the Son of Man

This morning's quote on my C.S. Lewis daily app was this:


"Write about what really interests you, whether it is real things or imaginary things, and nothing else."

In light of that and the fact that I've been super excited to write this post for the past two days, I'm going to willingly fall even further behind on #reverb11 for the sake of just writing from my heart this afternoon.

A few days ago I wrote a post about me reading a passage of Scripture in John 12 and wanting to know the answers to so many questions, just like the man in the crowd who talks to Jesus in verse 34. The man is confused as to why Jesus, after all the miracles and such He has performed, reminds the people that He is the Son of Man. Jesus met my many questions here the same way He met those of the crowd-- with the call to just trust Him.

We don't trust Jesus for the sake of Him rewarding us. We trust Him because we love Him and we are called and willing to do so. Yet, so often He does reward our faithfulness.

Later that night as I was dwelling on what it meant to trust Jesus, I picked up reading again and was joyfully brought to this verse:

"For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive." -1 Corinthians 15:21-22

The Son of Man... that's where I hadn't taken that thought yet-- all the way back to the beginning to why we needed Christ to begin with. Jesus is heading toward His death (and our salvation) in John 12 and therefor takes the time to remind the crowd that He is fully man. Why? Because it is because of a man that we have need of salvation (because of the story of Adam and Eve, the initial separation of God and man). Since this is the case, God uses a man to bring it full circle. Jesus is the melting and unifying of God and man-- He could have done it no other way than by being both. That is what the man in the crowd needed to remember. That is what we need to remember also. He is able to unify God and man by literally embodying both. This picture in John 12 is Him speaking to how he is both and is about to put that unification on display.

God and man are unified not just through Christ, but literally in Christ.

This could bring a whole new meaning to the thought that in Christ we are a new creation. (2 Cor. 5:17) Yes, literally in Christ is a new creation because Christ was unlike any other ever created-- fully God and fully man, a literal indwelling of the Spirit. Because of such, we are invited also to be a new creation as the literal God comes inside of us. Our bodies are the temple. We, too, are now fully God and fully man, in a sense. We too are filled with the Spirit because Christ is able. Of course i was relevant that Jesus reminded the people He was the Son of Man-- if He had just been God there would be no hope of glory for the rest of us. Because He is fully man, through His death we can become a new creation.

Talk about grace. Talk about love.

Romans 5:17 says:
"For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!"

It is through one man that we found ourselves in need of salvation, and it is through one Man that we find ourselves delivered. It seems hard to believe that Christmas is three days away. I'm challenging myself to remember that this is why He came. The fact that our Savior came in the form of a baby-- the weakest thing of all-- humbles me so much. Let's rejoice in that fact together and spend some time thanking Him for being fully God and fully man so that we could be united.