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BIBLICAL CHRISTOLOGY – THE PERSON OF CHRIST (PART I)
PRAYER
I. INTRODUCTION
Last week we considered the problem of sin. For the next four weeks, we’ll be basking in the glory
of the solution to the problem of sin, namely, the God-Man, Jesus Christ, the One who came into
this world to save sinners. Biblical Christology consists of two main parts: it’s the study of the
Person and the Work of Christ. Who is Christ (His person)? And what has he done (His work)? Our
hope and confidence depend on how we answer these crucial questions.
So today and next week we’re going to consider who Jesus Christ is: first, we’ll consider the deity
of Christ and draw out implications for our lives; next week, we’ll study the humanity of Christ.
And in the weeks that follow we’ll turn our attention to what Jesus has done for us in and through
His life, death, resurrection, ascension, heavenly session, and triumphant return. The center of
our faith and the source of our hope isn’t a creed, an idea, an experience, a church, or a
philosophy. It’s a person: Jesus the Messiah. Knowing him isn’t only the beginning of the Christian
life – it’s the whole Christian life. As believers, we know Jesus personally, which means
Christology is deeply practical.
When we discuss the person of Christ, we always want to keep in mind this great mystery, that since
the incarnation Jesus Christ has been both fully God and fully Man in one person. He is one person,
with two natures. Scripture teaches that: “Jesus Christ was fully God and fully man in one
person, and will be so forever.”¹ Where do we see that in scripture? Let’s start with the deity of
Christ.
Jesus Christ is fully God. The teaching from both the Old and New Testaments concerning Christ’s
deity is overwhelming. If you acknowledge the authority of Scripture, then you can’t miss the fact
that Jesus Christ is God.
II. The Deity of Christ in the Old Testament
In Luke 24, Jesus tells his disciples on the road to Emmaus that the Old Testament is all about
Him. In the Old Testament we see prophecies concerning His coming and His triumphant reign. And we
learn how he has worked for the salvation of His people from the beginning.
24:44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must
be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
eology, 529.
What do we see in the OT? A. Son of Man (Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14; Matthew 9:6, 12:8, 19:28, 20:28,
25:31-32)
First, we have Daniel’s vision of the Son of Man. In Dan 7, we find a glorious description of the
heavenly throne room and at the center of this scene is the Lord, the “Ancient of Days”, who is
seated upon His throne. just a few verses later, Daniel describes another vision, but this time he
sees another figure, the Son of Man.
▪ Daniel 7:13-14 "I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one
like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was
given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall
not be destroyed.
Here the Son of Man receives worship from all nations and rules over an eternal kingdom. Who else
could do that but someone who is divine? And who is this Son of Man? Jesus conspicuously used the
title for himself, and taught in Matthew 25:31-32: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all
the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the
nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the
goats.” You can hear how Jesus’ words allude to Daniel 7.
B. Son of David (Genesis 49:8-10; 2 Samuel 7:12-13, 16; Psalm 2:6-7; Ps. 45; Ps. 72; Isa 9:6-7)
Next, the Old Testament builds expectation that a Son of David is coming who will reign on
David’s throne forever. God promises this to David in 2 Samuel 7:13: “He shall build a house for my
name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” And yet this highly-anticipated Son
begins to be described in terms that are unmistakably divine. The king himself sings in Psalm 2:7,
“The LORD said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you.” So, the son of David is also the
Son of God. That could mean simply that this king represents God like a son; but other
passages suggest that it means even more. Psalm 72 depicts foreign kings bowing down before this
king, and people from all nations blessing his name.
Psalm 45:6-7 gets even more explicit: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your
kingdom is a scepter of uprightness; you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.” The
king… is referred to as “God.” Hebrews 1 teaches that this passage is about Jesus.
We something similar in Isaiah 9:6–7 “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the
government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty
God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will
be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with
justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.”
So, who is this king? A royal son of David who is also Mighty God. His name is Everlasting Father
not in the sense that he is God the Father, but that he is a king who rules benevolently like a
loving father. This royal figure is Jesus Christ. That’s what Christ means, after all, -- it’s the
Greek
translation for Messiah, which means “Anointed One.” Romans 1:2-3 Paul says the gospel is a
message about God’s “Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to
be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead,
Jesus Christ our Lord.”
III. The Deity of Christ in the New Testament
This gradual crescendo of expectation in a divine son of God climaxes in the New Testament. So
let’s look at 6 ways the New Testament teaches Jesus is fully God.
1. Jesus Christ is called God and Lord (Matthew 1:21-23; Luke 2:11; Romans 9:5; Titus 2:13)
John 1:1 says “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Rom
9:5 calls him “Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever.” Titus 2:13 calls him “our great God
and Savior Jesus Christ.”
We also have many instances where the words used for God [Theos] and Lord [Kyrios]² in the Greek
translation of the Old Testament [Septuagint] are applied directly to Jesus. Perhaps one of the
most staggering examples of this is Phil 2:11, where Paul says that every tongue will “confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Here, he is quoting Isaiah 45:23 nearly word
for word. And yet the one to whom every knee bows and every tongue swears allegiance in Isaiah 45
is none other than Yahweh, the covenant Lord of Israel. For Paul’s readers, immersed in the
language of the Old Testament, Philippians 2 could not be any clearer: Jesus is Yahweh!³
2. Jesus Christ claimed to be God (John 8:58, 10:30)
And, second, of course, we have Jesus’ claims of himself. There is his great statement in John
8:58, “Before Abraham was born, I am!” The Jews understood that he was claiming to be God. “I AM
WHO I AM” was God’s way of identifying Himself to Moses. They picked up stones to kill Jesus
because their unbelieving hearts judged this to be a blasphemous statement. Jesus was equating
himself with God! Later, in John 10:30, he says “I and the Father are one,” and again the Jewish
leaders attempt to stone him. Why? Verse 33, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone
you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”
Third, 3. Jesus Christ is presented as the object of the believer’s faith and trust (John 14:1;
17:3; 2 Cor. 5:15; Eph. 3:12; 5:23; Col. 1:27; 1 Thes 1:3 1 Tim. 1:1)
In John 14:1, Jesus says “Believe in God; believe also in me.” This is what believers do: they
venture all their trust on Christ. 1 Thes 1:3, Paul speaks of the believers “steadfastness of hope
in our Lord Jesus Christ.” John 17:3, eternal life is to know Jesus Christ. Since the Old Testament
consistently teaches us to hope and trust only in God, it follows that Jesus as the object of our
hope is indeed divine.
Fourth, 4. Jesus Christ is presented as the object of the believer’s worship (Matt 2:10-11, 28:17;
John 5:23; Phil. 2:9–11; Heb. 1:6; Rev. 5:12)
Judaism was staunchly monotheistic, so this worship should intrigue us. Matthew 2:10-11 When [the
Magi] saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 And going into the house they saw
the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him.
2 Kyrios could be used to mean “master” but was also used to translate the Hebrew YHWH.
³ Another classic example is Mark’s citation of Isaiah 40:3 in Mark 1:3.
John 5:23, The Father “has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they
honor the Father.”
Now, remember Isaiah 48:11 – God says “My glory I will not give to another.” And yet from his
birth in Matthew 2 to the heavenly throne room in Revelation, Jesus receives worship, glory, and
honor. This isn’t blasphemy or idolatry. It is appropriate, delightfully so, because Jesus is God.
That leads us to number
5. Jesus Christ is described as both being God and performing the very works of God (John 1:1-3,
14-18; Hebrews 1:1-4; Colossians 1:15-20), like creating the universe, forgiving sins, and more.
John 1:1-3, 14-18 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any
thing made that was made.” So Jesus is the Creator.
Hebrews 1:1-4 “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,
2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things,
through whom also he created the world. 3 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.” Jesus reveals God and
sustains all creation.
Colossians 1:15-20 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by
him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or
dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is
before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the
church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be
preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to
reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his
cross.
Finally, 6. Jesus Christ is assumed to have been preexistent as the eternal Son of God prior to His
incarnation (1 Cor. 8:6; 10:4, 9; 2 Cor. 8:9; Gal. 4:4; Rom 8:3; Col. 1:15-20; Phil 2:6; 1 Tim
1:15; 3:16; 2 Tim 1:9-10).
This is an important point, because it emphasizes that God the Son has always existed. It’s not
that Jesus, a human being, became God somehow – say, by his miraculous birth or marvelous baptism.
No, it’s the other way around: God, the second person of the Trinity, took on a human nature in
addition to his divine nature. The incarnation is not subtraction, but addition.
We see this in a passage like Phil 2:6-7: “Though he was in the form of God, [he] did not count
equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,
being born in the likeness of men.” He didn’t give up his divinity, but the status and privilege of
his heavenly standing. Or 2 Tim 1:9-10, God gave us grace “in Christ Jesus before the ages began,
and which has now been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ.”
In these passages, Paul isn’t trying to demonstrate the preexistence of Christ. Paul is arguing for
something else on the basis of a commonly held belief in Christ as the eternal Son of God. In other
words, he is not arguing for the preexistence of Christ. He’s arguing from it. That’s how bedrock a
truth this is.
So, scripture is absolutely clear: Jesus Christ is God. One helpful way to remember the way the
Scriptures speak of Christ’s deity is:
HANDS
▪ Jesus Christ Shares the Honors Due to God (he receives worship).
▪ Jesus Christ Shares the Attributes of God (holy, righteous, all-powerful)
▪ Jesus Christ Shares the Names of God (Lord, God, Alpha and Omega)
▪ Jesus Christ Shares in the Deeds that God Does (forgives sin, raises the dead, creates the
world)
▪ Jesus Christ Shares the Seat of God's Throne⁴
Questions or Comments?
