The Incarnation: A New Way of Being Human, by Stephen Beale

What then did the Lord bring to us by His advent?

St. Irenaeus raises this question in the third book of Against Heresies, anticipating what some people might wonder if Christ’s life and sufferings were prophesied in the Old Testament. The question is: if all this was known beforehand, then what exactly did Christ bring? Irenaeus responds:

He brought all newness, by bringing Himself who had been announced. For this very thing was proclaimed beforehand, that a novelty should come to renew and quicken mankind (Against Heresies, 3.34.1).

As the Lord declares through Isaiah, “See, I am doing something new!”

Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
In the wilderness I make a way,
in the wasteland, rivers (Isaiah 43:19).

Jesus says the same in Revelation 21:5, “Behold, I make all things new.”  …