Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven."
Acts 1:9-11
What did Jesus do for those He came to save? He died for us. But that isn’t all. Each of the following five components of what Jesus did for the redeemed are absolutely essential.
Number One: He was born for us. To die to pay the penalty for our sins, He had to be God, for no mere man could ever be worthy, since no mere man is sinless. Since the Savior had to be sinless, and since only God is sinless, the Savior has to be God.
But God cannot die. So God had to become a man.
He became a man so He could die for us. That God became a man is one of the most incredible miracles of all. For a finite man to contain the infinite God defies all reason. But it is true, and absolutely essential.
It is this bringing together, Almighty God and a human being, that makes Jesus the only Savior and the perfect Mediator. He alone can represent both Holy God and sinful mankind. Equally. Justly. Perfectly.
In His incarnation, Jesus never ceased to be fully God, nor was he less than fully human. He has both natures, divine and human. The two are distinct from each other, yet never separated. His deity and humanity are not mixed or combined, becoming some sort of hybrid third nature. Jesus is the only God-man.
What difference does this short journey into the theology of the natures of Christ make? God will never be against us, since our Savior, who loves us enough to die for us, is fully God. We will never be less than perfectly represented before God, since our Savior is one of us—being fully human.
Rest in Christ, child of God. We have a Man in Heaven, who is fully God and fully human.
Next: He lived for us.