IV. The Chalcedonian Definition
As you can imagine, the question of how Jesus has both a divine and human nature in one person has
led to considerable thought (and delight!) for theologians over the centuries. We believe this
because it is the evident teaching of scripture. Next week we’ll think about the full humanity of
Jesus. But right now, having considered his deity, it should be helpful to look at the key
historical statement about his divine and human natures. It’s called the Chalcedonian Definition of
451 A.D. and it’s written in your handout. Bible-believing Christians agreed on this statement
because they recognized that the person of Christ is a critical doctrine. If you get Jesus wrong,
everything else falls out of place. This statement summarizes the Bible’s teaching and that’s why
it has stood the test of time. To help you digest it, I’ve put the statements on Christ’s divine
nature in bold. The statements on his human nature are in italics. Everything else is in normal
font. We’re not going to go over this in detail, but I want to expose you to it.
“We, then, following the holy Fathers, all with one consent, teach men to confess one and the same
Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood [perfect here
means complete in all respects]; truly God and truly man, of a reasonable soul and body;
consubstantial with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to
the Manhood [consubstantial means having the same substance or essence of being]; in all things
like unto us, without sin; begotten before all ages of the Father according to the Godhead, and in
these latter days, for us and for our salvation, born of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God,
according to the Manhood; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, to be acknowledged in
two natures, inconfusedly [that means not mixed up or in disorder], unchangeable, indivisibly,
inseparably; the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the
property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence, not
parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten, God the Word, the
Lord Jesus Christ, as the prophets from the beginning have declared concerning him, and the Lord
Jesus Christ himself has taught us, and the Creed of the holy Fathers has handed down to us.⁵
4 The HANDS acronym is from Robert Bowman, Putting Jesus In His Place (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2007).
5 “Perfect” means complete in all respects. “Consubstantial” means having the same substance or
essence.
“Inconfusedly” means not mixed up or in disorder. “Begotten” can be difficult to define, but it is
qualified by other words such as “before all ages” showing that Christ was eternal and not created
at some point in history.
I’m not going to walk through that phrase by phrase. You can study it on your own – that would be a
fruitful use of your time. I will say that the phrase “Mother of God” might seem confusing, but it
simply means that Mary gave birth to God the Son who had taken on a human nature. It doesn’t mean
Mary is super-human or worthy of worship. Before we move on, any questions?
V. The Importance and Beauty of Christ’s Deity
I share this creed with us not because it has a lot of big theological words, but because Christ’s
deity is supremely important and beautiful. When we rightly understand the person of Christ, it
should lead us to joy, confidence, and worship. Why does the deity of Christ matter? Here are 3
reasons.
1. The deity of Christ matters for revelation.
God hasn’t merely sent us a prophet, messenger, or press secretary. He hasn’t just given us a book.
He has given us himself. How would you feel if someone showed up on your doorstep with a message
from the President? Now, what about if you opened your door and there was the President himself?
This point should reassure us. We don’t have to wonder about what God is like, if he is really
merciful or compassionate. Hebrews 1, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our
fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.” John 1:18, “No one
has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.” We can sometimes
struggle with how to imagine God – is God for me? I love what Michael Reeves says: “For all our
dreams, our dark and frightened imaginings of God, there is no God in heaven who is unlike Jesus…
‘Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father,’ he says (John 14:9). God cannot be otherwise.”⁶ If
you want to know God, look to Jesus Christ. He is God in the flesh.
2. The deity of Christ matters for salvation.
The constant message of the Bible is that no mere man could achieve salvation for himself, yet
alone on behalf of others. Salvation belongs to the Lord, Jonah 2:9 declares. God himself achieves
this salvation, and he does so in the person of his Son. In a striking phrase in Acts 20:28, Paul
teaches that God bought the church “with his own blood.” The blood of a mere man, it seems, would
not atone for countless millions. Col 1:19-20, “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to
dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making
peace by the blood of his cross.” Only the God-man could serve as the perfect mediator between man
and God (1 Tim 2:5). Jesus didn’t just die as a good example. He died as a sinless sacrifice, “the
righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (1 Pet 3:18) And his resurrection
proves his divinity – as Heb 7:16 teaches, Jesus is our high priest “by the power of an
indestructible life.”
This means that sin-stained rebels like us have a sure and steady hope. Our salvation doesn’t come
through higher consciousness, positive thinking, religiosity, the five pillars of Islam or the
eightfold path of Buddhism, all of which assume that human beings can basically be delivered from
our plight with enough discipline and devotion. God himself accomplishes and guarantees our
redemption.
That is our only hope! Trust in Christ, and you will never be disappointed.
⁶ Michael Reeves, Rejoicing in Christ (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2015), 14.
3. The deity of Christ matters for the Christian life.
Our salvation isn’t some sort of get-out-of-hell transaction. It’s a transformation of who we are.
We go from being represented by Adam to being united with Christ. “Jesus Christ is in you,” Paul
tells the Corinthians (2 Cor 13:5)! Christ dwells in us by his Spirit, and that is why we can walk
in a way pleasing to God. Rom 8:10, “If Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin,
the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” So take heart, if you are struggling hard against sin
and temptation. When you were born again, you became a new person, empowered by the Spirit of
Jesus. Sin is never inevitable for the Christian. It no longer defines us. Christ is ours and we
are his.
VI. Conclusion: Know and Adore Christ
How should we walk away from what we’ve learned today? For one, we should seek to know Christ!
Abide in him. Listen to his Word. John Owen said, “You love Him not, because you know Him not.”⁷
John Calvin wrote, “Since rich store of every kind of good abounds in [Christ], let us drink our
fill from this fountain, and from no other.”⁸
Then, we should adore Jesus Christ as God! As Paul says in 2 Cor 4:6, God has shone a light in our
hearts, and that light is the “knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” There is
no higher beauty, no greater glory, no better love than his. He shines forth with incomparable
loveliness. He is our Prophet, Priest, and King, the radiance of the glory of God: worthy of
worship, awe, wonder, and affection. He is supreme and lifted up, yet he humbled himself on the
vilest cross. He took our filthy rags and clothed us in his brilliant righteousness. And one day he
will return and we will sit with him at the banquet table of the Wedding Supper of the Lamb. The
cleansed and radiant Bride with her glorious, loving, faithful, divine Bridegroom.
Questions?
PRAYER
⁷ John Owen, “Communion with God” in The Works of John Owen, ed. William Goold, 24 vols.
(Edinburgh: Johnson & Hunter; 1850-1855; reprint by Banner of Truth, 1965), Vol. 2:53.
⁸ John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. F. L. Battles (Philadelphia:
Westminster, 1960), 2.16.19.
BIBLICAL CHRISTOLOGY – THE PERSON OF CHRIST (PART II)
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory,
glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14
I. Introduction and Review
(John 1, Col. 1, Phil. 2, Heb. 1)
Last week we began to consider the Person of Christ, and we focused on Christ’s deity, the truth
that the Son of God is fully God, co-equal, co-eternal, with God the Father and God the Spirit,
looking at passages like John 1, Col. 1, Phil. 2, Heb. 1. This morning we turn our attention to the
humanity of Christ. This one who is fully God, 2000 years ago, took on flesh and dwelt among us.
When we discuss the person of Christ, we always want to keep in mind that Jesus Christ is both
fully God and fully Man in one person. Scripture teaches that: “Jesus Christ was fully God and
fully man in one person, and will be so forever.”¹
Illus: Spurgeon: Marvel at this mystery! The Infinite became an infant!
II. The Humanity of Christ in Scripture
▪ We see the humanity of Christ clearly described in 1 John 4:2-3. You’ll see it there on your
handout…
▪ 1 John 4:2-3 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ
has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.
This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.
If you’re following along on your handout, we’re going to look at Jesus’ humanity in three broad
categories. We’ll look first at the Virgin Birth, then at his weaknesses and limitations, and
finally at his sinless humanity.
A. Virgin Birth.
(Isaiah 7:14; Matt. 1:18-25, 24-25; Luke 1:35, 3:23)
When we speak of the humanity of Christ it is appropriate to begin with a consideration of the
virgin birth of Christ. Scripture clearly asserts that Jesus was conceived in the womb of his
mother Mary by a miraculous work of the Holy Spirit and without a human father.
▪ Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin
shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
▪ Matthew 1:18 “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother
Mary
had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child
from the Holy Spirit.”
▪ Luke 1:35 “And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the
Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.”
The doctrinal importance of the virgin birth:
1. The virgin birth was the means God used to send his Son (John 3:16; Gal. 4:4) into the world as
a man. Jesus experienced the full span of human life, including in his mother’s womb. But the
miraculous nature of the virgin birth testifies to the fact that he was not only a man, but the
unique God-man.
2. The virgin birth also seems to hold some significance for Jesus as the New Adam. It dramatizes
the fact that unlike the rest of us, who inherit a sinful and guilty nature from our first father
Adam, Jesus had no earthly father. He is a new representative of the human race, of all those who
would be united to him by faith. The virgin birth seems important here, because it shows us that
Jesus did not descend from Adam in exactly the same way in which every other human being has
descended from Adam. And this helps us to understand why the legal guilt and moral corruption that
belongs to all other human beings did not belong to Christ. This idea seems to be indicated in the
statement of the angel Gabriel to Mary in Luke 1:35 – because Jesus would be conceived by the power
of the Holy Spirit, therefore he would be called holy.
B. Jesus Endured Human Weaknesses and Limitations
▪ Jesus Had a Human Body
(Luke 2:7, 40, 52; 23:46, 24:42; Matt. 4:2, 11; John 4:6, 19:28; 21:9, 13)
The fact that Jesus had a human body just like our human bodies is seen in many passages of
Scripture.
• He was born just as all human babies are born (Luke 2:7).
• He grew through childhood to adulthood just as other children grow: “And the child grew and
became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him” (Luke 2:40).
• Jesus became tired just as we do, for we read that “Jesus, wearied as he was with his journey,
sat down beside the well” in Samaria (John 4:6).
• He became thirsty and hungry, for when he was on the cross he said, “I thirst” (John 19:28).
After he had fasted for forty days in the wilderness, we read that “he was hungry” (Matt. 4:2).
