The Humanity of Jesus

"and the Word became flesh"Jhn:1:14

Many Theologians and Biblical Scholars of varies denominations and traditions are growing in their understanding of the importance of the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have seen the importance of our Lord's deity yet we can miss the importance of his humanity.

Yet Jesus’ humanity is of equal importance as his deity, for they are both his . Jesus is equally, that is fully, both, deity and humanity, but at times his humanity,  can be over looked, or what his humanity it means for us can be misunderstood or not truly appreciated or understood.

There is only one Jesus who is both divine and human fully, not half or one or of the other, fully both. Jesus knew and knows who he is. Jesus shares our humanity , he is one of us.

St.Paul calls Jesus , the second or last Adam.

"So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being” ; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit."1Cor:15:45

St.Paul explains some of details of Jesus' introduction into the History of Salvation for us and the results of his coming into our world and how, though Jesus, God has given humanity an all new life if we will but freely except it. Rom:5:1-20

Recapitulation

Through Jesus' coming in the incarnation, that is deity taking on our very humanity,  Jesus has become the head of the human race. As Adam had been the Federal Head of all humanity , binding each and all of us to his choice and passing it onto the whole race. Jesus in the same way has become , through his humanity, the new Federal Head of the whole of the human race. This is what the ancient church called “Recapitulation”.

“Recapitulation” , means, to be given a new head, this could be accomplished because Jesus is fully God, yet fully humanity, both the creator and in the incarnation having joined his creation.

Perfect Deity and sinless humanity, in one person accomplished through Jesus' incarnation. Humanity has a new head in Christ, yet not all humanity knows this or experience it.

Jesus' Humanity

Understanding Jesus’ humanity is as important as his deity. This is the means by which we understand how Jesus is all that he is to us and for us, “the way, the truth, the life”.

“Son of Man” 

St. John wrote in his Gospel account that "Word became flesh". The very eternal Word of God became "the Son of Man”. It is important to understand that Jesus is not the Son of God because of the incarnation, but rather, the incarnation is because Jesus is the Son of God. The incarnation only shows us what has eternal been true, that Jesus is God's eternal Son the second person of the Holy Trinity.

The "Son of Man" is Jesus’ most often used title for himself-this shows that Jesus identifies with us, understand us, this is not just a theoretical tile which Jesus has assumed for the sake of power and position, but it is his sharing of the human experience that he did not isolate himself from the suffering of humanity. Jesus is truly is one of us , a human being.

Jesus is approachable. This is not just out of convenience, or necessity, or a strategy of some sort, but is out of love for us, out of our God's desire to have a relationship with us.

Jesus' humanity makes an intimate love relationship with God possible. God is not distant far off and aloof, but subjective and personal, relational .

Our High Priest

 Jesus understands our frailties , and knows and understands us for he is one of us and can help us as our High Priest.

"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."Heb:4:14-16

Jesus has first hand experience of all the frailties of us all or he has witness the frailties of others for himself. Having this experience among as one of us he is able even now to help us all with understanding and compassion .Jesus is gentle with us.

"Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness."

"During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek". Heb:5:1-2, 7-10

Brings Us into Worship

 In Jesus’ humanity we are made one in his worship of the Father. It is in truth, Jesus who brings to pass and oversees all the worship of the Great God , both through the word being proclaimed and through the hymns of praise.

"In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.He says, “I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters; in the assembly I will sing your praises.”And again, “I will put my trust in him. And again he says, “Here am I, and the children God has given me.”Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity"Heb:2:1-14a

 Jesus is the means through which God understands us as well, not as one who looks down on life from the vantage point in eternity but our God through Jesus has first hand experience of this life and brings us into union with himself.

Humanity that Died and Arose

At the glorious resurrection of Jesus our Lord did not leave his humanity in the grave forever captive within the bounds of death . It is Jesus' humanity that rose and ascended into the Heavens.

In Christ, all humanity has ,through Jesus' humanity, joined him in death and has died with Jesus, so that, as all died, in the same way through his bodily resurrection all have been raised. This has been accomplished by and in Jesus' humanity but it required his divine uniqueness as God's Son to give his humanity the power to accomplish this for us.

St. Paul give us the explanation which through prayer and discussion, the Apostolic Church had arrived at an understanding as to what had been accomplished through  Jesus for humanity. In a very theologically weighty statement about just what occurred for us all in Jesus' death and resurrection.

"For Christ’s love compels us, for we have considered that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again."2Cor:5:14-15

 St. Paul speaks again that in Jesus we all have died and have been raised, therefore in his resurrected life we live as well, and that eternal life is now ours by Jesus.Rom:6:4-11

This life which we live is experienced over a life time, but what if we fall short and “sin”?

