Tell Me the Story of Jesus, Part 3

Tell Me the Story of Jesus, Part 3

The story of Jesus is THE STORY OF THE LAMB OF GOD. In thetime of the patriarchs and the Mosaic dispensation, lambs were used in sacrifice.  The lamb to be used must be “without blemish, a male a year old” (Exodus 12:5).  In Isaiah 53:7, the prophecy of the coming Messiah includes the suffering servant, portrayed as “a lamb that is led to the slaughter”.   This is the background for the exclamation of John the baptist in John 1:29, “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world’”.  Jesus became man, “became flesh”, so he could be a sacrifice for sin.

The story of Jesus is THE STORY OF HIS DEATH.  He had spoken freely of his death; for instance, in Matthew 16:21, “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”  

He prayed.   Matthew 26 tells of his prayer in Gethsemane, praying to the Father, “My father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will”.  A second time he made this appeal (:42); and then a “third time saying the same words again” (:44).  This is not merely the anguished pleading of a man facing death; rather, the death he is facing is one of unspeakable and indescribable horror.  His death will pay the penalty for all the sin of the world – from the first time in the Garden, to the present day, and for as long as the world stands.

The phrase “cheap grace” has been employed to deprecate God’s plan for man’s salvation; but there is nothing cheap about what Jesus suffered in paying for the sins of the world.  Try tocomprehend it: his physical suffering on the cross was just a small part of his suffering:  he died, to pay what we owed, for our sin.

Listen: “Christ died for the ungodly … for us” (Romans 5:6-8); Christ “gave himself for our sins” (Galatians 1:4); “Christ died for our sins” (I Corinthians 15:3); Christ “died for us …” (I Thessalonians 5:10).

John 19:34 tells of a soldier piercing Jesus’ side with a sword, and blood and water coming forth – he was dead.  The Romans, and the Council, and his disciples, knew he was dead. “When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying ‘Certainly this man was innocent!’” (Luke 23:47).  The Council, having engineered, as they thought, his death, rejoiced.  His disciples were hopeless; Luke 24:21, “But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.”

The story of Jesus Is THE STORY OF HIS RESURRECTION. He was dead.   Roman soldiers, experts in death, were there making it sure.  He arose – as he had promised, Matthew 16:21 (and others).

The resurrection enabled HOPE: Peter will write “According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (I Peter 1:3). 

“Hope” is desire plus expectation.  Things we desire but know we cannot get: no hope.  Things we expect but do not desire: no hope. 

Hope is important.  Lack of hope seems the motivation of Peter in John 21:3.    Paul includes it as one of three things that “abide” (I Corinthians 13:13).  The hope of salvation is the Christian’s helmet, I Thessalonians 5:7.  What changed Peter?  “The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”!  Confessing that Jesus is the Christ is the key to hope.  “Rejoice in hope’, Romans 12:12

“JUDGEMENT” is coming.  God “commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead’, Acts 17:30, 31.

One of these days we are going to wake up in the presence of God.  Do you think you will get a pass from that appointment?  Jesus was raised from the dead to give assurance that “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (II Corinthians 5:10).

The resurrection declared Jesus to be THE SON OF GOD. Romans 1:4, he “was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord”.

Of all the miracles surrounding the life of Jesus, including his birth of a virgin, his healing the sick, feeding the multitude from nothing, raising the dead; his resurrection is the ultimate point.  If the resurrection is true, nothing else can be challenged.  The resurrection could be disproved, if it was a fraud.  If he was not raised from the dead, just produce his body – they could have done that then; and they would have, if they could – but they didn’t, so they couldn’t.  The empty tomb is the hallmark of the resurrection of Jesus.  ”He has risen”.

The story of Jesus: his heel bruised, a minor setback; Satan’s head bruised, a mortal wound: Hebrews 2:14, 15, he partook of flesh and blood like the children, “that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery”.

The story of Jesus: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Pat Farish