.
TCC–1263
1
GOD INCARNATE
A. Introduction: Jesus warned that the years leading up to His second coming will be marked by religious
deception, including false Christs and false prophets who deceive many. Matt 24:4-5; 11; 23
1. We are working on a series about who Jesus is according to the Bible, particularly the New Testament,
which was written by eyewitnesses of Jesus (or close associates of the eyewitnesses). In this series we
are specifically focusing on the fact that Jesus is God.
a. We live in a time when more and more people say that, although they believe Jesus was a good
moral teacher who taught us to love one another, He never claimed to be God.
1. It is true that nowhere in the New Testament does Jesus utter the words “I am God”. But the
various titles that He used for Himself, and which others applied to Him, were claims of Deity.
A. Son of Man—This title comes from the Book of Daniel and refers to a Divine Being who
will come at the end of the age to judge the world. Dan 7:13-14
B. Son of God—In the culture that Jesus was born into, the term son of was used to mean on
the order of or possessing the qualities of. John 5:17-18
C. Christ—The Book of Daniel refers to the one coming from God as Messiah. Messiah
means Anointed One. Christ is the Greek form of the Hebrew word. Dan 9:24-26
2. We also live at a time when many sincere Christians don’t have a clear picture of who Jesus is,
leaving them vulnerable to deception. They know that Jesus is the Son of God, but because
they aren’t fully sure what that means, they think that son of somehow means less than God.
b. The eyewitnesses would have been shocked to hear this. Based on their interaction with Jesus, they
were convinced that He was and is God Incarnate. In this lesson we’re going to talk more about the
fact that Jesus is God Incarnate, God in human flesh, God become man without ceasing to be God
2. Before we continue, let me make some statements about why we are talking about these issues. As
Jesus predicted, we’re entering a time of great religious deception that will culminate with many people
accepting a false Christ, an Anti or in place of Christ (lessons for another time.)
a. For the past twenty to thirty years, in many parts of the Christian world, teaching doctrine, or
teaching the fundamental truths of Christianity, has been de-emphasized.
1. The emphasis has been on meeting felt needs and helping people with the problems of life,
through motivational sermons that give practical life skills—how to get your prayers answered,
three steps to victory, how to live your best life, how to have a healthy family, etc.
2. Although there may be a place for those types of sermons, without sound doctrinal teaching,
Christians are vulnerable to false ideas about who Jesus is and why He came into this world.
b. In response to the last few lessons, several people have asked me if I am teaching new revelations
about Jesus. No, I’m actually teaching the traditional view of Jesus.
c. This view goes back to the apostles and has been held by both orthodox Catholics and orthodox
Protestants through the centuries. Orthodox means holding to the essential beliefs of the faith.
If it seems new, it’s because Bible teaching and Bible reading has been so neglected in recent years.
3. I mentioned last week that before the eyewitnesses of Jesus died, challenges to who Jesus is began to
arise. These false teachings denied either the Deity or the humanity of Jesus. These teachings said:
Jesus only seemed to be God; Christ left the man Jesus before the crucifixion; Jesus didn’t have a human
mind or spirit; Jesus was a specially blessed prophet; Jesus was created by the Father; etc.
a. When the apostles (eyewitnesses) were alive, they were able to clearly state: We saw and heard
Jesus. This is what He said about Himself and this is what we witnessed. They believed what they
saw and heard and passed the information on to others through their teachings and writings.
1. If a question arose about who Jesus is or what He did, the very first Christians could ask the
apostles. But when the apostle died this was no longer possible. As various challenges to the
.
TCC–1263
2
Deity and humanity of Jesus arose, church leaders (bishops) met (held councils) to address
these issues and make definitive statements about who Jesus is, based on the apostolic writings
(the New Testament) and traditions (creeds of belief such as the Nicene and Apostles’ Creeds).
2. The definitive statement on Jesus’ Person was formulated at the Council of Chalcedon (AD
451). Here’s a portion: We all with one voice confess our Lord Jesus Christ one and the same
Son, at once complete in Godhood and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man…to be
acknowledged in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without
separation…one entity (hypostasis), not as if Christ were parted or divided into two persons.
b. The concept of putting doctrine into creeds goes back to the apostles. The New Testament records
a number of the earliest creeds which literally date to the very beginning of Christianity, following
Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection, and return to Heaven. Note two that Paul recorded:
1. I Cor 15:3-4—For I delivered unto you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ
died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the
third day in accordance with the Scriptures (ESV).
2. Rom 1:1-4—Paul, servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of
God—the gospel (good news) he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy
Scriptures regarding his son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who
through the Spirit of holiness (the Holy Spirit) was declared with power to be the Son of God by
his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord (kurios) (NIV).
