Jesus, A Man Like No Other
He was human like every other human. He was unlike all other humans.
He was born like all of us. The will and Spirit of God conceived him.
He experienced all the things that distract us from our purpose of knowing our Creator. He rejected them all and remained in relationship with His Father.
He was rejected, misunderstood, and isolated by His people. He brings comfort to those who are rejected, misunderstood, and isolated.
He tasted the death we will all taste one day. He is risen from the dead and offers life to all who believe in Him.
Where we failed, He was and is victorious. He faced every temptation we face, yet He remained true to God, though He was human like all of us.
Where we are led astray. He leads the way to the Father, our Creator.
Where we wonder about the meaning of life; of our life, He brings hope, peace, and purpose.
Where we face fear, He brings courage and promise that He is with us.
Human and Divine
Jesus Christ is likely the most talked about, revered and misunderstood person in human history. Some believe Him to be a superstition or myth, others see Him as a charlatan, others claim He was a great teacher, still others could care less and do not bother to consider Him at all.
But for those who have studied Scripture and been pierced by its testimony, Jesus Christ is fully divine and fully human. He is God, who humbled Himself and entered His creation as one of those He created. He did so to reveal Himself to those He created and to pave the way for them to experience relationship with their Creator.
The Old Testament speaks about the One who would be called Messiah. Isaiah 9:6-9 speaks of a child who would become a great ruler and be called God Himself. His reign will have no end, and His kingdom will be marked by justice and righteousness. Isaish further prophesied that Messiah would be born of a virgin in Isaiah 7:14.
Micah affirms Isaiah when he says in Michah 5:2-4 that a ruler will be born in Bethlehem who will shepherd Israel.
We read in Luke 1:30-35 that the angel Grabriel announced to Mary, Jesus’ mother, that she would give birth to the promised Messiah. The Holy Spirit would come upon her, and she would conceive One to be called the Son of God. The account of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem is recorded in Luke 2:2-7.
Jesus is unique among human beings in that He Himself is the Creator. In his gospel account, the apostle John wrote that Jesus is the Word of God through whom and by whom all things were created. He further states that this Word of God lived among us and some touched Him and beheld His glory on earth, John 1:1-5, 14.
In John 10:30, Jesus asserted to the Jewish leaders that He was one with the Father. And again in John 14:9-11 Jesus declared to His disciples that if they had seen Him, they had seen the Father. Jesus had a clear understanding that in His earthly life was the Messiah. He is today, who He was then and was before all time, for God does not change.
Further, Paul wrote that Jesus was descended from the heavens where He shared the glory of the Father. In Philippians 2:7-8, he writes that Jesus emptied Himself of His divine attributes and humbled Himself to live as a human being.
Paul also asserts that in the humanness of Jesus Christ, all the fullness of God resided, Colossians 1:19. This is the uniqueness of Jesus. While being fully human, He was (and is now) simultaneously fully God. It is a mystery that is often perplexing, but it is the testimony of the Scriptures beginning in the Old Testament through the New Testament.
Jesus’ view of Himself of a stranger here was made clear when He told the Pharisees that He is not of this world, John 8:23. In John 18:36, Pilate asked Jesus if He was a king, He replied, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here,” NKLV.
Rejected
He who created us, came to His own people, the Jews, and they rejected Him. They turned Him over to Gentiles, who crucified Him. As God walked in the Garden of Eden calling for Adam (Genesis 3:8-9), so Christ came to the earth calling all people to Himself. Many people, like Adam, hid themselves from Him. But many responded in faith with a deep desire to know God. Many are still heeding His call to be reconciled to the Father through faith in His name.
One reason He was rejected is because the people did not recognize Him. The Jewish people were longing for Messiah to come as a military hero to free them from Roman oppression. Years of anticipation created an expectation that was blinded to the suffering aspect of Messiah’s mission to remove Israel’s sin.
In Isaiah 53, Isaiah wrote that Messiah would be despised and rejected by men, that He would be one who was not held in high regard and that would eventually be rejected and abused. He would not be appealing to look upon, and his grave would be among the wicked.
In Psalm 22, David describes elements of a crucifixion and predicts the scene at Jesus’ death (verses 14-18). He describes hands and feet being pierced as in a crucifixion. Garments were divided and lots cast for pieces of clothing.
Jesus openly spoke of His rejection when He quoted Psalm 188:22-23 CSB, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This came from the Lord; it is wondrous in our sight.” Jesus quoted this Psalm when talking with the religious leaders (see Matthew 21:42, Mark 12:10-11, and Luke 20:17). He knew that He would be rejected. Peter repeats this idea in Acts 4:11 and 1 Peter 2:7. Messiah came to the world, to those in His blood line. He came as the son of David, whom God chose to be the eternal King. He was rejected and crucified by those who should have recognized Him.
Sacrifice
Jesus was unique as a man. His uniqueness came with a purpose and a price. In the Old Testament, Messiah was portrayed not only as a conquering King, but also as a suffering sacrifice. The Passover was instituted when the Hebrews were freed from bondage in Egypt. On that night, a lamb was sacrificed for each household and the lamb’s blood spread around the top and sides of their doors. The Angel of Death went through the land killing the first born of every household without the blood on the door post and mantel.
In the first century, AD, John the Baptizer was called to go before Messiah. When he saw Jesus coming, the Spirit revealed to him that Jesus was the Lamb of God; the One who would take away the sins of the world. Paul affirmed that Jesus is our Passover Lamb in 1Corinthians 5:7. God promised a new covenant with the house of Israel and Judah in Jerimiah 31:31-34 when He said that he would forgive their iniquity and not remember their sin anymore. Jesus was how God fulfilled that promise.
Jesus was born to be the perfect Lamb of God to once and for all shed His blood so that bulls and sheep and goats would no longer need to be sacrificed, (Hebrews 9:12). Paul wrote that Jesus reconciled all things through His blood shed on the cross.
Peter writes in 1 Peter 2:24 (CSB), “[Jesus] bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, that we might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.” Jesus shed His blood for the forgiveness of our sins.
Not only did Jesus take His blood to the heavenly alter as the final payment for sin, but He was also the Passover Lamb for us all (1 Corinthians 5:7). His blood covers us and thereby satisfies God’s wrath against us because of our sin and iniquity.
Concluding thoughts
Jesus is unique in all human history. His earthly life ended on the cross as one who was despised and rejected. If the cross were the end of His story, it would be a tragic and sad bit of history. But the cross is not the end of Jesus’ story. There is an empty tomb where His body lay dead for three days. That empty tomb has brought hope to millions of people. That empty tomb is the confirmation that this man, this Jesus was like no other human before or since.
Jesus was the ultimate stranger because He came down from heaven with mission and purpose. He came into the world He created, to the people who called Him Lord, but had lost their way in religious muck. He was a stranger because no one knew Him. Scripture declares that we have all gone astray and live life for our own interests, Isaiah 53:6; Romans 3:10-18. To us, He was a stranger.
Stranger though He was, He introduced us to the Father, whose love and wisdom have made the way for us to be united with our Creator. In so being united with Him, we too take on the nature of this ultimate stranger.