Dear Members and Friends of IBCZ,
One of the most important, awe-inspiring, yet difficult truths to grasp of the Christian faith is that, as Scripture teaches, God Himself came to us even as one of us. The one true God, who exists as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, entered this world when God the Son took on human flesh and nature in the person of Jesus. As Jn. 1:14 proclaims, “The Word (God the Son) became flesh and made His dwelling among us.”
Jesus did not give up His divine nature to do this, but He did take on human nature. As theologians sometimes put it, “Remaining what He was (divine), He became what He was not (human).”
This helps explain some parts of Scripture than can be hard to understand. For instance, two weeks ago in my sermon on the return of Christ, I mentioned that Jesus stated that not even He knew the time of His second coming, but only the Father knows (Mk. 13:32). We may wonder how it could be that Jesus, as God the Son, could not know something that the Father knows. Does this imply a reduced status for Him compared to God the Father?
Not at all. After all, Jesus said in Jn. 10:30, “I and the Father are one.” And in Jn. 16:30, the disciples said to Jesus, “Now we can see that you know all things.” So how do we explain that Jesus said He did not know the time of His return?
As Jesus lived out His earthly life, both the divine and human natures were present within him, and sometimes we see one and at other times the other. For instance, in Mt. 8:24-27 we read about Jesus calming the storm at sea. Vs. 24 states that Jesus was sleeping, revealing His humanness for He was obviously tired (and Ps. 121:4 states that God never slumbers nor sleeps). Then in vs. 26, Jesus rebuked the wind and the waves and it became completely calm, revealing His divine power. So, sometimes Jesus’ divine nature is revealed, and sometimes His human nature is revealed.
So back to Mk. 13:32, when Jesus said that He did not know the time of His return, He was speaking in relation to His human nature.
I know this is a lot of heavy theology for a Newsletter Article! And for centuries theologians have wrestled with what it means that Jesus was both human and divine. What is most important for us is that God came to us as a human being. The infinite, eternal, holy, and all-powerful Son of God came to us as one of us in order to bear our sin so we can be made right with God and live in His loving presence forever. Thanks be to God!
Grace and peace,
Pastor Bob