Christ is Truly Man
Pastor Martin opens the second major section of Christology by establishing the importance of Christ's true humanity. The doctrine is of saving significance — without a true body and a reasonable soul, Christ could not be our Mediator. He then traces the Old Testament period of preparation, showing how the promise of the coming Deliverer is progressively narrowed: the seed of the woman, then of Abraham, then of Judah, then of David, and finally the virgin-born child who is also Emmanuel.
Primary Texts
Topics
A full transcript is available on the tab. 110 paragraphs, roughly 53 minutes.
Introduction: The First Mystery of the Faith
The first and fundamental mystery of the Christian faith centers around the person of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In what is probably one of the earliest Christian hymns, or we might even call it a confessional statement, we read in 1 Timothy 3 and verse 16, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness, God or who was manifested in the flesh. And it is the manifestation of the second person of the Trinity in true flesh that is the incarnation of the Son of God,
which forms the first and fundamental mystery of the Christian faith. And it is this wonderful and humbling mystery that presently occupies our minds and hearts as we continue our studies in this series called Here We Stand. Having considered the book we believe and obey, the God whom we worship and confess, we are presently concerned with understanding more fully the salvation we receive and proclaim. We've looked at the objects of that salvation, and now our attention is directed to the central figure in that salvation, the Lord Jesus. Ultimately, we hope to cover biblical
materials dealing not only with the mystery of his person, but with the majesty of his offices and the efficacy of his work. But we've paused, or not paused, but we've simply sat down before the mystery of his person with Bibles in hand, and I trust by the help of the Spirit of God have come to a new appreciation of the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. The doctrine of Christ is given to us in the Scriptures, and as articulated by his people through the centuries, contains at least three irreducible elements. The Christ of Scripture is true God. Secondly, he is true man.
Thirdly, He is one person in the two natures forever. For five or six weeks, we considered the biblical materials relative to the first element in that confessional statement. He is true God. And we know Him to be God because of the five groups of witnesses that we called before us, allowing them to give their clear and eloquent testimony to the full deity of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We know He is God because He is called God. He possesses the distinguishing characteristics of God. He does the works that only God can do. He is seen in the Scriptures bearing the names and titles of God.
And finally, He receives the worship and adoration fitting only to God. And as we move from these proofs or demonstrations of his deity, I want to pause simply to underscore what has been said again and again. Namely, this has not been an exhaustive presentation of the full biblical witness to the deity of Christ. Warfield uses an illustration that he got, I believe, from a Frenchman, in which he says the evidence of the deity of Christ can be likened to the evidence of the saltiness of the ocean.
Some of us have been down at the Jersey Shore at a time when the tide has receded. And where the sea once was as far as its level, there are many indications that the sea is salty. Salt crystals can be found upon the driftwood, on the sand, and on the seaweed. And if we come and see the salt crystals, we may say, these are the living proofs of the saltiness of the sea.
Well, they are the more isolated proofs, but that is all. For you see, the sea in every bucket of it is its own witness to its saltiness. Just scoop out a bucket and taste it. Warfield goes on to say, I believe taking his clue from a French theologian, So it is with the biblical witness to the deity of Christ.
The deity of Christ is in every page of the Bible in solution, just as the salt is in every bucket of the water in the sea in solution. And the only way to change the saltiness of the sea, or to deny that it is salty, is to change the very substance of seawater. And so even if it were possible to do away with the evidence of the salt on the shore, when the tide has receded, you still have not disposed of the most powerful proof of the saltiness of the sea, which is the sea itself. and these things that we've looked at are but a few of the crystals that are there upon the shore.
But the very atmosphere of Scripture, the very solution of Scripture, if I may use that figure, is one in which the divinity, the true and essential Godhood of Christ is found on every page. Well, we move now from the scriptural truth or the scriptural evidence for the truth that Jesus Christ is truly God in the mystery of his person, and we come to begin to consider the second element in its scriptural proof that he is truly man. And to think our way through the subject, I shall first of all give an introductory statement of the importance of this subject. Just as we considered the importance of the doctrine
The Importance of the Doctrine of Christ's True Humanity
of his deity at the outset, so I wish to say something about the importance of the doctrine of Christ's true humanity at the outset. Then secondly, I shall give you a brief statement of what is meant when we say and assert that he is truly man. And then thirdly, we will begin this morning to consider the scriptural evidence for his true and essential humanity. Is this an important consideration?
