One of the most controversial aspects of Christ our righteousness is the humanity of Jesus. In 1888, Elder A. T. Jones strongly emphasized the humanity of Christ as it relates to Christ our righteousness. He also spoke about the humanity of Jesus as it relates to the problem of the Trinity, for there was that conflict in his day, also. All he said about the humanity of Christ does not necessarily relate to Christ our righteousness. It is very important how you understand the humanity of Christ, because whatever your concept of it is determines your understanding of righteousness by faith in Christ. What Jesus became, what He did, and how He did it tells us about righteousness by faith in Him. Whatever opinion you have about His humanity will determine your theology of righteousness by faith and the plan of salvation.
There are essentially two main divisions of thought. One is that Christ took the nature of Adam prior to his fall. There is a large number of prominent people and theologians who believe that. Another group believe that He took the fallen nature of man after the four thousand years of sin. That is, He took man’s sinful nature. I would like to suggest that there could be other opinions. Too often, those who discuss this merely classify you in the opposite opinion if you disagree with them; which is highly unfair. Depending upon which opinion you hold, there are Bible texts and quotations to support you in that opinion. And, of course, we interpret that text or quotation to fit our preconceived meaning, and so the opposite view disagrees with your interpretation.
I would like to give you some of the evidence each group uses to support their view. “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.” 1 Corinthians 15:45-47. These verses establish that Jesus was the second Adam. He was “the Lord from heaven” according to verse 47; and some people that say since He was the second Adam, then He must have been like Adam before he sinned.
Here is a quote often used to support this view: “Be careful, exceedingly careful as to how you dwell upon the human nature of Christ. Do not set Him before the people as a man with the propensities of sin. He is the second Adam. But not for one moment was there in Him an evil propensity. He was assailed with temptations in the wilderness, as Adam was assailed with temptations in Eden…Never, in any way, leave the slightest impression upon human minds that a taint of, or inclination to, corruption rested upon Christ, or that He in any way yielded to corruption.” 5BC 1128.
Here is another quote used to support the idea that Christ took the nature of Adam prior to his fall: “The incarnation of Christ has ever been, and will ever remain a mystery. That which is revealed, is for us and for our children, but let every human being be warned from the ground of making Christ altogether human, such an one as ourselves; for it cannot be.” 5BC 1129.
In a popular worship book, these two sentences are found: “Christ is called the second Adam. In purity and holiness, connected with God and beloved by God, He began where the first Adam began.” MLT 323.
“He [Christ] vanquished Satan in the same nature over which in Eden Satan obtained the victory.” 5BC 1108.
In a book titled Questions on Doctrine, there are many quotations used by both sides of this issue. For example, on page 657, we see that “He was born without a taint of sin [Ellen White’s emphasis], but came into the world in like manner as the human family.” Then on page 651 of the same book: “We should have no misgivings in regard to the perfect sinlessness of the human nature of Christ [original emphasis].” All of these and more support the idea that Christ took the nature of Adam prior to his fall.
There are also many examples of texts and quotes that seem to support the idea that Christ took man’s nature after four thousand years of sin. Here are two prominent texts that A. T. Jones used: “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.” “Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.” Hebrews 2:14,17.
This next quote is perhaps the strongest quotation concerning Christ taking our nature after four thousand years: “It would have been an almost infinite humiliation for the Son of God to take man’s nature, even when Adam stood in his innocence in Eden. But Jesus accepted humanity when the race had been weakened by four thousand years of sin. Like every child of Adam He accepted the results of the working of the great law of heredity. What these results were is shown in the history of His earthly ancestors. He came with such a heredity to share our sorrows and temptations, and to give us the example of a sinless life.” DA 49. This quote is quite specific that Christ took man’s nature after four thousand years of sin, and not prior to Adam’s sin.
