Chapter 5 - Christ
HIS DEITY
The Lord Jesus Christ. He is the central subject of the Bible. We shall learn about His deity, His incarnation (becoming a man), His work and His offices. The deity of Christ means that Christ is God. The Bible clearly teaches that Jesus Christ is God in the following ways:
1. The same words are used in telling us about God and in speaking of Christ:
He is eternal. Christ has no beginning (John 17:5; 8:58).
He is omnipresent. He is with His servants everywhere (Matthew 28:20).
He is omnipotent. He has all power and authority (Matthew 28:18; Revelation 13:8).
He is omniscient. He knows all things (John 21:17).
He is unchangeable. He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
2. Christ does the same work that God does:
He created all things (John 1:3).
He upholds the universe (Colossians 1:17).
He raised Himself from the dead (John 2:19,22).
3. The same title is given to God and to Christ. He is called God:
God, the Father, speaks of the Son as God (Hebrews 1:8).
Men called Christ God, and He did not refuse their worship (John 20:28).
Demons recognized Him as God (Mark 1:24).
Christ declared that He was God (John 10:30).
HIS INCARNATION
The incarnation of Christ means that He who is God came into the worlds as a man.
1. The coming of Christ was predicted in the Old Testament. Years before He came the Bible said that He would come (Isaiah 7:14).
2. There are written records of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. His birth was different from all other births:
He was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35).
He was born of a virgin (Matthew 1:23). He had no human father.
Yet He was truly man. He had a body (Hebrews 10:5), He had a soul (Matthew 26:38) and He had a spirit (Luke 23:46).
3. There are three reasons why Christ came in human form:
He came to show us what God the Father is like (John 14:9).
He came to put away sin by becoming the sacrifice for our sins (dying instead of us) (Hebrews 9:26).
He came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).
HIS WORK
We shall learn about the death, the resurrection and the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ:
1. His Death:
It was necessary for Christ to die (John 3:14). It was part of God's eternal plan (Hebrews 10:7). It was necessary to fulfill Old Testament prophecies (Isaiah 53:5). It was necessary to provide salvation for us (Ephesians 1:7).
Christ died for others. He died in our place (1 Corinthians 15:3).
The death of Christ was fully able to meet God's demands. Christ suffered all of God's judgment against sin. His death completely meets all of our needs because it was the death of a divine person. Therefore it has endless value.
2. His Resurrection:
It was necessary for Christ to rise from the dead. His resurrection fulfilled prophecy. It completed the work that Christ did for us on the cross (Romans 4:25). His resurrection made it possible for Christ to begin His present work in heaven.
Christ's resurrected body was a real body. It was not a spirit (Luke 24:39). It was the same body that was crucified because it had the mark of the nails and the spear wound (John 20:27). Yet it was a changed body that could do things that our bodies cannot do, such as going through walls (John 20:19).
Christ appeared to some of His followers at least ten times after His resurrection. More than five hundred dependable witnesses saw Him after He rose from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:6).
The resurrection of Christ is very important. If Christ had not risen from the dead there would be no Christian faith (1 Corinthians 15:17).
3. His Ascension:
When Christ had finished His work on earth He was carried up into heaven (Mark 16:19; Acts 1:9).
Christ ascended to heaven so that He might enter into His reward (John 17:5) and so that He might continue His ministry for His people (Hebrews 7:25).
HIS OFFICES
The Bible presents Christ as a Prophet, as a Priest, and as a King.
As a prophet Christ tells us what God has to say to us, and so He makes God known to us (John 1:18).
As a priest Christ speaks and acts for believers before God (Hebrews 4:14-16).
As a king Christ reigns in the hearts of those who are loyal to Him. In a coming day He will reign on earth for one thousand years. Psalm 72 (72:1-10; 72:11-20) describes how He will rule the world.