{"id":302,"date":"2012-04-15T12:03:54","date_gmt":"2012-04-15T18:03:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thesimpleanswers.com\/articles\/?p=302"},"modified":"2025-01-10T07:56:20","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T07:56:20","slug":"how-did-jesus-learn-he-was-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesimpleanswers.com\/articles\/2012\/04\/15\/how-did-jesus-learn-he-was-god\/","title":{"rendered":"How Did Jesus Learn He Was God?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/span><\/p>\n

Did you ever wonder? I sure did. I thought about it a lot. HOW did Christ learn He was God?<\/p>\n

I was always told \u201cHe just knew.\u201d He \u201cremembered His past Godhood.\u201d And that was rather awe-inspiring and impressive, so I accepted it for a while. But then I got to looking at it. And I started to realize that \u2026 it didn\u2019t happen that way at all. Jesus did not remember His past Godhood.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t magically \u201cknow\u201d He was God. He wasn\u2019t told by an angel, nor did His having \u201cthe holy spirit without measure\u201d connect him to some supernatural internet to allow Him to download all the knowledge of the universe at will. He learned the same way any other person would have had to learn\u00a0\u2013 the Bible.<\/p>\n

I thoroughly explained in my article \u201cWhy Did Jesus Become A Man<\/a>\u201d that Jesus became a man to prove that a human, physical man could obey God perfectly, on an even footing without the slightest advantage. I showed that the slightest leg-up on us would have ruined the proof. That Jesus could not have felt, known or seen anything that we cannot also feel, know or see or He would have failed to prove His point.<\/p>\n

And so, to continue the thread of that understanding, if Jesus had automatically known from birth, or at least early childhood, that He was God, it would have totally ruined His point. It would rob Him of much-deserved glory to say that Jesus \u201cknew\u201d all these things without learning them. I will be accused by many of lowering Christ to my level, of blasphemy, and other such things. And so I ask up front: which would provide more glory to God:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. God comes down, becomes a man, and from the instant of His conception (or even from say, six years old) consciously remembers everything that has ever happened from past eternity. Then He lives out His life, fully remembering all the experiences He had as God, knowing fully all the results of every sin ever committed, and fully knowing every step He must take to fulfill His destiny, and then lives a sinless life and dies.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    That is how most of the Christian world views Christ, either consciously or unconsciously. I would almost say that\u2019s how the ENTIRE Christian world views Christ. And that, admittedly, gives glory to God\u00a0\u2013 primarily because He didn\u2019t sin, which was primarily because \u201cHe was God.\u201d So does this next option give Him more or less glory?<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. God comes down, becomes a man. And in the moment of His conception, the man is IGNORANT of all His past. He is just another child, like any other. And the child grows, and chooses the right course of action at each turn\u00a0\u2013 because it\u2019s the right thing to do. As He goes to church every Sabbath, He hears prophecies read in Isaiah and Psalms; and He begins to realize at a certain age that those prophecies fit exactly the things that have happened to Him. Then, based solely on the understandings in the prophecies, He begins to read more, ask more, understand more, then gradually as He sees more prophecies He figures out the entire plan of God, and all the prophecies that were written about Himself and sees what must happen to Him. Finally He starts working miracles and then still based only on the words of the Bible and the signs that He has wrought and the truth He believes, He willingly lays down His life for a God whom He has never seen, doesn\u2019t remember, and knows only through the channels that are available to you and I. And of course, His life was sinless.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Which of those would be HARDER to do? Would it be HARDER for God to go into this life \u201cblind,\u201d or knowing ALL that had ever happened or ever WOULD happen? Would it be easier for Him to just KNOW, or to LEARN? Which Gives God more GLORY? No honest person could answer that the first option is more glorious than the second option!<\/p>\n

      Can you IMAGINE! Imagine if YOU were to read in the Bible something that seemed to apply to YOU. Which seemed to say that YOU were the Christ. Would YOU be able to trust it? Would you DIE based on a few words in the Bible which no one else understands or agrees with??<\/p>\n

      I usually don\u2019t give the overview up front, but in this case I feel it is necessary so you can understand where I am going with this. This picture of the life of Jesus is unique among those I have encountered. Most whom I have talked to about it HATE it, and say I am just cheapening Jesus, and I say NO! I am making His sacrifice count a THOUSAND TIMES MORE, because this will show that He had to work A THOUSAND TIMES HARDER than a Jesus who just \u201cknew\u201d everything from the start! And the Bible most definitely states that Jesus LEARNED in this life!<\/p>\n

