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