The God-Man

LESSON 4

THE GOD-MAN

You are welcome to another edition of Insights from God's Word, a Bible study programme that is committed to sharing God's Word by allowing the Bible to speak for itself.

In this edition, we continue with our series on The Godhead. The topic for this study is: The God-Man. In this study, we will consider in detail what the Bible says in relation to the mystery of the incarnation of Christ. The study is structured in four sub-sections as follows:

1) THE MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION

The disciple Luke chronicled the process of the incarnation of Christ in this manner: "34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? 35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" (Luke 1:34-35; see also Matthew 1:18). The apostle Paul also expressed the incarnation of Christ through these choice words: "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: GOD WAS MANIFEST IN THE FLESH" (1 Timothy 3:16; Capital Emphasis Added). This text helps us to understand that the Son that was born through Mary was God manifest in human flesh. Through the process of the incarnation, Christ clothed His divinity with humanity, thus becoming the God-Man; a new nature that made Him fully God and fully man.

2) THE SON OF GOD

The Son of God is a title that is usually expressed in relation to the divinity of Christ. Even though our Saviour bore the likeness of men, He was fully divine. As the Son of God, He had absolute control over nature. One word from His lips, shalom, could calm the troubled Sea of Galilee. After beholding this miracle, the disciples said one to another; "What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" (Mark 4:41; see also Matthew 14:22-33).

Besides this exclamation from the disciples, some clear statements from Christ Himself such as "I and my father are one" (John 10:30), "Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58), "Your sins are forgiven you" (Luke 5:20), and several similar others (John 6:40; John 11:25; John 2:19-22; John 10:17-18 etc.), help us to appreciate His Divine Nature while here on His mission to redeem fallen humanity. The apostle Paul clearly expressed this fact in the following remarkable way: "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9). In this text, we are told that in the Son dwelt all the fullness, not part, of the divine nature, bodily.

It is important to note at this point that even though Christ was fully God in human flesh, He never used His divine power to aid Himself in fulfilling His atonement for the human race. All the miracles He performed were for the benefit of man. An understanding of His divinity while on earth in this light helps us to appreciate the cost of our salvation. For the penalty of eternal death which hanged on mankind as a result of our transgression could only be atoned for through the condescension of One who was eternal, and equal with God the Father.

3) THE SON OF MAN

From the apostle Paul, we read the following in relation to the condescension of Christ for the salvation of mankind: "2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."

(Philippians 2:5-8) The passage above helps us to understand that in His condescension to the likeness of men, the One who had been equal with God chose to reserve His divinity that made Him omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient (review Philippians 2:6-7). You see, our Saviour could have performed every single one of His miracles through His own might of omnipotence (John 1:1-4; Colossians 1:16-17), yet time and again, before performing a miracle, He prayed unto the Father for divine help (see Matthew 14:19; Mark 1:35-43; John 11:41-45). He could have impressed His hearers with His knowledge of the deep councils of the Godhead, yet He reserved such knowledge as the sole prerogative of the Father (see Mark 13:32; Acts 1:6-7).

Throughout His ministry here on earth, our Lord Jesus Christ kept humbling Himself before the Father even unto death (see Matthew 26:36-46; Luke 23:46), and in so doing, took a subsidiary position before Him. Thus it was that the Father became His God, and One greater than Him. It is in view of this great condescension that we come to understand statements from the Son such as these:

i) "And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God" (Mark 10:18).

ii) "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father" (Mark 13:32).

iii) "for My Father is greater than I" (John 14:28).

iv) "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46).

v) "I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God" (John 20:17).

Friends, these texts of Scripture clearly portray the humility that Christ willingly exhibited towards the Father while here on earth. The texts also help us to understand that through the incarnation, the Son of God also became the Son of man (see Matthew 16:13; Matthew 20:28; Luke 19:10), a term that identified Him fully with the fallen race of Adam. As the Son of man, our Saviour identified Himself with the weaknesses and struggles of humanity. Just like any human, He became hungry (Matthew 4:2-3; Matthew 21:18-19), thirsty (John 19:28), weary (John 4:5-6), sorrowful (Matthew 26:38), wept (John 11:35), and even died (Matthew 27:27-50).

