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Frequently students of the Word study certain phases of the life of our Lord. As an example, teachers frequently focus attention on the virgin birth, the miracles wrought by Christ, His prophetic utterances, and His Resurrection from the dead. Such studies are indeed profitable. At the same time, one who wishes to see Christ in His fulness should, at least scan His entire life as to any one characteristic. In other words, one should examine, even though briefly, at least one of the records of the Gospel on a given subject. By so doing, he sees the Son of God standing before him in His sublime greatness.
"The heavens declare the glory of God; As a child three or four years of age, I would look into the heavens during the daytime and see the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. On partially cloudy days I also saw that the clouds moved. By night, I often saw the moon rise and disappear below the western horizon. I knew that material objects in a room, for instance, remained where they were until they were moved by some person. I, therefore, concluded that there was some "person" who was able to move these heavenly bodies. I came to the conclusion that God existed, and that He controls the movements of the entire universe. B. The Creator of the Heavens and Earth Controls All Things. This childish conviction was confirmed in my mind by the following Scripture quotation: "Wherefore David blessed Jehovah before all the assembly; and David said, Blessed be thou, O Jehovah, the God of Israel our father, for ever and ever. 11 Thine, O Jehovah, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Jehovah, and thou art exalted as head above all. 12 Both riches and honor come of thee, and thou rulest over all; and in thy hand is power and might; and in thy hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all" (I Chron. 29:10-12). II. Scriptural Teaching The angelic hosts were created free moral agents. They had the power of individual choices. This fact is seen in that some of the angels chose to pit their wills against the will of God—and fell. B. Adam and Eve Fell by Disobedience Being deceived by Satan the tempter, Eve exercised her freedom of choice, partook of the forbidden fruit, and became a rebel against God. Adam, with his spiritual eyes open, partook of the forbidden fruit and likewise fell (Genesis, chapter 3). C. The Losses Can Be Regained Only by a Perfect Man With the fallen, corrupt nature, the result of the fall, Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden. Thus our foreparents lost everything on the human level and in the realm of the will. Under God's moral government these losses can be regained only on the human level and in the realm of the will. In other words, some man—free from sin and able to cope with the adversary Satan, and his hosts—must champion the cause of fallen man in order to regain the losses.
The teaching of both the Old and New Testaments is that there is one God who exists in three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This teaching is set forth in Israel's great confession, which, when properly translated, reads: "Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our Gods is Jehovah a unity" (Deut. 6:4). In the baptism formula (Matt. 28:19, 20), the apostles were commanded by the Lord Jesus to baptize their converts "into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. . . ." B. Jesus, the God-man, Purchased Redemption "Yet it pleased Jehovah to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul and offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of Jehovah shall prosper in his hand. 11 He shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by the knowledge of himself shall my righteous servant justify many; and he shall bear their iniquities" (Isa. 53:10, 11). Upon seeing Jesus, John the Baptist on one occasion declared: "Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world! Jesus thus offered Himself as a sacrifice for the redemption of the human family. In His dying on the cross, in His going to Hades in the spirit He snatched the keys of death and Hades, and in His coming forth from the grave He wrought eternal redemption for all who will believe and receive. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16). "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life" (John 5:24). IV. Looking at Jesus as He Teaches and Labors for Man's Redemption As stated in the beginning of this study, we wish to note special crises in the life of Jesus of Nazareth and to observe scintillations of divine glory, figuratively speaking, radiating from His person. A. At the Baptism of Jesus John the Baptist did not know Jesus personally, although they were, humanly speaking, relatives. When Jesus came to John requesting baptism at his hands, John recoiled, saying, "I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?" John baptized Him. Then a Voice from Heaven proclaimed, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matt. 3:17). God called John's attention to the fact that Jesus was His beloved Son in whom He was well pleased—an echo of Isaiah 42:1, which identifies Jesus as the Saviour-Redeemer of mankind. The acknowledgement of God that Jesus is His Son in a peculiar and unique sense is a scintillation of divine glory regarding the Lord Jesus. B. At the Temptation of Jesus After the baptism of Jesus, He was led by the Spirit of God into the wilderness, where He was with the wild beasts being tempted forty days (Mark 1:12, 13). After the forty-day fast, the pangs of hunger seemed to come upon Jesus in an intensified form. At the crucial moment, Satan came to Him and said, "If thou art the Son of God, command that