THE IMPORTANCE OF JESUS’ HUMANITY: WHY MUST HE BE A MAN FOREVER

In a previous post, I discussed why it is important that Jesus Christ be Almighty God in the flesh. This post will focus more on the humanity of Jesus Christ, as to why He must be a human being. Orthodox Christian doctrine states that Jesus has two distinct natures that form a hypostatic union of fully God and fully human; that is, the God-man. Jesus was born of the virgin Mary, died on the cross, then was resurrected to life in the same body He died in. Jesus prophesied His own bodily resurrection in John 2:19-21; He actually foretold that He would raise up His own body. In 1 Corinthians 15:35-45, the Bible reveals the nature of that resurrected body, and its a body that is immortal, incorruptible and glorified. The Bible says Jesus is a man right now at 1 Timothy 2:5 and Acts 17:31. In addition, Colossians 2:9 shows that Jesus is fully God dwelling in a bodily form.

The importance of Jesus' humanity is affirmed by the doctrines of the Virgin Birth and the Bodily Resurrection, because Jesus took on a perfect, sinless human nature through His virgin birth and He had to be resurrected bodily from the dead in order to retain His humanity as our eternal King and High Priest. If Jesus were an angel, then He would not qualify to be humanity's Mediator, Intercessor and Advocate because angels cannot represent the human race, since they are an entirely different order of creation from humans. Angels were designed to exist without a body, while humans were designed to be a dichotomy of body and soul; therefore humans are incomplete without a body (Ecclesiastes 12:7; Matthew 10:28). In addition, humans were created with more of the image of God than angels were (Genesis 1:26, 27). Furthermore, God has not provided a means of salvation for fallen angels, but God has indeed provided a means of salvation for fallen human beings through Jesus Christ (Hebrews 2:16). Jesus would not have been able to provide a perfect atonement for humanity’s sins unless He possessed a complete human nature.

Now, why is it important that Jesus be a human being for all eternity? First of all, Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, but why was Jesus baptized if He was a perfect and sinless man who never needed to repent? In Matthew 3:15, Jesus Himself said He needed to be baptized in order to fulfill all righteousness; that is, to fulfill all that is required under the OT Law and the Prophets. It was foretold that Jesus would be a King and a High Priest forever after the order of Melkizedeck (Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 7:21). With reference to the priesthood, Jesus had to be appointed a priest in accordance with the requirements of Exodus 29, Numbers 4 and Numbers 8. Those three chapters require that a priest be at least 30 years old, be sprinkled or anointed with oil and receive a formal blessing. Jesus was 30 years old at the time of His baptism (Luke 3:23), the anointing with oil was marked by Jesus' receiving the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, and Jesus received a formal blessing from God the Father who announced Jesus as the Son of God. Jesus' water baptism was the sprinkling that comes with the priestly appointment (Matthew 3:16, 17). All of these events placed Jesus in the position of High Priest. Can a person be High Priest without being a man? The answer is No. All the rituals, protocols and duties of High Priest applied the human priesthood of the nation of Israel; it did not apply to angels or other spirits.

If Jesus permanently lost His humanity after death as some religious groups claim, then the promises of God regarding the Messiah's destiny as eternal King and High Priest were not fulfilled. God promised that the Messiah would be a man of the woman's seed (Genesis 3:15), as well as Abraham's seed, Jacob's seed, Judah's seed and David's seed (Matthew 1:1-17; Hebrews 2:16-18). The Messiah was prophesied to be of Jewish descent, but if Jesus is no longer a man, then He is no longer of the seed of the Woman, and is no longer a Jew who descended from Abraham and David. God said that the seed would remain forever to both rule and intercede as King and High Priest forever. Jesus referred to Himself as the Root and the Offspring of David in Revelation 22:16. If Jesus gave up His humanity after His death, and was transformed into Michael the Archangel or some other kind of spirit creature (as Jehovah's Witnesses teach), then Jesus is no longer the Offspring of David; He no longer possesses David's biological genetic material within Himself. That would mean that David will not have an eternal descendant inheriting his throne to reign forever and ever.

