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article 4: Who Jesus Is - HUMAN AND DIVINE 

We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, one Person in two natures. Jesus, Israel's promised Messiah, was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest and Advocate.

Objective:
To allow who Jesus is to change us from the inside out.
[In each section start with the green question and do the others as time permits.]

 Open in Prayer 

 

Watch the Video [5–10 minutes]

 

Video Reflections [10 minutes]

• Why is it significant that we believe that Jesus is fully God and fully human?  What role do Jesus’ divinity and humanity play in our salvation?
• In what ways are Jesus and Superman similar?  In what ways are they different?  What does this comparison teach us about Jesus and about us?
• How does the fact that Jesus came in a body affect the way we view our own bodies and those of others?

 

Read 

"We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, one Person in two natures. Jesus, Israel's promised Messiah, was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest and Advocate."
(Lake Avenue Church Statement of Faith: Article Four – Jesus)

 

Questions from the Statement of Faith [20 minutes]

  "Up" Questions (Worship)

• Do the grand mysteries about Jesus (his birth, his being fully human and fully God, how he was resurrected, etc.) lead you to want to worship God more?  How can we deal with any doubt regarding these mysteries?
• Read over the text from the Statement of Faith and underline all the words in it that reveal that God is worthy of worship.  Which words did you underline?  Which of them is most meaningful to you and why?
• Why is it important that Jesus is “Israel’s promised Messiah”?  What does it mean that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One?  What does Jesus being the Messiah have to do with us today?

 

  "In" Questions (Community)

• How can the fact that Jesus came as a human (a sign that he can and will redeem our humanity, our bodies) change the way we view one another?  The way we treat each other?  The way we view and treat ourselves?
• What about our faith communities should be different in light of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection?  How can we be better shaped by Jesus as communities?

 

  "Out" Questions (ServICe)

• What about Jesus do you think might be most shocking or difficult to believe for someone who has yet to meet him?  How can this reaction help you share the good news of Jesus with them?
• How best can we, as individuals and as communities, show the Jesus of the Bible to those in our world?  Think about how we can share about him verbally and how we can embody him where we work, live, and play.
• CHALLENGE: Over the next week read through one of the four Gospels, or at least part of one.  As you do so, write down how you see Jesus interacting with those who are not part of God’s family.  As you look at this list, how can you incorporate some of these same postures, actions, blessings, etc. into your life?

 

Questions from Scripture [10 minutes]

• Read Matthew 1:18-25.  Put yourself in Joseph’s shoes.  What must he have been feeling and thinking?  Now do the same for Mary.  How can we better capture the beauty and mystery of Jesus’ Incarnation at Christmastime?
• Read Mark 15:33-39.  Why did Jesus have to die?  What role should the death of Jesus play in our lives now?  How best can we demonstrate the same kind of sacrificial love toward those in our lives where we work, live, and play?

 

Prayer 

Father, thank you for sending Jesus. We are forever grateful for the fact that you loved the world enough to send your one and only Son for us. Please move your Spirit among us so that we can live lives worthy of Jesus' sacrifice. Teach us how to sacrifice ourselves for others as Jesus did. And Father, continue to remind us that the love you poured out for us in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus flows through us to those who do not yet know you. In Jesus' holy name. Amen.

 

Share Prayer Requests and End in Prayer 

Pastor's Commentary

Article 4: We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, one person in two natures. Jesus, Israel’s promised Messiah, was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our high priest and advocate.

Article 4

We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, one person in two natures. Jesus, Israel’s promised Messiah, was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our high priest and advocate.

 

God’s gospel is revealed in history supremely through the person of Jesus Christ.

(This commentary is based on a book, entitled Evangelical Convictions: A Theological Exposition of the Statement of Faith of the Evangelical Free Church of America. The exposition I have adapted from that book is shorter and re-drafted to fit the Statement of Faith we are proposing at LAC. I am thankful to my theologian friends—Mike Andrus, Bill Jones, Bill Kynes, David Martin, Ruben Martinez, and Greg Strand—both for the work together and for the opportunity to post this material. Though many contributed to the commentary, the writing was done mainly by Dr. Greg Strand and Dr. Bill Kynes. Your pastor accepts responsibility both for the abridging and for the re-focusing of the commentary now being made available to us.)

Commentary

“Who is this man?” No question is more central to the gospels. After Jesus had declared a paralytic man forgiven,Luke tells us that the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy?” (Luke 5:21). After Jesus stilled a storm and calmed the waves, Mark recounts that his disciples were terrified and asked each other “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” (Mark 4:41). And Matthew records that in the last week of Jesus’ life, when he entered Jerusalem on a donkey, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?” (Matt. 21:10).

