Search
We may experience and enjoy Christ not only as God but also as a man — the Son of Man (Matt. 4:4; 19:28; 26:64; 24:37, 39, 44). However, not many Christians have a particular and fine experience of Christ as a man. It seems that it is easier for us to experience Christ as God than as a man.
In His humanity Christ is the Son of Man. Because the Lord Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit, He is the Son of God. Because He was born of a human virgin, He is the Son of Man. On the divine side, He is the Son of God; on the human side, He is the Son of Man. To accomplish God’s purpose, it was necessary for Christ to become a man. Without man, God’s purpose cannot be carried out on earth.
In Matthew 4:3 the Lord Jesus was tempted by the devil with respect to His humanity. “The tempter came and said to Him, If You are the Son of God, speak that these stones may become loaves of bread.” For forty days Christ had fasted in His humanity, standing on the ground of His being a man. For Him to accomplish His ministry for the fulfillment of God’s purpose, He had to defeat the enemy, the devil, Satan. This He had to do as a man. Hence, He stood as a man to confront the enemy of God. The devil, knowing this, tempted Him to leave the standing as a man and assume His position as the Son of God. If He had assumed this position before the enemy, He would have lost the standing to defeat him. For this reason, the Lord Jesus “answered and said, It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God’” (v. 4). The devil tempted the Lord Jesus to take His position as the Son of God, but He answered him with the word of the Scriptures, “Man,” indicating that He stood in the position of man to deal with the enemy.
The Lord Jesus faced a similar temptation when He was judged by the Sanhedrin. “The high priest said to Him, I charge You to swear by the living God to tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus said to him, You have said rightly. Nevertheless I say to you, From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Matt. 26:63-64). The high priest asked the Lord if He was the Son of God, but He answered with “the Son of Man,” the same way He had answered the devil. This indicates that the Lord was the Son of Man on earth before His crucifixion, that He has been the Son of Man in the heavens at the right hand of God since His resurrection (Acts 7:56), and that He will be the Son of Man even at His coming back on the clouds (Matt. 24:30).
Furthermore, Christ as the Son of Man came in His humanity to seek and save the lost sinners (Matt. 18:11; 9:13; Luke 19:10). He ate and drank with the tax collectors and sinners (Matt. 9:10-11; 11:19; Luke 7:34), making friends with them. He visited and lodged with a sinful man, a tax collector named Zaccheus (Luke 19:5-7). As the Son of Man, Christ came not to destroy men’s lives but to save them (Luke 9:56). As the Son of Man, Christ had no place to lay His head (Matt. 8:20; Luke 9:58), not even as the foxes having holes nor as the birds of heaven having roosts. By enjoying Christ as the Son of Man, we have to learn to suffer poverty in this way.
The Lord as the Son of Man also sowed Himself, in His humanity, as the good seed into man to grow Him (Matt. 13:3-9, 37). Christ came in His humanity, not to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many (Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45). Christ gave, in His humanity, the food which abides unto eternal life (John 6:27, 53). As the Son of Man, Christ was delivered into the hands of the chief priests and scribes and was crucified by them (Matt. 17:22-23a; 20:18-19a; 26:2). His being lifted up on the cross as the Son of Man was so that people may know that He is the great I Am (John 8:28) and that He may draw all men to Himself (12:32, 34). Christ as the Son of Man was buried in His humanity in the heart of the earth three days and three nights as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish (Matt. 12:40; Luke 11:30). As the Son of Man, Christ resurrected in His humanity on the third day after His burial (Matt. 17:23b; 20:19b), being glorified with the Father’s glory (John 12:23; 13:31-32; 7:39; Luke 24:26). As such a Son of Man, Christ accomplishes God’s purpose. Hence, we need to experience and enjoy Christ as the Son of Man.
As the Son of Man, Christ has all the virtues of humanity (Psa. 45:2a). The Lord Jesus possesses both the divine nature with its divine attributes and the human nature with its human virtues. In Him we see all the attributes of God and all the human virtues, for His constitution is a composition of the divine nature with its divine attributes and the human nature with its human virtues. Moreover, in Christ the divine attributes strengthen and enrich the human virtues. With Him the divine attributes fill the human virtues, and the human virtues contain the divine attributes. The divine attribute is the inward reality, and the human virtue is the outward appearance. Therefore, the virtues of the man Jesus are filled, mingled, and saturated with the attributes of God.
