CHAPTER 5
THE PERSON OF CHRIST
When the Lord Jesus rode on a donkey into Jerusalem, the people asked an important question. They said, 'who is this?' We do need to know the answer. Who was Jesus? Who is Jesus?
1. He was not an ordinary man. He was (and is) God. He is almighty. He can do anything.
Before He ever came to Earth, before ever He was born at Bethlehem, He lived as God in Heaven. Two children's hymns are very helpful:
He came down to earth from Heaven,
Who is God and Lord of all.
Jesus, who lived above the sky,
Came down to be a Man, and die.
2. He was a real Man. He was born. Though He had no human father, He had a human mother, Mary. He was hungry. He felt pain. He was weary (on the well at Samaria). He cried (at Lazarus' grave). He was asleep (at the back of the ship).
3. He was completely free from sin. The Bible says, 'Holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners' (Hebrews 7: 26). He never did, or said, or thought anything that was wrong.
He could be tempted but could not sin ('impeccable'); His human life never existed apart from His being God.
When we are tempted, we often sin. We are like those lovely rock pools by the sea; they seem so clear, but if you take a stick and stir the bottom they are immediately cloudy and dark. Not so the Lord Jesus. When Satan came with his stick to stir, there was nothing for him to work on.
Pilate tried hard, but he could 'find no fault in the Man'.
The Roman soldier by the cross said, 'Certainly this was a righteous Man.'
Even Satan can find no flaw, no fault.
When God the Father looks down from Heaven He says, 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' His dear Son has perfectly fulfilled His law.
Girls and boys sometimes ask: 'How can we be sure that Jesus is God?'
1. Well, there are lots of passages that clearly tell us He is ('the Bible tells me so'). For instance, 'In the beginning was the Word [i.e. the Lord Jesus], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God' (John 1: 1). 'Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever' (Romans 9: 5). 'But unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever' (Hebrews 1: 8).
A man once asked the question, 'If Jesus is truly God, why doesn't the Bible say so?'
He was asked in return exactly what he would like it to say.
'Something like, "This is the true God".'
He was immediately shown 1 John 5: 20—speaking of Jesus—'This is the true God.'
2. But then:
Jesus is to be worshipped—and we must worship only God. We are to pray to Him—and we can pray to none but God. He performed wonderful miracles—as a proof that He is God. His resurrection is a proof that He is God—only a man that is God can rise by His own power.
Some girls and boys can say:
That Christ is God I can avouch,
And for His people cares;
For I have prayed to Him as such,
And He has heard my prayers.
Though Jesus died, He rose again, and then went back up into Heaven. He is there—still a real Man, but now for ever 'crowned with glory and honour'.
Some people say, T believe that Jesus was a good Man, but I cannot believe He was God.' Well, it must be one or the other; it cannot be both. After all that Jesus said, claiming to be who He is, if He is not God, then He cannot be a good Man.
Like the wise men we would come with another question: 'where is he?' We want to find Him, and know Him, to worship and to love Him.
WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST?
Suggested Bible readings
Matthew 1: 18-25, and chapter 2 give an account of the birth of Jesus, and also Luke 1: 26-38, and chapter 2.
Read also Psalms 45 and 72, John 1:1-14, and Hebrews 1 and 2.
Wherever you read in the Gospel according to John you will find he stresses that Jesus is God.