By restraining His divine power to aid Himself, our Saviour had no advantage over the rest of the human family. But where the first Adam fell, Christ became victorious (see Matthew 4:2-4). He was able to live without sin and accomplish His salvific mission for humanity by relying on the same external divine power that is also available to every son and daughter of Adam (see Matthew 14:23; Luke 6:12; Mark 1:35; John 17:1-25; Hebrews 5:7-9). By His daily reliance upon God through prayer and meditation, He gave us an example through which we can also gain the victory over self, sin and Satan.

4) THE EXALTATION OF CHRIST

It is interesting to learn that just as the Son gave the Father greater honour through His humiliation, the Father also highly exalted the name of the Son above every name. From the apostle Paul, we read the following in relation to the exaltation of Christ by the Father: "2:9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

2:10 That at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE SHOULD BOW, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

2:11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

(Philippians 2:9-11; Capital Emphasis Added) In the book of Hebrews, the apostle Paul repeats the same thought of Christ's exaltation in the following manner: "1:6 And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.

1:7 And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.

1:8 But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom."

(Hebrews 1:6-8) Friends, in the two passages that describe the exaltation of Christ by the father (Philippians 2:9-11; Hebrews 1:6-8), one can vividly picture the Father seriously addressing the angelic host and other unfallen beings in respect to the condescension of Christ. In this cosmic meeting, so to speak, the Father obviously made it clear to the unfallen universe that the fact that they now saw Christ in human form, a form that is even lower than that of angels (Psalm 8:4-5; Hebrews 2:6-9), should not in anyway compromise their worship of Him as God.

5) OUR REPRESENTATIVE IN HEAVEN

When Christ completed His work of salvation here on earth, He ascended to heaven in a glorified human body (John 20:19-29; Acts 1:9-11; Philippians 3:20-21). As the last Adam, He became the representative of the human family in the councils of heaven (see 1 Corinthians 15:45-49). At the moment, He is at the Most Holy Place of heaven's sanctuary, interceding and preparing a place for all the sons and daughters of Adam who will come to believe in His atoning sacrifice (see John 14:1-3; Daniel 7:13-14; Revelation 11:19).

Friends, very soon Jesus, the God-Man, will return to earth to redeem His children, and unite them with the family of God in heaven (see 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18; Revelation 22:7, 12, 20). As if all this was not enough, throughout eternity, the Jehovah God, who became our Saviour (Isaiah 43:11), will bear the form of humanity as a sign of His redemption and love for the race of Adam (see Revelation 1:9-20; Habakkuk 3:4; see also The Great Controversy, page 674). Oh! When I consider the great sacrifice that the Son of God has borne for my salvation, I ask myself what I can offer Him in return? There is nothing you and I can offer than the sweet offering of a penitent life.

Exhortation: From the pen of inspiration, we read the following clear statements about the divine human nature of Christ:

i) "He clothed His divinity with humanity. He was all the while as God, but He did not appear as God. He veiled the demonstrations of Deity which had commanded the homage, and called forth the admiration, of the universe of God. He was God while upon earth, but He divested Himself of the form of God, and in its stead took the form and fashion of a man....He was God, but the glories of the form of God He for a while relinquished....He humbled Himself, and took mortality upon Himself. As a member of the human family He was mortal, but as a God He was the fountain of life to the world. He could, in His divine person, ever have withstood the advances of death, and refused to come under its dominion; but He voluntarily laid down His life, that in so doing He might give life and bring immortality to light. He bore the sins of the world, and endured the penalty which rolled like a mountain upon His divine soul. He yielded up His life a sacrifice, that man should not eternally die." - (5BC 1126.8-1127.1).

ii) "Wondrous combination of man and God! He might have helped His human nature to withstand the inroads of disease by pouring from His divine nature vitality and undecaying vigor to the human. But He humbled Himself to man's nature....What humility was this! It amazed angels. The tongue can never describe it; the imagination cannot take it in. The eternal Word consented to be made flesh! God became man! It was a wonderful humility." - (5BC 1127.2).

iii) "...He did not cease to be God when He became man. The human did not take the place of the divine, nor the divine of the human. This is the mystery of godliness. The two expressions "human" and "divine" were, in Christ, closely and inseparably one, and yet they had a distinct individuality. Though Christ humbled Himself to become man, the Godhead was still His own." - (5BC 1129.3)

In our next study, we will consider the topic: "... His only begotten Son...": An exposition on Christ's words in John 3:16. The Bible Study references for this study are John 3:16, Hebrews 11:17, Acts 4:12, John 1:1-3 and John 1:14. Please do well to go through these passages before the next study is released.

Stay blessed and keep shining for King Jesus.

Maranatha!

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