Because Christ was constituted of God and man in His conception, He was born a God-man. A person who is conceived of certain elements will be born to be a composition of those elements. Because Christ was conceived of God and man, He was born a God-man. This means He is both God and man. He is both the complete God and the perfect man.
In the four Gospels we can see in Christ the marvelous and mysterious God. Yet, in the same Christ we can also see an ordinary man. He is nothing less than God, and He is nothing short of a genuine man. The life He lived was the life of a man. He walked, He worked, He talked to people, and He ate and drank as a man. While living as a man, He also lived God. In His human life, God was expressed, yet while He was expressing God, He was a genuine man. This is the reason that when Christ was living on this earth, many people watching Him would say, "Who is this man?" This man is not simple. He is both God and man. In Him, the one Person, we see both God and man. This is wonderful! Have you ever seen such a man? I have been a Christian for nearly sixty years. On one hand, I cannot deny that I have seen Christ because I have received a revelation concerning Him. But if you ask me about the color of His eyes or the length of His hair, I would tell you that I have never seen Him in this way. He is a wonderful Person. He is so real and genuine, yet no one can see Him. Nevertheless, we touch Him and enjoy Him daily. He is wonderful because He is both God and man.
Christ was also God incarnated in the flesh. John 1:14 says that the Word, which was God (John 1:1), became flesh. Christ was God manifested in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16). But there is a big contrast between God and the flesh. God is wonderful and excellent, but in the flesh there is nothing good (Rom. 7:18). Because the flesh is so troublesome, many times I have hated my flesh. Although there is nothing good in the flesh, Christ was God incarnated in the flesh.
Christ was indeed God incarnated in the flesh, but He was only in the likeness of the flesh of sin (Rom. 8:3). When He was walking on this earth, He was in the same likeness as all mankind. In appearance, in likeness, He was the same as all human beings, who are flesh. But in reality, He was not the flesh. In Numbers 21:8-9 God told Moses to lift up a brass serpent. That brass serpent had the form of a serpent, but did not have the nature and poison of a serpent. In John 3:14 Jesus said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up." He was to be lifted up on the cross as the brass serpent to condemn Satan, the old serpent, with his nature of sin. This is too mysterious. It is far beyond our understanding.
In His crucifixion, Christ was typified by a brass serpent. When He was crucified on the cross, in the eyes of God He was just like that serpent. He was a serpent in appearance, in form, but not in nature. Many Christians know that Christ is the Lamb of God, but very few know that Christ was also the brass serpent. We may appreciate the Lamb of God, but we may not like to hear that Christ was the brass serpent. But although John 1:29 says that Jesus is the Lamb of God, John 3:14 says that Christ was typified by the brass serpent. In the same Gospel we are told that Christ is the Lamb of God and that Christ is the brass serpent. He was the Lamb of God to take away our sin in order to solve our problem of sin, and He was the brass serpent to deal with the old serpent, Satan. We do have these two great problems—sin and Satan. As the Lamb of God, Christ took away our sin. As the brass serpent, Christ destroyed the old serpent (Heb. 2:14). We all must say, "Hallelujah! Our sin has been taken away and Satan has been destroyed!" For destroying Satan, Christ had the form of a serpent, that is, the likeness of the flesh of sin, and in this flesh He condemned Satan and destroyed him.