In this chapter we want to consider who Jesus is. Stanza 2 of Hymns, #84 says, “Christ, by highest heav’n adored, / Christ, the everlasting Lord: / Late in time behold Him come, / Offspring of a virgin’s womb. / Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, / Hail th’ incarnate Deity! / Pleased as man with man to dwell, / Jesus our Immanuel.” Immanuel in Hebrew means “God with us.” God became a man to live with man. Stanza 3 says, “Hail the heav’n-born Prince of Peace! / Hail the Sun of righteousness! / Light and life to all He brings, / Ris’n with healing in His wings: / Mild He lays His glory by, / Born that man no more may die; / Born to raise the sons of earth; / Born to give them second birth.” This shows that God became a man in order to bring salvation to man.
God speaks and communicates to man through the Bible, but He also wants to be with man. Because He has given us the Bible, God does not need to speak directly to every believer, and if we pay attention to the words in the Bible, we can hear God’s speaking. Nevertheless, even though God communicates through the words in the Bible, He personally came to be among man. However, He did not come in the greatness and glory of His position as the God who dwells in unapproachable light (1 Tim. 6:16). If He came in this way, no one would dare come near to Him. There is no way for us to approach the glorious light of God’s holiness, because we are defiled and evil. As filthy sinners, we cannot see God, much less approach Him. Therefore, God became a man like us in order to come to us.
Once a brother in Kuling was recuperating from an illness. He was lonely and wanted to talk with someone. When he saw a flock of sparrows nearby, he walked toward them, but they all flew away. As soon as he walked away, the sparrows came together once again. Then he scattered some rice on the ground to lure them forward, but once he approached them, the sparrows flew away again. He thought, “Little sparrows, I do not have any intention to hurt you. I earnestly want to be friends with you, but you misunderstand my intentions.” Then he said to himself, “If I could become a sparrow like them, they would not be afraid when I approached them. It is a pity that I cannot become a sparrow.” Then he realized how difficult it is for God to have a relationship with man. Since God wants to be with man, He had no choice but to leave the greatness and glory of His high position and become a man so that we could approach Him.
Jesus is God. He is the One who is great, holy, and bright, but He did not come to us according to His high position. If He had come to us in this way, we certainly would have run away and hidden like the sparrows. John 1:1 and 14 say, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us...full of grace and reality.” This shows that Jesus is God who became flesh. In the beginning refers to eternity past before time even existed. The Word was with God in the beginning (v. 2), that is, before time began. Moreover, the Word was God. Verse 3 says, “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not one thing came into being which has come into being.” Even though He created all things in the universe, He became flesh to be among men (v. 14).
Jesus means “Jehovah the Savior,” or “the salvation of Jehovah” (Matt. 1:21). He is also called Emmanuel, meaning “God with us” (v. 23). Jesus is both God and man. He became a man so that He could be near to man and so that man could be near to Him. When Jesus was on the earth, no one was afraid of Him, including adults, children, prostitutes, and tax collectors, because He was a man. Even though He also was God, He did not appear to be powerful, and people were not afraid of Him. Furthermore, His visage was marred, and He did not have an attractive form or beautiful appearance (Isa. 53:2). He was the son of a lowly carpenter (Matt. 13:55). Hence, everyone could approach Him. Although He appeared to be only an ordinary man, He performed miracles. When He performed miracles, people were amazed, saying, “Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” (vv. 55-56). Nevertheless, some people did not believe that Jesus was God. Therefore, we need to see who Jesus is based on His own words.