Jesus, Son of God and Son of Man – Part IV

“Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.” John 14:10

In Part II of this series, I quoted a passage from Reverend Edward Payson’s sermon, “Christ the King,” which he delivered to his church in Portland, Maine during the 1800s. It is worth repeating. “The Father created a human soul, which the Word took into union with Himself, and thus became the Son of God. In union with this soul, he (God) entered into a human body, and thus became the Son of man.”  Thus, Reverend Payson presented Jesus as distinctly God and distinctly man. During this series also I hoped to show how it was that Jesus, the Son of God, emptied Himself in accordance with Philippians 2:5-7, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.”

Then, in Part III of this series, I asked the reader if they thought that Jesus, as the Son of Man, ever made a unilateral decision on what He had to say or do on earth. Today’s verse from the Gospel of John, Chapter 14, clearly indicates that what Jesus said and did in the flesh came directly from the Father, and Jesus, when doing the will of God, was empowered to heal the sick and to perform various miracles. However, when it came to His personal life; what He possessed, and what He faced as a result of His Father’s direction, Jesus did so in the flesh as the Son of man. Why was this necessary? It was necessary for Him to live a life of continual trial and difficulty; sufferings and sorrows to demonstrate His righteousness; the very righteousness that was imputed to us and sanctifies us. If there was any edge given by this, it was given to us because Christ knew our short comings and failures.

There is a lot to be learned and applied in our lives when we embrace in faith this idea that Jesus was distinctly the Son of God and Son of Man; no different in that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three distinct and eternal Beings in the Godhead. I don’t know what you think about the Trinity or Jesus’ nature, but it is easy, without thinking about it, to consider our Lord’s life a combination of God and man but without distinction. If we find ourselves caught in that trap, we could easily consider our Lord’s temptation in the wilderness as less stressful and trying than our own temptations. Why? Because Jesus was God; that’s why. God protected Him and strengthened Him.  Thus, because we’re not God, we excuse ourselves and we fall back into sin. Likewise, we may think that Jesus did not humanly suffer the same physical pain, depression and sorrow that we feel; surely not to the extent that we suffer. Why? Because Jesus was God; that’s why. We say, ‘Well, God gave Him an edge.’ Yes, that is true. Jesus was born the Son of God; and was without sin; thus, His communion with His Father was far superior to our own, but remember that He emptied Himself, which is to say that He did  not enjoy any greater power than we do through the power and presence of His Holy Spirit, our Comforter. The difference is we were born into sin, and we suffer from the sin of unbelief. Jesus believed, always! Nonetheless…

Don’t you seek by faith the same advantage and measure of God’s comfort? If not, why not? If you ask your father for a fish would he give you a stone? Of course not, but when we fall into the sin of unbelief, we excuse ourselves and complain; our flesh presenting itself as God’s victim to prove ourselves worthy of our salvation, which is blasphemy. Indeed, it’s difficult to find faith and trust in Jesus when the accuser, the Devil, suggests that Jesus had ‘an edge’ that you haven’t. Yes, Jesus is God; we’re not. Of course, we may try at first to combat the fiery darts by recalling what Jesus said, “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” (1 John 4:4)  There are many verses of comfort and encouragement that we can summon, and often do, but let me say that if we are not entirely convinced that Jesus knew exactly what we’re going through, then those verses will fall short in the Comforter’s use and application in our lives. With unbelief, there is no balm in Gilead.

Understand this: What our Lord suffered, we suffer less; making our burden light. If His temptations and suffering did not exceed the totality of the temptations and suffering of those whom God sent Him to save, then we remain hopelessly lost in our sin and are subject to the wrath of God. How is this so? It is so because the righteousness that was imputed to us (Christ our sanctification) would have been insufficient. This has nothing to do with the blood of Christ shed on the cross for our justification. The righteousness I speak is unto our sanctification; His life… delivering us from our sins that are committed from the point that we knelt before Him at the cross to where we kneel before today, as He sits upon the throne. Praise God that as our redeemer and intercessor that Jesus came both as the Son of God and the Son of man. Let us likewise be people of His Spirit and distinction. Amen