Jesus – Fully God, Fully Man

(John 11:28-36)

Quite often we hear people speak about Jesus using the words above. They say that He was fully God and fully man. Even though the Bible does not use those words exactly as they are written, they are indeed true. Even Jesus himself said that ache was both the Son of God and the Son of man. As such it is quite reasonable to call Him both fully God and fully man.

But what are the implications of such a description? And how did He exhibit the character and attributes of both God and man?

In this section of scripture we see examples of both His godly and human nature and how it is clear that he lived as both God and man.

The Son of God

Jesus exhibited his godly nature in his knowledge of what had happened to His friend Lazarus and also the reasons for his death and subsequent resurrection. Jesus knew beforehand all of the events that would unfold and how the death and resurrection of Lazarus would be to the glory of God. He understood that it had to happen in this way and that this great miracle would be a tremendous lesson about life and death and the power that He had over death. All of this was part of the godly nature of Jesus Christ.

In addition we see that Jesus had tremendous compassion for the people about him. He saw the pain and the anguish they were going through and He gave them comfort in His teaching and knowledge that this death that Lazarus suffered was not to the last but that there would be a resurrection to come.

All of these things that Jesus did and said were part of the divine nature that He had as the Son of God.

The Son of Man

We also see the human side of Jesus in this section of the scriptures. In the following verses we see Him react as many people would in such circumstances for He was deeply moved by the weeping and sorrow of his friends and the people who came with them.

33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.
34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”
35 Jesus wept.

This last verse is so expressive and emotional. It is so much like a man to weep for the loss of a friend and to be carried away with the weeping of others around Him.

Jesus Weeping

We can wonder at why Jesus wept given His knowledge of events that were to come.

Was He weeping in empathy with the people? Possibly. If so it shows a deep level of care and concern for He felt moved by what was happening and the emotions of the people around Him.

It is also possible that He was weeping for the people who wept because they did not understand about death. Most people look at death as a finality, the end of all things and the end of life as we know it. They fear death for they see it as the great unknown and the end of all things. Life is precious and death is to be avoided at all costs.

But Jesus did not see death this way. He saw the death of a person only as a sleep from which the person could be awakened. He knew about the resurrection to come and the salvation of many people to eternal life where there would be no more death. But the people at that time did not have this knowledge and so they wept and perhaps He also wept for them until they would find the truth.

Fully God, Fully Man

And so we see both sides of The Lord. He is indeed fully God and full man. And this is to our benefit for since He has experienced the full gamut of emotions that mankind goes through, He can empathize and u ne'er stand our joys as well as our sorrows.

As the writer of Hebrews said in Hebrews 4:14-16,

14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Jesus has passed through both the heavens and the earth. He knows both sides of the equation. He has seen the power of God and also suffered the weaknesses of man…but without sin. He has shown the strength that leads to victory and now we can come to him to likewise receive victory through Him.

Unlike men who cannot understand what is in the hearts and minds of their fellow brethren, Jesus sees all things. He looks down even to the division of soul and spirit as it says in Hebrews 4:12-13,

12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

No man is hidden from God. For those who follow Jesus Christ He can see to comfort, strengthen and teach for He knows what we are going through. For those who choose to disobey, there will be no hiding from Him and His will shall be done and no man will be able to say to Him, “You don't understand. You don't know what it's like!” He DOES know what it's like and he has been where man is and yet not succumbed to temptation and sin. Let us be thankful and praise Him that He went before us so that we could be set free.