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Scripture Reading: Matt. 1:18, 20; Luke 1:35; John 1:14; 1 Tim. 3:16; Rom. 8:3; John 3:14; Num. 21:8-9; 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Cor. 15:45b, 47b; Isa. 53:2-3; Col. 1:15; John 1:29; Gen. 3:15; Heb. 2:14; John 12:31; Gen. 12:3; Gal. 3:14, 16; 2 Sam. 7:12-13; Matt. 1:1, 1:21; 16:18-19; Luke 2:11; Matt. 16:16a; Col. 1:20; Heb. 2:9; Eph. 2:14-15; John 12:24
For us to experience Christ, we must receive a revelation concerning His person. We must see the two major aspects concerning the person of Christ. The first aspect is that He is the complete God, and the second aspect is that He is the perfect man. Christ is both the complete God and the perfect man. In brief, He is both God and man. We do have a wonderful Christ. He is not only wonderful as the complete God, but He is also wonderful as the perfect man.
In this chapter we will see seventeen items concerning Christ as the perfect man. If we do not have a clear vision concerning Christ as these seventeen items, we cannot know Christ in full.
This perfect man, Christ, was conceived of the Holy Spirit in a human virgin (Matt. 1:18, 20; Luke 1:35). The conception of a person is the constitution of that person. Christ was constituted of the Holy Spirit in a human virgin. As we saw in the previous chapter, the Holy Spirit is the Triune God. When we touch any one of the three—the Father, the Son, or the Spirit—we touch the Triune God. Both Matthew 1:18 and 20 and Luke 1:35 tell us that Christ was conceived of the Holy Spirit. This means that the very Christ was conceived of the Triune God. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit, yet in a human virgin. The word Holy refers to the Spirit, indicating the complete God, and the word human refers to mankind, since a virgin is part of mankind. This means that Christ was conceived of the complete God in humanity.
In the conception of Christ there were two essences—the essence of God and the essence of man. On the one hand, Christ was conceived of the Triune God. This involves the essence of God. On the other hand, He was born of a human virgin. This involves the essence of man. Hence, Christ is constituted of the essence of God and the essence of man. Among mankind there has been no other one like this. Only Christ was conceived of God in humanity.
Because Christ was constituted of God and man in His conception, He was born a God-man. A person who is conceived of certain elements will be born to be a composition of those elements. Because Christ was conceived of God and man, He was born a God-man. This means that He is both God and man. He is both the complete God and the perfect man.
In the four Gospels we can see in Christ the marvelous and mysterious God. Yet, in the same Christ we can also see an ordinary man. He is nothing less than God, and He is nothing short of a genuine man. The life He lived was the life of a man. He walked, He worked, He talked to people, and He ate and drank as a man. While living as a man, He also lived God. In His human life God was expressed, yet while He was expressing God, He was a genuine man. This is the reason that when Christ was living on this earth, many people watching Him would say, “Who is this man?” This man is not simple. He is both God and man. In Him, the one person, we see both God and man. This is wonderful! Have you ever seen such a man? I have been a Christian for nearly sixty years. On one hand, I cannot deny that I have seen Christ, because I have received a revelation concerning Him. But if you ask me about the color of His eyes or the length of His hair, I would tell you that I have never seen Him in this way. He is a wonderful person. He is so real and genuine, yet no one can see Him. Nevertheless, we touch Him and enjoy Him daily. He is wonderful because He is both God and man.
Christ was also God incarnated in the flesh. John 1:14 says that the Word, which was God (v. 1), became flesh. Christ was God manifested in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16). But there is a big contrast between God and the flesh. God is wonderful and excellent, but in the flesh there is nothing good (Rom. 7:18). Because the flesh is so troublesome, many times I have hated my flesh. Although there is nothing good in the flesh, Christ was God incarnated in the flesh.
Christ was indeed God incarnated in the flesh, but He was only in the likeness of the flesh of sin (8:3). When He was walking on this earth, He was in the same likeness as all mankind. In appearance, in likeness, He was the same as all human beings, who are flesh. But in reality, He was not the flesh. In Numbers 21:8-9 God told Moses to lift up a bronze serpent. That bronze serpent had the form of a serpent but did not have the nature and poison of a serpent. In John 3:14 Jesus said, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” He was to be lifted up on the cross as the bronze serpent to condemn Satan, the old serpent, with his nature of sin. This is too mysterious. It is far beyond our understanding.
In His crucifixion Christ was typified by a bronze serpent. When He was crucified on the cross, in the eyes of God He was just like that serpent. He was a serpent in appearance, in form, but not in nature. Many Christians know that Christ is the Lamb of God, but very few know that Christ was also the bronze serpent. We may appreciate the Lamb of God, but we may not like to hear that Christ was the bronze serpent. But although John 1:29 says that Jesus is the Lamb of God, John 3:14 says that Christ was typified by the bronze serpent. In the same Gospel we are told that Christ is the Lamb of God and that Christ is the bronze serpent. He was the Lamb of God to take away our sin in order to solve our problem of sin, and He was the bronze serpent to deal with the old serpent, Satan. We do have these two great problems—sin and Satan. As the Lamb of God, Christ took away our sin. As the bronze serpent, Christ destroyed the old serpent (Heb. 2:14). We all must say, “Hallelujah! Our sin has been taken away, and Satan has been destroyed!” For destroying Satan, Christ had the form of a serpent, that is, the likeness of the flesh of sin, and in this flesh He condemned Satan and destroyed him.