• He was at times physically weak, for during his temptation in the wilderness he fasted for forty
days (the point at which a human being’s physical strength is almost entirely gone and beyond which
irreparable physical harm will occur if the fast continues). At that time “angels came and
ministered to him” (Matt. 4:11), apparently to care for him and provide nourishment until he
regained enough strength to come out of the wilderness. When Jesus was on his way to be crucified,
the soldiers forced Simon of Cyrene to carry his cross (Luke
23:26), most likely because Jesus was so weak following the beating he had received that he did not
have strength enough to carry it himself.
• The culmination of Jesus’ limitations in terms of his human body is seen when he died on the
cross (Luke 23:46). His human body ceased to have life in it and ceased to function, just as ours
does when we die.
Jesus also rose from the dead in a physical, human body, though one that was made perfect and was
no longer subject to weakness, disease, or death. He demonstrates repeatedly to his disciples that
he does have a real physical body: he says, “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle
me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have” (Luke 24:39). He is
showing them and teaching them that he has “flesh and bones” and is not merely a “spirit” without a
body.
Another evidence of this fact is that “they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and
ate before them” (Luke 24:42. v. 30; John 20:17, 20, 27; 21:9, 13).
In this same human body (though a resurrection body that was made perfect), Jesus also
ascended into heaven. He said before he left, “I am leaving the world and going to the Father”
(John 16:28; 17:11). The way in which Jesus ascended up to heaven was calculated to demonstrate the
continuity between his existence in a physical body here on earth and his continuing existence in
that body in heaven. Just a few verses after Jesus had told them, “A spirit has not flesh and bones
as you see that I have” (Luke 24:39), we read in Luke’s gospel that Jesus “led them out as far as
Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them, and
was carried up into heaven” (Luke 24:50–51). Similarly, we read in Acts, “As they were looking on,
he
was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9).
All of these verses taken together show that, as far as Jesus’ human body is concerned, it was like
ours in every respect before his resurrection, and after his resurrection it was still a human body
with “flesh and bones,” but made perfect, the kind of body that we will have when Christ returns
and we are raised from the dead as well. Jesus continues to exist in that human body in heaven, as
the ascension is designed to teach.
[STOP FOR QUESTIONS]
▪ Jesus Had A Human Mind
(Luke 2:52; Heb. 5:8; Mark 13:32)
The fact that Jesus “increased in wisdom” (Luke 2:52) says that he went through a learning process
just as all other children do—he learned how to eat, how to talk, how to read and write, and how to
be obedient to his parents (see Heb. 5:8). This ordinary learning process was part of the genuine
humanity of Christ.
We also see that Jesus had a human mind like ours when he speaks of the day on which he will return
to earth: “But of that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,
but only the Father” (Mark 13:32).
▪ Jesus Had a Human Soul and Human Emotions
(John 12:21, 27; 11:35; Heb. 5:7; Matt. 8:10)
We see several indications that Jesus had a human soul (or spirit). Just before his crucifixion,
Jesus said, “Now is my soul troubled” (John 12:27). John writes just a little later, “When Jesus had thus
spoken, he was troubled in spirit” (John 13:21). In both verses the word troubled represents the
Greek term tarasso a word that is often used of people when they are anxious or suddenly very
surprised by danger.
Moreover, before Jesus’ crucifixion, as he realized the suffering he would face, he said, “My soul
is very sorrowful, even to death” (Matt. 26:38). So great was the sorrow he felt that it seemed as
though, if it were to become any stronger, it would take his very life.
Jesus had a full range of human emotions.
• He “marveled” at the faith of the centurion (Matt. 8:10). He wept with sorrow at the
death of Lazarus (John 11:35).
• And he prayed with a heart full of emotion, for “in the days of his flesh, Jesus offered
up
prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him
from death, and he was heard for his godly fear” (Heb. 5:7).
• Moreover, the author tells us, “Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he
suffered; and being made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him”
(Heb. 5:8–9). Yet if Jesus never sinned, how could he “learn obedience”? Apparently as Jesus grew
toward maturity he, like all other human children, was able to take on more and more
responsibility. The older he became the more demands his father and mother could place on him in
terms of obedience, and the more difficult the tasks that his heavenly Father could assign to him
to carry out in the strength of his human nature. With each increasingly difficult task, even when
it involved some suffering (as
Heb. 5:8 specifies), Jesus’ human moral ability, his ability to obey under more and more difficult
circumstances, increased. We might say that his “moral backbone” was strengthened by more and more
difficult exercise. Yet in all this he never once sinned.
The complete absence of sin in the life of Jesus is all the more remarkable because of the severe
temptations he faced, not only in the wilderness, but throughout his life. The author of Hebrews
affirms that Jesus “in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). The
fact that he faced temptation means that he had a genuine human nature that could be tempted, for
Scripture clearly tells us that “God cannot be tempted with evil” (James 1:13).
▪ Jesus Was Understood by others to be a Human Being
(Matthew 13:53-58)
▪ Matthew 13:53–58 “And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from
there,
and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were
astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the
carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon
and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And
they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is
not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” And he did not do many mighty
works there, because of their unbelief.”
C. Jesus was Fully Human and Also Sinless
(2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15-16; 1 Peter 1:19; Acts 2:27; 3:14; 4:30; 7:52; 13:35)
▪ 2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him
we might become the righteousness of God.
▪ Hebrews 4:14–16 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our
weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then
with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help
in time of need.
The Scriptures make crystal clear that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life…
[STOP FOR QUESTIONS]
Application: Worship Jesus Christ as the God-Man!
▪ Athanasius (AD 373): “Such and so many are the Saviour’s achievements that follow from His
Incarnation, that to try to number them is like gazing at the open sea and trying to count the
waves. For, indeed everything about it is marvelous, and wherever a man turns his gaze he sees the
Godhead of the Word and is smitten with awe.”²
Why Was Jesus’ Full Humanity Necessary? So that we might:
▪ Worship Jesus Christ, the Second Adam (Rom. 5:18-19; 1 Cor. 15:45)
Jesus was our representative and obeyed for us where Adam had failed and disobeyed.
▪ Worship Jesus Christ, our Substitutionary Sacrifice (Heb. 2:14-17)
If Jesus had not been a man, he could not have died in our place and paid the penalty that was due
to us.
▪ Worship Jesus Christ, the Mediator between God and Men (1 Tim. 2:5)
Because we were alienated from God by sin, we needed someone to come between God and ourselves and
bring us back to him. We needed a mediator who could represent us to God and who could represent
God to us. There is only one person who has ever fulfilled that requirement.
▪ Worship Jesus Christ, our Perfect Example (Phil 2:5-11; 1 Pet 2:21; Heb. 12:2)
Jesus had to become a man like us in order to live as our example and pattern in life. Disciples
are Christ-followers. Our goal should be to be like Christ all our days, up to the point of death,
and to die with unfailing obedience to God, with strong trust in him, and with love and forgiveness
to others.
▪ Worship Jesus Christ, our Sympathetic High Priest (Heb. 2:18; 4:15-16)
If Jesus had not been a man, he would not have been able to know by experience what we go through
in our temptations and struggles in this life. But because he has lived as a man, he is able to
sympathize more fully with us in our experiences.
▪ Worship Jesus Christ, the First-Born from the dead (Col. 1:18; 1 Cor. 15:49)
Jesus had to be raised as a man in order to be the “first-born from the dead” (Col. 1:18), the
pattern for the bodies that we would later have. We now have a physical body like Adam’s, but we
will have one like Christ’s: “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also
bear the image of the man of heaven” (1 Cor. 15:49).
▪ Worship Jesus Christ, the God-Man forever (Luke 24:39ff; Acts 1:11; Rev. 1:13-17) Jesus did not
temporarily become man, instead his divine nature was permanently united to his human nature, and
he lives forever not just as the eternal Son of God, the second person of the
Trinity, but also as Jesus, the man who was born of Mary, and as Christ, the Messiah and Savior of
his people. Jesus will remain fully God and fully man, yet one person, forever.
EXTRA STUFF – mainly for the teacher’s personal study/preparation
3. Combining Specific Biblical Texts on Christ’s Deity and Humanity.
When we examine the New Testament, as we did above in the sections on Jesus’ humanity and deity,
there are several passages that seem difficult to fit together (How could Jesus be omnipotent and
yet weak? How could he leave the world and yet be present everywhere? How could he learn things and
yet be omniscient?). As the church struggled to understand these teachings, it finally came up with
the Chalcedonian Definition, which spoke of two distinct natures in Christ that retain their own
properties yet remain together in one person. This distinction, which helps us in our understanding
of the biblical passages mentioned earlier, also seems to be demanded by those passages.
a. One Nature Does Some Things That the Other Nature Does Not Do: Evangelical theologians in
previous generations have not hesitated to distinguish between things done by Christ’s human nature
but not by his divine nature, or by his divine nature but not by his human
nature. It seems that we have to do this if we are willing to affirm the Chalcedonian statement
about “the property of each nature being preserved.” But few recent theologians have been willing
to make such distinctions, perhaps because of a hesitancy to affirm something we cannot understand.
• Jesus has returned to heaven and is present with us: When we are talking about Jesus’ human
nature, we can say that he ascended to heaven and is no longer in the world (John 16:28; 17:11;
Acts 1:9–11). But with respect to his divine nature, we can say that Jesus is
everywhere present: “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them”
(Matt. 18:20); “I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Matt. 28:20); “If a man loves me,
he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with
him” (John 14:23). So we can say that both things are true about the person of Christ—
he has returned to heaven, and he is also present with us.
• Jesus was temporal and eternal: Similarly, we can say that Jesus was about thirty years old
(Luke 3:23), if we are speaking with respect to his human nature, but we can say that he eternally
existed (John 1:1–2; 8:58) if we are speaking of his divine nature.
• Jesus was weak and all-powerful: In his human nature, Jesus was weak and tired (Matt. 4:2; 8:24;
Mark 15:21; John 4:6), but in his divine nature he was omnipotent (Matt. 8:26–27; Col. 1:17; Heb.