Well, just as with the teaching concerning his deity, so with the teaching of Scripture relative to his humanity. This is an issue of saving importance. In other words, the destiny of your never-dying soul is bound up in whether or not Jesus Christ is a true man.
When we contemplate the manhood of Jesus Christ, we are contemplating not an abstract biblical or theological concept, we are contemplating that which touches the very heart of our own soul's salvation.
And it's interesting that when we take the Scriptures as they come to us in their overall witness, that there is clear evidence that the first heresies that sought to undermine the apostolic teaching concerning the person of Christ were heresies that denied not his true deity, but his true and essential humanity. You see, the gospel came in a context where pagan philosophy had taught the essential evil of matter. That which was matter could be touched and felt and seen was essentially evil. That which was spirit or spiritual was essentially good. And so because
the apostolic testimony confessed and asserted that Jesus Christ was true man, he had a body made of matter as is yours and mine, the heretics attacked the doctrine of his true humanity, and the scriptural answer to that attack is a statement to the intent that to deny his true humanity is to confess oneself to be devoid of spiritual life to be the Antichrist. Turn to 1 John chapter 4 as the classic statement of this very principle. 1 John chapter 4. What are we doing?
simply trying to see the importance of the doctrine of Christ's true humanity as of saving significance. Beloved, believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.
The Apostolic Test: Jesus Come in the Flesh
And here's an emphasis upon humanity that underscores matter. Come in the flesh. That is with a true humanity that could be touched and felt. Remember John's opening words.
That which we have seen. That which we have heard. That which we have what? handled of the word of life.
He presents an enfleshed Christ. Reading on.
Every spirit that confesseth not Jesus, that is, Jesus has come in the flesh, is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, whereof ye heard that it cometh, and now it is in the world already. Ye are of God, my little children, and have overcome them. Because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
They are of the world. Therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God. He that knoweth God heareth us.
He who is not of God heareth us not. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. When John says, He that is of God hears us, he is seeking not in general, but specifically with reference to the apostolic testimony concerning the true humanity of Jesus Christ. And he says anyone who will not receive that testimony is not of God.
And to be in the state not of God is to be of the devil, yet in sin, yet under the wrath of God, yet an object of divine displeasure. So you see how vital is the doctrine of Christ's humanity? To deny that he is truly man is to deny a truth essential to the soul's salvation. Furthermore, I would assert that Scripture warrants this statement, to be unclear as to the nature of his humanity and the implications of his humanity is to be an unstable Christian.
Hebrews 2: Humanity Required for Saving Work
And I set before you but one passage, Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2 as an example of the intimate relationship between the saving work of Christ and His constitution as a true man and the comfort of His salvation wrought as a true man look at this passage Hebrews chapter 2 beginning with verse 14 Since then the children are sharers in flesh and blood that is, they have a true humanity, He, Christ, also Himself in like manner partook of the same, that, now notice the connection, the children are sharers of flesh and blood,
He partakes of the same, a true humanity, in order that, purpose number one, in order that He might, through death, Bring to naught him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and might deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Purpose number one, he cannot destroy the devil until he comes to the devil's very territory, which is humanity, and in a true humanity destroys the devil on his own grounds. And then the second purpose is set before us in the latter part of verse 17 wherefore it behooved him in all things to be made like unto his brethren that is a true man that here the purpose he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation for the sins of the people for in that he himself hath suffered being tempted he is able to succor
You see the argument of the writer to the Hebrews. He says his true humanity was essential to accomplish this work of destroying the devil and delivering his subjects. A true humanity was essential for him to be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God. How important then is the doctrine of the true humanity of Christ?
Well, you see, we're still dead center in the very issue that led us here. We're considering the broad subject, the salvation we receive and proclaim. The objects of that salvation are men, fallen men, men who are dead and bound and condemned. And the central figure in that salvation is this person who is truly God in all the integrity and undiluted Godhood that He has set before us, with which He has set before us in Scripture.
