BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD (Part I)
It is mission critical that we believers stretch toward a fuller
comprehension and appreciation of THE PERSON AND WORK OF JESUS CHRIST. During
this Holy Week (Passion Week) we will prayerfully commemorate the vicarious
suffering and death of Jesus Christ as we prepare ourselves to celebrate His victorious
resurrection.
Exactly who is this man called JESUS CHRIST?
The Apostle John portrays Him as The Pre-Existent Christ. In other words, Jesus Christ
predates all of creation and all of human history. He is The Logos, The Living Word of God, who always was and forever shall be.
(Hebrews 13:8 – Luke 1:33) The Apostle John expresses this fact with
great clarity:
John 1:1-3 (NKJV)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made
that was made.
Additionally, the book of Hebrews confirms to us
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the express image of God and the chief
architect of creation:
Hebrews 1:1-5 (NKJV)
1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to
the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days
spoken to us by His Son,
whom He has appointed heir of all things, through
whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the
brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and
upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged
our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having
become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more
excellent name than they. 5 For to which of the angels did He ever say: “You are My Son, today
I have begotten You?” And again: “I will be to Him a
Father, and He shall be to Me a Son?”
As the Son of God, Jesus Christ is manifested as “the propitiation
for our sins” and for the sins of “the whole world.” (I John 4:10 – I John 2:2
– Romans 3:25 – Hebrews 2:17) Dictionary.com defines “propitiation” as
“conciliation.” As such, it is synonymous with atonement, reconciliation,
restoration and an efficacious peace offering. In other words, “God was
in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself.” (II Corinthians 5:19)
Of necessity, this was designed to be a vicarious or substitutionary
act of atonement because, according to the Word, “all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) However, fallen humanity had no
effective means of redemption for our corporate rejection of God. Thus,
Jesus Christ entered the scene as the perfect solution to the dilemma between
the justice of God, which
requires punishment for sin, and the mercy
of God, which mediates our grace and forgiveness. (Romans 6:23)
Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man, thus He is a just representative of
humanity and a merciful representative of God.
John the Baptist was the cousin of Jesus and his forerunner.
That is, he prepared the way for Christ’s coming by preaching the gospel of
repentance in the Jordanian wilderness. His task was to turn the hearts
of the people toward God and to publicly identify the Savior.
John 1:29;36 (NKJV)
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and
said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
36 And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, “BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD!”
As believers, our mandate is to behold Him, to honor Him, to love
Him and to obey Him. Let us remain
prayerful and open to a fuller and deeper revelation of The Christ. Stay tuned…more to come tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment