Jesus: The Model Man

Jesus The
Model Child
and Youth.
The Teenager's
Best Friend.

-Robert Capon in Hunting the Divine Fox talks about the natures of
Christ in a chapter called "Superman",pages 90-91
Almost nobody resists the temptation to
jazz up the humanity of Christ. The true
paradigm of the ordinary American
view of Jesus is Superman:
"Faster than a speeding bullet, more
powerful than a locomotive, able to
leap tall buildings in a single bound. It's
Superman! Strange visitor from another
planet, who came to earth with powers
and abilities far beyond those of mortal
men, and who, disguised as Clark Kent,
mild-mannered reporter for a great
metropolitan newspaper, fights a never-
ending battle for truth, justice and the
American Way."
If that isn't popular christology, I'll eat
my hat. Jesus – gentle, meek and mild,
but with secret, souped-up, more-than-
human insides…

-Robert Capon in Hunting the Divine Fox talks about the natures of
Christ in a chapter called "Superman",pages 90-91
You think that's funny? Don't laugh.
The human race is, was and probably
always will be deeply unwilling to
accept a human messiah. We don't
want to be saved in our humanity; we
want to be fished out of it.
We crucified Jesus, not because he was
God, but because he blasphemed: He
claimed to be God and then failed to
come up to our standards for assessing
the claim.
It's not that we weren't looking for the
Messiah; it's just that he wasn't what we
were looking for. Our kind of Messiah
would come down from a cross. He
would carry a folding phone booth in
his back pocket. He wouldn't do a
stupid thing like rising from the dead. He
would do a smart thing like never dying.

What if I believe that when Christ was
on earth he was Superman or that he
overcame sin in a different Human
nature than I have, what will be my
first reaction when someone tells me
that I can overcome sin ?

The Signs of the Times, August 29, 1892
There are many who in their hearts
murmur against God. They say, "We
inherit the fallen nature of Adam, and
are not responsible for our natural
imperfections."
They find fault with God's
requirements, and complain that he
demands what they have no power to
give. Satan made the same complaint
in heaven, but such thoughts dishonor
God.
And the Lord knoweth our thoughts
afar off. He speaks to his people,
saying, "O my people, what have I
done unto thee? and wherein have I
wearied thee? testify against me."

The complainers have an
opportunity to bring their
accusations against him; their
Maker gives them an opportunity
to speak.
What charge have you to bring
against Him that ruleth in the
heavens? What have you to say
against His dealings with you?
What against His government?
What against His law?
If you have any excuse to offer
for your neglect to comply with
the conditions upon which your
salvation is based, now make
them known.

If you have any excuse
for sin, for impenitence,
for covetousness, or for
sensuality, you are
permitted to give your
reasons. Those who
would justify themselves
in wrongdoing, and lay
the blame of their
disobedience upon God,
will be heard.

The Desire of Ages, page 117
“Many claim that it was
impossible for Christ to be
overcome by temptation. Then
He could not have been placed in
Adam’s position; He could not
have gained the victory that
Adam failed to gain.
If we have in any sense a more
trying conflict than had Christ,
then He would not be able to
succor us. But our Saviour took
humanity, with all its liabilities.
He took the nature of man, with
the possibility of yielding to
temptation. We have nothing to
bear which He has not endured.”

Did Jesus have
limitations as all
other human beings
do, or did his
Godhood play a part
in his human
development on
earth?

1.How do we know that Jesus was
not supernaturally endowed with
wisdom, insight, and all knowledge?
2. What indication do we have that Jesus
developed according to the normal laws
of growth and development ?

“And the child grew, and waxed
strong in spirit, filled with wisdom:
and the grace of God was upon
him.” -(Luke 2:40)
Wonderful in its significance is the brief
record of His early life: "The child grew,
and waxed strong in spirit, filled with
wisdom; and the grace of God was upon
Him." In the sunlight of His Father's
countenance Jesus "increased in wisdom
and stature, and in favour with God and
man." His mind was active and penetrating,
with a thoughtfulness and wisdom beyond
His years. Yet His character was beautiful
in its symmetry. The powers of mind and
body developed gradually, in keeping with
the laws of childhood. {ML 298.2}
————————————————————————————————————

-16MR 181, 182. {TA 157.1}
“A human body, a human mind, with all the peculiar
properties, He was bone, brain, and muscle. A man of
our flesh, He was compassed with the weakness of
humanity… He trod our earth as man. He had reason,
conscience, memory, will, and affections of the human
soul which was united with His divine nature.”