The critical turning point in the Gospel plot hinges on this question. Near Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say I am?” Then he turned and asked, “But what about you? Who do you say I am?” (Matt. 16:15; cf. Mark 8:29; Luke 9:20). From that point on, Jesus began to head toward Jerusalem and his death. John makes answering this question of Jesus’ identity his primary concern in writing his Gospel: “These things were written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31).

Jesus Christ has always been a controversial figure. However, unlike other figures in history, the controversy surrounding Jesus of Nazareth has not focused primarily on his teaching, or even on his actions, but on how these point to his identity. His moral instruction has been widely acclaimed and his religious devotion almost universally admired. But the early Christians were not content with describing Jesus simply as a great moral teacher or even as a prophet of God. His words and actions compelled them to turn to the category of divinity in order to explain him. Nothing less would do. Jesus was God incarnate. In Jesus, divinity took on humanity; he was truly God and truly man. This is more than a theological proposition; it is at the heart of the gospel, for we believe that God’s gospel—the good news of God’s saving work—is supremely revealed in the person of Jesus Christ.

I. Jesus’ Identity: He is God Incarnate

Jesus of Nazareth was a man like no other. He preached the Fatherhood of God, but he insisted that he was the Son who stood in a unique relationship with the Father: “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matt. 11:27).

Jesus also spoke about the kingdom of God, but he stood in an unparalleled position within that kingdom. It was present through him (Matt. 12:28), and one’s entry into it depended on one’s response to him (Matt. 25:34–40).

To the spiritually hungry, Jesus says, “I am the bread of life...if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever” (John 6:35, 51). And, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink” (John 7:37; cf. John 4:10). To those groping for illumination in life, Jesus says, “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). To those living under stress and anxiety, he says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). To those who fear death, he says, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me . . . will never die” (John 11:25–26). To those looking for spiritual direction and spiritual reality, Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Jesus claimed that a person’s eternal destiny is determined by one’s relationship with him: “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven” (Matt. 10:32–33). And his demands were unlimited: “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matt. 10:37). What kind of man would so audaciously insist upon such absolute allegiance?

Who is this man?

A. Jesus Christ is Fully God

Jesus put himself in the very place of God, and from the earliest records of the church we find a picture of Jesus as divine. The Apostle Paul spoke of Jesus as the one who was “in very nature God” (Phil. 2:6) and in whom “all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (Col. 2:9; cf. also 1 Cor. 8:4–6). John’s Gospel offers a similar view: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 14; cf. 10:30; 17:5).

The first description of Christian worship from outside the church, written in about A.D. 110 by the Roman governor of Bithynia, Pliny the Younger, to the Emperor Trajan, reinforces this early understanding of Jesus as divine. Speaking of the Christians, he wrote, “They were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god.”[1] He also reported that the Christians refused to worship any other god.

This claim that Jesus was worthy of worship is all the more astounding because it arose within a Jewish context. No group had a more fiercely monotheistic framework, and none would so violently oppose such a practice. In spite of this, the early Jewish believers, after being with Jesus, knew there was no other way to understand him other than identifying him as God.

But this message was also foolishness to the Gentiles. Not only was it ludicrous that a Savior could have been crucified; it was inconceivable that God could become incarnate. To the Greek philosophers, God was transcendent and abstract, existing high above the messiness of this material world. To think of God entering into this world of flesh was abhorrent to the Greeks.

In fact, it was from this philosophical perspective that one of the most significant early attacks on Christian teaching arose. Arius, a popular fourth-century pastor in Alexandria, Egypt, gave Jesus as the Son of God an exalted status, even ascribing to him a form of divinity; but he was convinced that Jesus was not truly equal with God. Arius believed that the Son of God had a beginning in time, even if it was at the beginning of time, while God the Father was eternal.[2]

Arius was an engaging speaker who used certain passages of the Bible to support his view,[3] and a fierce conflict ensued. As it developed, the dispute centered on just one letter, an iota, the smallest letter in the Greek alphabet. One side argued that the relationship of the Son of God with the Father could be described by the Greek word homoiousios, which meant he was of “like substance or being” with the Father; that is, he was semi-divine. The opposition, however, insisted that only the word homoousios would do, a term which meant that Jesus was of the “same substance” with the Father, the very same divine being; that is, he was fully God.

The battle raged in the church for decades.[4] The leading defender of Jesus’ full divinity, Athanasius, was exiled no fewer than five times for holding to his position. But in the end, the truth of his view was recognized, and what we today call the Nicene Creed embodies the conviction that Jesus the Son of God was “very God of very God, begotten not made, of one substance with the Father.” [5] This description best captures what is expressed in the words of both Jesus and the New Testament writers.[6]

Why Does It Matter?

Why does it matter if Jesus is truly divine or not? Isn’t it enough to speak of Jesus simply as a divinely inspired man, a prophetic figure, almost God-like in his character and teaching?