Here are a few more examples used to support this view: “He assumed the liabilities of human nature, to be proved and tried.” 1SM 226. “He became flesh even as we are.” MH 422. “For four thousand years the race had been decreasing in physical strength, in mental power, and in moral worth; and Christ took upon Him the infirmities of degenerate humanity.” DA 117. “He bore the sins and infirmities of the race as they existed when He came to earth to help man.” 5BC 1081. “Taking upon Himself our fallen nature.” QD 657. “He took upon His sinless nature our sinful nature, that He might know how to succor those that are tempted.” MM 181. “He took man’s degraded nature and defiled by sin.” 4BC 1147.
These are just some of the many supporting quotations and Scriptures that are used for the two opinions. Several have told me they wrestle and wrestle with this trying to figure out what to believe about it. There just seems to be so much evidence on each side of the question.
I would like to suggest that you do not have to go to either view. When fine scholars and Christians disagree, it often (but not always) means that the right opinion is somewhere between the two of them. It is difficult for any of us to be always right and totally right, even though we think we are. Often the Lord tries to lead us into all truth and guide us, but unfortunately we have preconceived opinions, and we are usually proud of our opinions. This makes it difficult for Him to teach us all things. Perhaps He teaches some people some things and other people other things, and maybe as we put the pieces together we may arrive at the truth.
There is one thing we must make certain of about Christ as we study, and the following quote makes that clear: “But the first Adam was in every way more favorably situated than was Christ. Christ was tempted by Satan in a hundredfold severer manner than was Adam.” MLT 323. Did you get that? The first Adam was more favorably situated than Jesus. So He certainly did not have as many advantages as Adam had. It goes on and tells how in human nature He conquered where Adam failed. That is important to remember.
He also did not have advantages over mankind in general. “If Christ had a special power which it is not the privilege of man to have, Satan would have made capital of this matter. The work of Christ was to take from the claims of Satan his control of man, and He could do this only in the way that He came—a man, tempted as a man, rendering the obedience of a man.” 7BC 930.
In no way did Jesus have any privileges or opportunities or rights that we do not have, and certainly far less than Adam had. I would like to suggest that He had far greater temptations than any human being will ever have, and therefore far fewer privileges and advantages.
Stop to consider what it means to be tempted in all ways like as we are yet without sin. When all the forces of evil assailed Him, everything depended on His resistance to temptation. We do not quite grasp the enormity of the tests on Jesus. In no way would I ever suggest that He had advantages. Rather, He must have had great disadvantages compared to us and to Adam.
In order to discover the humanity of Jesus, we must agree on the humanity of man, but we cannot. There are many opinions about our own humanity. What are we like as we are born of our parents? For instance, some people believe, and will argue loud and long, that we are born guilty because of our parents’ sin and because of Adam’s sin. Many have been taught that as long as they have been Seventh-day Adventists. Others say it cannot be, and they will show you some quotations to prove their point. But please read all the contexts about the quotations, will you? I would suggest that we become guilty by our own acts and not by our parents’ acts.
Here are some texts and quotations that deal with our own humanity. “As related to the first Adam, men receive from him nothing but guilt and the sentence of death.” 7BC 9. “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Romans 8:7. “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.” Jeremiah 13:23. “…in his sinful nature he [man] could not keep the law of God.” PP 373. “[man] has no power and no disposition to resist Satan.” PP 53. “Our hearts are evil and we can not change them.” SC 18. “In our own strength it is impossible for us to deny the clamors of our fallen nature.” DA 122. “The image of Satan was upon men and Christ came that He might bring to them more power and efficiency.” 7BC 925.
Man’s fall was radical and severe. Our evangelists in days gone by used many texts to describe our condition as sinners, texts we seldom hear anymore. Here is the most popular one: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Psalms 51:5. When we are embryos, we are being formed or shaped in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. We assume the psalmist is speaking for the entire human family.
