The Humanity of Jesus Christ, No. 2

Colossians 1:21-23

COL-175

Our subject is "Reconciliation of the Colossians," segment number 20 in Colossians 1:21-23.

The thing that differentiates a human being from an animal is the knowledge, insight, and wisdom of Bible doctrine. I don't care how smart you are; what level of intelligence you may have; or, what position status you may hold in society, you are nothing but an animal. You may be very cultured; and very sophisticated; and, very impressive, but without the mind of God, there's no place else to go but the mind of the animal world. And this is everywhere constantly demonstrated to us. And Christians need to remember that that's the kind of a world we live in. It is doctrine. It is the Word of God, which is the mind of God, which enables a person to act in the image of God. That is reality. If you don't know the Word of God, you don't know the rules of reality. So, you live in an imaginary world that Satan creates for you. Without this divine viewpoint, a person is no better off than a dumb animal. A person is driven, then, simply by his instincts and his sensual urges. So, instead of following the rules of God, he follows the rules of Satan.

The unbeliever, and unfortunately, the carnal Christian are out of the will of God. The carnal Christian is out of temporal fellowship because of unconfessed known sin. Consequently, he's virtually back in the status of a totally unsaved person. The unbeliever and the carnal Christian who is out of temporal fellowship are slaves of the lust patterns of the sin nature, and they function on human viewpoint. As such, they are human animals, mulling about in spiritual darkness. But they have a great, smug, prideful arrogance about them. They may have a high IQ; wealth; prestige; sophistication; achievements; and, power, but they are deceived into thinking that they are something more than dumb animals.

Now, I don't make this kind of a comparison without reason, because that's exactly the comparison that Scripture makes. I was impressed recently, in one of our morning Berean Academy teachers' prayer meetings as we read Psalm 49. There's an idea that the psalmist puts in twice. Psalm 49:12 says, "But man, in his pomp, will not endure. He is like the beasts that perish." In verse 20, he closes the psalm with the same idea: "Man in his pomp (his arrogance and his human viewpoint without understanding) is like the beasts that perish."

If you don't have the mind of God, you have nothing but the mind of an animal. Consequently, that's all you'll ever amount to. Now, if you take the trouble to read the psalm, you'll notice that what this psalm is all about is riches – the touchstone of the Christian life. All of your testimonies and all of our words don't mean much. It's what we do with our wealth; our possessions; and, our money. That's the touchstone that reveals what we really are as believers. And this whole psalm goes through with a lot of ridicule, and a lot of pathos, and a lot of sympathy for the person who's got the dough, who thinks he's somebody. And that's why, right in the middle of the psalm, the psalmist says, "Man in his pomp (because of his wealth) will not endure. He is like the beasts that perish." He is depending on something other than the mind of God through the Word of God. Yet, how many Christians will sacrifice anything if there's money involved for them? How many would debase themselves if there's some wealth to be gained by doing?

These human animals are characterized by rejection of the Bible as the inerrant Word of God, and as a book whose meaning can be clearly understood. When people do not want to operate on God's thinking, they attack the Bible. They blow the Bible off as an insignificant book. And it has no significant meaning, and you can understand it, so, it doesn't make any difference anyhow. There are plenty of pulpits, I'm sorry to say, who accommodate that.

One of our young women recently was in a service, and she came back outraged over the fact that the preaching was 20 minutes long, and it had nothing to do with any explaining of the Scripture. It played around with a lot of inspiration and challenge, because that's what the crowd wanted. Paul warned Timothy that, in the end times, people are going to want the pulpit to scratch your itching years. And when that happens, then there is no hope for the people. What they do is that they make up their own teachings, and they take confidence in their false doctrines, and even in their evil ways from the fact that there are a lot of other people that join them, and share their spiritual disorientation. The Bible is full of people who were right when the masses were wrong. One only has to think of Noah, who took it on the chin for 120 years, being treated as a fool, and yet was the only man who knew what was going on, and who had God's point of view.

