JESUS
Read Philippians 2:5-11.
“We believe that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man.”
That Jesus is both fully God and fully man is beyond human comprehension and logic. How could someone be 100% twice and still only be 100%? But the Scriptures are clear that Jesus had to become man to save mankind, and He had to be God in order to satisfy the just penalty of sin only capable through God, who alone is righteous.
Why is this important? Consider that Jesus as a man can identify with us as human. The writer of Hebrews notes-
“Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” (Heb. 2:18)
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet without sin.” (Heb. 4:15)
On the flipside, because Jesus is also God, He is able to deal with our sin in a way that no mere man could. In His infinite power and dominion, Jesus was beyond the limitations of man. All things were created by Him and for Him (Col. 1:16); God’s fullness dwelled in Him in order to reconcile all things to Him (Col. 1:19). And we were reconciled to Him by Christ’s physical body through death (Col. 1:22). (Actually this entire section of Colossians1:15-23 speaks of the necessity and power of the union of God and man in Jesus – a very rich passage.)
The union of God and man in Christ unites the finite with the infinite. It was not only necessary for salvation, but it also serves to fill the infinite vacuum in the human heart. The writer of Ecclesiastes states: “He has also set eternity in their hearts…” (Ec. 3:11). As such the eternity we seek cannot be found in the finite, but only in the infinite. The intimacy we seek in our relationship with God cannot be found in the transcendent, but in hearts united in the common bond of humanity (cf. Heb. 2:11). As John Piper writes:
“Because of this hypostatic, one-person union, Jesus Christ exhibits an unparalleled magnificence. No one person satisfies the complex longings of the human heart like the God-man. God has made the human heart in such a way that it will never be eternally content with that which is only human. Finitude can’t slake our thirst for the infinite.”
Jesus Christ is unique among us, and the amazing thing about His incarnation (God in the flesh) is that He did this for us. Jesus Christ did not need to leave His throne in heaven, but He did. And in becoming God in the flesh, He gives us every reason to worship Him. Reflect on that today. Consider the wonder of Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of man… all for our sake.