In reading any book it is good to know the author and the Bible is no exception. The Author of the Book is God and in it He has revealed Himself so that we may know Him. This knowledge is imperative and essential. In His great high-priestly prayer Jesus said, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). Dr. Bullinger has written an article on “The Christian’s Greatest Need.” In it he states that our greatest need is to know God, and God can only be known through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ Himself said,”Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him” (Matthew 11:27). Coming to Christ and putting our trust in Him and in the work He accomplished for us at Calvary we are saved by the grace of God and born into God’s family. As newborn babes we are then to desire the sincere milk of the Word so that we may grow thereby. The child of God should be growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This is accomplished by feeding on the Word, going from the milk to the meat, and becoming strong, mature and stalwart in the Christian life. Sadly, many never get off the milk diet, never develop, and remain spiritual babies. This must surely be a heartbreak to their heavenly Father.
It is fitting that our first lessons should deal with the Person of God’s Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It is God’s desire that He should have the pre-eminence in all things and it is certainly our desire that He should be pre-eminent in these lessons; that every eye should see Him and hearts set aflame with love for Him. He is the great and grand subject of Scripture and it is important that we have proper thoughts of Him. Newell writes: “There are two great truths you must hold fast; the truth about our Lord’s Person and the truth about His Work.” Jesus asked the question, “What think ye of Christ?” and we ought to be certain we have the right answer. John Newton has well written:
“What think ye of Christ?” is the test
To try both your state and your scheme;
You cannot be right in the rest,
Unless you think rightly of Him.
The Bible clearly teaches that the Babe born at Bethlehem, who lived among men as Jesus of Nazareth, was indeed Almighty God in human form. The prophet Micah, foretelling His birth, said, “Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (5:2). The gospel of John, which presents the Divinity and Deity of Jesus, opens with this tremendous statement: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The One referred to in this verse as “the Word” is none other than the Lord Jesus. This will also be His name at His second coming, for we read, “And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood; and his name is called The Word of God” (Revelation 19:13). There are three things to be noted in John 1:1:
- He was in the beginning. In I John 1:1 we also read of a beginning and there it refers to the beginning of Christ’s earthly ministry. In Genesis 1:1 the reference is to the beginning of the creation. Here in John 1:1 we are taken back to ages past. This is really a beginning without a beginning. The Word (Gr. Logos) is the eternally existing Christ.
- He was with God. He was with God the Father and with God the Holy Ghost, for as God the Son He was a member of the Holy Trinity. Genesis 1:26 reads: “And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” The plural pronouns in this verse indicate the three Persons of the Godhead.
- He was God. Words could not be plainer in expressing the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifest in the flesh” (I Tim. 3:16).
The Lord Jesus, who was the Eternal Word, was truly God and the Creator as well. In the third verse of this first chapter of John’s gospel is written: “All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.” It was the Trinity which said, “Let us … make,” but God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, was the active agent in creation. There are many Scriptures which state this, such as Colossians 1:16, “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.” Also, Hebrews 1:2 affirms that “God … hath in these last days spoken unto us (Hebrews) by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.” Christ is the Great God and Mighty Maker of all things. He is the Eternal One. He is “the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy” (Isaiah 57:15). On the isle of Patmos He introduced Himself to John with the words “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8).
There is a precious statement made in Hebrews 13:8, where we read: “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever.” It is good to know that midst all the changing scenes around there is One who is unchanging. He proved to His people of old that, regardless of their changing attitudes, He was ever the same faithful and dependable God. He proves today also that amid the vicissitudes of life He is the same steadfast, loving, forgiving Saviour who merits our full trust, love and confidence. He will be forever the same. He can say, “For I am the Lord, I change not” (Malachi 3:6). But now we would ask the question: Does the fact that Christ is ever the same as to His person, pathos, and power mean that His dealings with mankind are always the same? The answer is no. We should give heed to the different ways in which Christ is viewed and to the dissimilar programs for His people. It is interesting that Hebrews 13:8 is followed by these words: “Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines.” There are those with divers and strange doctrines who quote the 8th verse to support their fancied healing programs. They say that when Jesus was here on earth He healed all who were brought to Him, and since He is always the same He heals today in the same way. Jesus Christ is indeed ever the same, but they fail to see that in His dealings with mankind He does not always act in the same way. He was not acting in the same capacity when here in the flesh in the form of a servant as He was in eternity past when in the form of God. He will not be acting in the same capacity in the future when speaking to the nations in His wrath as He is today when speaking to them in mercy and grace. And His instructions or marching orders for His people do change with the changing times.
In Philippians 2:5-7 is the great passage on the self-humbling of Christ. We read:
“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.”
Here is found the Doctrine of the Kenosis. This title comes from the Greek in the expression “made himself of no reputation” which really means “emptied himself.” This does not mean He divested Himself of His Deity. Not in the least. He was just as much God when walking the dusty trails of Galilee as when seated on His eternal throne and creating all things. Scofield says: “Nothing in this passage teaches that the Eternal Word (John 1:1) emptied Himself of either His divine nature, or His attributes, but only of the outward and visible manifestation of the Godhead.” In the time prior to His birth at Bethlehem He was in the form of God, and on an equality with God as a member of the Godhead Three. John 4:24 states that “God is a Spirit” so before His incarnation Christ had no physical body, but coming into the world He came in the body prepared for Him in the womb of the virgin. He lived among men in that body, was put to death in that body, and rose from the dead in bodily form, but it was now a glorified body no longer subject to natural laws. He ascended in that body and now there is something new in heaven. There is a Man in the Glory. “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (I Timothy 2:5). Notice the one mediator is not the woman of the assumption but the Man of the Ascension, the Man Christ Jesus. And when He comes again to earth He will come in a body with the marks of Calvary on that body.
