assessment T4

CWV-101-301 Topic 4 Overview

Jesus Christ (God-Centered Mission)

Introduction

The third act of the Bible is God restoring his people through Jesus Christ. This third act of the Bible reveals a great deal about the core beliefs of the Christian worldview. God, in his love for humanity, sent his only and beloved son to earth to live sinlessly and die on a cross for the sins of humanity. While humanity is engaged in rebellious sin, God acts in selfless love in order to redeem believers from sin. We can see God's wisdom and mercy throughout the Old Testament in the way he deals with his people and reaches out to them in love—Psalm 103 being just one example—but this all culminates in the sending of his Son, Jesus Christ. God's great wisdom and plan is to restore people through Christ. In this plan, his abundant mercy is in full display in how he openly invites people to come to him (Matt. 11:28–30).

All through the history of ancient Israel, the people of God longed for the promised Messiah as foretold by their prophets. Micah spoke of his birthplace to be Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2–5), Isaiah spoke of his being a ruler in the line of David who will bring peace, justice, and righteousness forever (Isa. 9:2–7), and Daniel spoke of the Son of Man (Jesus) coming to the Ancient of Days (God) and to this Son of Man was given dominion, glory, and an everlasting kingdom (Dan. 7:13–14). When Jesus came, born in a most lowly and obscure manner, few were prepared for such a Messiah.

How Do We Know Jesus? The Four Gospels

The genealogy of Jesus—along with the story of his birth, the announcement to the shepherds, the visit of the wise men, the flight to Egypt, and the return of Joseph and Mary with Jesus to their home town of Nazareth—is all told in the opening chapters of Matthew and Luke. The former was a diligent tax collector who became an apostle (Matt. 9:9), and the latter was a physician who traveled with Paul and did extensive research in preparation for writing the Gospel of Luke (Luke 1:1–4). He also wrote the book of Acts, the account of the early church.

The other two gospel accounts are the books of Mark and John. Mark was written by a young disciple of Jesus (who later traveled with Peter and Paul), and John (the apostle closest to Jesus and the one who lived the longest). John also wrote three short letters bearing his name, and the book of Revelation—the apocalyptic book that tells of the last days to come and the new heavens and new earth. The first three gospels are known as the Synoptic Gospels because they share similar accounts. The Gospel of John was written some years later and includes little overlap with the others, and a more personal account that highlights the last week of the life of Jesus (John 12–21) and the divinity of Christ.

Is Jesus God? The Son in the Trinity

John opens his gospel like the book of Genesis:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...All things were made through him…In him was life…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, 2001/2016, John 1:1, 3, 4, 14)

There are clear references to Christ's divinity throughout John (John 5:19–26; 8:56–69; 17:5; 20:28–29). The same consistent theme is found throughout Scripture, from the Old Testament prophets (Isa. 9:6), to the opening Gospel of Matthew (Matt. 1:23), and Paul's letter to the Colossians (Col. 1:16–17; 2:9).

All four Gospels testify of Christ's miraculous works of healing and calming the sea and feeding the 5,000. And after he was crucified, Jesus arose from the dead, a point covered extensively by all four Gospels, and the most powerful evidence of his divinity. Furthermore, Jesus was certainly not an angel or archangel; Hebrews chapter 1 is devoted to pointing out how much greater he is than the angels. Jesus also spoke of the Holy Spirit as a person who dwells together with him and the Father (John 14:15–17; 15:26).

The only conclusion one may come to then is what is called the doctrine of the Trinity, which refers to the Godhead—God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ who is fully God and fully man), and God the Holy Spirit—three persons, same substance, one God. One of the most powerful implications of God existing in three persons is that he is, therefore, relational. The Godhead always had a relationship among themselves (Gen. 1:26), so it follows that in God's creation, relationships with his creatures would be paramount.

Why Did God Become Man? Incarnation, Atonement, and

Resurrection

Jesus was the Son of God before he was born into our world. The event of God taking on flesh and dwelling among us—the incarnation—is celebrated all over the world at Christmas. The incarnation is proclaimed clearly throughout the New Testament (Luke 1:35; John 1:14; Phil. 2:5–7).

So why did God become man? The most famous verse in the Bible clearly tells us, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, 2001/2016, John 3:16). And Jesus knew what this would require of him. He stated in Matthew 20:28, "The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, 2001/2016).

God is both holy and just, so although he created humanity to be immortal, he could not accept them into his holy kingdom in their sinful state. From the beginning God enacted

and unfolded his plan for humanity, to redeem a people for himself (Titus 2:11–14), requiring that justice be upheld and sin punished. Foreshadowed in the sacrifices of the Old Testament, a sacrificial lamb was needed—one that could atone for the sins of the world. Only the perfect and sinless Lamb of God would be sufficient. Yes, God himself would have to be the sacrifice to atone for the sins of humanity.

The incarnation led inexorably to the cross, the torturous experience that had been prophesied nearly a thousand years earlier by David in Psalm 22. All four Gospels give vivid accounts of the crucifixion of Jesus, the most unjust execution ever to be carried out, as testified by the centurion there who said, "Certainly this man was innocent!" (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, 2001/2016, Luke 23:47). But as unjust as the crucifixion was, Jesus willingly accepted it, for as the Son of God he could easily have been rescued (Matt. 26:53). Instead, Jesus bore the sins of the world on the cross. This is called the atonement—the reconciliation of humanity with God through the sufferings and sacrificial death of Christ.

It is interesting that the clearest account of the atonement is found in the prophecy of Isaiah 53 where the atonement is specifically stated seven times:

He was [wounded] for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities…6and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all…8stricken for the transgression of my people…10when his soul makes an offering for [sin]…11and he shall bear their iniquities…12yet he bore the sin of many. (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, 2001/2016, Isa. 53:5–12)

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is by far the climax of his life. All four Gospels provide vivid accounts of this miracle that conquered death. There have been many who looked at the history of the times, read the many accounts of what happened both in the Bible and in other sources, and came to the inevitable conclusion that there is no other explanation for what happened except that Jesus surely rose from the dead. After the crucifixion, the disciples gave up and went back to fishing—the three years of exhilarating ministry were over. But then the resurrection changed everything. It was not long before the disciples were accused of turning "the world upside down" (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, 2001/2016, Acts 17:6).

The incarnation of Jesus—the second person of the Trinity's act of taking on a human

nature, yet without sin—has profound implication for Christianity and the Christian life.

Because Jesus is sinless, he is a perfect example for living. Because Jesus is sinless, he

could uniquely offer himself for the atonement of sin. His sinlessness means that Jesus

could choose to take the penalty of God's righteous judgment against human sin. If

Jesus were not fully God, he never could have fully atoned for the sins of others. If he

were not fully human, he never could have died to redeem humans from their sin.

Because of the incarnation, Jesus served as a substitute for justice for sin and

atonement for sin, leaving his people without condemnation (Rom 8:1).

Conclusion

This third act of the Bible reveals a great deal about why Christians have the core Christian worldview they do. We see that God is triune, Jesus is fully God and fully human, that God is just and merciful, and that God shows sacrificial love to redeem people from sin. Jesus came to earth as God incarnate to live a sinless life, die for our sin, and rise from the dead. In his love, God showed how far he would go to offer us restoration to right relationship with him.

References

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. (2016). Bible Gateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/versions/English-Standard-Version-ESV-Bible/#copy (Original work published 2001)

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