The Incomparable Christ (Messiah): Eternal Son of God, Son of Man
By Rev. Darrell W. Wood
Of all the masses of humanity and countless multitudes who have lived and died on earth, a singular, stellar Soul rises in ascendancy above all the rest. He suffered greatly as the Suffering Servant yet was victorious over life and death. His name? Jesus Christ--Son of God, Son of Man.
Who is Jesus Christ? According to the teaching of Scripture, most Christians generally consider Jesus to be the Christ, the long-awaited Messiah, as well as the one and only Son of God. With the preaching of John the Baptist, forerunner of Christ, the opening words of the Gospel of Mark 1:1 declares,
"The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God."
This proclamation confers upon Jesus two distinct attributes:
According to Wikipedia, Jesus (Greek: Iesous, likely from Hebrew/Aramaic: Yeshua, (God saves, cf Joshua) was a first-century Jewish preacher, teacher (rabbi), and religious leader. He is the central figure of Christianity, the world's largest religion. Most Christians believe He is the incarnation of God the Son and the awaited Messiah, prophesied in the Hebrew Bible.
Isaiah 11:1-2 prophesied: "Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord." As one of the great prophecies of the Old Testament, Isaiah clearly foretells both the divine and human natures of the coming Messiah--Jesus the Christ.
Christian doctrines include beliefs that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, was born of a virgin named Mary who was betrothed to Joseph of the lineage of David. As the God-man, Jesus is viewed as the divine-human Savior and Lord, the incarnation of the divine Word (Logos). The deity of Jesus the Christ is declared in the prologue to the Gospel of John:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1).
He not only speaks God's Word; He is God's living Word. In the Gospel of John, Jesus publicly reveals His divine role--as the Bread of Life, the Light of the World, the True Vine and more. In response to Thomas' query, Jesus said to him,
"I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me" (John 14:6).
Jesus is called by various other names and titles in addition to Christ (Messiah), Son of God, and Son of Man. Some of these biblical terms include:
Jesus came to be called "Jesus Christ," meaning "Jesus the Christos," i.e., "Jesus the Messiah" or "Jesus the Anointed," by Christians who believed that His crucifixion and resurrection fulfilled the messianic prophecies of the Hebrew Bible in the Old Testament.
More historical evidence (biblical and extra-biblical) corroborate the authenticity of the historical Jesus than that for Alexander the Great and other leading figures of that era. Virtually all modern scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus existed historically. Jesus was born ca 4 B.C. in Bethlehem of the Herodian Kingdom of Judea under the rule of the Roman Empire. He died by crucifixion at Golgotha (place of the skull) outside Jerusalem ca A.D. 30-33, around age 33 or so, after being arrested and tried by Jewish authorities, turned over to the Roman government, and crucified on the order of Pontius Pilate, Roman procurator of Judea.
Before Jesus was led away to the Via Dolorosa on the way to the cross, He was scourged, Roman soldiers placed a crown of thorns on His head and ridiculed Him as the King of the Jews. They beat and taunted Him before taking him to Golgotha (Calvary) where they gambled for His seamless robe.
Pilate had a sign written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin posted on the cross above Jesus: I.N.R.I, which is an abbreviation for the Latin "Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum"--meaning "Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews." Following Jesus' death on the cross, His followers believed he rose from the dead, and the community they created became the early Church.
The sign with I.N.R.I. inscription affixed to the cross has been historically used in art through the ages depicting the crucifixion of Christ.
The victory of the resurrection and the reality of the risen Lord are based on three incontrovertible facts:
The following famous essay, "One Solitary Life," was adapted from a sermon by Dr. James Allan Francis, published in 1926:
Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in an obscure village. He worked in a carpenter shop until he was thirty, and then for three years he was an itinerant teacher.
He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never owned a home. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never traveled, except in his infancy, more than two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompanies greatness. He had no credentials but himself.
While he was still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied him. He was turned over to his enemies. He went through a mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. His executioners gambled for the only piece of property he had on earth, his seamless robe. When he was dead, he was taken down from the cross and laid in a borrowed grave through the courtesy of a friend.
Nineteen wide centuries have come and gone, and today he is the centerpiece of the human race and the leader of all human progress. I am well within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever were built, all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has this one solitary personality.
Jesus' crucifixion is honored on Good Friday and His resurrection on Easter Sunday. The widely used Gregorian calendar designation of A.D., from the Latin anno Domini ("year of the Lord"), is based on the approximate birthdate of Jesus.
The author of Hebrews, speaking of Jesus, the Example, encourages believers: "...let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:1-2).
Son of God, a messianic title indicating the deity of Jesus Christ, is found in several New Testament references: Matthew 4:3; 8:29; 16:16; Mark 1:20; 3-11; 14:61; Luke 1:35; John 3:13; 11:27; Acts 8:37.
Although Jesus is the incarnate Son of God, His preferred self-designation during His earthly life and ministry was Son of Man. Some of the Scriptures with Jesus referring to Himself include:
Among the attributes of God in Christ are omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence. According to Wikipedia, in Christian iconography, Christ Pantocrator (Pantokrator) is a specific depiction of Christ, usually translated as "Almighty" or "all-powerful," derived from one of many names of God in Judaism. The Pantokrator, largely an Eastern Orthodox or Eastern Catholic theological concept, is less common under that name in Western (Roman) Catholicism and generally unknown to most Protestants. Christ Pantocrator, in a literal translation, means "Ruler of All," or, less literally, "Sustainer of the World."
The oldest example of Christ Pantocrator portrayed in art is a 6th century A.D. painted wood panel found in St. Catherine's Monastery at Mount Sinai. Another Christ Pantocrator is prominently displayed as a mosaic icon from the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (today's Istanbul, Turkey). This beautiful Byzantine mosaic, a stunning religious image, was uncovered in the 20th century after the ancient church was changed from a mosque into a museum.
Both the birth and death narratives of Jesus, found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, identify Him as Son of God, who would "save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). Details of Jesus' crucifixion in Luke 23:33ff give the following account: When they came to the place called The Skull (Golgotha), there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. But Jesus was saying,
"Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:33-34).
One of the criminals beside the Lord turned to Him saying, "Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!" And He said to him,
"Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise" (Luke 23:42-43).
Now the centurion, and those who were with him, keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, "Truly this was the Son of God!" (Matthew 27:54)
In Luke's birth narrative of Jesus, the shepherds, tending their sheep outside Bethlehem, saw the glory of the Lord shining around them, and an angel of the Lord saying, "...today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:8-11). By contrast, in Matthew 2:1-12, wise men or Magi from the East came inquiring, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him."
Despite the naysayers and arguments by those who have questioned the existence or authenticity of a historical Jesus, there remains a strong consensus in historical-critical biblical scholarship that a historical Jesus did live in Galilee, serve throughout the surrounding environs, and die outside the gates of Jerusalem in that first-century time period.
The overwhelming evidence of the reality of the incomparable Christ (Messiah) proves beyond a reasonable doubt the fact that the Jesus who lived, died on the cross, and rose from the dead--victorious over life and death--is the eternal Son of God, Son of Man.
This, likewise, is our hope and the promise of eternal life through the victory of the resurrection. The apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15:53-57, declares the saying that is written:
"Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death where is your sting?"
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the final message of the Apostle John, Jesus proclaims in Revelation 22:13--
"I am the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."
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