Job asked, “how can he be clean that is born of a woman?” Job 25:4. He also asked, “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.” Job 14:4. The Bible teaches that “we are all as an unclean thing.” Isaiah 64:6. It is impossible for sinful humanity to reproduce righteous, sinless humanity. It is impossible for weak and helpless humans to reproduce strong humans when it comes to the problem of sin and righteousness. In our pride we try to say that this is not true, but we will learn our lessons if we live long enough.
One of the huge questions on the humanity of Christ is: Do these texts that describe our human condition refer also to Him? Was Jesus born contaminated, or unclean? Could it be said of Him as it is said of us, that we are all as an unclean thing? Did He need to be cleansed? Did He need to be purified after His birth? Was that a necessity? Did He become like us in our uncleanness and contamination? Some would say He must be identical to us or He cannot be our righteousness and our example and our Savior; and therefore, if He is identical, He must be unclean. This is a key point. Was Jesus born contaminated? I am not talking about His activities after He was born. I am talking about His human inheritance. How was He born, and what was He like? Was He shapen in iniquity, and was He conceived in sin as the Bible says about you and me?
If He was conceived in sin and shapen in iniquity, if He was unclean and contaminated, then we are left to explain what the Bible means when it says, “And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee [Mary], and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” Luke 1:35. There are many translations and commentaries to confirm this translation. There are some others that seem to imply that He becomes holy after His birth. So it does not settle it entirely to look at all the translations, but there are many that support the King James Version, and a few good commentaries as well.
Was He a holy thing when He was born, or was He an unclean, contaminated person? We are only talking about His birth and not His activity, for it is His birth that gives us trouble. This we must understand. You might disagree, for some people think that when we call Him a holy thing we are saying He had an immaculate conception, and then we get into all the entanglements of that doctrine and the problems concerning it.
If we can settle one question about this, we will clarify many issues concerning the humanity of Jesus. Just one question is necessary in my estimation: Was it necessary for Jesus to be converted, or born again? Was Jesus ever converted? Was it necessary to convert Him? I know He was baptized, but “Jesus did not receive baptism as a confession of guilt on His own account.” DA 111. Therefore, I assume that He had no guilt when He was baptized. He was not baptized to change from the old to the new. He was not converted at His baptism. It was not a new birth for Jesus. He was fulfilling all righteousness, and setting a right example. But He was not baptized with confession of His own sin, neither by birth nor performance.
Again, the question is: Did He need to be born again, or converted? If He did need to be born again, then you must conclude that He was in some way contaminated and guilty as a sinner. If He was never a sinner and did not need to be born again or converted, then He was not contaminated and need not be purified. This to me is a key issue in this problem; and it does not take a tremendous amount of wisdom to settle it if we just stop to think about it. It is not as big a problem as we have made of it. One of the difficulties we all have is our need to realize that arguments seem to confine us and restrict us into very narrow issues until we are in a deep ditch and cannot see out. We have to gain perspective by backing off and looking at this issue a little differently than we have in the past.
It is certain that I need to be born again and I need to be cleansed. Being born of my mother is not sufficient. I must have a new birth, the Bible teaches. If the humanity of Jesus were exactly like ours, He would have to be converted, too, and be born again. But since I can find no evidence of this in the Scriptures or the Spirit of Prophecy, I conclude that He did not need it. Then there must have been a great difference between Jesus, when He was born of His mother, and me, when I was born of my mother. If I need to be converted and have my old nature taken away, and He does not, there must be a great difference.
Don’t get too frightened or upset. Let me explain further. I would like to suggest that the humanity of Jesus was not like us in our first birth, but like us in our second birth. I think that will satisfy all the requirements of those who want Him to be like us after four thousand years of sin. There are three births we must deal with rather than two, and these are: the birth of Jesus, the birth we have of our mothers, and the birth we have called the new birth. If we confine ourselves to only two of these births, we can get into distortions and misunderstanding. I believe that Jesus is like us in the new birth, but not like us entirely in the first birth, but He is still much like us. Now let me show you why I believe this.
