When proceeding logically thru the fundamental truths of Holy Scripture, as does the Apostolic Confession, after speaking of the deity of Christ, one comes to face the truth of His humanity. The two belong together. We saw that the deity of the Son of man, the Christ, is often denied. But we found that Holy Scripture clearly teaches Christ's deity. Jesus Christ is the Only Begotten Son of God. Not only is that truth the heart of the truth of the authority of the Scriptures—for Christ is our Chief Prophet; but also the heart of the truth of the atonement and of our being partakers of His anointing. There is no salvation apart from the confession from the heart: I believe in Jesus Christ the only begotten Son, our Lord.
But it is equally true that there is no salvation apart from the confession that this only begotten Son of God was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Scripture teaches the full and complete humanity of the Son of God. God plainly teaches the incarnation of His Son, as we read a few minutes ago in Luke 1. The only begotten Son of God came in the flesh. And it is emphasized in Scripture that this was necessary. If Jesus is not in the real sense of the word like us and of us, He could not be our Mediator. If Jesus is not like us in all things sin excepted, He could neither change our state of guilt before God, nor raise us from our corrupt condition. We read in Hebrews 2:17: "Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." It is, therefore, necessary that we understand and confess in truth:
THE NATURE OF THE REDEEMER'S HUMANITY
I. REAL
II. PREPARED
III. PROFITABLE
I. THE NATURE OF THE REDEEMER'S HUMANITY IS REAL.
GOD'S ETERNAL SON, WHO IS AND CONTINUETH TRUE AND ETERNAL GOD, TOOK UPON HIM THE VERY NATURE OF MAN.
That the Son of God took on Himself a real human nature is the clear teaching of many passages of Scripture. That is the first thing we want to consider concerning the confession: "He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary." God's eternal Son took upon Him a real human nature, consisting of a real human body and a real human soul, both of which were assumed at one and the same instant in the womb of the virgin Mary. It was necessary that He take the same human nature that had sinned, or there could have been no redemption or reconciliation with God for us.
That is the meaning of what the writer to the Hebrews states in chapter 2:16, when he writes: "For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham." If angels had to be redeemed, He would have had to assume the angelic nature; but because man is the creature who has to be redeemed, He assumed theflesh and blood of those who are the children of Abraham. The elect, the promised seed of Abraham, who are to be redeemed, are flesh and blood. That is our nature. And it is that nature that must satisfy the justice of God, if ever we are to stand before Him in His tabernacle. Therefore, the same writer to the Hebrews writes, giving reason to rejoice: "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." The Son of God "took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men" (Philippians 2:7). The eternal Word, which was with God and was God, was made flesh and dwelt among us. He assumed a real human nature.
And this nature He so assumed, or, to use a scriptural expression, He so "took hold of," that it became His own nature as much as the divine nature is His own. That humanity was not taken hold by Him as a coat, to be laid aside after His redemptive work was accomplished. But it was taken into union with the divine. Nor did His death on the cross dissolve that union of human and divine natures. He Who was born of the virgin Mary, was crucified, dead and buried, remained very God.
The wording of the instructor is absolutely correct according to Scripture: "God's eternal Son, Who is, and continueth true and eternal God, took upon Him the very nature of man." He Who became flesh is God, from everlasting to everlasting. That is why Jesus spoke in truth: Before Abraham was, I am. And we read in John 8, that when Jesus said that, they took up stones to cast at Him. He Who stood before them in the flesh, a man as they were men, was Himself God. And that they refused to believe. They did not want the Christ of God. After all, He was no stronger than them.
So true is it that the Son of God became man, that He hid His divinity, as it were, behind the veil of His human nature. No one who saw Him as a baby could see anything different from any other baby. The leaders of the Jews, as they watched the huge crowds cling to Him and follow Him, saw nothing in Him. Though He performed signs and wonders, they saw His deity in none of it. That was due to man's total spiritual blindness, for Jesus showed Himself to be God and said it plainly enough for any child to understand. But He was weak. He hungered; He thirsted; He needed His sleep just as any man. He wept. He was just like them—except for one thing, and that one thing irritated them to no end. He was so good! And no man likes to see someone better than himself. Jesus took upon Himself the weakened human nature. He was exactly like us. That there was something special in Jesus was not due to His human nature, but to His divine nature. There was a personal connection between Jesus' divine and His human nature. But He was like us in everything, sin excepted.
