In this message we shall cover Christ’s person in His human living.
The foregoing messages on Christ’s person have been mainly concerned with His person in the divine element. Now we need to see His person in the human element. No doubt, this aspect of Christ is also for God’s dispensing. In order for God to dispense Himself into our being, it was necessary for Him to become a man. Before God could dispense Himself into us, He first had to dispense Himself into the man Christ Jesus.
We have pointed out that in His incarnation Christ was conceived of the Spirit of God and was born of a human virgin. Because of this conception and birth, He has both the divine essence and the human essence. Therefore, when Christ became a man, He was the God-man possessing the divine essence and the human essence. Now we need to consider Him, the God-man, in His human living.
In human living Christ was the Son of Man found in fashion as a man. He was not only the Son of Man; He was found in the fashion of a man, for He lived as a man. In Matthew 8:20 the Lord refers to Himself as the Son of Man: “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have roosts, but the Son of Man has nowhere that He may lay His head.” In His living the Lord Jesus continually lived in fashion as a man. Hence, Philippians 2:8 says that, in His human living He was “found in fashion as a man.” The word “fashion” denotes the outward guise, the semblance. This is a specific repetition of “likeness” in Philippians 2:7. What Christ looked like in His humanity was found by men to be in fashion as a man. Being found in fashion as a man, in the appearance of a man, He humbled Himself. This means that when He was a man, He did not insist on anything. Rather, He humbled Himself to the point of dying on the cross. First, having the form of God, He emptied Himself. Then, being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death (Phil. 2:7-8).
In His human living Christ was also a despised Nazarene (John 1:45-46). Mary conceived a child in Nazareth (Luke 1:26-27, 31). According to the prophecy in Micah 5:2, however, Christ had to be born in Bethlehem. Under God’s sovereign arrangement, Caesar Augustus ordered a census (Luke 2:1-7, and this forced all the people to return to their places. Mary and Joseph were forced to return to Bethlehem, their home town. Immediately after they arrived in Bethlehem, Jesus was born. Eventually, a mistake made by the Magi aroused the hatred and jealousy of King Herod, who was angered that a kingly child had been born. Then Joseph received guidance in a dream to take the child to Egypt (Matt. 2:13-15). This enabled God to fulfill the prophecy of Hosea 11:1. After Herod died, Joseph received word in another dream to return to the Holy Land (Matt. 2:19-20). When Joseph returned and learned that Archelaus, the son of Herod, was in power, he was afraid to remain in the territory around Bethlehem. Therefore, he went to Nazareth, where Jesus was raised (Matt. 2:21-23). For this reason Jesus was called Jesus the Nazarene (Matt. 26:71; Mark 10:47).
When Jesus Christ was born into the human race, He appeared in a way that was somewhat hidden, in a way that was not open or evident. He was called Jesus of Nazareth, for He was a Nazarene. When Philip met Jesus, he realized that Jesus was the Messiah. Then Philip went to Nathanael and told him that he had met the Messiah and that He was the son of Joseph, a man of Nazareth. Immediately Nathanael said, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:45-46). Did Philip give Nathanael the wrong information? It is difficult to say. Philip only knew that Jesus was the son of Joseph and that He was a Nazarene. Although Jesus was from Nazareth and was a Nazarene, He had not been born in Nazareth but in Bethlehem. Nathanael was troubled. However, Philip did not argue with him; he simply said, “Come and see” (John 1:46).
Christ, the seed of David, was born in Bethlehem, but He appeared as a Nazarene from Galilee (John 7:52), a town that was despised by the people of that time. Because the Lord was raised in Nazareth, others did not consider Him as one born in Bethlehem. On one occasion Nicodemus, who had come to know Jesus, tried to argue with the Pharisees concerning Him. The Pharisees asked him, “Are you also from Galilee?” (John 7:52). Galilee was a Gentile region; the Bible speaks of “Galilee of the nations” (Matt. 4:15). The Pharisees seemed to be saying to Nicodemus, “Are you from Galilee? We know that Jesus came out of Galilee. But out of Galilee there comes no prophet.” Apparently, Jesus was from Galilee, from Nazareth; actually, He was born in Bethlehem according to His hidden and secret way of appearing. As a Nazarene, the Lord grew up as a “root out of a dry ground,” having “no form nor comeliness,” “no beauty that we should desire him,” for He was “despised and rejected of men” (Isa. 53:2-3). For this reason, we should not know Him according to the flesh (2 Cor. 5:16) but according to the Spirit.
As a despised Nazarene, the Lord Jesus was not a man outwardly in a high position; rather He was low, not in standard, morality, or virtues but in rank and position. When He became a man, He took the lowest position and rank. Hence, He was despised as a Nazarene.
Galilee was a despised province, and the Galileans were a despised people. If you consult a map, you will see that Samaria was between Judea and Galilee. Of these three provinces, Judea was held in high regard. Samaria was despised because the people there were of mixed blood. Although the Galileans were not of mixed blood, Galilee was still considered an inferior region. All the people in that region, especially those in the city of Nazareth, were despised. As we have pointed out, although Christ was born in Bethlehem, the royal city of David, He grew up in Nazareth and as a result became known as a Nazarene.
Matthew 2:23 says, “And came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, He shall be called a Nazarene.” The “prophets,” in plural, indicates that this is not a particular prophecy, but a summary of the significance of several prophecies, such as Psalm 22:6-7. The title “Nazarene” may refer to the “Branch” in Isaiah 11:1, which in Hebrew is netzer. The Branch there, signifying Christ, is “a shoot [or sprout] of the stump of Jesse,” the father of David. By the time Jesus was born, the throne of David had been overthrown. This means that the royal stem of David had been cut off. Then a new shoot sprouted from the stump of Jesse and grew out of his roots. The sprouting and growing of this shoot was in a situation of humiliation. Jesus was not born in a recognized and honored royal home, and He did not grow up in a renowned city like Jerusalem. He was born to a poor home and grew up in a despised town. All this made Him a Nazarene, not a lofty branch of a stately tree but a seemingly insignificant shoot from the stump of Jesse.
Although Jesus was a Nazarene, within Him there was the glory of God. Therefore, we should not know Christ according to the outward appearance. Rather, we need to discern the inward reality of Christ.