But He is true man. And unless He is true man, He is not a true and an able Savior. the foundation of the salvation wrought in the person of the Redeemer is the adequacy of the person of the Redeemer. In other words, the suitability of Christ's person lies behind and beneath the adequacy of His work.
if there's any inefficiency or inadequacy in his person there can only be inefficiency in the work. So I trust convinced with me of the tremendous importance of this doctrine and the necessity of having clear, biblical, definitive views of the humanity of Christ you will contemplate this theme with great eagerness and with real attention and concentration of mind and of heart. Now then, very briefly, what do we mean when we say Christ was truly man? When God created man in the Garden of Eden, it's obvious that he made a creature consisting primarily of two fundamental parts
Brief Statement of the Doctrine: True Body and Reasonable Soul
or divisions of that humanity, a material and an immaterial. to use the broad language of Scripture and common parlance, a body and a soul. Now, it wasn't as though he was two little entities. He is a body-soul entity called man.
But neither is he just body, neither is he just soul or spirit. The one person, Adam, and his wife, Eve, were a body-soul entity called mankind. Now, without going into technical language, our Lord perhaps most clearly underscores this twofold partitioning of what man is in a verse such as Matthew 10, 28. He said, Fear not them which kill the body, that is, that can destroy the corporal part of us, the corporeal part of us, the tangible, the material.
Fear not them who can destroy the body, but rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. And here our Lord makes this distinction in what constitutes man-man. He is soul and he is body. Therefore, when the old catechism states that the Son of God became man by taking to himself a true body and a reasonable soul, it is simply stating that he took to himself a true humanity.
He took to himself, in the language of the catechism, a true body. That is, it wasn't a phantom body. It wasn't like the bodily form that angels apparently are able to take to themselves when they perform their mission to the sons of men. This was not a phantom body.
It was not a body that was assumed for a period of time and then laid aside. It was a true flesh and blood body. It had muscles. It had sinews.
It had veins. It had blood. to state it as bluntly as I know how, when our Lord came too close to the knife when He was cutting bread for the family meal, He cut His finger and it bled.
There was a true body. And what does the catechism mean by a reasonable soul? It is simply using that term to describe that there was a true human soul. It wasn't as though there was a body inhabited by the eternal Word who became, as it were, the personality and the soul of that body.
No, there was a true human soul with the faculties of mind, intellect, affection, stealing, will, choosing. It was a reasonable human soul. And when we say that Christ was a true man, We are asserting that all that is true of man as man apart from sin was true of our Lord Jesus Christ. All right?
Method: Chronological Approach to the Evidence
So much for the introduction, convincing you, I trust, of the tremendous importance of the doctrine, a brief statement of what we mean by the doctrine. Now begin to consider with me this morning the biblical evidence for his true humanity. now the evidence for his humanity is also like the ocean it's in solution everywhere in the bible how does one organize the mass of materials in order to teach and preach in such a way as to edify the people of god and if some of you think i just have a magic machine somewhere and i just put in all the biblical data and push a button and out it comes all organized i'd like you to sit as a fly on the wall in my study for one week. Some of the greatest mental agony is the
agony of wondering how best to organize the biblical data in such a way as to make it clear, concise, and preachable to the people of God. This is what makes true preaching laboring in the word and in doctrine. And if I've earned any credibility as an honest man, I trust you'll take my word for I'm not just whistling Dixie when I say that. And if there are times when you wonder, well, can't you make it any simpler?
I only have to confess, I've done my best to make it as simple as I can. And you'll have to do the rest of the work. And may I say to you men preparing for the ministry, there's a fundamental assumption in our day that all the work in preaching is to be done by the preacher. That's ridiculous.
There is much work to be done by the hearer. You are under solemn obligation to attend to the Word of God with the full concentration of all your faculties, just as much as the preacher-teacher is under solemn obligation to give himself to the teaching and preaching of that Word, both in preparation and delivery with all of his redeemed faculties. And it's a wonderful thing when a preacher who gives himself with all of his redeemed faculties to teach and preach is met with the congregation giving itself with all of its redeemed faculties to hear and to learn. Wonderful things happen.
But let there be breakdown on either end, and it's a sad state of affairs. All right, so much for that little aside. Now then, the biblical evidence for his true humanity. How should we organize it?
Well, if you know anything about principles of organization, you know that I organize the materials for his deity topically. We looked at verses with no particular arrangement as to where they were found, in which he's called God, Old and New Testament. Then, with no particular chronological relationship, we looked at incidents in which he's seen possessing the characteristics of God. The organizing principle was topical.
But now the organizing principle that I wish to use in setting out the evidence of his humanity is not topical, but it's going to be chronological. That is, it's going to have a time sequence. and that's the way it comes to us in the scriptures. Before the Lord appeared in time, there were prophecies that went before him in the Old Testament.
