A little boy, frightened by a thunderous lightning storm, called out one dark night, "Daddy, come! I'm scared!" "Son," the father said, "God loves you, and He'll take care of you." "I know God loves me," the boy replied. "But right now I want somebody who has skin on."

Jesus, for all practical purposes, was "God with skin on."

Nearly 2,000 years ago Jesus asked the Pharisees, "What do you think of Christ? Whose Son is He?" Matthew 22:42 Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David.

This question perplexed many people. The general public was confused about Christ. Some thought He was Jeremiah the Prophet, while others thought He was Elijah. King Herod thought Jesus was John the Baptist come back from the dead. For the most part, Jesus was thought to be the Messiah's forerunner-a man with God-given miraculous powers, not the incarnation of God Himself.

Throughout history much of the world has wanted, in the same way, to speak highly of Jesus without recognizing His deity and Lordship.

Pontious Pilate said, Luke 23:4. Then said Pilate to the chief priests and to the people, I find no fault in this man.

But all of these descriptions and titles fall short of identifying Jesus as He fully is--the Messiah, God in human flesh. People are still confused about Jesus to this very day. In fact there has never been a time when more people, who really know nothing of who He is or was, profess faith in Him. We all must come to grips with the same questions that Pilate faced, Pilate saith unto them, Matthew 27:22 What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified.

Jesus is the second member of the Trinity. Jesus never became God. He was God before He was born, and He remained God after He became man. His deity was "pre-human, pre-Bethlehem, pre-Mary."

Once on Earth, Jesus never laid aside His deity; He only veiled His deity for a time. We know this because Jesus momentarily revealed His glory in transfiguration on the mount with Moses and Elijah Matthew 17:1 -5 1 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, 2 And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. 3 And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. 4 Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. 5 While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.

The Virgin Birth is not an optional belief, rather it is essential to one's relationship with God and belief in His word. It would, no doubt, have been possible for God to send Jesus to Earth as a complete, yet sinless, human being without parents. But it would have been hard for us to see how Jesus could be fully human.

On the other hand, it would have been possible for God to have Jesus come into the world with two human parents, with His full divine nature somehow united to His human nature. But then it would be hard for us to believe Jesus was indeed God. Those who say that the Virgin Birth is impossible are essentially denying God's Word and God's ability to do miracles when and where He chooses. Jesus made a clear claim to deity when John 8:24 He said, I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. If we believe that He is God in human form, then we must also accept the process God used to bring Him to us. Jesus claimed to be God on many occasions.

Many cults will assert that Jesus never claimed to be God. To suggest this idea is ludicrous! For instance, we know that Jesus, on many occasions, accepted worship. But Jesus also said that worship was reserved for God alone. Matthew 4:10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

Jesus also forgave sins, again something reserved for God alone. In Luke 5, a crippled man is lowered through the roof before Jesus, and He says, Luke 5:20 And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. After seeing this, the Scribes and Pharisees rightly asserted, "Who can forgive sins but God alone" (And they got no argument from Jesus). Luke 5:23 Jesus said, "Which is easier to say, your sins be forgiven or rise and walk? But so you may know the Son of Man has power to forgive sins Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk?

Jesus entered this world as a helpless human baby unable to do more than lay still, stare, wriggle and coo. He needed to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child. As a man, Jesus became tired, hungry and lonely. We are told that when He went to Samaria, ultimately to meet the woman at the well, He was weary. John 4:6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. When on the cross, no doubt extremely dehydrated, He said, "I thirst." John 19:28 After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. After He fasted for forty days in the wilderness, we read that He was hungry. Matthew 4:2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred

Jesus also experienced physical weakness. When He was on the way to Calvary, bearing His cross, He fell beneath its weight. A man named Simon from Cyrene had the great privilege of carrying it a short distance for Him. Finally Christ died like a man in the sense that His body ceased to function just as ours does when we die.

Jesus also had a human mind. From the Bible we see that He appeared to go through a learning process. "And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him...And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men...They found Him in the Temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions." Luke 2:40 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him Luke 2:52, And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. Luke 2:46 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.

It is difficult for us to comprehend that Jesus, who possessed divine attributes such as omniscience and omnipotence, still went through normal human development. Imagine Jesus learning to read and write! He had the limitations of humanity, but not the limitations that sin brings in one's life. Jesus also experienced human emotions. Shortly before His crucifixion, John 12:27 Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.

In the story of Lazerus, we see Jesus express a broad range of human emotion. "When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 'Where have you laid him?' He asked 'Come and see, Lord' they replied. Jesus wept." John 11:33-35 33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, 34 And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. 35 Jesus wept.

We are called to resemble Christ in our actions. Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: To have Christ's attitude is not some mystical, unreachable goal. It is profoundly practical and applicable. We must simply seek the will of God above everything else.

Satan was not satisfied to simply worship God. He wanted the throne. Satan was not satisfied to be a creature. He wanted to be creator. Too many people today are like Lucifer. We must keep God's will foremost in our lives. Christians must empty themselves, lay aside ambition and personal glory to find God's formula for true success!

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