Exactly Who is Jesus Anyway (Part 2) A Man
Exactly Who is Jesus Anyway (Part 2)
By Ben Fronczek
Most all of us have read and heard that Jesus is God’s one and only son. Quite frankly there is no other quite like Jesus.
Yes in one sense we are all God’s children in that He created us, and gave us life, but Jesus is so much more than that. Somehow by miracle God’s Spirit impregnated a virgin by the name of Mary. Exactly how that happened no one really knows, but it did happen. It is the only time in history a virgin woman was ever impregnated without the seed of a human male, and it will probably never happen again.
The skeptic may say, ‘Prove it.’ I personally cannot. I can only show you the testimony of eye witness who made these claims in the Holy Scriptures.
I personally believe some of the best evidence is the fact that this whole event of God coming in the flesh was foretold or predicted years earlier.
Centuries before Jesus ever came on the scene the prophet Isaiah wrote down a prophecy that came from God Himself. In Isaiah 7:14 he wrote, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” (or God with us) So 700 years before it ever happened God told His people through the prophet Isaiah that one day this miracle would occur – ‘A virgin would conceive and God would come in the flesh.
Through the Old Testament prophets Micah, God lets his people know that He would be born in Bethlehem. (5:2)
The Old Testament is just full of prophecies that were fulfilled in Jesus. I read online that Jesus actually fulfilled some 360 Old Testament prophecies. Either you are going to believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, as God incarnate, or our God in the flesh or you’ll choose not to believe in this wonderful glorious event. I choose to believe. There is too much evidence for me to deny it.
As I thought about this lesson I kept coming back to the question, why? Why was it so important for God to come to us in this manner? Why did He choose to leave all the splendor and majesty of Heaven behind to come in contact with all the sorrow, and pain, the corruption and evil of this world. I mean, are we really that important, that significant for Him to leave all that behind and experience poverty, and hunger, and temptation, and arrogant know it all people, as well as the pain and suffering He knew He would have to go through? Are we really that important to Him?
Apparently we are; even though not one of us is good enough to make to heaven on our own. He apparently thought it was worth His effort to come to us in person and make things right.
But then the question comes to my mind again, ‘But why? Why couldn’t you just do something from up there? Why expose yourself to all this? You were born in a barn. Not to long after your parents had to take you and flee to Egypt because King Herod wanted kill you and so he killed all the boys 3 years and under. You life was a struggle from the very beginning until they nailed You the crossed which You died on? WHY go through all that?
Here are a few reasons I came up with; why He chose to come to us in the flesh, as a man.
To begin with it all stems back to His amazing love for each one of us. Simply put, you and I are worth that much to Him. He was willing give it all up and leave it all behind, and endure all the evil that this world could dish out and experience the pain and suffering, even death on the cross because He loves every one of us that much. So, first and foremost it was because of His unquenchable love for us that He came in the flesh.
But why? Why does He love me, or any of us for that matter? Probably because He created us, He put life in us. We are His. He made us all special and unique. And because He is God it is His choice to love us.
So why come in the flesh; what is the significance?
#1) So that we could come to understand a little more about Him
Last week I read an interesting discussion between Jesus and His disciple Philip in John 14: Where Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered:“Don’t you know Me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father.””
The point of what He was telling Philip is, ‘you want to know what God the Father is like, just look at me! If you’ve seen Me you’ve see the Father. If you what to know what He is like, how He feels about things, how He acts or reacts to things, if you want to know how much He cares about you just look at me. ”Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father.”
The letter to the Hebrews starts off by stating, “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being.”
Do you want to learn more about God? Study everything you can about Jesus. Jesus is God but in a human body.
#2. ‘A second reason that God became man was so that He might be able to identify with us. God knows everything about us – even the number of hairs on our heads. It is possible to KNOW a lot about someone but not UNDERSTAND who that person is or how the feel in a situation.
Jesus understand us and knows what we are going through because He has gone through it all himself. We can’t say, ‘God you don’t know what it like to hurt or feel hungry or cold or lonely or bored. You don’t know what it feels like to hit your thumb with a hammer or stub your little toe in the middle of the night. Or you don’t know what it feels like to be tempted by food or by the opposite sex, or what it feels like to be teased or made fun of or to be falsely accused or have friends and family turn their back on you when you need the most. God knows about those things because He experienced all of them in Jesus. He knows what it is to be tempted, abandoned and mistreated.
The author in Heb 4 wrote, 14 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet He did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” (NLT)
Did you get the last part of that verse? Jesus understand what we go through, He can empathize with us and therefore we don’t have to approach God’s throne with fear. Why? Because He is more incline to show us grace and mercy because He understands.
King James V of Scotland would on occasion lay aside the royal robe of king and dress as a peasant. In disguise, he could move freely about the land, making friends and entering into their difficulties, appreciating their handicaps, sympathizing with them in their sorrow. When as king he sat again upon the throne, he was better able to rule over them with fatherly compassion and mercy. God shared in the human experience and thereby is better able to accept and show us mercy and helps us. Isn’t that wonderful?
#3) God also came in the flesh to save us.
The Word of God makes it abundantly clear that the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin. We read in Hebrews 10:4-7 “It is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5 That is why, when Christcame into the world, He said to God, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings.But You have given Me a body to offer. 6 You were not pleased with burnt offerings or other offerings for sin. 7 Then I said, ‘Look, I have come to do Your will, O God— as is written about Me in the Scriptures.’” NLT
Scripture also declares that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin (Hebrews 9:22). Animal sacrifices of the Old Testament were really not good enough, they were only a temporary fix until God Himself came in the flesh, shed His blood, and died on that cross for us.
He was the perfect Lamb who was sacrifice for us. Listen to what Peter writes in I Peter 1:18-19: “For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom He paid was not mere gold or silver. 19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. 20 God chose Him as your ransom long before the world began, but He has now revealed Him to you in these last days.” NLT
God, in the state of His eternal glory, cannot die. Therefore it became necessary for God to become a man so that He could put away sin by sacrificing Himself (Hebrews 9:26).
God, in the state of His eternal glory, cannot die. Therefore it became necessary for God to become a man so that He could put away sin by sacrificing Himself (Hebrews 9:26).
What an honor it is to have a God who loves us so much!
One of the ancient kings of Persia loved to mingle with his people in disguise. Once, dressed as a poor man, he descended the long flight of stairs, dark and damp to the tiny cellar where the fireman, seated on ashes, was tending the furnace.. The king sat down beside him and began to talk. At meal time the fireman produced some coarse black bread and a jug of water and they ate and drank. The king went away but returned again and again for his heart was filled with sympathy for the lonely man. They became very good friends as time passed. At last the king thought, “I’ll tell him who I am, and see what gift he will ask.” So he did, but the fireman didn’t ask for a thing. The king was astonished and said, “Don’t you realize that I can give you anything—a city, a throne?” The man gently replied, “I understand your Majesty. But you have already given the greatest gift a man could receive. You left your palace to sit with me here in this dark and lonely place. You could give nothing more precious. You have given yourself and that is far more than I could ever deserve.” God did the same thing! He came to us in this dark world.
God gave us Himself in Jesus. Because HE loves us, and wanted to He show Himself to us. He got to know us better; what we go through and feel. And then He allowed Himself to become the ultimate sacrifice to save us from our sin. And now He is ready to adopt us as His children and make us His heirs. No cost to us, He just wants our trust, belief, faith, and love. Wow, what a God! He offers us so much and has given us so much. Let us praise and love HIM forever!
For more lessons click on the following link: http://granvillenychurchofchrist.org/?page_id=566
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