Austin J de Bourg - Apostle's Desk

Austin de Bourg Ministries - Restoring the truths that satan has stolen from the Church of Jesus Christ

		Invite a Friend
		Print this Page
		Add to Favourites





		(Excerpt from the book Insights into the Mystery of the Trinity)

		The distinction, Son of God-Son of Man, has puzzled the wise and prudent, the skeptic, the atheist, and the doubters of God in every generation. They find it convenient to question God’s ability to make a new creation of man who would have a dual nature, that of God and man—the divine and the natural. Yet, a careful study of the Word of God on the life of Jesus Christ gives a clear depiction of this distinction. Let us begin at His birth. Was the seed that gave conception to Jesus Christ a human seed or a divine seed? Did Joseph’s seed impregnate the virgin, Mary, or did God? The prophet Isaiah, writing under the prophetic unction of God some 734 years before the event 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, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. (Isaiah 9:6–7)

		And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: 2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; 3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: 4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. (Isaiah 11:1–4)

		The account surrounding Mary’s pregnancy was the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophetic writings. Mary herself asked the Archangel, Gabriel, “How can this be? How is this possible?” when he made the announcement to her that God had chosen her as the human vessel to give the Word of God His natural birth. Her question was in line with human impossibilities and Gabriel gave her the answer readily, “With God nothing shall be impossible.” Joseph (to whom she was espoused at the time) also had to deal with the fact of her pregnancy until Gabriel informed him that it was God’s doing and he accepted it. In John 1:1, we see a distinction of persons within the Godhead but there was never a time when the Godhead was ever separated. Each person in the Godhead was allowed prominence in their dispensation while the other persons gave their support silently in accomplishing their united purpose of redeeming man.

		In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. —John 1:1–4

		He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. 11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. —John 1:10–14

		Before the incarnation of Jesus, His name in heaven was Word. At His incarnation, the Word became flesh. The incarnation was appointed by God the Father, personified in God the Son and executed through God the Holy Spirit who impregnated Mary with the Divine Seed yet with all the characteristics of a human being, the only one of its kind. The seed was not a copy or duplicate of another seed. It was a new creation—an original. The first Adam was original and the second Adam had to be original. It had never happened before but was destined to produce after its kind in the miracle of the new-birth which was introduced to Nicodemus by Jesus. Adam was not born of a Divine Seed. He was not born out of conception. He was a new creation—an original. He was never a baby and therefore did not grow up into adulthood. He was born of the breath of God—the life-giving Spirit, and a natural seed was placed within him to produce after his kind. Adam’s being was a miracle as Christ’s being was a miracle. To God, this was a simple act—a creative miracle; to man it was impossible. It is the arrogance of man’s fallen nature to think that omnipotence, Almighty God, cannot do what he (man) cannot do. Man’s very life is a miraculous fact—a tri-unity of spirit, soul, and body, and he accepts that as fact. Man was God’s unique creation made out of earth. If man’s existence was an accident as some were made to believe, then man cannot have much worth; or, if he came from an ape, which was also an accident, it minimizes man’s worth even further. Is there not a God-consciousness in every man? Where did it come from? Certainly, it does not arise as the result of an accident! God made man in his image and likeness; and breathed into him and made him a living soul.

		And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: . . . So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. —Genesis 1:26–27

		And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. —Genesis 2:7

		Jesus’ incarnation was unique—God and Man in one—the Son of God and the Son of Man. This super-human could operate out of His divine nature or out of His human nature as He wills; but throughout His life on earth, He never compromised the two natures, as we shall see. To do justice to the biblical data concerning Christ, one must have two important strands of truth about Christ. First, there is the reality of His two natures; and second, that there exists the integrity of these two natures; that is, Jesus did not draw upon his human nature when dealing with spiritual things nor did He draw upon His divinity when dealing with natural things; thereby maintaining the integrity and unmingled union of these two natures. From boyhood to his ascension, Jesus exhibited at all times all the fruits of the Spirit that expressed the reality of the spiritual life within Him and which identifies the divine life, and thus differentiates it from the natural life. In the book of Luke, chapter two, we see Jesus at the tender age of twelve in the temple engaged in a spiritual discussion with the PhDs of the Law—the doctors of religion who were the authority on the Word of God. How was this possible? With the divine life inherent in Jesus, expression of that life came naturally because whatever is inherent in us expresses itself without tutoring, although tutoring helps to develop what is inherent. Without coercion, His spirit craved relationship with God; therefore, when He went to the temple in Jerusalem with His parents to celebrate the Passover feast, all that He saw and all that He heard stirred that inherent divine life and He spontaneously asked questions of the doctors of the Law.

		And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. 47 And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. —Luke 2:46–47

		On the other hand, Jesus displayed all the characteristics of an earthly child. As a baby, Jesus cried when He wanted the attention of His mother, and when He was hungry, He ate. He had feelings—earthly feelings. He wept. He expressed compassion and He rested when He was tired. These are all characteristics of the natural man. Jesus was full deity and full humanity! To be on a divine mission, He had to be divinely empowered. To be on an earthly mission, He had to be appointed and empowered on earth. The success of His mission hung upon these two facts. Recognizing and accepting the fact of His dual nature is essential in understanding His life and in understanding His mission. As Son of Man, He needed a boat to cross the Sea of Galilee. As Son of God, He walked on the water. As Son of God, heaven was His home. However, while Jesus was the Son of Man, earth was his domain during His mission. He said to the opposing religious leaders who were always trying to trap Him into error: “I am in the world, but I am not of the world.”

		. . . Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. —John 8:23

		As Son of Man, He was crucified, nailed to a cross, killed, and buried; but before it all happened He said, “On the third day I would rise again.” In addition, “No man has the power to take my life, but I have the power to lay it down and I have the power to pick it up again.” Why did Jesus say this? It is because He was God and man at the same time. As Son of God, He ascended into heaven when His work was finished. Many witnessed His ascension including two angels:

		. . . he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; 11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. —Acts 1:9b–11

		Jesus is God in the flesh. The Bible says the fullness of God dwelt in Him bodily. He was in the Father and the Father was in Him. He was in the Holy Ghost and the Holy Ghost was in Him. They were inseparable. Now when that spiritual seed of Jesus Christ is imputed into the heart of a repentant individual, the miracle of the new birth takes place. The individual now has the potential to become a child of God by feeding and nourishing his spirit with the written Word of God and by giving it first place in his life. Those who do so become the true followers of Jesus Christ, children of God, and partakers of His nature. Jesus told His disciples that they would know the true children of God by the spiritual fruits they bear.