The Faith's Foundations - Part 5: Jesus

Introduction

Picture Illustration: Who is Jesus?

Culture and other religions:

Google, genie, superhero, Mormon white Jesus, buddy, some angelic glorified being, liberal theology does not even know who he is do they started a quest to find out who he is

Very popular: he was a great moral example, guy

Evangelicalism:

Illustration: Evangelicals Jesus was just a great teacher

Illustration: Evangelicals Jesus was first created being

Christians throughout history:

The Council of Nicea (AD 325)

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made; of the same essence as the Father. Through him all things were made.

The Council of Chalcedon (AD 451):

Truly God and Truly man

1. Jesus is Truly God

In the Old Testament

Isaiah 40:3 (NASB95)

A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.

Malachi 3:1 (NASB95)

“Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the Lord of hosts.

Implications:

(1) The Messiah would be God Himself

Isaiah 9:6 (NASB95)

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

Micah 5:2 (NASB95)

“But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.”

Psalm 110 (NASB95)

A Psalm of David. The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” The Lord will stretch forth Your strong scepter from Zion, saying, “Rule in the midst of Your enemies.” Your people will volunteer freely in the day of Your power; In holy array, from the womb of the dawn, Your youth are to You as the dew. The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind, “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.” The Lord is at Your right hand; He will shatter kings in the day of His wrath. He will judge among the nations, He will fill them with corpses, He will shatter the chief men over a broad country. He will drink from the brook by the wayside; Therefore He will lift up His head.

(2) A Divine Messiah (Jesus) was not an Invention

Re: Bart Ehrman, How Jesus Became God

In the New Testament

Divine Titles

Son of Man - Daniel 7:13–14 ““I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. “And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.”

Son of God - John 5:17–18 “But He answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.” For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.”

Lord - “Master” - used in LXX to translate the name of God “I AM”

Divine Works

He is the Creator – John 1:3– “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.”

He is the Ruler – Colossians 1:17 – “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

He is the Redeemer – Mark 2:7 – “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Divine Worship

John 20:28 “Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!””

Called Divine

John 1:1–5 NASB95

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

Implications:

(1) Jesus had to be God to pay the punishment for sin

A mere man could not pay the punishment for sin for all of humanity.

(2) Jesus had to be God to overcome death

A mere man does not and could not ever have absolute control over anything in the universe, esp death.

Revelation 1:17–18 “When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.”

=> Jesus was not merely a man. He was/is God. He is the same essence, being as God.

Homoousios Illustration of Santa Clause

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made; of the same essence as the Father. Through him all things were made.

Hark! the Herald Angels Sing

Christ, by highest heav’nadored, Christ, the everlasting Lord: Late in time behold Him come, Offspring of a virgin’s womb. Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, Hail th’ incarnate Deity! Pleased as man with man to dwell, Jesus our Immanuel.

2. Jesus is Truly Man

Truly Man

In the early church, this was an issue. False teaching known as Docetism. Much of 1 John is about this issue. Consistently emphasizes the point that if we deny that Jesus came in the flesh, then we are not of God.

Jesus was a physical human being

John 1:14–18 (NASB95)

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ ” For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

Hebrews 2:14 “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.”

Jesus was born like all other humans

Luke 2:7 “And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”

Jesus was miraculously conceived by the Holy Spirit. (Not to be confused with the Roman Catholic doctrine “Immaculate Conception.” Not an official doctrine until 1854.)

Jesus grew physically like all other human beings.

Luke 2:40 “The Child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.”

Jesus experienced hunger and thirst

Matthew 4:2 “And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry.”

Jesus experienced fatigue

Matthew 8:24 “And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep.”

Jesus experienced human emotions:

Bereavement (Luke 7:13)

Helplessness (Mark 6:34)

Sorrow (John 11:35)

Love and Compassion (Mark 10:21; John 11:5; 13:23; 19:26)

Anger (Mark 3:5)

Jesus was human exactly as we are. Hebrews 2:17 “Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”

Sinless Man

1 Peter 2:22–23 “. . . who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.”

Christian comedian Michael Jr. on being Jesus’ brother James.

Implications:

(1) Jesus had to be truly human so he could save us from our sins:

Hebrews 2:17 “Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”

Gregory of Nanzianzus (AD 329-389): “What has not been assumed cannot be healed.” => “What has not been taken on (human nature) cannot be saved.”

A “like for like”

(2) Jesus had to be sinless so he could serve as the appropriate sacrifice for our sins; he had to be a perfect, sinless human.

(3) Jesus knows what it’s like to be human

Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.”

This is one major difference between the Christian faith and all other religious views: our God become one of us.

3. What This Means for Us

We must affirm that Jesus is Truly God and Truly Man

It is foundational to the Faith. It is an absolutely essential and necessary belief.

All other teachings about Jesus are heretical.

Jesus was not a mere man, not just a good teacher, not a white man who came to show us how to live, note a genie, not our buddy, not superman, not the first created being, not Satan’s brother, not a “wayshow-er,” not just a prophet.

He was/is the God-man. God who took on flesh.

We have a Decision to Make

CS Lewis Lord, lunatic, liar:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell.

You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

If Christ is who he said he was, he is of the utmost importance:

CS Lewis quote: “Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important."

The Jesus Choice Illustration

If Christian: you also have a decision to make

To be interested in Jesus or be commited to him as Lord/Master of your life

Be Ready to be Changed

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

But you must believe in him and trust him, and repent.

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.” ― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity