Who is Jesus? Part 5

The one-and-only God-man — Fully God (according to the Old Testament)

In this lesson, we begin exploring the doctrine of the “incarnation:” the fact that God became man in the person of Jesus Christ to become the one-and-only God-man, Savior-King — one person existing in two natures, human and divine. The Chalcedonian Creed (A.D. 451) articulates this beautiful mystery:

Therefore, following the holy fathers, we all with one accord teach men to acknowledge one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body; of one substance with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood; like us in all respects, apart from sin; as regards his Godhead, begotten of the Father before the ages, but yet as regards his manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation, of Mary the Virgin, the God-bearer; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistence, not as parted or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son and Only-begotten God the Word, Lord Jesus Christ; even as the prophets from earliest times spoke of him, and our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us, and the creed of the fathers has handed down to us.

Key Takeaway: The Old Testament foresaw that God’s Messiah, though fully human, would also be fully divine (God); a fact that reveals God’s immeasurably good intentions toward us who are His.*

Discussion

Read Psalm 110:1

Here David speaks of two Lords, saying, “The LORD (Hebrew, “Yahweh,” which is God’s covenant name), says to my Lord (Hebrew, “Adonai,” a term usually ascribed to Yahweh in the Old Testament)1 sit at My right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet.”

Who is speaking to whom in this passage?

Because Yahweh says to Adonai, “sit at My right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet,” Yahweh must be speaking to the promised Messiah who would reestablish God’s righteous reign (Kingdom) upon the earth. But this means the Messiah already existed and reigned with Yahweh in the time of David, 1000 years before Jesus, who claimed and proved Himself to be this Messiah. This, of course, means Jesus Christ was more than a mere man — a point Jesus presses (about Himself) in Mark 12 by asking the religious leaders a question about Psalm 110:1.

1 See the article, “David’s Prophecy of Christ” in the Additional Study section

Read Mark 12:35-37

Jesus stumps the religious leaders by quoting Psalm 110:1 and asking how, if the Messiah was David’s son, he could also be David’s Lord. The Apostle Paul answers this question in Romans 1:3b-4a, saying, “Jesus was descended from David according to the flesh but was declared to be the Son of God… by his resurrection from the dead. Again in Revelation 22:16, Jesus refers to Himself as the root and offspring of David. The latter because He received His humanity through the line of David; the former because He was/is the eternal Son of God and source of David, humanity, and everything else.

Based on these passages, how was the Christ both David’s descendant and his Lord?

Read Isaiah 9:6; Micah 5:2
What do these prophecies about the coming Messiah reveal about His nature?

Read Genesis 3:15; Isaiah 9:6-7; Isaiah 53:1-11
What did God promise His Messiah would accomplish? What would it cost Him to do so?

Read Isaiah 45:23; Philippians 2:5-11 Given Yahweh’s declaration in Isaiah 45:23 and Paul’s application of these words to Jesus, who did Paul believe Jesus was?

What, according to Paul, did Jesus, the promised Messiah, come to do? What did it cost him to do it?

Christ’s suffering on our behalf was unimaginable. But this suffering is infinitely more breathtaking when we consider that Jesus the Messiah was God-in-the-flesh; that God’s promise in Genesis 3:15 to send a champion to rescue us from our rebellion against Him was, in fact, a promise that God Himself would come to make us and all things new. Consider that God, who had every right to crush us for our rebellion against him, chose instead to become one of us and suffer immeasurably to make us His.

What does this reveal about God’s intentions toward us?

How might understanding God’s intentions toward us help us navigate difficulty, suffering, and pain?

Additional Study

The fact Jesus was fully God and fully man is a central and profoundly significant Biblical doctrine we will explore further in the next three lessons.

To consider how Psalm 110 points to the Deity of Christ, see, David’s Prophecy of Christ

For more on the Deity of Christ, see:

To reflect on the beauty of the one-and-only God-man, Savior-King and the life only He can give, listen to Pastor John's Sermon, See Jesus as He Is.

Karin Aiello