As the Son of Man, Christ expressed in His humanity the bountiful God in His rich attributes through His aromatic virtues. God is bountiful in His rich and many attributes, such as love, light, holiness, and righteousness. God’s attributes were lived out of the man Jesus, and all of God’s attributes became the virtues of the man Jesus. No one can deny that the human virtues of Christ were aromatic; even when non-Christians read the four Gospels, they sense that the Jesus recorded in these books was a sweet and fragrant One whose virtues were aromatic. Through His aromatic human virtues, Christ attracted and captivated people. For instance, the record in Matthew 4 shows us that when the Lord Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw Peter, John, and James, who were either fishing or mending nets with their father. Then He called them, saying, “Come after Me.” Immediately they followed Him, giving up their net mending, abandoning their boat, and forsaking their father (vv. 18-22). This indicates that the Lord must have displayed an aromatic power in His countenance and His voice which could really attract and captivate people and that the Lord Jesus must have had an indescribable sweetness and aroma emanating from Him in His humanity. This is why so many people throughout the centuries have been captivated by Christ and love Him. Such a Christ now lives in us, and we need to experience and enjoy Him as the Son of Man with all the virtues of humanity.
Matthew 4:16 indicates that we may experience and enjoy Christ as the great light springing up to those sitting in the region and shadow of death and shining over the people sitting in darkness. This verse says, “The people sitting in darkness have seen a great light; and to those sitting in the region and shadow of death, to them light has risen.” This light is actually Christ Himself as the light of life (John 8:12) shining in the shadow of death. In Matthew 4:16 the Lord Jesus made no display of power or authority. Rather, He walked on the seashore as a common person. But when He contacted people by the Sea of Galilee, He shined upon them like a great light shining in the darkness and in the region and shadow of death.
Wherever Christ comes, light comes also. As a great light, He springs up to those who are sitting in the region and shadow of death. This region is not only a region but also a shadow. The entire region is a shadow of death. Before we were saved, we all were in that region, a region full of the shadow of death.
Those who sit in the region and shadow of death also sit in darkness. The shadow of death is darkness, the darkness of Satan. To those sitting in such a darkness, Christ comes not only as light but as the great light.
Many of us can testify of having experienced Christ as the great light shining upon us and within us. When we called on the name of the Lord Jesus, receiving Him into us, the divine light came into our being. Immediately we had the sense of something shining within. This kind of shining is the shining of Christ as light. The shining of Christ as light within us is a strong confirmation that we have been born of God to be His children.
In Matthew 4:23-24, we see that Christ is also the Healer. Whereas the shining of light annuls darkness, healing annuls death. All diseases, all sicknesses, lead to death. Therefore, to be healed is to be rescued from death. We may also say that Christ’s healing swallows up the death element in our being.
As the Healer, Christ heals our diseases and sicknesses. “Jesus went about in all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every sickness among the people. And the report concerning Him went out into all of Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those afflicted with various diseases and torments and those possessed by demons and epileptics and paralytics; and He healed them” (Matt. 4:23-24). Here disease and sickness are two different words in Greek. The Greek word translated disease and diseases refers to an incurable illness. The Greek word rendered sickness refers to light illnesses. According to these verses, Christ is the Healer of both diseases and sicknesses.
Matthew 9:35 says, “Jesus went about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every sickness.” Here “every disease and every sickness” signifies spiritual illness.
As our Healer, the Lord Jesus also takes our infirmities. “When evening fell, they brought to Him many who were demon possessed, and He cast out the spirits with a word, and all those who were ill He healed, so that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, ‘He Himself took away our infirmities and bore our diseases’” (8:16-17). All healings accomplished on fallen people are due to the Lord’s redemption. He took our infirmities and bore our diseases on His cross and accomplished full healing for us there. We may experience Christ as the Healer who takes away our infirmities, our weaknesses. However, the application of healing by divine power can only be a foretaste in this age; the full taste will be accomplished in the coming age.
As the Healer, Christ also casts out demons. Demons are not fallen angels but spirits of the living creatures who lived in the preadamic age and were judged by God when they joined Satan’s rebellion (see Life-study of Genesis, Message 2). The fallen angels work with Satan in the air (Eph. 2:2; 6:11-12), and the demons move with him on the earth. Both act evilly upon people for the kingdom of Satan. The demons’ possession of people signifies Satan’s usurpation of man, whom God created for His purpose. Therefore, in His ministry on earth the Lord Jesus cast out demons from possessed people that they might be delivered from Satan’s bondage (Luke 13:16), out of Satan’s authority of darkness (Acts 26:18; Col. 1:13) into God’s kingdom.
Christ is all-inclusive. As the great light, He enlightens us; as the Healer, He heals us; and as the great Teacher, He teaches us.