The church, based on the authority of the Bible, has said, “No, it is not enough.” First, only if Jesus is divine can he be a full and complete revelation of God. If Jesus is not God, then how can he be God’s final word, supremely revealing God to us (Heb. 1:1–2)? As Jesus himself said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9; cf. 1:18). If Jesus is not God, how can he declare that only those who hear and obey his words will enter the kingdom of God (cf. Matt. 7:21–27)? And if Jesus is not God, then can we truly say, as Paul does, that God’s love is demonstrated to us when Jesus died on the cross (Rom. 5:8)? Jesus reveals God personally only if he is fully divine.

Second, if Jesus is not God himself come to us, the redemption he brings is powerless to forgive and save. It is God we have offended; only he can take away our sin. Unless Jesus is divine, his death is irrelevant to our moral status before God. We would be left to ourselves, to justify ourselves. Only God can save us, for the Lord says, “I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no savior” (Isa. 43:11). Jesus must be a divine Savior, or he could not save at all.

Because Jesus Christ is fully God, he deserves our devotion, and he is worthy of our worship. But if he were not divine, then such worship would be nothing less than blasphemous.

B. Jesus Christ is Fully Man

Jesus Christ is fully God, but we affirm equally that Jesus Christ is also fully man. Though that seems obvious to most, in fact, the first Christological heresy in the early church concerned this very issue. Among a group called the Gnostics some held to the view that Jesus only “seemed” or “appeared” to be human. In one common form of this belief, “the Christ” was a divine person who came upon the man Jesus at his baptism and then left him immediately before the crucifixion. This view was condemned in the New Testament itself, as John writes, “Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God” (1 John 4:2–3).[7]

During the next two centuries the church wrestled with its understanding of how the biblical teaching about Jesus could be rightly understood. Various views were tested and then rejected. After substantial debate, the bishops at the Council of Constantinople in A.D. 381 affirmed, in harmony with the Bible,[8] that Jesus was a human being in a real and complete sense, with all the qualities that constitute true humanity.

One Person in Two Natures

But how could Jesus Christ be both fully human and fully divine? This is certainly a great mystery. Debates about this took place among Christian leaders in the 5^th century. Through these debates the early church sought to do justice to the picture of Jesus found in the Gospels. Finally, an acceptable formulation emerged from the work of the Council of Chalcedon in 451. The Chalcedonian Creed declared that at the incarnation the eternal Son of God—that divine Person—joined his divine nature with human nature to become the God-man Jesus Christ. Only in the incarnation did the collection of qualities that constitute human nature become realized in this divine Person as Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus Christ is truly God and truly man. He is fully and completely both at the same time, showing us the true nature of each. He is not some mixture of humanity and divinity, creating a third kind of being like a horse and donkey becoming a mule. The Son of God remained God—he never gave up being God, but he added to his divinity real humanity. As God incarnate, the divine subject made real human experience his own, and since the incarnation, the Son of God will forever be human.
The Chalcedonian Creed of 451 asserts the following:

*Jesus was truly God,
*He was truly man,
*Jesus’ deity and humanity were not changed into something else, and
*Jesus was not divided but was one person, and in this one person are two distinct natures, divine and human in all their fullness.

Why Does It Matter?

Why is the true humanity of Jesus so important? Most of all, because our salvation depends upon it. The humanity of Jesus is an essential element of the gospel message. The Epistle to the Hebrews speaks to this issue: “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity. . . . For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people” (Heb. 2:14, 17). The humanity of Christ is also central to Paul’s argument that Jesus has overturned the work of Adam: “For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous” (Rom. 5:19).

Only as God did Christ have the power to bear our sins and conquer them, but only as man was he qualified to do so. As the early church father Irenaeus put it, “He became like us so that we might become like him.”[9] In Christ, God was acting to reconcile the world to himself (2 Cor. 5:19), and at the same time, as a real human being just like us, Jesus Christ could truly serve as our representative before God. “There is one God and one mediator between God and men—the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5).

C. Conceived Through the Holy Spirit, Born of a Virgin

The divine-human character of Jesus Christ is exhibited from the beginning of his earthly life through his miraculous conception. After the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary to announce that she would bear a son, she asked, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:34, 35; cf. also Matt. 1:18–25). Our Statement affirms this fact of Jesus’ birth to a virgin, an affirmation that was embedded in early Christian confessions.

To many in our day, such a miracle of conception is too difficult to accept, but it was scandalous even in the first century, particularly in its Jewish context. The Jews had no sympathy for the myths of the Greeks or for the immoral sexual activity of the Greek gods. Moreover, in a culture extremely sensitive to sexual propriety, the virgin birth of Jesus as it is portrayed in the Gospels is simply not the kind of story that the early Christians would have made up. From the earliest days, stories were circulating about the illegitimacy of the birth of Jesus,[10] and the Christians would have been foolish to throw fuel on the fire by making up a story such as this. It was undoubtedly considered true and important in understanding who Jesus was.

