In Jesus We Know Man

There is little point in affirming the deity of our Lord without also affirming his humanity. He was a man with all that truly means. He was the Son of man. He was the Son of God. He often seems to have used the term son of man in referring to himself. He came to show us what God is and what man may be by the grace of God. His humanity is not declared alone by his human birth and childhood during which he grew in stature. But also by the fact that he grew in wisdom and in favor with God and man. He was tempted in all points like as we are and in all things save sin was made like unto his brethren. This Son of man and Son of God is our actual redeemer. Both his divinity and his humanity are authenticated by great facts of our own life and time. There is still the fact of Jesus, the fact of the church, and the fact of Christian experience. There is the further fact of nearly twenty centuries of homage. His words , "He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father" has been proved true countless millions of times in the lives of ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of every age and time. The good news is that Christ who lived, taught, died, rose again and ever lives is at the right hand of God, making provisions for eternal redemption for all men. For God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, believed on in the world, and received up into glory. Read I Timothy 3:16.

The life of Jesus

Jesus the Messiah (Christ) was born about 6 B.C. in Bethlehem, in fulfillment of the Old Testament. After his parents took him to Egypt for a few years to escape from Herod, they went to Nazareth, where he lived until he was thirty.

After being baptized at about thirty, Jesus spent forty days alone in the wilderness, struggling over the plan for his life work. He then went back determined to take the way of the "Servant-King," coming to his kingdom through suffering.

For three years Jesus preached that the kingdom of God was at hand, and that the people should repent and allow God to begin to rule in them. He demonstrated the power of God’s kingdom in his "mighty works," and presented its challenge in his parables. In his life he demonstrated God’s love, which is the chief characteristic of the kingdom.

The result of Jesus’ preaching was disappointing. The people did not want to repent; the Pharisees despised him because he loved even the outcasts of humanity more than he loved their rules and ceremonies. Even his twelve disciples only partially understood him.

After preaching only three years, Jesus was crucified by the Romans at the instigation of the Jewish religious leaders. He went to his death willingly, convinced that it would be the gateway to triumph. His words from the cross were words of faith amid agony.

On the third day after he was buried Jesus rose from the dead. For forty days he made various appearances to his believers, and then left them after telling them to wait and pray for the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Growth of the Church. After ten days of prayer and waiting, the followers of Jesus were suddenly filled with the power and boldness of the Holy Spirit, and began preaching the good news of what God had done in Christ Jesus their Lord. The Church, the new Israel, the people of the new covenant, grew and spread from Jerusalem to Samaria, and then to all parts of the known world.

Paul, a converted Pharisee, was a leader in taking the gospel to those who were not Jews, especially outside of Palestine. He preached in most of the Roman Empire. As a result of the opposition of some to his work with Gentiles, Paul was imprisoned and sent as a prisoner to Rome. He was released for a time, but was eventually put to death under Nero, possibly about 66 A.D.

In 70 A.D., as the result of a Jewish rebellion against Rome, the Romans under Titus destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. The Temple has not been rebuilt to this day, nor have Jewish sacrifices since been offered.

The Church continued to grow in spite of all obstacles. Domitian (emperor, 81–96 A.D.) considered himself to be divine, and so Christians all over the empire refused to perform the ceremonies of honor before his busts, as they considered that an act of idolatry. The Romans considered this treason and put many of them to death. During this period of persecution, the encouraging Book of Revelation was written as the last book of the New Testament. The rest of the New Testament books and letters had been written in the half-century preceding this. These books are our primary