The Two Natures of Christ

Tonight we're doing lesson five, the two natures united in Christ. And I'm going to be honest with you, in this section — this whole group of lessons that we're doing on Christology — this is probably the most difficult one. When I say the most difficult one, the terms aren't going to be that difficult, but just the idea of the incarnation, it's beyond us. Eighteen months ago when we started the theological series and we did the nature and attributes of God, we came across something very similar the night that we studied the Trinity. We can understand what the Trinity is and its basic contents, but trying to actually fathom it and grasp it, we're finite and God is infinite. And so the person of Jesus Christ — we can spend our whole lives studying both His human nature and His divine nature and how they're held together in the one person. So we're going to begin with the Bible point number one.

In the one person, Jesus Christ, there are two natures, a divine nature and a human nature. That sentence should be very familiar. This is the third time you've seen that. We did this when we studied two weeks ago the human nature of Christ and then last week when we studied the divine nature of Christ. Both these natures are held in one person, Jesus Christ.

In Christ, the two natures are perfect. That's the first blank.

Unaltered — that's the second blank. They're perfect. They're unaltered in their essence and undivested — that's the third blank — undivested of their normal attributes. Let me reread that. In Christ, the two natures are perfect, unaltered in their essence and undivested of their normal attributes. Jesus Christ is truly God and truly man. Let me back up and define some of these terms as we go. We say in the one person, Jesus Christ — remember when we studied the nature and attributes of God, we said that God, one of His attributes is He's a personal being.

When we studied anthropology several months back, we said that mankind are personal beings as well. We're made in the image of God. What we mean by personal is that is one who has agency. When we talk about personal being, we're talking about the what of that being. In other words, a person is one who has rational thoughts, can look at himself and the world around him, can think abstractly, can then choose between motives and make actions and relate to others. A rock can't do that. A rock is not a person, right? A tree — I know Disney has singing trees, but trees are not persons — but we are persons, right? As humans, because we're created in the image of God, God relates to His creation. He is knowable. He has thoughts. We read about His thoughts in the Word of God, right? So in the one person, Jesus Christ, there are two natures. What is a nature? A nature is simply the what of something. It's the essence of something. For example, when we studied anthropology, we said that mankind consists of — the human nature of man has two parts. His body and his soul. He's material and immaterial, right? So it'd be the essence, so to speak, of man. When we talked about God, when we studied the attributes of God, we said that God was a spiritual being. He doesn't have a body like us, right? So therefore He's incorruptible, He's eternal, He's everlasting, right?

Well, in the one person of Jesus Christ, there are two natures, a divine nature and a human nature. The divine nature is the nature that has existed from the very beginning, the second person of the Trinity.

In Christ, these two natures are perfect. When we mean that they're perfect, we mean that humanity in Christ is perfect.

In us, our humanity is not perfect, right? We studied hamartiology — how mankind fell in Adam and Eve, right? And that crippled us. It alienated us from God. It dulled our senses. It perverted our wills and our affections. We love what we ought not to love. We hate what we shouldn't hate, right? But Christ comes and renews us in His own image, right? In His perfect image. So in Christ, the two natures are perfect. They're unaltered in their essence. What that means is that they're not changed in their essence. In other words, humanity doesn't become something else, and divinity doesn't become something else. If you recall in week one, we talked about the early Christological heresies. And there was one heresy that the Eutychians promoted that said that the human nature and the divine nature in Christ mixed together and became a third thing, right? Neither human nor divine. Well, we don't see that in Christ. It's unaltered in their essence. And undivested of their normal attributes. In other words, the divinity of Christ is the same divinity as God the Father and of God the Holy Spirit. All the attributes of God apply to Jesus Christ. Likewise, all the attributes of humanity — except for sin, of course, and that was an original attribute of man, right? But mankind being a finite being, mankind having limitations in knowledge, it can only be in one place at a time, having a beginning and having an end — His humanity carried those human limitations. So they were undivested of the normal attributes. He didn't put on an appearance of a man without man's weaknesses, without man's limitations, or without man's frailties. Subject to sickness, subject to temptation, He carried all those in His humanity.