Man’s fall into sin broke His fellowship with God. As a result, man became ignorant of the knowledge of God. Such ignorance issued first in darkness and then in death. Christ, as the light of the world (John 8:12; 9:5), came to Galilee, the land of darkness, and He came as a great light to shine upon the people in darkness. His teaching released the word of light to enlighten those in the darkness of death so that they might receive the light of life (1:4). His teaching was thus the shining of a great light. Every word that issued out of His mouth was an enlightening word. Therefore, while He was teaching the people, the light was shining upon them. In this way the people sitting in darkness were enlightened by the Lord’s teaching and were brought out of satanic darkness into the divine light (Acts 26:18).
When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He taught as One having authority (Matt. 7:28-29). Mark 1:22 says, “They were astounded at His teaching, for He taught them as One having authority and not like the scribes.” The self-appointed scribes, teaching vain knowledge by themselves, had no authority and no power. But the Lord Jesus, as the God-authorized Teacher, teaching realities by God, had not only spiritual power to subdue people but also divine authority to subject them to the divine ruling.
As the great Teacher authorized by God, the Lord Jesus taught the things of life concerning the kingdom of the heavens. In Matthew 7:14 He said, “Narrow is the gate and constricted is the way that leads to life, and few are those who find it.” Here life refers to the ever-blessed condition of the kingdom, which is filled with the eternal life of God. This life is in the reality of the kingdom today and will be in the manifestation of the kingdom in the coming age (19:29; Luke 18:30).
In Matthew 7:21 the Lord speaks a word concerning the kingdom of the heavens. “Not every one who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but he who does the will of My Father who is in the heavens.” To enter into the kingdom of the heavens we need to do two things: call on the Lord and do the will of the heavenly Father. To call on the Lord suffices for us to be saved (Rom. 10:13), but to enter into the kingdom of the heavens we also need to do the will of the heavenly Father. Since entering into the kingdom of the heavens also requires doing the will of the heavenly Father, it is clearly different from entering into the kingdom of God by being regenerated (John 3:3, 5). This latter is by the birth of the divine life; the former is by the living of that life.
In Matthew 8:8-10 and 13 we see that the Lord Jesus is the One who has authority. The Gentile centurion said to Him, “I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my slave, Do this, and he does it” (v. 9). This indicates that the centurion recognized the authority of the Lord Jesus.
The Lord’s authority is exercised mainly in His word. When the Lord told the centurion that He would come and heal his servant, the centurion said to Him, “Lord, I am not fit for You to enter under my roof; but only speak a word, and my servant will be healed” (v. 8). The Gentile centurion realized that the Lord’s word was with healing authority. Thus, he believed, not only in the Lord but also in His word, asking Him not to go personally but only to send His word.
On the one hand, regarding the Lord, His authority is exercised in His word. On the other hand, regarding us, the Lord’s authority is exercised through faith infused into us by Him. When we see the Lord and listen to Him, His being, His very character, infuses into us the ability to believe. This believing ability is something that comes from Him. As we behold the Lord in His beauty and in the excellency of His virtues, He infuses a living element into us, and this infused element becomes our faith, our believing ability. This is why the Lord Jesus is called the Author and Perfecter of faith (Heb. 12:2). The centurion had such faith infused into him by the Lord Jesus. The Lord marveled at the centurion’s faith, saying, “Truly I say to you, With no one in Israel have I found such great faith” (Matt. 8:10). Then He said to the centurion, “Go. As you have believed, so be it done to you” (v. 13).
In Matthew 8:23-27 the Lord Jesus is revealed as the One ruling over the winds and the sea. This is not an ordinary authority; on the contrary, it must be counted as an extraordinary authority.
As we follow the Lord, we will often find ourselves on a stormy sea. During the storm we need to turn to Him as the One who rules over the winds and the sea. We need to experience and enjoy Christ as such a One.
The Lord Jesus rules over the winds and the sea through His word. “He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, What kind of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” (vv. 26b-27). The Lord Jesus rebuked the winds and the sea because in the winds were the fallen angels of Satan (Eph. 6:12), and in the sea were the demons (Matt. 8:32). Therefore, actually it was not the winds and the sea but the fallen angels above the winds and the demons under the sea that obeyed the Lord’s word of authority.
As the One who rules over the winds and the sea, the Lord Jesus trains us in faith. In Matthew 8:26a He said to the disciples, “Why are you cowardly, you of little faith?” Faith comes from and depends upon the word of the Lord (Rom. 10:17). In Matthew 8:18 the Lord had given the disciples the word “to depart to the other side.” If they had believed that word, they would not have needed to pray as they did in verse 25: “Lord, save us; we are perishing!” Their realization of the Lord’s word was not in full; thus, their faith was “little.”
We today need to believe in the Lord Jesus as the King, as the divine Administrator of the entire universe. He rules over all things. May we all learn to experience and enjoy Christ as such a One.
