We Should Worship Jesus as the One Man

He is the lover of people, the God of compassion who welcomes and accepts everyone who would come to Him and receive Him: “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world” (John 1:9).

He is the one of humility and willing endurance. He endured in and for a world that did not recognize or herald its Creator: “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him” (John 1:10).

He is the selfless one who gives to the undeserving and to those who are far off enemies. To these, He gives belonging out of the overflow of His love: “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).

He is the one of power who alone grants the right of rebirth and entrance into His eternal family and home: “[children of God] were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13).

He is the one who infinitely surpasses our minds, the one of transcendence, whom we can never exhaust and who is our eternal delight and joy—the one we have never fully seen: “No one has ever seen God” (John 1:18).

He is the God who dwelt on this earth, whose glory has been seen, who made Himself known to us: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory” (John 1:14; cf. 1:18). So, through the holy and inspired Word that He gave to us and by the Spirit within us, we walk this life with Him as the God we know truly in His beauty.

He is the only God (John 1:18), the only originating giver of all goodness, of all that is right to love in this world and the next.

He is the man of whom John the Baptist singularly said: “among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie” (John 1:27). This Jesus is the one slain for us—the sacrificial Lamb—to save us from our sins that otherwise forever alienate us from our blessed God. By one man’s act of obedience, we can have abundant grace and the free gift of righteousness by which we are rescued from sin and flesh to live to righteousness and Spirit.

To think of this Jesus rightly is to know that He is the one who alone is worthy: “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created” (Revelation 4:11) and “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5:12). We who have been saved from our sins, who have become children of God, who know the power of the Spirit to walk increasingly into our new life, who find our delight and home and happiness in Him, who receive and love Him, who regard Him as worthy and glorious will never stop worshiping Him as the one man.

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Lianna Davis is author of Keeping the Faith: A Study in Jude and Made for a Different Land: Eternal Hope for Baby Loss. She is also a contributor to We Evangelicals and Our Mission with Cascade Books. Lianna is a graduate of Moody Bible Institute and a student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. She lives in Illinois with her husband and daughter. You can learn more about her writing at her website.