Alive Again Today and Forever
Alive Again Today and Forever
Sin has seriously damaged the human race. “Sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4, KJV). Sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:1-2) and threatens our eternal reward. It is the implacable enemy of every human being and must be conquered. This is not easy and never has been.But Christ knows what it is like to have human nature, to be tempted to sin, to be tempted to transgress God’s spiritual law. “For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted” (Hebrews 2:18).
Christ did whatever was necessary to resist the pulls of the flesh and temptations to sin. He never under estimated them. He prayed and fasted, but mostly He continually relied on and looked to the Father for help. By never once transgressing God’s law, “He condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3). In
contrast, sin has tainted us, and one of our major goals as Christians is to learn to overcome its entanglements. Yet we cannot do this apart from our Savior, who told us, “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).Notice Hebrews 4:14-16: “Seeing then
that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the
Son of God, let us hold fast our confession
[‘profession,’ KJV]. 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. Let us therefore
come boldly to the throne of grace, that we
may obtain mercy and find grace to help in
time of need.”
Christ is the author and captain of our
salvation. “Therefore He is also able to save
to the uttermost those who come to God
through Him, since He always lives to make
intercession [with the Father] for them”
(Hebrews 7:25). Christ sits at the Father’s
right hand “to appear in the presence of
God for us” (Hebrews 9:24).
Paul says that, through the indwelling of
God’s Spirit, Jesus lives again within converted
Christians (Galatians 2:20), empowering us to
live a new, godly life patterned after His life.
Through His sacrifice and living again within
us, we can be redeemed “from every lawless
deed” and purified as “His own special people,
zealous for good works” (Titus 2:14).
In an act of supreme sacrifice, Jesus of
Nazareth gave His life for all mankind. Yet
the grave couldn’t hold Him; He rose to life
everlasting. What is He like today?
The apostle John was given a vision of
the resurrected, glorified Jesus Christ in
Revelation 1:12-18: “I turned around to see
the voice that was speaking to me. And
when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was
someone ‘like a son of man,’ dressed in a
robe reaching down to his feet and with a
golden sash around his chest.
“His head and hair were white like wool,
as white as snow, and
his eyes were like
blazing fire.
His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and
his voice was like the
sound of rushing waters.
In his right hand he
held seven stars, and out of his mouth came
a sharp double-edged sword.
His face was
like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
“When I saw him, I fell at his feet as
though dead. Then he placed his right hand
on me and said: ‘Do not be afraid. I am
the First and the Last. I am the Living One;
I was dead, and be
hold
I am alive for ever
and ever!’”
(NIV).
Jesus now lives forever as an eternal,
immortal spirit being. John also tells us that
His faithful followers, in the resurrection,
will
be like Him—
“and everyone who has this
hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is
pure” (1 John 3:2-3).
Jesus now sits at the right hand of God
the Father “with angels, authorities and
powers in submission to him” (1 Peter
3:22, NIV). He is the living, active, Head of
His Church (Colossians 1:18), and as “the
firstborn among many brethren” (Romans
8:29) He continually helps bring others to
salvation in God’s family.
How is He serving His brothers and sisters
on earth? Remember that Christ is the Mediator
between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5). One of
the major themes of the book of Hebrews is to
show how Christ carries out His sacred role as
our High Priest (to learn more, see “The Tearing
of the Temple Veil,” beginning on page 98).
Jesus Christ: The Real Story
Jesus Christ, the Wisdom of God
beings toward Himself by demonstrating His love toward them all through
the only convincing way possible—
the very Creator Himself would come
to earth and sacrifice His life for them
(John 3:16-17).
The dynamic of Christ’s sacrifice
God had to ensure that human beings, whom God intended to become
children in His divine family (2 Corinthians 6:18), would never turn
against Him at any point in
the future.
(To learn more
about this incredible future,
request or download a free
copy of the booklet
What Is
Your Destiny?)
Since the first man and
woman disobeyed God
and chose to follow Satan,
how would God ensure this
would never happen again?
How could God bring them
to the point that they would
never turn against Him?
How would He win their
complete trust?
The plan for the Word to
become a human being and
surrender His life for all humanity would establish God’s love without
question.
The sacrifice of Christ was not only for the payment of sins, but would
forever be a witness to God’s love (John 3:16-17). God would have a relationship with His children who would be in the relationship because they
wanted
to be there. It would be a relationship of complete trust.
It is obvious that the first human beings did not really know their God
and their Creator. Just before Jesus was arrested and killed, He emphatically declared to His disciples,
“From now on
you know Him and have
seen Him” (John 14:7).
The statement Jesus made in His final prayer now comes into its own:
“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). His sacrifice would be
the final witness, the ultimate statement, of the love God the Father and
Jesus Christ had for mankind. The disciples would soon know God in
the most profound way and come to the most profound of realizations.
“God
is
love,” is the way the apostle John expressed it (1 John 4:8, 16).
A lesson in the greatest love
When you come to know, as the disciples did, the real Jesus and the
real story, it makes all the difference in the world.
This demonstration of love was so powerful. Do we grasp it? “For
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
that who
-
ever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God
did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the
world through Him might be saved”
(John 3:16-17).
Those who have not experienced love from those who
Should have given it, namely parents or other family members, often have a difficult
time loving others. Without the example of love from others, we would
not know love. Love is something that cannot be explained to us; we
simply have to experience it firsthand. We don’t know how to love until
it is shown to us first.
Without experiencing the goodness of others, we have no compelling reason to do what is right. Without experiencing the love of God
expressed in the death of Christ, we would have no compelling reason to
love others. Without coming to the realization that God died for each of
us personally and individually, we could not be convicted of our personal
sins to the point we would never want to sin again.
God the Father and Jesus Christ knew just how to go about accomplishing Their plan to bring children into Their divine family—children who would always want to remain in this sacred and loving family relationship.
For Jesus—who was the Creator of everything and who had lived for all
eternity—to live as a mortal and among mortals and then die for them so
that they might have eternal life also, can be nothing less than godlike.
The same is true for the Father, who gave up His eternal companion,
closer to Him than any human relationship can approach, and allowed
Jesus to go through the suffering He did for the sake of all humanity. For
both, the sacrifice is unimaginable.
It is unheard of in human experience. Human goodness does not
come close. As Paul wrote in Romans 5:7-8: “Indeed, rarely will anyone
die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might
actually dare to die. But God proveshis love for us in that while
we still were sinners Christ died for us” (NRSV).
Paul concludes that Christ is “the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians
1:24) and that the idea of “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2) is “the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages”
(verse 7). God’s plan provides a way for our sins to be forgiven, but is
also designed so we would not choose the way of sin ever again.
God knew how to solve the problem of sin and predetermined His
purpose before the first man ever drew breath.
At its heart, the story of Jesus Christ is a love
story—the love of the Father who gave His
only Son and the love of the Son who gave
His life so that all who are willing may ultimately share eternal life in the family of God.
Jesus Christ: The Real Story
Your Date With Destiny: Meeting the Real Jesus
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