These unsaved and carnal animal types are especially negative to, and they are contemptuous of, and they're totally disrespected toward expository preaching of a local church. They don't think that the Bible matters, so it doesn't matter whether they are present in the service or not. And it doesn't matter what is done in the service. And the fact that it is not expository preaching (explaining the Bible to people) doesn't matter. Consequently, they can do their thing. You always discover that there's a deep resentment on the part of those who have no respect for the Bible as the Word of God. They have great contempt for any church that says, "That's where it's at." Therefore, they are nothing but animals.

Now, the Colossians Christians were a sorry lot of Satan's human animals until God's grace brought them to salvation, with all the power, and with all the rights and privileges appertaining thereto, as people who belong to the church-age body of Christ.

In Colossians 1:19, the apostle Paul observes the reason that God has done this for these Colossians (transformed them from dumb animals into those who can function in the image of God). Colossians 1:19, we read, "For it was the Father's good pleasure." All that follows in Christ, and our possessions in Him – it was the Father's good pleasure. It was not because there was something in us; not because we deserved it; not because we earned it; and, not because we did the proper religious rituals. It was again the mercy and the kindness of God to look upon you and say, "I want you in the family." Out of the mass of people who had no claim upon God (the unsaved people), He chose you. And some of you He has chosen to be in the inner circle. Some of you are Peter, James, and John. You're right up there next to the Lord. Some of you are out there with the other nine disciples, in a little farther out orbit, and you're significant. And that's what you find that you rise to.

However, to be on that inner orbit in that inner circle. What a call! And those of you who are, whose lives are oriented to God; and, to His word to His service, and who are detached from this world system, and who are not up-and-down Christians (periodics), you are the people that are closest to the heart of God. And He is the one who made you that way. Why? For His pleasure – for His own personal pleasure.

Now, after the crossing of the barrier line from spiritual death to spiritual life, these Colossian believers were reconciled to God's glory. That is His standard of absolute righteousness. That now became the level of their conduct: absolute righteousness. This miraculous transformation was accomplished for them by the Lord Jesus Christ, by His death in His humanity, as the God-Man bearing their moral guilt.

However, as we have shown you early on, even before the last apostle John died, Satan was challenging, through his false teachers, the genuine humanity of Jesus Christ – that He was true humanity. Payment for sin required that there be One Who, by nature, could be a Mediator between God and Man. That meant He had to be both divine and human.

That person, 1 Timothy 2:5 makes clear, was the Lord Jesus Christ: "For there is one God, and one Mediator also between God and men: the man Christ Jesus. If Jesus Christ was not true humanity, he could not have died as the Lamb of God for the sin of mankind. However, he was genuine humanity, and he did die as the Lamb of God for the sins of the world.

Jesus Christ was a man's man – yes, and a woman's man. Jesus Christ was no pony-tail, ear-ringed, self-indulgent, arrogant slob. He was a real man, and He did not demonstrate anything but that kind of manliness because he really was human.

Again, when a human being does not want to operate on the thinking and the Word of God that becomes his mind, what does he become? An animal. He goes to undermining his manhood and his womanhood. And he goes right down to living life at the animal level. That was not so with Christ. He was a true man (true humanity), and thus could bear our sins.

The Doctrine of the Humanity of Christ

1. The Council of the Godhead in Eternity Past

   The Bible is clear on this doctrine of the humanity of Christ, and we have been reviewing that doctrine. Thus far, we have pointed out to you that the humanity of Christ was determined in the council of the Godhead in eternity past. It was then determined that He would become a God-Man to bear the sins of the world.

2. The Annunciation and His Birth

   Secondly, the humanity of Christ is seen in the nature of the annunciation of His coming, and His actual birth as a baby from a woman.

3. The Normal Physical Pattern

   Third, the humanity of Christ followed a normal pattern of physical development from birth to adulthood.

