Sunday School | Jesus is God and Human

Introduction

Alright. So here's what we're doing, you guys. We're beginning the year continuing our series on all doctrine that ever has existed. We're gonna walk through like all of Christianity from the beginning to the end. And we start with the doctrine of the first person of the Godhead, theology proper. We've transitioned into the doctrine of the Son, which is called Christology. And last time we met, which I think was two or three weeks ago, we had a little bit of a break. I dropped a term on you that you'll frankly never ever ever need to use in conversation. Do you remember what it was? What are we? What is the fancy theological way to talk about the fact that Jesus is both God and man? Hypostatic. Hypostatic union. The fact that you remembered that is extraordinary, okay? But it is. So the hypostatic union, again, you'll never say that. Hypostasis is a notion of a fundamental nature. That Christ is in his very nature. He's fundamentally, actually, 100% God, and he is fundamentally, actually, 100% a human being. And so the hypostatic union is the very ancient way that Christians have described the fact that he's all God, all man, and both.

The Foundations of Christology

We looked at the defining doctrine of that. You might recall, maybe, this is all review, that there's four historic creeds for Christianity. The easiest way to remember it, I think, is the NCAA. What's the N? Nicene Creed. We know that one. Okay? The other one that we know is one of the A's, which is what? The Apostle's Creed. Those are the ones we know. Those are the short ones. Those are the simple ones. Those are honestly kind of the general ones. And then the final A? Right? Okay. So the Nicene Creed and the Apostle's Creed are general overviews of like everything. Really, they're Trinitarian statements. Chalcedonian definition focuses on the hypostatic union. In fact, it has the word, if you're reading it in Greek, hypostasis in it. This is the defining statement that Jesus is both God and man. And then the other one, the Athanasian Creed, we haven't got to, is really this super long, highly developed defense of the Trinity. Okay? It takes a long time to go through it. We have we're not really looking at that. K? But last week, we talked we looked at the hypostatic union, the fact that Jesus is both God and man. We looked at it credibly because I wanted you to understand kinda how the church has historically talked about it. But today I want to talk about that more biblically.

Biblical Evidence for the Deity of Christ

So, there's really two main points. Can we make the case that Jesus is actually, genuinely God? That he bears in himself the fullness of deity? And can we make the case that he's he doesn't just look like us, he's not just dressed like us, he's not just wearing a, you know, a human suit, but he's actually a human being. Okay. So that's that's the two things we wanna try to accomplish by the in the next, you know, thirty five minutes. Okay? So Jesus is God. Where would you go to make the case that actually and genuinely he is fully divine? John. John one. Okay. Who said John one? DFB? John one. And probably the first verse right out of the gate. So do you have John one one in your brain? In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was with God. Very good. Okay. In the beginning was the word. Now, you might have to be like, well, that's is that about Jesus? What's the word? What are you talking about? Right? In the beginning was the logos, was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Okay. John one one is very foundational. John is trying what is John what's John one an homage to? What do you hear in that phrasing? It's clearly Genesis one. Right? In the beginning you might you might not know what I'm talking. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, or in the beginning was the word and the word is with God. So John is intentionally imitating Genesis one one, which is kind of a flex, right? I mean Genesis one one is as foundational as it gets, and he's like, yeah, let me tell you about foundations. And he starts his gospel in the same way. The first thing he wants us to know is that Jesus was with the father and he is God. So that's a that's a really important thing. And by the way, just a little side note, when we did the trinity a month ago or so, some of you may well, did anybody go back and re or not reread, but did you make it back and read the document I gave you, Jonathan Edwards' vision of the Trinity? Did anybody like wade into Edwards on this? Okay. Shockingly, literally okay. Chris is the only person. Okay. You bunch of sissies. Okay. You guys, it's so good. It is so full of insight. But if you recall, his understanding of the trinity, understanding of how is it that God exists in three persons, is fundamentally that that Jesus, the second person of the trinity, the son of God, is the father's self conception, is the father's idea of himself. In the same way that you have an idea of yourself that's imperfect and flawed and incomplete. The father has an idea of himself that is absolutely perfect. And the notion that he's a notion is very consistent with the logos. In the beginning was the logos, was the father's idea of himself. So John one, not only is an evidence for the deity of Christ, but it's actually support for Edward's particular understanding of that. Okay. So John one. Great. Where else would you go? Jesus is God. Bless your heart. Hebrews one is so good, Taylor, okay? So, Hebrews one, do you have that memorized or do you have it in front of you? Okay, go super loud. Long ago, many times and in many ways, god spoke to our fathers