1:3). Particularly striking is the scene on the Sea of Galilee where Jesus was asleep in the stern
of the boat, presumably because he was weary (Matt. 8:24). But he was able to arise from his sleep
and calm the wind and sea with a word (Matt. 8:26–27)! Tired yet omnipotent! Here Jesus’ weak human
nature completely hid his omnipotence until that omnipotence broke forth in a sovereign word from
the Lord of heaven and earth.
If someone asks whether Jesus, when he was asleep in the boat, was also “continually carrying along
all things by his word of power” (Heb. 1:3, author’s translation), and whether all things in the
universe were being held together by him at that time (see Col. 1:17), the answer must be yes, for
those activities have always been and will always be the particular responsibility of the second
person of the Trinity, the eternal Son of God. Those who find the doctrine of the incarnation
“inconceivable” have sometimes asked whether Jesus, when he was a baby in the manger at
Bethlehem, was also “upholding the universe.” To this question the answer must also be yes: Jesus
was not just potentially God or someone in whom God uniquely worked, but was truly and fully God
with all the attributes of God. He was “a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). Those who
reject this as impossible simply have a different definition of what is “possible” than God has, as
revealed in Scripture. To say that we cannot understand this is appropriate humility. But to say
that it is not possible seems more like intellectual arrogance.
• Jesus died and did not die: In a similar way, we can understand that in his human nature, Jesus
died (Luke 23:46; 1 Cor. 15:3). But with respect to his divine nature, he did not die, but was able
to raise himself from the dead (John 2:19; 10:17–18; Heb. 7:16). Yet here we must give a note of
caution: it is true that when Jesus died his physical body died and his human soul (or spirit) was
separated from his body and passed into the presence of God the Father in heaven (Luke 23:43, 46).
In this way he experienced a death that is like the one we as
believers experience if we die before Christ returns. And it is not correct to say that Jesus’
divine nature died, or could die, if “die” means a cessation of activity, a cessation of
consciousness, or a diminution of power. Nevertheless, by virtue of union with Jesus’ human nature,
his divine nature somehow tasted something of what it was like to go through death. The person of
Christ experienced death. Moreover, it seems difficult to understand how Jesus’ human nature alone
could have borne the wrath of God against the sins of millions of people. It seems that Jesus’
divine nature had somehow to participate in the bearing of wrath against sin that was due to us
(though Scripture nowhere explicitly affirms this). Therefore, even though Jesus’ divine nature did
not actually die, Jesus went through the experience of death as a whole person, and both human and
divine natures somehow shared in that experience. Beyond that, Scripture does not enable us to say
more.
• Jesus was tempted and not tempted: The distinction between Jesus’ human and divine
natures also helps us understand Jesus’ temptations. With respect to his human nature, he certainly
was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin (Heb. 4:15). Yet with respect to his divine
nature, he was not tempted, because God cannot be tempted with evil (James 1:13).
At this point it seems necessary to say that Jesus had two distinct wills, a human will and a
divine will, and that the wills belong to the two distinct natures of Christ, not to the person.
This distinction of two wills and two centers of consciousness helps us understand how Jesus could
learn things and yet know all things. On the one hand, with respect to his human nature, he had
limited knowledge (Mark 13:32; Luke 2:52). On the other hand, Jesus clearly knew all things (John
2:25; 16:30; 21:17). Now this is only understandable if Jesus learned things and had limited
knowledge with respect to his human nature but was always omniscient with respect to his divine
nature, and
therefore he was able any time to “call to mind” whatever information would be needed for his
ministry. In this way we can understand Jesus’ statement concerning the time of his return: “But of
that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the
Father” (Mark 13:32). This ignorance of the time of his return was true of Jesus’ human nature and
human consciousness only, for in his divine nature he was certainly omniscient and certainly knew
the time when he would return to the earth.
b. Anything Either Nature Does, the Person of Christ Does: In the previous section we mentioned a
number of things that were done by one nature but not the other in the person of Christ. Now we
must affirm that anything that is true of the human or the divine nature is true of
the person of Christ. Thus Jesus can say, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). He does not say,
“Before Abraham was, my divine nature existed,” because he is free to talk about anything done by
his divine nature alone or his human nature alone as something that he did.
Thus, “Christ died for our sins” (1 Cor. 15:3). Even though actually only his human body ceased
living and ceased functioning, it was nonetheless Christ as a person who died for our sin. This is
simply a means of affirming that whatever can be said of one nature or the other can be said of the
person of Christ.
Therefore it is correct for Jesus to say, “I am leaving the world” (John 16:28), or “I am no more
in the world” (John 17:11), but at the same time to say, “I am with you always” (Matt. 28:20).
Anything that is done by one nature or the other is done by the person of Christ.
c. Titles That Remind Us of One Nature Can Be Used of the Person Even When the Action Is Done By
the Other Nature: The New Testament authors sometimes use titles that remind us of either the human
nature or the divine nature in order to speak of the person of Christ, even though the action
mentioned may be done only by the other nature than the one we might think of from the title. For
example, Paul says that if the rulers of this world had understood the wisdom of God,
“they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Cor. 2:8). Now when we see the phrase “the
Lord of glory” it reminds us specifically of Jesus’ divine nature. But Paul uses this title
(probably
intentionally to show the horrible evil of the crucifixion) to say that Jesus was “crucified.” Even
though Jesus’ divine nature was not crucified, it was true of Jesus as a person that he was
crucified, and Paul affirms that about him even though he uses the title “the Lord of glory.”
Similarly, when Elizabeth calls Mary “the mother of my Lord” (Luke 1:43), the name “my Lord” is a
title that reminds us of Christ’s divine nature. Yet Mary of course is not the mother of Jesus’
divine nature, which has always existed. Mary is simply the mother of the human nature of Christ.
Nevertheless, Elizabeth can call her “the mother of my Lord” because she is using the title “Lord”
to refer to the person of Christ. A similar expression occurs in Luke 2:11: “For to you is born
this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
In this way, we can understand Mark 13:32, where Jesus says no one knows the time of his
return, “not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son but only the Father.” Though the term “the
Son” specifically reminds us of Jesus’ heavenly, eternal sonship with God the Father, it is really
used here not to speak specifically of his divine nature, but to speak generally of him as a
person, and to affirm something that is in fact true of his human nature only.45 And it is true
that in one important sense (that is, with respect to his human nature) Jesus did not know the time
when he would return.
d. Brief Summary Sentence: Sometimes in the study of systematic theology, the following sentence
has been used to summarize the incarnation: “Remaining what he was, he became what he was not.” In
other words, while Jesus continued “remaining” what he was (that is, fully divine) he also became
what he previously had not been (that is, fully human as well). Jesus did not give up any of his
deity when he became man, but he did take on humanity that was not his before.
e. “Communication” of Attributes: Once we have decided that Jesus was fully man and fully God, and
that his human nature remained fully human and his divine nature remained fully divine, we can
still ask whether there were some qualities or abilities that were given (or “communicated”) from
one nature to the other. It seems there were.
(1) From the Divine Nature to the Human Nature
Although Jesus’ human nature did not change its essential character, because it was united with the
divine nature in the one person of Christ, Jesus’ human nature gained (a) a worthiness to be
worshiped and (b) an inability to sin, both of which did not belong to human beings otherwise.
(2) From the Human Nature to the Divine Nature
Jesus’ human nature gave him (a) an ability to experience suffering and death; (b) an ability to
understand by experience what we are experiencing; and (c) an ability to be our substitute
sacrifice, which Jesus as God alone could not have done.
4. Could Jesus Have Sinned?
The question is sometimes raised, “Was it possible for Christ to have sinned?” Some people argue
for the impeccability of Christ, in which the word impeccable means “not able to sin.” Others
object that if Jesus were not able to sin, his temptations could not have been real, for how can a
temptation be real if the person being tempted is not able to sin anyway?
In order to answer this question we must distinguish what Scripture clearly affirms, on the one
hand, and, on the other hand, what is more in the nature of possible inference on our part. (1)
Scripture clearly affirms that Christ never actually sinned (see above). There should be no
question in our minds at all on this fact. (2) It also clearly affirms that Jesus was tempted, and
that these were real temptations (Luke 4:2). If we believe Scripture, then we must insist that
Christ “in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). If our
speculation on the question of whether Christ could have sinned ever leads us to say that he was
not truly tempted, then we have reached a wrong conclusion, one that contradicts the clear
statements of Scripture.
45 Similar usage is perhaps seen in John 3:13 and Acts 20:28 (in this latter verse some manuscripts
read “with his own blood”).
(3) We also must affirm with Scripture that “God cannot be tempted with evil” (James 1:13). Every
temptation he faced, he faced to the end, and triumphed over it. The temptations were real, even
though he did not give in to them. In fact, they were most real because he did not give in to them.
What then do we say about the fact that “God cannot be tempted with evil” (James 1:13)? It seems
that this is one of a number of things that we must affirm to be true of Jesus’ divine nature
but not of his human nature. His divine nature could not be tempted with evil, but his human nature
could be tempted and was clearly tempted. How these two natures united in one person in facing
temptations, Scripture does not clearly explain to us. But this distinction between what is true of
one nature and what is true of another nature is an example of a number of similar statements that
Scripture requires us to make (see more on this distinction, below, when we discuss how Jesus could
be God and man in one person).
“The real difficulty, the supreme mystery with which the gospel confronts us, does not lie in the
Good Friday message of atonement, nor in the Easter message of resurrection, but in the Christmas
message of Incarnation. The really staggering Christian claim is that Jesus of Nazareth was God
made man– that the second person of the Godhead became the ‘second man’ (1 Cor. 15:47), determining
human destiny, the second representative head of the race, and that He took humanity without loss
of deity, so that Jesus of Nazareth was as truly and fully divine as He was human. Here are two
mysteries for the price of one– the plurality of persons within the unity of God, and the union of
Godhead and manhood in the person of Jesus. It is here, in the thing that happened at the first
Christmas, that the profoundest and most unfathomable depths of the Christian revelation lie.
