Knowing and Following the Eternal Son Made Flesh
Doctrine: Knowing Jesus Christ as truly God and truly human—our Prophet, Priest, and King.
Devotion: Receiving his words, drawing near through his priesthood, and trusting his gracious rule.
Discipling: Helping others discover who Jesus is and respond to him through Scripture.
Main passages: ; ;
Supporting passages: ; ;
Memory verse: , using the NET2 Bible.
Our Purpose
By the end of this session, we should be better able to explain why Jesus must be understood as truly God and truly human, recognize how he serves as our Prophet, Priest, and King, and respond to him with growing trust, love, and obedience. We should also be better prepared to open Scripture with another person and help them consider who Jesus is.
Our purpose is not simply to master titles about Christ. It is to know the person those titles describe. The eternal Son has come among us, accomplished our salvation, and opened the way for us to draw near to God. He is worthy of our confidence and allegiance.
1. Beginning Together
In Session 1, we considered the God who makes himself known. In Session 2, we faced our sin and our inability to save ourselves. We now turn our attention directly to the Savior. Who is Jesus Christ, and why is he able to bring us to God?
Many people respect Jesus while remaining uncertain about his identity. They may regard him as a wise teacher, a compassionate example, or an inspiring religious figure. Those descriptions acknowledge something important, but they do not express the full testimony of Scripture. Jesus is the eternal Son who became human for us and for our salvation. His identity explains both the authority of his words and the saving significance of his work.
If you participated in the Explore courses, you have already encountered this question through Jesus’ claims and signs. D3DGrow brings those discoveries together and considers how they shape our life with him. The one who gives life, opens blind eyes, and lays down his life for the sheep is the Lord we now trust and follow.
Looking Back
What did you learn in the previous session about confession, repentance, or receiving God’s grace? You may share a general observation without disclosing private details. Did a passage help you respond differently to failure or speak more graciously with someone else?
Discuss
- If someone asked you, “Who is Jesus?” how would you answer in two or three sentences?
- Which aspect of your relationship with him feels most familiar: listening to him, depending on him, or following his direction? Which would you like to understand more deeply?
A Prayer to Begin
Father, thank you for sending your Son and making yourself known through him. By your Spirit, help us see Jesus clearly in your Word. Deepen our confidence in his saving work, our love for his person, and our willingness to follow him. Amen.
2. Read — The Son Who Makes the Father Known
Read in the NET2 Bible.
John begins before Jesus’ birth, directing our attention to the Word who already existed in the beginning. He distinguishes the Word from the Father while affirming his deity. He then announces that this same Word became flesh and lived among us. The person who entered our human life is the eternal Son, not someone who later became divine.
Look Closely
- What do verses 1–3 tell us about the Word’s relationship to God and to creation?
- What does verse 14 say happened to the Word?
- How do people respond to him in verses 10–13?
- According to verses 14–18, what do we receive and discover through him?
Now read and 4:14–16 in the NET2 Bible.
Hebrews presents the greatness of the Son and the confidence his people may have through him. The one who reveals God and sustains creation is also our great high priest, who understands human weakness and invites us to approach God for mercy and help.
Look Closely
- What does say about the Son’s identity and work?
- What has he accomplished concerning sins, and where is he now?
- What does say about his experience of temptation?
- What response does the passage invite from us?
As we study, keep together what these passages hold together: the majesty of the Son and his genuine nearness to those he came to save.
3. Doctrine — Receiving God’s Truth
Jesus Christ Is Truly and Eternally God
John does not introduce Jesus as a created being who eventually rose to divine status. The Word already existed in the beginning, and all created things came into being through him. He stands on the Creator’s side of the distinction between God and creation.
The Son is personally distinct from the Father, yet he fully shares the one divine nature. He is not a lesser god or a portion of God. Hebrews describes him as the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being. He reveals the Father perfectly because he is the eternal Son, not simply a messenger observing God from a distance.
Read . Paul describes the Son’s supremacy over creation and his headship over the church. The title “firstborn” expresses his preeminence and inheritance; in this passage it does not identify him as the first creature. Paul immediately explains that all things were created through him and for him, and that he exists before all things.
This truth is deeply practical. When we trust Jesus, we are not placing our hope in someone whose goodness or power may eventually prove insufficient. The one who saves us is the Lord through whom we were made. He is worthy of worship, and his promises carry divine authority.
The Eternal Son Became Truly Human
announces a real incarnation. The eternal Son took to himself a complete human nature without ceasing to be God. He did not merely appear human, temporarily occupy a human body, or exchange his deity for humanity. The one person, Jesus Christ, is truly God and truly human.
His human life was genuine. He grew, learned, worked, became tired, experienced sorrow, and suffered. He lived in faithful dependence on the Father and in the power of the Spirit. His obedience was not a performance staged for observers; it was the real obedience of the incarnate Son within our human condition.
tells us that he was tempted, yet without sin. His sinlessness does not make his compassion unreal. He knows the pressure of temptation and the suffering that faithfulness can involve. Unlike us, he never yielded. We can come to him without needing to explain human weakness to someone unfamiliar with it.
