Lesson 157. God the Son—Representative of Love

Who is Jesus? Who was He before His birth in a human body? Is He God? These and similar questions have lately been stirring the church and the minds of many of God’s children, causing them to reconsider the foundations of their faith, examine the questions mentioned, and find answers to them.

Truth will not cease to be truth if we test it. The Bible will not suffer if I begin to dig into it and seek a firm foundation for my faith and, having found it, build my life upon it.

While no one denies the Divinity of the Father, and there are not even any particular attacks directed against Him, matters are different with Jesus. It was precisely He and His Divine status that aroused the envy of the anointed cherub Lucifer, who raised a rebellion in Heaven and led a third of the angels astray. And now the entire conflict has moved to our planet. Unfortunately, the first people supported Satan by breaking God’s prohibition, and sin entered the world.

The Bible describes this event in Revelation 12:7–9: ‘And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.’

Jesus, the Son of God, is the Eternal God, having no beginning. He Himself is the Beginning of everything that exists in the Universe. Jesus, being equal with the Father, created our world in six days. He is the Fullness of Knowledge and the True Image of the Father. Before our Lord was born on Earth, He was not called the Son, nor was He called Jesus Christ. He received these earthly names when He was born into our world, and He became the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as we know Him.

The great mystery of the incarnation of the Eternal God as man still remains a mystery to most people. From history we know that many people wanted to become gods, but that God should desire to become man—this is an incomprehensible mystery that can be discovered only through the power of the Holy Spirit. This is a fact that is comprehended by faith and accepted by those who seek God and desire to know His Wisdom and Power.

So that I may be understood, I will call the Savior by the name familiar to us. Being equal with God, our Lord Jesus occupied in Heaven the place of Representative of the Divine plans before the entire Universe. Through Him it was created. We read in John 1:1–3: ‘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.’

When Adam sinned, sin separated humanity from God, but the plan of Salvation, which had been adopted in the Heavenly council and approved by the Father, came into effect, and from that moment Christ became the Mediator between God and the sinner. Through Jesus the way was opened to repentance, forgiveness, and freedom from the power of sin and Satan. It was the Lord Who came to Adam with the question, ‘Where art thou?’ It was He Who spoke with Abraham and Moses. Through Him the law was given, and from Him the prophets received messages for the people.

The plan of Salvation was gradually revealed to the world in symbols, and step by step the culmination of its fulfillment drew nearer. All the sacrificial animals pointed to the better, true Sacrifice, and it was precisely to this Sacrifice that the attention of all God’s people was directed. But many were blinded by the temptations of the world and did not recognize their Redeemer.

And then a miracle took place! The Eternal God, having no Beginning, the Creator of all things, became man; He became the Seed promised even to Adam. He passed from conception to birth according to all known laws. After He was born, He was named Jesus. He became a man like us, developing according to all the laws of nature. From His very birth, the Savior depended upon His parents. He learned about life while sitting on His mother’s lap and listened to the truths and ordinances that He Himself had given to Israel and the prophets. Jesus became a perfect man, experiencing the same difficulties that are inherent in human beings. He experienced the same feelings that we have and, as a man, solved many of the problems that also confront us. Therefore, He understands us perfectly now. But unlike other people, He was the Son of God. He was not born in iniquity and had no sin. Having inherited our flesh weakened by sin, He committed no evil in the human body, although He had the possibility of falling at any time. Temptations surrounded Christ, but He boldly resisted them and endured every trial; otherwise, He could not have been the Savior of the world. In that case, He would have had to die for His Own sins.

In giving His Son, God the Father risked losing Him forever. And Satan knew this; therefore, throughout Jesus’ earthly life, he fiercely attacked Him, trying to lead the Savior into even one sin. But the Lord stood firm.

From childhood, Jesus studied the Scriptures and had truth as the foundation of His character, by which He successfully resisted the devil and this world. The Holy Spirit Himself revealed to Christ the true meaning of what was written in the law. When Christ attended the Passover feast at the age of twelve, He encountered the type of the symbolic sacrifice that pointed to Him, and the true Sacrifice that He was to become was revealed to Him.

Jesus could have refused this trial and left this path at any time. He could have returned to the Father and become the same God He had always been, leaving our world to perish under Satan’s power. But He chose the path of Sacrifice and followed it to the end, becoming our Savior forever.

As a man, the Lord revealed to us the true character of God. Through His life, He showed the genuine Love of God for people and how it is possible to love in every situation. And having become the Savior, He restores the image of God in those who have believed in Him and decided to live in obedience and truth.

Faith in Jesus as the Son of God, as one’s personal Savior, and as the Messiah Who came is the firm foundation of faith upon which one may build, to the Glory of God, that which meets God’s requirements and expectations.

The Cross opened to the whole world the way of salvation and the fullness of God’s Agape Love. It was precisely there that the entire Universe saw that God is Love—Love that loves the sinner but hates sin. Mercy and justice met at the Cross and showed what Love is in the completeness of perfection. Sin was punished, the guilty One died, mercy opened the way for forgiveness, and the repentant sinner could be justified. The payment for the iniquities of all people was made in full, the law’s demand for the death of the sinner was satisfied, truth triumphed, the way of salvation became available to everyone who desires it, the door of God’s grace and mercy opened, and all who believe in Jesus receive power to become the children of God. The plan of Salvation acquired its redeeming power because of the Sacrifice that was offered.

God became man so that by His death He might deliver people from the power of the grave. This must be accepted, and then one must live by this truth, testifying to the whole world about how God’s grace changes the character into God’s likeness in human flesh.

The Eternal God became man forever. The Divine and the human were united into one whole. But although the war has been won, it is not yet over. It remains to teach those who are still in the world the laws of Heaven and to inscribe these laws upon the hearts of believers, so that through them God’s Love may be revealed to other people. We have been given the power to love one another! What trust!

1. Please read Isaiah 53:4–6; Daniel 9:25–27; Luke 1:35; John 1:1–3, 14; 5:22; 10:30; 14:1–3, 9, 13; Romans 6:23; 1 Corinthians 15:3–4; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 5:17–19; Philippians 2:5–11; Colossians 1:15–19; Hebrews 2:9–18; and 8:1–2 in the light of our lesson.

2. What new things have you learned from this lesson? What has been revealed to you in a new way?

3. Is Jesus your personal Savior?

4. Why did Christ take this step for my salvation?

5. Does God have other religions for the salvation of people?

6. Do you believe in the Divinity of Christ?