Bible Studies

THE GREATEST MAN

by GLENN PEASE
02/09/22
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Based on Heb. 2:14-18

Ivan Maddox has pointed out that there have only been three perfect people in this world, and they were Adam, Eve, and Jesus Christ, who is called the second Adam. So two Adam’s and an Eve make up the total population of that mini list of people who were perfect. That list is quickly reduced to one when we make the list of those who stayed perfect by never sinning. Jesus, by the process of elimination, becomes the only person to survive on the list of people who have been perfect and who have stayed perfect all of their lives

Each of the three who started perfect did so because they were direct creations of God, and did not come by means of human reproduction only as did all other humans who have ever lived. Adam was a direct creation, and Eve was made from his body by supernatural creation. Jesus came from a mother, as have all others, but He had no natural father but was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and so was created by a combination of the supernatural and natural. The fact that Jesus was the only man to ever live that never fell out of fellowship with God because of sin in His life is basis enough to call Him the greatest man who ever lived. But there is far more that makes Him worthy of that title.

Charles Jefferson in his book The Character of Jesus gives a list of great people in history who were all very different from each other. He then writes,

“What characteristic is common to all? In such a heterogeneous company is it possible to find any mark which makes them akin? It is possible, and the quality which is common to all is an extraordinary capacity for achievement. These men all did things, enduring things, so that the world was not the same after they had gotten done with it. They carved statues or painted pictures or led armies or ruled states or composed music or framed laws or wrote poems or made discoveries or inventions which enriched the lives and homes of men. They achieved something worth while. They made a mark on the mind of the world. The product of their genius is an imperishable possession of our race.”

In the light of that paragraph we must ask, “What did Jesus leave or achieve?” We have no great books from His pen. We have no art or sculpture, or any physical creation or invention from Him. He never led an army to any victory, nor did He ever lead a government. His greatness is not like the greatness of any other man, but it is greater than that of any other man. Charles Lamb said, “ "If Shakespeare was to come into this room, we should all rise up to meet him; but if Christ was to come into it, we should all fall upon our knees." We honor the greatness of others, but we worship the greatness of Jesus, for His is the greatest of greatness.

We cannot minimize the awesome impact of the teachings of Jesus on all of history. His Sermon of the Mount has been praised by most all the religious leaders of the world. But it is not as the greatest teacher that we see Jesus as the greatest man who ever lived, for there have been many great teachers, and the Old Testament has much of what Jesus taught. I think Charles Jefferson has captured the essence of why Jesus is the greatest man. He wrote, “Other men are great artists or poets or generals or statesmen, whereas Jesus is a great man. His greatness lies in the realm of personality, in the kingdom of character. His achievement was not wrought with paint or with chisel or with sword or with pen, but by the heavenly magic of a victorious will. There is nothing of him but his manhood.” Jesus is the greatest man because He was the only man who was everything that a man could be. He was the ultimate man. He was what God intended man to be, and what man will be for all eternity when Jesus ends history and all of the redeemed will see Him as He is and be like Him.

Jefferson points out that all other great men in history were great at what they could do or produce, but they were not great as people. Their manhood was defective. Alexander the Great was great as a general, but as a man he was pathetic. He was a man of anger and drunkenness, and in a fit even killed his own friend. Other great generals, like Napoleon, were also, in spite of their gifts of leadership, pygmies as men. They were immoral in many ways and were not examples to follow for the good life. Even the great men of the Bible were far from ideal. God used them and blest them out of His grace and not because they were worthy .Noah got drunk and cursed his own grandson, Abraham gave his wife to Pharaoh, Moses was a murderer, and David was a murderer and an adulterer, Solomon married idolaters and became one himself, and all of the Apostles Jesus chose were men of pride and prejudice. Jefferson writes again, “ It is one of the saddest of all surprises to discover on reading the biographies of the world's immortal workers how many of them have been narrow and superstitious, selfish and envious, sordid in their ambitions and groveling in their aims, achieving one significant or beautiful piece of work in the glory of which the shabbiness of their character has been swallowed up.” Study the lives of all great men and you will have to conclude that no great men are the greatest of men, and that is why Jesus stands out as the most unique of all great men. He was the greatest because He was the ideal man.

Great men are themselves a testimony to the greatness of Jesus. It would be hard to find any famous person who has ever made a comment about Jesus who did not admit His uniqueness and greatness. Let me share just a few quotes from great minds. Someone has put together a much larger list, and I am just lifting out some of them.