According to Christian apologist Matt Slick (2003), Jesus absolutely MUST be a man at the present time in order to hold the office of King and High Priest forever. Matt Slick says:

"It is biblically correct to say that Jesus is a man right now in heaven--though a glorified man. But, it would be wrong to say He was only a man. He is both divine and human in nature at the same time (Colossians 2:9); He is both God and man right now. Furthermore, Jesus' humanity now is important for two reasons. First, this is what the Bible teaches. Second, as a man, Jesus is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. As a priest He forever intercedes for us.——'Where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.' (Hebrews 6:20). [and another scripture] 'Hence, also, He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.' (Hebrews 7:25).——In order to be a priest, Jesus has to be a man. A spirit cannot be a priest after the order of Melchizedek; and if Jesus is not a man now, He could not hold His priesthood, and He could not be forever interceding for us. Therefore, to deny Jesus' present humanity is to deny His priesthood and His intercession on our behalf. Without His intercession, we are lost." (paragraphs 2-5).

Cults and aberrant Christian groups have a habit of distorting the truth about Jesus Christ's being the one and only Mediator between God and all humankind (1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 8:6). Some of these groups will declare that Jesus is Mediator only to a small group of people among the human race, instead of all humankind. This is in addition to them denying or undermining the fact that Jesus is the God-man, fully God and fully human. On an episode discussing the bodily resurrection of Christ, Pastor Agustin Astacio (2016) said on his Healing X Outreach program that Jesus Christ has to represent both parties; He has to represent humanity, and He has to represent God. Thus Jesus' two natures reconciles both God and humanity in one Person. The words "reconciliation," "propitiation" and "atonement" (at-one-ment) partly describes humanity's becoming one with God through the Person and work of Christ Jesus. This restores the relationship between God and humanity that was broken because of sin (Romans 5:8-11). Therefore, in order to reconcile humanity and divinity, Jesus must be part of both in order to bring them together. He must be the one who is bringing them together, and He must also be God forgiving the other party (humanity) as the One who was offended (God). So that is why Jesus had to be fully God and fully man.

In order for Jesus to qualify as our eternal Mediator, Advocate and Intercessor (1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 7:22-25; 9:24; 1 John 2:1), He must be an eternal member of the human race as a representative of the human race. We see this principle applied all the time in politics. For example, Indonesia's ambassador to the United Nations is a representative of the Indonesian people because he/she is a current citizen of Indonesia. He or she must be an Indonesian individual, whether native-born or legally immigrated. In the United States Congress, a senator or congressman for any specific state must currently be either a native or naturalized citizen of that state. The U.S. President must be a native-born citizen of the United States; that individual must be an American himself. With these analogies in mind, we can appreciate the fact that the physically resurrected Jesus Christ has entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us, sitting at God the Father's right hand as our eternal King, Mediator, Advocate, High Priest and Intercessor. Jesus cannot express perfect sympathy for human sinners in all their temptations and afflictions unless He is a human being Himself acting as High Priest (Hebrews 2:18, 18; 4:15). "Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation." (Hebrews 9:28). "[God] has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man [Jesus] whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead." (Acts 17:31). In the mean time, as we await the Great Day of the Lord, "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:16). 


REFERENCES
Slick, Matthew. (2003). Jesus is a man. Retrieved on August 3, 2016 from the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry: http://carm.org/jesus-is-a-man

Astacio, Agustin. (2016, July 23). BTR Guest: Dr. Ron Rhodes - What is the Biblical View of the Bodily Resurrection? Retrieved on August 3, 2016 from Healing X Outreach: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/healingxoutreach/2016/07/23/btr-guestdr-ron-rhodes--what-is-the-biblical-view-of-the-bodily-resurrection

