Jesus as Lord
This article is part of a series here at More Than Sundays about the identities of Christ. If you struggle with understanding who Jesus is and why He is important, we pray that these articles will help you gain that understanding and come to know Christ more fully. Please enjoy!
Was there ever a time you were extremely aware of your humanness? Maybe at a time you were sick with a bad flu – your health was debilitated, your confidence and routine were out the window, and your dignity was barely – if at all – intact. Did you realize in those moments how limited and vulnerable you actually are? There have been many times in my life where I have been starkly aware of my humanness, and it’s a little scary to remember my condition. I like to believe I’m in control and untouchable and sturdy in hard circumstances. But when hard, uncomfortable, or even slightly inconvenient things come my way, I am quickly humbled. It’s these moments in life especially that I am grateful to know a God who is completely untouchable, in control, and sturdy. This same God came to earth in human form and fully lived out the human experience: messy, smelly, probably knocked down by something like food poisoning, and hit with heartbreak and loss. He knows where I’ve been in my own hard times because He’s physically lived them, and He knows the eternal purpose behind it all because He is infinite, all-knowing, and the source of all goodness. We know a God who humbled Himself to become a human yet never compromised His holiness. We know Jesus as Lord.
The belief that Jesus is the one true God is foundational to our faith as Christians. There are people who believe that Jesus was a great teacher, but they don’t believe He was God. There are people who believe in God, or a god, but who don’t believe that Jesus is God. As Christians, we believe that Jesus was the best teacher because He is God. When Jesus came to earth to live life as a man – beginning with His birth as a baby and ending with His ascension on the mountain – He was not separated from His God-ness, but He also was fully human. This can be hard to grasp because we understand things in our finite terms, but this is where faith comes in, where the Word of God inspires trust, and where the Holy Spirit illuminates the truth within us.
The whole story of the Bible is about God’s connection to humans and His story of redeeming us from our sin. This story hit its climax when Jesus died on the Cross and resurrected from the grave, defeating death forever. Before Jesus came, in order to be cleansed from their sins, God’s people (the Israelites) had to offer spotless animal sacrifices to temporarily atone for their sins. (If you want to know the grueling specifics of this sacrificial system, read Leviticus). This was probably a very messy and unpleasant experience, but it shows the magnitude of our sin and what it requires in order for us to be cleansed. So, when God had a plan to eternally redeem His people, it had to be serious. The sacrifice couldn’t be just the flesh of an animal, and it couldn’t be a human stained with the inheritance of sin, but it also couldn’t just be the Spirit of God. It had to be living blood that took the place of ours. God knew this from the beginning and already had a plan.
Jesus: Fully God
John 1:1-4 (ESV) says, “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 were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” Jesus was with God from the beginning of time. He was there when the world was formed. It’s even believed by many scholars that the preincarnate Jesus is seen in the Old Testament; these instances are called “Christophanies”. (I’ll link a resource below with these occurrences). From the beginning of time and through the Old Testament, Jesus was there alongside God the Father, and they worked in unity towards this epic plan of redemption. When He lived His life on earth as a man, He did not give up His holiness and perfection. He had to live a perfect life in order to redeem us. When He died and rose again, this was the ultimate picture of redemption and the power of God. But Jesus’ day-to-day life and ministry were also filled with examples of the power and reality of God: miraculous healing, spiritual authority, selfless love, and knowing people’s thoughts. We see Jesus heal many physical ailments like blindness, illness, and even death. But what’s more telling of His power is the spiritual authority not only to heal physical conditions but also to forgive people’s sinful condition, such as when He tells the adulterous woman that He does not condemn her and to go and sin no more (John 8:11). He rebukes demons and the enemy, and the enemy is physically thrown out and thrown back by His authority (Matthew 8:31, John 18:6). There is also something otherworldly about the love of Jesus through His ministry and life. He doesn’t just go around like some spiritual guru neutrally healing and teaching; His love is intentional and personal. Jesus’ love is one that reclines at the table, touches the leper, washes feet, feels the touch of His robe, and sees the adulterous woman. Jesus is the embodiment of love and righteousness. Jesus is fully God.
Jesus: Fully Human
We see in the prophetic passage of Psalm 22:9-10 (ESV) a picture of the very beginning of not only everyone’s life, but Jesus’ life too: “Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts. On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.” The ultimate condition of our humanity is perfectly illustrated in the life of a newborn: We rely fully on the caregivers around us to keep us alive; we are completely helpless on our own. Jesus’ first act of humility was simply entering the world as a baby: the most powerless of all beings. Through the Gospels that tell of Jesus’ life, we see many aspects of His humanness. Even though He was God, we see His reliance on God the Father. We see this when He prays to God through His life and even on the cross (Luke 23:34 and 36, Mark 6:46, John 17). We see Jesus hungry and physically weak in the desert (Matthew 4:2). We see Jesus express profound emotions and even see Him weep, both when his friend Lazarus dies (John 11:35) and when Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane, deeply dreading the gruesome death that awaits Him (Matthew 26:38-39). Jesus also does one of the most human of all activities and takes a nap (Matthew 8:23 27). He was not some limitless, untiring, superhuman during His life on earth. When He took on the form of man, He was perfect but not immune to the earthly experience. Hebrews 4:14-15 (ESV) says, “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” For me, there is almost nothing more comforting than when I feel understood; it is a deep breath, a wipe of the tears, a hug – all on the soul-level. Here, we are comforted with the fact that Jesus understands us. He has been here; He’s experienced the hurt and betrayal of life– probably more than any of us. Through it all He was fully God, too, and that is why He was able to selflessly love those around Him throughout all His days and ultimately through His death on the Cross.
There is so much about God that is going to be outside of our understanding – not every aspect of His existence is going to be comprehensible to our limited minds, and that is what makes Him God and us not God. Like John Mark Comer says, “If you treat God like a formula, you’ll just end up mad and confused” (Comer, 2017). While we can’t comprehend God, we can know Him closely and intimately through our Savior Jesus. It’s obvious that we are a messed-up people, and it’s obvious that we live in a messed-up world; no matter how hard we individually or collectively strive, something sad, annoying, tragic, or inconvenient will happen. This is where it makes sense that we need saving, and that saving has to be serious. It makes sense that we needed someone outside of ourselves and outside of our bounds to rescue us. We needed Jesus: fully man, and fully God.
Resources
Christophanies in the Old Testament: https://www.clintbyars.com/blog/2020/7/20/jesus-fulfilled-over-300-prophecies
References
Comer, John Mark. God Has a Name. Thomas Nelson, 2017.