BY Argie Simonis
The book of the prophet Isaiah has the most Messianic prophecies than any other book in the Bible.
"Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." (Isaiah 7:14)
From this we know the divinity of Jesus, because the virgin conceived.
If you are wondering what Emmanuel means, Matthew explains it to us:
"Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us." (Μatt. 1:23)
1. The DEVINE human.
I will focus on the GOD part first.
It is very important to understand that Jesus is GOD. Not just a good man, a wise teacher or a great prophet. Jesus is GOD. In fact, this is the reason why the Pharisees wanted to kill Him. Because He was declaring His divinity:
"The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because He mad Himself the Son of God." (John 19:7)
"Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him, because He not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God." (John 5:18)
"Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?" (John 10:32)
"The Jews answered Him, saying, For a good work we stone Thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that Thou, being a man, makest Thyself God." (John 10:33)
When Jesus said that He was the Son of God, the Jews understood very well what He was saying. Unfortunately some people do not understand this today. One basic reason there is so much opposition in the world to the virgin birth of Jesus, is because this fact alone proves the Divine nature of our Christ.
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"When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?" (Μatt. 16:13)
"And they said, Some say that Thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets." (Μatt. 16:14)
Do you know that this discussion with the same question continues to this day?
"For whom do men say that the Son of man is?"
Watch His next words:
"He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?" (Μatt. 16:15)
"And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." (Μatt. 16:16)
"And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." (Μatt. 16:17)
~~ Jesus Christ asks every person who has walked the face of the earth:
"Who do YOU say I am?"
It is important to recognize that Jesus Christ IS the Son of God, and know also this: The answer you give will determine where you spend the rest of eternity. ~~
There is a great war against the Divinity of Christ, that He was literally "God with us."
"Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost." (Μatt. 1:18)
"... for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost." (Μatt. 1:20)
Jesus Christ was not conceived by a man, but by the Holy Spirit. He was born of a woman, therefore He was MAN, but conceived by the Holy Spirit, and therefore He was GOD. The egg was from the woman, but the sperm came from God himself!
Look at this verse:
"Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the FATHERS upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation." (Ex. 34:7)
The Father of Jesus is the Holy God.
~~ That is why Jesus Christ was born SINLESS. ~~
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Emmanuel means "God with us". But even though Jesus was 100% God, He surrendered His Divinity, and while He was here on earth, He walked 100% as a man.
"But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:" (Phil. 2:7)
"And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." (Phil. 2:8)
If you wonder how He did all those miracles, the Scriptures tell us that He did it by the power of the Holy Spirit and His personal relationship with the Father.
- This is how He walked on water.
- This is how He healed the sick.
- This is how He opened the blinds' eyes.
- This is how He raised the dead.
Do you know what this does? It gives me hope!
Now see how He performed His miracles:
"How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him." (Acts 10:38)
~~ If Christ Himself needed the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit to accomplish His mission in this fallen world, how much more do we! ~~
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Consider this too:
As a carpenter that Jesus was, before He began His ministry,
- has He ever made crutches for a crippled child that he could later heal?
- built a coffin for someone who could later rise from the dead?
Yet Jesus waited patiently for the fullness of time to come:
"But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law," (Gal. 4:4)
"To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." (Gal. 4:5)
"And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." (Gal. 4:6)
Watch how Jesus raised Lazarus:
"Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me." (John 11:41)
"And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me." (John 11:42)
Watch here a great truth:
~~ God did NOT just send someone to redeem us. He came HIMSELF to do this. God did NOT just send a message with a messenger, but He HIMSELF came to deliver the message to us. So Jesus Christ HAD to come as a man for two reasons:
1. To live the life we could NOT live,
and
2. To die a death that we should have died. ~~
And rest assured that Jesus didn't just wave a magic wand and take away our sins:
"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Rom. 6:23)
Do you see that? He literally PAID for us the WAGE for our sins.
He didn't "magically" erase them, but paid for them Himself with His blood. God Himself paid for our sins with His blood:
"Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which HE HATH PURCHASED WITH HIS OWN BLOOD." (Acts 20:28)
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2. The Devine HUMAN
Here I will focus on the MAN Jesus.
Just as there is this war against the virgin birth of Christ, with the same spirit many fight that Christ was 100% man and say that he walked the earth for 33 years only as God.
-- And that's why, for example, they say that He can't feel what I'm going through.