4. These ideas about who Jesus is (One Person with two natures, human and divine) go back to the apostles
(the eyewitnesses), and have been preserved down through the centuries. Because of the times we’re
living in, we need of this same kind of clarity about who Jesus is in our generation.
B. Let’s briefly review some key points about Jesus’ birth. Before Jesus entered this world, the angel Gabriel
told a virgin named Mary that she would become pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit and give birth to
the Son of God. She was instructed to name this child Jesus, which means Savior. Luke 1:28-31
1. Gabriel also appeared to Joseph, Mary’s betrothed, and told him that this child would be fulfillment of a
prophecy spoken by Isaiah the prophet (Isa 7:14)—Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and
they shall call his name Immanuel (which means, God with us) (Matt 1:22-23, ESV).
a. The Bible reveals that God is Triune. He is one God who simultaneously manifests as three distinct
distinct, but not separate, Persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
1. These three Persons co-inhere or share one Divine nature. They are Persons in the sense that
they are self aware and interactive with each other.
2. The full nature of God is beyond our comprehension. God is an Infinite, Eternal, Transcendent
Being (unlimited, no beginning, no end, above and beyond), and we are finite (limited) beings.
b. The term Godhead is used in the New Testament to mean the Divine nature or Deity (Rom 1:20;
Acts 17:29; Col 2:9). Two thousand years ago, the Second Person of the Godhead incarnated. To
incarnate means to take on flesh, to take on a human nature.
1. By the miraculous power of God the Holy Spirit, a full human nature was conceived in the
womb of the virgin Mary. Luke 1:31; Matt 1:20
2. John the apostle opened His gospel with a clear statement that Jesus is God become man
without ceasing to be God. He identified Jesus as the Eternal Creator who was made flesh.
A. John 1:1-3—In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him;
and without him was not anything made that was made (KJV).
B. John 1:14—And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth (KJV).
.
TCC–1263
3
2. Jesus is God Incarnate, God in human flesh. When Jesus came into this world, He did not cease to be
God. He took on (put on or assumed) a full, complete human nature. Human nature is everything that
makes a human being a human being.
a. In doing this, the Second Person of the Godhead, the Son, humbled or lowered Himself, not by
putting off or emptying Himself of His Deity, but by taking on a human nature and being born into
this world.
1. Phil 2:6-7—(Jesus), being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But
made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form (nature) of a servant, and was made
in the likeness of men (KJV). (This statement is actually another early creed.)
2. Jesus is a Divine Person who assumed or took on a human nature, which gave Him all the
attributes of human nature. Even though Jesus was God, He was truly man, which meant He
had all the limitations of human nature. He had to eat, sleep, could be tempted to sin, feel pain,
and ultimately die (Matt 21:18; Mark 4:38; Matt 4:1; etc.). Consider these statements:
A. When Jesus was twelve, He was accidently left behind in Jerusalem during His family’s
annual trip to the city to celebrate Passover. After a frantic search, His parents found Him
in the Temple, where He said He was attending to His Father’s business. Luke 2:41-51
1. The family returned to Nazareth “and Jesus was subject (obedient) to them” (v51).
Jesus is Mary and Joseph’s Creator, yet He submitted Himself to them as His parents.
2. Luke 2:52—So Jesus grew both in height and in wisdom, and he was loved by God
and by all who knew him (NLT). The unchanging God then grew up.
B. Jesus (the Word made flesh) created the angels, yet the eyewitness accounts tell us that
angels took care of Him when He was tempted in the wilderness and strengthened Him the
night of His arrest. Mark 1:11; Luke 22:43
b. Jesus was not God living in a human body. Jesus was God living as a man—fully God at the same
time He was fully man, God with us (Immanuel).
1. Jesus is one Person with two natures, human and Divine. These two natures concur (happen
together). Jesus was not a hybrid or crossbreed. His two natures were not intermingled.
2. One Person with two natures is a mystery beyond our comprehension. The apostle Paul (an
eyewitness of Jesus) wrote: Great is the mystery of godliness (God’s plan of redemption): God
was manifest in the flesh (I Tim 3:16, KJV).
c. Note this critical point. Although Jesus became fully man without ceasing to be God, Jesus was
never just a man. He was the God-man. Everything Jesus did, He did as God, as a Divine Person
with a human nature.
1. Jesus is a unique human being. He is the only God-man. He is the only man whose birth did
not mark His beginning. This Divine Person has always existed because He is God.