Certainly the virgin birth points to Jesus’ origin as one who came from God. He was the bread of life that came down from heaven, the light of God descending into the darkness of this world. Jesus was not the ideal man who reached up to God. He was God incarnate, God reaching down to man. God graciously entered into human affairs to accomplish his good purposes. That is the picture the Bible offers us, a picture that the virgin birth vividly displays.

Jesus experienced all of human existence from conception to death, from life’s beginning to its end. Jesus’ origin was with God. So, the virgin birth points us ultimately to Jesus’ identity as the divine Son of God. Jesus did not become God’s Son simply because he was born without a human father. The divine person who became Jesus of Nazareth existed in relationship with God the Father from all eternity. He was God’s own Son who became Immanuel, God with us: The creator became a creature; the Word became flesh; the judge became the one who is judged, thus reconciling humanity to himself.

D. Jesus is Israel’s Promised Messiah

Just as a word finds its meaning only in the context of a sentence and then a paragraph, so a human life finds its meaning only within the context of the social and historical setting in which it is lived. For Jesus that setting was clearly first-century Palestinian Judaism and the biblical story of the nation of Israel. For the God who is incarnate in Jesus Christ is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

From the early second century onward, attempts have been made to sever Jesus from his Jewish roots. However, in the infancy narrative of Luke’s Gospel, the angel described the Son who was to be born of Mary in terms of the Old Testament promises: “The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever” (Luke 1:32–33).

Matthew ties Jesus to the story of Israel most clearly of all the Gospel writers. His opening genealogy began with Abraham, the father of Israel, and emphasized Israel’s greatest leader, King David, and the most tragic event of Israel’s history, the exile to Babylon (Matt. 1:1, 6, 11). This national history finds its culmination in the birth of Jesus (1:17).

Paul also understood Jesus as heir to the promises of the Old Testament. In introducing Jesus in his opening words in his letter to the Romans, Paul speaks of him as one “who as to his human nature was a descendant of David” (1:3). He taught that the promise to Abraham to bring blessing through his descendants to all nations was now fulfilled in Christ. “If you belong to Christ,” Paul wrote to the Galatians, “then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Gal. 3:29).

Jesus’ life and ministry cannot be understood rightly apart from the Old Testament story, particularly the promises of God to his people Israel. “Salvation is from the Jews,” Jesus said (John 4:22), and from the one faithful Jew, Jesus the Messiah of Israel, that salvation goes out to the whole world (Rom. 1:5–6; 1 Tim. 2:3–5; 1 John 2:2; Matt. 28:19).

The first followers of Jesus understood him in the light of the Old Testament story, but it is equally true that they could not understand that Old Testament story rightly apart from him. They understood the life and ministry of Jesus Christ to be the interpretive key, the lens of understanding, through which to view the whole Bible. The Epistle to the Hebrews is an extended exposition of this theme. After the coming of the Messiah, the message of the Old Testament was seen in terms of its fulfillment in Christ. Through Jesus the various institutions of Israel—the priesthood, the temple, the sacrifices—take on new meaning, pointing forward to Christ. All are seen as only a shadow of the good things to come, not the realities themselves (Heb. 8:5; 10:1), a conviction expressed also by Paul (Col. 2:17). Even the law itself had a prophetic function, pointing to the filial relationship of faithful love now embodied in Jesus (cf. Matt. 11:13; 5:17).

Jesus personally anchored his coming in the historic context of the people of Israel. He declared that Moses wrote about him (John 5:46). Jesus spoke of himself as the temple, the manna from heaven, the living water, and the true vine (Cf. John 2:19–22; 8:41; 8:37; 15:1)— Old Testament images given new meaning in him and by him. And after his resurrection, with the two men on the road to Emmaus, “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). To his disciples, Jesus said, “Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms” (Luke 24:44). Although Christians recognize two Testaments, they embrace one Bible with Jesus, as Israel’s promised Messiah, being the key holding them together.

II. Jesus’ Life

From considering Jesus’ identity, we move to a few aspects of his life that are central to the gospel message. The gospel is not a code of ethics or a philosophy of life, much less a myth or legend. The Christian message is essentially a declaration of the saving acts of God in history, as he has come into our world personally in Jesus Christ. Here we highlight four aspects of that historical revelation in Christ, with a fuller exposition of their meaning reserved for Article 5.

A. Jesus Lived Without Sin

Jesus lived the life in history that we were meant to live by God but have not lived. Jesus is that light of the world who always lived in faithful obedience to his Father. “He committed no sin,” Peter affirms of Jesus, enabling him to “die for our sins, once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous” (1 Pet. 3:18). John made the same connection: “You know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin” (1 John 3:5). As did Paul: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21).

