‘Jesus is God’ was the title of last week’s devotion (posted on June 8, 2014). That devotion was focused on Jesus’ deity. However, to more fully understand Jesus, we must also acknowledge and appreciate His humanity. The following verses reveal Christ the Man.
Jesus Lived a Human Life
- He was born – Luke 2:11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
- He came in the flesh – 1 John 4:2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,
- He grew – Luke 2:52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
- He hungered – Matthew 21:18 Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.
- He thirst – John 19:28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!”
- He slept – Matthew 8:24 And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep.
- He wept – Luke 19:41 Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it,
- He was tempted – Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
- He grew weary – John 4:6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
- He experienced sorrow – Isaiah 53:3 He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
- He experienced death – John 19:30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
Eye Witnesses Declared He was a Man
- Peter – Acts 2:22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know
- John, Christ’s Disciple – John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
- John the Baptist – John 1:30 This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’
- Pilate – John 19:5 Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, “Behold the Man!”
Jesus Gave His Life for Us
- His death is the means by which our sins are forgiven – Hebrews 2:17 Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people
- He paid the ransom to free us from the curse of sin and death – Matthew 20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
- His resurrection from death is the promise of our eternal life – 1 Corinthians 15:21 For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.
Jesus’ Humanity was Necessary for His Role as Our Mediator before God
- 1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
Jesus Often Referred to Himself as ‘the Son of Man’
- When speaking of His humanity – Luke 9:58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
- When speaking of the One who had been prophesied – Mark 9:12 Then He answered and told them, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and restores all things. And how is it written concerning the Son of Man, that He must suffer many things and be treated with contempt?
- When speaking of His authority – Mark 2:10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic,
God the Son humbled Himself before God the Father and came to Earth as the Man Jesus. While on Earth, in obedience to His Father, and without diminishing His deity, Jesus voluntarily surrendered independent control and revelation of His divine attributes to God the Father by means of God the Holy Spirit.
- Philippians 2:6-8 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. (see also John 5:19, 5:30, 6:38, 8:28, 12:49-50)