4. Free of the Sin Nature

   The next point on the humanity of Christ (the summary of this doctrine) is that since Christ had no human father, His humanity was free of the sin nature. The reason he had to be virgin born is because the mother does not pass on the sin nature to a child, but the Father does. It's a genetic transition from father to child. Hebrews 7:26, therefore, tells us about Christ: "For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest (referring to Jesus): holy; innocent; undefiled; separate from sinners; and, exalted above the heavens. The Lord Jesus Christ was holy, innocent, and undefiled. He was totally devoid of any evil; the sin nature; or, any access to sin. He was, therefore, born spiritually alive, in contrast to all humanity which, since Adam, had been born spiritually dead. The Lord Jesus Christ remained sinless in His humanity on earth. And the result was that He could bear, therefore, the sins of the world. He was qualified to pay for our sins.

   So, 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "He made Him Who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Christ was totally sinless: no sin nature; and; no personal acts of sin could bear our sin. He could take our guilt upon Himself.

   1 Peter 2:22 says, "Who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth." This was a very wonderful man. And He was a genuine human being. He was above us all because he was totally sinless.

5. The Humanity of Christ cannot Sin

   The humanity of Christ cannot sin. It is impeccable because it is joined with this deity in one person. Here is an important principle. Because He is God-Man, His humanity is preserved from any capacity of sinning. You could take a small, thin wire and put it in your hand, and jerk it, and break it. But if you weld that to a steel beam, you can never break that. The humanity of Christ joined to the deity of Christ, and they were put together such that His humanity was never in danger. He was, the theologians say, impeccable.

   1 John 3:5: "And you know that He appeared in order to take away sins. And in Him there is no sin." This is two natures in man – two natures in one human being; and, two natures in one person – absolute deity and absolute humanity. This is called the hypostatic union. We've gone over that in detail before. The natures always acted separately. They never mixed. But Christ, because of His deity, was impeccable. His humanity could not sin.

   However, He did experience temptation. Hebrews 4:15 points this out to us. But we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One Who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin." And there is a critical phrase: "yet without sin" – without a sin nature. The word "sin" is singular. He was without a sin nature, as well as without personal acts of evil. Christ, however, did experience temptation. He knows what it's like to be tempted. This may be compared as follows: If you've ever walked along the seashore where the ocean has come raging in and pounding in the rocks that are on the seashore. The rocks are immovable. Yet when that wave hits that rock, with all of its force and power, the rock knows what it is to be hit. But it can't be moved. Jesus Christ knew what it is to be hit with evil (with temptation). But He could not be moved.

   Both Adam and the Lord Jesus began as sinless human beings, and both faced the one issue: positive volition to the will of God. It's the only way Adam and Eve could sin: by positive volition to the will of God. That is the core of the temptation that you and I face: positive relation to the will of God. Now, if you don't know the will of God, how can you decide to be for it or against it? And the first way you know the will of God is through instruction in the Word of God. That's why expository preaching is the only kind of preaching that the Bible knows about. It's the instruction in the mind of God. And there's no other way to do it, but to have the book of the Scriptures explained to you verse-by-verse.

6. Christ was Sustained by the Holy Spirit

   The Holy Spirit sustained the humanity of Christ during his life and ministry on the earth. That's important for us to know. We are tempted to think that He was such a marvelous person, and such a terrific man, because of His deity. That is not so. John 3:34 says, "For He, Whom God has sent, speaks the Words of God, for He gives the Spirit without measure." To the Lord Jesus Christ (to the humanity of Jesus Christ) was given the Spirit of God without measure. He was always in temporal fellowship. Consequently, He spoke the Words of God, and everything Jesus Christ did, He did as a human being. God it? He did everything as a human being, with the power of the Spirit of God.

   Suddenly, that transforms us into a whole different level of potentiality within ourselves. Whatever your age level is, you don't have to be a dog. You don't have to be a pig. You can be a real son and a real daughter of God. You can act like royalty because that's what you are. That's how Jesus Christ did it. Way back in Isaiah 11:2, it told how He was going to function in His humanity. And there we're told that the coming Messiah is going to be given two things. First: He's going to be given the mind of God through the Word of God. He will be taught doctrine. He had to learn it in His humanity. And He will be given the power of the Spirit of God. That's all. Then God the Father brought the God-Man into this world, and He field-tested the system. And for all the 33 years of his life, Jesus Christ operated on the doctrine He knew, stored in His human spirit, and the power of the Spirit of God guiding Him in the use of that doctrine. He never missed once.

