The Lord Jesus Christ Part 1

Our study this week brings us to the subject of Jesus Christ whom is the second part of the Trinity. When we look at Jesus Christ we actually must look at Him in two ways; (1.) as the Son of God, and (2.) as the Son of man, now most people will ask “aren’t they one in the same” and the answer would be yes they are, except they must be separated if one is to have a good understanding of who He truly was and is. Jesus Christ was born with two actual natures (1.) the Son of God and (2.) the Son of man and they are actually like two separate beings in one single body. To explain in a little more detail I will use a few examples; the Son of God had no beginning and the Son of man did; The son of God cannot change in any way and the Son of man changed much over the years; the Son of God cannot die and the Son of man gave Him life to save sinners. These are a few basic examples of showing the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. We learn in Philippians 2:6 – 8 "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: (7.) But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: (8.) And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." As well as many other scriptures prove that the Son of God was Incarnation with the Son of man. The main issue so many have is that they cannot separate the two natures in their minds and therefore they speak out of ignorance and say “God died on the cross” when He did not because God cannot die but the Son of man can and did. There must have been a temporal separation of Deity and man on the cross which explains His cry on the cross "...My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Matthew 27:46. This is the reason for the necessity of the incarnation. The suffering for sin will be both body and soul in hell for all eternity and if Jesus Christ was going to suffer our penalty for sin this then was the requirement also for Him and the Son of God could not do that because He has no body and cannot suffer death. Matthew 10:28 "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." It was necessary that He have a body that He might be in all points tempted like as we are in these bodies. The writer to the Hebrews wrote this conclusion; "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." Hebrews 4:15 we simply cannot say Jesus cannot empathize with man because He most certainly can. While He was not born a sinner and never sinned He was tempted in the flesh just as we were. It was necessary that He have a body to be tested in the flesh, and render perfect obedience to the law, in order that there should be wrought out a righteousness that could be imputed to us. The incarnation was also necessary to His ministry of teaching, His selecting the twelve apostles and founding the church, and His setting for us an example of perfect obedience to the will of God. We all must have a proper understanding of Jesus Christ and in doing so we can have a greater understanding of how precious our Saviour is to us. The suffering by Jesus Christ was real, He felt the same pains we would have and as He drew closer to death He felt the very same as anyone dying today. He felt the beatings and everything else that went with it. John the Revelator said "And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne." Revelation 4:2 and next to Gods throne sits the Son of man Jesus the Christ. This is not to belittle God and insert man over God because let us never forget HE IS ALSO GOD but He is also man. We will look deeper into this subject next week. I would like to conclude with this; “thank you Jesus for dying on that wicked cross for my sins”!!