We contemplate with awe this mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh, and we bow in wonder. This is holy ground and we put off the shoes from our feet. The great Creator humbling Himself, taking upon Him creature form, in order that He might die and atone for the creature’s sins. After one of his sermons a woman came to Dr. McKay and said, “I can’t accept that.” He replied, “You can’t accept what?” “Well,” she said, “this idea of God punishing an innocent man for the misdeeds of the guilty; that isn’t right.” Dr. McKay said, “Madam, it is not the case of God punishing an innocent man for guilty men. On the cross we see the offended God Himself, the One who had been sinned against, taking our humanity and dying in order that the guilt of His creatures might be taken away.” “But is that right?” “Madam,” replied he, “It is love.” Yes, it was infinite love that brought the Saviour down from the ivory palaces above and into this world of sin and woe. It was love that caused Him to live here among men, despised and rejected and hated without a cause. It was love that led Him to Calvary to suffer and die, shedding His precious blood for our sins. We can say, “He loved me, and gave Himself for me.” What should be our response to this love? We ought to love Him in return and to prove our love by living in a way that pleases Him.
One never tires of reading in the gospels of the wonderful life lived by the Saviour while here on earth. The Apostle John had this wonderful life in view when he wrote: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). We read of the mighty works He performed, listen to the words of grace that fell from His lips, see Him ministering to the needs of those around, and we bow in worship and exclaim, “Truly this was the Son of God.” And yet, the life lived by Jesus, sinless and God-pleasing though it was, could not save us. “Without the shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22), and “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:24). Sinners are saved, not by Christ’s life, but by His death. The gospel is that Christ died for our sins and that Christ died for the ungodly. Further, in considering Jesus’ wonderful life, and as much as we may profit from the record of it, we must recognize that when here in the flesh He was not sent to us Gentiles. He said: “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24). When here as King of the Jews, their Messiah, He confined His ministry to that people. Paul wrote: “Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers” (Romans 15:8).
The Lord Jesus Christ had come as Israel’s long-awaited Messiah, the one who was to save them from their enemies, and while here He confined His ministry to that nation. We are not to think, however, that His life did not concern us Gentiles, for we do have a deep interest in it. By His sinlessness, as the Lamb without spot or blemish, He proved that He was competent to deal with our sins and to put them away by the sacrifice of Himself. Then, too, the fact that He was once here in this wilderness scene, tested and tried as we, is that which qualifies Him as our great High Priest, now to appear in the presence of God for us. And because of His experience, having walked where we walk, He knows and understands, and in our time of trouble can come alongside and give the help needed. The late Dr. Hallman has written: “Christ was tempted in all points like as we — sin excepted. His round of temptations gives Him experiential knowledge of our conflicts; so his sympathy is not just the pity of an onlooker, but the compassion of a fellow-sufferer.” The Scripture says: “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). The double negative “not” and “cannot” express a strong affirmative: “We have a high priest who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.” Because of His experience, akin to ours, He knows and understands. Stuart Hutchinson tells of a boy who lost his right hand, and was so humiliated he wanted no one to see him. His father suggested that a certain minister come and see him, but the boy rebelled against it. Finally, the father sent for this minister, and when he came the boy saw that he too had lost his right hand. Then there was an immediate bond of sympathy. The minister could say: “I know how it feels.”
Lesson 1 — Worksheet
- What is the name by which Jesus Christ is called in John 1:1? And in Rev. 19:13?
- What three things are declared concerning this Word in John 1:1?
- What great work did the Son of God do, according to John 1:3; Eph. 3:9; Col. 1:16,17 and Heb. 1:2?
- What truth do we learn by reading John 1:1; 20:28; Rom. 9:5; Heb. 1:8; I John 5:20; Rev. 1:8 and Isa. 9:6?
- In the light of your answers to questions 3 and 4, how would you explain the word “us” in Genesis 1:26?
- According to Heb. 13:8, what is Jesus Christ yesterday, today and forever?
- Read Rev. 1:8 and complete the statement: Christ said He was _______ and _______ , the ____________ and the __________ , which _____, and which _______, and which _____ _____ _______, the ________.
- In Malachi 3:6 what does God say He does not do?
- Are the following statements true or false:
Heb. 13:8 means that Christ is always the same insofar as His Deity and eternality is concerned.
Heb. 13:8 means that Christ is always the same in His dealings with His people and with the human race.
- In what form was Christ before His incarnation? Phil. 2:6, and read also John 4:24.
- Read Phil. 2:7,8; John 1:14; I Tim. 3:16 and answer these questions:
What did Christ take the form of?
What was Christ made in the likeness of?
What was Christ found in fashion as?
What was the Word made?
What was God manifest in? - Did the eternal, unchanging Christ have a physical body before His entrance into the world at Bethlehem? Did He have one afterward? Who prepared this body for Him to enter into (Heb. 10:5)?
Note: The body which was formed in the womb of the Virgin Mary was as much a direct creative act of God as was the body He prepared for the first man Adam. Neither Joseph nor Mary contributed anything to the formation of that body; therefore He did not inherit any sin, and the blood which flowed in His veins and which was poured out at Calvary was untainted and incorruptible.
- Of whose seed was Christ made according to the flesh (Rom. 1:3)? He was also the seed of whom (Gal. 3:16)? Of whom did Christ come as concerning the flesh (Rom. 9:5)?
- To whom did Christ say He was sent in Matt. 15:24?
- What is Christ called in Rom. 15:8?