Omniscience Knowledge of the past
It is the capacity to know everything that
there is to know. Having complete or
unlimited knowledge, awareness, or
understanding; perceiving all things.
Luke 2:52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and
stature, and in favourwith God and man.
The child Jesus did not receive
instruction in the synagogue schools.
His mother was His first human
teacher. From her lips and from the
scrolls of the prophets, He learned of
heavenly things. The very words
which He Himself had spoken to
Moses for Israel He was now taught
at His mother's knee. (The Desire of
Ages pg 70.1)

•Omniscience Knowledge of the
past
•Isaiah 7:14, 15. Therefore the
Lord himself shall give you a
sign; Behold, a virgin shall
conceive, and bear a son, and
shall call his name Immanuel.15.
Butter and honey shall he eat,
that he may know to refuse the
evil, and choose the good.
•(Butter) The hidden knowledge of God’s
words and (honey) His Law shall he (eat) study
that he may know to refuse evil and choose
good.
•Psalm 119: 11. Thy word have I hid in mine
heart, that I might not sin against thee.
As He advanced from childhood to
youth, He did not seek the schools of
the rabbis. He needed not the education
to be obtained from such sources; for
God was His instructor. (The Desire of
Ages pg 70.1)

Omniscience
knowledge of the
future
Mark 13:32. But of
that day and that
hour knoweth no
man, no, not the
angels which are in
heaven, neither the
Son, but the Father. The Son of God was surrendered to the Father's
will, and dependent upon His power. So utterly
was Christ emptied of self that He made no
plans for Himself. He accepted God's plans for
Him, and day by day the Father unfolded His
plans. (The Desire of Ages pg 208)

Omnipotence
All powerful not lacking in
strength or any abilities
He rested not in the possession
of almighty power. It was not
as the "master of earth and sea
and sky" that He reposed in
quiet. That power He had laid
down and He says, "I can of
mine own self do nothing."
John 5:30. (The Desire of Ages
pg 336)

Omnipotence
All powerful not lacking in
strength or any abilities
He trusted in the Father’s
might. It was in faith—faith in
God's love and care—that Jesus
rested, and the power of that
word which stilled the storm
was the power of God (The
Desire of Ages pg 336)

•The words, "mine hour is
not yet come," point to the
fact that every act of
christ's life on earth was in
fulfilment of the plan that
had existed from the days
of eternity, before he came
to earth, the plan lay out
before him, perfect in all
its details, but as he
walked among men, he
was guided, step by step,
by the father's will.
•The Desire of Ages pg
147

If Christ had a special power which it is not the
privilege of man to have, Satan would have made
capitol of this matter."
Selected Messages Vol. 3 pg 139

Signs of the Times, May 17, 1905.
"The Father and the Son in consultation decided that Christ
must come to the world as a babe, and live the life that
human beings must live from childhood to manhood,
bearing the trials that they must bear, and at the same time
living a sinless life, that men might see in Him an example of
what they can become, and that He might know by
experience how to help them in their struggles with sin."

1.How did the the parents of Jesus
influence His early years

“It is of no use to say, as many
writers have said, that Christ was
like all children.He was not like
all children.Many children are
misguided and mismanaged. But
Joseph, who was supposed to be
His father, and especiallyMary,
His mother, kept the realization
ever before them of theirSon's
divine Fatherhood. “
--Ms 37, 1898, pp. 2, 3.

“Their child was instructed in
accordance with the sacred character
of His mission. His inclination to
the right was a constant
gratification to His parents.“
--Ms 37, 1898, pp. 2, 3.

Fallen Nature
Fallen Nature
Holy Spirit Control No Sinful Acts or Propensities
Birth
Birth
New Birth

Isaiah 49
5. And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his
servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered,
yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be
my strength.
Luke 1:13
But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy
wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. 14. And
thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. 15. For he
shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong
drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.
Psalm 22
9. But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me
hope when I was upon my mother's breasts. 10. I was cast upon thee
from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly.