The Epistle to the Hebrews speaks of Jesus’ sinlessness as his supreme qualification to serve as our great High Priest. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yetwas without sin” (Heb. 4:15). His offering of himself to God was “unblemished” (Heb. 9:14), for “unlike the other high priests, [Jesus] does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people” (Heb. 7:27), for he is “holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners” (v. 26).

B. Jesus was Crucified under Pontius Pilate

We will expound upon the meaning of the crucifixion in the next chapter, but here we emphasize its reality. Jesus, the Son of God, was crucified and died. This was a real historical event, located in space and time by the reference to Pontius Pilate, who served as the governor of the Roman province of Judea during the reign of Tiberias Caesar (Luke 3:1).[11]

Why is the fact of Jesus’ horrible death given such prominence in a statement of Christian belief? Jesus knew that his calling entailed suffering. He was to be a crucified Messiah (cf., e.g., Matt. 16:21; 20:19; 26:2). To his disciples, this was unthinkable. Peter rebuked him when he first spoke openly of his coming fate (Matt. 16:22). But such a fate was a part of God’s perfect plan revealed in his Word. “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken,” Jesus said to the confused men on the road to Emmaus after his resurrection. “Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” (Luke 24:25–26). Suffering was essential to his role as Messiah. He was, in effect, born to die.

Jesus’ death on a cross is not incidental to the Christian message; it is essential. Paul considered it as of “first importance,” part of the core of the gospel (1 Cor. 15:1–3). To the Corinthians, he said, “I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). Describing the message he preached to the Galatians, Paul declared, “Before your very eyes, Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified” (Gal. 3:1). “We preach Christ crucified” (1 Cor. 1:23).

C. Jesus Arose Bodily from the Dead

The crucifixion of Jesus is central to the gospel, but if Jesus had remained in the grave, there would have been no gospel at all. When Jesus was arrested and then executed by the powers of the day, his disciples fled in fear for their lives. Peter denied even knowing Jesus to a lowly servant girl (Matt. 26:69–70). After Jesus’ execution, his followers were disconcerted, discouraged, and demoralized (cf. Luke 24:17–21).

But on the third day, their despair turned to great joy. Jesus was raised from the grave in an act of divine power, and he appeared to them in bodily form. It was an unusual body, to be sure (cf. Luke 24:30–32, 36; John 20:19, 26), but he was no ghost (cf. Luke 24:40–43). The tomb was empty. He appeared at various times and places to various people, including a group of over five hundred at one time (1 Cor. 15:5–6), giving “many convincing proofsthat he was alive” (Acts 1:3). The same Jesus who died was raised to new life—a new kind of life.

Jesus’ resurrection was no mere resuscitation, leading once more to death, as was the case with Lazarus (John 11). It was resurrection—a life now immune from death. Jesus had conquered death and now existed in a new incorruptible form, a glorified body, never to die again (cf. 1 Cor. 15:53; Phil. 3:21; Heb. 7:24). The Son of God was forever united to humanity in this new bodily form.

The existence of the Christian church is inexplicable apart from the reality of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Nothing else can explain the transformation of the disciples and their message of victory over sin and death to be found in Jesus Christ. The resurrection was the divine vindication of the person and work of Jesus as God’s Messiah. The verdict of the human court was overturned by a higher authority. As Paul wrote, Jesus was “declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:4).

Without the resurrection there simply is no “good news.” If Christ has not been raised, Paul wrote, our preaching is useless, our faith is futile, and we are still in our sins (1 Cor. 15:14, 17). But Christ has been raised! “Let all Israel be assured of this,” Peter declared. “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36).

D. Jesus Ascended to the Father’s Right Hand

The vindication of Jesus did not end with his resurrection from the grave. He was also exalted to the place of highest honor at the right hand of the Father (Acts 2:33). After appearing to his disciples in various contexts over a period of forty days, Jesus was visibly taken from his disciples in a cloud (Acts 1:9)—a symbol of the divine presence—as a dramatic display of his new status and new home. With this ascension to heavenly glory, Jesus is said to have taken his seat at the Father’s right hand (Col. 3:1; Eph. 1:20; Heb. 1:3; 8:1–2; 10:12; 12:2; Rev. 3:21).

Jesus’ ascension to the Father’s right hand is significant for several reasons. First, it signifies that Jesus shares in the kingly rule of his Father as Lord of heaven and earth, “far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come” (Eph. 1:21). Jesus has been exalted to the highest place and has been given the name that is above every name—he is Lord (Phil. 2:9–11; cf. Isa. 45:23). As the lamb upon the throne, he is worthy of all worship (Rev. 5:11–14), and he has been appointed as the judge of all (Matt. 25:31; Acts 17:31; Rom. 2:16; 2 Cor. 5:10). Whereas angels stand or fall down in worship in God’s presence (1 Kings 22:19; Rev. 4:10), the exalted Son sits.

