| From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase |
Part 41 of a series. Read part 40.
|
|
The original language of the angelic announcement of Luke chapter 2 plainly declares that the One who was born in Bethlehem is both fully God and fully man.
And the angel said unto them: "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:10-11)
Plain Words Spoken to Plain Men
An angel came and spoke in words. God speaks to the world in and through understandable voices. At this climatic moment in the history of the universe, God sent and angel to announce the coming of His final Word to man:
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. (Hebrews 1:1-4)
Some postmodernist theologians deny that the Bible is the actual Word of God. Twentieth-century theologian Cornelius Van Til, for example, said that the Bible contains a system of "truth" that is "at no point identical with" but somehow resembles the unknowable truth in God's mind. [1] In other words, the statements of Scripture are not God's truth itself. But the plain sense of Scripture denies this. It is a book of facts. The angelic announcement is a plain statement of fact, communicating God's thoughts directly to man.
Furthermore, the angelic announcement came first to the lowliest of men - not to noted theologians, not to the scribes or the teachers of the law, but to shepherds in the hills of Judea.
Fear Put to Flight
As we have already noted, the shepherds were fearful, but the angel's first word to them was, "Fear not..." And the angel left them in no doubt as to the reason why fear was unnecessary and inappropriate:
Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
Fear was displaced by "good tidings of great joy" - in the Greek, "an evangel that is the cause of extreme gladness." And what was this evangel? A more literal rendering of the original would be, "There has been given birth to you today in David's city a deliverer who is Messiah Jehovah."
We sometimes see news columns and websites titled "Today in History" that tell us what major historical events happened on a certain day of the month, or on that day in a particular year. When I look up "Today in History" for my own birth date, I find that nothing especially unusual happened (which is no doubt appropriate). But "this day" of Luke 2:11 is the greatest and most significant day, thus far, in all of history. In God's providence we do not know the exact day of the month or the year. But the angel's announcement reminds us that the birth of the Messiah is, undeniably, a historical fact. The skeptics who say there is no "historical Jesus" merely "suppress the truth in unrighteousness" and thus they are the objects of God's wrath (Romans 1:18).
Not only this, the angel announces, literally, that the One who has been born is "Messiah Jehovah" - the God-man, fully God, and fully man. The Holy Spirit explains this more fully in Philippians 2:5-11:
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
When the Apostle Paul under divine inspiration speaks of Jesus "being in the form of God" and "taking the form of a bondservant," he uses the Greek word morphe, which denotes an outward appearance that agrees with the inward nature.
The use of the Greek word morphe in the phrase "being in the form of God" tell us two things. First, Jesus' deity is the outward expression of His inward nature - the morphe. Second, Jesus' deity is a continuous state - past, present, and future. In other words, He did not empty Himself of, or in any way diminish His deity when He came into this world in a body of flesh. In taking on the form of a servant, Jesus voluntarily laid aside heavenly privileges and prerogatives in obedience to God the Father, but His deity was not changed or diminished. Jesus was still the God of the universe while in this world.
The phrase "taking the form of a bondservant" is in harmony with this. The word "form" is morphe again. It tells us that servanthood was also an outward expression of Jesus' inward nature. His deity remained intact when He took on the form of a servant. Humanity was the means by which He manifested His servanthood. This passage echoes Jesus' own words in the Gospel records:
For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day." (John 6:38)
The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:28)
Jesus is the Suffering Servant spoken of in Isaiah 52:13 - "Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently; He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high" - and onward through chapter 53 culminating in verse 11: "My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities."
Philippians 2:5-11 reiterates and expounds upon the word of the angel in Luke 2, that the One who had just been born in Bethlehem was "Messiah Jehovah" - Christ the Lord. Jesus' deity and servanthood both reflect His true nature as God. His outward appearance changed, but His inner nature did not. Jesus was - and is - both fully God and fully man at the same time. In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form (Colossians 2:9).
Not "Another Jesus"
Sadly, there is a tendency in much of today's evangelical preaching to over-emphasize Jesus' humanity to the point of dangerously diminishing or even denying His deity. This is, in fact, the preaching of "another Jesus." The Apostle Paul warns us against being taken in by such preaching:
But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted - you may well put up with it! (2 Corinthians 11:3-4)
The Bible does not speak of "another Jesus" who was anything less than fully God during His earthly ministry - quite the contrary! The Suffering Servant is also the God of the universe, the Lord of glory. Because of this great fact the angel told the shepherds that there was no need for fear. Men need no longer need be fearful of death. As the Holy Spirit stated it through the writer to the Hebrews,
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself [the Messiah] likewise partook of the same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the Devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. (Hebrews 2:14-15)
References:
1. Cornelius Van Til, Introduction to B. B. Warfield, The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible (Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1948), 33. Emphasis in the original.
Next: The Evangel 'To All People'
hm_41
Copyright 1998-2024
TeachingtheWord Ministriesmmmmmwww.teachingtheword.org
All rights reserved. This article may be reproduced in its entirety only,
for non-commercial purposes, provided that this copyright notice is included.
We also suggest that you include a direct hyperlink to this article
for the convenience of your readers.