Hebrews 2:16-18 NIV
16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. 17 For this reason he had to be made like them,[a] fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
From the time of Abraham, we are all his descendants and heirs. As part of God's plan and New Covenant, Jesus had to be made in our image…just like us, human in every way in order to become our substitute and to make atonement for our sins.
Galatians 3:29 NIV
29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
JESUS WASN"T JUST A MAN
Jesus wasn’t just a man that God gave supernatural powers to.
No, Jesus was God incarnate.
When we say “God incarnate”, we are saying “God in the flesh” or “God in a fleshly, bodily form.”
Even though Jesus was “God incarnate”, he did not cease being God or lose His divine nature.
Jesus had two distinct natures, being both divine and human.
He could be nothing but divine and He could take any other form He would choose. Because He would come to this world to be the substitute or sacrificial offering for mankind’s sin, he must come in the form of mankind.
In the body of a man, Jesus was at the same time the Son of God and God Himself. He had to be made like us, fully human in every way. First to be tempted and with trials as mankind has trials and secondly to make atonement for our sins.
SCRIPTURES THAT SPEAK OF GOD BECOMING AS WE ARE
Let’s look at a few scriptures that speak of God becoming as we are and walking among us.
Colossians 2:9 NIV
9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,
John 1:14 NIV
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 10:30 NIV
30 I and the Father are one.”
John 14:9 NIV
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
AS PHILIP SHOULD HAVE KNOWN, SO SHOULD WE KNOW
Jesus asked Philip, “don’t you know me Philip even after I’ve been among you such a long time?”
As Philip should have known, we certainly must know also.
Any thought, conviction or perception of God that we might have, must totally and completely agree with our understanding of Jesus. There can be no difference. They are one and the same.
Can the master of our universe, the Creator of all things, not take any form that He chooses?
Of course, He can.
God can be whatever He chooses to be. He created all things and is in all things.
Without Him, nothing would exist.
I’m often amused and somewhat perplexed that the disciples of Jesus could not plainly see who and what was before their eyes for approximately three years.
Matthew 8:27 NIV
27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”
They saw people healed; water turned into wine; thousands of people fed from a few fish and loaves and Lazarus being raised from the dead.
Yet they would fall back into their blindness from time to time, exactly where Satan wanted them to be. Not until seeing proof of His resurrection did they fully believe and understand. Then they understood without a doubt, what manner of man this Jesus was.
“What manner of man this”, they would ask, “that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”
What manner of man is this?
This Jesus, the Son of God, was God in the flesh. God incarnate. Our creator and master of the universe. Our Heavenly Father.
A distinct member of the Triune Godhead.
The one and only God who deserves our worship and praise, who became as we are, so that we might become as He is...Righteous through the blood of Jesus.
GOD BECAME AS WE ARE, FOR ONE PURPOSE
In closing, Irenaeus, was a Greek Bishop who originated from Smyrna. He had heard the teaching and preaching of Polycarp, who in turn had heard the teaching of the Apostle John.
Irenaeus, in one short sentence, summed this up better than anyone I’ve yet to see. He said;
“God did through his transcendent love become what we are, that He might bring us to be what He is Himself.” IRENAEUS
RVH