2. Because His human nature was miraculously conceived in the womb of Mary, Jesus did not
partake of fallen human nature. Luke 1:31; 35
3. Jesus is the only man who is also God. And because of the value of His Person (fully God and
fully sinless man) He’s the only man qualified to take away sin through the sacrifice of Himself.
God Himself, by His grace, produced the sacrifice that obtained our salvation.
A. Because Jesus is one Person with two natures, attributes of both His natures are attributed
to that one Person. For example, Acts 20:28 says that God purchased the church with His
own blood. God does not have blood—He created blood.
B. However, if we were to put Jesus’ blood under a microscope, we’d see fully human blood.
But it’s God’s blood because Jesus was fully God at the same time He was fully man.
3. We think in terms of: Did Jesus do what He did as a man or as God. The New Testament writers (the
eyewitnesses) did not think like that. They spoke of Jesus as One Person—a Divine Person who has
.
TCC–1263
4
always existed, who assumed an entire human nature, which He still has—God Incarnate.
a. The apostles (the eyewitnesses) didn’t try to figure out if Jesus did what He did out of His human
nature or out of His divine nature. They simply accepted Him as the God-man. In their writings
we see that attributes of both natures (human and Divine) are attributed to the One Person, Jesus.
b. The eyewitnesses were Jews, monotheists who believed in only one God (Deut 6:4). They knew
that to put a created being (a human) on the same level as God and worship him was idolatry.
1. Yet, when they were caught in a life threatening storm on the Sea of Galilee, and Jesus came
walking to them on the water. He stopped the wind and the storm, and they worshipped Him,
saying: Truly, you are the Son of God. Matt 14:33
2. In a different storm, Jesus was with them, asleep in the back of the boat. They woke Him and
He stilled the storm—And they were filled with awe and said among themselves, Who is this
man that even the wind and waves obey him (Mark 4:41, NLT). These men knew from the
Scriptures that God doesn’t sleep (Ps 121:3-4), but this sleeping man did what only God can do.
c. Mark 2:1-12—Four men lowered a paralyzed man through the roof of a house while Jesus was
teaching. Jesus told this man that his sins were forgiven.
1. Religious leaders in the crowd said to themselves: This is blasphemy because only God can
forgive sin (Isa 43:25; Micah 7:18; etc.). To prove that He had the right to forgive sin, Jesus
healed the man.
2. Everyone present could see that Jesus was a man. Yet He did what only God can do—read the
thoughts of men, forgive sin, and heal a paralyzed man—and the people glorified God (theos).
C. Conclusion: I realize that some of the points I’m making sound like brand new information, and raise a
number of questions that still must be addressed. But that’s only because we have so de-emphasized the
teaching of fundamental Christian truths (doctrine) and lack clarity on the Person of Jesus (who He is). We
have more to say about all this next week, but let me make this final point as we close.
1. In recent decades there has been great emphasis on believers doing the works of Jesus (meaning miracles
and healings), and many of us in pulpit ministries have been imprecise in the things we say about Jesus.
a. We have said that the man Jesus had to be anointed by God the Holy Spirit before He could do
miracles (Acts 10:38). It is true that no human being can perform miracles or heal anyone (I’m not
talking about medical science right now). A human must heal by the power of God.
b. While it is true that Jesus, in His human nature, had no more power to heal than you or me, Jesus was
never just a man with no power. He is unique. Jesus always had Divine power because He is God.
2. Why then did Jesus have to be anointed with the Holy Ghost? Much of what Jesus did was done to
fulfill Old Testament prophecy about Himself and to fulfill the requirements of the Law of Moses.
a. Jesus was born into 1st century Judaism, a people group whose life was structured around the Law
and the prophets (the Old Testament), and all that it proscribed.
b. When Jesus came to John the Baptist to be baptized, John didn’t want to do it. Jesus answered: It
must be done, because we must do everything that is right (Matt 3:15, NLT). Why was it right?
1. Jesus was about to begin His public ministry as Prophet, Priest, and King. In Jewish tradition
all three of these men had to be cleansed and consecrated (or anointed with oil) at this point.
2. Anointing oil was a symbol of the Holy Spirit. The Lord previously told John that when he
saw the Holy Spirit descend on a man, that man was the one he prepared the way for. John 1:33
c. Does this mean that we can’t pray for healing? Not at all, because the New Testament tells us to
pray one for another that we may be healed, and Jesus delegated power to people, authorizing them
to pray for the sick in His name. James 5:14-16; Matt 10:1; Mark 16:18
3. Exalting Jesus by correctly stating who He is (God Incarnate) doesn’t negate His promises to us. But it
does protect us from deception about who Jesus is and why He came to this world. More next week!