 We can approach our God through Jesus, (and if we understand the reality of what God has done for us we will see that Jesus has already approached God for each and all of us as our High priest and Advocate) and cite or , acknowledge our "sin". This is to ever and always remind us of our need for him and all that Jesus has accomplished for us. This shows us again, his never faltering Grace for us and our eternal dependence on Jesus for transformation into the very image of Jesus. This is what the Ancient Church called "deification" , becoming Christ-like.

"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us."1Jhn:1:8-10

His Life Not Ours

The Christian life is not just conforming to “morals or ethics” or following an example of a historical personality but rather it is a living way of life which comes from being in union with Jesus. We then participate in Jesus' life . We are in Union with who and what Jesus is doing not just what he has done. It is we have a sharing in all that is Jesus' except his deity; this is Jesus' alone.

St.Paul tells us:  “The life I live by faith of the Son of God”  Gal:2:20

This life which St.Paul speaks of is Jesus' not ours, understanding this lifts the burden off of us. It means, that Jesus has the faith to save us , all of us- He has the faith to sustain us in our hard times – we do not have to rely on our selves.

The Christian life shows us what is already true for each and all who will but freely receive it . Scripture calls us “complete” and "righteous” in Jesus .

This is accomplished by and trough Jesus' shared humanity with us, and the deity He shares with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Therefore our works are works of  and because of salvation ,not works for salvation. The works are salvation being given expression through us.

Jesus is God with us and us with God.

 From the eternal vantage point of God we are even now with him not just someday but this present tenses, Jesus is there and we in him.

This new life of Christ which we live out only shows us what is already true and what will be in eternity made manifest .

"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."Eph:2:4-10

One in Jesus

 Jesus' prayer that we might be “one” as he and the Father are “one”. The same "oneness" which Jesus shares with his Father, he wants us to experience with himself.

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."Jhn:17:20-23

Jesus does not see his Father ,or the Holy Spirit, as “different persons” from himself as we understand it. That is, Jesus wants us to see each another in him in the same way , this can be by seeing we are in Jesus. We should not see Jesus as a separate person from ourselves .

We are "one in Jesus" . There are no words and in any language of here upon the Earth which adequately can describe this reality which has been accomplished for us  through Jesus, but it is true in and for all of us through the humanly of Christ which makes it all possible for us.

Benediction: May we each and all thank our Lord Jesus for the humanity which he share with each and all of us, today, tomorrow and forevermore. Amen.

 

Rev. Todd Crouch, Pastor 

Topinabee Community Church

Topinabee, Michigan 

If You Would Like to Know More About or to Support the Ministry of Topinabee Community Church You Can go to Our Web Site.

https://topinabeechurch.org/index.html

You Can Follow Topinabee Community Church on Face Book 

https://www.facebook.com/Topinabeecommunitychurch

                    "If It Is Not About Jesus, It Is Not About Anything"

North Michigan Unity Revival

 

North Michigan Unity Revival

Community Worship Service,

Saturday Oct 26^th 6:00-8:00 PM

Inland Lakes Middle School Gym, 

4363 Straits Hwy Indian River, Mi

Sponsored by the Straits Area Ministers Association

“How Good and How Pleasant for Brethren to

Dwell together in Unity” Psalm:133

Guest Speaker Rev. Troy Lusk, Pastor of the

Cedar River Chapel, Beaverton Michigan

Worship Provided by the

 Epsilon Community Church

 Worship Team

Epsilon, Michigan

A Free Will Offering Will be Received, 

a Portion of Which Will be a Donation, 

Made to the Eat for Heat Program 

The Death of Moses

 

The Book of Deuteronomy, which means "re-giving or re-affirmation" of the Law or elleh haddebarim"meaning "these are the Words" . This book is sometimes called " debarim", meaning "the Words". It was written around 1406 BC, by the Great Servant of God, Moses.

Deuteronomy is the last of the five Books of the Law, or the Torah of Moses known as the Pentitude or Pentateuch, meaning "the Five Books".

The Book of Deuteronomy was written while the people of Israel were still on their pilgrimage through the wilderness in the land of Moab east of the River Jordon, just before they were to enter the Promised land.

Deuteronomy comes to its conclusion with the death of Moses and the assumption of leadership by Joshua.

" These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel in the wilderness east of the Jordan--that is, in the Arabah--opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Dizahab" Deut:1:1

Moses Views the Land

The Prophet Moses had led the people of Israel all those years, he had been used by the One and only true God, the Creator of all things, the very God who made a covenant and gave promises to the Patriarch Abraham after calling him out of "Ur of the Chaldeans". This God, had now acted in the life of the descendants of Abraham and set them free from the bondage of Egypt, showing that he and he alone is God by destroying the idols of Egypt the very things which the Egyptians worshiped.

Moses was used by this Great God to bring the people of Israel to the brink of the Promised Land, yet, Moses himself could not enter nor take the people of God into the land, but could only look out from m top of Mount Nebo at this land beyond that Jordon which was rich with so many blessings.

