The Son: God and Man
Notes
Transcript
Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
Introduction
Introduction
1. Explain the phrase “dead to me.”
When people say others are dead to them, they mean they will no longer communicate with the person or even tolerate being in the person’s presence because of something the person did or said to offend them.
2. Talk about how people treat others who are “dead to me.”
ASK: What are some ways of demonstrating that someone is “dead to me”? Ghosting them on social media; giving a person the silent treatment; avoiding places the other person frequents.
ASK: When have you observed a “dead to me” scenario? What caused the communication to breakdown?
ASK: In what sense might people be “dead to God”? Everyone is born dead to God because everyone is born a sinner.
3. Transition to Bible lesson.
Jesus died for us to reopen our communication with God. Our sin made us dead to God. We will learn more about Jesus in this session, including what He is now doing to better our relationship with God the Father.
Christ in Eternity Past
Christ in Eternity Past
His existence
His existence
Jesus Christ existed in Heaven before He came to earth. To believe the Bible Jesus has always existed as God the Son and has always had a loving relationship with God the Father.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
ASK: Why is Christ called the “Word”? He reveals God the Father to humanity. He communicates by His life and works what God the Father is like.
Jesus existed “in the form of God” before coming to earth as a man.
Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
Form” means Jesus is equal with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. They share the same attributes. Jesus is not inferior to God the Father in any way.
ACTIVITY: Assign the following verses to students:
(1) John 5:26, self-existent
(2) Matt. 28:18, all-powerful
(3) 1 Cor. 4:5, all knowing
(4) Heb. 7:26, holy
(5) John 14:6, true
(6) Heb. 13:8, never-changing.
Have the students read their verse and then be ready to share the attribute of Christ revealed in the verse.
ASK: What must be true of those who deny Jesus existed in eternity past as the Son of God? They deny the truth of God’s Word; they set themselves up as the ultimate authority on Christ and the Bible.
To believe the Bible is to believe Jesus existed in eternity past as the Son of God.
His deity confirmed
His deity confirmed
Christ confirmed His deity when He told the Jews, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). By calling Himself the “I Am,” Jesus claimed the same deity as God the Father.
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
What did you learn in the previous session about the meaning of the name “I Am”? It means Jesus is self-sustaining, dependent on no one, eternal, outside time and space, and infinitely powerful.
Jesus used the name “I Am” multiple times. His followers took note of those uses, recorded them in Scripture, and believed with all their hearts that Jesus is God.
Jesus also affirmed His deity in a prayer to God the Father in John 17.
And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
ASK: What did Jesus ask God the Father to do? To glorify Him with the same glory He shared with the Father before the world existed.
Of course, Jesus wouldn’t pray a lie. God the Father answered Jesus’ prayer because Jesus prayed according to God’s will and according to truth.
Jesus Christ’s titles also identify Him as God. An angel announced to Mary that her child would be called “the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). The word “Son” in this text doesn’t mean offspring. It means Jesus has the exact nature as God.
While preaching to a Gentile named Cornelius, Peter called Jesus the “Lord of all” (Acts 10:36). The title “Lord” speaks of deity. It applies equally to Jesus and God the Father.
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
ASK: What is the significance of the name “Alpha and Omega”? It comes from the first and last letter in the Greek alphabet. It pictures eternality.
Both Jesus and God the Father share the name “Alpha and Omega” (Rev. 1:8; 21:6) because both have been in existence from eternity past and will be in existence forever.
Perhaps the dearest of Jesus’ deity-revealing names is “Emmanuel” (Immanuel).
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, And shall call his name Immanuel.
The name means “God with us.” The name is a transliteration from the Hebrew. A transliteration is the transferring of a word from the alphabet of one language to that of another. So the Hebrew pronunciation was given letters from the English alphabet to preserve the sound.
The sound of “el” at the end of the name “Immanuel” refer to
“Elohim,” the Hebrew name for God used in the Old Testament. So Jesus is “Elohim with us.” God came down to earth to live among us in the person of Jesus Christ.
Christ on Earth
Christ on Earth
His birth and maturity
His birth and maturity
When God the Son left the glory of Heaven to come to earth, He did not make a grand appearance. Instead, He became a man, subjecting Himself to human limitations, like hunger and weariness (Matt. 4:2; John 4:6; Phil. 2:5–8). As the Immanuel, the God-Man, Jesus exists as both completely God and completely human, yet separate from sin.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
How the Son of God took on flesh and became fully man while remaining fully God is beyond our ability to fully comprehend. But the Word of God is clear. We must accept by faith the truth about the incarnation of Christ.
Like every other human, the Son of God entered the world as a baby (Luke 2:6, 7). Jesus’ conception, however, was unique because He was conceived of a virgin by the work of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:20; Luke 1:35). Because Jesus retained His deity, multitude of heavenly angels proclaimed His humble birth (Luke 2:7–14).
Jesus grew in wisdom and stature (Luke 2:52), meaning He learned and applied what He was taught and matured physically. Luke 2:42–49 gives an account of twelve-year-old Jesus sitting in the temple, conversing with the Jewish teachers of the law. From His response to Mary’s chastening, it’s evident that even at twelve years old’s Jesus understood that His Heavenly Father had a special plan for His life.