That's the period of preparation. And we're going to look at the witness to the true humanity of Christ in the period of preparation. Then there is the period of fulfillment or manifestation when Christ actually comes, and that's where the gospel records show us his life. We're going to look at the witnesses to his humanity in the period of manifestation.
Then in the book of Acts, you have proclamation. The apostles go out and they preach the word and they proclaim Christ. What kind of Christ do they proclaim? We're going to see that in the period of proclamation, it is a Christ who is truly man.
And then in the epistles, we have what we could call interpretation and application. What is the implication of all this truth about Christ? Well, there is interpretation and application. then we'll look to the epistles.
So the organizing principle will be chronological from the period of preparation, manifestation, proclamation, interpretation, and application. And I don't know how far we'll get, not as far as I had hoped, but we'll go as far as the clock will allow us this morning, the period of preparation. When God was preparing the world for the coming of His Son, the Savior of sinners, what mentality was he creating among those who believed his words in the period of preparation? What kind of a savior were they to expect?
Period of Preparation: Genesis 3:15 — Seed of the Woman
Well, the period of preparation from the first pronouncement concerning the Redeemer down to the last announcement was one that said again and again that the Redeemer would be a true man. Now let's look at the first announcement of God's intention to redeem people. And of course I refer to Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15.
You remember the general setting of the passage. Man has sinned. man runs from the God against whom he has sinned in the sense of his guilt. As some of you are running today, with a conscience bowed down with the sense of having offended your God, even though you sit here this morning in your physical presence, the feet of your soul run from God, because you can't feel comfortable in the presence of a holy God with sin that is not pardoned.
Adam was the first to experience that. And as Adam runs, God manifests his graciousness in seeking the running sinner. And we read in verse 9 of Genesis 3, And the Lord God called unto the man and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.
And then God begins to deal with Adam and Eve, and with the instrument by which sin entered the world, this serpent that spoke to Eve. And then the Lord in verse 14 says, And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou above all cattle and above every beast of the field. Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and thus shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. Now verse 15, And I will put enmity between thee, that is, the serpent, and the woman.
and between thy seed and her seed, he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Here is the first formal announcement in time of God's design to deal mercifully with sinners. Notice the strands of emphasis. The first is the divine initiative.
it. It is Jehovah, God, who says, I will put enmity. I am taking this situation in hand. I am going to effect something that will result in a change Then notice the divine discrimination between the two seeds There is to be enmity between the serpent and the woman, between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman.
And then, and this is the part that is of crucial importance to our study this morning, the divine intimation that the ultimate bruising will rest not upon the seed in general, but upon an individual. Notice the language. From the general seed of the woman, seed of the serpent, to the specific, he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. A person who is called the seed of the woman shall rise out of the general seed of the woman, which is in conflict with the general seed of the serpent, and this individual, this person shall crush the head
of the serpent himself. So in the very first announcement of God's intention to deliver sinners, God is teaching that as sin came through man, so deliverance will come by means of a man. It will be the seed of the woman that shall ultimately crush the head of the serpent, the seed personalized into an individual. Now that he should be more than a man is not even hinted in this passage. There is not a whisper of hint that he shall be anything more than one who
comes through the womb of a woman. But it is established that the deliverance of man from the influence of the devil is in some way bound up with true humanity. It is the seed of the woman. so that as the people of God had nothing but this promise as far as is revealed for many, many years nothing but this promise to hold on to, how would their thinking about God's method of deliverance be framed?
It would be framed in such a way as to know it is a deliverance in which God takes the initiative, a deliverance in which God will act by a man. And those two things would be understood by those who believingly embrace the promise. Divine initiative and the specific medium of deliverance will be a man, seed of the woman, he shall bruise the serpent's head. then as we move on to the expansion of God's purposes we come to those promises made with Abraham let's look just at a couple of them what do we find as the dominant emphasis here
Narrowing the Promise: Abraham and Judah
with reference to the person of Christ God says in Genesis 12 verses 1 through 3 that of this man Abraham he will make a great nation Verse 2, peculiar blessing will rest upon that nation. Peculiar blessing will rest upon the nations that are favorable to the nation coming out of Abraham's loins. And the promise closes with the statement, And in thee, that is, Abraham, in you shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Now you see what God is doing?
he is saying that the blessings of deliverance in the bruising of the head of the serpent will come by man. What man? From what associations? From what background?