   You and I, because we have a sin nature, are not going to do it perfectly. The Bible doesn't call us to be perfect. It calls us to be blameless. The word "blameless" means that when you stumble, you use 1 John 1:9, and you confess your sins, and you go on. Blameless is that you don't have unconfessed sin, because as long as you have that, you're under the devil's control.

   It was the Holy Spirit who constantly filled Jesus Christ in His humanity. And the human volition of Christ yielded obedience to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Now, that is a person. That is a human being. And the way He operated is an evidence of His own humanity.

7. The Life of Christ Reveals His Humanity

   The life of Christ on earth reveals his humanity. A variety of things showed that this was a human being by His names: Son of Man; the Man Christ Jesus; and, the Son of David. That doesn't refer to a spirit being. That is a human being. Also, by His human parentage: He is referred to as her firstborn; Seed of David; Seed of Abraham; made of a woman; and, sprang from Judah. All of these are human associations. This is the way you describe a person. Also by the fact that He possessed what all persons possess. We are told by the apostle Paul that a person is made up of spirit, soul, and body. This is what Christ had. This is one of the great evidences that He was a human being. Every human being has spirit, soul, and body.

   Matthew 26:38: "Then He said to them, 'My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death. Remain here and keep watch with Me.'" Jesus was speaking to His disciples in Gethsemane. "My soul is deeply grieved." What is the soul made up of? It's made up of the mind; the will; and, the emotions. So, this was a real human being. He had a soul with the facets of the soul, and He expressed that here.

   John 13:21 has another bit of information:" When Jesus has said this, He became troubled in spirit, and testified and said, 'Truly, truly, I say to you that one of you will betray Me.'" Here He became troubled in spirit. So, he had the second factor that a human being must have. Now, when you're born into the human race, your spirit is dead. He was born with a living human spirit. When you are born spiritually by accepting Christ as Savior, that's when you come alive spiritually. Now you have a living human spirit. And it is your spirit that gives you your point of contact with God. That's why an unsaved person has no point of contact with God. An unsaved person can go through the ritual of prayer. An unsaved person can be very sincere in pray to God, but it has no contact. He's spiritually dead, so he's out of touch with God.

   So, Jesus Christ had a soul. He had a spirit first. John 4:2: "By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God." Verse 9: "By this, the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His Only Begotten Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. Jesus Christ existed from eternity past because He is deity. He came into the world, and He took on a human body. So, Christ was genuinely human because He had a body; He had a soul; and, He had a spirit.

   His humanity is also revealed by the self-imposed normal human limitations under which he lived. He lived under normal human limitations. For example, He became hungry. The devil tried to use this as a way to get at Him. Matthew 4:2: "And after He had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, He then became hungry. Now, a spirit being doesn't become hungry. Spirits don't have to eat. You can if you want to. The angels were sent to Abraham, and Abraham said, "Please, I'm going to make you a little lunch. Sit down here." They had come to announce that Isaac would be born. And these angels who looked like men – they sat down, and they ate the lamb, and they had some of those French fries, and a little goat's milk. They were spirit beings. They ate it all. But they weren't hungry. They were just socializing.

   Matthew 21:18: "In the morning, when He returned to the city, He became hungry." Here again, this was Jesus, here in connection with the fig tree. So, he had that normal human quality because he was human. He did get hungry.

   John 4:7 tells us he also got thirsty. There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. And Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." The reason he did that is because He was thirsty.

   John 19:28: "A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So, they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a bunch of hyssop, and brought it up to His mouth." They did this because of what He said in verse 28: "After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, in order that Scripture might be fulfilled, said, 'I am thirsty.'" So, here is thirst is on the cross.

   Certainly we know that one of the sure signs of being a human being is to get tired. Some people think that the extent of their humanity is indicated by how tired you get. Some of you are more human than others because of that. But in John 4:6, at Jacob's well: "Jesus, therefore, being weary from His journey, was sitting thus by the well, and it was thus about the sixth hour."