Even the babe in its mother's arms
may dwell as under the shadow of
the Almighty through the faith of
the praying mother. John the
Baptist was filled with the Holy
Spirit from his birth. If we will live
in communion with God, we too
may expect the divine Spirit to
mold our little ones, even from
their earliest moments.
The Desire of Ages, on page 512

It is in the home that the
education of the child is to begin.
Here is his first school. Here, with
his parents as instructors, he is to
learn the lessons that are to guide
him throughout life-- lessons of
respect, obedience, reverence,
self-control. The educational
influences of the home are a
decided power for good or for
evil.
{CG 17.1}

They are in many respects silent
and gradual, but if exerted on the
right side, they become a far-
reaching power for truth and
righteousness. If the child is not
instructed aright here, Satan will
educate him through agencies of
his choosing. How important,
then, is the school in the home!
{CG 17.1}

The book {Education} that is coming out will have much to say in
regard to the great principles that are to be carried out in training the
children, from the very baby in arms.
The enemy will work right through those children, unless they are
disciplined. Someone disciplines them. If the mother or the father
does not do it, the devil does. That is how it is. He has the control. {3SM
217.5}

“Teach the little ones that
they should eat to live, not
live to eat; that appetite
must be held in abeyance
to the will; and that the
will must be governed by
calm, intelligent reason.”
Counsels on Health, 113

Who doesn’t struggle with various
temptations? That question is a no-
brainer! What can “this same Jesus” do
for struggling church leaders, as well as
others, men and women, who are
bedeviled with pornography or sex or
sexual desires?
Or with over-indulgence in eating good
food or bad? Or crossing the line with a
“fatal attraction”? Or habits with
alcoholic beverages or smoking?
Or just plain negative, habitual
weaknesses such as laziness or gossip,
power-hunger, deceitfulness, or being a
control freak? The list could go on!
*The Jesus Difference-Herbert Douglass

“You have not a difficulty that
did not press with equal
weight upon Him, not a sorrow
that His heart has not
experienced… . Jesus once
stood in age just where you
now stand. Your circumstances,
your cogitations at this period
of your life, Jesus has had. He
cannot overlook you at this
critical period. He sees your
dangers. He is acquainted with
your temptations. He invites
you to follow His example.”
Manuscript Releases, vol. 4, p. 235)

If you have hardships, so
had He. If you have
conflicts, so had He. If
you need
encouragement, so did
He. Satan could tempt
him. His enemies could
annoy him. The ruling
powers could torture His
body; the soldiers could
crucify him; and they
can do no more to us.
{20MR 72.2}

Jesus was sinless and had
no dread of the
consequences of sin.
With this exception His
condition was as yours.
You have not a difficulty
that did not press with
equal weight upon Him,
not a sorrow that His
heart has not
experienced.
{20MR 72.2}

Tempted as a Child
Jesus was interested in children. He did not step into our world a fully
matured man. Had He done this, children would not have had His example to
copy. Christ was a child; He had the experience of a child; He felt the
disappointments and trials that children feel; He knew the temptations of
children and youth. But Christ was in His child life and youthful life an
example to all children and youth. {Counsels on Sabbath Work

Youth's Instructor, Aug. 23, 1894
"Let children bear in mind that the child Jesus had
taken upon himself human nature, and was in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and was tempted of Satan
as all children are tempted.”

While Christ was was the busies
man that walked on this earth
what was one of the
distinguishing features of
Christ's personal life?

Jesus was an earnest, constant worker. Never lived there among men
another so weighted with responsibilities. Never another carried so
heavy a burden of the world's sorrow and sin. Never another toiled with
such self-consuming zeal for the good of men. Yet His was a life of health.
Physically as well as spiritually He was represented by the sacrificial lamb, "without
blemish and without spot." 1 Peter 1:19. In body as in soul He was an example of what
God designed all humanity to be through obedience to His laws. {MH 51.2}

In whatever occupation you may be, whether physicians,merchants,
ministers, or men in other walks of life, you have no right to laden
yourselves down with grievous heavy burdens and grievous to be
borne, to be pressed under many and varied responsibilities, until
you feel that you have no time to pray, and excuse yourself on the
plea that you have so much to do. If you have much to do, how
essential it is that you have the Lord God of Israel to stand by your
side, that you may bear the yoke evenly with Him who was meek and
lowly in heart. Christ says, "Without Me ye can do nothing" (John
15:5).
{1MR 96.1}