With what identity? Nothing is said in Genesis 3.15 but that it is the seed of the woman. Divine initiative will terminate upon a true man.
Now God says it will be a man who in some ways related to Abraham and to the family of Abraham. And that promise then is enlarged in chapter 15 in verse 5, and then again in chapter 17, verses 1 through 4, and we do not have time to read them in their context. But there is an enlargement upon these promises. Now what do they tell us?
They point to blessing, now defined not only as seed of a woman, but a woman who must have a lineal relationship to Abraham. But notice the common denominator. It is still deliverance by a man. Seed of the woman, general.
More definitive, seed of a woman who will be found in some kind of lineal relationship to Abraham, but still a true man, seed of Abraham. And then the prophecy that gathers more definition further on in Genesis 49 and verse 10. And here we have prophecies concerning the twelve great grandsons of Abraham and what God purposes to do with these grandsons, the twelve sons of Jacob, the great grandsons of Abraham. And we read in that well-known passage, Genesis chapter 49 and verse 10, these words which further define the person who will be the deliverer.
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be. Now God, you see, is narrowing down the deliverance to a specific tribe. seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent seed of a woman who is within the family of Abraham will be the one through whom the nations are blessed but now in a peculiar sense within the family of Abraham it's one tribe it's the tribe of Judah out of whom the ruler shall come and unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be and then as God continues to prophesy
The Davidic Covenant
concerning the coming deliverer He narrows it down even further. And we come to the prophecies of 2 Samuel 7. Enlarged upon and expanded in Psalm 89. And what do we find?
We find a promise made to David. David wants to build a temple. 2 Samuel 7. The prophet Nathan comes and says, In essence, no David, it's good that it was in your heart, but it's not God's purpose that you should build that temple.
But then God makes some wonderful promises to David. Promises concerning a reign that shall never end. Promises of the establishment of a throne that will extend its dominion while David sleeps in a state of death. Notice the language of 2 Samuel chapter 7 and in particular verse 12.
when thy days are fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee that shall proceed out of thy bowels and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. And you say, but pastor, that obviously just refers to the reconstituted throne of David in the millennium. Listen, if that's so, then Peter was all wet and so was Paul because in the book of the Acts, Peter argues from this very passage to prove that this promise is fulfilled in Christ.
He says, David sleeps. Therefore, the promise to raise up one to sit upon his throne must be fulfilled while he sleeps. And he says, David's tomb is with us to this day. But in raising up Christ, he has sat him upon the throne of David.
And he now dispenses the sure mercies of David. Don't call that our millennial theology. that is apostolic teaching.
I have no desire to defend our millennial, premillennial, or postmillennial theology. The issue is, does Christ fulfill the promise given to David? The answer of the apostles is, yes, he does.
But the common denominator is unchanged. See how it's narrowed down? Seed of woman, somehow connected with the family of Abraham, somehow connected with the tribe of Judah. now somehow connected with the family of David.
The Prophets: Isaiah and Daniel
And oh, if time permitted, we could go right through showing. And I'll take just a moment to show the contribution now that Isaiah makes, one of the contributions. When we turn to chapter 7 of Isaiah and then chapter 9, what do we know about this coming deliverer? Well, we know from Isaiah 7 that his task is so unique that he is going to come into the world in a unique way.
Isaiah 7, 14, according to Matthew 1, 23, fulfilled in Christ, Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive. Whoever heard of such a thing, one who has not entered into normal intercourse, the divine method of conception, A virgin shall conceive and bear a son. And so unique will this son be that his name shall be called Emmanuel.
God is with us. Now in what sense? Well you see you could not tell from this prophecy whether that unique person would be God is with us. In the sense that his presence is a manifestation of God's nearness.
or whether as the New Testament teaches, God is with us in the very person of the God-man who was incarnate in the virgin's womb. But this much a believing Israelite knew, this much he knew, he would not only be seed of woman, not only of the family of Abraham, not only of the tribe of Judah, of the household of David, but he would come by means of an unusual entrance, virgin conceived. and he would be an unusual personage in a way which it could not be said of any other. In him, God is with us.
But you see the common denominator of Isaiah's prophecy? It is still a son who is born.