      \n

      Hebrews 5:8<\/span><\/strong> Though he were a Son,\u00a0yet learned he obedience<\/strong>\u00a0by the things which he suffered;<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

      For the time being it is moot WHAT He learned, but the point is that an omniscient being who had been alive FROM forever, TO forever, LEARNED SOMETHING! And if you can LEARN, there is something YOU DID NOT KNOW!<\/p>\n

      \n

      Luke 3:52<\/span><\/strong> And\u00a0JESUS INCREASED IN WISDOM<\/strong>\u00a0and stature, and in favour with God and man.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

      If Jesus magically knew all the knowledge of the universe from His first breath, He COULD NOT HAVE increased in wisdom! But Jesus LEARNED as a child! He INCREASED in wisdom, just as we all do! So how did He learn? Where did He get his information? Angels? God\u2019s spirit?<\/p>\n

      JESUS LEARNED FROM THE PROPHECIES<\/h3>\n
      \n

      Hebrews 10:5-7<\/span><\/strong> Wherefore when\u00a0he cometh into the world, he saith<\/strong>, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.\u00a0Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,)<\/strong>to do thy will, O God.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

      We usually just read over this scripture, but when you look at it you realize that it is literally talking about Jesus understanding the will of God\u00a0and where He learned it<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

      Verse 5<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0sets the time frame as \u201cwhen He came into the world.\u201d Then He understood that sacrifices were to be done away, then said \u201cLo, I come to do your will, O God\u201d\u00a0\u2013 and He said that \u201cin the volume of the book it is written of me!\u201d<\/p>\n

      Jesus LEARNED from the \u201cvolume of the book,\u201d JUST as we must! When did He start learning about it? When did He first realize who He was? Well, His mother had certainly remembered the circumstances of Jesus\u2019 birth, and at an appropriate age it was certainly told to Him. But now we can really understand just what was going on when Jesus was twelve years old\u2026<\/p>\n

      \n

      Luke 3:46-47<\/span><\/strong> And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors,\u00a0both hearing them, and asking them questions<\/strong>.\u00a0And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

      What questions was the 12-year-old Jesus asking the greatest theologians of His time? What questions were burning on that mind? I\u2019ve heard lots of fanciful answers, but the simple fact is revealed in His answer to his parents:<\/p>\n

      \n

      Verses 49-50<\/strong> And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me?\u00a0wist ye not that I must be about my Father\u2019s business?<\/strong>\u00a0And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

      It was His Father\u2019s business that He was learning; He was learning what it was, and how to do it. These people had the answers in the scriptures, but they didn\u2019t know where to look nor would they believe what they found there.<\/p>\n

      \n

      John 5:46<\/span><\/strong> For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me:\u00a0for he wrote of me<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

      Jesus knew that Moses had written of Him because IT\u2019S WHERE HE LEARNED IT! Moses, Isaiah, David, and the other prophets all wrote of Jesus; there is scarcely a book in the Old Testament where Jesus isn\u2019t directly prophesied somewhere.<\/p>\n

      JESUS COMPARED THOSE PROPHECIES TO HIS LIFE<\/h3>\n

      So imagine yourself as a young child; it has been told in your family that your mother was a virgin, that angels announced your birth, that your cousin leaped in the womb and your aunt prophesied of you before you were born; the wise men, the star, the shepherds, and so on; the prophecies of Anna and and Simeon; the various things the Angels said to Joseph, Mary, and Zacharias. All these things were no secret.<\/p>\n

      And so as a small child, you hear these things and as you go to church week after week you hear scriptures like this in church:<\/p>\n

      \n

      Isaiah 7:14<\/span><\/strong> Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

      And start to wonder, \u201ccould that be me?\u201d\u00a0\u2013 it all fits, but seriously, what if YOU were to read in the Bible that YOU were the Savior of mankind; that YOU were the Son of God. Would you accept it? What are the odds?<\/p>\n

      All these signs notwithstanding, most people don\u2019t even believe the Bible when it promises protection from thieves and murderers, but could you believe that it\u2019s prophesying of you, and not think you\u2019re crazy for thinking this? Especially when everyone you meet outside the family thinks that your mother had a dalliance with a Roman soldier? And no one believes what you see written in scripture?<\/p>\n

