"Who Is
Jesus?" part 3
Truly God, Truly Man
by
Greg Hanson
Sunrise Wesleyan Church
April 18, 2010
VIDEO – WHO WAS JESUS? From SermonVideos.com
As
you can see, there are a lot of opinions about this person named Jesus.
Ask people who He was, and you’ll get a variety of answers. Some people
say He was a cool guy, a good teacher, a prophet who lived long ago;
some people will tell you everything about Jesus is a myth, others will
tell you that Jesus is different for each person – it’s all subjective;
and others will tell you that they believe to the core of their being
that Jesus was and is God in the flesh.
We’re continuing this
morning with our message series asking the question, “Who Is Jesus?”
And let me tell you, for me and for you… that’s the most important
question we could ever answer. Because if Jesus is who He says He is…
if the Christian faith is correct in recognizing Him as God… if the
Bible is true in what it says about Jesus… then that has eternal
ramifications.
So we’re exploring the identify of Jesus during
this series. We’re going to look at some of the events of His life,
we’re going to examine some of His teachings, we’re going to get a
glimpse of how other people saw Him, we’re going to talk some theology…
Basically, we’re going to try to learn everything we can about the man,
the mission, and the message.
And as I told you last week, I
believe this may be the most important series we’ve ever done here.
Because the message we have is the message of Jesus. The hope we have
is the hope that comes from Jesus. The reason the Church exists is
because of Jesus. We even call ourselves Christians or Christ-followers
because we follow Jesus. It is Jesus who reconciles us with God, who
infuses our life with purpose, and who the Bible says will someday
judge each one of us.
We’ve already talked about the
resurrection of Jesus and how that’s the hinge-pin of history… the most
important event that has ever taken place… and we saw how there’s
actually evidence to support the claim that Jesus really did rise from
the dead.
We’ve talked about how Jesus was a real person who
lived and breathed and walked among us a couple thousand years ago.
There were one or two people in that video who hinted that they didn’t
think Jesus ever even existed. But we saw last week how there are the
manuscripts which are now compiled in our Bible that document His life
– written while there were eyewitnesses still alive and in the very
area where the ministry of Jesus was centred. Plus, there are the many
other extraBiblical references to Jesus, too. And there were literally
thousands of people in the first century alone who died for this man
who they also believed was God – they certainly believed He existed.
So
even though there are some people today who do think that Jesus wasn’t
a real person… that He’s just a made-up person or a compilation of a
bunch of Pagan beliefs… there’s just no basis for such a claim. And
anyone who does make that claim is probably just repeating what they’ve
heard someone else say and are speaking out of their own bias
disregarding the evidence.
But so what? So what if Jesus was a
real person? There are a lot of “real people” who have lived throughout
history. There may even be some “real people” here this morning. What
does it matter if Jesus was real or not?
It matters because we
believe – I believe – that He was God in the flesh… that He’s risen
from the dead and is alive and well today. Because even though He was a
man who lived long ago, He wasn’t just a man.
And even the
earliest Christ-followers understood this. And they wrestled with it.
Was Jesus a man? Was He God? What was He? Who was that masked Man? And
what becomes clear as you read through the New Testament… and we’re
going to look at some passages that show this in just a few minutes…
but what becomes clear is that the earliest Christ followers understood
Jesus to be a man and they understood Him to be God. It wasn’t some
belief that arose later on… it was there right at the beginning. It can
be seen in the way they treated Him, the way they wrote about Him, and
even in the words of Jesus Himself.
Which understandably, could
lead to some confusion. And theologians debated about the how these two
natures of Jesus were balanced. In what ways was He a man? In what ways
was He God? How could He be both at the same time? They even called
conferences and councils specifically to talk about in what ways Jesus
is God and in what ways He’s a man.
But as early as the second century, the Church capsulate their
understanding of just what Jesus was in these four Latin words…
Vere
Deus, Vere Homo
Which means…
Truly
God, Truly Man
Now,
you might hear that as “Fully God, fully man.” Or “100% God, 100% Man.”