Christ was made sin on our behalf. You may say, “Please do not say this. Do not say that Christ was made sin.” But Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:21 that Christ was made sin on our behalf by God. When Christ was hanging on the cross, He was sin in the eyes of God. On the cross God made Christ sin on our behalf. Christ not only bore our sins on the cross, but He was also made sin on our behalf. He was made sin on our behalf by becoming a man in the flesh. Every man in the flesh is sin. If you were to ask me, “Brother, what are you?” I would have to answer, “I am nothing but sin.” What are we? We are nothing but sin. We are not only sinners, but we are sin. You may think that you are a kind and humble gentleman, but in reality, you are nothing but sin. We are not only sinners, but we are sin itself.
That Christ became flesh means that Christ became sin. He became sin on our behalf in order to condemn sin. Romans 8:3 says, “God, sending His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin and concerning sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” When Christ was crucified on the cross, sin was condemned. When He was crucified on the cross as sin, sin was crucified. When He was crucified on the cross as a bronze serpent, Satan was destroyed. By this we can see that Christ’s being a man is not a simple matter.
Christ was the last Adam, and He is the second man. There were only two Adams—the first Adam and the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45). The first Adam was Adam our forefather, and the last Adam was Christ. The last Adam is the conclusion of Adam. The last of anything is the end of that thing. So, the last Adam is the end of Adam. Christ became a man. As a man, He ended the adamic race. Hallelujah, Adam is terminated in Christ!
Christ is also the second man (v. 47). In the universe there are only two Adams and two men. The first Adam was Adam our forefather, and the last Adam was Christ. The first man was Adam, and the second man was Christ. The last Adam indicates an ending, and the second man indicates a new beginning. Christ’s being the last Adam means that He terminated Adam. Christ’s being the second man indicates that He is a new beginning. We were all in Adam, and we were all terminated in Christ. Now we are in the second man, and we are in the new beginning. Hallelujah, in Christ as the last Adam we have been terminated, and in Christ as the second man we are in the new beginning! To be terminated is to be crucified; to be in the new beginning is to be in resurrection. We are in Christ as the last Adam, and we are also in Him as the second man. In Him, on one hand, we have been terminated, and in Him, on the other hand, we have a new beginning.
Isaiah 53:2-3 tells us that Christ was a man of sorrows and that Christ was a root out of dry ground. Dry ground is earth in which there is no nourishment and no water. The Lord Jesus was born into a poor family. That carpenter’s home in Nazareth was like the dry ground. In His human life there was nothing but suffering, so Isaiah gave Him the title a man of sorrows. This means that Christ has tasted all the sufferings of the human life. As a man, He was a man of sorrows.
Colossians 1:15 says that Christ is the Firstborn of all creation. This is wonderful! Since Christ became a man and a man is a creature, Christ surely became a creature. As God, He is the Creator. As man, He is one of the creatures. Many Christians today would not dare say that Christ is a creature. Yet, they recognize that Christ became a man. As Christ is a man, He is surely also a creature. He put on the blood, flesh, skin, and bones of man (Heb. 2:14; Luke 24:39). All these are created things; hence, Christ is the Firstborn of all creation.
John 1:29 tells us that Christ is the Lamb of God. Again, as the Lamb, Christ must be a creature. If He were not a creature, He would not have had blood to shed for sinners. Christ was offered to God as the Lamb mainly to shed His blood to redeem us from our sins (Eph. 1:7; 1 Pet. 1:18-19).
Christ was the seed of woman and the bruiser of the old serpent. Genesis 3:15 prophesied that the seed of woman would bruise the head of the serpent. This means that such a seed of woman would destroy Satan. Through death, Christ destroyed Satan (Heb. 2:14), and Satan, as the ruler of this world, was judged by Christ on the cross (John 12:31).
As a man, Christ is also the seed of Abraham (Gal. 3:16). This seed is the blessing to all the nations (Gen. 22:18; Gal. 3:14). In becoming a man, Christ became a blessing to all the peoples on this earth. This was prophesied in Genesis 22 and fulfilled in Galatians 3.
Christ is also the seed of David (Matt. 1:1; Rom. 1:3). As the seed of David, He is the Builder of God’s house and of God’s kingdom. Solomon, the son of David, built the temple and the kingdom of Israel (2 Sam. 7:12-13). Christ is the seed of David to build up the temple, the church, as the house of God and the kingdom of God (Matt. 16:18-19; 1 Tim. 3:15).
As a man, this Christ is Jesus, which means “Jehovah the Savior” (Matt. 1:21; Luke 2:11). Jehovah is the Triune God, and He became Jesus. This means that He became our Savior.
Christ is also the Christ (Matt. 16:16a), which means “the anointed One.” As God’s Anointed, Christ’s commission is to carry out God’s purpose.
Christ is the Redeemer of all created things. Colossians 1:20 says that not only man but also all things in the heavens and on the earth have been reconciled through Christ. Furthermore, Hebrews 2:9 says that Christ died to taste death on behalf of everything. This is clearly typified by the redemption of Noah’s ark, in which not only eight persons but all other living things created by God were saved (Gen. 7:13-23).
Christ is the Peacemaker, and as the Peacemaker, He is our peace (Eph. 2:14-15). He has made peace between us and God and among all the different peoples. The Jews could never be one with the Gentiles, and the Germans could never be one with the British. But Christ died on the cross to abolish all the differences between the peoples (v. 15; Col. 3:11). He made peace for all the different peoples so that we all can be one in Him. As a man, He is the Peacemaker.
Finally, as a man, Christ was a grain of wheat that brought forth many grains through death and resurrection. He told us in John 12:24 that He, as the grain of wheat, had to fall into the ground and die in order to produce many grains. We the believers are these many grains to be the members of His Body (1 Cor. 10:17). Therefore, the issue of Christ’s being a man is the producing of His Body.