Jesus Christ is truly God and man. Colossians 2:9 says, "For the entire fullness of God's nature dwells bodily in Christ." We talked about the attributes of God and when we did, we went through fifteen weeks, one week on each attribute. And those were amazing — to think about God who's omnipotent, all powerful, God who knows everything, God who's everywhere present, God who's holy, God who is a spiritual being. Well, all that fullness dwelt bodily in Jesus Christ. It's hard for us to comprehend, and we don't know how that works, because His humanity was finite but His deity is infinite. That's unrevealed to us. 1 Peter 1:20 says, "For indeed He was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifested in these last times for you."

The God who existed before the foundation of the world, before anything was made, He was foreordained to take on human flesh to save us. We were created to be saved by God. He didn't create us as fallen, but He knew that in our course we would fall. He gave us free will and He was not surprised by that, and Christ was the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world. I'm not going to ask you to turn there, but on the back in the lower right-hand corner, you're going to see the Chalcedonian Creed. We talked about this in week one — how the early church sent all their bishops, all their pastors together from all over. And in 325 at the Council of Nicaea, they formulated an early form of the Trinity and it began to be hashed out, and also the divinity of Christ, coming in agreement on how we should talk about that. And then in 451, the Chalcedonian Creed — you'll find this all listed here. I'm not going to read it because, to be honest with you, it probably wouldn't make a lot of sense to read it first and out. But what it does is simply this: it gives us the parameters of how we should think about God taking on flesh. Just as we have parameters of the Trinity — we know that the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God, and there's one God — those four parameters govern how we think. If you go outside those parameters, you get into trouble. You will become a heretic before you know it. Well, these are the parameters in which we think about Christ. And instead of reading through that, the next several points are going to kind of follow that and explain it from Scripture how it is that we should properly view Christ. Because if we don't get Christ right, we don't get salvation right. If we don't get Christ right, everything falls apart.

The application for number one is: how is Christ both truly God and truly man?

He has a divine nature, right? And He has a human nature. And so therefore He's truly God and truly man. Again, the mystery of it — how that works, we don't know. The Chalcedonian confession that you'll find on the back doesn't attempt to even explain it. It just states what the scriptural truths are about the person of Christ and leaves it at that, right?

Bible point number two: the divine and human natures are united in the person of Christ without confusion. That's the first blank.

Or separation. That's the second blank.

Remember, we talked about the Eutychians who said that the divine nature and human nature were mixed together and made something else, right? Made a third nature. That's what we referred to without confusion. These two natures are not mixed. He's always divine and He's always human, but those two natures are not mixed. Nor are they ever separated. They're always together in Christ. Christ is not God and man, but the God-man. In other words, He's the mediator between God and man. That's why He took on flesh. Matthew 1:20 through 21, the angel says, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit." Where was the humanity of Christ originated from? From Mary, by way of the Holy Spirit, right?

"And she will bring forth a Son, a human being, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." We don't understand the incarnation — how God brought about the Christ child in Mary — but we take Scripture's testimony that He's God made flesh. He's there to save His people from their sins. He's our mediator.

The application is this. Do we need a mediator between God and man? And why? Why would we need a mediator? Can't I build a tower like they tried to do in Babel and reach up to heaven and bring God down? No.

Why do I need a mediator? Can't I just boldly approach the throne of God as a human? Abigail?

Exactly right. You'll hear that. You need a mediator because you're sinful and God cannot tolerate sin, right? He's holy and we're unholy. A mediator in Christ was the God-man. Perfect man, perfect God — so He could be our sacrifice to reconcile us to God.

Bible point number three. The divine Son, the second person of the Trinity, assumed a human — that's the first blank — a human nature in the incarnation. That's the second blank. The incarnation. And now has both a divine nature and a human nature. So the divine person, the second person of the Trinity, He assumed a human nature. He added a human nature in the incarnation. So He now forever has both a divine nature and a human nature.