In fact, I’ve used those kinds of terms before myself. But “Truly God,
Truly Man” is more accurate to what those early theologians believed
about Jesus, and probably helps to avoid some misunderstandings. I
mean, 100% God, 100% Man… the math doesn’t seem to work, does it? I
know what we mean when we use terms like that, but it can be confusing
and can lead to some misunderstandings. So “Truly God, Truly Man” is
probably the best way to describe Jesus.
So let’s start with the second part of that formula first. Was Jesus
Truly Man?
Was
Jesus “Truly Man”?
And
really, most people have no problem believing this. Even in that video,
most people talked about Jesus as being a man… a teacher, a
philosopher, a prophet, a revolutionary, whatever… but a man.
Actually,
though, even this was a point of contention in the early days of
Christianity. Because they believed so fervently that Jesus was also
God. So some people believed that Jesus was God disguised as a human.
He wasn’t really human; He just appeared that way. But John set the
record straight when He wrote this about Jesus… describing Him as “the
Word”…
John 1:2 (NLT)
So the Word became human and made his home among us.
He didn’t just look like a human, He didn’t disguise Himself as a
human… it’s says He “became human.”
Now,
remember, we’ve already established in this series that the Bible is
our most credible and most reliable record of who Jesus was. And if you
read through the New Testament, you’ll discover that it does teach that
Jesus was human. And he experienced everything that humans experience.
In your notes, you’ll see a list of some of the things that Jesus
experienced along with verses to illustrate that. Get your pens ready…
we’re going to go through these quickly. I don’t even have these verses
in PowerPoint; we’re just going to read them out of your notes.
Jesus
Experienced:
Fatigue
John 4:6 (NLT)
Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat
wearily beside the well about noontime.
Thirst
John 4:7 (NLT)
Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her,
“Please give me a drink.”
Anger
John 2:14-15 (NLT)
In
the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for
sacrifices; and he saw money changers behind their counters. Jesus made
a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple.
Limited
Knowledge
Matthew 24:36 (NLT)
“However,
no one knows the day or the hour when these things will happen, not
even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.”
Temptation
Luke 4:1-2a (NLT)
He was led by the Spirit to go out into the wilderness, where the Devil
tempted him for forty days.
Hunger
Luke 4:2b (NLT)
He ate nothing all that time and was very hungry.
Sadness
John 11:35 (NLT)
Then Jesus wept.
So
was Jesus a man? Yeah, Jesus was a man. He was truly man… and he
experienced all of life. He was born, he grew up, he learned a trade,
He had his heart broken, he was loved by some, rejected by others, and
he endured an extremely painful execution on a Roman-style cross. He
was truly human. So that leaves the question…
Was
Jesus “Truly God”?
And
the answer to that is “yes, He was (and is) truly God.” And I know that
boggles the mind. It’s hard to comprehend. How can He be God and Man at
the same time? But that’s exactly what He claimed to be. And that’s
exactly what His followers understood Him to be.
Now, here’s an important question: When did people start to see Jesus
as God (or the Son of God)?
And
I ask that because a lot of people have the idea that Jesus was not
considered to be God until the time of Constantine sometime in the
fourth century. In fact, a lot of people have the mistaken belief that
Jesus was declared to be God by Constantine at the Council of Nicaea in
325 A.D. And we have books like The DaVinci Code to thank for spreading
blatantly false claims like that.
I already told you that the
formula describing Jesus as Truly God, Truly Man came out of the second
century. But even that was simply a summary and a clarification of what
they believed about Jesus at least from the time of His resurrection.
In
1 Corinthians 15, Paul records an early Christian creed that can be
dated to within 2 years of the Resurrection. The most primitive
Christian hymns affirm the divine nature of Jesus. The Gospel of Mark,
the earliest Gospel we have, probably written within 20 years of the
Resurrection, is believed to have used source material dating back to
within 2-3 years. And in Mark, Jesus is referred to as the Christ, the
Messiah, the Son of God. In fact, the very first verse of Mark says…
Mark 1:1 (NLT)
This is the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.
