God became man so that we could be saved. The prophets predicted that the Son to be “born” would also be the “Mighty God” and the “Everlasting Father.” Isaiah wrote:

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6

Some attempt to deny that the prophet wrote that the Messiah would be God incarnate by the fact that it says “His name shall be called…”; they point out that many men in the Bible were given names that meant: “God judges” or “God heals,” etc.

However, the earliest text of Isaiah was found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. In this text, it does not say: “His name shall be called.” The New International Version uses this textural variant in it’s translation:

 “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6, New International Version)

The earliest text says that the Messiah will be called God, not merely His name. Throughout the Old and New Testaments, the evidence is clear: the prophesied Messiah is the one God of Israel in human form.

GOD LIVED INSIDE OF THE SON OF MAN

The “Son” was “born,” which means that he had a beginning. Yet, the Son of God is also “the Mighty God,” because God lives inside of Him. God dwelt inside of a man who was His Son, born at Bethlehem, shaped by the Holy Spirit (God's essence moving within creation) in Mary’s womb. The apostle Paul wrote:

“To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:19)

The phrase, “God was IN Christ” is synonymous with “God dwelt IN the Son.” Both terms describe God—who is Spirit—incarnate in a human being. The truth that God dwelt in Christ is repeated in the book of Colossians:

“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” (Colossians 2:8-9)

Paul wrote: “All the fullness of the Godhead (Deity) dwelt “IN Him (Christ, the Anointed One.)” “All the fullness” means that all of the qualities of God were manifested in Christ, but not the quantity of God. It is not possible for the God who is greater than the universe to manifest His complete power or majesty on this earth. 
 

THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN GOD AND CHRIST

Because God is Spirit, He can dwell in two places at the same time (or thousands of places at the same time.) After God became a man, he did not cease to inhabit heaven. God simultaneously dwelt in heaven as a timeless Spirit, and inside of the Son of Man on this earth. In heaven, God continued to exist as the unchanging God with no limitations; yet on earth in the Son, God was confined to one place at one time, and experienced the limitations of His human flesh and "human consciousness."

JESUS HAD LIMITS OF KNOWLEDGE

The Bible teaches that after God became a man, He had limits of knowledge. In the book of Luke we read:

“And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.” (Luke 2:52 52)

God cannot “increase” in knowledge, because He already has all the knowledge of the universe, from the beginning until the end of time. Yet, in the form of a man, He was able to increase His knowledge, because a human mind cannot know all things. Consider this passage in the book of Mark:

“But of that day and that hour [his coming] knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.” (Mark 13:32 32)

Jesus taught that He did not know the day of His return. Only the timeless Spirit of God (the Father,) had this knowledge, for He inhabits eternity, where He sees the end from the beginning. After God became a man, He perceived His existence from within a human brain, “inside of time.”

As any man, Christ learned a human language and stored these words chemically inside of his brain. As any man, He developed a "thought-process" based upon this language.

After the incarnation, God existed within two distinct consciousnesses—human and Divine. The human thought process of Christ was distinct from the Divine consciousness of God, who is Spirit. Contemplate on the distinction between the knowledge of the Almighty God and human beings. Is God's knowledge millions of time greater? Billions of times greater? The same disparity that exists between our thoughts and God's throughts exists between God as an omnicient Spirit and God in the Son of Man.

Even though Christ is the same person as God, Jesus is God expressed in a lesser, human form. Remember, God is a “person” far beyond the human definition of the word. Yet, the "person" or "personality" of God was manifested in Jesus Christ, for He is God incarnate.

© 2008 By Russell Redden. All Rights Reserved