Philip Schaff, Swiss-born U.S. biblical scholar, 1858

“This Jesus of Nazareth without money and arms, conquered more millions than Alexander, Caesar, Mohammed and Napoleon; without science and learning he shed more light on matters human and Divine than all philosophers and scholars combined; without the eloquence of schools, he spoke much words of life as were never spoken before or since the produced effects which lie beyond the reach of orator or poet; without writing a single line, he set more pens in motion, furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussions…than the whole army of great men of ancient and modern times.”

Michael Faraday,one of the greatest experimental philosophers; Doctorate from Oxford University, holding 97 unsought for distinctions who discovered Electricity

“I bow before him who is Lord of all.”

Mark Hopkins, American educator and theologian, president of Williams College (1836-1872), 1802-1887

“No revolution that has taken place in society can be compared to that which has been produced by the words of Jesus Christ.”

Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of the French (1804-1814). A brilliant military strategist, 1769-1821

“Between him and whoever else in the world, there is no possible term of comparison. He is truly a being by himself. His ideas and his sentiments, the truth which he announces, his manner of convincing, are not explained by human organization. The nearer I approach, the more carefully I examine, everything is above me - everything remains grand, of a grandeur which overpowers.

Ernest Renan,French historian, religious scholar and linguist

“All history is incomprehensible without Christ.”

“Whatever may be the surprises of the future, Jesus will never be surpassed.”

H. G. Wells,British writer, 1866-1946

When asked which person left the most permanent impression on history, he replied that judging a person’s greatness by historical standards:

“By this test, Jesus stands first.”

“I am a historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history.”

“Christ is the most unique person of history. No man can write a history of the human race without giving first and foremost place to the penniless teacher of Nazareth.”

Kenneth Scott Latourette,former President of American Historic Society

In A History of Christianity:

“It is evidence of His importance, of the effect that He has had upon history and presumably, of the baffling mystery of His being that no other life ever lived on this planet has evoked so huge a volume of literature among so many people and languages, and that, far from ebbing, the flood continues to mount.”

“As the centuries pass by, the evidence is accumulating that measured by its effect on history, Jesus is the most influential life ever lived on this planet. The influence appears to be mounting.”

“No other life lived on this planet has so widely and deeply affected mankind.”

Sholem Asch, Polish-born American Yiddish writer, 1880-1957

“Jesus Christ is the outstanding personality of all timeསྤྱcNo other teacher - Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Mohammedan - is still a teacher whose teaching is such a guidepost for the world we live in. Other teachers may have something basic for an Oriental, an Arab, or the Occidental; but every act and word of Jesus has value for all of us.”

J. C. Mill, philosopher, skeptic and antagonist of organized Christianity

“Religion cannot be said to have had a bad choice in pitching upon this man as the ideal representative and guide of humanity.”

There is no need to go on, for it is a fact, not even the enemies of Christianity have bad things to say of Jesus. He is even recognized by famous atheists to have been truly great. There is no debate here, but there is debate as to the reality of the manhood of Jesus. One of the first heresies in the early church was called Docetism, which got its name from the Greek word dokeo meaning “to seem.” They taught that Jesus did not become a real man in the flesh, but just took on the form of a man. He seemed real, but he was not an authentic man. He was a pretend man. This was a rejection of the Incarnation and the Word becoming flesh, and it was rejected by the early church as heresy. We want to look at how strongly the book of Hebrews stresses the reality of the humanity of Christ. If He was not a real man, then He does not count as the greatest man, or even a great man, for if He was just God pretending to be a man, then the competition is not fair at all. His perfect manhood would be all fake, for it would be no problem for God to pretend to be a man. His humanity had to be real to fulfill the plan of God, and we will see why, but first consider the evidence for-

I. THE REALITY OF HIS HUMANITY

Verse 11 says Jesus is of the same family with the children of God. Verse 14 says that He shared the same flesh and blood. Verses 10 and 18 say that He suffered, and verse 18 says that He was tempted. Jesus called men His brothers, and He was just like them, even to the point of being able to die. He was a real man in every way that a man can be a man. He was without sin, but He lived in a body and a world that was under the influence of sin everywhere, and so He suffered the limitations and weaknesses of the flesh. He got hungry and tired, and He got frustrated with people, especially His disciples. He wept in times of sorrow, and He rejoiced in times of celebration. He lived a completely authentic human life. The following list of Scriptures makes it clear that Jesus was not a fake, but a real man.

Physically, He was the same as we are.