“He knows how strong are the inclinations of the natural heart.”
{5T 177}.
▸From hours spent alone with God He came forth,
morning by morning, to bring the light of heaven to
men. {MH 55.2}

Though He is the Son of God,
He strengthensHis faith by
prayer, and by communion with
heaven gathers to Himself
power to resist evil and to
minister to the needs of men…..
His own example is an
assurance that earnest,
persevering supplication to God
in faith--faith that leads to entire
dependence upon God, and
unreserved consecration to His
work--will avail to bring to men
the Holy Spirit's aid in the battle
against sin.
Acts of the Apostles page 56

"Daily He received a fresh baptism of
the Holy Spirit. In the early hours of the
new day the Lord awakened Him from
His slumbers, and His soul and His lips
were anointed with grace." (COL 139)

He sought for strength to meet the foe, for the
assurance that He would receive grace to carry
out all that He had undertaken in behalf of
humanity. (Letter 159, 1903).

To the consecrated worker there is wonderful consolation
in the knowledge that even Christ during His life on earth
sought His Father daily for fresh supplies of needed grace;
and from this communion with God He went forth to
strengthen and bless others. Behold the Son of God bowed
in prayer to His Father!. Acts of the Apostles page 56

"He has made abundant
provision for every soul to
have such grace and strength
that he will be more than a
conqueror in the warfare
against sin…
He came to this world and
lived a sinless life, that in His
power His people might also
live lives of sinlessness.
He desires them by practicing
the principles of truth to show
to the world that God's grace
has power to sanctify the
heart."
(RH 4-1-1902)

{Our High Calling pg. 48.6}
We are not to serve God as if we
were not human, but we are to
serve Him in the nature we have,
that has been redeemed by the
Son of God;
through the righteousness of
Christ we shall stand before God
pardoned, and as though we had
never sinned.
The humanity of the Son of God
is everything to us. It is the
golden chain that binds our souls
to Christ, and through Christ to
God.

"There are two kinds of prayer-the prayer of form and
the prayer of faith. The repetition of set, customary
phrases when the heart feels no need of God is formal
prayer. 'When ye pray,' says Christ, 'use not vain
repetitions, as the heathen do; for they think that they
shall be heard for their much speaking.' We should be
extremely careful in all our prayers to speak the wants
of the heart, and to say only what we mean.
All the flowery words at our command are not
equivalent to one holy desire. The most eloquent
prayers are but vain repetitions, if they do not express
the true sentiments of the heart ”
."-Ellen G. White, Signs of the Times, Aug. 14, 1884.

"We do not value the power and efficacy of
prayer as we should. Prayer and faith will do
what no power on earth can accomplish. We are
seldom, in all respects, placed in the same
position twice. We continually have new scenes
and new trials to pass through, where past
experience cannot be a sufficient guide. . . .
{RH, November 11, 1915 par. 16}
"The temptations to which we are daily exposed
make prayer a necessity. Dangers beset every
path." {RH, November 11, 1915 par. 17}

In order to commune with God, we must
have something to say to Him concerning
our actual life. Prayer is the opening of
the heart to God as to a friend. Not that it
is necessary in order to make known to
God what we are, but in order to enable
us to receive Him. Prayer does not bring
God down to us, but brings us up to Him.-
Steps to Christ, p. 93.

How can I be able to resist the
devil when he suggest bad
thoughts in my mind ?

All are free moral agents, and as such they must bring their thoughts to run
in the right channel. Here is a wide field in which the mind can safely
range. If Satan seeks to divert the mind to low and sensual things, bring it
back again and place it on eternal things; and when the Lord sees the
determined effort made to retain only pure thoughts, He will attract the
mind, like the magnet, purify the thoughts, and enable them to cleanse
themselves from every secret sin. "Casting down imaginations, and every
high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God,and bringing
into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ”
(2 Corinthians 10:5). {2MCP 595.2}