   Also, because He got tired, He also got sleepy – another evidence that He was a genuine human being. Mark 4:37: "And there was arose a fierce gale of win, and the waves were breaking over the boat." They were crossing the Sea of Galilee: "So much that the boat was already filling up. And He (Jesus Himself) was in the stern asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, 'Teacher, you do not care that we are perishing.'" So, here is the Lord crossing the sea, getting a little break from His teaching ministry. There's a cushion in the stern. He lies down, and He falls asleep. People do that. When you're a spirit being, you don't sleep.

   He also had the capacity, as human beings do, of experiencing great emotional pressure. Luke 22:44: "Being in agony, He was praying very fervently, and His sweat became like drops of blood falling down upon the ground." Here, in Gethsemane, He now knew that the time had come for Him to take upon Himself the sins of mankind.

   Also, He was treated physically in a way that we know causes pain. And he was treated in this way because His tormentors wanted Him to suffer pain. Matthew 26:67-68: "Then they spat in His face, and beat Him with their fists, and others slapped Him, and said, 'Prophesy to us, You Christ: who is the one who hit you?'" They did this because it was painful. And therefore, because He was human, He did suffer pain.

   Matthew 27:26: "Then He released Barabbas for them. But after having Jesus scourged, he delivered Him to be crucified." Jesus was whipped, and that was painful. It is painful for a human body to be beaten.

   Matthew 27:29-30: "And after weaving a crown of thorns, they put it on His Head, and a reed in His right hand, and they kneeled before Him. They mocked Him, saying, 'Hail, King of the Jews.' They spat on Him. They took the reed, and began to beat Him on the head." Now, those thorns were very long. And when they pressed it on His head, that meant they pressed it into his scalp. And the scalp is one of the areas of the body that bleeds profusely, and is painful. So, this being beaten on the head, after having this crown of thorns put there, was suffering that is characteristic of human beings.

8. Fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant

   Christ came in is humanity to fulfill the Davidic Covenant with Israel. Back in Samuel 2:17, David is promised a kingdom that will, in time, come about, and will last forever – the Davidic Kingdom. This will be fulfilled in the future Millennial Kingdom of Christ. This was particularly pointed out in Luke 1:31-33, in connection with the birth of Christ: "And, behold, you will conceive (Mary is told) in your womb, and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus." Now, that phrase has taken on considerable significance in recent times when, especially with the computer age, we've discovered how, in the Old Testament Hebrew, repetitive segments of counting letters from a certain anchor letter spells out a message beneath the words that are there. And one of the things that is repeated several times in the Hebrew (in the codes under the text) is: "His name is "Yeshua," the Hebrew word for Jacob, which in the Greek is "Jesus." They didn't know that his name was going to be "Yeshua" issued in the Old Testament. They knew He was going to be called "Emmanuel." But, here's one of the evidences that the Bible could not have been written by men. It was the product of God the Holy Spirit guiding the writers so that we have this amazing sub (below the text of the Hebrew) word spelled out, taking a letter (every fifth letter, for example, down the line, or every twentieth letter down the line. They vary. And suddenly, here comes a message. And one of the astounding messages is this one, which is several times: "His name is Yeshua." Now here, it is revealed for the first time: "His name is Jesus." But God already had hidden it in the Old Testament text.

   Now notice: this is the description of a human being: "He'll be great. He'll be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David." That's an earthly, human connection: "And He will reign over the house of Jacob (an earthly people) forever. And His Kingdom will have no end." This is an earthly kingdom, so that it is very clear that Jesus Christ was human, so that He could fulfill the Davidic Covenant.

   Acts 2:30-31: "So, because He was a prophet, and knew that God had sworn to Him with an oath to seal One of His Descendants upon His throne, He looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ – that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffered decay." One of the things that took the human Jesus through the suffering of the cross was knowing that He would someday rule over the Millennial Kingdom. So, He knew the Father was going to raise him to life.

   Acts 2:36 says, "Therefore, that all the House of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus (this human being), Whom you crucified." They didn't crucify a spirit. They crucified a human being.

   Romans 15:8: "For I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God, to confirm the promises given to the fathers. These were promises of the Davidic kingdom. He had to be human to do that.