Matthew 1:22 through 23 says, "So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophets, saying, 'Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel,' which is translated, 'God with us.'" God came near to us in the person of Jesus Christ. He took on flesh.

He added a human nature in the incarnation.

The application for number three is: how does Christ's humanity bring you hope? How does Christ's humanity bring you hope? Without Him we're hopeless. Without Him we're hopeless. There's no way that man could have ever bridged that gap. Abigail?

Exactly right. He died in His human nature, right? And He also rose again in His human nature. Doesn't that give us hope, right? As He died and rose again, so we also will rise again. Jimmy?

Does Christ just tell us that He has touched on the feelings of our infirmities and He understands our nature. He knows the temptations. He was tempted in everything that we are, but He never succumbed. Amen.

He was without sin completely. So unless Jesus would come and touch, He would not be able to identify with us as human beings and know how to pray and how we are. Amen.

It's wonderful to have that advocate, that mediator for us, right? Who knows us intimately.

Bible point number four. The divine nature did not experience any change in the incarnation.

Change is the first blank. The incarnation was a personal act. That's the second blank. Personal act. In which the person of the Son of God assumed a human nature, unmixed — that's the third blank — unmixed with His divine nature.

In other words, He added a human nature to Himself, but not mixed with His divine nature. His divine nature was unchanged.

As the divine Son of God, Christ is perfect, right? Can anything be added to perfection? Can you make perfection better?

Can you subtract from it and make it worse? No, there's no change in our God. That's one of the attributes that we studied. When we studied the attributes of God, we called it the immutability of God. And Christ — His divinity is immutable, right? We'll see right here, Malachi 3:6, "For I am the Lord, Yahweh. I do not — what? I do not change."

Hebrews 13:8, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."

When Christ took on humanity, it was a forever union, right? So even now, Christ is incarnate in heaven, right? That gives us hope. If Christ, the first of the new race of new humanity, is in heaven, so too will we be. As He rose from the dead, we will rise also and be with Him in an incredible way.

Application for number four: trust Christ who never changes in any way.

We often put our trust in things that change, right? We put our trust in people that change. Maybe you have a friend that you've leaned on for a long time, but maybe their health begins to falter and they can't be the friend to you that they used to be. Or maybe their life gets busy, or they move away, right? Change happens, and we can't put our trust in people the way we can put our trust in God, right? Even things in this life that we have always trusted in — our own capabilities — one day your memory starts to go. One day your knee doesn't work so good, right? But God is entirely trustworthy. We can put our trust in Christ that He doesn't change. The same Christ who took on the form of humanity, lived a humble life for thirty-three years, who died for us and loved us that much that He gave Himself for us — He's the same God today who sits at the right hand of God. So when we bring our petitions to Him, He's saying, "Come, I love you. You're mine. I'll give you anything." Isn't that what Romans says — how can He not want to give you anything? He who died for you, right? He freely gives us all things.

Bible point number five, there was no emptying — emptying, that's a weird word, empty-ing — there was no emptying of the divine nature in the incarnation, nor was there a gradual incarnation.

What we're speaking of here are two different heretical views of the incarnation. One's called, in theological terms, the kenosis theory, because when you read in Philippians, it talks about Christ making Himself of no reputation. It can also be translated, emptying Himself. And some have mistaken that to think that God emptied Himself of His divine attributes in the incarnation.

You can't empty yourself of your attributes, right? God's attributes are who He is. God is love. Could He cease being love without ceasing to be Himself, right? God is holy. Could He cease being holy in the incarnation? No. So He did not empty Himself. In fact, let's look at this passage, Philippians 2:5 through 7. This is in the New King James. It says, "Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation." Making Himself of no reputation — in some translations, will be He emptied Himself.

