13.1 What Is Jesus of Nazareth?
© 2016 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons (Galatians 4:4-5).
Jesus was not God. (There is one God, the Father.) – God cannot be tempted by evil (James 1:13) – Jesus was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 3:15). Jesus was the appearance of God in the unfolding of time and space. Jesus was God-revealed, that is, a Man.
God sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh (Romans 8:3b). – The appearance of Judgment in space and time.
Walk as Jesus Walked
Our purpose in this session is to understand, not who Jesus is inside of us, but what He was in the likeness of sinful flesh as He walked this earth. This is of great importance to us, for we are the same as He; we cannot walk as Jesus walked unless we know what He was and how He walked.
Let’s place our own path clearly before our eyes. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked (1 John 2:4-6).
Taking God Seriously
Walk just as Jesus walked. Do you do this? Does anyone do this, including those who preach perfect obedience? Can we do such a thing?
How can we walk JUST AS Jesus walked unless we also are just like Him? And we cannot say, “Well, I’m just trusting Jesus, and I’ll go to heaven after I die.” John is clear and specific. If we are NOT walking exactly as Jesus walked, then we are NOT abiding in Him, we do not know Him, and we will be cut off as branches and burned.
For some reason, I’ve always taken God seriously, I don’t know how else to take Him.
Life or Death
And so, you see, what is Jesus of Nazareth and how did this Jesus of Nazareth walk are not academic questions, but for us a matter of life or death.
And my largest grief with those who preach outward obedience is that they are inherently dishonest, and their dishonesty does not bother them. Those who preach outward obedience do not take God seriously because they never consider the fact that they, in fact, are NOT walking just exactly as Jesus walked, regardless of all their boasting in what they do not do.
Anyone who is trying to walk as Jesus walked is not. Jesus never tried, not once.
Jesus
You see, there is only one Person who knows what Jesus is and how He walked, only One who can walk as He. That Person is Jesus of Nazareth, the One who lives in my heart and now walks me all the way through death and into life.
But let’s return to Jesus as He walked this earth. What was He and how did He walk?
Jesus was born in the likeness of sinful flesh, but He did not walk by sinful flesh. Jesus was born under the law, but He did not walk by the law. Jesus kept the law, but He did not consider the law to obey it.
Jesus’ Construction
Let’s consider Jesus in His construction. Jesus is and has always been a human inside of the Father, yet He has neither beginning nor end, that is, because the Father is all here now, Jesus is all here now. Jesus possesses all the characteristics of the Father as He abides IN the Father.
Jesus is the pattern of our construction; if we are humans, then we are made according to His definition. More than that, Jesus, in His birth, became just like us as we are born a second time. We know what we are ONLY by knowing what He was, yet we are more than what He was, we are as He is (1 John 4:17).
The Equation
Here’s the point. We cannot talk about Jesus without talking about ourselves and vice versa. I in you and you in Me. This equation cannot work without Jesus AND us.
Now, you and I do not share the Father’s characteristics as Jesus does, because we cannot be directly in the Father. If we found ourselves directly in the Father, we would be fried crisp. We are in the Father only inside of Jesus. Yet Jesus clearly placed the equation “I in you and you in Me” as exactly the same thing as His “I am in the Father and the Father in Me.”
A Curious Mix
Since we cannot separate Jesus and us, let’s focus on what Jesus was in this lesson and how He walked in the next. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14a). –Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
I am convinced that Jesus’ flesh is now our flesh, that on the Day of Pentecost, Jesus transferred His body to ours, that we are His body now. Yet Jesus remains utterly human. Jesus, however, was a curious mix as He walked this earth. Jesus was as Adam was and as Adam should have been, yet He was also more limited than Adam.
Limited by Our Limitations
You see, Adam was as much a part of heaven as he was part of earth. Adam saw all the heavens in which he lived all around him, equally with seeing the earth and stars.
But Jesus took on the likeness of sinful flesh. That means, in part, that He was limited by our limitations; that is, Jesus, though fully aware of the heavens all around Him, could not see those heavens in the way Adam could. Jesus carried our blindness in part.
