In the previous two issues we have considered aspects of the deity of Christ. We have seen Him as coequal with God, the Son of God, the image and revealer of God, the one who came from and returned to God, one who was better than the angels and who received worship, and one who manifested attributes ascribed to Jehovah God of the Old Testament. But the Scriptures also reveal Christ as the one who has become fully man as well as being fully God. "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). Let us now consider what God’s Word has to say concerning the humanity of Christ.
The Humanity of Christ
Birth and Growth. Christ was conceived. "Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call His name JESUS" (Luke 1:31). "That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost" (Matt. 1:20).
Christ was born a man child. "She . . . brought forth her firstborn son; and he [Joseph] called His name JESUS" (Matt. 1:25). "And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes" (Luke 2:7).
Christ was circumcised. "And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, His name was called JESUS" (Luke 2:21).
Christ progressed in normal fashion through childhood and youth to manhood; as a child He was submissive to His parents. "And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit. . . . He went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them. . . . And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature" (Luke 2:40-52).
Manifestation of Physical Needs
Christ became hungry and thirsty. "And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was afterward an hungred" (Matt. 4:2). "Now in the morning as He returned into the city, He hungred" (Matt. 21:18). "Jesus saith unto her [the woman of Samaria], Give Me to drink" (John 4:7). "I thirst" (John 19:28).
Christ became weary and needed sleep. "Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat thus on the well" (John 4:6). "And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves; but He [Jesus] was asleep" (Matt. 8:24).
Death and Burial
"But when they came to Jesus, and saw that He was dead already, they brake not His legs; but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith came there out blood and water" (John 19:33,34). "And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. . . . And he [Joseph] bought fine linen, and took Him down, and wrapped Him in the linen, and laid Him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre" (Mark 15:37,46).
Human, Yet Superhuman
Amidst the many manifestations of Christ’s humanity there were repeated evidences that He was more than human.
Mary conceived Jesus by the Holy Spirit, and not by a man. "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee" (Luke 1:35).
He was precocious in His interest in spiritual things. "[He] waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him. . . . When He was twelve years old … they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions" (Luke 2:40-46).
He could rise above His physical needs. "His disciples prayed Him, saying, Master, eat.. . . Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work" (John 4:31-34).
While He died and was buried, seemingly like any other human, yet He was in full control of His life. His death was not involuntary but He "yielded up" His Spirit (Matt. 27:50) at the appointed time. Also, after the predetermined period in the tomb, He took back His spirit, His life, and arose from death and the grave. Foretelling the laying down of His life, He said, "No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again" (John 10:18).
Human, Yet without Sin
While Christ was fully man, in one respect He was totally unlike all other human beings:He was totally without sin. Jesus asked the Jewish leaders, "Which of you convinceth [or convicts] Me of sin?" (John 8:46). His sinlessness was not simply an empty claim on Jesus’ part; His life gave witness to it. Pilate proclaimed to the Jews, "I find in Him no fault at all" (John 18:38). The repentant thief testified, "This Man hath done nothing amiss" (Luke 23:41).
Christ’s uncompromising submission to His Father is beautifully manifested both in the wilderness and in the garden of Gethsemane. In the wilderness, Satan tested Him with, no doubt, the most severe temptations he could think of, and Jesus came through them all without wavering (Matt. 4:1-10). (Notice the marked contrast with the temptation of the first man and woman in the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were surrounded by "every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food," but they took of the one tree denied to them; Christ, on the other hand, was in the
wilderness without food for 40 days, and resisted the temptation to feed Himself without the Father so directing Him.) In the garden of Gethsemane, anticipating the awfulness of the cross, Jesus prayed, "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt" (Matt. 26:39).
Three other scriptures give testimony to the sinlessness of Christ. "He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin" (2 Cor. 5:21). "Christ . . . did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth" (1 Peter 2:22). "He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin" (1 John 3:5). The common teaching that Christ could have sinned, but did not, denies the scripture that says "in Him is no sin." It is claimed that Jesus was like Adam before the fall_having the freedom of choice to disobey God’s law. However, Jesus was "the Holy One" (Luke 1:35; 4:34; Acts 2:27; 3:14; 4:27), an attribute never ascribed to Adam.
Son of Man
Jesus asked His disciples, "Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?" (Matt. 16:13). And in Matt. 8:20 He says, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests:but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head." We are all sons (or daughters) of man; that is, we are all born of human parents. But Christ was uniquely the Son of man. It is taken for granted of ourselves; no one questions it. But the life of Christ was so extraordinary in His frequent displays of power, knowledge, and wisdom, that one might have been tempted to think of Him as not being human at all, only divine. In His frequent references to Himself as the Son of man, Christ seems to have been attempting to remind the people of His true nature and condescension_the Son of God come down from heaven, who "took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men" (Phil. 2:7).
God and Man
Thus, we see from Scripture that the Lord Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. As such, He_and He alone_is the suited mediator between God and man. "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim. 2:5). Christ has revealed God to man, and has made a way for man to approach God. He is also our "advocate with the Father" when we sin (1 John 2:1).
Why?
As we conclude our meditations upon the deity and humanity of Jesus Christ, we are compelled to ask, "Why?" Why did the eternal Son of God leave His place of glory in the third heaven, beyond the created universe, to become a man on earth? We know that He came down to die for sinful man as our Redeemer. He paid the tremendous price of God’s wrath and judgment as our substitute, to redeem us to God. But again, Why? Why did He do this? "He loved us," you say. Well, that is surely the best answer we can give, yet does it really answer the question? How could God love and find so much value in us who by nature are rebellious, willful, selfish, and "lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God"? How could Jesus die for us knowing that even after we were saved we would often manifest our sinful nature and dishonor and displease Him?
I don’t know. There is something in God’s nature and character that is totally above and beyond our comprehension_something that finds such value in us as to cause His Son to suffer horribly that we might be brought into the closest union with Himself. We read in Heb. 12:2 that it was the prospect of future joy that motivated Christ:"Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." Think of it! It is going to fill Christ with joy to have us, His redeemed ones, united with Him for eternity! Surely it is incomprehensible, but what a motivation this is for us to bring Him joy in everything we say and do in this present life!
FRAGMENT The Lord Jesus … is the summing up of all possible beauty and perfection in Himself.
FRAGMENT What was the life of this Jesus, the Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief? A life of activity in obscurity, causing the love of God to penetrate the most hidden corners of society, wherever needs were greatest. . . . This life did not shelter itself from the misery of the world . . . but it brought into it the love of God.
FRAGMENT The gospels display the One in whom was no selfishness. They tell out the heart that was ready for everybody. No matter how deep His own sorrow, He always cared for others. He could warn Peter in Gethsemane, and comfort the dying thief on the cross. His heart was above circumstances, never acting under them, but ever according to God in them.
FRAGMENT We find admirable affections in the apostles. . . . We find works, as Jesus said, greater than His own.. . . But we do not find the evenness that was in Christ. He was the Son of man who was in heaven. Such as Paul are chords on which God strikes, and on which He produces a wondrous music; but Christ is all the music itself.
FRAGMENT May God grant unto us to value the perfect beauty of that Jesus who came to us.