But it's not talking about emptying Himself of His attributes or emptying Himself of His divine personhood, so to speak. It's emptying Himself in that He humbled Himself. He left heaven, the glory with the Father that He had always shared, and in His humanity His glory was veiled, right? And He took on human flesh and He suffered, right? Lived a flesh and blood existence, subject to all the human limitations. That was this emptying. It says in verse 7, "But He made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, taking the form of a slave, coming in the likeness of men." So in coming in the likeness of men and taking the form of a slave, taking the form of a human, He was humbling Himself. That's the emptying that's being spoken of, not that He emptied Himself of His divine attributes.

The second one says, "Nor was there a gradual incarnation." Some theologians have said, "Well, Christ was a human who kind of grew into God. He didn't realize He was God, and as He matured and grew in wisdom and stature and favor, He was actually crowned God at His resurrection, so to speak." But that's not what we see in Scripture, right? Even as a baby, right? Did not the shepherds come and worship Him, right? The wise men, when He was probably a toddler, came and worshiped Him, right? The angel told them that you were having the Son of God, the Savior, God with us.

The application is this. "How is the Lamb of God" — speaking of Christ — "a perfect sacrifice?" That's the blank: a perfect sacrifice.

If He was not fully God until the resurrection, would He be a perfect sacrifice? No. If He had emptied Himself of the holiness of God, would He be a perfect sacrifice? No. Christ was our perfect sacrifice because He was truly God and truly man. Oh, good question. Yeah, no, that's parallel to that. And actually, I'm not going to answer that tonight, and the reason why — next week, Caleb's going to be teaching us about the humiliation of Christ, and that's where we're going to actually see some of these truths and tension between the humanity and the divinity. So I'll make you come next week if you want that answer.

Bible point number six, Scripture testifies to the single personality of Christ.

So the first blank is single. There is not a dual — D-U-A-L — not a dual personality in Christ. All of God's words were spoken and all of His deeds were done — I'm sorry, I got the words in the wrong space there — all of His deeds were done by the one person, the God-man.

In other words, God was not two persons in Christ Jesus. He was one person with two natures. We actually saw in the first week — we talked about the historical Christological heresies — and one was called the Nestorians. And the Nestorians held that in Christ there were two persons, right? Kind of like a split personality, if you will, with two wills and two consciences. That's not what we see in Scripture. In Scripture, all the testimony of Christ is of a singular conscience, a singular will, a singular person, in whom exists both the human and divine attributes, the human and divine natures. All of Christ's words were spoken by this one person. In other words, He didn't alternate — "okay, I'm speaking as God here, and now I'm speaking as man. I'm acting as man here, but now I'm acting as God here." It was one person, Jesus Christ, with two natures.

Psalm 40:8, from the Old Testament, we see some inter-Trinitarian dialogue. It's a Messianic Psalm. He says, "I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart." The Messiah, Christ, is speaking to God the Father, saying, "I delight to do Your will," right? And we see that same inter-Trinitarian dialogue in the New Testament. Think about John 17, right? There's a lot of it there. In fact, flip over on the back. Reference number six on the back. "Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven and said,"

"That Your Son also may glorify You." He's speaking to the Father. The divine Son is speaking to the divine Father, right?

Well, we don't see that interplay within the person of Christ. We don't see Christ saying, "Oh, human nature, come over here," or vice versa, right? There is no interplay there because it's one person, one conscience, one will.

Application is this: trust in the one Lord Jesus Christ. Trust in the one Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us that we have one hope, one faith, one baptism, one Lord Jesus Christ.

