Jay Tidwell.
What Kind of Man was Jesus?
Jesus Christ was uniquely 100 percent God, and 100 percent man...at the same time. Paul explained, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being found in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." (Phil. 2:5-8)
John began his account of the life of Christ by reminding us of His fully God/fully man nature: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men....And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." (John 1:1-4, 14).
Jesus referred to Himself in such a way to emphasize His humanity. He explained His mission to Zacchaeus: "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10).
As someone observed, Jesus was as divine as His Father, and as human as His mother.
In Mark's account of the life of Christ, he records some events from Jesus' earthly ministry which defined the kind of man He was. These events were witnessed by His disciples and other onlookers, whose reactions give us a better understanding of the manner of Man that Jesus was.
The "manner" of a person is their character or habit. It is the kind of person they really are.
i. The "manner" of John the Baptist - Lk:1:66 - "And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be! And the hand of the Lord was with him."
We ought to expect great things of young people, because they know what we expect of them, and they will live up (or down) to what we expect.
ii. We can forget what "manner" of person we are:
Jms:1:24 - "For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was."
That is, we can forget the real person God's word reveals us to be: flawed, weak, poor, dying, mortal.
THREE PASSAGES IN THE BOOK OF MARK TELL US ABOUT WHAT MANNER, OR KIND, OF MAN JESUS IS:
I. JESUS IS A MAN WHO CAN CONQUER THE GREATEST FOES (MARK 1:23-27).
Jesus drove a demon out of a man who was in the synagogue in Capernaum. What impressed the people so greatly was that Jesus handily defeated an enemy they could not overcome with their mightiest efforts.
Mark especially emphasizes demon possession in his gospel account. Jesus is shown as the servant with power over Satan and his agents.
In Mark 5:4, Jesus cast out demons from one that "no man could tame."
Here is how the accounts fit together: Jesus meets the head of the demon world, Satan, and is victorious; then Jesus repeatedly defeats his agents, time after time: Jesus is the master over Satan and his coworkers.
There is no evil so great that Jesus cannot help us to overcome it, if we will follow Him:
In I Tim. 1:8-11, Paul lists specific evils that God's word is designed to conquer. There is no sin that can bind us so tightly or ruin our lives so badly but that the grace of God and the word of God can heal us and get us on the right track if we will submit to it. The Lord has a way of escape prepared for us, if we will only take it (I Cor. 10:13).
II. JESUS IS A MAN WHO CAN CALM THE GREATEST FEARS (MARK 4:35-41).
While crossing the Sea of Galilee, a storm arises and the disciples are terrified. They see that Jesus is asleep and they are certain they are going into the sea...and it looks like the Lord doesn't care at all. There are many time that it doesn't seem like the Lord is paying attention to us and our weak faith, like the disciples in this passage, shows itself in our questioning the ways of God.
This must have been on unordinary kind of storm, because there were professional fishermen aboard who were beside themselves with fear.
Jesus exercises power over the storm. With a word, He controls the weather. Remember Matt. 5:46 - God controls the sunshine and the rain.
What Christ does to the storm around those disciples is the same He will do for the storms, as it were, that might rage around us and inside us. Christianity is a religion of the mind, body, and the emotions.
Jesus Christ is one who eases, calms our fears.
By carefully looking to Jesus and His cross, we are called to see that while all seems lost, the Lord is still in control. He has a design. Read Rom 8:28 and Matt. 6:33.
What fears can consume us? Fear of the weather, death, failure, dark, loss, embarrassment, shame, rejection, sickness, loneliness.
One of the purposes of Christ coming was to defeat the devil and free us from fear (Heb. 2:14-15).
As Jesus calmed the storm, He asked, why are you so afraid? why do you have so little faith? This was really one question: won't you let your fear be replaced by faith?
God's word, taken to heart and obeyed, produces boldness, love, and a sound mind (II Tim. 1:7).
III. JESUS IS A MAN WHO CAN CONFER THE GREATEST FORTUNE (MARK 14:39).
The centurion who witnessed the crucifixion of Jesus drew his own conclusion about what kind of man Jesus was: the Son of God.
This is a fact to be believed by each one of us. God sent Him to save the world (John 3:16) The Father expects us to believe in Him. I John 3:23 - "And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his son Jesus Christ, and love one another." This must be fully believed to be ready for baptism (see Acts 8:37).
If someone does not believe with the heart that Jesus is the Son of God, there is nothing else they can do that will matter. It does not matter how many bad things they straighten out as if they have repented. It does not matter how many times they are immersed in water as if they are being baptized. Don't be confused here: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved," Jesus said in Mark 16:16, but keep reading: "but he that believeth not shall be damned." If you do not believe that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of the Almighty God of Heaven there is nothing else you can do to make up for your unbelief. Jesus said, "I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins" (John 8:24).
The Lord can conquer all foes and calm all fears, but He can do none of this for us if we hold back any of our faith.
Jesus is our way to commune with the Father (John 14:6) Only through Him can we have peace with God. Romans 5:1-2 - "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom we also have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God."
Paul wrote, I Tim. 2:5-6 - For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." What an amazing man Jesus was!
Being found in the fashion of a man, Jesus humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, (Phil. 2:8). Jesus suffered death in order to open for us the door of salvation. That's the kind of Man He was.