9. To Reveal God to Man

   Christ came in humanity to reveal God to man. All that we know about God has been revealed to us by Jesus Christ. We have this, for example, in Matthew 11:27: "All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and any one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. It is Jesus Christ Who had the role of making God the Father known, and He did this through His humanity. He has made God known in many ways, by the way this human being lived.

   John 1:18: "No man has seen God at any time – the Only Begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father. He has explained Him.

   Romans 5:8: "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." All these are to reveal to humanity what God Father is like. You may add to that 1 John 3:16.

10. Jesus Christ, in His Humanity, had to Learn Doctrine

    Jesus Christ, and His humanity, had to learn doctrine. Isaiah 50:4-5 tell us that this is exactly what the coming Messiah would do. He would be taught the Word of God. And sure enough, we come to the New Testament, in Luke 2:52, and what do we read? "And Jesus (following His trip at age 12 to Jerusalem) kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." This is the basis of all that we do with our young people at Berean Church. We're not an entertainment center. We're not a junior YMCA. We use some vehicles in our clubs of that nature, but the core of what we do in those meetings is enable young people to come to the mind of God through the Word of God. And this is what they did for Jesus in His humanity. His deity knew it all. But His humanity had to increase in wisdom. He had to be taught the Word of God.

11. Our High Priest

    Christ came in humanity to become a merciful and faithful human High Priest in things pertaining to God. He could not be a High Priest if He were not a human being. Hebrews 2:16-17: "For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham. Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God: to make propitiation for the sins of the people, to satisfy the justice of God against them.

    Hebrews 8 tells us that the main point in what we have said is this: "We have such a High Priest who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens." Jesus Christ came in His humanity so He could perform the role of the high priest.

    Hebrews 9:11-12: "But when Christ appeared as a High Priest of good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands; that is to say, not of this creation, and not through the blood of goats and cows, but through His Own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption." The priesthood of Jesus Christ reflected the reality of the heavenly priesthood.

    Then Hebrews 9:24: "But Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." So, He could not appear to represent us unless he were like us. And that was that he had to be human.

12. To Destroy the Works of the Devil

    Jesus Christ came in the flesh to destroy the works of the devil. It is human beings that destroy the works of the devil, which is part of our job. John 12:31: "Now judgment is upon this world. Now the ruler of this world shall be cast out." Jesus Christ is about ready to finish off the power authority of Satan.

    John 16:11: "And concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged on the cross" – Satan was totally defeated, and it was by the man Christ Jesus.

    Colossians 2:13-14: "And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive, together with Him, having forgiveness us all of our transgressions, have canceled out the certificate of death consisting of decrees against us, and which was hostile to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross," and thus cancel our certificate of sin: death. Verse 15: "And when He had disarmed the rulers and authorities (demonic hosts) He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.

    Hebrews 2:14 and 1 John 3:8 also indicate that Christ came to destroy the power of Satan over people. He did that in his humanity.

    Then the humanity of Christ is seen in His physical death on the cross; His burial in the tomb; and, His resurrection. That is one of the great evidences. That is obviously very clear (Matthew. 27:50-60, Matthew 28:5-9). All of these indicate a genuine human being dying, and being buried, and being resurrected.

    The humanity of Jesus Christ is now in heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father. This has taught us in John 3:13, Acts 1:9, and Ephesians 1:20. He is seated at the right hand of God. This is always a chilling verse to read, as I remember Bishop Pike, the Episcopalian Bishop, who was very prominent some years ago in San Francisco. And I heard him on the Johnny Carson show being interviewed. And Carson was asking religious questions about what he believes, in the course of which, Bishop Pike said, "I don't believe such things that Jesus Christ is somewhere in heaven, seated at the right hand of God the Father."

    Well, that's an amazing thing to say. And it's a demonstration of that willfulness of rejection of the Word of God when it interferes with your sophisticated human viewpoint. John 3:13: "And no one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven, even the Son of Man." Jesus Christ has ascended to heaven. That is where he is.