Bible point number seven. Scripture presents both natures as constantly present and permanently united in Jesus Christ. The first blank is constantly present and the second blank is permanently united in Jesus Christ. These two natures are constantly present. The divinity never leaves Jesus Christ at any point in His ministry. Even on the cross, when He cries out, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" there is no rift in the Trinity, right? The Trinity cannot be broken at all. I've heard sermons actually say that temporarily on the cross, the Trinity was broken — like, "That's horrible theology. Chalcedon would smack you." There's never a separation of natures. They are constantly present and permanently united in Jesus Christ. So He always had with Him in His incarnation the human nature added to His divine nature. And He forevermore will have that. Just because He's in heaven now doesn't mean that the human nature is jettisoned and His salvation work is done. He's still our mediator in heaven, right? Our mediator making intercession for us. Our mediator in heaven showing us the visible representation of God in heaven, as what we see when we read the book of Revelation. Colossians 2:9, "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." All the fullness of the Godhead was always in Christ. It was never absent and it's permanently united in Him.

The application is simply this. Pray to the God-man who sits on the throne. Right now, Jesus Christ is at the right hand of God Almighty. Can you think of a better person to bring your appeal to? No one better than that. No one who knows you better, no one who loves you more, no one who has more power than Jesus Christ.

Bible point number eight. I've got this in smaller type because there's a lot there. I'm going to read this slowly. Scripture speaks of the one person Jesus Christ in terms true of either one of the two natures.

The attributes and powers of both — that's the first blank — of both natures are ascribed to the one person Jesus Christ. Let me stop right there. The attributes and the powers, the things that define the two natures — the humanity of Christ and the deity of Christ — they are ascribed to the one person Jesus Christ. Let me give you an example of that. Look down below the first bullet point. Human attributes and actions are ascribed to the person while He is referred to by divine title. In other words, because Jesus Christ is both God and man, what we would normally ascribe to His humanity is ascribed to His entire person. And an example of that is Acts 20:28. I have this on the back if you want to flip over.

"Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood."

Does God have blood? He's a spiritual being, right? The divine nature of Christ does not have blood, right? But it's attributed to the person of Jesus Christ because in the person of Jesus Christ is both the human and the divine, right? So you can address Him as God here. He's calling Christ God, and he says "His own blood," right? And it's because the attributes of the human nature are being ascribed to the entire person — the God-man himself, Jesus Christ.

Flip over on the front. The second bullet point: divine attributes and actions are ascribed to the person while He is referred to by a human term. So not only are the human attributes ascribed to the person Jesus Christ, but so are His divine attributes. Flip over on the back and let's look at Romans 9:5.

Romans 9:5 speaks of Christ being in the flesh, being a man: "Of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all the eternally blessed God. Amen." In this verse we see the reference to coming in the flesh, Christ being a human. Christ came according to the flesh, came according to humanity, but He's the eternally blessed God. Deity is ascribed to the one person, Jesus Christ. So even though man can't be God — man is finite and God is infinite — in the person of Jesus Christ it's okay to call Jesus Christ God, to ascribe the divine attributes to the God-man Himself.

Conversely — this is in the middle of paragraph number eight — conversely, the works and worth of the one person Jesus Christ are ascribed to the two natures, so that what each does has the value of both.

So conversely, the works — that's the first blank — and the worth — the third blank is one person. Conversely, the works and the worth of the one person Jesus Christ are ascribed to the two natures, so that what each does has the value of both.

What Christ did as the God-man, the worth and value of that work is ascribed to both the humanity and the deity of Christ. Let me give you an example.

Third bullet point down. While the divine nature is incapable of suffering or death, in the union of the two natures of Christ, the God-man was capable of infinite suffering. Abigail was right saying that the divine can't die, right? That's one of His attributes. He's the ground of life. He's the everlasting God. But we can say that in the person of Jesus Christ — because He died — that attributes of the person are ascribed to the divinity and also to the humanity of Christ. Flip over on the back. Let's look at an example of this.

"For Christ also suffered once for our sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit." Christ could suffer. He's the God-man. He's both God and man, but He could suffer because of His humanity, right?