His humanity is essential to our salvation. He came to represent us, obey as our faithful representative, and offer himself for our sins. His deity is equally essential: the one who acts in this human life is God the Son himself. We do not divide Jesus into two persons. The eternal Son is the acting subject of his incarnate life and saving work.
Discuss: How does knowing that Jesus is both truly God and truly human strengthen your confidence in him?
As Prophet, Jesus Makes God Known
A prophet speaks God’s word to God’s people. Scripture presents Jesus as the fulfillment and culmination of that ministry. contrasts God’s earlier speech through the prophets with his climactic speech in the Son. Jesus is not simply one voice among many; he is the Son through whom the Father makes himself known.
Jesus teaches with authority, exposes falsehood, reveals the Father, and announces the kingdom of God. His words are not advice we may reshape according to preference. They call for faith and obedience because of who he is.
We receive his teaching through Scripture, including the apostolic witness he authorized. Knowing Christ does not involve setting a supposedly personal Jesus against the written Word. The Spirit helps us understand and receive the Christ whom Scripture reveals.
Listening to him means more than finding a phrase that comforts us. It includes allowing his words to correct our assumptions, challenge our desires, and direct our lives. Because he is truthful and good, we can welcome that correction.
As Priest, Jesus Brings Us to God
A priest represents people before God. Jesus is our great high priest, who offered himself for our sins and now intercedes for us. Read , noticing the permanence of his priesthood and the sufficiency of his sacrifice.
We do not approach God by presenting our devotional consistency, moral improvement, or usefulness to the church. We approach through Christ. His priestly work gives us confidence that our sins have been dealt with and that we are welcome to seek mercy and help.
His continuing intercession does not mean his sacrifice was incomplete or that the Father must repeatedly be persuaded to love us. The risen Son represents his people on the basis of his accomplished saving work, in full harmony with the Father’s gracious purpose.
This is why invites confidence rather than concealment. Our great high priest knows our weakness, and through him we may draw near. We need not wait until we feel strong before praying.
As King, Jesus Calls Us to Follow Him
Read .
Jesus announces God’s kingdom and calls people to repent, believe, and follow him. He is not merely offering an addition to an otherwise self-directed life. He calls us under his gracious authority.
His kingship is good news because of the kind of King he is. The one who commands our allegiance is the one who gives himself for us. His authority is neither selfish nor abusive. He rules with truth, justice, wisdom, and love.
Following him therefore involves real obedience: telling the truth, forgiving, resisting sin, loving our neighbors, and giving ourselves to his purposes. Yet obedience does not purchase a place in his kingdom. It expresses the faith of people received by grace.
Prophet, Priest, and King are not three separate versions of Jesus. They help us understand the unified work of the one Savior. He makes God known, brings us to God, and leads us in life with God.
4. Devotion — Receiving and Responding to Christ
Knowing Him in the Particular Needs of Our Lives
We can affirm Christ’s titles while failing to draw on their significance. We may call him Prophet while resisting his correction, Priest while avoiding God in shame, or King while protecting an area of life from his authority. Devotion brings these truths into a personal response.
This is not an invitation to accuse ourselves endlessly. It is an invitation to receive the whole Christ with growing faith. He knows us and calls us to come. His words give light, his priesthood gives confidence, and his rule gives direction.
A Guided Practice: Listen, Draw Near, and Follow
Allow approximately ten minutes. Keep your Bible open, and let the passages—not imagined messages—give direction to your response.
1. Listen to the Son.
Return to . Consider what the passage reveals about Jesus. Which truth calls for your attention today? Perhaps you need to remember his authority, the cleansing he accomplished, or his present exaltation. Thank the Father for speaking through his Son and ask the Spirit to help you receive that truth.
2. Draw near through your high priest.
Read slowly. Name a weakness, temptation, sorrow, or need that you have hesitated to bring to God. You do not need to describe it to the group. Bring it before the Father through Christ, trusting the invitation of the passage.
You might pray, Father, I have been avoiding you because I feel ashamed and weak. Thank you that Jesus is my great high priest. I come through him for the mercy and help you promise.
3. Respond to your King.
Consider one area where Jesus’ teaching calls for a response. Is there something to begin, stop, repair, or entrust to him? Choose a concrete step rather than a sweeping promise. Ask for the Spirit’s help to obey because you belong to Christ, not in order to make yourself acceptable.
4. Rest in who he is.
End by thanking Jesus for his sufficiency. You are not the prophet who must possess every answer, the priest who must remove your own guilt, or the king who must control every outcome. You have responsibilities, but you carry them under his care and authority.
Let Scripture Shape Affection as Well as Action
As you read about Jesus, pause long enough to consider what is beautiful and trustworthy about him. Notice his patience with weak disciples, his compassion for sufferers, his clarity about sin, and his willing obedience to the Father. Understanding these things gives substance to our love.