      But then more and more things in scripture fit the pattern of His life; just to use a few examples mentioned in scripture, Hosea 11:1<\/span><\/strong> says \u201cand called my son out of Egypt.,\u201d which Matthew 2:15<\/span><\/strong> says was fulfilled by fleeing to Egypt until Jesus was two years old. The slaughter of children by Herod fulfilled a scripture in Jeremiah. He lived in Nazareth to fulfill the scripture \u201cHe shall be called a Nazarene.\u201d He preached in Galilee, fulfilling Isaiah 9:2<\/span><\/strong>. On and on the list goes.<\/p>\n

      So you see, there was plenty of information available for Jesus to learn who He was. He didn\u2019t NEED to remember past eternity. He just needed to understand the Bible and all the information He needed was right there. But God did specifically withhold some information from Him.<\/p>\n

      \n

      Mark 13:32<\/span><\/strong> But of that day and that hour\u00a0knoweth no man<\/strong>, no, not the angels which are in heaven,\u00a0neither the Son,<\/strong>\u00a0but the Father.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

      Only the Father knew the day and hour of Jesus\u2019 return in that time. Jesus specifically said that He, Himself did not know when the end would come. He knew the signs\u00a0\u2013 but He didn\u2019t know the date. And this effectively clinches any argument about whether or not Jesus was omniscient as a man. Jesus did know know when \u201cthe end of the age\u201d was coming.<\/p>\n

      It is certain that He knows now, for \u201call power in heaven and earth\u201d are His. But then, He did not know everything. He knew only what was revealed in the Bible, or revealed through the spirit of God as a prophecy, just as things were revealed through Elijah or Peter or Moses;<\/p>\n

      Why do I dwell on this so much? Why is this so important? Because the world views Jesus as a divine Being, much more God than human. They put Him on a pedestal so high up that they can\u2019t even see Him. They make Him unhuman in the name of worship, but in so doing deny the very thing He came to prove; that a human could obey God.<\/p>\n

      They make him unapproachable, when the point of His life and death was to provide us with a Savior that COULD be approached. With whom we could identify. That had real emotions and had real feelings. The same feelings that we would have. The world views Him like some renaissance painting, not like a real, flesh-and-blood PERSON. But that\u2019s exactly what He was\u00a0\u2013 a PERSON.<\/p>\n

      \n

      Hebrews 2:14<\/span>, 17-18<\/span><\/strong> Forasmuch then\u00a0as the childrenare partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same<\/strong>\u00a0\u2026\u00a0Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren<\/strong>, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.\u00a0For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted<\/strong>, he is able to succour them that are tempted.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

      If Jesus KNEW the results of sin before He began, then He had a leg up on the rest of us. He wouldn\u2019t have been \u201cin all things made like unto His brethren.\u201d If Jesus KNEW all there was to know, then it wasn\u2019t a fair test. Ignorance is a great source of our temptation\u00a0\u2013 not knowing the results of sin is one of the things that causes us to sin. So if Jesus wasn\u2019t ignorant of that, then He wasn\u2019t \u201ctempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin.\u201d<\/p>\n

      \n

      Hebrews 4:15<\/span><\/strong> For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

      He FELT our weaknesses; He had them Himself! He KNEW what it was like to feel weak, to feel pain, to feel lust, to feel ignorance; to wonder why God chose HIM, to wonder what HE was put here to do! To wonder HOW to do what it was God wanted! He knew the ignorance of simply not knowing what was right, and having to choose based solely on the Bible and in defiance of what everyone He knew said!<\/p>\n

      \n

      John 2:24-25<\/span><\/strong> \u00a0But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,\u00a0And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

      HOW did He know? Because of some sixth sense God endowed? Or because HE WAS TEMPTED WITH THE SAME NATURE AS MEN! Because He Himself felt those same temptations, those same lusts, and KNEW what Men were really like! Because He WAS A MAN!<\/p>\n

      And yet if He had KNOWN who He was, and what He was to do, and how it was all going to work out, then His sacrifice didn\u2019t require faith! Think about it! If He KNEW exactly what to do, what was going to happen, and what the Father was going to do, IT WASN\u2019T FAITH!<\/p>\n

      \n

      Hebrews 11:1<\/span><\/strong> \u00a0Now\u00a0faith is the substance of things hoped for<\/strong>, the evidence of things NOT seen.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

      \n

      Romans 8:24-25<\/span><\/strong> \u00a0For we are saved by hope:\u00a0but hope that is seen is not hope<\/strong>: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

      Faith is the substance of things hoped for; but if you SEE what you hope for, then it isn\u2019t hope, and therefore isn\u2019t the substance of faith!<\/p>\n

      It would have been too easy; it would have ruined the experiment; it would have destroyed the usefulness of His sacrifice, if He had known up front all of this. No, He learned it the same way we learn who and what we are; from the Bible. From the prophecies. From the understanding God gives us.<\/p>\n