Second, the ascension of Jesus results in his sending the Holy Spirit. On the Day of Pentecost, Peter spoke of this: “Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear” (Acts 2:33). Jesus was going away, but he was not abandoning his disciples. He would be present with them through the Spirit whom he would send from the Father (John 15:26; 16:7).

Finally, as is specifically mentioned in our SOF, Jesus’ ascension to the Father’s right hand points to his role as our great high priest. In contrast to the priests of the old covenant, who stood in the temple offering the same sacrifices day after day (and which could never take away sins), Jesus, as our high priest, offered for all time one sacrifice for sin and sat down at the right hand of God (Heb. 10:11–12; also 1:3). He had completed the task; his earthly work was done, for he had offered a sacrifice of permanent efficacy. More than that, he lives forever to be our continual advocate with the Father, exercising a perpetual priestly role (Heb. 7:23–25; 1 John 2:1). He is at the right hand of God interceding for us (Rom. 8:34). “Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him” (Heb. 7:25). The heavenly vindication of Jesus at the right hand of the Father will be joined to an earthly recognition of his exalted status when he comes again in glory.

Conclusion

God’s gospel is made known supremely in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the definitive and final revelation of the saving grace of God in the world (cf. Heb. 1:2). Our next article concerns the work of Christ, which cannot be separated from his person. Jesus Christ can do what he does only because he is who he is, i.e., God incarnate, fully God and fully man, Israel’s promised Messiah.

To God's glory alone,

 

Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor

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Daily Devotionals

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Article 4: Who Jesus Is - Human and Divine
We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, one Person in two natures. Jesus, Israel's promised Messiah, was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest and Advocate.

Family Devotional for the Week
Luke 24:7 (Read as a Family)

Have you ever had something happen that was so wonderful that your brain had a hard time believing it? One year my family moved from New York to Chicago, leaving our grandparents and cousins behind. Now the holidays were here, and we were away from the usual big family gatherings, and we felt sad. To make things worse, my parents announced one night just before Christmas vacation that we had to pile in the car and drive to the airport. Our dad had to pick up a business associate. Nothing could be more boring than your dad's business associate at a boring airport just before a boring vacation. But we were given no choice.

Glumly, we climbed into the car. We sat in silence, unhappily enduring an unpleasant errand. At O'Hare Airport, we filed out of the car and into the building, and began The Wait. Passengers arrived from other airplanes. Families greeted one another, bags of gifts hanging off their arms. "Sure," we thought. "You get to have a family Christmas." We sighed a collective sigh. Finally the loudspeaker announced the arrival of the plane we were waiting for. We plodded over to the gate. The passengers poured out of the plane. We looked, but for who? We didn't even know what this business associate looked like.

Suddenly, my parents got excited. The passengers were all out now. And coming down the jetway right toward us were our Grandpa and Grandma! What?! These were the "business associates?" My brother and sister and I were dazed, but thrilled! Our heads were trying to understand what had just happened. What a wonderful thing to figure out!

I wonder if Jesus' friends felt something like we felt that night? Some women who loved Jesus felt the saddest they had ever felt. Jesus had died a few days before, and his body had been put in a tomb. The women waited until after the Sabbath to go wrap his body in spices, for burial. But when they arrived, they found...nothing. Two men who gleamed like lightning appeared. "He is not here!" they said. "He is risen! Remember how he told you: the Son of Man must be delivered over to sinners, be crucified, and on the third day be raised again!"

What?! The women were dazed but thrilled. Their heads were trying to understand what had just happened. What a wonderful thing to figure out!

• Share a time when something so good happened that you could hardly believe it! What was this like? Describe how you felt, and especially talk about the moment when you were just realizing it was true! (this may work best if adults start the conversation)

Pray: End your time in prayer, thanking Jesus for coming into our world.

~Carol Kenyon

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Monday
John 1:1-14

These bodies we live in, they are difficult. Our bodies get us into trouble all the time, don't they? We eat too much food, hoping it will satisfy us; some of us don't eat enough food, thinking we'll have control; we judge other people based on their body type or skin color; we allow our sexual desires to take over pretty much everything else. Our bodies are needy. They are constantly giving us messages: "I'm thirsty! I'm cold! Feed me! That hurts!" Life in a body is a difficult road. And sometimes it's easy to think that we'd be better off without them, to be spiritual beings without having to worry about this fleshy outer casing.

But then we remember that Jesus came in a body. The God of the Universe put on flesh and, as Eugene Peterson says, "moved into the neighborhood." He didn't just dip his toe into the human story; he jumped in head first. Jesus was a human being and did human-being-like things. He cried, he sweated, he was thirsty, and ultimately he died.

