The Person of Christ

In this chapter and the next we will cover two topics concerning Christ — the person of Christ and the precious blood of Christ. The person of Christ relates to who Christ is, and the precious blood relates to what He has done. If we want to know Christ, we must know His person and the preciousness of His blood.

Christ is our glorious Savior. No believer should be ignorant in regard to His person. Many believers have some knowledge of what He accomplished in His work, but they do not have a clear understanding of His person. When we ask about the person of our glorious, precious, and lovely Lord, many are not able to give a clear answer. In the Lord’s table meeting, as we remember the Lord, we often thank Him for His work of grace, but we have little praise for His glorious person. We are short of praises related to the Lord’s glorious person in our table meeting because we have a lack of knowledge concerning the Lord’s person. In the table meeting most of our thanks and praise to the Lord are based on the grace that we have received from the Lord; they are rarely based on our knowledge of the Lord. Our thanks rarely originate from our appreciation of who the Lord is. Our knowledge of the Lord is lacking because we do not know the person of the Lord. Therefore, we should spend some time to know the person of the Lord from the Word.

Various aspects of the person of the Lord can be seen quite clearly in relation to time. Since there is a progression in time, we will look at His person in progressive periods of time.

1. In eternity past

   1. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1-2).

      1. Christ is the Word who was in the beginning. He is the Word who was with God in the beginning, and as the Word He is God. In the beginning refers to eternity past before the beginning of time. This is different from the beginning of time spoken of in Genesis 1:1. Our Lord Jesus was God in eternity past. Before the beginning of time, before anything was created, He was God in eternity. He is the eternal God.

      2. What is the meaning of His designation as the Word? A word is an expression of the speaker. If I stood before you but did not speak, you would not understand anything about me. I must speak in order to express myself. The Lord Jesus is the Word of God, which means that He is the expression of God. He expresses God (John 1:18). Everything about Him is an expression of God. If He were not the expression of God, there would be no God. Apart from Him, we cannot know God. Since He is the expression of God, He is God. We see God in Him and find God in Him. His expression of God, however, is unrelated to time. Eternally, He is the Word of God, the expression of God, even God Himself.

   2. “His goings forth are from ancient times, / From the days of eternity” (Micah 5:2).

The goings forth of the Lord Jesus are from ancient times, from the days of eternity. He is the eternal God, the God from eternity. He did not become God at some point in time, and His status as God is not dependent upon His being our Savior. He did not become God because He is our Savior. He is God coming to be our Savior. He is God from ancient times, from the days of eternity.

1. 3. “Mighty God, / Eternal Father” (Isa. 9:6).

The Lord Jesus is the Mighty God and the Eternal Father. Although He became a man in the flesh in time, He was God in eternity past. Although He was manifested as the Son in time, He was the Father in eternity.

1. 4. “Being equal with God” (Phil. 2:6).

In eternity the Lord Jesus was equal with God because He is God.

2. In creation

   1. “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not one thing came into being which has come into being” (John 1:3).

In eternity the Lord Jesus was the eternal God. At the time of creation He was the Creator. All things came into being through Him. Apart from Him not one thing has come into being.

2. 2. “In Him all things were created, in the heavens and on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or lordships or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and unto Him” (Col. 1:16).

Everything in the universe has been created by and through the Lord Jesus. He is the Creator of everything in the universe and the Lord of all in the universe.

3. In incarnation

   1. “The Word became flesh” (John 1:14).

Although the Lord Jesus is the eternal God and the Creator in time, He became flesh; that is, He became a man through human birth. The eternal Word, the eternal God, was born as a man in time; He became flesh. In eternity He could not be seen or contacted as God, but in time, when He became flesh, He could be seen and contacted. His incarnation was His manifestation to man so that man could know Him and contact Him practically. This is like a tape-recorded message that is more concrete than just a word released into the air. The Lord Jesus, the Word, is the incarnated God. He is God, the Word, on “tape.” What He is in eternity was manifested in time so that we could touch and contact Him.

3. 2. “Emmanuel...God with us” (Matt. 1:23 see also Isa. 7:14).

The Lord Jesus is God, and He became a man. Therefore, He also is God with man. This is the meaning of His name Emmanuel. In Him, there is God and there is man. God and man are mingled in Him. He is God and He is man because He is God become man.

3. 3. “A child is born to us, / ...And His name will be called / ...Mighty God” (Isa. 9:6).

Even though the Lord Jesus was born as a child, He was the Mighty God. Being a child means that He truly became a man with the likeness and nature of man. Being the Mighty God means that He is the very God with the glory and authority of God. Isaiah 9:6 tells us that even when the Lord Jesus was born as a man, He was still God. He was God, and He was man. On the one hand, He was a small man, and on the other hand, He was the Mighty God.

3. 4. “A Son is given to us; / ...And His name will be called / ...Eternal Father” (Isa. 9:6).