So
all of that was to say, this idea that Jesus is God is not some belief
that evolved through the centuries; it was there right at the very
beginning. It’s how His followers saw Him. It’s what the writers of the
books of the New Testament believed about Him.
The Gospel of
John… written between AD 65 and AD 90 according to most scholars…
conservative and liberal… Starts out with these verses… again
describing Jesus as “the Word”…
John 1:1-3 (NLT)
In the
beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. He
was in the beginning with God. He created everything there is. Nothing
exists that he didn’t make…
If Jesus is the Word, and the Word
is God, then Jesus is God. Here’s another reference in the Gospel of
John. In this passage, Jesus is talking with some religious leaders who
are becoming more and more upset with Him, and He tells them…
John 8:54-59 (NIV)
Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it
and was glad.”
“You are not yet fifty years old,” the Jews said to him, “and you have
seen Abraham!”
“I
tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I AM!”
At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself,
slipping away from the temple grounds.
They weren’t going to
stone Him to death because He claimed to be really old. No, they were
going to stone Him because they recognized what Jesus was saying when
he said, “before Abraham was born, I AM!” To you and me, it looks like
bad grammar. But to the Jews, it meant something very profound. Because
they remembered what God told Moses way back in the Old Testament. God
was calling Moses to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, but
he was afraid the people wouldn’t believe God sent him. So he asked who
he should say sent him, and God told him…
Exodus 3:14 (NLT)
God replied, “I AM THE ONE WHO ALWAYS IS. Just tell them, ‘I AM has
sent me to you.’”
So
when Jesus referred to himself as “I AM”, He knew exactly what He was
claiming, and so did the Jews. And then a couple chapters later He made
that claim again…
John 10:30-33 (NLT)
“The Father and I are one.”
Once
again the Jewish leaders picked up stones to kill him. Jesus said, “At
my Father’s direction I have done many things to help the people. For
which one of these good deeds are you killing me?”
They replied, “Not for any good work, but for blasphemy, because you, a
mere man, have made yourself God.”
And
if we were to read on, you’d see that Jesus didn’t object. He didn’t
tell them they misunderstood. He simply told them, “Look at the
evidence.”
Or how about when Thomas first saw Jesus after the resurrection?
Remember what he said?
John 20:28 (NLT)
“My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.
And instead of rebuking Thomas for making such a claim, Jesus affirmed
what he said.
Or
how about the book of Hebrews, most likely written between AD 60 and AD
70, though some date it as a little earlier and others as a little
later.
Hebrews 1:3 (NLT)
The Son reflects God’s own glory,
and everything about him represents God exactly. He sustains the
universe by the mighty power of his command.
Oh, and there’s
that interesting exchange between Jesus and Peter, which Jim read for
us earlier. He read it from Mark; I’ll read it from Matthew (written
sometime around AD 65)…
Matthew 16:13-17 (NLT)
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his
disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
“Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and
others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”
Then he asked them, “Who do you say I am?”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus
replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in
heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human
being.”
Do you think Simon Peter the other disciples saw Jesus
as being more than a mortal prophet? They certainly did. They believed
it to the core of their being.
Now, I should probably explain
something here. We’ve read verses this morning that refer to Jesus as
the “Son of God”. And you might think that Jesus is an actual Son… as
in, He was born or created. But that’s not what “Son of God” means. And
that’s not how first century Jews used the term. They had come to use
the term “Son of God” to refer to the Messiah, or the Saviour, which
the Old Testament had said was coming, and it signified a divine
origin. It wasn’t a biological term; it was a heavenly term. And it
identified Jesus not just as the Son of God, but as God Himself!
And
actually, this term “Son of God”… or “children of God”… had been used
centuries previous to the time of Jesus and was used to describe the
nation of Israel and their own unique relationship with God. There was
something special between them. And they were to play a special role in
revealing God’s heart to the nations around them. And that’s what Jesus
did… He revealed God’s heart to the nations.