    Acts 1:9 records the historical occasion in which that happened: "And after He had said these things (Jesus to His disciples), He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight."

    Then Ephesians 1:20: "Which He brought about in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places." Now, I'm sure that the bishop must have read the Bible some someplace along the line. And you wonder: what did he do with verses like this? How ironic that He should rent a jeep in Jerusalem, interested in archeological studies, and drive out into the desert by himself. I hope he had enough sense to take some water with him. But suddenly, he doesn't return. Weeks go by, and finally they find him. He had gotten off the road; gotten lost; and, couldn't find his way back, and they found him dead. And the bishop had discovered that Christ was seated at the right hand of God the Father. Now, you can learn this the easy way, by believing the Scripture; or, by heaven, you will learn it the hard way. The acceptance of Christ in heaven indicates something of great importance to us all. His sacrifice for our sins was accepted. God's justice is satisfied. His righteousness is preserved intact. And the result is that there is a man in heaven. And that means that we who are human also are going to be qualified to be in that heaven.

    Romans 8:34: "Who is the one who can condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died. Yes, rather, Who was raised; Who is at the right hand of God; and, Who intercedes for us." Now, there's something else. He intercedes for us. Anytime Satan attacks us, it is Christ Jesus who says, "Wait a minute, here's the evidence – in My side and in My hands. I've paid for that sin. That believer is home free.

    Every time the pope in Cuba runs a Mass, he's denying that Scripture. The pope in Cuba, by running his Mass, is telling people that they have to try once more – once more, to get a little more merit with God, to be able to get a little more confirmation that they are secure. But Scripture says, "No, I paid for it. Christ Jesus, is He who died, Yes, rather, Who was raised (because His sacrifice was efficacious), Who is at the right hand of God in heaven, seated (not a priest standing, ready to make another sacrifice), Who also intercedes for us. Every time the devil hits us, Christ is there to defend us. You can't lose, people. The pope is wrong. Every time he stands and performs a Mass where he pretends to convert the elements of wine and bread into the blood and body of Christ, so that you can eat it and gain merit with your God, so that perhaps the devil can't get you. The sad thing about it is that even the pope doesn't know where he's going to end up.

    The Lord Jesus Christ is in heaven. He is seated at the right hand of God. And because he is there, we will be there. Better than that – positionally, we already are. Ephesians 2:6: "And raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Isn't that something? You are already positionally in heaven. So, why don't we live in the presence of the angels and the saints that are up there?

13. Glorified above all Angels

    The humanity of Jesus Christ is glorified above all angels (Hebrews 1:13). Since every believer is in Christ, He is now positionally even higher than the angels. Believers, thus, one day will even judge the angels (1 Corinthians 6:3).

14. Christ will Descend in His Same Body at His Second Advent

    Finally, the last point: When Christ returns to the earth at His Second Advent, He will come in the same body in which He ascended to heaven. He did have a human body when He died on the cross. He did have a human body in the tomb. He did have a human body when He was resurrected, and when his disciples touched Him. As John said, "We touched him. We felt him. And the docetics are wrong. We didn't just go through Him like a ghost. He wasn't just a phantasm. He really was a solid person – a solid human being.

    So, this body that ascended is the one in which He will return. Acts 1:11: "And they also said, 'Men of Galilee' (that is, the angels said to these men), 'Why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go to heaven." So, I'm here to tell you, on the authority of the Word of God, Jesus Christ is genuine humanity. He is God of God, and he is perfect humanity. And someday, in the rapture, you will see Him; you will meet Him; and, you will discover that He is just like the rest of us. He's a human being with a resurrected life that we will share with Him forever in heaven. The deity of Christ is important, but so is the humanity of Christ. Without it, we would have no hope. With it, we're sure winners. We have a sure thing.

Father, we want to thank You for this Your Word, and for the instruction of the Bible itself, written by You, so that we know these things about Your Son. We thank You so much for the fact that He is alive in heaven, at the right hand of God, just waiting the moment for the Father to give the signal to come and catch us all up in the rapture. This is what we're headed for. How then should we live, whatever our age? In Christ's name. Amen.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1995

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