these stones become bread" (Matt. 4:3). This is a conditional clause, "If thou art the Son of God," does not imply that Satan doubted Christ's being the Son of God in a peculiar sense. On the contrary, a glance at the original Greek shows that Satan assumed that Jesus was the Son of God in this sense and admitted the fact. This conditional clause can be translated accurately and correctly, "Since thou art the Son of God. . . ." Thus in the temptation Satan acknowledged that Jesus was the Son of God, He being one of the Persons of the Holy Trinity clothed with humanity. "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4 that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Rom 8:3,4). C. Flashes of Divine Glory in the Sermon on the Mount The sermon on the mount—Matthew, chapters 5-7—is recognized by practically all scholars as one of the greatest discourses ever delivered by anyone. Even rationalists must admit the excellency of this masterpiece of oratory—and simplicity. Here and there gleam forth flashes of divine glory in various statements. In Matthew 5:17, Jesus said, "Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I came not to destroy but to fulfil." The statement "I came" is undoubtedly a reference to Christ's leaving Heaven and coming to earth, entering it by miraculous conception and virgin birth. On several occasions, Jesus used the same expression, which is an echo of the oft-repeated statement found in the Gospel of John that the Father had sent Him into the world. Thus the "I came" is equal to an affirmation that He left Heaven and came to earth to do the Father's will. D. Jesus' Authority and Power over Diseases Isaiah the Prophet foretold that the Messiah would bear the sins and diseases of the people; "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed" (Isa. 53:4,5). In Matthew 8:1-17 appears an account of Jesus' healing ministry on a given occasion. Matthew explains why Jesus cast out demons and healed the people: "And when even was come, they brought unto him many possessed with demons: and he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all that were sick: 17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our diseases." From this passage it is clear that Isaiah foretold that Jesus, by His atoning sacrifice, would bring healing and help to those who accept Him. Finally, let us in this connection note the fact that healing is in the Atonement because Isaiah states that it is there. It is not universal at the present time, but will be when Jesus returns, lifts the curse from creation, binds Satan and demons, and reigns for a thousand years. Then will be the sinless, sickless era which was foretold by the prophets. Thus in the realm of disease Jesus was master. This fact likewise points to His divine authority and power. E. Christ's Authority and Power Over The Elements As Jesus with His apostles went across the Sea of Galilee to the east side (Matt. 8:23-27), a storm arose which threatened to capsize or to destroy the boat in which they were sailing. Jesus then arose and rebuked the winds and the sea. They obeyed Him; then there was a great calm. Since the element of personality appears in these verses, we may logically assume that certain or some of the forces of evil were causing the storm, in an effort to destroy Jesus or to hinder His work. Satan does at times have control of the elements (Job, chapter 1). Since Jesus rebuked the wind and the sea, it is most highly probable that Jesus saw Satan as the cause of the trouble an rebuked him. Jesus on this occasion was master of the elements and of Satan himself. Thus there shines forth in this episode the divine nature of the Messiah. F. Christ's Authority and Power in the Realm of Evil Spirits Christ demonstrated His authority and power over demons, evil spirits, as is seen in Matthew 8:28-34. Upon arrival in the country of Gadarenes, territory east of the Sea of Galilee, two men who stayed in the tombs, and were unconquerable, met Jesus, the demons within them crying out, "What have we to do with thee, thou Son of God? Art thou come hither to torment us before the time?" According to Mark's record (Mark 5:1-20) which speaks of one of them, the demon-possessed man had often been bound with fetters and chains. Each time, however, he broke them. He was so very fierce that no man had strength enough to tame him. The strength by which he was able to break the chains of iron was that which came from the demons possessing him. G. The Dying of Jesus Like That of God Someone has aptly said, "Socrates died like a man; Jesus Christ died like God." In the midst of wild blasphemies and demonic outbursts of rage, Jesus Christ looked down upon His executioners and then, raising His face to Heaven, prayed, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." This attitude of forgiveness is an echo of His divine nature. His dying was unique. The Roman Centurion in his heathen blindness exclaimed, "Truly this was the Son of God" (Matt. 27:54). Everyone who had any regard for truth and righteousness, and who was present at the Crucifixion, realized that Jesus was God in human form. H. Christ the Conqueror of Death, Hades and the Grave According to the Apostle Peter, when Christ was put to death in the flesh, He in spirit went and made an announcement to the spirits in prison that had been disobedient in the days of Noah (I Peter 3:18-22). Let it be noted that Peter did not say that Christ preached the Gospel to these disobedient spirits. He simply made an announcement, as is indicated by the word which the Apostle used. It is quite likely that He made an announcement concerning His victory on the cross. We must not, however, be dogmatic on a point on which the Scriptures are not definite. |