Our Savior
In what we call "the Triumphal Entry" Jesus
officially presented Himself to Israel as their long promised
Messiah (Hebrew- "Anointed One"). It was the time of Israel's annual
observance of the Passover feast. The Passover celebrated the time
when God spared the first born males from death back when the
Israelites were slaves in Egypt (Exodus 12). God told the Israelites
to take a lamb without blemish and sacrifice it. He directed them to
splash some of the lamb's blood on the crosspiece above the front
door and on the posts on each side. Then God promised, "…when I
see the blood I will pass over you…" Exodus 12:13.
Early on Sunday morning four days before the
Passover sounds of a great commotion could be heard coming from the
Mount of Olives located east of Jerusalem. Suddenly, a great throng
of people burst over the brow of the Mount of Olives. They were
cutting branches from trees and casting them, along with coats off
their backs, on the road where a donkey colt would carry Jesus. As
they did so they shouted "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He Who comes in the
name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!" And when He had come
into
Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?"
Matthew
21:9, 10.
In these early hours of the first day of the week
it seemed the momentum favored Jesus being accepted as Israel's
Messiah. That momentum would change. This was the first of four days
in which each family examined a lamb they had chosen for the
Passover sacrifice to be sure it was without spot or blemish. During
these same four days Jesus would be examined by Israel's religious
leaders and Rome's political leaders. Although they would no fault
in Jesus the religious leaders would persuade the majority of
Israelis in Jerusalem to change their cries of "Hosanna!" to
"Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" Hidden from their understanding was the
fact that the Passover lamb was a picture of Jesus, the Lamb of God,
Whose blood takes away the sin of the world." (John 1:29).
On that first Sunday morning when Jesus entered
the city of Jerusalem they had asked, "Who is this?" After four days
of opportunity to find out, they came up with the wrong answer.
With the scriptures as our guide, let us consider
Jesus and seek to find the right answer to the question, "Who is
this?"
Jesus Is The Eternal Son of God
The LORD God appeared to Moses in a burning bush
and commissioned him to lead Israel out of Egypt to Canaan. Moses
asked what he should tell Israel was God's name and God said, "I AM
WHO I AM (Exodus 3:1-15). Consider well these words of Jesus,
"Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."
John 8:58 (See also John 8:21, 24, 28)
In Isaiah 6 we have the record of Isaiah seeing
the Lord God in His glory in the Temple in Jerusalem. The Apostle
John quotes this chapter and tells us that Isaiah "saw His (Jesus)
glory, and he spoke of Him." (John 12:37-41).
Isaiah prophesied, "Therefore the Lord Himself
will give you a sign: Behold a virgin will be with child and bear a
son, and she will call His name Immanuel" Isaiah 7:14. Matthew tells
us that the birth of Jesus fulfilled this prophesy and that the name
Immanuel means, "God with us." Matthew 1:22, 23 (See also Isaiah
9:6, 7)
The apostle John begins his gospel by stating
explicitly that Jesus was God, "In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God and the Word was God…And the Word became
flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, fill of grace and truth." John
1:1 & 14.
On that first Sunday night after Jesus had risen
from the dead ten apostles told Thomas, "We have seen the Lord."
Thomas responded, "Unless I shall see in His hands the imprint of
the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my
hand into his side, I will not believe." The following Sunday night
Jesus appeared again and invited Thomas to do just that. Instead,
Thomas answered, "My Lord and my God." (John 20:24-28) If Thomas had
been wrong about calling Jesus "my God" Jesus would have corrected
him. John went on to say that this event was one of many things he
had written to encourage his readers to "believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God".
The Apostle Paul revealed that before coming into
this world "Jesus …existed in the form of God…." (Philippians 2:5,
6). After entering this world that "…in Him all the fullness of Deity
dwells in bodily form." (Colossians 2:9) and that one of the
characteristics of all true believers is "looking for the blessed
hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior,
Christ Jesus." (Titus 2:13).
This small sample of many similar scriptures
clearly reveals that Jesus is the eternal Son of God.
The Savior From The Curse of Sin
The very name Jesus means "God is salvation". The
angel of the Lord told Joseph to name Mary’s baby son Jesus
"for He will save His people from their sins." Matthew
1:21
Jesus was prophesied to be born of a virgin.