by the prophets but in these days, he has spoken to us by his son whom he appointed the heir of all things through whom he also created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of god and the exact imprint of his nature and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. Okay. Now pause right there. Okay. That was good. That was that's that's fantastic. So not only does John begin his case that Jesus is god, but the author of Hebrews, whoever it is, and nobody knows or I don't know who it is, he has this language here. Not only does he ascribe to Christ, to Jesus, the creation of the universe. And if I asked you, just in a generic sense, who made the universe? What would you say? God. And so, k, just follow this little syllogism here. If God made the universe, and Jesus made the universe, and Jesus is? Okay. So we can tease it out with a real simple syllogism for what he's saying. But he goes beyond that, Taylor. Right? Now you read in the ESV, I've got NIV, so I can't replicate that. But NIV says that Jesus according to Hebrews one, that Jesus is the exact representation of his being. Okay? The exact representation of his being. How does yours how does that the super punchy phrase say there? He's the exact imprint of his being. Exact imprint of his nature. And then what's the second clause that or the prior clause? And he upholds the universe by the word. The other side of it. Oh, sorry. No. You're great. The radiance Yes. Of the glory of God. The radiance so NIV says he's the radiance of God's glory, the exact now now I'm all confused. He raised up God's glory in the exact Imprint is the ESV. What's the ESV? Representation. That's what I couldn't believe. Representation of his being. Okay. So Hebrews is I don't know how we could say it anymore clearly that he is fully divine. Okay? So we go John one, we can go Hebrews one. Where else would you go? Okay, super. Yeah, Adam? Colossians. Okay, so isn't that interesting? Chapter one, chapter one, chapter one. There's a lot of chapter ones. Colossians one, we're gonna look at this one because this is a little bit of a longer one. And you're on the way back, Adam, so the mic will never pick you up, so I'm gonna read this one for you. So Colossians one, is maybe, I don't know, maybe it's my favorite of these. That's hard to say. So take a look. Listen to chapter one fifteen, although be careful of verse 15. We'll come back to verse 15 in a second. But look at Colossians one fifteen. It says, he is this is still talking about Jesus. How do we know this? Right before that he's talking about the kingdom of the son he loves. This is all about Jesus. Verse 15, he, the son, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. Let's actually, stay there for a second. Does that mean that he's God? Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. Does that mean that he's God? That alone? No. Why not? Heretic? Me. He's not a heretic. He's right. Why not? Because I am also the image of God. Boom. Zach is so orthodox. Right? Did you hear what he said? I said, why? Okay. He says that he is the image of the invisible God. Does that mean that Jesus is God? And Zach said, no. Because? I am also the image. He is also the image of God. You are also the image of God. So the claim that Jesus is the image of God right here, that's actually a claim to his humanity, which will be really helpful to us in about fifteen minutes. Okay? He is a human being. But what about this phrase, Zach? He's the first born over all creation. What does that mean? He's the first born over all creation. Preeminent. Preeminent. Who said that? Where am I hearing preeminence? Who said that? A voice was at the Lord? Preeminent, Jason? Okay. Preeminent, why do you get preeminence? Because he was he was not only he was there when it was established. Okay. Good. He is there when it's established. This is absolutely true. Let let's let's do it like this. Let's say what it doesn't mean. Okay. If you're Mormon or Jehovah's Witness, you're gonna play games with this. And what you're gonna see in this is the idea that Jesus is the first created being. Is that what it says? No. You can understand if you were trying to deceive people why this would be a convenient verse to use, but that's not what it says. When it says firstborn, what I want you to think about is eldest heir. That's what I want you to think of. The idea of the firstborn, you get no, you're actually who's yeah, you're older than your sister. You are the first born, you get the inheritance. Okay? And Maciek gets nothing. Okay. No. What it means is that he is the prince. What it means is that the kingdom is going to be handed to him. And in fact, has been. Firstborn does not mean he's the first created thing. It means he is the heir of the universe. And notice that it said and this is verified. He's firstborn over all creation. He's not the first created in creation. He's not the first created thing. He is the one who shall reign over all things. He's a human being. He's the image of God, and he is the one to whom had been granted all authority in heaven and earth. K? We haven't gotten to deity quite yet. Let's keep going. For by him, all things were created. Now we're talking. Okay? All things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities. All things are created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And if you're not sure, like, well, maybe he's just like the creative agent. We'll carry on. He's the head of the body of the church. He's the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have, Jason, preeminence, supremacy in the NIV. And listen to verse 19. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross.

