By Khen Lim
Image Source: memrise.com
Despite being a French novelist, Jean-Baptiste
Alphonse Karr’s (1808-1890) most famous saying is an oxymoronic epigram. In
French, it says, “plus ça change,
plus c’est la même chose.” In
English, it says, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” We
could say that, the more we think we know something, the less we end up
understanding it. And that is the way it is with some of the facts of life.
You may be an expert in using the computer for
designing, writing, emailing or net browsing but you might not know a thing
about how the electrons work within. You may love everything about cars but you
could be a lousy mechanic. You love reading books but it doesn’t mean you’re a
talented novelist yourself.
Indeed as well, we accept Christ as the Son of God.
We embrace the Apostles’ Creed. We believe the claims of the New Testament and
accept everything that is said in Scripture. Yet it doesn’t mean we’re adept at
explaining how Jesus is both divine and human.
Many of us find it a
‘bewildering concept’ that God could impress upon Himself the body of a human
assuming a physical bone structure and musculature. Perhaps this is not so much
unbelievable as it is that it is beyond our logic and mental capacity to
conceive. Yet we know in our hearts of hearts what we believe even if we cannot
understand. If that sounds like hullabaloo to you, then ask yourself if you
know how to operate a television even if you’re not an engineer.
We are always so anxious to explain everything in
life in black and white that we forget that God is sovereign and He determines
what we need and need not know. In the same way, what the Bible doesn’t explain
or cover, God deems it unimportant or unnecessary.
We don’t know how Enoch could be taken up without
dying but it doesn’t matter. We have no idea how the Ark worked in hosting so
many animals but we shouldn’t really care. We don’t know trajectory sciences to
explain how one pebble could kill Goliath but so what. It might be challenging
to explain how Jesus is both man and God. We can end up over-explaining or
misstating some valid propositions but here are some things for us to ponder
on:
Philippians 2:5-8 says Jesus was born of a virgin.
And as a man, Mark records He was tempted (1:12-13), misunderstood (3:20-27),
had family issues (3:31-33) and was rejected (6:1-6). In his gospel, we also
know that Jesus had the experience of not only losing those who were close to
Him (6:14-29) but also felt what it was like to have people betraying Him
(14:10-11,50).
Like all of us, He was filled with doubts and fears
(14:35-36) and despite who He was, was mocked by the world (15:16-19). The Book
of Philippians reminds us that Jesus’ very nature as a servant is a personification
of human likeness unlike any other (2:5-8).
He paid the price for becoming from “something” to
being made nothing. It’s Jesus’ very nature of God becoming human that offers
us the clearest picture of extraordinary hope in facing difficulty days. And
that is because He has our experiences. He knows what we’re dealing with every
day. He understands not only our joys and happiness but also our tragedies,
concerns, shattered dreams and feelings of hopelessness.
John tells us the Jesus was truly Divine as well
(1:1-14) and this was substantiated by Paul in his letter to the Colossians
(1:15-18). John defined it as the “Word made flesh,” that the “Word was with
God” and the “Word was God.” Jesus therefore have a face-to-face relationship
with God the Father and that the Word incarnated has all the characteristics of
God. John went on saying that the Word became flesh and thence dwelt among us.
Colossians reminds us in 1:15-18 that Jesus is the
“image of the invisible God” and that by Him, “all things were created in
heaven and earth,” visible and otherwise and that “He is the Head of the body,
the church” and that “His is the beginning and the firstborn from among the
dead, so that in everything He might have supremacy.”
So what do all these mean when we piece them
together? In His humanity and divinity, Jesus is not only unique but is the
Only One to comfort in ways nobody else could when He said He could give what
the world couldn’t (John 14:27). He is the One who clears the path and
pronounced Himself as the only way to the Father (14:6).
Hebrews says Jesus is the intercessor, the High
Priest, with the Father who created (8:1-6) and in 7:25, Paul says that because
He is both truly divine and truly human, “He is also able to save to the
uttermost those who come to God through Him since He always lives to make
intercession for them.”
Jesus is truly human. And truly divine. And because
of that, we have a Saviour who understands us far better than any other, who
has experienced everything that is humanly available and more importantly,
offered up His life so we may share His promise of eternity.
Merry Christmas, all.
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