“In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God.” (John 1:1-2 NLT)
One of the most beneficial aspects of the eternal Word of God becoming man is that He made the God of heaven visible. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:4 that Christ “is the exact likeness of God.” In John 14:8 “Philip said, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ Jesus replied, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father! So why are you asking Me to show Him to you?’”
Knowing that Jesus is God the Father in human form is incredibly important for at least two reasons. First, it verifies who Jesus is and always claimed to be. Until we understand that Jesus was God in a human body we miss the power of His life, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension. If Jesus isn’t God, then, as C.S. Lewis wrote: “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said wouldn’t be a great moral teacher. He’d be either a lunatic on a level with a man who says he’s a poached egg or else he’d be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.”
Second, it clarifies the Gospel because everything that is true of Jesus is true of God and vice versa. To see and study the life of Jesus is to see in action the God of the Bible. We learn from Jesus that God is all powerful, all knowing, ever present, just, loving, and every other attribute that Jesus was and lived. But it doesn’t stop there.
Think of the implications for us as His children. Mark Dever wrote: “Preaching makes the gospel audible. Churches make the gospel visible.” In much the same way as Jesus gave visibility to the invisible God, we have the opportunity and privilege to give visibility to the now invisible Jesus. There is no “gospel,” no “good news” without Jesus. Jesus IS the good news! And to the extent we, individually and collectively as His Church, live our lives to His honor, glory, and fame, we give visibility to His “Body” on earth today.
Isn’t that what the Incarnation of Jesus is all about? God becoming a human being to make His life reproducible in and through the lives of those who call Him Lord and Savior. Submission to His Lordship enables each of us who is a member of His Body, the Church, to give expression in and through our lives to His life – in how we live, how we love, how we treat each other. When we as members of His Body love each other and work well together, we give visibility to the life of the living Christ.
In increasing measure, as we learn to model His “likeness” in and through our lives, at least on some levels we should validate in practical ways, not only who He is, but how He desires to be loved and lived out in human flesh. It’s not enough to know the Bible or even know how to teach it. If we’re not translating His Word into life; if we’re not modeling what the Bible teaches in practical ways, we’re missing the point of what it means to bear His holy name.
When the people of the Bible, even the early disciples, first met Jesus they didn’t immediately make the connection between Jesus and the God of the Scriptures. It took time and effort on the Lord’s part to help them make that connection (see John 14:8 above). Similarly, people aren’t going to make the immediate connection between our godly lives and Jesus. It will take time and effort on our part to help them “see” Him in us.
The point of a godly life isn’t to win brownie points with Jesus, it’s to give those in our families, our friends, neighbors, co-workers, classmates, and everyone else with whom we have contact, a glimpse into the face of Jesus. When that happens, it will give more power to our words when we share the Gospel.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 