Full Identity

Full Identity

Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. . . . Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested. Hebrews 2:14, 18

It must have been a tough assignment to go from being the Son of God on His Father’s right hand to being a regular guy on earth. Being next to the Father had to be a much more comfortable setting than Jesus experienced here. Having to deal with those who heard Him and still didn’t believe and regularly squaring off with the Pharisees and Sadducees had to have been hard.

But think how much more helpful Jesus’ human experiences were for us. I’ve seen that to be certainly true in the football world with players. When my teams had former players come in and talk about some of the challenges players would face when they were done playing, it resonated more than if I or another coach were telling them. The fact that those guys had walked in their shoes really carried weight.

Jesus had to endure so much more than simply becoming human and walking in our shoes. Beatings, scourging, a crown of thorns, spittle, cursing, and then being hanged on a cross. Three days later He would rise out of a damp, dirty, and stone-cold tomb.

The truth is that if someone other than Christ had come and done all of that and more, it wouldn’t have had the same impact. We would have been eternally lost if He had not done all of that. The argument that says “if He had just done this or if they had just done that, Christ would not have had to die for us” doesn’t hold water.

Wrong theology.

God’s plan was to save His people. Following the law of Moses couldn’t do it; the practice of animal sacrifices in the Old Testament had to be done on a regular basis because they didn’t provide eternal pardon from humanity’s sin. The only way God could eternally pardon us was through His Son—Jesus Christ.

Jesus became a flesh-and-blood man, a human being with similar desires and passions to us, except for one difference: He was without sin. In His humanity He identified with us, but more than that, we identified with Him. And that drew us closer to Him—a blessed place to be.

Uncommon Key > God can have a relationship with you because of what His Son, Jesus Christ, was willing to do. Jesus became a human being who suffered and died for your sin. Thank Him today for what He endured to make that happen.