Isaiah 9:6 tells us that when the Lord Jesus was born as a man, He was both the Son given to us and the Eternal Father. The Father is the source, and the Son is the manifestation. On the one hand, the Lord is God the source, and on the other hand, He is God the manifestation. In eternity He is the Father as the source. In time He is the Son as the manifestation. He, the Son, manifested in time is the Eternal Father. Therefore, He is the Son, and at the same time, He is the Father.

3. 5. “Who do men say that the Son of Man is?...You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:13, 16).

On the one hand, when the Lord was on earth, He was the Son of Man born of man, and on the other hand, He was the Son of God. As the Son of Man, He represents man before God. As the Son of God, He manifests God before man. He is the Son of Man to bear our sins and to defeat Satan. He is the Son of God so that we may gain God’s life and all that is of God.

3. 6. “Who, existing in the form of God...but...taking the form of a slave, becoming in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:6-7 see also Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3).

 Our Lord is God, so He existed in the form of God. When He was born on earth as a man, He became in the likeness of men and took the form of a human slave. Although He became flesh, put on the likeness of men, and had the form of a human slave, He was the image of God, the impress of the substance of God, and the effulgence of God’s glory. In Him there is the image of God and the image of man because He is God who came to be a man.

3. 7. “His goings forth are... / From the days of eternity”; “My time” (Micah 5:2; John 7:6).

The Lord Jesus was in eternity, and He came to be in time. He was God in eternity, and He came to be a man in time.

3. 8. “He who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven” (John 3:13).

When the Lord Jesus was incarnated to be a man, He was in heaven even when He was on earth. Although He was a man on the earth, He was still God in heaven.

3. 9. “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).

The incarnated Lord Jesus was one with the Father. He was a man, and at the same time, He was God.

3. 10. “The only begotten Son...has declared Him”; “He gave His only begotten Son” (John 1:18; 3:16).

When the Lord came to the earth, He came as the only begotten Son of God. He was the unique manifestation of God. Apart from Him, man could not see God, because only the Lord manifested God.

4. In resurrection and ascension

   1. “From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power”; “Designated the Son of God in power...out of the resurrection of the dead” (Matt. 26:64; Rom. 1:4 see also Acts 7:56).

Following the Lord’s resurrection from the dead, He was still the Son of Man, even though He was also designated the Son of God in power. When He was judged by the Jewish Sanhedrin, the high priest asked Him whether He was the Son of God. The Lord responded, “You have said rightly” (Matt. 26:64), but then He said that they would see Him as the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power. This indicates that He was still a man after He ascended into heaven. When Stephen was martyred after the Lord’s ascension, he saw Him as the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God (Acts 7:56). Hymns, #113 affirms this truth, saying, “‘He wears our nature on the throne.’”

4. 2. “The man Christ Jesus”; “My Lord and my God” (1 Tim. 2:5; John 20:28).

After the Lord rose from the dead, He was still a man in His manifestation of God. Today He is in the heavens as both God and man, just as He was both man and God while He was on earth. When a piece of white cloth falls into a vat of colored dye, the color cannot be removed. Similarly, even though He was God, He was “dyed” with humanity in incarnation. From that moment forward, humanity has always been a part of His person; it can never be removed. Therefore, in His resurrection and ascension, He still has the human nature. However, His humanity was brought into the glory of God through resurrection. In His incarnation He brought God into man and man’s situation. In His resurrection and ascension He brought man into God and God’s glory. As God, He came into man, and as man, He went into God. He understands the things of God and the things of man. He knows man’s situation and the things of God. He is a God-man. He is such a mysterious Savior. He truly is worthy of our love, praise, and worship.

4. 3. “The Firstborn among many brothers” (Rom. 8:29 see also Heb. 1:6; 2:10-12).

The Lord was the only begotten Son of God. Through His resurrection from the dead, He dispensed His life as the Son of God into us to regenerate us (1 Pet. 1:3), and we became the many sons of God who are His many brothers. In this way the only begotten Son of God became the Firstborn among many brothers. From the time of His resurrection, He is no longer just the only begotten Son of God; He is also the Firstborn among many brothers, the many sons of God.

5. In His second coming

   1. “Awaiting...the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ”; “The Son of Man...coming” (Titus 2:13; Matt. 26:64).

When Jesus Christ comes again, He will appear as the great God, but He will still be the Son of Man. This is affirmed by the apostle Paul and by the Lord’s word to the Jewish Sanhedrin when He was being judged.

6. In eternity future

   1. “The Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb”; “The throne of God and of the Lamb” (Rev. 21:22; 22:3).

      1. In eternity the one temple and the one throne are identified with God and the Lamb, signifying the complete oneness of God and the Lamb, who was incarnated in humanity and slain in His humanity for our redemption.

      2. Our Lord, the eternal God, became a man in time, even a God-man. When He died and resurrected, He entered into God’s glory with His humanity to become the man-God. Now He is God yet man and man yet God. His mysterious person will be fully manifested in His second coming and then manifested throughout eternity.