Flip back over on the front. Because Christ is a man, He can make atonement for man and sympathize with man. Because He's a man, because He has human nature, the God-man can make atonement for us and He can sympathize with our weakness. Let's look at that in Hebrews. Hebrews 2:17-18 — this was what Jimmy was talking about just a moment ago. "Therefore in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation" — or covering, or a shield, so to speak — "to make God for us for the sins of His people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted." Here it's talking about Christ. It says that Christ suffered, Christ is tempted. We normally don't think about that being ascribed to deity, but that's ascribed to His person, right? And therefore we say that Christ truly suffered and He truly was tempted on our behalf.

Flip back over on the front. Because Christ is God, His atonement has infinite value to reconcile men with God.

Because Jesus Christ is not just man making atonement, but He's the God-man making atonement.

What do we know about God's character? He's infinite, right? And He's perfect. He has boundless supply from within. He's altogether good — the goodness of God. So His atonement is infinite. It can be applied to every single person who puts their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not good enough to save myself, right? Much less any of y'all. But Christ's merit, because it's based in His infinite divinity, can cover everyone's sins if they will repent and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Flip back over on the front. We see this in Hebrews — I want it on the back. Hebrews 1.

"God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who, being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high." He Himself purged our sins. He paid for them, took them away, washed them out, because He is the infinite atonement able to reconcile God with man.

The application is this. Simply consider Christ's sacrificial love for you.

Consider His love for you. That love is what drove Him to the cross. That love for you, made in His image, is what drove Him to provide atonement for you, to suffer infinitely for you, to pay your price.

How many of you would go up to a stranger on the street and ask, "Hey, I know you don't know me, but how much debt do you have? Do you have some student loans? Because I'd like to try to pay them off for you. I don't know what they are — they may be great — but I'd like to try to pay them off for you. Do you have any credit card debt?"

I'll see if I can help you with that. Who would do that? It's essentially what Christ did for us, but much more than just some silly financial debt. The debt of our sins, paid for by His infinite suffering on the cross.

Point number nine. The union of the — it should be "the." I'm sorry. I wrote this earlier this morning. I apologize. The union of the two natures in the one person of Jesus Christ is a mystery as great as the Trinity.

No human analogy — that's the first blank — will fully explain it. Remember when we talked about the Trinity, there's a lot of well-meaning analogies that people have concocted to try to explain how God is — I'm sorry — one essence with three persons. And all those analogies fail. The reason why: the triune existence of God is something that we have no experience with in this world. Nothing in this world is created in that fashion or is like that. Nothing in our humanity is like that. It's a mystery to us — the way that God is one essence with three persons. So human analogies fail. The same when it comes to the divine union of the human nature and the divine nature in the one person of Jesus Christ. Nothing in our experience prepares us for that. Some theologians have tried to use the Trinity as an example to try to help us understand the union of the two natures in the one person of Jesus Christ.

But it fails because Christ is one person with two natures, where the Trinity, of course, is one essence with three persons. Different things altogether, right? Different relationship there. Some have tried to use our union with Christ — the believer's union with Christ. When we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, He takes our heart and He renews it and He implants this Holy Spirit within us, becomes one with us. He is in us and we are said to be in Him, and we receive all of His benefits and He takes all of our sin in this great exchange — the believer's union with Christ. Some people have tried to use that to explain the union of the two natures in Jesus Christ, but it fails because in our union with Christ, it is a union between two persons, right? God being an infinite person and us being finite people, right? God being holy and we being unholy. But in Christ, there is one person, right? With two natures, not two persons coming together united through faith by His Spirit. So what I'm getting at, there are no good analogies. We just simply have to trust the testimony of Scripture.

And by point number nine, human reason — that's the second blank — cannot search it out. Books have been written on this. Thick books that you would have a hard time reading. I have a hard time reading.

It's mind-blowing, the amount of brain power that has been given to try to figure out the two natures united in Christ.

It must be accepted by faith — that's the third blank — on the authority of Scripture, and explained — that's the fourth blank — explained by its teachings. What I'm trying to tell you is this: don't try to reason it out. Don't try to come up with cute analogies that might make sense, whether it's from chemistry or whether it's from even things such as the Trinity and the human union with our Savior. Don't, because it will not help you, but simply stick to the truth statements of Scripture about the person of Jesus Christ. We've been going through them here tonight — the limitations of how we can think about Christ, the one person of Christ who has two natures, a perfect divine nature and a perfect human nature.