She's going to have birth pangs because she's going to bring into the world a true human being. So you see the common denominator hasn't changed, has it? All this gathering momentum of definition and description, now we begin to have intimations that he's more than a man. Truly man, truly born, but more than a man.
And then Isaiah tells us in chapter 9 and verse 6, Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. The government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor. And then a very title of the divine being is used. El Gabor, the mighty God.
A new dimension is added. Emmanuel, God is with us. Is he with us in a special way in sending him? Is he with us in that person?
How is God with us? Now Isaiah answers the question. He's with us because this person is the mighty God incarnate. But notice what Isaiah begins with. Unto us a child is born, a son is given. You see what he does? He refuses to move from the very fixed perspective of Genesis 3.50. It is still seed of the womb. It is true humanity.
Now we begin to have intimations it's more than humanity. And on into the servant of Jehovah passages and the suffering servant. Right on through until the climax with Daniel's vision. The most lofty vision of the nature of the person to whom the kingdom will be given.
And yet Daniel says, I saw one like unto a son of man. Though there was all the regalia of deity, there was bristling through that essential humanity. You say, Pastor, what in the world are you getting all excited about? Well, if you begin to feel the thrust of this, I hope you share in some of the excitement.
You see what God is doing as He preparing His people for the coming of Messiah What is He telling them From Genesis 3 right down to the last prophetic utterance in Malachi He is telling them that redemption is to come by a man. Messiah will be a man. Messiah will have flesh and blood. Messiah will be born.
Now He'll be more than a man. He'll be the mighty God He'll be more than a man He'll be Emmanuel God with us More than a man He is the Son of Man Who shares in the divine glory Because He shares in the divine essence But not once does any prophecy Move us away from the assertion that he shall be indeed a true man. If Jesus Christ then was and is not true man, we have yet to look for the person who fits all the prophetic descriptions.
If he was not true man, then someone must yet come to fit all the prophecies. Do you see it? because everything in the period of preparation points to the coming Deliverer as true and essential man. Now in closing, I ask the question, what is all this to us?
Application: Burning Hearts and Saving Necessity
Well, if you're a believer, you ought to experience something of what the two on the road to Emmaus experienced without any application, without any exhortation. For we read of those two in Luke 24, 13 and following, who going to Jerusalem with heavy hearts find themselves suddenly in the company of a third. This person, according to verse 27, begins from Moses and the prophets and interprets to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Whoever this companion was, There's no indication that he brought any exhortation based upon the Old Testament.
There's no indication that he derived practical duty from the Old Testament, though on many occasions he did that. All he did was show them himself mirrored in the Old Testament. What effect did this have upon them? Verse 32, And they said one to another, Was not our heart burning within us while he spake to us in the way, while He opened to us the Scriptures.
Oh, listen to me this morning. Has there been any burning of heart as you see your Savior in the Old Testament? As you see the care with which God underscored the fact right from the first announcement in the garden to the final prophetic intimation that as sin came through man, So deliverance would come by one who was truly and essentially man.
If there's been no response of holy affection to your Savior mirrored in the Scriptures, my friend, you ought to be humbled and ask God to show you wherein the cause lies. for to a true believer the setting forth of his Savior is the occasion of the burning in his own heart but there is a further word of application and it is this without a true humanity our Lord would have no vehicle of obedience to the law and no receptacle to bear the penalty of the law and if you and I don't have someone who can obey the law and render to God perfect obedience on our behalf,
and if we don't have someone who can receive the penalty of a broken law in such a way as to swallow it up, my friends, we are undone now and we are undone for eternity. For if you and I are ever to stand before God without fringing in fear, we must stand before Him in righteousness. We must stand before Him with a legal righteousness. We must stand before Him with a personal and an imparted and internal righteousness.
And the Scripture tells us we have neither of ourselves. We have broken His law and we are guilty. We are defiled and polluted in our natures and cannot produce an ethical and a personal righteousness. What then is our hope?
Either God must damn us for our guilt and banish us to hell for our vileness Or God must take the initiative as he did in Eden To provide a deliverer But you see because sin is wrought out in the theater of human existence And in human beings in flesh and blood It is precisely there that deliverance must be wrought. And as we contemplate coming to the Lord's table, we would do well to meditate much this afternoon upon Hebrews chapter 10. And this is the last passage to which I direct your attention this morning.