Watch this:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1)
"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." (John 1:14)
"And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war." (Rev. 19:11)
"His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself." (Rev. 19:12)
"And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God." (Rev. 19:13)
As important as it is to believe in the virgin birth of Jesus, it is just as important to believe that Jesus came in the flesh, as a man. And I'll show you why this is so important.
I pointed out earlier that your answer to Jesus' question
"Who do you think I am?"
will determine where you spend eternity.
Now see how important it is to believe that Jesus came in the flesh, that is, he became a man:
"Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:" (1John 4:2)
"And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world." (1John 4:3)
John, who writes his letter around 90 AD, tells us that the spirit of the antichrist is already in the world and the way you distinguish it is when they do NOT confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, that God became a man.
"For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist." (2John 1:7)
So why is it so important to confess that God, Jesus Christ became a man? Because if He didn't become human He couldn't die. And if He didn't die, then He didn't pay for our sins. And if He didn't die, then He didn't rise from the dead either.
This is basically the argument of these opposers. If Jesus was God AND man at the same time and rose from the dead, how can this be, since God cannot die? And yet, it did happen. And I have just explained it. Jesus Christ was 100% man and 100% God. The Devine Human!
Remember what we read from the book of Acts:
"Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." (Acts 20:28)
We must understand that Jesus:
- Suffered as a man.
- Bled like a man, and
- Died like a man.
He was beaten so badly and crucified that His human body literally DIED.
"As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:" (Isaiah 52:14)
Ο Ιησούς Χριστός πέθανε για τις αμαρτίες σου και για τις αμαρτίες μου. Αλλά έπρεπε να γίνει άνθρωπος για να πεθάνει. Εμείς οι αναγεννημένοι πιστοί είμαστε 100% άνθρωποι επειδή η σάρκα μας (το φυσικό μας σώμα δηλαδή και η ψυχή μας) υπόκειται σε φθορά, αλλά έχουμε εν μέρει θεϊκή φύση, επειδή το Πνεύμα του Θεού κατοικεί μέσα μας και είναι ΕΝΑ με το δικό μας πνεύμα. .
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2Cor. 5:17)
"But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." (Rom. 8:9)
"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (1Cor. 3:16)
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But Jesus was 100% God and 100% man.
"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;" (1Tim. 2:5)
"Who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." (1Tim. 2:6)
This is exactly what gives me hope and strength because Jesus knows what I'm going through.
He knows the pain I feel when, for example, I lose a loved one.
Jesus lost His father Joseph. Joseph was considerably older than Mary when he married her and died sometime before Jesus began His ministry. That is why Jesus asked John to take care of His mother:
"When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!" (John 19:26)
"Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home." (John 19:27)
Mary would not have gone to live with John if her husband Joseph had lived. So Jesus experienced the loss of His earthly father, Joseph.
- Jesus knows what it means to lose a father or your spouse.
Can you see this picture?
Jesus walking away with your His mother in His arms from His father's grave where they went to visit him. And this as I said happened sometime before Jesus began His ministry.
- Jesus knows what it means to lose a friend. His beloved friend, Lazarus,died.
Whatever sadness and pain you are going through right now, the Lord knows and feels for you.
Whenever temptation comes, the Lord knows it, because He too was tempted by the devil:
"For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." (Heb. 4:15)
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---- SUMMARY ----
1. WHY DID GOD BECOME MAN?
"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;" (Heb. 2:14)
"And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." (Heb. 2:15)
~~ The only way for Christ to abolish the power of death from us was to become man Himself. As a man He defeated and conquered death and sin. That's what He did! ~~
This is what we celebrate at Easter. God didn't just send someone to redeem us and take away our sins, but He himself came down and redeemed us.
I began with Isaiah and I end with Isaiah. See how beautifully the prophet Isaiah presents Jesus:
"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:6)
Note the words:
"For a MAN was born unto us,
A SON was given unto us:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)
There was a chasm between man and God that we could not cross. Man could not go to God, so God came to man.
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---- CONCLUSION ----
God became man, to live the life you could not live (he was the only sinless person to walk the earth)
and
to die where you should ordinarily die, so that you may again have a relationship with the Father forever and ever.
That's why we celebrate Easter!
So Jesus is asking you right now:
"Who do you think I am?"
If your answer is like Peter's:
"And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." (Matt. 16:16)
then you have just done what Paul tells us:
"For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." (Rom. 10:10)
"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Rom. 10:13)
Amen!
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