It would be here, on the summit of Mount Nebo that Moses would see the Promised Land and here he would die never able to enter the Promised Land which he had led the people of Israel to.

"Now Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the LORD showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, and all Naphtali and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, and the Negev and the plain in the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. Then the LORD said to him, “This is the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants’; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.” So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD.And He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor; but no man knows his burial place to this day.Although Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died, his eye was not dim, nor his vigor abated. So the sons of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end." Duet: 34:1-8

The task of leading the people into these blessings of the Promised Land would rest upon Joshua, whose name in Hebrew is "Yehoshu'a" meaning "God, or the Lord, is our Salvation" or "one who Saves" .

"Yehoshu'a" would also be the name that the Savior of all humanity would assume centuries later when the very Creator, the only true God would come in the person of his Son.

"Now Joshua the son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him; and the sons of Israel listened to him and did as the LORD had commanded Moses."(9)

Moses' last action was to point the people of Israel to that one, Joshua, who would lead them and take them into the Promised Land. Moses cold only see at it a distance, the Land that was so often promised to them, but Moses himself could not go there, the land given to them by God now they would embark upon a new journey and experiences in this Land of Promises under Joshua; seemingly fulfilling the promises made to Abraham over four hundred years prior.

Moses would be buried east of Jordon in Moab by the Great God himself; the whereabouts of his grave is unknown to any and its location not document in the Scriptures. 

"So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. And He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor; but no man knows his burial place to this day."

Lessons for Christians

What does this speak to us today? What is this all really about, and how does it speak to Christians?

Moses was the one through whom the Law or Torah was given to the people of Israel, but he could not take them beyond the Jordon, it required another after his death, Joshua to take the people of God into the Land. This speaks to us regarding the Law, or Torah.

As Moses could not take Israel into the Promised Land, so the Law could not take us into the Promised eternal life, if would require another to lead us there, as Joshua led Israel over that Jordon so Jesus,"Yehoshu'a" the one who saves, leads us, leads us into life.

Moses' Death

As this passage into the Land was required after the death of Moses, in like manner, so we can enter into life only after the Law has died to us, the Law could not give life, that is, take us into eternal life, only Jesus could bring us eternal life. Jesus has done what the Law could not.

"For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,"Rom:8:3

The Law as Holy as it was, it could not give life, the Law was like Moses a top of Mount Nebo peering into the Promised Land beyond that Jordon but never able to enter therein but only see afar off.

"The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming--not the realities themselves."Heb:10:1

What the L aw could do was to define sin and our need for a Savior Jesus as Apostle St. Paul wrote.

"Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith." Gal: 3:24

 The Law ultimately, and all Scripture, speaks about the person of Jesus Christ and when we read the Scripture through that view they point us to Jesus, then there   is a transposition to them, we can see Jesus standing forth from Genesis to Revelation.

Jesus Takes Us In

After seeing our need for a Savior, for we see that we could not save ourselves, and when we come to believe in Jesus, we are led by our Lord, that one who saves, we are led by Jesus into the Promised land of eternal life. The Law, like Moses, is now dead to us and is buried beyond the Jordon in the valleys of Moab.

We are now free to live in Christ Jesus in all the promises that he has secured for each and all who will but freely receive them, we live in him dead to the Law.

"But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor."Gal:3:25

All trough Jesus we can free of sin, fear, loneliness and in the end even death has no power over us all because of Jesus. We are now joint heirs with our Lord Jesus Christ.

"For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace." Rom: 6:14

 Promises Made to Abraham Kept

All the promises which God had given to the Patriarch Abraham when he brought him out of Ur, have been given their faithful fulfillment in Christ that God had always intended them to have.

God has done greater than to just limit his favor to one people, that is Israel, in a given region of the world, what God has    done is to include all peoples form all nations from all over the world into the Promised Land of eternal life in Jesus.

"If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."Gal:3:29

We have been made heirs with Jesus of all that is his because of who Jesus is, and not by any merit of our own. We with and through him are now Children of God.

"and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him"  Rom:8:17

All that our God has for us is our in his Son Jesus, who takes us ever deeper into a relationship with our God where so many abundant blessings of salvation which await us; all ours through his grace. 

We can now, through Jesus, journey through and in that Promised Land of eternal life in Christ that the Law could only look upon at a distance, as Moses did from the summit of Mount Nebo.

Benediction: May we each and all, live and walk that glorious Promised Land in and by our Lord Jesus Christ, today, tomorrow and forevermore. Amen

 

Rev. Todd Crouch, Pastor 

Topinabee Community Church

Topinabee, Michigan 

If You Would Like to Know More About or to Support the Ministry of Topinabee Community Church You Can go to Our Web Site.

https://topinabeechurch.org/index.html

You Can Follow Topinabee Community Church on Face Book 

https://www.facebook.com/Topinabeecommunitychurch

                    "If It Is Not About Jesus, It Is Not About Anything"