Jesus taught: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” John 3:5,6. When I have been born of my mother, I am only flesh. When we are born again by the Holy Spirit, then we are spirit, too. We must be born again of Him to be different people, to be converted.
This happened to Jesus, I believe, at His first birth. “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus: for He shall save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:18-21.
Jesus was conceived by the Holy Ghost at His birth, but we are not conceived by the Holy Ghost until we are born of the Spirit. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” John 3:6. We are born of the Spirit in our second birth. If you were conceived by the Holy Ghost, could you not then be called that holy thing? The Lord calls us that after the new birth. “And that ye put on the new man [the new birth], which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” Ephesians 4:24. Man is recreated, born again, converted in righteousness and true holiness. Why? Because he is born of the Holy Spirit, and that makes a difference. And so they can call you holy if you are born of the Holy Spirit. The Bible does. And they can call Jesus that holy thing because He was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Go back and study what influence the father and mother have when it comes to nature and to character and to legal involvements and responsibilities. Apparently, since He was conceived by the Holy Ghost, He was holy because of His Father, the Holy Spirit; yet He was human because of His mother. This to me solves many problems.
This next statement relates to the idea of being conceived by the Holy Spirit: “The Spirit works upon man’s heart…implanting in him a new nature as we are born again.” COL 411. This word “implanting” has something to do with conception in my understanding of the word. I do not think you would object to Jesus being called the holy thing in this context, would you? It is an entirely different perspective of looking at Him as the holy thing, and it shows how much we can be like Him, for we are made in His likeness as we are born of His Spirit. We are not like Him because of our fallen nature. We are naturally more like Satan.
This brings about a little confusion because when you look at man in his converted condition, he becomes much more like Adam in his perfection before he sinned. Not physically so much because man still has a degenerate, fallen body. We look forward to the day when we will have new bodies, when we will grow up like calves in the stalls, as the Old Testament prophet said. Even though I am encumbered with this degenerate body, I may have a new heart, a whole new nature, and become a new creature in Christ. In our born-again condition, we are much more like Adam than when we were born of our parents. This is speaking mainly of our spiritual likeness to Adam before he fell into sin. Physically we are not very much like him at all. Look at how tall and majestic he was. Once we grasp the fact that Christ was born like man in the second birth, then we understand much more of the argument and the diversions of opinions than if we leave this out.
I think that we are talking about the second birth condition as it relates to the nature of man, because by then man has partaken of divinity as Christ did at His first birth. And once converted and born again by the Spirit, man is able to do some things Christ was doing because Christ enabled man by bringing divinity to us. Therefore, to me it helps greatly to look at this as being like the second birth condition rather than the first birth. I do not believe that Christ ever had to be converted the first time.
Another reason for so many disagreements about the humanity of Christ is His duality of nature. We are told that the disciples “had not understood the mystery of His incarnation, the dual character of His nature.” DA 507. “But although Christ’s divine glory was for a time veiled and eclipsed by His assuming humanity, yet He did not cease to be God when He became man. The human did not take the place of the divine, nor the divine of the human. This is the mystery of godliness. The two expressions ‘human’ and ‘divine’ were, in Christ, closely and inseparably one, and yet they had a distinct individuality.” 5BC 1129. These are contradictions to the human mind. They were closely and inseparably one, and yet they had a distinct individuality. Continuing with the quote: “Though Christ humbled Himself to become man, the Godhead was still His own. His deity could not be lost while He stood faithful and true to His loyalty.” While He was one He was two, which is exactly what it says. Two distinct natures in Christ while intimately one, closely united, yet they had their distinct individuality. These are marvelous words for us to grapple with. He was like that, but we cannot understand it all that well, which is why it is called a mystery.
