Lesson 4: Who Is Jesus? (part 2)

Read: John 1:1-14 - www.bible.com/bible/59/joh.1.esv

There are some things that are true about Jesus which cannot be said about God the Father or the Holy Spirit. Jesus, when He took on human form, did so for the rest of eternity. He gave up His omnipresence so He could be something He had never been before, our Redeemer. Jesus, completely God, gave up a part of who He was to become something no one else had ever been or ever could be – the One who could bring sinful man back to God.

Jesus’ role as Redeemer was one He took freely at some point in eternity past, before the creation of time and space. God knew man would sin because He had decided to allow sin into His perfect realm and He gave mankind the right to choose. It was the only way He could ever display His perfect attributes of grace and mercy. Jesus offered to become the sacrifice which would be necessary to save mankind from the death-sentence sin would impose on us. Jesus offered to die so we can live.

The book of Hebrews paints a beautiful picture of what it meant for Jesus to be our Redeemer. In the Old Testament we are given descriptions of the tabernacle and the priesthood as God instituted them for the nation of Israel. In the New Testament book we are shown how they were pictures of what Jesus would do in His role of Redeemer. The sacrifice on the altar and the blood carried through the tabernacle into the Holy of Holies showed what Jesus' work on the cross would mean for us. Hebrews shows us Jesus is both the sacrifice and the High Priest. He both died and also carried His blood into the presence of God.


Jesus is also called our High Priest (Hebrews 4:14-16). In the Old Testament, the High Priest was the one who represented the people before God. Then, no one else could approach God except for this one man. Jesus did/is doing this for us. But He went one step farther: He tore down the veil of separation between man and God so all who come through Him may now do so freely. But the Bible says there is one more aspect of being a High Priest – He must be someone who understands the frailties and tears of those He represents. Jesus was able to do this because He became fully human, just like we are, so He could experience our weaknesses.

Here are more verses where God and Jesus are both described as being something, the first verse says it of God the Father, and the second of Jesus the Son. What are they described as being?
* 1 Kings 8:27; Acts 17:24-28
* Genesis 17:1; 2 Corinthians 6:18;
* Psalm 139:16; Matthew 11:20