‘The Word became flesh’ (John 1:14); God became man; the divine Son became a Jew; the Almighty
appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, unable to do more than lie and stare and wriggle and
make noises, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child. And there was
no illusion or deception in this: the babyhood of the Son of God was a reality. The more you think
about it, the more staggering it gets. Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as is this truth of the
Incarnation. This is the real stumbling block in Christianity. It is here that Jews, Muslims,
Unitarians, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and many of those who feel the difficulties concerning the virgin
birth, the miracles, the atonement, and the resurrection have come to grief. It is from misbelief,
or at least inadequate belief, about the Incarnation that difficulties at other points in the
gospel story usually spring. But once the Incarnation is grasped as a reality, these other
difficulties dissolve.” –J.I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1973), 53.
BIBLICAL CHRISTOLOGY – THE WORK OF CHRIST (PART I)
I. INTRODUCTION AND REVIEW
Why in the world was Jesus of Nazareth executed on a Roman cross? This question, more than any
other, gets you to the core message of Christianity. Some protest that the traditional Christian
view of the cross amounts to “divine child abuse” – how could God the Father orchestrate the
excruciating death of his own Son?¹ Others, like our Muslim friends, declare that Jesus didn’t
actually die. It only seemed that he was crucified.² Others portray Jesus as the ultimate tragic
hero, one who stood up to an unjust world system but was ultimately crushed as the wheel of history
turned on him. His death was unfortunate and unnecessary. To the contrary, the Bible depicts the
death of Christ, and indeed all of his redemptive work as a whole, as the most significant,
valuable and profound event of history. The work of Christ quite literally is our only hope.
Here we arrive at a climax in Christian theology. We’ve considered who God is – his triune nature
and spotless character. We’ve considered how he made the world for his glory and humankind as the
pinnacle of his creation to represent his rule. We’ve seen how God governs and directs all of
history by his sovereign hand and how humankind freely rebelled against God’s reign. And we’ve seen
how God, who is rich in mercy, sent his Son. Jesus Christ now is and forever will be one person
with two natures. He is fully God – come to reveal God to us and to accomplish the Father’s plan.
And he is fully man, identifying with us in our weakness, tempted in every way yet without sin.
What did he come to do? You see it at the top of your handout: “Christ Jesus came into the world to
save
sinners” (1 Tim 1:15).
So today and next week we want to study the work of Christ. Why? First, because this is crucial to
get right. If we misunderstand what Jesus came to do, we risk missing out on the salvation that he
accomplished and misleading others about the most important news in history. But second, we study
this because Christ is worthy of worship and honor for what he’s done. Nothing fires the affections
of our hearts like remembering the price that he paid for us. All theology is practical; but the
work of Christ especially so. Whatever your struggles, temptations and pains – the sacrificial
suffering of Jesus and his victorious resurrection provide an unshakeable ground of confidence and
hope for us.
With that in mind, let’s begin with
II. An Overview of the Work of Christ
One handy way to summarize Christ’s work is through the three offices he fulfills. He is our
prophet, priest and king.³
¹ See the Steve Chalke quote here: http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/defending-my-fathers-wrath
² Qur’an, Sura 4:157: “That they said (in boast), "We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the
Messenger of Allah";- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to
them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only
conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not.”
3 Sometimes, these roles almost overlapped – for example in Moses who was descended from a priestly
line and interceded for the people before God, yet who was designated as a prophet in Deuteronomy
18. Or David, who ruled as king yet also danced before God’s presence wearing a priestly garment.
These hints point forward to one who would fulfill all these roles perfectly.
• Jesus is the ultimate revelation of God, the Prophet who spoke God’s Word and who was himself
the Word made flesh. We know God through Christ. Heb 1:1-2, “Long ago, at many times and in many
ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his
Son.”
• Jesus is also the ultimate high priest who mediates a new covenant between God and his people.
We are reconciled to God through Christ. Hebrews 7:26: “It was indeed fitting that we should have
such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and
exalted above the heavens.”
• And Jesus is the great King of the universe who rules with peace and justice. We are citizens of
the kingdom of God through Christ. He inaugurated his kingdom in his first coming, and he will
consummate the kingdom at the end of time: Rev 19:11, 16: “Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a
white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and
makes war. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.”
So, we should praise Jesus because he is our prophet, priest and king. We need no other. He is
sufficient and pre-eminent in his revelation, his sacrifice, and his rule.
Another way to summarize the work of Christ, which we’ll follow for the rest of our class, is to
consider Jesus in his humiliation and exaltation. We see this in a classic passage like Phil
2:7-11. Jesus “emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even
death on a cross.” That’s his humiliation – his incarnation, perfect life, and sacrificial death.
Then, Paul goes on: “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed him the name that is above
every
name.” That’s his exaltation – his resurrection, ascension, session (being seated on his heavenly
throne), and his return. Herman Bavinck wrote, “The whole New Testament teaches the humiliated and
exalted Christ as the core of the gospel.” 4
III. The State of Humiliation
For the rest of our class today, let’s look at the first half of this pair – the work Jesus Christ
accomplished in his state of humiliation.
First, we should begin with A. The Incarnation of Christ. Why did the Son of God take on human
flesh? For us and our salvation. We spoke of this extensively last week when we discussed the
humanity of Christ, so I won’t repeat what we said then. It’s simply worthwhile to savor the beauty
of this mystery. The Son of God was born as a baby to be our New Adam. The infinite one got tired
and slept, the all-powerful one felt our weakness, the all-present one took on a human body. He
shared fully in our humanity in order to serve as our representative and priestly mediator before
God the Father. Hebrews 2:14-17: “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself
likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power
of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to
lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.
Therefore
4 Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics: Sin and Salvation in Christ, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker,
2006), 418.
he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and
faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”
But Jesus didn’t only take on our humanity; letter B, he lived a Sinless Life. This is also called
Christ’s Active Obedience. The first Adam disobeyed. But Jesus, the New Adam, fully obeyed his
Father. Israel broke God’s law, but Jesus came to fulfill the law (Matt 5:17).⁵ He is like a New
Israel. This is a crucial point, because we too have followed in Israel’s disobedient footsteps.
Jesus is the one who, to use a striking phrase from Matthew 3:15, came to “fulfill all
righteousness.” Through faith, his righteous record is imputed to us.
Christ’s active obedience should console us. He has felt the pull of temptation and the allure of
sin. He doesn’t reprimand us when we’re tempted, like the coach who barks at his team, “you just
need to toughen up!” He tenderly, gently comforts us and invites us to find help in him. He
welcomes us gladly when we admit our total dependence on him. Hebrews 4:15-16, “For we do not have
a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has
been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of
grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
QUESTIONS?
As wonderful as Christ’s incarnation and sinless life were, they didn’t complete his work. Turn in
your handout to C. The Death of Christ. In Mark 8, as soon as Peter confesses Jesus is the Christ,
Jesus teaches “the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief
priests and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again.” Here, we tread on
especially holy ground. Jesus became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. This is
sometimes called his “passive obedience” – not in the sense that he was a tragic victim of fate,
but that he lovingly obeyed the Father’s plan by submitting to the penalty of death that our sins
deserved.
What did Christ’s death accomplish? His death was so monumental, the New Testament speaks of it
using several related, overlapping themes and metaphors.
First, 1. Christ is our Penal Substitutionary Atoning Sacrifice. This is the predominant way the
Bible describes the death of Christ, so we’ll spend the most time on this point.
Atonement is a word that refers to the restoration of right relationship between man and God; it
also carries the connotation of the sacrifice that is made or price that is paid for such right
relationship to be possible.
Let’s begin with The Necessity of Atonement. Here we need only to recall our class a few weeks ago
on the problem of sin. We stand guilty before God as those who are represented by Adam. We have
confirmed our guilty sentence by our own filthy deeds. As John 3:36 says, the wrath of God remains
5 Remember, Old Testament Israel was called God’s “Son” in Exod 4:22. They were given life by God
and were to
represent him in the world the way a son carries on his father’s reputation. But after God led them
through the waters of the Red Sea, they disobeyed him in the wilderness. Their hearts were hardened
and their deeds were rebellious. The New Testament presents Jesus as the New and better Israel. He
is the Son of God in the fullest sense. In Matthew 3, Jesus
goes through the waters of baptism; the voice from heaven says “This is my beloved Son, with whom I
am well- pleased,” and immediately Jesus like Israel is tempted in the wilderness. But he perfectly
obeys.
4
on all who are outside of Christ. Eph 2:3 says we are by nature objects of wrath. This is because
God is good. His law is right, his holiness is unimaginably pure, and his justice is totally right.
Therefore, he won’t allow evil and wickedness to go unpunished. He won’t sweep our sin under the
rug.
So, God ordained the sacrifices and offerings of the Old Testament to convey graphically the utter
necessity of atonement. Animals were slaughtered daily as prescribed by Leviticus. Why? As Heb 9:22
explains, “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” The wages for sin is death,
according to Rom 6:23. This lesson would be engrained in the minds of every Israelite, because the
floor of the temple would be covered with blood. God didn’t need to save anyone. But in his mercy
he provided regular sacrifices that all pointed forward to the final sacrifice that would atone for
sin decisively.
That leads us to The Nature of the Atonement.
Christ’s atoning death was “penal.” That is, he suffered the penalty that our sins had incurred –
the wages of death. Isaiah 53:5, “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our
iniquities.” 1 Pet 2:24, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to
sin and live to righteousness.”
His death was also substitutionary. He took the death we rightfully deserved, in our place. The
idea of substitution was built into Israel’s history from the beginning. Just think of the Exodus,
where a lamb was slain, as it were, instead of – in the place of – the oldest son in the family.
It’s no wonder John the Baptist called Jesus the “Lamb of God” (John 1:29) and that Jesus died
during Passover.
Isaiah 53:12, he was numbered with the transgressors. 2 Cor 5:21 “For our sake he [God] made him
[Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
John Stott has memorably written, “The essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while
the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man.”⁶ When we reflect on Christ’s
substitution for us, how could our hearts not well up in praise? As the hymn so powerfully puts it,
“Bearing shame and scoffing rude, In my place condemned He stood; Sealed my pardon with His blood.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!”
