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Last week we saw how critical it is to see Jesus in His humanity first, and then in His deity.

We considered how Jesus’ humanity draws us more into relational intimacy, which will then allow us to be able to see His divinity from a healthy perspective that will draw

us in consistent love, faith and confidence.

We saw that our sense of isolation from God comes from not being able to identify the personal aspects of God.

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We only feel alienated from the Father and unworthy because we are self-conscious.

If we actually saw Jesus as our life, because of His love and His identification with us, we would be amazed with the Father’s glory and majesty and would not feel at all

uncomfortable with the radiance of God.

We would still go down on our faces in worship, even in our glorified bodies which we will one day receive, but it

would be in love and adoration, not in any sense of inadequacy or shame.

Because of our self-orientation we have never seen that God has always been a very warm and personal Being. It’s

just that sin and self became our focus.

God the Father was “among” the Israelites when they came out of Egypt too, but there was a very clear barrier between them and God, and they knew it was because of

their sinful condition.

But in Christ, there IS no barrier! That veil was torn from top to bottom when Jesus died on the cross. We live

under completely different circumstances.

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For the sake of review and preparation, what are some negative results, or you could say, indications that we are

neglecting or minimizing the humanity of Jesus?

• A sense of guilt, inadequacy, failure, self-deprecation• Independence, self-confidence

Think about this one. Why would independence and self-confidence be an indication that we have minimized the

humanity of Jesus?

Independence and self-confidence come from a lack of trust in Jesus, which can only come from a sense that He

doesn’t understand what it is to be human with the struggles we have. If we trust Him, we will follow Him.

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For the sake of review and preparation, what are some negative results, or you could say, indications that we are

neglecting or minimizing the humanity of Jesus?

• A sense of guilt, inadequacy, failure, self-deprecation• Independence, self-confidence• Self-focus, selfishness• Craving for value/acceptance from others, or, powerful

reactions to favoritism or rejection (negative side of same thing)• Performance-based and unstable relationships

Why are these things indications that we are deity-dominant in our view of Jesus?

They are all self-focused in orientation. When we have a balanced view of Jesus, the inevitable result is love, trust and rest in Him,

with an insatiable desire to engage Him in everything we do. He is FAR more exciting to explore than we are anyway!

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Now that we have identified the importance of relating to Jesus as the Son of man before His divinity, let’s see how

the Bible makes that case.

Remember, we are not seeking to diminish the deity of Jesus, we are simply trying to give His humanity the

position God intends for us to have. If we don’t see Jesus in His humanity with His love for us as fellow humans, we

won’t trust God and to many degrees – we don’t!

The fact that we all still sin is clear indication that we have a very serious problem with trusting God. And if we don’t trust God any better than we do, it is also clear that we are

not seeing Jesus primarily as the Son of man, and therefore don’t feel the comfort, security, or the welcome

of the God who came to live among us as one of us.

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Let’s go back to how Jesus unfolded the revelation of Himself.

1. The phrase “Son of God” occurs 149 times in the NT.2. The phrase “Son of man” occurs 262 times in the NT.3. Of the 149 times the phrase “Son of God” is used, Jesus refers to

Himself as the Son of God only 5 times and 2 of the five were by specific interrogation, “Are you the Son of God?”. (Matt 26:63, Luk 22:70)

When it was day, the Council of elders of the people assembled, both chief priests and scribes, and they led Him away to their council

chamber, saying, “If You are the Christ, tell us.” But He said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe; and if I ask a question, you will not answer. But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right

hand of the power of God.” And they all said, “Are You the Son of God, then?” And He said to them, “Yes, I am.” Lk 22:66-70

Did you notice that Jesus’ first statement concerning Himself was that He is the Son of man and that only after further interrogation He

acknowledges that He is also the Son of God? Why do you think He insists on making that distinction even at this stage of the game? Why not say, “Yes, I’m the Son of God and you are going to kill me – so quit

the nonsense and get to work!” Why insist even now that He is the Son of MAN?

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Let’s go back to how Jesus unfolded the revelation of Himself.

1. The phrase “Son of God” occurs 149 times in the NT.2. The phrase “Son of man” occurs 262 times in the NT.3. Of the 149 times the phrase “Son of God” is used, Jesus refers to

Himself as the Son of God only 5 times and 2 of the five were by specific interrogation, “Are you the Son of God?”. (Matt 26:63, Luk 22:70)

4. Of the 262 times “Son of man” occurs, only 3 of them were by men; Stephen, while being stoned and in John’s vision while exiled on Patmos and he says Jesus is “like a son of man”. (Acts 7:56 Rev 1:13, 14:14)

5. Satan never refers to Jesus as the Son of man, but instead challenges Him to think and function as the Son of God. (Matt 4:3)

6. Demons never call Him the Son of man. They identified Jesus as the Son of God and Jesus told them to be silent. He didn’t want to be identified as the Son of God. (Lu 4:41, Mk 1:34)

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false

prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that

Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God;

this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the

world. 1 Jn 4:1-3

Do you suppose this might have something to do with why the devil and the demons never acknowledge Jesus has

come in the flesh and that He is the Son of man? Why do you suppose it is that no evil spirit can acknowledge that

Jesus has come in the flesh?

The Bible doesn’t tell us why satanic forces will not confess that Jesus came in flesh, but I think it is because it is the purest demonstration of obsessive love that anyone

could even imagine, and who would not be immediately drawn to a God who loves His people so much that He

actually would become one of them?

And if the humanity of Jesus is such a game changing issue that evil spirits cannot possibly confess that Jesus has come in the flesh, do you suppose that Christians will suffer dramatically if they don’t take advantage of and live

what demons can’t say? It is CRITICAL that we understand that Jesus IS come in the flesh of man!