Jesus is Man

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth

We have learned from the last study that the first two verses of John's Gospel declares so unequivocally that Jesus is God. We now want to skip ahead to the verse that goes with them and that says in equally certain terms that Jesus is man. That verse is Jn 1:14. Jesus is God. Jesus is man. Properly understood, these are the most important truths about Jesus Christ.

A Biblical Doctrine

It is not only in John's Gospel that we encounter such teachings. These themes are found throughout the Bible. What is more, although they are very profound, they are taught in the most natural way and in a totally artless manner.

Let me take just three places where the Bible describes the nature of Jesus by means of two complementary verbs. The first example comes from the OT prophecy of Iasiah that reads: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”(Isa 9:6). This verse teaches that Jesus was to be One who was always God's Son but would become man at a particular point of history. Hence as a child he is born, but as a Son he is given. In <Romans> we read the same teaching that reads: “...regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was declared to with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead”(Ro 1:3-4). Jesus was made the seed of David according to the flesh, but declared always to be the Son of God. Finally, in <Galatian> we read: “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law to redeem those under law”(Gal 4:4-5). As a Son, Jesus was sent. Hence he was always God. Nevertheless, he was made under law. He became man. So the Bible never hesitates to declare these seemingly contradictory twin truths.

We must not make the mistake of thinking Jesus as being merely a divine man or, on the other hand, of being merely a human God. He is the God-man. He is fully God and at the same time perfectly man. He is God with us, God for us, God in us. Why are these truths do important? Why is the humanity of Jesus Christ so important?

Able to Die

First, It is important because he is able to die (He is not a kind of die-hard). It is possible for him to die. This is easy to see. It is what the Bible says: "Because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, Here I am-it is written about me in the Bible-I have come to do your will, O God"(Heb 10:4-7). A body made it possible for Jesus to die.

In the beginning, in the eternal counsels of God, before there was nothing else nor a lost race of men, Jesus foresaw all human history and knew that he was to redeem the race. Thus, in the fullness of time, in the days of Roman empire, he assumed a body so that he could offer up that body as the perfect sacrifice for man's sin.

This is what we find throughout the Bible. The very name Jesus looks forward to an act of saving significance. For the angel said of Mary, “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins”(Mt 1:21). Jesus himself spoke of the suffering that was to come(Mk 8:81; 9:31) linking the success of his mission to his death: “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself”(Jn 12:32). At several places in John's Gospel his death on the cross is spoken of as the vital “time” for which Jesus came and to which his ministry inflexibly proceeded(Jn 2:4; 7:30; 8:20; 13:1; 17:1).

Moreover, the death of Jesus is in a real sense the theme of the Old Testament also. The OT prefigures Jesus' suffering, and the prophets explicitly foretell it. Paul teaches that Abraham was saved by faith in Christ(Gal 3:8, 16). Finally, Jesus taught the downcast Emmaus disciples that the OT foretold his death and resurrection: “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scripture concerning himself”(Lk 24:27). All-in-all, this death was the focal point of world and biblical history.

Able to understand

There is also a 2nd reason why it is important for the eternal Son of God to become man. The fact that Jesus took upon himself all that we are and know and experience also made it possible for him to be touched with the feelings of our weakness & infirmities. In this regard the Bible says as follows: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet was without sin. So let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive marcy and find grace to help us in our time of need”(Heb 4:15-16). Jesus knew and experienced (in a way that we can understand) what it meant to be man.

We must remember that here there is no play acting; this is the real thing. There are no supernatural advantages for this man. No heavenly rescue party cam down to deliver him from the power of evil man, and his agony was not relieved (mitigated) by any superhuman anaesthetic. We can only guess the sufferings and anguish he has gone through when he was crying on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” But the cry “It is finished!” can not be one of despair. It doesn't even mean “It is all over!” It does mean “It has been completed”. And the terrifying task of doing God's will to the bitter end had been fully and finally accomplihed.

It is this suffering that we have to know that Jesus experienced all that we experience- the weariness, disappointment, misunderstanings, and the pain of this life- and so is able to understand and help all those who are his own and are so tempted.

Able to Be Our Example

Third, by becoming man Jesus has also provided us with an example of how then we should live the life pleasing to God. Being what we are, this is the most important.

A few days ago I had a chance to talk to a Christian friend of mine. He has been teaching the Bible for some time to a group of youngsters in his church. But now he finds himself gettting tired and sometimes even angry with his students, because he thinks there is little change taking place in their thoughts and attitudes after all those years. He asked me why it was so. Well, as I have thought about it, I have come to feel that one of the major reasons is that they lack an adequate example of how a Christian thinks and behaves according to the Gospel. May be they have never had any contact with a strong and excellent role model.

Now what is true for the Christian ministry is true for other fields as well-business, law, medicine, scholarship, and so on-and it is true spritiually. Thus, Jesus became man to go through all sorts of situations with all sorts of people so that we might be provided with a pattern on which our life can be constructed. He is like a manual we turn to for help whenever we buy something new.

That is what Jesus is for us. He is our sampler, our example. We are supposed to write out the Christian life on him. It is interesting to find that the Bible uses the word for “sampler” or “copybook” when he says, “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps”(1 Pet 2:21). In other words, by means of Jesus' becoming man God wrote the characters of love and righteousness large so that we might copy them by his grace.

Able to Sanctify the Value of Life

Finally, the fourth reason why the incarnation is important is that through it God sanctified (made holy) the value of life in a totally different way. Before the coming of Jesus, life in the ancient world was so cheap; this becomes even truer today where biblical values and principles are being deserted or ignored.

What makes life so cheap? Almost everyday, we hear the reports of death; the death from war, traffic accidents, crimes, earth quakes, and so on. In fact, all these reports make us numb as to the value of life and as to the destiny of individual. How about legalizing abortion in many countries? The same is true, I believe.

What will offset this cheapening of human life? Only the values that Christianity brings! Christianity values life, first, because God gave it and, second, because our Lord Jesus sanctified it by assuming a full human nature by means of the incarnation. Jesus became like us.

Does that mean anything to me personally? It should make me thankful. It should lead me to bow down before the Lord Jesus Christ and worship him deeply as my savior. The incarnation is the second greatest truth in the Bible. The greatest is that this God who became man could also love us enough to go to the cross and die for us personally.

Prayer

Dear God, we come to you today with hearts full of new hopes and expectations for the coming new week. But let us know that those hopes can only be filled through you. We come to you to celebrate our Lord's resurrection. Help us to understand your words and have a new meaning of just how much you love each of us. You loved us enough to come to earth, go on the cross and to die for our wrongs, for our sins, so we could live with you forever. O' Father, help us not to just make empty resolutions but let us recommit ourselves to you. We ask this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for the eternal life you have given us through our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you also for the liberty and freedom that you give us through our Lord because the law of the Spirit of life set us free from the law of sin and death. We pray that we hold to your words and teaching in order to enjoy the life you have promised-the more abundant life. In Jesus, we pray. Amen.