Advent is the liturgical season that calls us to prepare for the Feast of the Nativity. Every year, we spend this time in reflection, pondering the great mystery of the Incarnation. We believe the Lord God in Christ Jesus is active in the Church and the world. We believe the Lord God took human form by becoming the Child Jesus. Mother Church teaches with conviction that Jesus Christ is God, and the Bible affirms the same, first, by telling us about the attributes of Jesus Christ, which only one who is God can have.
- Jesus Christ is Omnipresent
God alone is omnipresent, yet several verses in the Bible speak of the Lord Jesus Christ being present everywhere at the same time. In Matthew 28:20, we read that Jesus is with us wherever we go. At his stoning to death, St. Stephen gazed into the opened heavens and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God (Acts 7:55-56). This same Jesus Christ who is in heaven at God’s right hand also dwells in the heart of anyone who loves Him and keeps His word (John 14:23). And St. Paul prays for us (as he did for the Ephesians), that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith (Ephesians 3:17) and make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of the mystery which is Christ in you (Colossians 1:27).
- Jesus Christ is Omniscient
We acknowledge that God alone knows all things, but the Bible also teaches that Jesus Christ also knows all things. The Lord Jesus knew the unspoken thoughts of the scribes who were accusing Him of blasphemes within themselves (Matthew 9:4). Many believed in His name because they saw the signs that he was doing, but the Lord Jesus did not need anyone’s testimony because He knew what was in everyone (John 2:25). He knew people’s thoughts (Mark 2:8 & Luke 5:22). He was able to distinguish true believers from non-believers and even knew the one who was to betray Him (John 6:64). Even His disciples were sure that He knew all things, and did not need to have anyone question Him because they believed that He came from God (John 1:48-49 & John 16:30). St. Peter had first-hand experience of this when he came home and Jesus was first to speak about the temple tax incident (Matthew 17:25). The Samaritan woman acknowledged that the Lord Jesus knew everything about her (John 4:16-19 & John 4:39). St. Paul wanted hearts to be encouraged and united in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself (Colossians 2:3). This Jesus Christ who is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8) was omniscient before His incarnation, remained omniscient while He was on earth, and is now omniscient in Heaven.
- Jesus Christ is Omnipotent
We confess that God alone has all power, but Scripture states the same about the Lord Jesus Christ. He possesses all power (Matthew 28:18 & Philippians 3:20-21). St. Paul wrote that the Lord Jesus Christ was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead (Romans 1:4). He declared that in Christ Jesus, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and the Christian comes to fullness in Him, who is the head of every ruler and authority (Colossians 2:9-10, cf. John 5:19). The letter to the Hebrews reveals how the Lord God spoke by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things and through whom also He made the worlds. He was the brightness of God’s glory and the express image of God’s person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high(Hebrews 1:1-3).
The Lord Jesus demonstrated this omnipotence when He healed Simon’s mother-in-law (Luke 4:39) and the Gerasene demoniac (Mark 5:12-13), He calmed the raging sea (Matthew 8:26-27), He raised the widow’s son at Nain (Luke 7:14-15), He spoke of the temple of His body (John 2:19-22). The Lord Jesus Christ is the Almighty, who is and who was and who is to come (Revelation 1:8 & Revelation 22:12-13).
- Jesus Christ is Immutable
The Lord God alone is unchangeable, and the Bible declares the Lord Jesus Christ as being the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). Knowing the Lord Jesus can be trusted and counted on comforts us;, yet, this is also an attribute of the Lord God alone. The Lord Jesus declared Himself the eternal, unchangeable God when He said, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). The letter to the Hebrews depicts the Lord God speaking of the Son as immutable.
“And, “In the beginning, Lord, you founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like clothing; like a cloak, you will roll them up, and like clothing, they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will never end.” – Hebrews 1:10-12
- Jesus Christ is Life Itself
By nature, the Lord God is Life (Deuteronomy 30:20) because He gives the physical, spiritual and eternal life. God takes no delight in death – even the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11). He wants all to have the life of God, and so He has given us this life in His Son (1 John 5:11). As St. John emphasises, “in him was life, and the life was the light of all people” (John 1:4). The Lord Jesus proclaimed no options on the route to eternal life except by the only one way that is Jesus Himself – the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6). St. Peter referred to the Lord Jesus Christ as the Author of life, whom the Lord God raised from the dead (Acts 3:15).
- Jesus Christ is Eternal
Prophet Isaiah promised us a child to be born for us and a son to be given to us, a child upon who authority would rest on His shoulders. The child was named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). A child named the Father of eternity certainly reveals the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ because it means that He is pre-eminently the possessor of eternity, another attribute of God alone. Prophet Micah vowed God’s secure and reliable ancient covenant with Isreal and assured that God’s covenant with the one from of old, from ancient days, is eternal and still operative, despite Judah being under threat (Micah 5:2). This promise was fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ (John 8:35, John 7:42 & 1 John 1:2). To His followers He promises to give them eternal life that they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of His hand (John 10:28). It is in Christ Jesus that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden (Colossians 2:3).
- Jesus Christ is Perfect
Perfect is an adjective that means absolute, complete, lacking nothing. The Bible teaches that only God is perfect (2 Samuel 22:31 & Psalm 18:30), yet St. Paul, writing on the supremacy of Christ, observed that in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell (Colossians 1:19). The letter to the Hebrews gives an excellent description of the perfection of the Lord Jesus. That He was made perfect to become the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him (5:9). That which was humanity’s original destiny, superiority to angels, glory, and dominion, is permanently His (1:5–13 & 2:9). We understand that perfection takes away the possibility of mortality. The glorified body of the Lord Jesus is now indestructible (Hebrews 7:16), and this new status makes Him fit to live in the Lord God’s presence forever (Hebrews 1:3; 11:16; 12:28). Thus, St. Paul asserts that in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and we come to fullness in Him, who is the head of every ruler and authority (Colossians 2:9-10).
And More…
Many more attributes that belong only to the Lord God are credited to the Lord Jesus Christ. We find the incomprehensible Christ (cf. Ephesians 3:8 & 3:19), who no one knows except the Father and no one knows the Father except the Son to whom all things have been handed over (Matthew 11:27). The Lord Jesus Christ is the child who was to be born holy and be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35). He is the true one who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens (John 14:6 & Revelation 3:7). As God is love, so is He. He loves us to the end (John 13:1 & 1 John 3:16), and nothing in all creation can separate us from this love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:35-39 & Ephesians 3:19). The Psalmist states that the Lord is righteous (1 John 2:1) in all his ways and faithful (Revelation 19:11) in all he does (cf. Psalm 145:17), and St Paul writes about the reserved crown of righteousness (2 Timothy 4:8). As God is compassionate and merciful (James 5:11), we look forward to the merciful Lord Jesus, who leads us to eternal life (Jude 21).
Take-Home Message
The Bible has taken every attribute that belongs to God the Father and credited it to God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. He said, “All that the Father has is mine” (John 16:15). He made the Father to be known by manifesting His name (John 17:6). He showed us what kind of God He is by putting God’s character on display. In Him, all the fullness of deity dwelt in bodily form (Colossians 2:9). It is this fullness that we have been preparing to welcome in these four weeks of advent. I hope your journey will continue to bear fruit as you live the Nativity scene in your heart this year.
*NB: Unless specifically stated, all Bible quotations are from the NRSVCE.
