Reflection to Insight

Are you a Christian looking to better understand the Lord and His character? Or maybe you aren’t currently following the faith, but your curious, and you want to know who this Jesus is.

With Easter here, I thought this would be a perfect time to discuss who Jesus really is and what He did here on earth.

When we look at the entire Bible, we get a narrative, or rather, a love story written between God and the people He has made.

It is a tale of pursuit as the Lord seeks to win the hearts of His people.

This story has been in play since the beginning of time. And actually, we are still taking part in it currently.

From the book of Genesis to Revelation, we get a picture of who God is. We see His heart. His love. What He likes, and what He dislikes. The scriptures tell us that God is three in one. He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each of these make up His being.

Matthew 28:19 -“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

1 John 5:7 -“For there are three that bear witness in Heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one.”

When Jesus comes to earth He comes in the form of a man. But at the same time, He is still God. He is just God in the form of man.

While He walks upon earth and carries out His ministry, Jesus lives a perfect life. In the time He lived here He never sinned once. Never gave into temptation of any kind. Jesus perfectly embodied love, as He served others in humility, healed those with sickness and spiritual oppression and possession, and shared the truth.

He spoke of the Kingdom of Heaven and it’s coming. He explained how everyone is in need of salvation. And that no one could come to Father God except through Him.

Jesus didn’t only come to heal those with ailments. He came, most importantly, to share the gift of salvation. Offering His life at the cross in order to conquer sin and death and save all mankind.

Now you may ask, “Why did Jesus need to die? Why was that necessary?”

In order to answer that question, we must first understand that every living person is guilty of sin. No one is without fault. Each one of us has wronged or harmed someone in some way at some point in our life. We have all wronged God in some way at some point in our life.

Because of this, we are guilty. We are stained by sin.

God being perfect, is without sin. In order to have a complete relationship with us, and for us to enter into His presence in Heaven one day, we must be cleansed. We must be redeemed.

So, how do we find redemption?

Well if we read through the Old Testament books of the Bible, we see that sin always leads to death. Sin demands death. In order for sin to be atoned for, a sacrifice must be made. When we study the book of Exodus through to Numbers, we see an example of this, as God asks His people to make sacrifices with different animals to atone for their sin.

God hates death. And I almost wonder if the point of this practice was to in part show the people the severity of sin.

But in a spiritual sense, it accomplished something else. A cleansing of the people who were guilty, as the blood from their sacrifice covered the cost of their sin.

Now we switch back to Jesus.

God in His complete and awesome wisdom new that He needed a way to permanently set His beloved people free from sin. Forever.

If death demands a sacrifice, and their must be a blood payment, how could the curse of sin be forever broken?

Well, it would take the death of a man to cleanse all men. A man without sinful blemish, representative of an animal without blemish who was sacrificed to cover the cost of sin.

The issue though, is that there isn’t anyone without sin. Every man and woman has fallen short at least once in their life. Everyone carries the stain of sin.

Except for Jesus.

The Lord new that if He were to sacrifice Himself to cover the cost of sin, it would allow for a permanent freedom as the curse of sin would be broken through all past, present, and future.

So, in the final act of His ministry, Jesus allowed for His arrest, and took a painful scourging and brutal crucifixion, dying at the end.

As I’ve studied and continue to study into the Lord’s death, I’ve realized that the physical pain He endured probably wasn’t the worst of it. Jesus, in a spiritual way, literally took the entirety of sin into His being. Everything every living person had done, was doing, and would do, throughout all of time.

Taking all of that darkness into Himself, and dragging it down into death with Him, finally allowed for the shackles of sin to rupture and break.

The amount of strain that placed on Him was unimaginable.

The good news, is that three days later He rose from the grave. Being God, and operating in the power of the Father, He was able to come back to life. Walking in a new, resurrected body.

Romans 6:4 -“Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”

Because Jesus made this sacrifice, we are now able to enter into a strong, full relationship with Him, without sin being able to keep us from Him.

In Him we are truly free.

Galatians 5:1 – “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”

John 8:36 – “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

When we are walking a free life in Jesus, we don’t have to fear condemnation, our sin nature, or our eternal future. We are no longer bound in old habits. We are a new creation, literally.

Our conscience will be clear, and we no longer have to sit with guilt and shame over past mistakes. Jesus forgave everything. Our past, present, and future.

And as a result of this newfound relationship, we can live in an excited expectancy for the life to come. A life in Heaven where all things are restored and renewed. Our pain, despair, and anguish are all done away with.

Who is Jesus?

That depends on you.

If you choose to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that He came and died for YOU in His love and desire to have you as His own, than He will be the closest person to you.

The One who is your guardian, provider, comforter, and best friend.

Life is not easy. No matter what you believe in or live for. But with Jesus, the hardship can mean something. You aren’t alone in it. He’s there with you.

All things that are difficult and dark, He makes fruitful and good.

Genesis 50:20 – “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

Following Jesus requires us to surrender. In a sense, it’s a surrender of our independence as we enter into a dependent, loving relationship with Him.

John 15:5 – “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

Without Jesus, we are powerless to do anything, whether we realize that or not.

He invites us to acknowledge our need for Him. Acknowledge that we live in sin, even when we don’t mean to. Acknowledge that we aren’t actually powerful at all. Regardless of how much money you make, the size of your muscles, or how intelligent you are, we are extremely vulnerable and weak when left to our own devices.

By accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior, we can enter into a better life with Him.

Both in this world, and the eternal one to come.

I encourage you this Easter to consider letting Jesus become your King.

I would love for you to come and join the Kingdom and Family of God. To begin the greatest adventure of your life with the One who knows you most intimately and loves you.