Acts 2: 22 Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man shown by God to you to be approved by works of power and wonders and signs, which God did through Him in your midst, even as you yourselves know-- (23) This man, delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you, through the hand of lawless men, nailed to a cross and killed. (36) Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you have crucified.
[Part 2 of 2]Consider the story of Moses. God intended to deliver the children of Israel from the hand of Pharaoh, but He first had to gain Moses. Without Moses, God had no way to save the Israelites. It is true that God is omnipotent and almighty. But if He did not have Moses, it would have been impossible for Him to deliver the Israelites. If Moses had not allowed God to use him, God could only have waited until someone was raised up and then use this one to deliver the Israelites. In Moses' deliverance of the children of Israel, we also see God's need for man's cooperation. The principle here is very clear. In the coming of the Lord Jesus, we have a clearer picture of man's cooperation with God. Who is our Lord Jesus? He is God becoming a man. There was no one in the universe who could meet God's standard. As a result God Himself became a man. The Lord Jesus was more than a man, yet throughout His life on earth, He always maintained His stand as a man. Although He is God and the Son of God, He always did things as a man. When He was tempted, Satan told Him more than once that He ought to do things as the Son of God. Satan tried to lure Him away from the position of a man to the position of God. But the Lord Jesus answered, "Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God" (Matt. 4:4). He meant that He was on earth as a man. The main purpose of the Lord coming to the earth was to be a man. He said, "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost" (Luke 19:10). When Nathanael came to the Lord, he said, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel." The Lord answered and said, "You shall see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man" (John 1:49-51). He always said the Son of Man did such and such. This shows that while the Lord Jesus was on earth, He always stood in the position of a man. God can only accomplish His work through man. When man could not satisfy God's demand, He ent His beloved Son to earth to become a man, to satisfy His own demand, and to accomplish His work.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Watchman Nee, Collected Works, vol. 37, pp. 176-177. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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