[332 words]
The Bible shows us two sides of the most important person in history. The Lord is like us “in every respect” (Hebrews 2:17). There is no shortage of biblical evidence concerning Christ’s humanity. He experienced physical reactions, such as hunger (Matthew 4:2), thirst (John 19:28), and weariness (John 4:6). He wept (John 11:35), wailed (Luke 19:41), sighed (Mark 7:34), and groaned (Mark 8:12). Jesus was human and walked among the people of Judea and Galilee and seemed to be a normal, average, everyday man, yet was He more than that?
To His disciples, Jesus asked perhaps the most important question that can be asked of any person: “Who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15). Has there ever been a more important question? Has there ever been a more vigorously contested, completely or partially misunderstood question in all of time? This is a question that if willingly ignored leads to our destruction, and if correctly answered leads to one’s eternal salvation.
In response to Christ’s question, Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). John refers to Jesus as “the Word” who became flesh (John 1:14). Thomas confessed Jesus as his “Lord” and “God” (John 20:28). The author of Hebrews had much to say about who Jesus is, including referring to him as “the radiance of the glory of God” (Hebrews 1:3), who partook of flesh and blood (Hebrews 2:14). The apostle Paul can speak of “the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5), who is “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” (Colossians 1:15), and “the recipient of the divine name as the resurrected Lord” (Philippians 2:9–11). These statements of facts, and the many more we find in the Scriptures, provide us with a rather shocking reality: the man Jesus of Nazareth is no ordinary man, but man and God in the flesh.
Brad Tolbert
Monticello church of Christ
Monticello, AR