THAT JESUS WAS WITHOUT SIN IS DUE TO THE FACT THAT HE IS THE PERSON OF THE SON OF GOD, AND THAT HE WAS CONCEIVED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT AND NOT BY THE WILL OF MAN.
The humanity of the Redeemer was not a person, but a nature. Maybe when I first say that, it does not seem of much importance. But as all God's works and ways are stamped with infinite wisdom, this also involves a matter of richest magnitude—of the richest grace and highest glory. If the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ be a Person and not a nature, He would then be two Persons, one as God and the other as man. But we would have no salvation. For no man, even sinless man, can sustain the burden of God's infinite wrath against our sin. But being a human nature, which had of itself no distinct individuality, but was assumed at the very instant of its conception into union with His divine person, the Lord Jesus Christ is one person, with two distinct natures. Therefore the angel said to Mary, "Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." That holy thing, i.e., that holy nature, that holy flesh, was sanctified in the moment of conception by the Holy Spirit. The Redeemer's body was not shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin; but was begotten by a divine & powerful operation of the Holy Spirit. Thus He was like us in all things, sin excepted—holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, that He might offer up the perfect sacrifice, acceptable to God for us.
And consider the blessings that are connected with this truth of the real human nature of our Redeemer. It is true, the glory and beauty of this mystery can be seen and known only by faith, faith as "the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen." But this faith alone gives to these mysteries divine realities, so that they may live within the believer's heart. When we look by faith into this mystery of godliness, we may see the blessedness of this truth. The human nature which the Lord Jesus assumed into union with His divine Person was the same human nature as ours. The same human nature as ours hungered and thirsted, was tired. The same human nature as ours suffered as never we suffer. The same human nature as ours sighed and groaned and sweat, as it were, great drops of blood. The same human nature as ours agonized in the garden, had nails driven through hands and feet, was mocked, spit upon, and died.
Had His not been a real human nature, the sufferings and sorrows of His soul, the agonies of His body, the obedience rendered, the blood shed, the sacrifice offered, the life laid down would not have been real. But no, beloved, it was real; it was ours. God spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all (Romans 8:32). And He did so in such a way that in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted. And so this grand truth of two distinct natures in the one Person of the glorious Immanuel is not merely an abstract doctrine, spun out by brilliant theologians, but a blessed revelation of the wisdom and grace of God. And the blessedness for us of that real human nature of Christ is possible only because that real human nature was prepared for Him.
II. SUCH A REAL HUMAN NATURE WAS PREPARED FOR THE SON OF GOD.
TO GLORIFY HIMSELF THROUGH HIS DEAR SON HAS BEEN FROM ALL ETERNITY THE PURPOSE OF GOD THE FATHER, AS IS EVIDENT FROM A PASSAGE SUCH AS COLOSSIANS 1:14ff.
We read there: "In whom (i.e., in the dear Son of God) we have redemption through his blood (blood just like ours), even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:—("firstborn" must refer to firstborn in the eternal counsel of God, for in time Adam was the firstborn). For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And He is before all things, and by him all things consist. (In other words, this dear Son is God in the flesh). And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; And having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. (And "by him" refers to the Son of God, in the flesh, according to the eternal counsel of God). And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight." That is Colossians 1. From all eternity that was the determinate counsel and purpose of God.
The Triune God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Who lives in the perfect fellowship of His own covenant life as Three Persons in one divine Being, was pleased to manifest His infinite glory outside of Himself. And that good pleasure was to be accomplished by the incarnation of the son of God. Creation, the fall of Adam, and all things serve that wonder of wonders.
THE FATHER, THEREFORE, PREPARED HIM A BODY, WHICH IN THE FULNESS OF TIME HE SHOULD ASSUME.
Thus addressing God the Father, the Son says, according to Hebrews 10:5, "Sacrifices and offering Thou wouldest not, but a body Thou Thyself hast prepared for Me." That the only begotten Son should take this prepared body into union with His divine Person was the eternal will of God; so that when the appointed time arrived for the decree to be accomplished, the eternal Son could and did come forth from the bosom of the Father with these words upon His lips: "Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God" (Hebrews 10:7). God the Father, thru the Son, and by the Holy Spirit, prepared a body to be assumed by the Mediator that we might be saved. An eternal wonder that is! To put together in His own eternal mind, not merely the framework of the Lord's body and the constitution of His humanity, but so to prepare it that, conceived in the womb of the sinful virgin, it should not partake of her sin, of her fall, of her corruption—This is indeed the wonder of wonders!