The application for number nine is: trust the authority of God's perfect Word. Trust the authority of God's perfect Word.

If you can't trust God's Word to inform you about the person of Jesus Christ, then you can't trust anything.

Yeah, science won't get you there. Looking at the rocks and trees won't get you there, right? It's only in His divine revelation in Scripture. Flip over on the back, let's look at 1 Timothy 3:16.

"And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness." What's Paul saying there? He's saying it shouldn't be controversial that some things are beyond us — the mystery of godliness. He says here it is: "God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory." It's a pretty straightforward gospel presentation, isn't it? That Christ took on flesh, God so loved the world that He gave us His only begotten Son. That He was justified in the Spirit — that's His resurrection, right? The Spirit of God resurrected Christ and declared Christ to be innocent, declared Christ to be immortal because He is God and God can't die, right? Seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up in glory.

He's saying this is the mystery of godliness, that God was manifested in the flesh. Some things we just aren't going to be able to grasp — the incarnation, right? But we trust Scripture's testimony of it, right? That is our authority.

Flip back over on the front.

About point number ten, it was necessary for Christ to be the God-man, to be our mediator, so that He could assume our nature — that's the first blank.

Assume our duties — that's the second blank.

And assume our liabilities — that's the third blank. Let me reread that. It was necessary for Christ to be the God-man so that He could assume our nature, assume our duties, and assume our liabilities. Look at Galatians 4:4-5.

"But when the fullness of time had come" — when God's perfect timing was brought about — "God sent forth His Son, born of a woman." There we see Christ assuming our nature. Why did Christ assume a human nature?

To save us, right? To be our sacrifice, to unite us to God.

He could assume our nature, assume our duties. "God sent forth a Son, born of a woman, born under the law." The law of God showed Israel how they should please and obey God. And Israel fell miserably every time. In fact, while God was giving the Ten Commandments and writing them in stone on the mountain to Moses — Moses was gone on top of the mountain for forty days — after the children of Israel promised that they would obey God, he came down to find a golden calf and all kinds of debauchery going on in the camp, right? So they had said, "Where is this Moses who brought us out from Egypt? Here is your God, this golden calf. He's the one who brought you out of Egypt." Israel fell miserably every single time, but Christ was a true Israelite, right? He assumed not just our nature, but what did He assume? He assumed our liabilities. He was born under the law, just like every person is under the law of God. Christ didn't have a special exemption from obeying the laws of God, but He obeyed them perfectly. He obeyed them for us so we could have the merit of His righteousness credited to us, right?

Assume our duties and assume our liabilities.

Because Christ took on our nature, assumed our flesh, and He assumed our duties, He could also assume our liabilities.

He could become a curse for us that we could become His righteousness. He could bear the price that we had to pay because He perfectly obeyed and His righteousness is everlasting.

As our perfect mediator, Christ has reconciled us to God through union with Christ. Look in verse 5.

"But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth a Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law." How did He redeem us? He redeemed us by paying our price, being our sacrifice. "That we might receive the adoption as sons."

When we're united by faith to our Lord Jesus Christ, we are said to be in Christ.

And so when God looks upon us, what does He see? He sees all the perfections of His perfect Son, Jesus Christ.

And He adopts us into His family. Therefore, we can call God our Father, right? And we can truly be called the children of God because of Christ saving us. The application is this. Have you been adopted into God's family?

If you're a Christian, if you've repented of your sins and put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for His righteousness and His righteousness alone, you have a new family, right?

You have an older brother named Jesus. You have God the Father. You have a church family. You're adopted into the family of God. And that's why Christ came — to reconcile God to man and man with God.

We're going to stop here and look forward to next week when we'll be looking at the humiliation of Christ.