The Humanity of Christ

So we're gonna move. He covers so much ground. We start here. He is a human being. He's been granted the universal rule, but he is the creator of it all. He is preeminent. He is supreme over all things. Deity of Christ. Colossians one, Hebrews one, John one. Good. Where else? Can we strengthen the case? Dan. No, this won't strengthen, I don't think, but you know, he died. He did? He did. He died a human death. Okay. That's the second part. Human. We're getting to the human. You wanna keep going on that though? Well, I was gonna say, it says that God raised him. It separates the two and says, God had to raise. Jesus didn't raise himself. That's an act. Yes. Okay. This is true. However, okay. We'll, we'll come to this. Maybe, maybe we'll get to, maybe we'll unpack this in a minute. But over and over and over again, you'll see whatever the father does, we'll also see evidence of the son doing. Whatever the son does, we'll also see the spirit doing. So we could make the case. Jesus says, I have the authority to lay down my life and to pick it up again. Right? So Jesus actually rose himself from the dead. And it says in, 2 Timothy 1 that the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead is at work in us. So the spirit raised Christ from the dead. And you're exactly correct that the father also raised Christ from the dead. So we see all this time, you're like, well, which one of you did it? And they're like, oh, we're, we're kinda one actually. And everything that we do, we all, we do things together. So you can make the case that the father, the son, and the spirit all raised Jesus from the dead, which is a little bit tangential to where we wanna go here. But that's, that's accurate. Okay? Deity of Christ. Where would you go? What are you, what are you mouthing at me, Bob? Philippians two. Philippians two. You guys know Philippians two? Look, look at that one too. Maybe we should be looking at all these. Philippians two is the great Christ hymn. Philippians two. And this one is a little bit funny. Look at verse, we'll start at verse five. Philippians two five says, your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who, being in very nature God. Okay. That's your base case. He is in his very nature, God. But then it gets this weird kind of follow-up. Did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking on the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. Now we'll, that's gonna be helpful in a few minutes. But base case, he is God, but he doesn't retain to himself the privileges of God. Right? This is the passage the fancy word for this. You might know? The v. The v. And what yeah. But, yeah. The v-shaped gospel is all about, is all this. That do you know the word I'm thinking of? Kynosis. Kynosis is that word for emptying. Oh, one of you guys said it. Right? You're whispering. You pleased with yourselves. Did you know it? Wrote it in my bible. You wrote it in your bible. You should have said it out loud. Think of how much glory you could have draped yourself in right there. This is the great emptying of God, that he is God, but he doesn't consider a quality of God a thing to be grasped or held on to. But he gives everything up to become genuinely one of us.