The virgin birth was necessary. All of us, all Adam's descendants, are conceived and born in sin. We come into the world guilty and corrupt, totally depraved. That is not just my indictment. That is God's indictment. The Lord looked down upon the children of men to see if there was any that does any good. And the judgment of the Almighty Judge was, There is none that doeth good, no not one. Not only actual sin makes us corrupt and worthy of everlasting death. Our corrupt natures confirm our guilty state. Even if we did no evil, the sentence of everlasting death would rest upon us for the sin in which we are conceived and born. That sin must be forgiven, covered before God. To that end was Christ conceived and born, but with a holy conception and perfectly sinless birth. If Jesus had been a human person and had a human father, then the guilt of the first Adam would have been imputed to Him also. But the Person of the Son of God took upon Himself the human nature, that we might be saved. To that incarnation there is no explanation. It is an unfathomable mystery. I can only point you to God's Word with the call of the gospel, saying, Believe.
By an act of divine power the Holy Spirit overshadowed the virgin Mary and formed within her that holy human nature which He sanctified and filled with grace in the very instant of His conception. Thus the Son, Who is the brightness of God's glory, the express image of His essence, took upon Himself the human nature, perfectly holy and pure, yet like us in all things. In Him is all our salvation. God made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. He is the promised seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, the true seed of David, the Son of man, the eternal Son of God. He is the One Who sounds forth His Word: Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
III. AND THIS TRUTH IS PROFITABLE FOR ALL THOSE FOR WHOM THIS MEDIATOR CAME, FOR ALL WHO COME TO HIM.
OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, THE ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD, BECAME FLESH THAT HE MIGHT SAVE US FROM OUR SINS.
He came as our Mediator, our substitute before the judgment seat of God. He came as our servant, but not as a martyr. Rather, in His servitude He was King. That is how we must see Him, if we are to understand and believe the profit of His humiliation for us. Only as I see that Christ in my place, laden with my sins, shall I understand for my salvation the humiliation of the Son of God. Don't take the crown from His head. He is not to be pitied—not when He lies in the manger, not when He is forced to flee from Herod, nor when His enemies seek His life, nor even when He is nailed to the cross. You must only look with pity upon the man or woman who lives unrepentant in sin, who lies condemnable before God, who is on the way to everlasting desolation, with eyes willingly shut tight to the bondage of his or her misery. The message of the humiliated Christ is: Weep not for Me, but weep for yourselves. Pity not the humiliated Christ. Rather pity yourselves, first of all, and then rejoice in the faith God has given you, when you see this humiliated One as the guilty Substitute before God's justice for you, that you could be acquitted of your guilt and punishment. Then the humiliation of Christ will be precious to you, and the royal majesty of His anointing will shine through, for in the incarnation He became our High Priest, Who was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities.
As we have already seen from Holy Scripture in proceeding through our Heidelberg Catechism, we all are conceived and born in sin. And we know from Scripture and our own experience that we daily increase our guilt before God. But behold our Mediator, beloved, Who with His innocence and perfect holiness, covers in the sight of God all the sins of His people, my sins. Paul writes to Timothy in I Timtohy 3:16, Great is the mystery of godliness. And that mystery of godliness is this: God was manifest in the flesh.
YES, THIS MAGNIFICENT TRUTH IS PROFITABLE—TO ALL WHO BELIEVE.
Without an experiential knowledge of this great mystery, there can be no godliness. And if no godliness, then no salvation. For we read in Psalm 1, "The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous." It is the truth alone, the truth as it is in Jesus, which alone makes us free. It is alone the truth, God in the flesh for me, that frees me from the bondage, darkness, ignorance and error that engulfs my soul. And as in the person of the incarnate Son of God are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, how blessed it is to look up by faith to Him at the right hand of God the Father, and to see our Mediator, Who humbled Himself for us, that we might be partakers of His righteousness and glory forevermore. Amen.
Preached:Randolph PRC 12/8/96 (am)
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