Episode Intro
Who is Jesus? The identity of Jesus lies at the very heart of Christianity. But what is it about Jesus that’s so important?
In the last episode we looked at the problem of sin. God made the world good. He made a world without death and decay. He made a world in which humanity could dwell with him in love and fellowship, ruling over and developing God’s world under him. But the world is not like that anymore. It’s broken. And the reason it’s broken is because human beings have sought to rule themselves and God’s world without God. We’ve tried to get rid of God.
The result is judgement, which is seen immediately in death and decay, and in a world groaning under the wrath of God. But ultimately, the result is eternal separation from God.
So what’s the solution? The solution, quite simply, is Jesus. And not just what Jesus has done, but who he is.
But who is Jesus?
That’s what we’re beginning to think about this episode of Thinking Theology.
Podcast Intro
Hi. My name is Karl Deenick. I write about theology and I teach it at Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Welcome to Thinking Theology, a podcast where we think about theology, the Bible and the Christian life, not just for the sake of it, but so we can love God more, with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.
The Promise of God With Us
The story of Jesus begins in the Old Testament.
Even before Jesus is born into the world, there are a number of indicators, laced through the Old Testament, that something remarkable is going to take place.
For example, in Isaiah 7:14, God says to Isaiah,
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14 NIV)
In the immediate context, the child that is being spoken about is Isaiah’s own child. The birth foreshadowed is not a miraculous birth, but the birth of a child to Isaiah’s young wife. The Hebrew term rendered virgin simply means a “young woman of marriageable age”. It can imply she is a virgin, which it certainly does in the case of Mary in the New Testament. But in the first place, in Isaiah 7, it is simply talking about Isaiah’s young wife.
That all becomes clear at the beginning of Isaiah 8 when Isaiah records,
3 Then I made love to the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. (Isaiah 8:3 NIV)
Yet this child has a special name—Immanuel, which means “God with us.”
But in the immediate context, “God with us” is not a comfort but a warning. God is coming in judgement. Isaiah says in verse 17,
The LORD will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah—he will bring the king of Assyria.” (Isaiah 7:17 NIV)
The picture is of God coming in judgement.
Yet, amidst all that, another picture begins to emerge.
It turns out that this child born to Isaiah, this “Immanuel” is actually a pointer to another child who would be God with us, not only in judgement for those who persist in rebellion against God, but also in peace for those who wait on God.
That comes into view in Isaiah 9. We’re told in verse 2,
2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. (Isaiah 9:2 NIV)
What is that great light? Verse 6 tells us,
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6 NIV)
Another child will be born, and this child will rule. But not only will he rule, he will possess the names and attributes of God: wonderful counsellor, mighty God, everlasting Father, prince of peace.
That is not to suggest that the people of Isaiah’s day fully comprehended what that meant. But the seeds of the idea of God being born into our world are sown here already in Isaiah.
Through the rest of Isaiah, too, there are other hints.
In chapter 11, we read,
1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD— 3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; 4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. 5 Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. (Isaiah 11:1–5 NIV)
The picture here is of a fresh “shoot” that will come up from a lifeless stump. The lifeless stump is the line of David, the former king of Israel. The shoot is a new descendant. And yet this descendant will possess the Spirit of God in a profound way; in a way greater than David.
Other kings and figures in the Old Testament were given the Spirit by God. The Spirit came powerfully on Saul and on David, for example. But there’s a hint here of something greater.
That’s not to say that this passage indicates the reason why this figure will possess the Spirit in such great measure. But the arrival of Jesus, as God the Son come in the flesh, makes clear that his possession of the Spirit is greater than that of David and Saul and others, because he is God himself.
As we’ll see again and again over the next few episodes. The trinity in the Bible is a bit like murder mystery. As you read the book, there are lots of clues that the author leaves, but it’s often not until the end that can work out who the murderer was. But when you go back and read the book, now with the riddle solved, you realise that the clues where there all along. It’s not that the clues weren’t there. Nor is it that clues have been invented after the fact. It’s just that without the key—the solution to the riddle—you can’t appreciate the clues for what they are.
Back to Isaiah, there’s another hint in chapter 40. The chapter begins with God’s word of comfort following the suffering of God’s people. Verse 1 says,
1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins. (Isaiah 40:1–2 NIV)
But how does that comfort come?
The answer is given in the very next verse,
3 A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. 5 And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” (Isaiah 40:3–5 NIV)
The voice in these verses calls out for a way to be made for God. God is coming to his people in person.
That idea is repeated in Malachi 3, where God promises to come in person to clean his people up.
1 “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the LORD Almighty. (Malachi 3:1 NIV)
In both cases, there is a messenger who prepares the way, and in both cases, God is coming in person to both to save and to judge.
God With Us in Jesus
It’s against that backdrop, then, that the Gospel writers announce the coming of Jesus. Quoting both Isaiah 40 and Malachi 3, Mark writes,
1 The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, 2 as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way”— 3 “a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’” (Mark 1:1–3 NIV)
Mark combines both passages to herald the arrival of both the messenger—John the Baptist—but also God come in person—Jesus.
But even already in the accounts of Jesus’ birth we have indications of his uniqueness. So in Matthew 1:20 an angel says to Joseph,
Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:20 NIV)
The conception of Jesus is miraculous. It is from the Holy Spirit.
