I don’t pretend to be a brilliant theologian but rather a simple Bible-believing guy who was blessed with the privilege of being a shepherd of God’s people for many years. I’ve always done my best to present clearly what God’s Word teaches. Nothing is more central to Biblical orthodoxy than the identity of Jesus of Nazareth!
It took the early Church over 400 years of rigorous study, debate, and synthesis to grasp then define who Jesus was — is! Early church councils (e.g., Council of Chalcedon in AD 451) drafted for us succinct, Biblical definitions.
I’ve presented many a sermon over the years on Biblical Christology, and recently I read an excellent synopsis (from Tabletalk/Ligionier Ministries) of Christ’s divine-human nature. Indeed, the quickest way to identify a non-Christian cult, false teacher, or off-base religion is to simply see what they teach about who Jesus was/is! This devotion will be longer and more in-depth than usual — but please don’t dismiss it, ignore it, or speed-read it! Take your time, ponder, copy and paste, etc. for this is the essence of orthodox Christology.
The Tabletalk article (10/28/16), which I will quote pretty much verbatim, notes that in the one person of Christ are perfectly united a human nature and a divine nature. In this union, the two natures are joined without mixture, confusion, separation, or division, each nature retaining its own attributes.
In other words: The divine nature does not become semi-human and the human nature does not become semi-divine. Christ is truly God and truly man (theologians call this the doctrine of the hypostatic union), not a divine hybrid who is neither truly human nor truly God.
Since each nature retains its own properties, Christ’s human nature possesses all the non-sinful limitations that are definitional of humanity. This is evident in the gospels, which tell us, for example, that Christ experienced human limitations such as hunger (Mark 11:12).
But even in His glorified state, the human nature of Christ is still limited in ways that are not a consequence of the fall (Adam’s original sin of disobedience in the garden of Eden). His physical body, one of the aspects of His human nature, is localized in heaven. It can be no more omnipresent (everywhere at once) than our human bodies can be. We see evidence for the localization of Christ’s body in heaven in such Bible passages as I Thessalonians 4:16, which speaks of Christ in His humanity descending from heaven.
HOWEVER, because Christ has a divine nature as well (e.g., He is called God in Scripture, John 1:1; received the worship of men, Matthew 28:17; etc.) He also possesses divine attributes. The person of Christ is omnipresent on account of His divine nature. His human nature remains localized in heaven, BUT because Christ is also truly God, he is omnipresent and ever with us due to His divine nature.
This is mind-stretching theology to be sure — akin to trying to understand the Trinity of God (maybe I’ll tackle that one sometime!). A wonderful, practical, summary-application of this Christological theology is found in Jesus’ final words to His disciples on a mountain in Galilee: “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” Matthew 28:20
Our Savior, the one familiar with our human infirmities and struggles, is also Emanuel — God with us!