THE MAN WHO IS GOD

Time with Jesus - Thursday, 17 May 2012

Hi all,

Jesus Christ is man and God! Today’s meditation explores this in further detail.

Blessings

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Time with Jesus – Thursday, 17 May 2012
INTRODUCTION	DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	THE MAN WHO IS GOD
Mathematics. The word alone is often sufficient to make people run for cover. At first it was also my reaction. Then Brother Leonard came on the scene. Suddenly, Maths made sense. He seemed to have a way of teaching that was right for me. He imparted the logic of the subject. Part of his method was the liberal use of the cane! It’s amazing how much difference this made. You “got the point” one way or another. Even dear old friend Pythagoras made good sound sense! At that time I was introduced to the symbol Ξ It meant “is congruent with”. It looks like a double equals sign and meant “is the same in every way” or “is identical to”; a convenient maths shorthand which was very much the “sauce” in geometry if you follow my meaning. If you sprinkled the sign liberally round a couple of equal triangle it meant they were “identical”. Those days are now long gone. But the sign remains in memory and is useful in theology in the 21st century. For example we can say that Jesus is identical to God and is identical to man. In maths it would read Jesus Ξ God, and Jesus Ξ with man. In some incomprehensible way, when you look at Jesus, you are looking at man. Also, when you are looking at Jesus you are looking at God. Now I must admit my memory is not all that good some 52 years later, so if I’ve misled you, please forgive me. But to my way of thinking it is a very useful way of showing that Jesus is 100% man and 100% God. Note that this is essential from the point of view of fallen man. When we look at Him, He looks like any other ordinary man. There was nothing about Him which would cause you to say, “There goes God!” Of course Satan and his demons knew it! So did the Father and His angels. It was necessary for Jesus to be both, simultaneously. He had to be a man to defeat Satan. He also had to be every man who has ever lived, a feat only possible by God Himself. This raises a couple of interesting problems which I’ve tried to understand and explain. The first is how it was possible for God to make Himself small enough to fit into Mary’s baby. Charles Wesley put it this way, “Our God contracted to a span. Incomprehensibly made man.” It’s marked in green in the meditation. The other is how He could possibly have lived a sin free life? To do so, it was imperative that he be born without the sin nature we all share. Thus God had to be His Father and His mother had to be mortal. This didn’t make Him 50% human and 50% God. In some respects He was like us. We are not 50% our mother and 50% our father. We are their offspring. We are 100% the combination of them both. How does that work? I thought that perhaps I should ask you! The blood in His veins was not tainted by sin. If it had been, there would have been no point in shedding it for us. He would then have been the same as every other person who has lived since Adam and Eve. But He wasn’t. He was Divinity in the flesh. He was and is the Son of the Most High God. There are times I’m tempted to feel sorry for Satan. He was fighting God. He had no chance! Jim & Phyllida Strickland	19 Long ago You spoke in a vision to Your faithful people. You said, "I have raised up a warrior. I have selected him from the common people to be king. Psalms 89:19 NLT 16 We also know that the Son did not come to help angels; He came to help the descendants of Abraham. 17 Therefore, it was necessary for Him to be made in every respect like us, His brothers and sisters, so that He could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then He could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people. Hebrews 2:16-17 NLT 26 And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. Ezekiel 1:26 ESV 13 No one has gone to heaven except the Son of Man, who came from heaven. John 3:13 GW 39 Look at My hands. Look at My feet. You can see that it's really Me. Touch Me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don't have bodies, as you see that I do." Luke 24:39 NLT 7 but (He) made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:7-11 ESV 2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Revelation 3:2 ESV	One thing we know for certain. Christ Jesus was a man. To look at Him, you’d never know, ‘contracted to a span’, Within Him the Creator, of Heaven, sea and sky, Had been incorporated to come to us and die! We know that it sounds fanciful. Indeed we think it odd, That in a little baby there dwelt the Son of God! It seems to be ridiculous that nursing at her breast Was He Who made the Universe and was now manifest. This little tiny infant, a babe in swaddling clothes Was truly God Almighty, from head down to His toes. If you can understand this, then you can help us out. Explain just what was going on and what it’s all about. The greatest theologians this world has seen and known, Don’t have an explanation of what God’s Word has shown. We know His birth was prophesied soon after Adam fell. That He had been expected; but when, no one could tell. One thing we know for certain. That when the time was right The Lord would send us someone equipped to win the fight! He had to be of flesh and blood or couldn’t qualify. He had to look like everyone. Would even have to die. He had to walk life’s journey without committing sin. And if He lost the battle, then Lucifer would win; And God would be defeated! A possibility That’s truly inconceivable to folk like you and me. That’s why this little baby was more than meets the eye. God clothed with humanity. A man, yet God Most High! What was the baby thinking? What functioned in His brain! We contemplate this matter and all our thoughts are vain. But why should we explain it? If we know something’s true, We needn’t understand it, to make it work for you. We know that scientifically a virgin can conceive. She only needs a donor and she’s able to receive, All that’s necessary for her to bring to birth, A child who looks exactly like all other folk on earth. If science can achieve this, why should we be surprised, If God could do the very same and not be supervised? We also know the gender is determined by the male. So Jesus’ conception is not some fairy-tale. And so He grew to manhood; our God who was made man. This wasn’t just some accident, but part of God’s great plan, To change that which had happened to Adam at the fall; And bring to full fruition the Man Who’s Lord of all. Jim Strickland – Written 17th May 2012