Today I want to talk about Jesus! Today I want to talk about THE MAN. Could there possibly be a more wonderful subject to talk about? Well we all know that Jesus is the Son of God, but today I want to focus on the Man. Have you ever wondered why Jesus consistently referred to himself as "the Son of man"? When we think of Him, we always think of the Son of God. What was His point?
All human beings are sons of men. We are all descendants of Adam. We all have a father. Some people may not know who there father is, but everyone has one. Jesus had a Father too, God, but He was born of woman. The difference between us and Jesus was that the seed planted in Mary was from the Father (God), not from man. The bible says that Jesus was the first begotten Son of God, the same way we are begotten of our father. I do not want to dwell on this but I think it is important to add that the virgin Mary was not penetrated, but there was literal sperm from God, that mixed with her human egg. So from the point of the seed mixing with the human egg, everything happened the same way that it always happens with any human birth. The bible says this is a big mystery but I would add that this, or any information about our Saviour is vital, because how the Gospel unfolds, further personalizes Him to us. So why did Jesus keep promoting His humanity, not His deity? And why after healing someone, did Jesus tell them not to tell anyone? Why at first, did He not want anyone to know that He was God in the flesh? These are wonderful questions that need explaining and there is great power in this knowledge of the Man Christ Jesus.
Mt 16:13 ¶ When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the SON OF MAN am?
Mt 16:14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.
Mt 16:15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
Mt 16:16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Mt 16:20 Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.
Why did He say to tell no man that He was the Son of God? I will see if I can explain this. I do not understand all this myself, but like a man once said "I don't understand electricity but I won't stand in the dark until I do". Well before Jesus was the Son of man, He was God. He has always been God and He always will be God and He came to earth because as the Son of God, Jesus has access to God, but not to man. So to have access to man, He had to become a man. To have authority on earth He had to become a man because God gave man (Adam) and his descendants, power and authority over the earth. So in order to save us sinners, Jesus came to this earth to be our attorney, and in order to have the power of attorney, He had to become one of us. He had to have access to the court. Without becoming one of us, Jesus had no power or authority on earth to save. As the Son of God only, the cross and death would not have meant anything. God is without form, and a spirit and you cannot kill or nail a spirit to a tree. The death sentence had to be upon the man.
1Cor 15:21 For since by man (Adam) came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
Therefore we see that it was the MAN Jesus that died and was resurrected.
But if Jesus was only a man, then He could have saved just one person, a life for a life, so He also had to be deity to make His life worth more then everyone else's put together. You see, Jesus lived our life so that we could live His. He, the Son of man, died in our place so that we could in Him have eternal life. He became our sin so that we could become His righteousness. From the first Adam, death passed upon all. From the second Adam (Jesus), life and righteousness passed upon all men unto eternal life. Thinking of this, some words come to mind from a Charles Wesley hymn,"Amazing love, how can it be? That thou my God should die for me". Amazing is it not?
1Cor 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Another point, we who are born again are no longer of Adam. This may be a shocker to some of you because you have never heard this before. Our old man, our flesh, everything that was in Adam, is dead. Plain and simple. When Jesus died, all that was in Adam died. We who are saved are now a total and complete new race of people! In Christ we are members of a new man and a new creature.
2Cor 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Now lets see what the bible says about who might be seated at the right hand of power in heaven.
Mt 26:63 But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.
Mt 26:64 Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the SON OF MAN sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
In other words Jesus says to the high priest, "you said it, I am the Son of God but hereafter you will see a Son of man seated at the right hand of power"! That was absurd! A man seated at the right hand of God?! That's right, and what a MAN! It is the MAN Christ Jesus seated in heaven right now! It is one of us, that is at the right hand of power! The MAN Jesus has gone on before. The firstborn from the dead that in all things He might have preeminence. This is fist- pumping, knee slapping stuff! Wow!
Heb 2:14 ¶ Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Heb 2:15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Heb 2:16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
Heb 2:17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
Heb 2:18 For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.
We see that in becoming a man like us Jesus destroyed the power of death which is the devil, delivered us from the fear of death which kept us in bondage, and succoured us who were tempted.
You may ask why this is important to me? Why does it matter that Jesus became one of us? Well, besides all I have already covered? It matters to me because I can identify with Him as man. I cannot identify with Him as God. For instance, when I hear people say that Jesus could not have sinned because He was the Son of God, it bothers me. If He could not have sinned then how could He still be tempted? No, Jesus was fully man, fully capable of sinning, the first begotten from the Father, born of woman and in every way tempted as we are and yet without sin. And Jesus the man, died for me, went to hell, and rose again so that He could bring many sons into glory and make the captain of our salvation perfect through sufferings (Heb 2:10) and that is why I love Him. My hope while writing this is that everyone reading this will also love Him with all their heart. Thinking of loving Jesus reminds me of another song.
What a day that will be, when my Jesus I shall see, when I look upon His face, the one who saved me by His grace, and when He takes me by the hand, and leads me through the promise land, what a day, glorious day that will be.
Yes, what a day that will be when we will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of glory!
Romans 4:5 To him that worketh not but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Jesus died for the UNGODLY! Friend, that is you and me!
It's a FREE GIFT. Dwell on that, FREE GIFT! You cannot do anything to earn it and and the only people the gift is offered to, is THE UNGODLY! This means YOU! This is wonderful news and you don't have to DO ANYTHING, just believe. It's not what you do my friend, it's what He has done... Tetelesti. It is finished.
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