|Of the Person, Offices, and Work of Christ.| “I shall gladly do so, my dear child. It is a delightful subject to converse upon the Person, Offices, and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ, who, though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor.”
“I shall hear attentively,” said Emma, “what you have to say, as there is much about the Person of Jesus I do not rightly understand. He is called |Christ the Son of God and Son of Man.| both ‘Son of God’ and ‘Son of Man.’ I often wonder how this can be.”
“This, my child,” replied her grandmother, “is the great mystery of godliness, ‘God manifest in the flesh,’—but it is a glorious mystery; and happy shall I be to speak to you upon it.
|Son of God.| “The Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. He was ‘with God, and was God.’ Before this world, or any worlds were made, He dwelt from everlasting with the Father. He is equal with Him in power and in glory. If He had been an angel, or an archangel, He could not have saved us, for the highest archangel is only a creature—and one created being cannot atone for the sin of another. In one word, if Jesus had not been God, He could not have been the Saviour of man.”
|Son of Man.| “But is he not spoken of,” said Emma, “also as the Son of Man?”
“Yes, my dear; and I must add, if He had not been man, He could not have saved us. As our surety, it was necessary for Him to suffer and die in the nature which had sinned—and besides, you know, that as God, He could not have suffered, because the Divine nature is a spiritual one. Therefore it is that He says, ‘A body hast thou prepared Me.’”
“I think, too,” said Emma, “it is a blessed thought that our great Redeemer was a man. If He had been God only, He could not have felt for us in the way He can do as the ‘Son of Man.’”
“You are right, my dear child. This is one of the most delightful thoughts about the person of Jesus, that He is our ‘elder brother,’ and not ashamed to call us ‘brethren.’ He can say to all of us, ‘I know your sorrows,’ for He was Himself ‘the Man of Sorrows,’ and felt them all.”
|Titles of Jesus.| “Would you explain to me,” said the young inquirer, “the meaning of some more of the names of the Lord Jesus Christ?”
|Immanuel.| “He is called,” said her grandmamma, “by that beautiful word, which tells that He is both God and man, ‘Immanuel,’ which means, ‘God with us.’