Immediately after Adam and Eve had sinned God spoke this word to
the Tempter, "And I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise Him heel." Genesis 3:15. Normally,
reproduction takes place when the man’s seed fertilizes the woman’s
ovum. God was undoubtedly emphasizing that the man who would bring
the crushing blow to Satan’s head would have an earthly mother, but
no earthly father. We have already considered Isaiah’s prophecy that
a virgin would bear a Son Who would be named "God with
us". In
addition, Isaiah 9:6 says the same thing, "For a child will be
born to us, a son will be given to us…" When any son is born it
can be said, "a son is born to us", but there is only one Son of
Whom it can be said, "a son is given to us." That Son was Jesus, the
eternal Son of God Who was given by God the Father to the human
family to be their Savior.
Jesus was prophesied to be righteous or
sinless.
He had to be in order to be an effective sacrifice for
sin. And so we are told in Isaiah 53:11, "By His knowledge
My
Righteous Servant, shall justify many, For He shall bear
their iniquities." We are told in Hebrews 4:15 "For we do not
have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but
was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin."
Upon this sinless One we read "And the LORD has laid on Him
the iniquity of us all." Isaiah 53:6. That statement
is affirmed many times in our New Testament. "For He (God)
made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." 2nd
Corinthians 5:21. "...Who Himself 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."" 1st Peter 2:24. "For
Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He
might bring us to God, …". 1st
Peter 3:18
Jesus was prophesied to be a prophet like unto
Moses.
Deuteronomy 18:15-19. God said to Moses, "…
will put My words in his mouth, and He shall speak to them all that
I command him," John records four occasions when Jesus stated that the
words He spoke were not His but words the Father commanded Him to
speak (John 7:16; 8:26. 28, 38; 12:49, 50; 14:10) During His earthly ministry
Jesus fulfilled His office as the Prophet. He clearly the truth
about God by the words He spoke and the life He lived. One of His
names is "the Word" (John 1:1) As the Word He was with God and was
God. "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we
beheld His glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of
grace and truth." John 1:14. When Philip requested, "Lord.
Show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us" Jesus answered, "Have
I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me,
Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father…" John 14:8,9.
Jesus was prophesied to be Priest forever
according to the order of Melchizedek.
The LORD has sworn
and will not relent, 'You are a priest forever according
to the order of Melchizedek." Psalm 110:4
Virtually all branches of Christianity have under
emphasized the High Priestly ministry of Jesus Christ. This truth is
the preeminent theme of our New Testament book of Hebrews. Here are
some of the most important aspects:
- The High Priesthood of Jesus Christ replaced the Levite
priesthood of Israel and the human line of high priests that
descended from Aaron. (Hebrews 7:11-8:13).
- The one sacrifice of Jesus stands in vivid contrast with the
Old Testament priesthood. The Old Testament priests offered
millions of sacrifices that covered sins for temporary periods of
time and could never take away sin (Hebrews 10:1-4). Jesus offered
Himself as a sacrifice for sin once for all. (Hebrews 7:27;
9:2-28). Christ's one sacrifice sanctifies and perfects believers
in the eyes of God forever (Hebrews 10:9-14)
- Jesus is an active Intercessor on behalf of each believer and
saves them forever since He always lives to make intercession for
them (Hebrews 7:25. See also Romans 5:9, 10 and 1st
John 2:12).
- Under the Mosaic law the high priest went into the presence of
God once each year to represent God's people (Hebrews 9:7.8). With
Jesus as our great high priest every believer may go through Him
directly to God's throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace
to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:14-16.
Jesus was prophesied to rise again and be a
living Savior. "Therefore my heart is glad and my glory
rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope.. For You wilt not
leave my soul in Sheol; Nor wilt You allow Your Holy One to
see corruption." Psalm 16:9. 10. The apostles Peter and Paul
described how this prophesied the resurrection of Jesus from the
dead (Acts 2:25-36; 13:33-39). Through this living Savior sinful
mankind can receive forgiveness of sins and acceptance into God's
family
Copyright © 2002 Thomas E Berry
All Scripture quoted from NKJV unless otherwise noted
Copyright © 2008 Truth Helpers Inc.
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