Tucked away in the profound truth that God came to us is an even more astounding truth that He came as us. John 1:14 So the Word became human and made His home among us.
Our thoughts of Jesus are usually filled with His teachings, wisdom and miracles. We tend to focus on His divinity. But while Jesus was fully God, He was also fully man. He had a human body and human emotions, just like us. The Bible gives us a lot of insight into His human experience and shows that He subjected Himself to choices, difficulties, trials and heartaches by choosing to become a human.
For example, He experienced family problems. His family thought He was out of His mind and didn’t believe in Him. (Mark 3 & John 7)
He experienced loss and grief when His cousin John the Baptist was brutally murdered and His friend Lazarus died. (Matthew 14 & John 11)
He faced temptation. When He was physically and emotionally drained, the devil whispered lies into His ear, trying to seduce Him into walking away from God and His own identity. (Matthew 4)
He was rejected. The community – neighbors, friends and extended family who watched Him grow from a sweet little boy to a skilled carpenter to a renowned Rabbi – violently rejected Him. (Luke 4)
He was hated. The Pharisees and religious leaders despised Him, lied about Him, conspired against Him, and eventually killed Him. (Matthew 12)
He struggled with choice – choosing His own will verses the will of Abba. (Luke 23)
He experienced the heart break of betrayal from a beloved friend who handed Him over for execution. (Matthew 26)
He suffered humiliation at being stripped naked publicly. (Matthew 27)
He encountered excruciating pain as He journeyed to the cross. Torture and torment doesn’t begin to describe what He experienced. (John 19)
God came as us and faced the everyday commonalities of humanity. He lived the full human experience. Hebrews 4:15 says that He ….understands our weaknesses, for He faced all of the same testings we do….. And Hebrews 2:14 and 18 says ….it was necessary for Him to be made in every respect like us…. and Since He Himself has gone through suffering and testing, He is able to help us when we are being tested.
He came as us to be like us in every way. As a human, Jesus faced everything we face. He endured everything we endure. He encountered all the same struggles we encounter. Whether He lived it as a human or felt it on the cross, there is not one thing that we will ever experience that He did not also endure.
He did not come as us in order to figure us out. He did not come as us in order to understand us so He could relate to us or know how to help us. He did not come as us that He could determine how to handle us. He did not come as us for His education or benefit.
He came as us so that WE would understand that He DOES know us, does understand us and can relate to us. He came as us so that we could understand He is not a distant and un-involved God who is ignorant of our feelings, thought processes and experiences. He came as us to show us that He is very personal and relates to every situation and experience we could ever find ourselves in.
He came as us so that we would trust Him and follow Him to God.
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