      And He learned it and believed it so much that He laid down His life and DIED based solely on what He read in some musty old book! And by the time He was ready to die, He had put those pieces together\u00a0\u2013 all of which are in the Old Testament, if you know where to look\u00a0\u2013 and knew exactly what was going to happen to Him that last night.<\/p>\n

      THEN HE KNEW<\/h3>\n
      \n

      John 13:1<\/span><\/strong> Now before the feast of the passover,\u00a0WHEN JESUS KNEW that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world<\/strong>\u00a0unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

      It was only THIS passover that Jesus finally KNEW that His hour was come! Earlier, He had refused to go up to the passover publicly, because as He said\u00a0\u201cMy time is not yet come\u201d<\/em> (<\/span>John 7:6<\/span>)<\/span><\/strong>. Knowing that to go up to the passover publicly might well lead to His death, He knew it was not time yet. So He went up secretly and didn\u2019t reveal Himself until the MIDST of the feast (<\/span>Verse 14<\/span>)<\/span><\/strong>, when there was no chance of dying to fulfill the prophecy. He knew He was to die on Passover, but although He didn\u2019t know WHICH passover, He knew the signs had not yet been all fulfilled\u00a0\u2013 although a few had:<\/p>\n

      \n

      John 7:8<\/span><\/strong> \u00a0Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; for my time is not yet FULL come.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

      But back in\u00a0John 13:1<\/span><\/strong>, Jesus KNEW his hour was come. And now finally it says:<\/p>\n

      \n

      John 13:3<\/span><\/strong> Jesus\u00a0KNOWING that the Father had given all things into his hands, AND THAT HE WAS COME FROM GOD, AND WENT TO GOD;<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

      It says He KNEW all this NOW! He hadn\u2019t always known it, because He had \u201cincreased in Wisdom!\u201d But now He KNEW! Now He was READY, for the prophecies had all been fulfilled, and all that was left was to let it play out.<\/p>\n

      \n

      John 18:4<\/span><\/strong> Jesus therefore,\u00a0knowing all things that should come upon him<\/strong>, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye?<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

      How did He learn this? Where did He get the detailed information? Angelic memo, perhaps? No. Scripture after scripture was SPECIFICALLY mentioned as being fulfilled that night. Things from Jeremiah, Isaiah, Psalms. If you knew where to look\u00a0\u2013 which is why we have the spirit of God\u00a0\u2013 practically everything that ever happened to Jesus was in the Old Testament. And specifically all the things that happened that last night.<\/p>\n

      The taking of swords; the betrayal of Judas; the thirty pieces of silver; the disfiguring abuse, the false witnesses, the gall, vinegar, the piercing of His side, the fact that no bones were broken, the time of His death, the time of His burial, His resurrection, and hundreds of other things can be seen in the Old Testament by ANYONE. And Jesus because of His flawless obedience had wisdom and understanding beyond anyone before or since! So you may imagine what might He might be able to see in the Old Testament, things that our disobedience prevents us from understanding!<\/p>\n

      So you see, not only was there no need for Jesus to remember past eternity, not only would it have destroyed His usefulness as a sacrifice and an example, but the Bible simply doesn\u2019t support it. Jesus learned. He increased in Wisdom. He knew things at some points in His life that He hadn\u2019t known before, and He never did learn others until after His resurrection.<\/p>\n

      And yet in spite of being on equal footing with us, He was able to hear the sermons preached out of Isaiah and Psalms, compare them to what had happened around His birth and in His life, and realize that they spoke of Him. And He believed those words so much, and trusted in God who wrote them so much, that He was willing to lay down His life for that belief.<\/p>\n

      He was able to look into the pages of the Bible and see an answer to the questions we all ask; why God chose Him; why was He here. What should He do, and How; and then to act on that answer. He was no better off in life than you\u00a0\u2013 so why haven\u2019t you found those answers?<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Did you ever wonder? I sure did. I thought about it a lot. HOW did Christ learn He was God? I was always told \u201cHe just knew.\u201d He \u201cremembered His past Godhood.\u201d And that was rather…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1932,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[31,26,27],"class_list":["post-302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coolest","tag-faith","tag-jesus","tag-judgment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesimpleanswers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesimpleanswers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesimpleanswers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesimpleanswers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesimpleanswers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesimpleanswers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2625,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesimpleanswers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302\/revisions\/2625"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesimpleanswers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesimpleanswers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesimpleanswers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesimpleanswers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}