Who is Jesus? What do we know about Him? What was His role? We may often think of Jesus in a manger or on the cross, but we know less about Him as our high priest/mediator and the incarnate Word of God.
From Scripture we know that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary (Matthew 1:18-23) and that He perfectly revealed and did the will of God when He took upon himself human nature and lived His life without sin. We know that Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life and that no other human has lived a perfect life and met every requirement of God’s law. By fulfilling His purpose and coming to earth in human form, He was able to become a sacrifice for our sin.
You may have heard the term High Priest, also called an advocate or mediator. Jesus serves as our High Priest before the Father. He mediates before the Father and explains that we are worthy because of His sacrifice.
When we say that Jesus is the Incarnate God, we are saying that Jesus, who is God, took on a human nature. Just like it is hard to think about each member of the Trinity being fully God and yet there is one God, it is hard to think that Jesus was fully human and fully God. Although it is hard to wrap our human minds around this truth, it is a very encouraging and comforting truth in our Christian life.
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’
Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. (Matthew 4:1-11)
I know what you are thinking … of course it was easy for Jesus not to sin, He is God! Although Jesus is fully God and fully man, when He faced temptation, He faced it in the same manner as you would. He faced it as a human. Jesus didn’t overcome temptations in a divine way, but used the same outlets that you as a believer have to overcome temptation: the Holy Spirit and God’s Word. Each time that Satan came at Him with an attack, Jesus used specific Scripture to respond. Jesus did not use anything to overcome Satan’s temptations that a believer today does not have access to.
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Questions to Ponder:
How do I view Jesus? Do I view Him only as a baby in a manger or do I view Him God incarnate the second person of the Trinity?
Do I know enough of God’s Word to be able to fend off the attacks of the enemy?
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