God chooses to break into our lives in a way we can understand; not in some abstract approach but through a guy who sweat and needed food to survive just like us. We don't have to be perfect or super-spiritualized to get to know Jesus. He came down and met us in our humanity, and he died to make us whole.

Take a few moments in silence. Confess the ways your body trips you up and causes you to sin. Contemplate what it means to be in a body: Breathe deeply 5 times. Stretch your arms to the sky and bend to touch your toes. Thank God for creating you in his image and for coming into the world as a human being. Thank Him for bringing his light, life, and hope to a broken world, and for saving us.

~Annie Neufeld

 

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Tuesday
Matthew 16.13-16

"Who do the people say the Son of Man is?"

How would people answer this question today? Researchers have surveyed people and asked them this question. Here's how people tend to answer: 1) Jesus was a good man; 2) Jesus was a good teacher; and/or 3) Jesus was a moral leader. All of these things are great! But this isn't the end of the story.

The problem is that people today want Jesus to fit in their box. Jesus was a good man, but if he does something that I don't agree with or calls me to something hard, then I'll dismiss him. Jesus was a good teacher, but if he tries to teach me something that calls my selfishness into question, then I'll ignore him. And Jesus was a moral leader, but if the morality that he based his leadership on is different than mine, then I'll disregard him.

And before we start thinking that our day and age is worse off than previous generations, just look back at our text. Some people wanted Jesus to be John the Baptist, a prophet in the wilderness that can easily be forgotten when life as usual begins again. Others thought Jesus was like Elijah, the prophet that would usher in their military rescue from Rome. And still others thought that Jesus was like Jeremiah or one of the other prophets, who were easily ignored and even killed for what they said.

We humans have this ongoing tendency to ignore and dismiss and disregard Jesus. We want a Jesus we can fit neatly in a box of our own making.

But Peter was right. Jesus is the Messiah! He's the Son of the living God! And as such, Jesus can't be ignored or dismissed or disregarded. He should be trusted and followed.

Will you trust and follow Jesus today?

~Matt Barnes

 

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Wednesday
Matthew 1:18

One of the great joys of my life as a parent of married children is the announcement one day to me and my wife at some hastily planned dinner party: "Mom, Dad, we have some special news to share with you! Can you guess? (Of course, we knew all along!!!) We are expecting!!!" Pandemonium breaks out! Questions are blurted out by everyone at once: How long have you known? Do you know the gender yet? When is the baby due? So, the future young parents patiently answer all the questions with a huge grin on their faces! There is nothing but JOY and EAGER ANTICIPATION in the room on such an occasion!

With Mary and Joseph in this story, it is different! They are not married...yet! They were engaged and certainly "an item", but no wedding had taken place. In that culture and at that time, this was a punishable offense. Nobody was expecting this kind of announcement yet! In fact, one of the persons most surprised, was Joseph, the "supposed" father of the child forming in Mary's womb. He knew that he had not been intimate with Mary and therefore, could not be the father of the child. Mary's parents must have also been surprised and shocked at the news! Their daughter would not have done this "to them," would she have?

Put yourself into Mary's shoes: What thoughts and feelings were coursing through her when the news "leaked out?" How about Joseph? What was he thinking and feeling? How should he react if he wasn't the "cause" of the pregnancy? And, how about Mary's parents? What were they to do now with the wedding plans? How would they explain this to their family and friends?

Scripture very clearly cuts through all of this and provides an explanation that fulfills an Old Testament promise (Isaiah 7:14) and demonstrates God's amazing love, grace and wisdom towards all peoples: Mary is "with child" by the Holy Spirit! This is what is referred to as the "virgin birth". A child is conceived in Mary's womb without the usual human processes. And yet, the child is fully human and fully God. God became man and dwelt among us! This is a GREAT MYSTERY, but at the same time, a PROFOUND TRUTH in Scripture that is the basis for the Gospel message, "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

Father, thank you for this incredible gift of forgiveness for my sin that Jesus has done for me through his death on the cross and thank you that you have given me new life in Christ and welcomed me into your forever family!

~Roger Bosch

 

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Thursday
2 Corinthians 5:21

In my household we love submarine movies. It's almost like make a movie set in, or dominated by a submarine and it guarantees you will have a successful movie...think about it, surf Netflix or Amazon and you will see I am right!

Often there is a critical moment in these films where the sub's hull has been compromised and water is pouring in. In this damaged area is a critical valve or knob that must be manipulated in order to have a chance to save the ship and its crew. Often, it's up to one man to enter that space and perform the necessary function knowing he will not come out alive, but his action will save the remaining crew. We love that stuff don't we, the heroic act of the one for the benefit of others. Put it on film in a pressure-packed submarine descending to 'crush-depth', now you really have something!