Next, what is the Result of the Atonement, or what did this penal, substitutionary death accomplish
for God’s people? For one, it accomplished the propitiation of God’s wrath, meaning that God’s good
anger against sin has been resolved and removed by Christ’s sacrifice. The prophetic books of the
Old Testament depict God’s good anger against all wickedness as him pouring out the cup of his holy
wrath. For all who trust in Christ, he drank that cup on the cross. He experienced God’s rightly
terrible opposition against sin – the opposition that we deserved to know eternally. This is what
Paul refers to in Galatians 3:13 when he says that “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by
becoming a curse for us – for it is written, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.” The
obedient one absorbed the curse that was due to disobedient sinners like us.
Maybe the clearest passage on propitiation is Rom 3:23-25: “All have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” As we saw
⁶ Cross of Christ, 160.
earlier, the shedding of blood is necessary for atonement. Jesus Christ is that blood sacrifice
that was acceptable to God. And we should remember, that while propitiation is necessary because
God is holy, it is possible because God is supremely loving and gracious.⁷ 1 John 4:10, “In this is
love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for
our sins.”
So, that’s propitiation. Christ’s death also accomplished expiation, which means his death fully
covers the guilt of our sin. We are no longer guilty before God, but declared innocent. John 1:29,
“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” The law brings condemnation
because it exposes how we’ve fallen short of God’s standard, but Col 2:14 says God forgave all our
trespasses “by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he
set aside, nailing it to the cross.”
Not only this, but Christ’s death also brought about our purification, or what theologians
sometimes call positional sanctification, meaning we have been cleansed and set apart as acceptable
to God. No longer are we stained by sin; we have been washed (1 Cor 6:11). 1 John 1:7 says “the
blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” The author of Hebrews in 9:14 says the blood of
Christ purifies our conscience so that we can now serve the living God.
As you can see, Christ’s work on the cross changes everything for us. So it’s worthwhile to pause
here and praise God that Christ’s work was totally effective. As the verse we opened up with says,
“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” and that’s exactly what he did. We contribute
nothing to our salvation. Jesus didn’t purchase a possibility for salvation that we then need to
activate. He didn’t come to make atonement a potential reality, but an actual reality for those who
would repent and believe. We can see that in the very nature of atonement itself. Substitution,
biblically, means substituting for a definite group of people. That was the case with the Passover
Lamb and with the Old Testament sacrifices. Even these sacrifices, which previewed Christ’s
atonement, actually accomplished the purification of the worshiper, even though that type of
purification was only temporary. How much more, then, does Christ’s sacrifice actually achieve
propitiation, expiation, and permanent purification for God’s people! He died, Eph 5:25 says, for
the church, his Bride. He is our substitute.
This atonement is applied to us by the Holy Spirit when we are converted, when we turn from our sin
and trust in Christ. So, all three persons of the Trinity act harmoniously in the great work of
redemption. Christ’s death was as a substitute for all those the Father elected, which are all
those to whom the Spirit gives the gift of new life. Believer, are you ever tempted to doubt or
forget Christ’s love for you? Look to his substitutionary atonement. When he went to the cross, he
had you in
mind. In John 17, his high priestly prayer, he prayed “for those who will be believe in me” –
that’s you. He sweat drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane because he knew he was about to
take the punishment for your sins – forever. The holes in his hands will forever be monuments of
his love for you and for me. ⁱ ⁱⁱ
QUESTIONS?
As I said earlier, the New Testament describes the death of Christ using overlapping terms and
images. We spent most of our time on substitutionary atonement, but let’s move to four more
important and beautiful aspects of what he did for us on the cross.
⁷ Stott: “It cannot be emphasized to strongly that God’s love is the source, not the consequence,
of the atonement.”
Cross of Christ, 174.
2. Christ is our Legal Substitute
This is the glorious truth of justification. Here scripture uses the language of the law court to
convey our salvation. We are guilty before God’s judgment seat. But Christ takes our sentence. As a
result, we are we declared innocent – but not only that! That would be nice, but only for about 2
seconds, until we sin again! Also, Christ’s perfect righteous record is credited or “imputed” to
us. He takes our rap sheet, and God the judge treats us according to Christ’s upright and perfectly
innocent standing. Isa 53:11 highlights how the suffering servant would “make many to be accounted
righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.”
By providing Christ for our justification, God vindicates his justice while at the same time
showing marvelous mercy to sinners. Paul explains that when Old Testament believers sinned, God was
simply withholding his punishment – until the death of Christ. When Jesus died on the cross, he
took the legal guilt for all the sins of all believers: past, present, and future. Rom 3:24-26, we
are
“justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put
forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s
righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his
righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has
faith in Jesus.” So, contrary to what many people think and even teach, we can never earn enough
merit before God to stand before his judgment seat – even if that merit could be earned through
good
deeds and the sacraments. Rather, God in his justice declares us righteous because Christ’s death
pays the sentence of our guilt and his righteousness is accounted to us. So mercy and justice meet
at the cross. Praise Christ, the one who brings our justification.
3. Christ is also our Redeemer. Here scripture uses the imagery of the slave market. We are slaves
to sin, unable to free ourselves from our voluntary bondage. Christ purchases our forever freedom.
Mark 10:45, “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom
for many.” Some over the years have suggested that Jesus paid this ransom to Satan, but there’s no
scriptural basis for that. Rather, this redemption is the payment God himself demands because of
his justice. Our sin has locked us into captivity to his judgment. Christ’s blood – that is, the
ending of his life – is what releases us from this captivity. Our judgment fell on him. As 1 Pet
1:18-19 says, “you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with
perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a
lamb without blemish or spot.”
Practically, this means that we belong to Christ. We’re no longer slaves to sin! We have a new
master and his yoke is easy and his burden is light. You were bought with a price, Paul says.
Therefore glorify God in your body (1 Cor 6:20). Satan can lie all he wants, but he has no power
over us and sin has no claim on us. Col 1:13-14, we have been delivered from from the domain of
darkness and transferred to the kingdom of God’s beloved Son, in whom we have redemption.
But not only are we set free from sin and death, we now enjoy a new relationship with God:
4. Christ is our Reconciler
This is where the work of Christ becomes especially sweet. The Bible doesn’t only describe our
salvation in terms of justice, redemption, and sacrifice, but also in terms of relationship. We
were God’s enemies. Now, in Christ, we are his adopted sons. Our alienation from God began when
Adam and Eve were exiled from the Garden. Our hostility with him was no Cold War – it was all-
out battle. We raged against him and his ways. This is why Luke 15 is maybe my favorite chapter in
the Bible – because we can all identify with that prodigal son who takes and takes from his father
and yet spurns relationship with him.
Again, Christ’s substitution is at the heart of our reconciliation. Rom 5:1, “Therefore since we
have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Rom 5:10,
“While we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.”
Scripture uses the beautiful imagery of the family to describe our reconciliation. Gal 4:4-6, “when
the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to
redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because
you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you
are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.” God hears our prayers.
He cares for us tenderly as a father. As adopted children, the inheritance of the kingdom that
belongs to Christ is now our inheritance too.
One implication of this reconciliation to God as our father is that we are all united as brothers
and sisters in his household. Jew and Gentile, black and white, young and old, powerful and weak –
Eph 2:14, “[Christ] himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh
the dividing wall of hostility.”
Finally, 5. Christ is our Victor
By his death and resurrection, Jesus conquers Satan, sin and death on our behalf. That’s why when
he talks about his upcoming death in John 12:31, Jesus says “now will the ruler of this world be
cast out.” Col 2:15, “God disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by
triumphing over them in him” – that is, in Christ and in his victorious death. 1 Cor 15:56-57: “The
sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks to God, who gives us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ.” No one can stand against him, and in him we are more than
conquerors. This reminds us that the substitutionary death of Christ not only reconciles us to God,
it brings us into a glorious state of triumph and hope. Not because of what we’ve done, but because
of what he’s done. But this is a good place for us to close for today, because the victory of
Christ is closely tied not only to his death but to his resurrection. In fact, everything that
we’ve said today
about his death would be meaningless and vain if it weren’t for this glorious truth – Jesus rose
from the dead. That is why the atonement, justification, redemption, reconciliation, and victory he
provides are rock solid and guaranteed. Because he was no mere man. He conquered death and rose so
that all who are united to him by faith can share his new life. That’s what we’ll think about next
week. But for now, let’s pray and praise God for the death of his Son.
i Here is a fuller section on the extent of the atonement that was written in 2016 but I decided
not to use it in the class for the sake of space and because this is a potentially confusing topic.
This discussion of the effectiveness of the atonement helps us address the common question of the
Extent of the Atonement. For whom did Christ come to die? Did he atone for the sins of everyone without
exception, or did he specifically die for the elect, the people of God? Evangelicals offer
different answers to this question, and our statement of faith doesn’t require you to take any
particular position. But I’d like to argue that the nature of the atonement shows that Christ died
specifically for us, his bride.
Here’s what I mean. If we look at the nature of substitution, it means substituting for a definite
group of
people. That was the case with the Passover lamb and with the Old Testament sacrifices. Those
animals
weren’t substitutes for all of mankind, but for a particular subset of people. It’s the same with
Jesus. He came to sacrifice himself for God’s people. This flows from the argument of Hebrews
chapters 7-10: Jesus
mediates a New Covenant, and this covenant is specifically made, according to Heb 9:15, with “those
who are called” – that is, those whom God sets aside as his new covenant people. Jesus, in his own
words, came to
give his “life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45), to “lay down his life for the sheep” (John
10:11). Or, Paul says in Eph 5:25, “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her
holy.” In Acts 20:28, he strikingly declares that God “obtained [the church] with his own blood.”
