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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

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

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

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

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

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

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