The first work of those who would reform is to purify the
imagination. If the mind is led out in a vicious direction, it
must be restrained to dwell only upon pure and elevated
subjects. When tempted to yield to a corrupt imagination,
then flee to the throne of grace and pray for strength from
Heaven. In the strength of God the imagination can be
disciplined to dwell upon things which are pure and
heavenly.--Und MS 93. {2MCP 595.3}

Build a wall of
scriptures around you,
and you will see that the
world cannot break it
down. Commit the
Scriptures to memory,
and then throw right
back upon Satan when
he comes with his
temptations,"It is
written."This is the way
that our Lord met the
temptations of Satan,
and resisted them.
--RH April 10, 1888. {LDE 67.2}

Do not settle down in Satan's easy-chair, and say that there is no
use, you cannot cease to sin, that there is no power in you to
overcome. There is no power in you apart from Christ, but it is
your privilege to have Christ abiding in your heart by faith, and he
can overcome sin in you, when you cooperate with his efforts,
putting your will on the side of God's will. He says, “I have
overcome the world.” In him you lift up the banner as one who
conquers. “We are more than conquerors through him that loved
us.” YI June 29, 1893, par. 8

You may have a constant testimony in your life to the
power of the grace of Christ, and may understand what
are the operations of the Spirit of God. You may be
living epistles, known and read of all men. You are not to
be a dead letter, but a living one, testifying to the world
that Jesus is able to save.
YI June 29, 1893, par. 8

The life of Christ is divine power. In the time of
temptation the victory is already won....The victory is
yours before the temptation even comes...When Satan
comes with his temptation, he has no power, for you
have the life of Christ, and that life in you wards Satan
off every time.
(living By Faith - E.J Waggoner pp.119-122)

Oh, the glory of the thought, that there is life in Christ,
and that you may have it! The just shall live by faith,
because Christ lives in them. "I am crucified with Christ;
nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and
the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of
the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for
me."... (living By Faith - E.J Waggoner pp.119-122)

Listen: This is what the angel said, and this is what he preached in
the twenty-three hundred days: “Seventy weeks are determined
upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression,
and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity,
and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision
and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.”

Any preaching of the sanctuary, any study of the sanctuary, any proclamation of
the sanctuary, that does not preach and proclaim the finishing of transgression in
the life of him who preaches it; that does not mean, and manifest itself in, the
making an end of sins in his life; that does not include the making reconciliation of
iniquity in him who gives the message; that does not bring everlasting
righteousness into the life of him who is preaching; is not preaching the message
of the cleansing of the sanctuary at all. The messenger leaves out the very thing
that the angel of God, in presenting it, makes the substance of the whole story.
GCB April 1, 1903, p. 43.4

Yet brethren are in this audience to-day who know of men who could run the
gamut of the twenty-three hundred days, giving by rote every chapter and
every verse, yet who did not know in their lives the finishing of transgression,
that did not know the making an end of their sins, who knew no reconciliation
for their own iniquity, and had no everlasting righteousness brought in to keep
them back from sinning. You know that that is so. Then that kind of preaching
of the sanctuary and of its cleansing will never bring the cleansing of the
sanctuary, and will never bring us to the end. No, sir. GCB April 1, 1903, p.
43.5

Thus there are two places occupied in the finishing of the mystery of
God. One place is the world itself, to which the gospel is to be
preached; the other place is the lives of the believers of the truth. We
might preach and proclaim in words to the ends of the earth, to every
soul on earth in our generation, so that phase of the work would be
completed, and would be finished; yet if the manifestation of God in
the lives of those who preach that is not completed also, we could
preach that thing ten thousand years, and the end would never come.
GCB/GCDB 42.9

It is not simply that the gospel shall be preached to all the world, and fill
all the world; but it is that when that is done, there shall be a people
ready to meet Him at the end.
Without the finishing of that manifestation of God in the flesh of each
believer, there can be no finishing of the mystery of God. That mystery
finished, God manifest in the flesh,-mark it,-means that only God is to
be seen in every act of life of the believer; so that in his life God is
manifest.
GCB/GCDB 42.9

He bore my soul’s disgrace, that in His name I might be an
overcomer, and be exalted to His throne. Tell of His power, sing of
His matchless love. In every trial He will be near you, and will give
you grace and power according to your need.
—Review and Herald, July 19, 1892

Jesus: The Model Man

Jesus: The Model Man

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Jesus: The Model Man