Now, this isn’t a statement about the
merit or value of Christ’s sacrifice – of course, he was God, so his sacrifice was infinite in
value. We’re talking about its design: It was intended for the salvation for of God’s chosen
people. This view, which I’m
defending from scripture, has been called “limited atonement” or “particular atonement,” but I
think the best title is “definite atonement” because that sums up what is so encouraging about this
truth: Christ died to
secure the redemption of God’s chosen people, and he has done so definitely, effectively, with
nothing lacking in the substitutionary atonement he has accomplished. This atonement is applied to
us by the Holy Spirit when we are converted, when we turn from our sin and trust in Christ. That’s
when we’re saved. But
the point is that Christ’s death was as a substitute for all those the Father elected, which are
all those to whom
the Spirit gives the gift of new life.
Of course, there are common counter-arguments to this view. Many will point out several New
Testament
verses that talk about Christ coming to provide atonement for “all” people or the “whole world.” We
don’t have time to go through each of these passages, but I would suggest that if you look at the
context, the author isn’t intending to say that Christ died for all people without exception, but
rather that he came to save all sorts of people without distinction.
Take 1 John 2:2 for example: “[Christ] is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours but
also for the
sins of the whole world.” What does John mean by this? Clearly he doesn’t believe that all people
everywhere will be saved, because his whole letter warns about false teachers and people who deny
Christ.i Rather, look at 1 John’s emphasis on loving your brother and walking in the fellowship of
the light. His point seems to be that Jesus’ death wasn’t for the Jews only, as many Jews might
have believed, but Christ’s atonement was for all peoples – Jews and Gentiles. John is referring to
all people groups and not to every single person. Again, you can disagree with the perspective I’m
teaching here. But I think that this is actually a wonderfully encouraging point: Christ died for
us, his sheep, his bride. When he died, if you’re a believer, he had you in mind. Nothing can undo
the atonement he has made for you. It was totally effective. Praise God for Christ, our substitute!
ii More material on limited atonement from a previous version of this class:
John Owen, a 17th Century theologian who wrote one of the greatest books ever written on the
Atonement, The Death of Death in the Death of Christ, provides a strong argument for the position
that the unlimited merit of Christ death was limited in its intent.
Owen starts out with Isaiah 53:
Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our
iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We
all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on
him the iniquity of us all.
This passage makes it clear that Christ died for sins and brought peace with God. According to Owen
there are three possibilities:
1. Christ died for some of the sins of all men;
2. Christ died for all the sins of all men;
3. Christ died for all of the sins of some men.
No one says that the first possibility is true. If Christ died for only some of the sins of all
men, then all would be lost because of the sins that Christ had not died for.
The second statement is that “Christ died for all the sins of all men.” Undoubtedly, Christ would
not have to do anything more to have died for all the sins of all men, but if this is true, then
why are not all saved? The answer normally put forth is “Because of their unbelief; they will not
believe.” But Scripture tells us that unbelief is categorized as a sin. If it is a sin, then
according to the proposition that “Christ died for all of man’s sins,” Christ died for that sin.
Why should that
particular sin hinder them more than their other sins for which Christ died? Why isn’t that sin
covered by Christ’s blood, as well? So we see that this statement cannot be true either. While
obtaining salvation and giving salvation are not exactly the same thing, they must not be separated
either.
It is the third statement that accurately reflects the whole of Biblical teaching: Christ died for
all of the sins of some men. That is, he died for the unbelief of the elect so that God’s punitive
wrath is appeased toward them. This is saving grace. When we are before the judgment seat of God,
we will have nothing to boast about before our Creator. We cannot pat ourselves on the back for
believing. Salvation is all of grace. We are not left to accomplish our own new birth and bring
ourselves to faith, no we hear the voice of the Shepherd calling, and we follow him, finding
ourselves to be drawn irresistibly out of darkness into his marvelous light. This is Biblical
theology at its best. This is the most tremendous, the most glorious, the most staggering thing in
the universe and in the whole of history.
BIBLICAL CHRISTOLOGY – THE WORK OF CHRIST (PART II)
“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” 1 Timothy 1:15a
I. INTRODUCTION AND REVIEW
▪ The States of Humiliation and Exaltation: “The whole NT teaches the humiliated and
exalted Christ as the core of the gospel.” ¹
▪ Humiliation: incarnation, sinless life, atoning death
▪ Exaltation: resurrection, ascension, session, intercession, second coming
II. The State of Exaltation
A. The Resurrection of Christ
(Psalm 16:8-11; Isa. 53:10; Matt. 16:21; 17:22-23; 20:18-19; 28:1-20; Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:32-34;
16:1-
8; Luke 9:22; 18:31-33; 24:1-53; John 2:19-22; 10:17-18; 20:1–21:25; Acts 2:32; Romans 4:25; 1 Cor.
15:3-4, 12-22; Heb. 7:16, 24-25)
The works of the exalted Christ begin with the resurrection. According to the Apostle Paul in 1
Cor. 15 the resurrection is the ground of our faith and hope, and since it is the ground of
Christian faith and hope, it is central to the writings of the New Testament.
The Gospels testify to the resurrection of Christ. The Book of Acts is the story of the Apostles’
proclamation of the resurrection of Christ and of continued prayer to Christ as the one who is
living and reigning in heaven. The epistles depend entirely on the assumption that Jesus has indeed
risen from the grave, and the book of Revelation repeatedly shows the risen Christ reigning in
heaven in preparation for his return to conquer his enemies and reign in glory. Thus the entire New
Testament bears witness to the resurrection of Christ, and if the resurrection is so central to the
New
Testament, we should ask why it’s so important for us.
1. Christ’s resurrection ensures our regeneration
1 Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics: Sin and Salvation in Christ, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker,
2006), 418.
(1 Peter 1:3; Eph. 2:5-6)
In his first letter Peter says that ‘we have been born again to a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.’ Here Peter is explicitly connecting Jesus’
resurrection with our regeneration or new birth. When Jesus rose from the dead he had a new quality
of life, a
‘resurrection life’ in a human body and human spirit that were perfectly suited for fellowship and
obedience to God forever. In his resurrection, Jesus earned for us a new life just like his. We
don’t receive all of that new ‘resurrection life’ when we become Christians, because our bodies
remain as
they were, still subject to weakness, aging, and death. But in our spirits we were made alive with
new resurrection power. Thus it is through his resurrection that Christ earned for us the new kind
of life we receive when we are born again.
2. Christ’s resurrection ensures our justification
(Rom. 4:25)
In Romans 4:25, Paul says that Jesus “was put to death for our trespasses and raised four our
justification”. When Christ was raised from the dead it was God’s declaration that he had accepted
Christ’s work of redemption. By raising Jesus from the dead, God the Father was in effect saying
that he approved of Christ’s work of suffering and dying for our sins, that his work was completed,
and that Christ no longer had any need to remain dead. There was no penalty left to pay for sin, no
more wrath of God to bear, no more guilt or liability to punishment—all had been completely paid
for and no guilt remained. In the resurrection, God was saying to Christ, “I approve of what you
have done, and you find favor in my sight.” [SHARE GOSPEL]
For those who have believed in Christ, since Christ was raised for our justification, and since we
have been raised with him (Eph. 2:6), then by virtue of our union with Christ, God’s approval of
Jesus is also his approval of us. When the Father in essence said to Christ, “All the penalty for
sins has been paid and I find you not guilty but righteous in my sight,” he was at the same time
making the declaration that applies to us who have trusted in Christ. In this way Christ’s
resurrection also gives final proof that he had earned our justification.
3. Christ’s resurrection ensures that we will receive perfect resurrection bodies
(1 Cor. 6:14; 2 Cor. 4:14; 1 Cor. 15:12-58)
The New Testament on several occasions connects Jesus’ resurrection with our final bodily
resurrection. In 1 Cor. 6:14, Paul says, “And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his
power”. Similarly, in 2 Cor. 4:14, he says, “he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with
Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. Then again, in 1 Cor. 15, which is the longest
treatment of the connection between Christ’s resurrection and our own, Paul says that Christ is the
first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. The term ‘firstfruits’ is an agricultural metaphor
indicating that we will
be like Christ. Just as he, ‘the firstfruits’ would be raise, so too will we be raised. Christ’s
resurrection body shows what ours will be like when we are raised. We will be healed, glorified,
whole, uncorrupted and not susceptible to corruption.
[Questions]
B. The Ascension of Christ
(Psalm 110:1; John 6:61-62; 20:17; 16:4-7; Matt. 22:41-46; Luke 24:50-53; Acts 1:1-11; 2:32-36; 3:19-21; Ephesians 4:7-8; 1 Timothy 3:16)
The Ascension as the Linchpin/Prerequisite of Christ’s Other Saving Works
The ascension is the prerequisite for the subsequent saving works of Christ: the session,
Pentecost, intercession, and the second coming. It is clear from Psalm 110:1 and Acts 2:33–36 that
Christ had to ascend in order to sit down at the right hand of the Father, thereby beginning his
heavenly session. By his ascension, therefore, Christ was able to take his place as the King over
all creation until the time when all things would be wholly subjected to him.
The ascension was also necessary for Christ to send the Spirit at Pentecost. Christ makes this
claim explicitly in John 16:7: “I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for
if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” Upon
Christ’s ascension he received the Spirit from the Father, and then as the great prophet, priest,
and king poured out the Spirit upon his church as a blessing (John 7:39; Acts 2:33).
Christ’s intercession also required him to ascend. In Hebrews 8, Christ’s intercession is his
current priestly ministry for his people. This heavenly ministry is possible only if Christ takes
his position as a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. That position is not on earth but in
heaven, and that position is achieved only by his ascension (Heb. 8:4).
Finally, it is clear that Christ could come again only if he went away in the first place. Peter
declared this truth before the Sanhedrin in reference to “Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the
time for restoring all the things” (Acts 3:21). Although we cannot fully grasp the mystery of God’s
plan, it does require that Jesus ascend into heaven and once there rule and empower his church so
that the kingdom of God might spread. Christ’s ascension saves in that every benefit that the
church receives from Jesus in heaven would be impossible unless he first ascended to take his
position there.