In addition to His duality of nature, He had some other positions to fill. He not only represented me and was an example for me and gave me hope as an average man, He also was the second Adam (and all that implied) regarding His position and not His nature. He was the second Adam in position. Adam was the father of all humanity. No matter what person you talk about, if you go back far enough, Adam is their ultimate grandfather. We all came from him. Christ literally becomes the father of all living as the second Adam for He recovers us all from death. “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” 1 Corinthians 15:22. These are marvelous thoughts.
Adam was the king of all this earth and everything in it. His kingship had an influence on all of his kingdom. After his sin, leaves fell from trees for the first time, the weather changed, and one son killed another. I am talking about his influence and his position as the father, as the king, as the head of humanity. These are concepts we do not understand well. We say like father like son, like teacher like student, like king like subjects. It seems to be the function of natural law that we are that way. Christ had many positions to fill, and not just to be like one of us and to help us. He did that, but He did much more, and this we must understand.
Jesus came to be the second Adam in terms of position, and this is confirmed many places in the Spirit of Prophecy. For example, we are told that Jesus “stands at the head of humanity.” MH 399. At one time Adam stood at the head of humanity, but now Christ does. Christ takes Adam’s place, and in this position as the second Adam, He must conquer where Adam failed; otherwise we are all lost. He must redeem what Adam lost. He must be righteous where Adam was sinful, and He must be righteous for the whole human family. I cannot even be righteous for myself, much less be righteous for you. He must be righteous for all or He is not the Lord our righteousness. He made provision to save the whole human family. There is only one Savior. Adam lost the whole human family, and Jesus, the second Adam, came to save the whole human family. He is a very unusual individual.
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned…death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of Him that was to come…For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many…For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” Romans 5:12-19.
The influence of one Person at the head of the human family is vastly different. None of us have been asked to be the head or the father of the human family. We have not been asked to be the Savior, the Redeemer, or the righteousness of the human family. He is all of these. Much has been required of Him, and He fully succeeded in all these roles. This requires unique capabilities, and I am afraid that sometimes we do damage to Jesus in His positions and His many offices when we talk about His humanity. We must be careful about this.
Let us look at just one of His positions to see how it required a unique capability. Look at His position of Savior. Did He save us in His humanity alone? Was the humanity of Christ capable of saving all human beings who ever lived? We read in the Spirit of Prophecy that humanity died, but divinity did not die. Therefore, since that happened, how then did He save us? Was a human being sufficient to save all mankind?
The answer is an important one for us. “No sorrow, no agony, can measure with that which was endured by the Son of God. Man has not been made a sin-bearer, and he will never know the horror of the curse of sin which the Saviour bore. No sorrow can bear any comparison with the sorrow of Him upon whom the wrath of God fell with overwhelming force. Human nature can endure but a limited amount of test and trial. The finite can only endure the finite measure, but the nature of Christ had a greater capacity for suffering; for the human existed in the divine nature, and created a capacity for suffering to endure that which resulted from the sins of a lost world.” 5BC 1103.
In other words, something was required for our sins that required a different capacity for suffering than man alone would have. That result required a greater capacity than man alone had. Jesus had it because He had both divinity and humanity, and therefore a greater capacity. The quote continues by saying, “The agony which Christ endured, broadens, deepens, and gives a more extended conception of the character of sin, and the character of the retribution which God will bring upon those who continue in sin. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ to the repenting, believing sinner. Justice demanded the sufferings of man; but Christ rendered the sufferings of a God. He needed no atonement of suffering for Himself; all His sufferings were for us.” FLB 102.
Jesus provided the sufferings of a God. How much can God suffer? Had only man had to suffer, we would minimize the atonement. And while He suffered in His humanity, divinity also suffered for us. This totality of Jesus produced a capability that pays all my debt and all my punishment; and how happy and grateful we should be. There is no other one like Jesus. He is the one Savior. I am not and you are not. All our hope is found in Him; and He performed all those roles, all those offices and positions for this whole human family.
