"Immanuel - God with us."

Jesus

This chapter begins with nine statements about Jesus followed by an explanation of each.

1) The central figure of human history is Jesus Christ. 2) Jesus is the primary and most important way God relates to His creation. 3) Through Jesus, the Word of God, all things physical and spiritual were created. 4) By Jesus’ life God demonstrated right attitudes and behaviors for every person to imitate. 5) When Jesus died on the cross, the death penalty for all sinners was paid. 6) Because of the physical resurrection of Jesus from the grave, believers have the hope of their own resurrection to everlasting life. 7) Right now, Jesus is preparing a place for His disciples and intercedes for them at the right hand of God. 8) At judgment, Jesus will save His disciples to everlasting life. 9) Jesus is coming again. Let me elaborate on these eight statements.

1) The central figure of human history is Jesus Christ. Most of the world uses the birth of Jesus as the basis for its calendars. The old way of designating years was B. C. (Before Christ) and A. D. (“Anno Domini” – Latin for “In the Year of our Lord”). Today many use B. C. E., which means “Before the Christian Era” or “Before the Common Era”, and C. E., which means “Christian Era” or “Common Era”. The use of either “Christian” or “Common” is determined by one’s worldview.

2) Through Jesus, the Word of God, all things physical and spiritual were created. Jesus was not always known as the Son of God. Speaking of Jesus, the Word of God, Paul wrote, “He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:15-17)

The apostle John began his gospel with these immortal words, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word as with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” (John 1:1-3) Jesus was known as the Son of God after His miraculous birth.

3) Jesus is the primary and most important way God relates to His creation. The apostle John wrote, “Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.” (I John 4:2)

The name Jesus means “the Lord saves”. Both Christ (transliteration from Greek) and Messiah (transliteration from Hebrew) mean “the anointed one”.

4) By Jesus’ life God demonstrated right attitudes and behaviors for humanity. The gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) tell us about the character and sinless life of Jesus Christ. As I was growing up my parents kept a question in a little picture frame on a living room lamp stand which read: “What would Jesus do?” Many people today wear bracelets with the letters “WWJD” to remind them of how Jesus lived.

In matters of attitude and behavior we can almost certainly know what Jesus would do if He was in our situation facing our difficulties and temptations. Jesus personified what it means to love God, to love a neighbor, to love a friend, to love a brother, and to love an enemy.

The more we study the Scriptures the more we will know what the attitudes and behavior of a disciple of Christ should be.

5) When Jesus died on the cross, the death penalty for all sinners was paid. Jesus was qualified to pay the death penalty for us because He was eternal and was without spot or blemish, that is without sin. At the beginning of His three-year ministry Jesus went to the Jordan River to be baptized by John the Baptist. When he saw Jesus, John shouted to the crowd, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29)

John the Baptist was referring to God’s demand that the Israelites sacrifice a spotless lamb in order to pay the death penalty for their sins. The Hebrew writer said, “How much more, then, (compared to the sacrificial lambs under Law of Moses) will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God.” (Hebrews 9:14)

The sacrificial death of Christ is the central message of the gospel. In the New Testament the death of Jesus is called the “atoning sacrifice”. This simply means that Jesus paid the death penalty for our past, present and future sins.

6) Because of the physical resurrection of Jesus from the grave, believers have the hope of resurrection to everlasting life. Paul wrote, “We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep.” (I Thessalonians 4:14)

As important to the gospel of the Bible as the death of Jesus is, the physical resurrection of Jesus from the dead is what gives the Christian faith its power. Paul wrote that without the resurrection of Christ, preaching is useless, our faith is useless, we are liars, we are still in our sins, and we are to be pitied more than all other people. (I Corinthians 15: 12-19)

But because of the resurrection of Christ from the dead, death has been conquered and those who are in Christ Jesus will never be condemned (Romans 8:1) to everlasting separation from God, which is known in the Bible as “the second death”.

7) Right now, Jesus is preparing a place for His disciples and intercedes for them at the right hand of God. (Colossians 3:1) The first thing Jesus told His disciples in the Upper Room at the Last Supper was that He was going away to prepare a place for them. (John 14:1-4) This is exciting news.
And during this intervening period, from the time of Jesus’ departure until His return, Jesus speaks and acts on behalf of all believers in the very presence of God. (Hebrews 7:23-25) This is one of the reasons we pray to God in the name of Jesus. (John 14:13-14)

The right hand indicates power. If someone identifies another as his “right hand man” he is telling you that person has influence and authority. So it is with Jesus who sits at the right hand of God.

8) Jesus is coming for His bride, the church. Again, the apostle Paul wrote, “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” (I Thessalonians 4:16-17)

At the close of the Bible in the book of Revelation, the apostle John was shown what is going to happen at the end of time. He heard Jesus, the Alpha and Omega, The First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, testify, “Yes, I am coming soon.” And John replied, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus”. (Revelation 22:20)

9) At judgment, Jesus will save His disciples to everlasting life. (Matthew 25:31-46) This promise is the glue that holds the church together and which keeps believers faithful unto death. Jesus –"the Lord saves".

There are many mistaken ideas about what it means to say “Jesus saves”. The “health and wealth gospel” of the self-centered has made Christianity an idolatrous religion. Paul used the phrase, “covetousness, which is idolatry” in Colossians 3:5. Idolatry means to worship an object or person or being, in order to get what an idolater believes the object of his worship can give him. Many have made Christianity into an idolatrous religion believing that if they worship God, God will give them what they want; namely, health, wealth, or some sort of intervention, a miracle!

Jesus did not come to heal our bodies, to fatten our bank accounts, or to solve the problems of living. Jesus came to save us from the penalty of our sins – the second death. Later on I will discuss God’s relationship with His creation and His creatures. God’s interaction with His creation and His creatures is known as “providence”.

Jesus is coming again. Jesus said, “I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:3)