1 John = We proclaim The Word of Life who they saw, watched over time, touched and experienced life with Him.

Read: John 1:1-14, 18

The importance of the Virgin Birth is that it communicates two things:

1. Jesus is truly man. [Human!]
   
   
2. Jesus is truly God. [Divine!]

Chalcedonian Definition A.D. 451

The idea that these two most diametrically opposed “things” being true in one person is called the hypostatic union.  This belief is fundamental and essential to our faith. 

Two Errors:

1. People have tried to suggest that Jesus did not come in the flesh to uphold his Deity.
2. Others have rejected his deity to uphold his humanity.

Both come at a cost to our faith in the present and our hope of eternal life with Him. 

Jesus is fully human (1:14):

• Cooked and ate.
• Laughed and cried.
• Preached and defended.
• Questioned and asked questions.
• Became weary and slept.
• Tempted and suffered loss.
• Bled and died.

Jesus is fully God (1:18):

• Power over sickness.
• Power over spirit realm.
• Power over weather.
• Power over men (could not be killed by their will).
• Knew what people had done and were about to do.
• Knew what people were thinking and saying privately to others.
• By mere extension of these things was present in all places through the Father and Spirit.
• He had power over death and only God could do that.

Why is it essential that Jesus be both fully human and fully divine?

The Problem:  Man’s sin vs. God’s justice.

2. Mankind is destined to an eternal punishment due to sin.

• Adam and Eve messed up and all of humanity since has been born with a sinful nature that rebels against God.
• Sin cannot cohabitate with God, thus making relationship with God impossible.

2. God hates sin. He is bound to justice, yet He passionately still loves us.

The Solution: Atonement

• Atonement (def): Reconciling God and man by canceling the debt of sin through the substitutionary work of Christ.
  
  
• Sin can be atoned for by blood alone. Leviticus 17:11; Hebrews 9:22 “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
  • The blood of animals merely acknowledged this fact but did not atone for sin once and for all. Hebrews 10:4 “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goatsto take away sins.”
  • Animal sacrifices were an acknowledgement of the need for blood atonement.

• A perfect lamb, human blood unstained by sin, was needed for true atonement.
  • No human could accomplish that as descended from Adam due to inheriting the sinful nature.
  • A new line must come, offspring of a different Adam.
• We need a substitution on our behalf to accomplish what we cannot do—a removal of God’s wrath.

Atonement Requirements:

1. A human born and having lived without sin.

Could you do this?

2. As a sinless man, must choose to sacrificially die by the shedding of blood.

Could you do this?

3. To provide life, must take authority over death by defeating it by raising to life.

Could you do this?

4. Fulfilling justice and satisfying God’s wrath once and for all.

• Completion (perfect lamb) vs. appeasement (animal sacrifices)

Could you do this?

John 1:1-14, 18

1. The Word was pre-existent and the source of life. (1-3, 18)
2. The Word became flesh. Born of a virgin without the inheritance of Adam’s guilt.
3. The Word dwelled and lived among us as a human.
4. The Word died and rose again atoning for the sins of those…

One Take away! 

Jesus made God the Father known to us, let us MAKE JESUS KNOWN! (18b)

• Have you received his gift of “paid in full” to be reconciled to God?
• How can you make Jesus known to your family and friends this next week?