[Questions]
C. The Session of Christ
(Psalm 110:1; Hebrews 1:3-4; 8:1-2; Acts 5:30-31; Romans 8:33-34; Colossians 3:1-4)
Jesus’s session saves. One specific aspect of Christ’s ascension into heaven and receiving honor
was the fact that he sat down at the right hand of God, which is what is referred to as Christ’s
session at God’s right hand.
The Old Testament predicted the Messiah would sit at God’s right hand in Psalm 110:1, “The Lord
says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’ And
when Christ ascended back into heaven he received the fulfillment of that promise. This is what
Hebrews 1 refers to when it says, “When he had made purification for sins he sat down at the right
hand of the majesty on high.’
This welcoming into the presence of God and sitting at God’s right hand is a dramatic indication of
the completion of Christ’s work of redemption. Just like we sit down at the end of a hard days
work, satisfied with what we’ve done, so Christ also sat down visibly demonstrating that his work of
redemption is complete.
Similarly, sitting down at God’s right hand is an indication of the authority he received over the
entire universe. This is what Paul refers to in Ephesians 1:20-21, when he says that God “raised
him from the dead and seated at his right hand far above all rule and authority and power and
dominion and above every name that is named.
And it is at the right hand of God that Christ now intercedes for his people…
D. The Intercession of Christ
(Leviticus 16; Psalm 110:4; Isaiah 53:12; John 17; Romans 8:31-34; Hebrews 6:19–20; 7:25; 8:3;
9:11–14, 24; 1 John 2:1-2; )
The Bible teaches that the intercession saves. But exactly how does the heavenly intercession of
Christ save us? First, it saves us because it is the completion of Christ’s priestly work. Christ’s
intercession is emphatically not the completion of his sacrificial work. His sacrificial work was
forever finished on the cross. However, his sacrificial work was not the end of his priestly work.
After making the final sacrifice for sins, he rose again, ascended into heaven, sat down at God’s
right hand, and poured out the Holy Spirit on the church. As a result of these prior saving events,
he now makes intercession for the sinners he came to save.
If he had not risen from the dead, then he would have been unable to appear in the presence of God
in our behalf as intercessor, and if he had not appeared in the presence of God in our behalf, his
priestly work would be incomplete. The testimony of Scripture is that Christ has risen and that he
has ascended to heaven and appeared in the presence of God in our behalf. And even now the exalted
Christ in heaven is making continual and effective intercession for his people, thus guaranteeing
our final salvation. This leads to the second way that the intercession saves.
It saves us because it is one means by which God enables his people to continue in faith and
obedience. It is God’s plan that his elect persevere in faith and obedience (Rom. 8:29–30), and one
means by which God accomplishes his plan is the continual intercession of Christ on our behalf.
Christ’s priestly intercession is not only continual, but it is also effective. God the Father
listens to his Son, and the Father always answers his Son’s requests (John 11:42). This means that
Christ’s intercessory prayers are always successful. As Jesus prayed for Peter (Luke 22:31–32), he
prays for all his people. He prays that the elect will continue in the faith and persevere until
final salvation, and God answers his prayers. He is always successful. He always lives to make
intercession for us (Heb. 7:25). Jesus Christ is a perfect Savior for his people.
M’Cheyne: “If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million of
enemies. Yet the distance makes no difference; He is praying for me.”²
E. The Second Coming of Christ
(Psalm 110:1; Daniel 7:13-14; Matthew 25:31-34; Mark 13:26-27; John 14:1-3; Acts 1:9-11;
2 Robert Murray McCheyne, Memoir and Remains of the Rev. Robert Murray McCheyne, Ed. Andrew A.
Bonar (Edinburgh; London: Oliphant Anderson & Ferrier, 1894), 158.
Philippians 3:20-21; Colossians 3:4; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 9:24-28; 1
Peter 1:13; 1 John 3:2-3)
Jesus’s Return Means Our Being with Him and the Father. Jesus himself asserts this in John’s
Gospel: “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to
prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take
you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:2–3). Here Jesus likens heaven to a large
house with many rooms. He has returned to the Father’s house to prepare a place for each believer.
The point is that the Father loves us and we will be “right at home” in his heavenly presence. We will
not feel out of place; we will belong in our Father’s heavenly house.
Paul teaches the same truth when he clears up the Thessalonians’ confusion concerning Jesus’s
return. They had the mistaken idea that their fellow believers who died might miss out on final
salvation. But Paul says that they are not to grieve, as the unsaved do, when their loved ones
die. They will not miss out on final salvation, but Jesus will raise them from the dead. “Then we
who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the LORD in
the air, and so we will always be with the LORD” (1 Thess. 4:17). Jesus’s second coming will mean
salvation for living and dead believers. Salvation is here expressed as being with Jesus forever.
It is triggered by the second coming at which time all the saints will go to be with the LORD.
And Jesus’s Return Brings Glory. Paul asserts that Jesus’s return will mean glory for Christians.
Although we live on earth, “Our citizenship is in heaven.” From there “we await a Savior, the LORD
Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that
enables him even to subject all things to himself” (Phil. 3:20–21). Our mortal bodies are lowly
because they are subject to illness and death. At his return Christ will exert his almighty power
and cause our lowly bodies to share his resurrection glory. His second coming will mean great glory
for all of the redeemed.
God has spiritually joined every believer to his beloved Son, so that his saving benefits become
ours. We spiritually died with him, were raised with him, and are presently seated in the heavenly
places with him (Col. 2:20; 3:1, 3; Eph. 2:6). We are so united to him that twice Scripture teaches
that Christ’s second coming will mean a second coming for us, so to speak. “When Christ who is your
life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Col. 3:4; see also Rom. 8:19). Paul
means that Christians’ true identity is only partially revealed now because it is obscured by sin.
We are so joined to Christ spiritually that our full identity will be revealed only when Jesus
returns. In that sense we will have a “second coming” too. Our LORD’s return means the revelation
of our
true identity, and that involves appearing with him “in glory.”
Jesus’s Return Also Brings Eternal Life. Jesus’s message concerning the sheep and goats in Matthew
25 is the most famous biblical passage on the eternal destinies of human beings. He teaches
powerfully that the sheep will be blessed with a rich inheritance in the final kingdom of God, but
the goats will be cursed forever in the fire prepared for the Devil and his angels. Jesus leaves
the following words ringing in his hearers’ ears: “And these will go away into eternal
punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matt. 25:46). As we consider these sobering
words, it is important to keep in mind the way Matthew introduces Jesus’s teaching: “When the Son
of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne”
(v. 31). It is the returning King Jesus who will condemn the wicked to hell and bless the righteous
with everlasting life.
The Bible concludes on a similar note. Near the end of Revelation, a speaker says, “Behold, I am
coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what he has done” ( Revelation 22:12 ).
The speaker is Jesus, who will come again and reward his people (and punish the wicked).
Next, John utters a beatitude: “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the
right to the tree of life” (Rev. 22:14). Here again Scripture pronounces Christians as “blessed,”
filled with joy, at the end. Why? Because they have been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb and as a
result have “the right to the tree of life.” The tree representing eternal life with God was found
in the garden of Eden and reappears at the end of the biblical story. Adam and Eve were banished
from the garden so that they would not eat from the tree and live forever in a sinful state. At the
end all sin will be removed from God’s people, and they will have free access to the tree, which
symbolizes abundant life (Rev. 22:2).
Jesus’s Return Brings Joy.
Both Paul and John speak of the consummate joy of the redeemed. As we just saw, John, after
recording Jesus’s promise to return, speaks of the bliss awaiting the saints: “Blessed are those
who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life” (Rev. 22:14). Paul’s
message is similar. After extolling the grace of God that brings salvation, he directs our
attention to “the
appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us” (Titus
2:11, 13–14). The apostle speaks of the returning Redeemer. How does he describe Christ’s
“appearing”? It is “our blessed hope” (v. 13). The hope of the LORD and Savior’s coming again fills
Christians with joy as they anticipate being with him forever.
Jesus’s Return Brings Deliverance
Another benefit that Jesus brings at his return is deliverance. This deliverance takes two forms.
First, he will deliver his people from any persecution they are enduring. Paul makes this plain in
the beginning of 2 Thessalonians: “God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict
you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the LORD Jesus is revealed
from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire” (1:6–8). On that day he will come “to be
glorified in
his saints, and to be marveled at” by all true believers (v. 10). The next passage tells us why.
Second, Christ will deliver his people from eternal punishment. At the beginning of his first
letter to the Christians in Thessalonica, the apostle proudly rehearses the testimony of the church
in that city.
People in surrounding areas “themselves report . . . how you turned to God from idols to serve the
living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who
delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thess. 1:9–10). Because Jesus’s (death and) resurrection
save, when he comes “from heaven” he will bring final deliverance “from the wrath to come” (v. 10).
Jesus’s Return Brings the Kingdom and Our Inheritance
In the same message about the sheep and the goats referred to above, Jesus promises more blessings
to the saints at his return. Before he condemns the goats, who are on his left, he gives words of
comfort to the sheep, on his right: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25:34). Here Jesus combines familial and
royal imagery. God is our Father, and all who trust his Son for salvation become God’s children and
receive an inheritance. God is also King, as is his Son, and the inheritance of the sons and
daughters
7
of God is “the kingdom prepared for” them “from the foundation of the world.” We learn from other
Scriptures that the final dimension of the kingdom of God, our inheritance, is nothing less than
the new heaven and new earth!
Jesus’s Return Brings Cosmic Restoration
Peter speaks of Jesus’s sufferings to his hearers in Jerusalem and then invites them to repent.
What will be the results? That the penitent hearers may know the forgiveness of sins and that
“times of refreshing may come from the presence of the LORD, and that he may send the Christ
appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things”
(Acts 3:20–21).
Jesus’s return will bring many blessings for his people, as we have seen. It will result in God’s
“restoring all things” according to Old Testament prophetic prediction. Here again the second
coming issues forth in the new heavens and new earth foretold by Isaiah (65:17; 66:22–23).
Application: Worship Jesus Christ, the risen, ascended, reigning, and returning Lord of glory!
Revelation 22:20 He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come,
Lord Jesus!