HOW THE GOD-MAN NATURE OF CHRIST MAKES THE ATONEMENT SUFFICIENT

The Watchtower Society of Jehovah's Witnesses rejects the infinite sacrifice of Jesus Christ as a result of their denying the full deity of Jesus Christ. The Bible emphasizes that, in order for Jesus' death on the Cross to be sufficient enough to pay for all of our sins, Jesus must have two natures: God and human, both being perfect and without blemish. Jesus must be a perfect human because it was humanity who sinned from Adam's fall from perfection onward; but Jesus must also be God because humanity's sins are an infinite offense against an infinite, holy God. On page 15 of their 1988 brochure Should You Believe In the Trinity?, the Watchtower admitted that, if Jesus were a God-man at the time of His death, the ransom payment would have been INFINITE. However, the Watchtower was wrong when they said the Godhead's "ransom price would have been infinitely higher than what God's own Law required." Actually, the ransom payment made by the God-man CORRESPONDED PERFECTLY to humanity's infinite debt of sins to the holy God. The infinite payment was perfectly sufficient to cover ALL sins, both Adamic sin and personal sins (1 John 1:7; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:13, 14; 2:13-15), and that's why Jesus was resurrected from the dead to reign over us as the Son of God, our Lord, King, Savior, Mediator and High Priest forever (Romans 1:1-4; 4:23-25; 1 Timothy 2:5, 6; Romans 3:23-26; Hebrews 9:11-15). Yes, Jesus' ransom payment on the Cross had to be an infinite payment from the God-man. Isaiah 64:6 and Philippians 3:2-8 show that even a sinner's most righteous deeds are like "filthy rags" or "dung" that would never be sufficient enough to merit God's salvation, even if Jesus' ransom were a partial payment. Furthermore, as Jesus the God-man, Almighty God alone gets 100% of the credit, glory and praise for saving sinners through redemption. According to Psalm 3:8 and Jonah 2:9, salvation is of the Lord (Yahweh/Jehovah); plus the name Yeshua or Jesus means "Yahweh saves." We could rightly say that, in the person of Jesus Christ, God saves us for Himself (for His own glory); God saves us by Himself (through His incarnation in Christ); and God saves us from Himself (from His wrath and punishment incurred by our sins).

Page 15 of Should You Believe in the Trinity?, 

formerly published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1988.

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In the 2005 documentary THE MARKS OF A CULT, Jerry Johnson of the Nicene Council Ministries gave the following critique of Christ's ransom sacrifice and why cults insist on denying Christ's deity:

"What or who was dying on the Cross? Just a man, a good man? According to the cults, He was not the God-man that was articulated by Constantinople in 381 AD or in Chalcedon in 451 AD. When you're in a cult, you don't have the God-man, God the Son, dying on the Cross. Instead, you've got a man devoid of deity, and therefore the payment could not be an infinite payment to pay the cost of an infinitely offended God . . .This has been the attack of Satan, the archenemy of the Church, because to downplay the deity of Christ is to ultimately surrender the doctrine of justification. Now why is that? We must remember that God is holy, holy, holy; He is a thrice holy God. Our mildest sin offends Him greatly. I mean, if you think about it, Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil when God told them not to do it but they did anyway. How many times have my children gotten a cookie when I told them not to, and they went and got one anyway? Well I don't treat them the way that God treated Adam and Eve. That's not because God is a mean ogre; its because He is holy and I am not. And so even the smallest sin greatly offends God. God doesn't wink at our sin; God is offended by it. God doesn't even want to look upon us because we are not perfectly reflecting the character of being made in His image. And when we think about that, and we think about the fact that Christ came as deity to die in our place, that is because our sins are an infinite offense to the infinite nature of God, and, therefore, an infinite payment had to be made, and we couldn't make it. So to take away the deity of Christ does what? It opens up the door. You've got a satisfaction that is not a full satisfaction, but its only a partial satisfaction, and, therefore, something else has to be added to it. And that's what the cults always do. None of them believe in justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. They always add some works to salvation. Christ's work is not complete because Christ is not deity . . .When you deny the doctrine of the Trinity, you are ultimately going to end up at a place where you have works salvation. And the United Pentecostals, or any other cultic group, is ultimately going to lead their followers down a path where they are going to have to add something to the work of Christ." --- JERRY JOHNSON, Nicene Council Ministries, 2005.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4oglJuF5aE

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The following is an excerpt from Paul Washer's sermon WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?:

"You see, someone had to bear your guilt. Someone had to bear your sin. I have heard people say, 'Well, you know what? God looked all through heaven and there was no angel willing. He looked all through earth and there was no man able.' (Psalm 21:1-6). That is absolutely preposterous. If all the angels in heaven had been willing, it would not have paid the price. You see, the one who died there had to be a man. It is man who sinned. It is man who must die. God became man. He became our brother, our elder brother is what Hebrews is about. He became one of us. He identified with us and was able to go to that tree on our behalf. One time I was preaching at a university and this student stood up and he said, 'I have got a question for you.' He goes, 'How is it that one man can suffer for a few hours on that tree and yet pay the price for a multitude of men and save them from an eternity in hell?' I said, 'Young man, there is only one way, because that one man who was on that cross was worth more than all the men put together.' You take everything that there is, mountains and mole hills, crickets and clowns, stars and angels and suns and planets and moons and mountains and streams, everything beautiful and you put it on this side of the scale and you put Jesus on the other and he outweighs them all. He could do that because of his infinite worth." --- PAUL DAVID WASHER, 10/28/2010

