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Jesus Christ—His Nature & Purpose
Jesus Christ testified as to who He was in terms of His essence and nature. The Bible contains ample testimony in support of His claim. It was His claim of His essence and nature that totally infuriated the religious leaders of His day. Furthermore, because of His claim, a discussion about Him usually raises the ire of many today. To talk about Mohammed, Confucius, Buddha or any other religious leader never seems to provoke serious opposition. Even a discussion using the generic term of “God” moves few. But to mention Jesus Christ sparks the hostility, antagonism, and indignation of many. Why is this?
The reason is that Jesus Christ was and is the only person who claimed to be in essence and nature the one and true living God. Beside His claim to deity; He presented Himself as the only avenue for any person to have a personal relationship with God, the only source of forgiveness for sins, and the only way to salvation (eternal life). How this was to accomplished was His purpose for taking on the mantle of humanity, which was to become a sacrifice on the cross of Calvary where He paid the penalty-price for the sins of all mankind. This uniqueness and exclusivity of Christ attested to by Scripture defies man’s endeavor to achieve the approbation (favor, approval) of God through his own means; therefore it provokes the indignation of man. It is indeed this difference between man’s way and God’s way that distinguishes “religion” (man reaching up to God through self-effort) from Christianity (God reaching down to man through grace so that through faith alone in Christ alone he may establish a permanent union or relationship with Jesus Christ, the same being God).
Jesus Christ—God Incarnate (in the flesh)
The first factor that distinguishes Jesus Christ from all other persons that have ever walked upon the face of earth, not to mention all other “religious” leaders of history, is that He unmistakably claimed to be God. It is not enough to think of Jesus as just a great person who brought a message of peace. In fact, to do this, is to play into the hands of Satan who gladly extols the social-teachings of Christ in order to hide from man His deity and His message of salvation. The Bible plainly reveals that Jesus Christ was God the Father, not in person and purpose, but in essence and nature. He was God incarnate, the second person of the triune Godhead (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). The name Jesus Christ is both a name and a title. The name “Jesus” is derived from a form of the Greek word “Jeshua,” meaning “Jehovah-Savior” or “the Lord saves.” The title “Christ” is derived from the Greek word for “Messiah” (or the Hebrew Mashiach—Daniel 9:26), meaning “anointed one.” The deity of Christ is attested to by various scriptural passages and is fact, which must not and must never be denied.
Jesus Christ—the Only Way to Eternal Life
The other factor that distinguishes Jesus Christ from all other persons that have ever walked upon the face of earth, not to mention all other “religious” leaders of history, is that He unmistakably claimed to be the only way any person could achieve a union or relationship with God and thereby apprehend eternal life. The “ruler-prince-god of this world,” who is Satan (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2), is the chief advocate of “religion,” which is any system that promotes obtaining the favor of God through self-efforts (religious acts and good deeds). This was Satan’s plan from the very beginning; and indeed, he is most successful with it. Most of the occupants of this world madly and tenaciously hold to such religious and philosophical teachings that Satan has propagated among them. Such beliefs are compatible with man’s sinful nature, which is acquired at birth and is infused with pride.
That is why Jesus Christ had such caustic judgments and remarks for the religious leaders of the day. He saw and described them as “hypocrites,” “sons of hell,” “blind guides,” “fools and blind,” “whitewashed graves full of dead men’s bones,” “serpents,” and a “brood of vipers” (Matthew 23). Jesus always had time for the humble, the poor and the broken of heart; but those who were “religious,” He had only scorn and contempt.
Man is spiritually dead at birth and is incapable of achieving the approbation (favor) of God through any self-means. Man is incapable of paying the penalty-price for offending (sinning against) God; and without the payment of this price, the only future for man when he passes on past this life is to be judged at the White Throne Judgment according to his works, which are “as filthy rags” before God (Isaiah 64:6), and to be totally separated from God in the lake of fire for all eternity.
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. (Romans 5:12)
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)
For the wages of sin is death . . . . (Romans 6:23)
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:11-15)
It was for this reason Christ came in the flesh. His purpose was to present Himself as the only way for man to become united with God and thereby receive eternal life. Jesus Christ accomplished His purpose upon the cross of Calvary where He took the sins of all mankind upon Himself, He became that sin; and He paid the penalty-price of and for that sin in order to satisfy the holiness, judgment and wrath of God. Having done this, Christ voluntarily submitted to physical death; but He rose alive from the grave on the third day to demonstrate His victory over sin and death, and by which He verified His nature as God and His message that through Him alone is the only path to eternal life.
[NOTE: The fact that Jesus Christ rose and remains alive from the grave is actually a third factor that distinguishes Jesus Christ from all other persons that have lived upon earth, and especially from all historical “religious” leaders.]
Who Himself [Christ] bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed. (1 Peter 2:24)
For He [God] made Him [Christ] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
For you are bought with a price . . . . (1 Corinthians 6:20)
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15:3, 4)
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:6)
Man’s only means whereby he may apprehend eternal life, which Jesus Christ paid for and so graciously provides, is to turn to Christ alone by faith alone as he turns from every other confidence (self-means, works, good deeds, laws, rules, and ceremony)—this is biblical repentance. When man fully realizes that nothing he or any other person or religion can do to save him, and by a genuine act of will places his full trust (confidence) in Jesus Christ and what Christ did on the cross of Calvary, he is instantly and permanently saved from eternal wrath as he receives eternal life.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:16-18)
He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. (John 3:36)
And he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household." (Acts 16:30, 31)
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Ephesians 2:8, 9)
And because Christ claimed both to be God and the only way for man to receive eternal life, He was and is today castigated among man and all the religious systems upon earth. This is why conversations regarding religion and religious leaders are tolerated by many throughout our society. But to mention Jesus is anathema! It is critical that the Christian never shrink from standing up for Jesus Christ and proclaiming that He is God, that He is alive today and that He is the only means whereby man may be saved. |