Dual Nature
of the Lord
Jesus Christ
After our first ancestors Adam
and Eve had committed sin, God told the serpent, "And I will put enmity between you and
the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and
youou shalt bruise His heel." (Gen. 3:15)
This is the first prophecy in the
Holy Bible concerning the coming of the Savior in the flesh Who will vanquish
the devil, but He Himself will be bruised.
There are several prophecies in the Old Testament which speak of the
suffering Messiah. The prophet Isaiah
wrote:
"But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
and by His stripes we are healed." (Isa. 53:5)
And again, God spoke through His
prophet:
"Yet it pleased the LORD (YAHWEH) to bruise
Him; He has put Him to grief." (Is 53:10)
God further revealed in the last
verse of Isaiah 53:12
"Because He poured out His soul unto death,
and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sins of many, and
made intercession for the transgressors."
The ministry of the Messiah
required His being bruised and wounded, which mean the shedding of His blood
for our transgressions. It also required
His death for the redemption of mankind.
Could any man die for the sins of the world? No, only a person who is completely without
sin, a perfect man, can assume this role.
The only way in which mankind can be saved from sin is for God to
manifest Himself in the flesh, since God, Who is the Eternal Spirit, cannot
shed blood nor die. The Messiah has to
be God as well as man. This Person is
the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Bible reveals God's purpose
of coming into the world in the form of man.
Philippians 2:6-8 sums it all up:
"Who, being in the form of God, did not
consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation,
taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He
humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of
the Cross."
The Lord Jesus Christ was fully
God and fully man. "For in Him dwells all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily." (
"For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son
is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful,
Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Isa. 9:6)
The Messiah was to be born of a
virgin (Isa.