Hebrews chapter 10. In the first few verses, speaking of the imperfection of the old system of worship under the Mosaic structure. The writer says in verse 4 It's impossible that the blood of bulls and goats Should take away sins They are inanimate creatures They have no true humanity That can render voluntary obedience They have no reasonable soul That can become the object of true and divine wrath It's all in symbol and type and shadow Wherefore when he cometh into the world That is the Lord Jesus He said, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body didst thou prepare for me. In whole burned offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast no pleasure.
Then said I, Lo, I am come in the roll of the book it is written of me to do thy will, O God. Saying, Above sacrifice and offerings and whole burned offerings and sacrifices for sin thou wouldest not, neither hast pleasure therein, the which are offered according to the law. Then he saith, Lo, I am come to do thy will. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
Now notice the emphasis in verse 10. By which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. You see the emphasis? in place of that creature, that bull and that goat that had physical life but was no true human being with no reasonable soul that could render obedience to divine law, that could be the receptacle of divine wrath.
Hebrews 10: Christ's Body Prepared for Obedience and Sacrifice
Christ took a true humanity. Why? That in that humanity He might render perfect obedience to the law of God. Lo, I come now as a true man to do thy will, O God, doing the will of God, obeying every precept and every commandment so that the Father can say, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.
Why does he render that obedience as a man? It added nothing to him. He was the eternal Word. There was perfect righteousness.
He is the source of all righteousness. He renders that obedience on behalf of His people. That law had been broken by us, His people. The Scripture says the soul that sinneth it shall die.
The wages of sin is death, and the Father must exact the last demand of His law. And the humanity of Christ, a true body, a reasonable soul that can feel and drink in The very dregs of divine anger and displeasure. He must have that as the receptacle of divine wrath. And he offers himself up unto God.
And all the billows and waves of divine displeasure break over his head. Until having felt in his own soul the draining of the last drop. He could say, Tetelestai, here is finished. Hallelujah.
that His people might be delivered. And now a just base is formed for God to come in the person of His Spirit, having dealt with the legal barriers, now to come and indwell and by degrees and processes bring them at last to the place where internally they reflect a humanity scarred at the last vestiges of sin.
Why did Christ become a man without a true humanity? There would be no vehicle of his obedience to the law for his people. There would be no receptacle for the penalty of the law on behalf of his people. Oh, I trust this will make the communion session richer today.
Take ye, he says of the bread This is my body This symbolizes the living demonstration of a true humanity Oh, with what joy we should break that bread When we gather this evening With what joy should we eat in remembrance of Christ Not only as the true God But the true man Without His humanity we would be as lost as men would be lost without a Savior who was truly God. May the Lord be pleased to bring us to that place of loving adoration of the Savior who is truly man.
and had to be man in order to fulfill all of the intimations of the period of preparation and who fulfilled them that now at this stage in history we might look back and worship and magnify and praise and love and serve so wonderful a Savior who is truly God and truly man. let us pray Lord Jesus we would direct our worship
Closing Prayer
and our praise to you this morning we thank you for your willingness to assume a true humanity for our sakes. We thank you that you did not count the being on an equality with God the Father a thing to be selfishly retained, but made yourself of no reputation taking the form of a servant. We thank you for your willingness to take hold of true humanity. O Lord, we worship you today We thank you that in that true humanity You perfectly fulfilled every precept of your Father's law
We thank you that you swallowed up your Father's wrath Against the sins of your people We worship you today And O Lord Jesus, it is our earnest prayer For those who have eyes to see nothing but the tinsel and the trinkets of this world, you would pull back the veil from their eyes and give them to behold the very glory of God in your own face, that beholding you they may fall at your feet and cry with Thomas, my Lord and my God. Seal to our hearts the word preached, and oh, give us an increased love for yourself
not only as our God but as the man, Christ Jesus. Hear our prayer, blessed Lord, and help us to grow in the knowledge of Yourself.
Dismiss us with Your blessing resting upon us. Grant that all the hours of this day may be sanctified to Your praise and to our profit. Amen.
This transcript was generated by automated speech recognition and may contain errors. It is provided for study and reference only; the audio recording is the authoritative source.
Passages Expounded
The protoevangelium — the first promise establishing that deliverance comes through the seed of the woman
The New Testament argument for why Christ must be truly man to accomplish our salvation
Christ's true humanity as the vehicle for His obedience and sacrifice