What an unusual individual Jesus is. By that salvation provided by both His divinity and humanity, I am justified by faith in Him and His righteousness, for He takes away my condemnation, all my sin and guilt, and makes me just. This is all closely related to salvation by grace.
As a result of all these various aspects, it appears to me that Christ did take man’s simple nature after four thousand years of sin. But He does not become like man in his natural birth, but rather like man in his rebirth. This does not give Him any advantage that I cannot have. I am still human. I still have to walk this earth faced with all manner of temptations; but now I have an enabling power brought to me by Jesus. This does not give me any advantage, and therefore He can be a perfect example, perfect righteousness, and perfect hope for me.
While He did not take Adam’s nature before sin, He performed the requirements of the second Adam. He performed flawlessly and perfectly, yet in the fallen nature of man. It is easy to see why people might think He looks so much like Adam because He is performing all those positions and doing it much better than Adam did. And yet He was tempted much greater than Adam was and thus was at a great disadvantage. It is something that no one else could do. Only that one, unique Person could do that. He is distinctive, He is unique, and we must remember that. There is only one second Adam. No other human being is required to do that. There is only one Savior, there is only one Redeemer, there is only one King of all mankind, and there is only one Lord our righteousness.
All of this centers in Jesus, this most unusual individual. Because of this, I make certain conclusions that you might disagree with. “Wherefore when He cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a body hast Thou prepared Me.” Hebrews 10:5. I believe that this text applies to His birth because of this uniqueness of Christ. I conclude that He was made like us in some ways, but not in all ways; and I also believe He was made like Adam in some ways, but not in all ways. God prepared Him a body, not His mother. There was something different about His body, yet it was very much like ours.
I believe that it was the sacrifice of that body that saves us. “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Hebrews 10:10. His body was offered because justice required the sufferings of a God as well as the death of a human. The offering of that body saves and justifies. No other one could do that. God in His marvelous plan and design to save you and me made Jesus like that. Every eye and every hope is to center on Him for there is no other one. We must never diminish what He is able to do, for He brought to mankind power from heaven. He is the Lamb of God. There is no other. He is not the Lamb of man. He is a Lamb for man, but He is God’s Lamb. He belongs to Him. And in order to save us, God offered Him for us.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son….” John 3:16. The Greek term for “only begotten” indicates He was the only one of His kind, a very unique individual. Other translations say “His only son” rather than only begotten son. There is no other one like Him, even though there are many sons of God, such as in Job where it describes how the “sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord.” Job 1:6. Jesus is unique, and He became one of us after four thousand years of sin, and identified with us completely by taking our frail human nature and our degeneracy; yet He was still verily God, and in Him was the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He was unique, and I think this describes His nature better than any other term.
We have no connection with God except through Jesus. “No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” John 14:6. That also makes Him unique. All our hope, all our help, all our power, all the enabling is in the divinity of Christ. He trusted in the divinity of His Father, and we trust in His divinity. If He had not come, how utterly helpless we would be, for without Him we can do nothing, according to John 15:5. Therefore everything is in Jesus. All this power that you and I need—the power to recreate fallen man—is in Jesus. That power bridged the gulf of the separation that sin brought, and God came over to our side of the gap in the person of Christ. In no one else is that true; only in Christ. God was coming to man, and He came all the way from divinity, not just from heaven; and He came all the way past the angels, a little lower than them. And still lower because man was fallen, to take our fallen nature that He might bring us power, and salvation, and redemption, and hope, and righteousness.
This is my Jesus, and yours. I may not understand all about Him, but I know He loves me and He loves you. And He did this because you are so extremely precious. Somehow may God help us to grasp in all these discussions the beauty of Jesus, the fullness of what He has done for us, and the enormity of the atonement. How marvelous is the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. May God help us to respond in our innermost souls by acknowledging our love for Jesus. There is no one like Him. He is all the world to me. May we accept Him as God gave Him, is my prayer in Jesus’ name.