Other Biblical Statements on Deity

Okay? So Philippians two, chapter two. That's weird. We're in, we're in John one, Hebrews one, Colossians one, Philippians two. Where else would you go? Deity of Christ. Yeah, bro. John 14. John 14. Okay. Interesting. So you go to John 14, where are you going in John 14? I'm the way, the truth, and the life. Where are you, where are you going? Philip says, show us the... Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Lord, show us the father and it is enough for us. Jesus said to him, have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me? Philip? And then, yeah, and then his next line is, I think, punchier. He says, where is it? What verse you on? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Verse nine. Anyone who has seen me has seen the father. How can you say, show us the father? Don't you believe that I am in the father, the father is in me? The words I say to you are not my own. It's the father living in me who is doing his work. Right? Now this is, this one gets a little bit complex because we are not modalists. We don't believe that Jesus takes off his hat and now puts on his father hat. So when he says, if you've seen me, you have seen the father, that could conflate. You could understand him to be conflating the two, and he's not, right? But he is saying that he is so representative of—and when he speaks, he speaks on behalf of the father. In fact, the only thing he ever says is what the father has told him to say. Right? He's more of affirming his obedience and submission to the father than that, but these ideas are very much braided together. Okay? How about other places? Let's stay in John for a second. There's another great text in John that is a really important one. Yeah, John 10, I and the father are one. Yes, okay. So when he says, I and the father are one, that's gonna echo this notion here. John 14, very, good. Others? Jesus, the deity of Christ. Kelly Sue? Well, John 17 also has a, I and the father are one. Very good. The high priestly prayer. So, by the way, we, we could do a lot out of John because this is one of John's primary purposes in his gospel. Do you remember we've talked in the past about each gospel has a primary, like agenda? Matthew is trying to portray Christ as king, and it shows that he is the one who's to be ruler. And Mark shows Christ as do you remember the opposite of king? Remember what Mark is? Christ as servant. Luke, again, be helpful in a second, is Christ as man. And then John is Christ as God. Okay. So there's lots of stuff from John. Okay. I think the one that we're missing out of John, though, that I think is maybe the most explicit in Jesus' own lips is John chapter eight. Do you guys know John eight? Is that what you're gonna say, Jason? John eight. Okay. Go go to that one for a second. And what I like about this, what I think is important about this, we could show lots and lots of passages where New Testament authors say Jesus is God. But there is something particularly potent and powerful about Jesus saying, I am God. You with me? My claim that he might be God, my claim that he is God, who cares what I think? Right? But Jesus' concept of his own of his own self, he clearly thought he was God. And we could string together all of the I am statements in John's gospel. Do you know what I mean when I say that? What are the things that Jesus claimed that he when he said I am x y and z, what were those things? I'm the light of the world. Bread of life. I am the bread of life. Begin again. Okay. Yes. He's the alpha and the omega. Right? Weigh the truth and the life. I know our direction. I am. Okay. He's the door. He's the gate for the sheep. I am. He's the I am the good shepherd. Okay. You can string all these things together. Can you just imagine just for a second? Forget like, stop your religious language. Okay? And stop thinking, no, imagine that I got up on this stage on Sunday and I said to you, and I wasn't quoting anybody. I was just talking about myself. And I said, listen, you guys, I am the light of the world. I am. I am the light. Okay. What would you think? Psycho pastor. What? What? God told Moses. Is that his name? Okay, yeah. We're gonna come to that. We'll come to the Yahweh thing in a second but just but just genuinely, if I claim to be the light of the world. No. Delusional. You would you leave the church, Adam? No. You'd all should leave the church, right? Or you should demand that I be fired, right? I mean you must, right? Let me take her on board. Right? Yes, okay. So now we're invoking like a great argument that Lewis popularized from Augustine called the trilemma, the Lord, liar, lunatic argument. Jesus is, when he says, I'm the light of the world, what do you think he meant? Right? When he says, I am the way, the truth, and the I am? Not just that I'm telling you true things. I am the embodiment of truth. I am the bread of heaven. If you don't drink my blood and eat my flesh, then