Living By Faith

Question 23: Why must the Redeemer be truly God?

April 21, 2022 Speaker: Josh DeGroote Series: New City

Topic: Jesus Christ Passage: Acts 2:24–2:24

Question 23: Why must the Redeemer be truly God?

Answer 23: That because of his divine nature his obedience and suffering would be perfect and effective; and also that he would be able to bear the righteous anger of God against sin and yet overcome death.

The Arian heresy - a perennial error that people make. “There was a time in which Jesus Christ was not”. In other words, there was a time in which he did not exist. That is wrong. He is God, always has been, always will be. He never became less than God in the incarnation. He miraculously took on human flesh, while still remaining God all the way.

The question we are looking at today is why? Why must this be true? Our answer gives a few reasons. First because the kind of obedience that God requires is perfect obedience that comes from a perfect heart with perfect motives aimed at the glory of God. No mere human can do that. Jesus Christ, by the power of his divine nature was able to offer a perfect obedience. Furthermore, because Christ is divine, his obedience is also effective. In other words, it fulfills the law of God. Jesus said, “I did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it”. And of course, he was able to do that as the God man. 

But Jesus Christ did not only obeyed perfectly and effectively. He also suffered and bore the wrath of God against sin. Only God could do this. How could a mere man bear the full weight of the wrath of God for sin? A mere man couldn’t. But Jesus took that cup of God’s righteous anger and drank it all the way to the bottom. He drank the entire cup on the cross where he suffered and died for us. 

And then on the third day, of course, Jesus conquered the grave. And this is important to understand. Because Christ is God, the grave could NOT keep him. It was not possible for death to hold him. This is the power of Christ over death. What did Jesus say? “I am the resurrection and the life.” He has resurrection power because he is God. This takes us to our scripture passage for question 23. 

Acts 2:24 - ​​God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.

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