Bible Study Week 6
Part 5
The Incarnation
The Mighty God in Christ
Who is this Jesus? This is one of the most important questions we could ever answer. Jesus asked His disciples, "Whom say ye that I am?" (Mathew 16:15). Is He a prophet? Yes, and much more than that. A diligent comparison of Old Testament Scriptures with the New reveals that He is God manifest in the flesh (I Timothy 3:16).
The pivotal text of the Old Testament is Deuteronomy 6:4-9. Its lesson is basic: there is but one God. A multitude of scriptural passages proclaim this truth. According to John 4:23-24, the one God is a spirit. He is God with us (Isaiah 7:14). He is the mighty God, the everlasting Father (Isaiah 9:6). He is the One who created us (Genesis 1:1; Malachi 2:10; John 1:3). While Jesus Christ is God, He is also man. The mystery of godliness is that Gad was manifest in the flesh (I Timothy 3:16). As a man, Jesus hungered, slept was weary, wept, and prayed. As God He fed he five thousand, healed the sick, raised the dead, and answered prayer.
Great confusion results if we forget that Jesus is both God and man. He is fully God and Fully man.
All Scripture points to the grand truth that there is but one God:
God is the Creator; Jesus is the Creator.
God is the Savior and Redeemer; Jesus is the Savior and Redeemer.
God is the Shepherd; Jesus is the Shepherd.
God is the King; Jesus is the King.
God is the I Am; Jesus is the I Am.
God is the First and the Last; Jesus is the First and the Last.
God is the Rock; Jesus is the Rock.
God is coming; Jesus is coming.
We cannot stress to much the importance of the identity of Jesus Christ. The Pharisees asked Him, "Where is thy Father?" Jesus answered, "Ye neither know me, nor my Father: If ye had known me ye should have known my father also... for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins" (John 8:19-24). Philip, on of the disciples, said to Him, "Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us." Jesus responded, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake. (John 14:8-11).
The Father was in the Son. The Father and the Son are not two separate persons, but God, the Spirit, manifested Himself in flesh (humanity). "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself" (II Corinthians 5:19).
Ephesians 4:5-6 reveals the oneness of God: "One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."
A story is told about Andrew Bahr, who drove a great herd of reindeer across the Alaskan wilderness. During the long trek, a frenzied helper came to him on winter day crying that they were lost. Andy glared witheringly at the speaker and then at the others around him. At length, smiting his chest, he roared, "You men can see me, can't you?" They nodded, not understanding what he was driving at. "Well," he went on, "as long as you can see me, y'aint lost."
In the catastrophic confusion surrounding us, we are not lost so long as we can see Jesus Christ, the one true God incarnate. He ever says, "Follow me."