Those who wait and watch, pray and worship day after day, can expect that God will reveal the Christ at His second coming. Let us anticipate His arrival, made known to a watching Church!