Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 2:1-38; Matthew 2; Luke 2:39-52; Matthew 3:1-12; Mark 1:1-8; Luke 3:3-18; John 1:19-28

John taught us to examine Jesus as God – the Word of God, the light of life – in human form, with the challenge that comes from knowing that He reveals God to us. As we explore the gospels, we will keep this in mind and see how Jesus is presented to us so we can determine what He is revealing to us.

Jesus had no human father, but is actually the Son of God, because the Holy Spirit of God conceived this child in a human woman. This reality usually throws people off because we accept it very superficially. In our simplistic minds we separate the father and the Son as we do in humans. My son is a part of me, but he is not me.

I and the Father are one.

John 10:30

By taking on human form, of course, He willingly and necessarily “emptied Himself” of some aspects of deity. We see this in His need to pray, to be comforted by angels and most strikingly when abandoned on the cross having become sin. Jesus is at the same time both God, the Son of God and man, the Son of Man. The names of prophets often tell us something about God and His nature. Jesus’ name Emmanuel means “God with us”, not God IS with us. It’s not a statement about God, it is a declaration that Jesus IS God. Soak in the life of Jesus through this filter and see how Jesus reveals God to us.

In Jesus, God is the consolation of Israel and Simeon knew he had laid his eyes on the salvation promised so many times. In Jesus, Israel would pay a price for whatever choice they made. And Mary would have her heart broken before her soul was saved.

In Jesus, God astounds the learned teachers of the day. Even from the age of 12, those who heard Him knew He spoke with inherent authority. Because of this, some would accept Him, while others would reject Him and plot to take His life.

In Jesus, God calls the people to repent and turn back to Him. John cries out and the “ordinary” people respond. Their human “shepherds’ had worn them down and scattered them, but in Jesus the Good Shepherd would gather the flock together.

In Jesus, God provides the substitutionary sacrifice for sin, once for all. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Pause for a moment here. We rightly – and with biblical accuracy – say that “God gave His son to die…” for our sins. Since Jesus IS God, both deity and humanity in One, we must understand this as God dying for our sin.

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

Acts 20:28

In looking to the dual nature of Jesus we must always appreciate both and never diminish either. His mission was one of redemption and revelation. When we see Jesus, we see God.

God is just and the penalty for sin is death (all the way back to the Garden). God is likewise righteous, and He must open the way of redemption and forgiveness. In all, God is love, so He gave His own life in our place.

I am Isaac awaiting the knife blade to pierce me and for life to leave my mortal body. Then, the hand of death is stayed and the sound of rustling in the bushes can be heard. It’s the Lamb of God … He will take my place.

Consider His nature.  Consider His ways.  Strive to love Him more!