So, too, Matthew relates Jesus’ birth to the promise of Isaiah 7. He writes,
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). (Matthew 1:22–23 NIV)
Or in Luke 1:35 an angel says to Mary,
The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:35 NIV)
The Most High will overshadow Mary and the one born to her is described as “the holy one” and label reserved for God. And he will be called “the Son of God”.
Likewise, in Luke 2:11, we’re told,
Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. (Luke 2:11 NIV)
Not only is Jesus described here as the Messiah, he’s also described as “the Lord”. That is the name of God.
The Old Testament name of God was Yahweh. But in reverence for that name, whenever the Jews were reading the Scriptures out loud, instead of saying, “Yahweh” they would say, “the Lord.”
We still see that in English translations of the Old Testament. The Hebrew name “Yahweh” is usually translated in the Old Testament by the “the Lord”. And to show us that it is the name of God, it is usually rendered in small capitals.
But in Luke 2, the angels announce that Jesus is “the Lord”.
So, too, John’s Gospel also begins by describing Jesus as God,
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1 NIV)
The Word, which is the name that John gives to Jesus before he took on humanity; that Word was God.
Importantly, the Word was both God and with God.
That is, the Word is both God but also distinguishable from God. Or more precisely, as John explains later, he is distinguishable from the Father.
We’ll think about that in the next episode when we come to look at the Trinity. But the key point, for the moment, is that Jesus didn’t become God. Jesus wasn’t simply a man who became a god. The Word was God and somehow, the Word as God took on human flesh.
And this Word was there from the beginning—“in the beginning,” John says, “the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Could it be, though, this word was created? Perhaps he was the first of God’s creations? Perhaps he is another god? That’s what a man named Arius taught in the 3rd century.
But that can’t be, since John tells us in verse 3,
3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (John 1:3 NIV)
If nothing that has been made has been made apart from the Word creating it, that means the Word himself could not be made or created, since everything that has been created has been created through him.
Moreover, Genesis and the rest of the Bible tells us that the one who created everything is God. So, here in John 1, the actions of God are attributed to the “Word”.
Similarly, Hebrews 1 portrays Jesus very clearly as God.
Hebrews 1:3 describes Jesus in this way,
3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. (Hebrews 1:3 NIV)
Jesus is the exact representation of God. He shares the glory of God. And he does exactly what God does—he sustains everything by his powerful word.
Similarly, in Hebrews 1, Old Testament passages that speak about God, or Yahweh, are applied to Jesus. So Psalm 102:25 is applied, to Jesus,
In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. (Hebrews 1:10 NIV)
We see similar ideas in other parts of the New Testament. So, for instance, Colossians 1:15 says,
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. (Colossians 1:15 NIV)
The Son is the visible expression of the invisible God. He is the firstborn over all creation. Firstborn, not in the sense of the one who came into being first, but in the sense of the one who inherits all that belongs to the Father. The universe belongs to Jesus every bit as much as it belongs to the Father.
Similarly, again, all things have been created through him. Verse 16,
16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. (Colossians 1:16 NIV)
Jesus not only created all things, he keeps all things going. And everything has not only been created through him, but also for him. Those are all things that are true of God. God created, God upholds the world, and everything that was made was made for God and his glory.
But alongside the testimony of the apostles, is also the testimony of Jesus. Both in what he said and what he did.
For example, Jesus explicitly claims to be God. In John 8:58 he says,
58 “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:58 NIV)
Jesus doesn’t say, “Before Abraham, I was”. That is, he is not simply claiming to have been living before Abraham. Rather, he is claiming that what is true of God is true of him. He simply is and has always been and will always be.
Jesus’ words are a reference back to God’s words to Moses, “I am who I am” (Exod 3:14).
Jesus is claiming to be God who appeared to Moses.
And the Jews clearly understood Jesus to be claiming he was God because their response is to try to stone him for blasphemy. In the very next verse, we’re told,
59 At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds. (John 8:59 NIV)
But Jesus’ actions also demonstrate who he is.
When four men bring their paralysed friend to Jesus. Instead of simply healing the man, Jesus forgives his sins. In response to which the religious leaders ask, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mark 2:7). Which is precisely the point. Jesus can forgive because Jesus is God. And to prove it, he heals the paralysed man.
Similarly, when Jesus and his disciples encounter a storm on the sea of Galilee, Jesus stands up, speaks a word and the storm disappears. To which the disciples ask, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” But any Jew familiar with the Old Testament would know the answer to that question—it is God who controls the wind and the waves.
It is important to understand that it is not only Jesus’ words that convinced the early Christians that he was God, it was his actions. It was his actions that persuaded them that he was who he said he was, and, indeed, who the Old Testament Scriptures had promised—God come down to us.
Outro
Who is Jesus? Jesus is God comes to us as a man.
The Old Testament foreshadowed that something incredible would happen—Immanuel, God with us. No one could really have foreseen exactly what that would mean. But when we look back now, after the coming of Jesus, it makes so much sense. With the coming of Jesus we have seen God come down to us and demonstrate his glory and his power.
The revelation of Jesus as God and also a man led to lots of theological reflection both in the New Testament times and since. How could God be one but also Father and Son, and what about the Spirit? Isn’t there only one God? How do those things fit together? That’s what we’re thinking about in the next episode of Thinking Theology.
Please join me then.