The first important person in the New Testament is John the Baptist. In the foregoing lesson we saw that he was the inaugurator of the New Testament age, who brought in the central figure of the New Testament—Jesus Christ. In this lesson we will see the Lord Jesus, who is the central figure of the New Testament and even of the whole Bible, from His eternity past to His death and burial. In the next lesson we will see the remaining points concerning Him.
John 1:1-2 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” The Word is Christ (John 1:14). From the beginning Christ was the Word that was with God. He is without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life (Heb. 7:3). His deity is eternal. He was with God from the beginning. He is the Word that was in the beginning with God.
Romans 9:5 says, “Christ, who is over all, God blessed forever.” This proves that Christ is the complete God. In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Col. 2:9); He is the effulgence of God’s glory and the express image of God’s substance (Heb. 1:3). He subsists in the form of God and is equal with God (Phil. 2:6), and He is the mystery of God (Col. 2:2b).
From eternity past Christ was the only begotten Son of God. He was in the bosom of the Father from eternity past; after incarnation He is still in the bosom of the Father. John 1:18 says, “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” “Is” in the original text is in the present tense, proving that while He was speaking this word on the earth, He was still in the bosom of the Father. He as the only begotten Son was with the Father, and He was, is, and always will be in the bosom of the Father.
Christ, the only begotten Son of God, expressed God by the Word, life, light, grace, and reality, as revealed in John 1:1, 4, 5, and 14. The Word is God revealed, life is God imparted, light is God shining, grace is God enjoyed, and reality is God realized, apprehended. The essence of them all is God Himself. It is by these things that God is fully declared in the Son. Although no one has ever seen God, the Son of God has declared, expressed, Him in the way of being the Word, life, light, grace, and reality.
The eternal Christ is the origin and originator of life; hence, He is the Author of life (Acts 3:15). In Him is the eternal life, the life of God (John 1:4).
This Christ, who was the complete God, the eternal Word who was with God, the only begotten Son who expressed God, and the Author of life, came into man through incarnation and was born as a perfect man in time, about four thousand years after the creation of man. Among the four Gospels in the beginning of the New Testament, Matthew and Luke have a record of His genealogy that explains His status. Matthew testifies that He is the King, the Christ prophesied in the Old Testament. The genealogy given in Matthew shows us the antecedents and the royal status of this King, proving that He is the proper successor to the throne of David. Luke testifies that He is a proper and normal man. The genealogy recorded in Luke traces back to Adam, the first ancestor of mankind, proving that He is a genuine man who is qualified to be the Savior of mankind.