A. He was born of our flesh, of a woman.

Genesis 3:15
Isaiah 7:14 (Matthew 1:23)
Matthew 1:16, 21, 25
Luke 1:31, 32; 2:7
John 1:14
Acts 2:30
Romans 1:3; 8:3
Galatians 4:4
Hebrews 2:14-18

B. He grew physically.

Isaiah 53:2
Luke 2:40, 52

C. He had a body of flesh and bones.

Luke 24:39
1 Timothy 3:16
Hebrews 2:14

D. His veins contained blood.

John 19:34

E. He hungered.

Matthew 4:2 (Luke 4:2)
Matthew 21:18
Mark 11:12

F. He thirsted.

Psalms 69:21
John 19:28

G. He became weary and slept.

Matthew 8:24 (Mark 4:38)
John 4:6

H. He died.

Matthew 27:50 (Mark 15:37; Luke 23:46; John 19:30)
1 Peter 3:18
Hebrews 2:9, 14

We can see that He also had all the same emotions as we do. When He saw injustice he became angry as in Matt. 21:12,13, 23 where He cleansed the temple of the racketeering. He had great mental anguish as in Luke 22:44. He could be filled with great joy as in Luke 10:21. Jesus has to struggle in prayer just as we do, and he had to fight off temptation. It is hard to find any emotion that Jesus did not share with us. The record is clear that His life was not just an act, but it was a real life of a man.

II. THE REASON FOR HIS HUMANITY

First of all, you need to be a man to understand a man. You cannot understand any animal completely because you do not know how they feel or think, if they do, about anything completely. You can see the dog wag its tail and understand they feel happy and glad to see you, but when you scold them and they walk away with their tail between their legs, how bad do they feel hurt, and what are they thinking? You can’t know, and you cannot understand how they feel about most of life’s experiences because you are not like them. They cannot understand you either, because they do not have the body and mind of a man.

To fully identify with a person you have to have similar experiences. If you have never lost a mate by divorce or death, you can understand the pain of what it must be, but you do not really know what it is like. If you have never had a serious disease you cannot fully grasp what it is like for those who do. If you have never been tempted to a particular sin, it does not make a lot of sense to you, for it is so easy to not do those things that have no appeal. Only those with the same attraction to a particular sin can understand it in others. We could go on and on with thousands of experiences and show that you have to be one with someone to really identify with them. That is why Jesus had to become a man and go all the way into the life of a real human. If we were to have a high priest who could understand us and intercede for us, we needed one who had been where we are, and so knows what the battle really is. The suffering of Jesus was not just the cross, but the being tempted in every way like we are, but without sin. Not to ever give in to temptation is a pain we can never know, for all men do give in at some point, but Jesus never did. To never fail, and to never give in to some temptation out of God’s will is to live a hard life. We tend to thinks it was a snap to be perfect, but the fact is, it was the hardest life that could be lived. Jesus lived the greatest life ever lived, but it was also the hardest ever lived. Try and be perfect for a week, and you will begin to grasp how impossible it would be to be perfect for 33 years.

Verse 10 tells us that it was through His suffering that He became perfect. You do not become perfect by avoiding all temptation to do evil. The person who grows up in isolation and who never has a chance to do anything evil is not the perfect or ideal person. It is the one who faces the worst that life can throw at them, and yet stands fast in not yielding to the forces that push and pull toward evil. That is the life Jesus lived. Heb. 4:15 says He was tempted in every way just as we are, but He demonstrated that a man can face all temptation and still be faithful to God. Paul wrote in I Cor. 10:13, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”

Men all too seldom call on God in the time of great temptation. It is easier to just give in, for it is painful to resist. Jesus took full advantage of this promise of God’s help, and He was able to overcome all temptation. But the point is, it was suffering that He had to endure, and because He knows the power of temptation and how difficult it is to resist, He is a more sympathetic High Priest on our behalf. An alcoholic does not want a teetotaler defending him, and a sinner does not want a judge who has never struggled with sin. Jesus became a man in all the fulness of manhood so that He can be the best possible helper that a man can have. He did not live the perfect life just so He could look down on the rest of mankind as pathetic wimps. It is true that He is the perfect example that we are to try to imitate, but the fact is we cannot, and so we need more than a good example. We need one who could be perfect, but who also knows how difficult it is, and how great a torture it is to live in the flesh and not submit to the sins of the flesh. We need a perfect example who is able to love those who are not perfect, and who does not expect us to be perfect. We need one who can forgive our imperfection and save us in spite of it. He lived the perfect life so that He could be the perfect sacrifice that would make it possible to save those who can never be perfect.

