The God Man
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.”
— Colossians 1:15-16
Warm Up
- Christ is the Latin word for Messiah. Messiah simply means anointed one. To be a Christian means to be a little Christ. A little anointed one. Jesus is The Christ and he has anointed us to be like him in every way. What attribute of Jesus do you desire the most? Why?
Lessons
Video coming soon
If you want to know what the Father is like, look at the Son as the visible aid, the centerpiece and creator of all things, above and below, seen and unseen. The Jews wanted to kill Jesus in John chapter 5 because He claimed that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. This is one of many occasions where Jesus made proclamations of His own divinity.
In Matthew 9 Jesus heals a crippled man laying on a cot by saying "Take courage, son! Your sins are forgiven." For this, He is accused of blasphemy by the Jewish teachers, as only God has authority to forgive sin. Jesus is making a statement to the culture of pride around Him that refuses to receive Him as the Son of Man. He uses this title "Son of Man" specifically in this scripture as they are all aware this term is used to prophetically describe the Messiah in Daniel 7.
“Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner."”
— John 5:19 NKJVHypostatic Union: Jesus Christ being both fully God and fully man. He is both perfectly divine and perfectly human, having two complete and distinct natures at once.
Jesus is God. He is not just The Son of God. He is God in the flesh. He is the God man. This truth that Jesus is fully God and fully man is called the Hypostatic Union. This is the union of divinity and man into one being. Jesus wants us to experience him as God but he uses his humanity as the doorway that opens us up to a whole world of divine encounter.
Jesus walked the earth for 33 years. The first 30 years of his life on earth he walked around as a mere human being without any of the power that comes with being God. The Bible actually says that he emptied himself of the advantages of being God. Every miracle Jesus performed was through the power of the Holy Spirit. This is what makes it possible for us to do the things Jesus does. We all have equal access to the same Spirit.
“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bondservant and being born in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross.”
— Philippians 2:5-8 NASB- How does knowing that Jesus performed miracles through the Holy Spirit (not His divine nature) change your view of what's possible for you?