Hundreds of millions of people claim to be Christians, meaning they believe in Jesus. The vast majority of “believers” wrongly believe that Jesus is God and part of some mysterious trinity. Most do not believe that Jesus had a beginning, that he was born, that he is the son of a father.
On the other hand, a small number of “believers” do not believe that Jesus had any sort of pre-human existence. Unitarians view Jesus as a prophet, but not necessarily from heaven. However, Jesus was quite clear that he came down from heaven. For example, in the 8th chapter of John Jesus told the Jews: “You are from the realms below; I am from the realms above. You are from this world; I am not from this world. That is why I said to you: You will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am the one, you will die in your sins.”
Jesus also revealed his heavenly origin to Nicodemus, a Pharisee, telling him: “If I have told you earthly things and you still do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? Moreover, no man has ascended into heaven but the one who descended from heaven, the Son of man.” — John 3:12-13
Although, obviously, Jesus had not yet ascended he spoke of his eventual return to heaven as a reality. That is because he knew Jehovah would resurrect him and because he had been born again he knew his place was in heaven. That is why on the night of his arrest Jesus asked his Father to receive him back, saying: “I have glorified you on the earth, having finished the work you have given me to do. So now, Father, glorify me at your side with the glory that I had alongside you before the world was.” — John 17:4-5
Clearly, Jesus knew where he came from and where he was going. It was the Jews who refused to accept that Jesus came down from heaven. On one occasion Jesus told the disbelieving Jews that he existed before Abraham. They tried to stone him. But had they studied the Scriptures they would have known that Micah foretold that their ruler would be born in Bethlehem “Whose origin is from ancient times, from the days of long ago.”
There is a very good reason why Jesus came down from heaven. It was so that he could offer God a human sacrifice —the sacrifice of his perfect life. Paul explained that Jesus was the “second man” and the “last Adam.” What does that mean? Jesus was the second perfect man that God brought forth. And as the “last Adam” he is the last perfect man that God will bring to life. The reason God produced a second sinless man is so that he would correspond exactly to the value of the first perfect man —Adam. That way the life of Jesus could be used to buy back the life of Adam’s dying offspring.
Some may wonder, though, why God just didn’t create another perfect man out of the dust from the ground as he did with Adam. And there is a very good reason God did not. The reason is, after God fashioned a wife for the first man God announced his creative work was done —at least in regards to the earth. God has ever-since been “resting.” If God were to create another man to replace the original He would have violated His own self-imposed sabbath.
No doubt Satan imagined he had managed to put God in an awkward position since Jehovah’s intention was for Adam and Eve to become many and fill the earth with perfect people. In other words, God was seemingly dependent upon humans to finish his work. When Adam and Eve disqualified themselves from the task it may have seemed that God had failed. And breaking His sabbath to set things right was unthinkable. Enter Jesus.
Paul explained to the Philippians that even though Jesus existed in God’s form —as a divine spirit —he did not consider himself to be God’s equal. He willingly accepted the assignment to allow his Father to transfer his life force into a human sperm cell and impregnated into a virgin so that he could become a flesh and blood man.
Hence, Jesus was not born from the dust, but his life was transferred. Writing to the Corinthians Paul explained it: “The first man is from the earth and made of dust; the second man is from heaven.”
Being born into humanity from a perfect Father allowed Jesus to retain the perfection he had in heaven, yet be fully human and part of the dying race that descended from the first man. That way Jesus could take on the role of mankind’s father —as Adam had been. From his vantage point in heaven, Jesus is now in a position to administer the blessings through the resurrection of the dead. In that way, he will become the Eternal father of mankind. And Jehovah accomplished it without violating His own sabbath.
No wonder the apostle exclaimed: “O the depth of God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How unsearchable his judgments are and beyond tracing out his ways are!”