you will have no life in you. Okay. If I were to say any of those things, you would have to flee. Because it would be so completely over the top absurd. These are all things that Jesus said. Which is why Lewis argues. He says, listen, here's your options. When Jesus says things like this, when he is claiming to be God, there's only two options. One is true or it's not true. That's it. It's very, binary. And then if it's true, then you must worship him. For he is the king of all things. And if it's not true, then there's also two options. Either he knows it or he doesn't. When he stands on this stage and says, I am the light of the world. He's either laughing to himself that you're such a bunch of dupes that you might believe it, and he is a liar, and he is scamming you, and he just wants your money and the right to sleep with your wife. Or he is completely delusional. As C. S. Lewis puts it, he's on the level of a man who thinks he's a poached egg, which is not a way I would have ever thought to put it. Okay? He is the Lord, he is a liar, he is a lunatic. That's the whole menu. That's the entire menu. And then Lewis goes on to say, let's not put up with any patronizing nonsense that he's just a good moral teacher. That option is simply not available to us. He is who he claimed to be, or he's not. If he's not, he either knows it or he doesn't. He is the Lord. He is a liar. He is a lunatic. And that entire case is based not on the fact that Paul thought he was God, or that John thought he was God, or that you think he's God, but that he himself thought he was God. And he says things like, I am the bread of life. You with me? Okay, now the most pointed expression of this, the most explicit version, exactly as Robin was saying, is when I say I am, you're just hearing the present tense of the verb to be. He is saying, I'm God. And why would you make such a ridiculous claim, Robin? Because he is. Because he is. But what's the grammatical sense behind that? Why when he says I am, is that actually a claim to deity? This is, this is important, and it's useful to know. Well, it was part of their better than I is. It's because this was the, the name that the Hebrews knew him. This is exactly right, okay. So in Exodus three, when when God is telling Moses, hey, go tell the pharaoh, let my people go and do all this kind stuff. He's like, I don't wanna go. He's not gonna believe me. It's gonna be terrible. He's like, just shut up. Just go. Just do what I tell you to do. And he said, well, who do I tell them sent me? And God's answer is, you tell them that Yahweh sent you. But when he says Yahweh, it's Hebrew, it's y h w h. It's called the sacred tetragrammaton, if you want another word you'll never use. The sacred four letter word, y h w h, but it's simply the Hebrew word, I am. And when g when God reveals his name, every time you see in your Bible, all caps, l o r d, what they're doing is they're transliterating the word Yahweh. They're transliterating God saying, his name is, my name is, I am Yahweh. And when Jesus says, this is what's so interesting. Okay. With all that in the background, Jesus is in kind of a dispute with the disciples and they're not they don't appreciate him very much and they're kinda back and forth. And we'll pick it up in verse 54. John 8:54. Jesus replied, if I glorify myself, my glory means nothing, but my father who you claim as your God is the one who glorifies me. Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I didn't, I'd be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I keep his word. Your father, Abraham, rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day. He saw it and was glad. And they're doing the math. They're like, you're like, what is Jesus, 30 years old? They give him 50 on the outside. Like you're not even 50 years old, and you have seen Abraham. Abraham, who, if you don't have your biblical history, would have been dead for like two thousand years at this point. He says, Abraham thought about you? He says, you're not 50 years old and you've seen Abraham? And Jesus says, here it is in verse 58, I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I am. He didn't say before Abraham was born, I was. He's not merely claiming pre-existence. He's not saying, you think I began to exist when my mom gave birth to me, but I was around a lot earlier than that. He is saying that. But by using bad grammar, he doesn't say before Abraham was born I was. He says, before Abraham was born, Yahweh. He's claiming to be God. And they knew what he meant based on the very next line, which is, at this they picked up stones to stone him. But Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds. You don't stone a man for bad grammar. You stone a man for blasphemy. For claiming to be God. This is what he's doing right here. And Robin? The claim when he was before the Sanhedrin, when he had been taken captive, they asked him, and he said, I am. And that's when they ripped their