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“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.”
From the “love” chapter of 1 Corinthians 13, this verse teases a taste of heaven—to know and experience fully. What a joy it is to ponder these things! We experience Jesus, His love for us, through our being born again, and we are given much to help us know about Him, through Scripture.
Jesus was born of a virgin.
Essential to the Christian faith, this reveals Jesus as unique among men. This singular event in history is the communion of divine and human. God become man—three words that tell it well.
Jesus is God.
In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Jesus existed as a member of the trinity before any part of creation was brought to exist (by Him). Jesus is therefore self-existent God, not a creation of any kind. When He came in flesh as a child placed in Mary’s womb, it was in accordance with His own will—no one else can claim that. Jesus submitted to the Father’s plan that He should come, through the “overshadowing” presence of the Holy Spirit upon the virgin Mary, to be a ransom for many sinners.
Jesus came in the flesh.
The mystery of humiliation, Jesus who created all things joined His creation in the most intimate and fragile of ways, becoming a baby boy.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see,
Hail the incarnate Deity
Pleased as man with man to dwell
Jesus, our Emmanuel
And resurrected, Jesus remains with a physical body as He made known to many, including Thomas and the other disciples.
Jesus has no sin.
Spotless. Unblemished. Holy. Perfect Lamb of God. This is Jesus. In contrast to our sin nature, Jesus had no sin nature. Sinless was He though He faced temptation as we do. Jesus was simultaneously fully man and fully God (“hypostatic union”), therefore sin has no place in His being. Jesus committed no sin while here on Earth (or after His ascension, for that matter).
Jesus is eternal life.
Important is the fact that Jesus is man because by His living perfectly the commands of God, He brings a life acceptable to God. No one else has ever done this. His humanity provided Him the setting to live a perfect life; His divinity accomplished it. This is the basis for our forgiveness of sins (He had none to pay for Himself) and our adoption as sons and daughters of God Most High! As Peter proclaimed by the Spirit, “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
I urge you, brothers and sisters, speak often of the mystery and wonder that is Christ Jesus!
- Ponder these things in your heart.
- Take one aspect of Christ and share Him with your children on each car ride you have together.
- Make Jesus the discussion over dinner.
- Comfort the children entrusted to you with Jesus as you tuck them into bed at night.
- Talk with a friend about how great a Savior we have!
- Make Jesus the source of encouragement you give others.
- Proclaim the true, historical Jesus to the lost and the hurting.
- Praise Jesus to His face in prayer!
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