You see, the heaven/earth in which Adam lived was alive, with no death in it. But the heaven/earth in which Jesus walked was shattered and filled with death.
Corruptible
Let me be kind to myself in writing these two lessons. I have no outline, nor do I find myself seeking an outline. Thus I will continue as I am, just bouncing around without worrying about it.
Jesus was tempted by sin in exactly the same way that we are tempted by sin, which means that Jesus was taken away by His own lusts and enticed. The definition of corruptible is capable of considering sin. The definition of incorruptible is incapable of considering or knowing sin.
It was His being placed under the law that made Jesus capable of considering sin.
Placed Under
Wow. If Jesus had not been placed under the law, He would have been incapable of hearing temptation. By the law is the knowledge of sin. And if Jesus had considered the law to obey it, He would certainly have disobeyed the law. There is no other possibility.
I think that we can make this conclusion regarding Jesus. Prior to His conception inside of Mary, Jesus was incorruptible. After His resurrection from the dead, Jesus was incorruptible. But while Jesus walked in the likeness of sinful flesh, He was fully capable of hearing sin and doing sin. But Jesus was corruptible only because He was placed under the law.
Not Construction, but Placement
This is something I have never seen or known until writing these two subsections.
Jesus’ ability to hear temptation, to be drawn away of His own lusts and enticed, did not come from His construction, for He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, but rather from where He was placed. Jesus could have sinned only because God placed Him under the law. This thought agrees completely with how Jesus became cursed by the law. Jesus did not become the curse by His own actions. Jesus became the curse BECAUSE He was placed on a tree. Cursed is every man who hangs upon a tree (Galatians 3:13).
A Hero Is Known
Jesus’ relationship with sin and death did not come from His construction, but rather, from where He was placed. – That where I am, there you may be also (John 14:3b). Our relationship with sin and death does not come from our construction, but rather, from where we are placed.
Every temptation of Satan came to Jesus out from the Bible. Just because a verse is in the Bible does not mean it is God speaking to you.
Ha! I just realized what must open to us what Jesus was. A hero is known only by the attack of his enemy; what a man is opens up only under assault.
Identity
It is the walk of the Atonement that most shows us the hero, but here we want to look at Jesus and how He walked before that walk.
The assault of the serpent was the same against Jesus as it was against Adam. The serpent attacked Jesus’ identity. And the foundation of the serpent’s attack was the likeness of sinful flesh. “Look at yourself. You cannot possibly be the image of God.”
Wow, Jesus was just like us, wasn’t He? Here is the great evil of the “deification” of Jesus, a topic we will explore soon, placing Jesus far above mankind. Jesus of Nazareth was, in ALL ways, just like us.
Just Like Us
And when I say, Jesus was just like us, I am speaking of us after we are born again. – Therefore, IN ALL THINGS He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God (Hebrews 2:17). Jesus cannot connect us to God unless He first is the same as us in all things and we as Him.
Was Jesus constantly battling an evil nature inside Himself? No! – Then neither are we. Do we walk in utter trust in God, that God alone is directing our steps? Yes! – Then so did Jesus.
Jesus Becomes Us
How do we know what Jesus was or is? Jesus becomes us before we ever could know Him or become like Him. To know Jesus is to know our true selves; to know ourselves for real is to know Jesus.
But there is one HUGE difference between Jesus and us, only one. Jesus was placed UNDER the law, and we are NOT. – Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed (Christ) remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God (1 John 3:9).
A Man Just Like Us
Jesus was placed under the law; therefore, He could consider sin. We have been placed inside of Christ; therefore, as we acknowledge the good things of Christ inside of us, we do not consider sin. Yet we also acknowledge that God has placed us as the transition of Judgment between substance and appearance, that God might transform all appearance through us.
What is Jesus of Nazareth? Jesus is a man just like us, as we are born again, and we are just like Him. Jesus is our connection in all ways with Father.