clothes. And it's actually, it's fun. Go flip forward in John a little bit. What you're describing here, it's before he gets to the Sanhedrin, it's actually, or maybe it happens there too. But it definitely happens in the garden. Go to, let's see, probably 18. Let's see. Yeah, it happened to John 18. Take a look at this. Because this is the second time that he's gonna make the exact same statement. So go to John 18, verse, we'll just start in verse two. Now Judas, who had betrayed him, knew the place because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. So Jesus came to the grove, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials, a chief priest and Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns, weapons. And Jesus, knowing all that was gonna happen to him, went out and asked them, who is it you want? Jesus of Nazareth, they replied. And then your Bible says, I am he, probably, but that's not what he said. What he simply said was, I am. Now, so they're in the garden, it's dark, they got swords, they got torches, they got spears, they're coming. And they're like, we're looking for Jesus. And Jesus steps forward and he says, I am. And do you know what happens next? They fall to the ground. This is an unarmed man surrounded by Roman soldiers with weapons. And he simply takes off his hat and says, it's me. And they fell back and drew their weapons. What most scholars speculate happened here is that for just a moment, he didn't just say I am, but he just opened the veil. And for a split second, the deity was made manifest. And as soon as this happens, as he reveals his godness, they all fall to the ground. And then why so, so cheeky? As they're lying on the ground, like, I'm not entirely understanding what just happened. Jesus basically says, I'm sorry, who was it you were looking for? Look at him. And Jesus said, I am he. They fell back in Judah to ground. And then he asked them, who is it you want? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. And he said, I told you that it's me. And then he has his disciples released, and he goes away to be crucified. This is a claimed deity, just as surely as John 8 is a claim to deity. Alright? So it's all—it's John one. It's Colossians one. It's Hebrews one. It's John eight. It's all over the place in John's gospel. It's Romans 9:5. Here, I'll give you two more that are very, very explicit. These aren't maybe as commonly on our tongue, I'll give you Romans 9:5. Paul is gonna say, he's talking about the advantages that the Jews have. And in verse 5 he says, theirs are the patriarchs and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised. Romans 9:5 is super explicit. And you could also go to Titus 2 for a very plain statement of the deity of Christ. He says, we'll start in verse 11. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age. While we wait, and here it comes, for the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that is very own, eager to do what is good. K? If I were building a case, I'd be John one, Hebrews one, Colossians one, John eight, Titus two, Romans nine. Wow. What did I miss? Any of those? You can make a very, very strong biblical case for the deity of Christ. Not just that his followers recognized it, but he himself taught it.

The Humanity of Christ

Okay. Quick. But I still gotta do humanity, we gotta be quick. So sorry. Real quick. Just to help me because my brain's small. Can you please explain how in that John 18 when he says, I am, and he's people speculate that he's revealing to God why that's not modalism? It feels like. Well, it's not modalism? He's human at one point and it's like, oh, oh, okay. Good. No. Okay. Great. So it's not that he sheds his humanity, but he, there is always okay. Is good. So there's Christ's question is how is that, how is the revelation of his nature not modalism? If he pulls back the veil. Don't I think he's changing modes? I think he's changing what he reveals. And you and I live all the time. There are things that you know, but that don't impact you. Right? So, for instance, you might know what will be a very obvious thing. You might know that infinite joy awaits you. Like you believe this as a tenant of faith, that one day all happiness will be yours. That could obliterate all sorrow at every moment of your life. But it probably doesn't. Right? But there might be a moment where you're like grouchy or you're sad or you're worried or you're whatever. But then somehow you get reminded of what is true and then that that reality floods into your experience. Is that fair? And it, it can work in any or it could be the same way that well, anyway, we'll keep with the happy side of that. So there is a, Jesus is, he's always God, but there he has the ability to make to conceal what he is or to reveal what he is in the same way that we have the ability to conceal and reveal things. And that revelation of his nature, I think when he says I am, that's what makes him hit the