The greatest man is not just the one who excels all others in some area, but the one who excels and yet can be one with those who do not excel, or who do not even have the ability to compete. Jesus is the greatest in every area in which He is a competitor, but He is never exclusive of others in any of these areas. Greatness so often leads to pride and an attitude that makes one feel they are no longer brothers with their fellow man. They would admit they are of the same species, but not in the same class. Verse 11 say Jesus is not ashamed to call men His brothers. He had such sympathy and compassion for those who were so far removed from His perfection that He seemed to specialize in coming to their rescue. He loved the woman at the well who was the town slut, and she became one of His most loyal followers. He loved those who were hated by society. The publican and the harlots were those he had fellowship with. He even took a thief with Him as the first person to join Him in heaven. His perfection did not take Him away from the sinner at all, but made it possible for Him to bring the sinner up to a higher level because He loved and forgave them.

Among other things Jesus became a real man so as to reveal to mankind just what man was created to be in relation to God and other people. Jesus demonstrates in an actual human life what man is to be. He is what God made man for, and He is the ideal that all men will be when God’s plan is complete. We shall be like Him when we see Him as He is. He became a man to demonstrate the possibility of man living in full obedience to God if they keep their focus on God. Jesus had to pray often and get alone with God to keep his focus right. It was not easy to be a perfect man. He could not do it without staying in touch with His heavenly Father. He said, "I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things." John 8:28. Jesus was dependent completely on the guidance and strength He received from His Father. There is not an hint of pride in Jesus where He claims to be ideal in His own power. He was so fully human that, even though He was the Son of God, He could not be the perfect man without dependence and submission to the Higher Power, which was His heavenly Father. Had He been just a fake man, put on like a mask, it would be no problem for Him to live perfectly as God, but He had to live perfectly as a real man, for only a real man could lay down his life for mankind. The perfect sacrifice had to be a man, and so Jesus had to live the life of a real man to be that perfect sacrifice.

It would be no example to us if God faked living the ideal human life. It is only an example of great value if Jesus lived a real human life and thereby showed that it is possible to stay so close to God that you can overcome the world, the flesh and the devil. We cannot do it perfectly, but His example is a constant challenge to make it our aim to live life as He did.

III THE RESULTS OF HIS HUMANITY

The result of Jesus becoming a man and living the perfect life in the flesh is that it qualified Him to do for us what no one else could do. He could die in our place. He could be our substitute, and pay the penalty for our sin that we might be set free from that penalty, which was death. The result of His humanity is the plan of salvation was able to be completed successfully, and all who will receive Jesus as their Savior are given the promise of eternal life with Him. He took on Himself what we could not do and by His death He destroyed him who has the power of death. The plan of salvation was God’s do it yourself project. Man could not do it, but the God-Man could. Even He could not have done it, however, had He not become man. His humanity was a key factor in the whole process.

I read this interesting account of what a surgeon did decades ago. “On February 15, 1921, there was a doctor who performed an appendectomy. The doctor performing the surgery was Dr. Evan Kane who over his 37-year medical career had performed nearly 4,000 appendectomies, so this surgery was not at all unusual except for two things.

First of all, this was the first time that local anesthesia had ever been used in major surgery. Dr. Kane believed that local anesthesia was safer than putting a patient completely to sleep. Most of his colleagues agreed with him in principle, but they wanted to see first if it would actually work.

So Dr. Kane searched for a volunteer, a patient who would be willing to undergo surgery while under local anesthesia. It wasn't easy to find one. Most people are squeamish at the thought of being awake during their own surgery. Others are fearful that the anesthesia might wear off too soon.

Finally, though, Dr. Kane found a volunteer, and on Tuesday morning, February 15th, the operation began. The patient was prepped and wheeled into the operating room. A local anesthetic was applied. And as Dr. Kane had done thousands of times before, he cut open the tissues and removed the appendix. The patient had only minor discomfort and recovered quickly, dismissed two days later.

Dr. Kane had proven his theory. Thanks to the willingness of a brave volunteer, Dr. Kane demonstrated that local anesthesia was an alternative, even a preferred alternative.

But I said there were two facts that made this surgery unusual. I've told you the first: the use of local anesthesia. The second unusual thing was the patient -- the patient was Dr. Kane. You see, in order to prove his point, Dr. Kane operated on himself. The doctor became a patient in order to convince the patients to trust the doctor.”

You do not have to be a brain surgeon to see how this illustrates what Jesus did for us in becoming a man and dying for our sin. The surgeon was a pioneer who went ahead so others could follow without fear. Jesus is the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. He went into the realm of death and faced the power of death and hell and conquered that we might follow Him without fear. You can study all of the great people of history and be awed by their gifts and works, but there is only one who can forgive your sin and promise you a place in God’s family forever. There is no competition here, and because Jesus does for us what no one else can, and because what He does is everlasting, it makes Him the sole competitor for the title of the greatest man who ever lived.