Difference between revisions of "He Possesses a Human Soul."

Latest revision as of 21:45, 20 May 2012

Though the Word of God alone is able to divide between "soul and spirit" (Hebrews 4:12), suffice it to say that the LORD Jesus Christ claimed to possess a human soul. "Then saith He unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with Me" (Matthew 26:38). The Spirit directed Luke to record that Jesus cried out to the Father to receive His spirit, i.e., soul, in the same way that the martyr Stephen cried out, "LORD Jesus, receive my spirit" (Acts 7:59). "And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, He said, Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit: and having said thus, He gave up the ghost" (Luke 23:46).

Recalling the words of David the Psalmist (Psalm 16:10), the Apostle Peter's Pentecostal sermon reminded his hearers that Christ's resurrection was prophesied, when the LORD promised not to leave the Messiah's soul in the grave. "He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that His soul was not left in hell, neither His flesh did see corruption" (Acts 2:31). Jesus Began Life With Physical Circumcision, And He Continued to Increase In Wisdom and Stature.

To demonstrate that the LORD Jesus was not to be treated any differently than any other Jewish young child, He was circumcised. "And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the Child, His name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before He was conceived in the womb" (Luke 2:21). No doubt, a difficulty for Joseph and Mary, would be the tendency to forget the Divine Nature of their miraculous Son, because He had to physically grow and intellectually learn-- just like all the other children. "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man" (Luke 2:52).

Christ Experienced Weeping and Hungering.

When Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, died, Jesus demonstrated His love for Lazarus through His tears, i.e., "Jesus wept" (John 11:35). But, even greater still, Jesus demonstrated that He is the "Resurrection, and the Life" (11:25) when He commanded, "Lazarus, come forth" (11:43)-- and, "he that was dead came forth" (11:44).

Again, immediately before our LORD's Passion Week, Jesus, the "Great God That Formed All Things" (Proverbs 26:10), shed human tears when He contemplated Jerusalem's coming punishment (70 AD) for the rejection of Himself. "And when He was come near, He beheld the city, and wept over it" (Luke 19:41). It should not be surprising that the One who wept, would also physically hunger. "And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was afterward an hungred" (Matthew 4:2). Hunger demonstrated that Jesus experienced the limitations of the human body, i.e., "in the morning as He returned into the city, He hungered" (Matthew 21:18); but, He used His hunger to teach His disciples the power of prayer.

"19 And when He saw a fig tree in the way, He came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away...

21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. 22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive" (Matthew 21:19, 21-22).

The LORD Jesus Knew Thirsting, Sleeping, and Weariness.

Jesus used His thirst to provide an improbable opportunity to witness of His Messiahship to a Samaritan woman, i.e., "I that speak unto thee am He [the Christ]" (John 4:26). "There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink" (4:7). On the Cross, Jesus reminded us that His suffering, as witnessed by His thirst, was due to our sin, i.e., "Christ also hath once suffered for [or, because of] sins, the Just for the unjust" (1Peter 3:18).

"After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst" (John 19:28). Humanity is limited by the necessity of sleep; and so, Jesus slept. "And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but He was asleep" (Matthew 8:24).

Again, Jesus' encounter with the Woman at the Well was at noon, following the weariness of traveling from Judea during the first part of the day. "Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour" (John 4:6).

He Was a Man of Sorrows.

It was the sincerest display of true sorrow when Jesus responded to Mary's weeping over the loss of her brother Lazarus. "When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, He groaned in the spirit, and was troubled" (John 11:33). In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was so intensely sorrowful about the sins of mankind and greatly agonized over the ordeal of blood and suffering that would have to pay for our sins, that He sweat real, physical blood-- but, it was the "Precious Blood" of a "Lamb without blemish and without spot" (1Peter 1:19).

"And being in an agony He prayed more earnestly: and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground" (Luke 22:44). As humans, we understand being troubled about much smaller things, but Jesus sorrowed for the Salvation of the world. "Now is My soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour" (John 12:27).

Isaiah's description of the Messiah, identified Him as a Man, Who is "despised and rejected"-- not because of His sins, but ours. "He is despised and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not" (Isaiah 53:3). The Pain of Buffeting, Indignities, and Scourging Were Endured By the Saviour.

What human being would enjoy being physically abused? Certainly, Jesus did not find any human pleasure in His mistreatment by the soldiers. "Then did they spit in His face, and buffeted Him; and others smote Him with the palms of their hands" (Matthew 26:67). How often does the unreasonableness of man manifest itself in the physical abuse of the defenseless? Only by Special Promise can we be delivered, i.e., "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of Me, saith the LORD" (Isaiah 54:17).

"And when they had blindfolded Him, they struck Him on the face, and asked Him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote Thee?" (Luke 22:64). "And Herod with his men of war set Him at nought, and mocked Him, and arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe, and sent Him again to Pilate" (Luke 23:11). The barbarity of scourging would be enough to kill a man, but the LORD Jesus must have been in robust enough health to survive it, only to be crucified. "Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified" (Matthew 27:26).

The Suffering of the Cross, His Death, and His Side Pierced, Were the Circumstances at the Close of His Earthly Life.

In retrospect, this Psalm accurately described (and prophesied) the crucifixion of our LORD. "For dogs have compassed Me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed Me: they pierced My hands and My feet" (Psalm 22:16). What other death is so largely chronicled in the Scriptures, than that of the LORD Jesus Christ? "And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left" (Luke 23:33). Even as Jesus did "lay down [His] life, that [He] might take it again" (John 10:17), He-- not man-- chose the moment to give up His spirit to the Father. "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished: and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost" (John 19:30). Unlike the apparitions of a magician or sorcerer, the blood and water from Jesus' side were really His. "But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith came there out blood and water" (John 19:34). The Humiliation of His Burial and the Glory of His Resurrection Speak of the Necessity of His Human Nature to the Gospel Message. Jesus was buried in a borrowed tomb, belonging to Joseph of Arimathaea. "59 And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed" (Matthew 27:59-60). This Joseph of Arimathaea, a disciple of the LORD Jesus, boldly begged Pilate for the body of Jesus.

"And he bought fine linen, and took Him down, and wrapped Him in the linen, and laid Him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre" (Mark 15:46). But, Thanks Be to God, since Jesus died physically, He arose bodily-- just as the Saints will arise at the Resurrection of the Just, i.e., "Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself" (Philippians 3:21).

"And killed the Prince of Life, Whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses" (Acts 3:15). A prime feature of the Gospel, is the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, because, in like fashion, the resurrection of the Saints in real, glorified bodies, demonstrates Christ's powerful overcoming of death. "Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my Gospel" (2Timothy 2:8).

Christ's Human Nature Fulfilled Old Testament Prophecy