Source: https://www.gospell.org/what-is-the-gospel-sermon-paul-washer/

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The following is an excerpt from Paul Washer's sermon THE GREATEST WORDS IN ALL OF SCRIPTURE:

Now, let’s talk about the death of Christ for a moment. We know that the one who dies on that tree must be a man. We know that, don’t we? ---Because the blood of bulls and goats will not take away our sin. (Hebrew 10:4). It is Adam who has sinned. It is Adam’s race that is fallen. It is a son of Adam who must die in the place of the guilty. We know that. A man must die on that tree. But then, again, more than a man must die on that tree. The one who dies on that tree must also be God. And let’s look at this for just a moment. Let’s just look.

Why must the one who dies on that tree be deity, be God in the flesh, be God the Son, the Son of God? Why? Well, first of all, a small statement in the book of Jonah. “Salvation is of the LORD.” (Jonah 2:9). Isaiah is quite clear. God shares the title of Savior with no one. (Isaiah 43:11). That is why the doctrine of the Jehovah’s Witnesses is such an abomination, because they say that God created an innocent creature to go down and save men, to put away sin. And if that is the case, then it is a creature that has saved us. But what you need to understand is Christ was no creature, but the Creator, the eternal Son of God who stepped down out of heaven, did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped (Philippians 2:6), but came down from heaven. He did not lay aside His deity. He laid aside the glory and privilege of His deity. He did not become something less than God, but He became something God had never been. He took to His divine nature human nature. He took to Himself flesh and He became a man. And He went to that tree as the God-man and He died on that tree as the God-man and He rose again from the dead as the God-man. And the one that we call Savior is not just man, but He is God. And so the words of Jonah remain intact. “Salvation is of the LORD.” (Jonah 2:9).

Why is it that the one on that tree must be God? Just look at this for a moment. The one on the tree must lay down His life. You say, “Well, a man can do that.” I reply, “No, he can’t.” You say, “An angel can do that.” My reply is, “No, he can’t.” Why? Let’s say you need a car and I am driving one I have borrowed from the pastor. And I see your great need so I give you the pastor’s car. I have not given you my life. I have not given you my car. I have given you something borrowed from another. From where does the life of a man come? It comes from God. Angels, do they have life inherent in themselves? No. But Jesus said, “I have authority to lay down this life of Mine and take it up again.” (John 10:18). The one who dies on that tree must lay down His life, not life borrowed from another, real life. Why must the one on that tree be God? Who else but God can withstand the wrath of God and rise again? The mountains melt before the wrath of God. The rivers dry up before the wrath of God. Nations are destroyed before the wrath of God. One day all, the universe will be dissolved into fire by the wrath of God. Who but God can withstand the wrath of God and rise again? Why must the one on that tree be God? I was speaking at a university years ago and after speaking, question and answer, this student stood up. He was kind of angry. And he said, “I have got a problem for you, preacher.” I said, “OK.” “How can one man suffer for a few short hours on that tree and pay for the sins of a multitude of men and save them from an eternity in hell? It is un-right.” And I began to cry. I said, “Young man, thank you for asking that question, because the answer is my most favorite answer. That one man could suffer for a few short hours on that tree, and save a multitude of men from an eternity in hell because that one man was worth more than all of them put together.” 

When theologians talk about the perfect sacrifice of Christ they are not just saying He was sinless. They are also talking about the infinite value of the life given. You take a gigantic cosmic scale. You put everything in it that you can find. You put stars and galaxies, suns and moons and planets and earth, mountains and molehills, moths and men, crickets and clangs, everything you can find, dusts and rocks of granite, everything you can find of creation and you put it in a scale and you put Jesus on the other side and He outweighs them all. It is His value. He is God. His worth cannot be valued nor can it be emptied or compared. You see the preciousness of Christ? Someone had to die there that was a man. Someone had to die there that was God. And Christ fulfills both of those. --- PAUL DAVID WASHER, 9/30/2007

Source: http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_65011d9e0102v4q0.html