Sometimes you’ll
hear Jesus referred to not just as a Son but as the “Firstborn Son” of
God. But again, this was not meant to be taken as a biological term.
It’s more of a term of position and authority and power. The “firstborn
son” in a family was to carry on the family’s values, to uphold its
position, to represent the family in society. The firstborn was to be
kind of the top dog… the rightful ruler.
And then you have
another term that Jesus used to refer to Himself… He called Himself the
“Son of Man.” So you have two terms that sound like they’re conflicting
with each other… Son of God and Son of Man. Well, which is it, Jesus?
When you read Jesus the Son of Man, what do you think? You probably
think he’s talking about being human, right? That seems like a pretty
obvious understanding.
But the truth is, the first-century Jews
who heard Jesus refer to Himself that way would have recognized that
term from the Old Testament book of Daniel chapter 7, and they would
have known that it wasn’t a reference to someone who was just a human
being; it was for someone divine in nature. It was for someone who had
authority, had sovereignty, who was worshipped, who is eternal, someone
who judges humankind. So again, Jesus is claiming to be God.
So
the divinity of Jesus was clearly established during the first century…
in the very statements made by Jesus and by the disciples.
Now,
I suppose it could be argued that they were all delusional. Jesus was
some kind of a con-man or a madman who was somehow able to convince all
these people… not just the disciples but the hundreds and thousands of
people who came to follow Him during that first century… He was somehow
able to convince them all that He was God. And really, we have people
today who claim to be God and are able to convince small groups of
people that they really are. The difference is, Jesus did it on a
bigger scale, and with much better credentials.
The
Credentials for the Divinity of Jesus:
Old
Testament Prophecies
Not
just a few, but hundreds… and not only vague prophecies, but specific
prophecies about the Messiah… all of which came true in the person of
Jesus. Take a look…
VIDEO – LEESTROBEL.COM – The Evidence for Jesus’ Divinity: Did He Back
Up His Claims? (beginning at 2:50)
So you have the prophecies backing up Jesus claim to divinity. And then
you have the…
Supernatural
Miracles
Healing
people who had been blind, crippled, or deaf since birth… suddenly able
to see, walk, and hear. People who had died being brought back to life,
lepers being made well, water turning to wine, a young boy’s bag lunch
being used to feed thousands… all kinds of miracles that went beyond
the ability of any illusionist. Even the Jewish Talmud, which was
critical and skeptical of Jesus, concedes that Jesus dealt in the
supernatural.
The
Teachings of Jesus
He
spoke with such authority and wisdom, such insight. By themselves they
don’t prove anything, but they certainly support the idea that Jesus
was more than just a man. And if you actually look at what Jesus
taught, you have to accept what He said as the words of God or discard
them as the ramblings of a madman. And of course you have the greatest
proof of all that Jesus really was and is God…
The
Resurrection
We
talked about it a couple weeks ago. We looked at some of the evidence,
and if you remember, we concluded by saying that if Jesus really did
rise from the dead it proves that He really is who He said He is… the
Son of God.
Listen: If Jesus was a fraud, if He was lying
about His divinity, if He was delusional – then I should reject Him.
He’s not worth following. But if He really is who He claimed to be,
then it’s got to make a difference. I can put my hope and my faith in
Him. And that belief should permeate every part of my being… Not just
on Sundays but everyday and in every way. I can’t ignore Him. He’s far
too important and the stakes are far too high for me to do that. And
since I do believe that He is the Son of God, I have chosen to trust
Him with my life and follow Him with all my Heart.
How about
you? Do you believe? Same question Jesus asked Peter: “Who do you say
He is?” And what difference does it make for you?
Would you
close your eyes? We’re going to pray in a moment, but I want to ask you
first, have you settled this issue in your own life? If not, why not
today? Just quietly, right where you are, you can pray something like
this…
Jesus, I do believe. And I choose today to follow you. Help me to do
that I pray.
Now let me pray for all of us…
Father,
we pray that you will continue to open up or hearts and minds to the
Truth… the truth about who Jesus is and the truth about the forgiveness
and life that He offers each one of us.
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