deck, I think. Okay, Taylor. Okay, logistical question? Yep. You said, YHWH Yahweh is Hebrew for I am. Yep. So, what language is Jesus speaking when he says I am? Probably Aramaic. Certainly not speaking Greek. So this is funny. You're the most fundamental record we have of Jesus' words is Greek. Yeah. The New Testament was the gospels were written in Greek but it wasn't spoken in Greek. It would have been spoken in Aramaic. It would've he would've, that is being, that's a translation of what he would've said. Aramaic being not quite where's we need Harrison here, but essentially a dialect of Hebrew. That's not that's not actually accurate, but but it is a how would you Sam, I mean, could you better state the religious between That's good. Close enough ish. Okay. So he's just saying the Aramaic. Yeah. He would have been speaking in Aramaic. Yep. Okay. So here's what we're do. Shift gears. He's God. I'm telling you the case is strong. Let's try to do a quick version on the humanity. It's a little bit easier. How would you make the case that Jesus is a human being? Don? Go back to John's nativity scene in John one. The word became flesh. Yes. Right? So John John one Don is tricking us because of course John doesn't have a nativity scene except other than that phrase. Right? John's nativity is not until Revelation 12. You're go look that up. But, but in John one, he became flesh, the incarnation. He became a human being is what John is saying. Very good. Yeah, Nate. He was seen turning water into wine. Okay. How does that make him human? Just because humans like wine or something else? Is, humans are drunk. Oh yeah. He he well, here's here's what he does do Nate, is that he drinks and he eats. Right? He eats fish with his disciples after he catches him. He does normal human things. So this is accurate. Yeah. Harry, was you gonna say the same? He eats. He and drinks. He does normal human things. Yep. What you got? Jesus what? He weeps. Okay. So he demonstrates kind of this emotion and this vulnerability to pain in a way that's strikingly like our own. Very good. What else does he do? Or what else manifests humanity? Yep. He bleeds, dies, and gets buried. He dies. I mean this is about the most human thing that you can do, right? When he, when he died, he demonstrated he was mortal, which is really strange because we just said that he's God. And God is immortal. He's the only immortal being. God alone is immortal. He lives in an unapproachable light, and yet Jesus died. So this is a man, this is a demonstration of his humanity. Very, very good. Way back, there was somebody, I forget who. He was presented for circumcision. Okay. He was presented for circumcision. Okay. He was human. And in fact, he went through all the human things. And we could go back about eight days earlier than that. You guys haven't said maybe the most obvious thing. He, okay? Was. So, somebody asked the question, hey, we're there's a thing that we call a theophany, where maybe the pre-incarnate Christ appears in the fire with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Or the angel of the Lord that we believe to probably be God himself shows up, I don't know, in the you know, with in Judges. Who is it? Who's the guy that Gideon? Gideon, thank you. Shows up with Gideon. There's all these pre-incarnate moments where God shows up and walks among his people. But every time that happened, that person that showed up had never been born. Right? Didn't grow up. Never had an umbilical cord. Right? So appeared to be human. But what those persons or that person had not been born. But when Jesus comes, he is, as in the language that Dave preached last week, Galatians four, he was born of a woman. That is language of humans. All you women, okay, many of you have given birth, many of you will give birth. The only possible thing to which you can give birth is a human being. Okay? Being the the most overwhelming evidence of Jesus' humanity is that he was born. You cannot birth anything else. You with me? He's a human being. Okay. Kelly Sue. Philippians two that we already talked about is also about his humanity, obviously. Exactly right. So he's he had equality with God. He is in his very nature, God. He became something else. Took on the likeness of man. He became one of us. Okay. Now, I have three minutes. And here's what I really wanted to tell you today. So here it is. We can walk through all these cases for the deity of Christ. We can walk through all these cases for the humanity of Christ. And it is puzzling. How could he be both? Are you telling me that when he was like a six-month-old, like trying to shove his foot in his mouth, he was omnipotent? Like how do we do this? Like how do you make sense of this? In Hebrews two, take a look at this. Go to Hebrews two, maybe, maybe the most important passage on the humanity of Christ, I think. And he's gonna argue not only that he did become human, but that he had to become human. Okay? Listen to this. Hebrews 2:14. Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity. So that by his death, he might destroy him who holds the power of death. And free power of death, that is the devil. And free those who all their lives are held in slavery by the fear of death. Verse 17. For this reason, he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest. Now, here's what I want you to think about. When Jesus came to Earth, and this is gonna feel rudimentary, just stay with me here. When Jesus came to Earth, what form did he appear in? Human being. Okay? Was his humanity an illusion or was it real? It was real. He wasn't just wearing a suit. He really was a human being. Okay? Did he have to be a human being? Yes. That's what Hebrews two just said. He had to be. He could not obey in our place. He could not die in our place. He could not be our substitute if he wasn't an actual genuine human being, which is the point that Hebrews two is making. Okay? What was it that made such an absurd reality possible? Why was Jesus able to be made a human being? We are the images of God. Bingo. She said because we are made in his image. Jesus could, the second person, the second person of the Trinity, could not have been incarnated as a golden retriever. K? He could not have been incarnated as an oak tree. The fullness of deity would not fit into a goldfish. But he could be made into something like Roxanne. Why? Because and only because Roxanne was already made in his image. K? Now, think about this. He could become a man because man was already fundamentally made in his image. You are what you are because he is what he is. And when Jesus came, he came in the form of a man. He came in the form of a real man. If he had not taken on human flesh, he could not have been our substitute. He couldn't have obeyed in our place. He could not have suffered in our place. He had to be a man. And he was only able to be made a man because man had already been made in his likeness. And what all of that tells us is this. Here, we'll I'll give it to you as a question. What do you think God was thinking about when he made us in his image in the first place? You guys, if we had not been made in his likeness, he never could have been made in ours. We would have been like golden retrievers, insufficient vehicles for redemption. If he could not be incarnated in our likeness, then he couldn't be our substitute. If he could not be our substitute, we would not just be unredeemed. We would be unredeemable. There would be no hope. It would be impossible. There would be no way he could possibly save us. He could not dress up like us. He could not become one of us if he had not already made us in his image. But he did. He did make us in his image. He fashioned us in his likeness for innumerable reasons that we would share in his rank, that we'd be relational beings, we could have a connection to him. But he also made you in his image so that one day, Jesus could take on human flesh, be falsely accused, be mocked, beaten, crucified, and killed in our place as a substitute for us drinking the wrath of God. We were made in his image so that he could be made in our image, so that he could suffer and die in our place. If he had not, you would be lost forever. So when you puzzle over the imponderableness of how could a human being be made like us, you guys, the deck was already stacked. This was all part of the plan, which certainly makes it seem as if he knew everything that would happen before it happened. Creates the impression that your salvation was planned before the creation of the world. It's like he had a plan and he worked out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will so that we who hope in Christ might be for the praise of his glorious grace. It's almost as if he predestined you to be conformed to the likeness of his son. And in fact, every word of that is true. Kelly, did you wanna add anything before you wrap? Say, you said we were made in his image so that he could be made in our image. So that we can be remade. That's right. His image that we were always intended to be all for his glory. That's exactly right. So he makes us in his image and we mar it. Then he's remade. He has made into our image to show what it was supposed to be like, that he might then conform us back to the image. That we would be with him. You could understand, you guys, the entirety of the gospel message can be looked at through the lens of what it is to be an image bearer. The image bearing is why it's even possible for him to redeem you. Right? So the incarnation is weird, it's bizarre, it's imponderable, and yet it is essential. It is essential to the whole game. And he set it up before the world was made. He was making us to be vehicles into which he could pour himself, so that he could redeem us when we fell. And that is a you could chew on that for a while. That's a big deal. We gotta stop this church. Thanks for coming. We'll do it again next week.