We have been given the answer as to how Jesus became true Man. It is in the first three “steps” down from the place of glorious majesty to this earth:
1 He was in the form of God, in no way less than God.
2 He made Himself of no reputation.
3 He took on the form of a Servant, submitting to the will of His Father.
What was the “will of God” regarding the Incarnation of the Son? The answer is in Heb. 10:5-10. To begin with, it was God’s will that He have a body. As God, He did not have a body because God is Spirit (Jn. 4:24) and a spirit does not have flesh and bones as Jesus had (Lk. 24:39). Then Hebrews says that with that body the Son came to do the Father’s will. The rest of the “steps” down in Phil. 2:5-8 tell us about this “will” of God:
4 He came in the likeness of Man (the exact image; truly Man).
5 He humbled Himself.
6 He became obedient to death (obedient to the Father).
7 Even the death of the cross.
Hebrews says God’s will was not that Jesus be a “priest of Israel,” who would offer sacrifices at the temple. God had something infinitely and eternally greater in mind, that the Son would use His body to be the ultimate, once-for-all sacrifice for sin. Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed (1 Pt. 2:24).
The question we want to ask and answer from Scripture is this: to what extent did God take on humanity? As we said before, for God to take on humanity was not an easy thing. So, how far did He go to be what we are?
· The FACT of His humanity. The Bible makes it clear that God became Man! He assumed a second nature. Consider the following.
o John 1:1,14: The Word, who was God, became flesh and dwelt among us.
o Rom. 8:3: God sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. This is the same term “likeness” as in Phil. 2:7. Jesus did not become sinful because that is not essential to being Human. Adam was human before he sinned. What Paul says here is that all humans were sinful, and Jesus was Human just like all those who have populated the earth.
o Heb. 2:14: Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same.
o John, in 1 Jn. 1:1-2, again stresses the fact of Jesus’ Humanity: That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life—the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us.
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