Grace does not only reveal what Jesus did (dying on the cross to save
us), but who He is (The Son of God that became a man). Sadly, the only
thing that most people seem to take account of is what He did, but until
we know who Jesus is, we will not fully, and adequately esteem what He
did. So, let's consider who He is.
1. His Divinity: According to the prophet Micah, in Micah 5:2, "But
thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of
Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler
in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."
In this passage, we see two things about the Messiah, His humanity and
deity. He is one who came from eternity. In John1:1, He is introduced to
us the Word that was in the beginning with God, and was God. In these
two passages, Jesus is revealed as God.
2. His incarnation:
Earlier we saw in Micah 5:2 about the Messiah that He was to come out
of Bethlehem. This indicates that the same person whose going forth is
from of old, everlasting, was to be born in Bethlehem, denoting His
humanity. Of the same person that Apostle John introduced as the Word
who was in the beginning with God, and is God, we are told in John 1:14,
that He became flesh and dwelt among us. In these two passages, Jesus
is revealed as a man.
Redemption
needed the shedding of innocent blood, and as God, He could not do this
because God does not have blood; He is Spirit, therefore, He took the
form of sinful flesh so that He could die in the sinner's behalf.
This
is the God-Man who the gospel calls us to. If He was only God, He could
not have been able to redeem us, and if He was just a man, it would
have been impossible for Him to have redeemed us. In Him, everything
that was required of a Saviour was complete. So, to answer the question,
who is Jesus? We will say that He is God who became a man to be the
propitiation for the sin of the world. It is only as this is known of
Him that we can fully appreciate what He did for us on the cross: God
became a man to procure for us salvation. So, you see, what you do with
Jesus is equal to what you do with God.
Toni