We need not force an emotional response. Instead, we can speak honestly: Lord Jesus, help me appreciate your patience more deeply, or, Thank you that your authority is joined to such goodness. Praise and thanksgiving grow as we attend to the person Scripture reveals.
The familiar pattern of Praise, Thanksgiving, Confession, Intercession, and Petition can help. Praise Christ for who he is, thank him for his work, confess resistance to his words, pray for others to know him, and ask for help to follow him faithfully.
When We Feel Unworthy to Come
There will be days when approaching God feels difficult. Perhaps we have failed again, become distracted, or neglected prayer. Hebrews does not tell us to manufacture worthiness before coming. It directs us to hold firmly to Christ and approach the throne of grace.
Coming confidently does not mean casually disregarding sin. We confess because sin matters, and we come because Christ’s priestly work is sufficient. His mercy does not weaken the call to obedience; it gives us hope to return and continue following him.
Carry this connection into the week: when you become aware of weakness, let it become a reason to seek help rather than an excuse to withdraw.
5. Discipling — Helping Others Discover Jesus
Begin with the Person, Not a Technical Vocabulary
The terms incarnation, deity, and priesthood can serve understanding, but they need explanation. We should not assume that using correct words means someone understands their significance. Begin with Scripture and explain the terms in ordinary language.
For example, you might say, “Christians believe that Jesus is the eternal Son of God who became genuinely human. That is why we believe he can both make God known and represent us before God.” Then open a passage and consider its claims together.
The Explore courses provide a natural resource here. Someone asking about Jesus’ identity may benefit from reading one of his claims or signs before attempting a broad theological summary.
Share: Explain Clearly without Pretending to Explain Everything
We can state the truth of the incarnation without claiming to comprehend fully how divine and human natures are united in one person. Mystery is not the same as contradiction or an excuse for careless thinking. It reminds us that the person of Christ exceeds our ability to explain exhaustively.
Avoid illustrations that turn Jesus into half God and half human, or suggest he switched between being God and being man. It is better to say something clear and limited than to use an analogy that misleads.
If a question exceeds your understanding, say so: “That is an important question. I want to answer carefully rather than guess. Let’s examine the passage and seek some further help.”
Model: Depend on the Christ You Describe
Let others see how Christ’s words correct you, how his priesthood encourages your prayers, and how his authority shapes a decision. You might share a brief example of seeking his help before a difficult conversation or choosing honesty because you belong to him.
The purpose is not to make yourself the model of impressive faith. It is to show what dependence on a sufficient Savior looks like in an ordinary, unfinished life.
Guide: Read and Ask
Helpful questions include:
- What does this passage say about Jesus that surprises you?
- What does he do here that reveals his identity?
- What does this help us understand about our need for him?
- What response does the passage invite?
Allow uncertainty and questions. Do not treat every pause as something you must fill. Give the person time to look again at the text and express what they understand.
Practice Together
In pairs, read and consider this fictional statement:
“I know Jesus is important, but when I fail, I feel that I should stay away from God until I have done better.”
Practice helping the person see the connection between Jesus’ priesthood and the invitation to approach God. Ask a question, offer a brief explanation, and suggest a simple prayer. Then discuss whether your response directed attention to Christ or mainly to the person’s need to try harder.
6. Living This Session During the Week
With Christ
Continue your Scripture and prayer rhythm, returning to , , , and . As you read, consider what the passage reveals about Jesus and let that truth shape your prayer.
Review in NET2. If you began memorizing it in D3DStart, revisit it in the light of what you have learned about your great high priest. Familiarity can become deeper understanding rather than merely easier recall.
With Others
Choose one short passage about Jesus to read with another person, if an appropriate opportunity arises. Ask what they notice before offering an explanation. If they are exploring faith, consider inviting them to a relevant session in Come and See or That You May Believe.
In Everyday Life
Choose one way to respond to Christ as Prophet, Priest, and King. Receive a word of correction from Scripture, bring a need confidently to God through him, and take one practical step of obedience. These responses belong together within a life of faith.
When We Meet Again
Be ready to share something you saw more clearly about Jesus and how it affected your prayer or daily life. Bring questions as well. Learning to know Christ is a continuing journey, not a test of whether we can explain everything after one session.
7. Closing — A Savior Worthy of Our Trust
The good news is inseparable from the person of Jesus Christ. The eternal Son became truly human, made the Father known, and accomplished the work by which sinners are brought to God. He is our Prophet, Priest, and King: we listen to him, draw near through him, and follow him.
As we grow in understanding, we also grow in reasons to trust and love him. His greatness does not make him inaccessible, and his compassion does not diminish his authority. The Lord who reigns is the Savior who gave himself for us. We can entrust our lives to him and help others discover why he is worthy of theirs.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank you for your eternal Son, who became human for us and for our salvation. Lord Jesus, help us receive your words, depend on your priestly work, and follow your gracious rule. By your Spirit, deepen our love for you and form your likeness in us. Give us clarity, humility, and patience as we help others discover who you are. Amen.