As Jesus continued to mature, He enjoyed God the Father’s favor and grace (2:40, 52). His abiding relationship with the Father enabled Him to handle the strenuous and hectic demands of His earthly ministry. At times He endured physical exhaustion, intense hunger, and emotional fatigue (Luke 4:2; 22:44; John 4:6).
Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.
Jesus suffered from hemosiderosis in the hours before going to the cross. His capillary blood vessels that fed His sweat glands ruptured, causing the blood to leak through His sweat glands and onto His skin. The stress of His coming death and the bearing of the weight of the sins of the world caused the condition. The sweat drops of blood reveal Jesus’ humanity is real.
His death
His death
For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:
Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:
Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
Although fully man, Jesus Christ differed from all other humans because He never sinned. Jesus’ sinlessness was crucial for His mission to save sinners (Luke 19:10). He had to be a perfect sacrifice to be an effective sacrifice.
Every other person has sinned. Sin alienates us from God because God is holy and thereby separate from sin. God, however, desires fellowship with His fallen creatures, so He provided a way for us to be reconciled to Him. He sent His perfect Son, Jesus Christ, to live on earth and to die for us.
On the cross, Jesus took upon Himself all the sin of the world (John 1:29; 1 Pet. 2:24). God poured out His wrath upon Jesus (Isa. 53; Matt. 27). God punished the sin of humanity by exacting the punishment— death—on Jesus Christ. Because Christ was sinless, God accepted His death as the sufficient sacrifice for sin.
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:
In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.
Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;
Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
His resurrection and ascension
His resurrection and ascension
In absolute victory over death and Satan, Jesus Christ came back to life. Christ’s resurrection guarantees a believer’s salvation. Because Jesus rose again, God credits the righteousness of Christ to the account of every person who responds by faith to salvation (Rom. 4:25). Christ’s blood paid the entire sin debt, so no other payment is required from the believer.
Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
ASK: What does it mean to be “justified” before God? It means to be declared righteous.
Jesus’ resurrection meant God could look on us and declare us legally right with Him, free from sin, and qualified to enter eternity with Him.
The resurrection also proves Christ’s deity, for only God can overcome death (Acts 2:24). If Christ had not risen, Christianity would be a cruel joke (1 Cor. 15:17, 19, 32). Christ would have been conquered by evil forces, leaving no future hope of a resurrection to eternal life (15:7–19).
Christ’s resurrection also reveals that God’s power is available to believers in their fight against sin (Eph. 1:19–21; Rom. 6:1–11). Our flesh, the “old man,” was crucified with Christ, so we are not obligated to sin. We are raised with Christ to walk in newness of life.
After Christ’s resurrection, He appeared to many and spent time with His disciples. Then He ascended into Heaven (Luke 24:33–51). He was visibly taken up in the clouds (Acts 1:9–11). Because Christ had finished His work on earth, He returned to His Father in Heaven and began His new work at the Father’s right hand (Acts 5:31; 7:55, 56; Rom. 8:34; Col. 3:1; Heb. 4:14–16; 8:1; 10:12).
ASK: Why is it important that all three “stages” (death, burial, resurrection) of Christ’s sacrifice are included in the presentation of the gospel? The gospel provides the content for a person’s faith in God. All three aspects of Christ’s sacrifice were necessary to make salvation possible.
Christ’s Present Ministry
Christ’s Present Ministry
Christ, our Security
Christ, our Security
Christ is presently working for believers, keeping them secure in their salvation (Jude 24, 25). Believers can neither save themselves nor keep themselves saved. Christ holds believers in the palm of His hand, and the Father places His hand over all (John 10:27–30). No one can remove a believer from God’s family or from His love.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Christ, our Advocate
Christ, our Advocate
My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
Second, Christ presents believers faultless before God (Jude 24). We as believers will not be completely victorious over sin until we receive our glorified bodies in Heaven (Phil. 3:20, 21; 1 John 3:2). We therefore struggle with sin throughout our lives. Jesus works as our “advocate” (1 John 2:1), or one who pleads the cause of another. Whenever we sin, Jesus Christ pleads our case before God. Christ’s speaking on our behalf as our advocate assures us of God’s forgiveness and cleansing.
Christ, our Mediator
Christ, our Mediator
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
Third, Jesus Christ prays for believers. Christ serves as the mediator, or
“go-between,” for believers and intercedes for them before God the Father. John 17 explains Christ’s concerns for believers. He requests that God stand guard over believers and keep them from spiritual harm (17:15); He prays that all believers would stand united as members of God’s family (17:11, 21); He asks the Father to sanctify believers, making them grow in Christlikeness through the truths in His Word (17:17); and He requests that He be united with His followers so they may see His glory (17:24).
Conclusion
Conclusion
Jesus bore our sins in His human body on the cross, making us as believers dead to sin and alive unto righteousness. His physical suffering and bearing of God’s wrath against our sin brought us spiritual healing. The stripes were laid across Jesus’ back by Roman soldiers using a whip. The whip had leather straps with pieces of sharp objects embedded in them. When the soldiers hit Jesus’ back, the sharp objects would dig in and tear Jesus’ flesh open. Jesus endured such a beating so we might have the opportunity to live righteously.
Jesus existed in eternity past as the Son of God. The Bible clearly communicates Jesus’ deity. When He came to earth, He took on flesh but remained fully God. He matured and then died for the sins of the world. He rose again to make our salvation possible. He guarantees the salvation of every believer and lives in Heaven as our advocate and mediator.