There is no human comparison – real or analogous –that touches on the depth, breadth or impact of the character and the mission of Christ. Our capacity to understand is limited by our own humanness. The best we can do is attempt to grasp and communicate truths as in our 4th Statement of Faith like "God incarnate", 'one person and two natures", "Messiah," "sinless." Christ is who we could not be and has done what we could not do.
I firmly believe there are some truths of God that I will never fully understand in this life; our 4th Statement is filled with them. I don't believe on this side of eternity I can possible grasp the profundity of the statement nor the deep, humbling truth Paul wrote to the church in Corinth...that in Christ we might become the righteousness of God. How is that possible? It isn't, humanly. I know this at the core of my being. I know who I am and isn't that the point? God knows too and he sent his son precisely because he knows who I am.

Father, let us never forget how truly amazing grace is. Jesus, as our High Priest and Advocate, I thank you anew for your work on the cross on my behalf. You did the thing I could never do and you did it knowing the cost to be paid. Today by the Spirit's empowerment, would you help me to walk in wonder of this grace in a fresh way? Make me an instrument of this grace in word and deed to someone who specifically needs to know and experience grace, freedom and forgiveness in you today. Amen

~Scott White

 

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Friday
Isaiah 53:5

This is a difficult passage to read in many ways. The words that Isaiah uses to describe Christ's sacrifice reveal a brutal death: crushed, pierced, the weight of sin and the chastisement that he bore. By no fault of his own did he go to the cross; it was for you and me.

Music has been written to try and describe the immense weight and pain of this sacrifice that Christ gave to us through dying on the cross. As you read this verse and contemplate the pain and anguish Christ experienced and take time to listen to a piece of music that describes this passage using both vocal and instrumental idioms. It is from the work MESSIAH, written over 200 years ago by George Frederick Handel. Within this work you will hear this particular scripture passage sung by a chorus, with the orchestra reinforcing the musical anguish and weight of our sin under the text.

Here's how to go about this:
Go to YouTube and find the recording of Chorus #24, "Surely He Hath Borne Our Griefs", performed by The Royal Choral Society of London. http://youtu.be/63tsdDnJtdQ

Follow the action items below as you listen:

Hear the portrayal of the weight in the opening part with the orchestra. Notice the sharp rhythms that give the feeling of nails being driven into the cross.

Listen carefully as the choir sings the text of this scripture. They emphasize words like "surely" and "chastisement", making the meaning of the text come alive in the music.

Notice the intensity of the music. It is written this way in order to bring out the meaning of the scripture.

Look at 2 additional scriptures that coincide with the passage in Isaiah: Matthew 8:17 and 1 Peter 2:24

~Duane Funderburk

 

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Saturday
Luke 24:7

One summer, unthinkable tragedy struck a family we loved, and we walked with them through the mind-numbing days of burying someone who wasn't supposed to die. Those first days were filled with appointments and phone calls and "arrangements." I came to hate that word. It was an emotionless substitute for words nobody could bear to mouth, confirming a truth that shouldn't be true.

Luke's words also sound factual, prescriptive, and surprisingly un-miraculous...a simple list of things that are to happen in a certain order. However, when read where they belong, and adding in the deep love of those caring for Jesus' body, they are incredible! Women who love Jesus have witnessed his humiliating public death by crucifixion. They need to do something with their love, their grief; something for him. And so they busied themselves with the preparation of spices and ointments to wrap his body: "arrangements." Attending to Jesus after his death helped them begin to come to terms with the terrible reality of their loss.

And that's what makes the angel's words so wonderful! Expecting to finish a job they dreaded, the grieving women were met with...what? A tomb that was supposed to be guarded by a huge rock, wasn't. Jesus' body nowhere to be found. "While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them." This was too much—the women crumpled to the ground!
The men spoke. Beautiful, absurd words hung in the air: "Why do you look for the living among the dead?"
Yes, why? the women wondered.
"He is not here; he has risen!" the men who gleamed like lightning continued. "Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee..."
And now it began to make sense. Jesus' own words, spoken so recently, now repeated by men in dazzling clothes: "The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again."

Then they remembered that Jesus had said this!
And everything changed.
Everything.
Forever.

Jesus had to die.
He said so himself.
And he had to live. Never to die again.

The women rushed to tell the others! What would they do with the news?

And this is where we come in.
Jesus is risen from the dead!
What will we do with the news?

Think about:
What if you'd been a witness to Jesus' physical death, and then happened upon the scene with these women? What would be your response?
How would that have changed your day?
How does this truth change this day?

Almighty God, what a wonderful display of your might, made more stunning by its contrast with Jesus' brutal punishment and death. Thank you for choosing to love us in powerful ways. Let us be amazed by You, as were these women. Help us to see You, to recognize You, to know You.

~Carol Kenyon