Before Time Began-Our Redeemer Lives In the booklet God's Eternal Purpose-we saw how Adam and Eve had forfeited their place as the created beings through which God would live or express His life. The cataclysmic rift created between man and God due to the partaking of the tree of knowledge of good and evil by Adam and Eve would not be a permanent condition of mankind. For our God is an omnipotent God and no one can compare with His wisdom and understanding. God would not allow the rebellious act of his creation to thwart the very reason for their creation. Before time began our Lord had began to implement His plan for mankind's redemption. He had in mind a plan which would restore His creation back to Himself. In the book of Isaiah our Lord proclaims His intention towards reconciling man back to Himself through His Son Jesus Christ. He knows mankind's character and capacity to doubt and therefore prophesied centuries in advance through His prophet Isaiah the promise of our Redeemer-Jesus Christ. "Behold the former things have come to pass. And new things I declare; Before they spring forth I tell them to you.� And so throughout the prophetic book of Isaiah we see our Savior Jesus Christ spoken of and described in great detail, so that those of us today would draw confidence and increased faith in who Christ is. This great revelation of Christ is made hundreds of years ahead of time because God had known about our need for a redeemer before man was even created. Hallelujah At this point I would like to take a moment to allow God Himself through His words to prophetically describe and declare Jesus Christ our redeemer. Isaiah 42:1 "Behold my servant whom I uphold. My Elect One in whom my soul delights: I have put My Spirit upon Him. He shall bring forth justice to the gentiles." Isaiah 53:2-5.....He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our grief and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him. And by His stripes we are healed Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born. Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Our redeemer indeed lives as proclaimed by God centuries in advance and His name is Jesus!
Jesus-The only Way I think that the subject of Jesus Christ as the only way of redemption is the most misunderstood and criticized aspect of Christianity and salvation. Christians are increasingly coming under fire today because of their belief that Jesus Christ is the only way to get into heaven. They are often put on the defensive by those who are offended by this assertion. Those of us who profess Christ as our savior are often labeled as bigots and narrow minded. My hope is that this devotional will help answer the question of why Jesus Christ is our only way to eternal life. I pray that many would understand why this is so and come to a saving knowledge of Him as their Lord and Savior. Jesus Himself makes this statement about His role in redeeming mankind back to His Father in the following verse John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. This is an incredible statement for sure and one which if not for it's accuracy would be the most devastating statement in human history. However it is true! It is true based upon who Christ is and His relationship with God and man. To help us understand these two issues let us look at the verses in the bible which speak to who Jesus is from an eternal point of view and how He fit into "Gods eternal purpose." Our starting point would be Colossians 1:15-17 He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions of principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things and in Him all things consists. So we see in the bible that Jesus is Himself the reason for our creation and is also the author of our creation. Therefore it would stand to reason and be most logical that He would be the answer and solution to the separation of mankind from the Father. He and only He would have that ability to heal and repair mankind- on both the physical level and the spiritual level. In Philippians 2:6-8 we are given the reason why Christ is qualified to be our Savior. "who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant (willing slave), and coming in the likeness of men , and being found in appearance as a man (although He was still God's Son), He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Then we are further told in Ephesians 1:7 "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace. Finally in Colossians 2:14-15 the word of God tell us that (Jesus) "having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers. He made a public spectacle of them (by showing Himself to over 500 men and women for 40 days after His crucifixion), triumphing over them in it.
Christ is a "life giving spirit!" It is He who has conquered death as recorded in the scriptures and is the original creator and it is only He who can redeem man back to God and Himself. This is a spiritual matter solved by a spiritual Christ in the likeness of man. Adam was the first Adam created by God and the Son so as to live a life which expressed the life of the Son. His fall in the garden made it necessary for the Son of God to provide a way of life for His creation. To do so it was necessary for Him to be the spirit of life while in the form of man. Thus He became the last Adam (I Corinthians 15:45) and the firstfruit (first of the new creation), who would have access to eternal life. For this loving and selfish act-God has highly exalted Him. Philippians 2:9-11 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Amen Jesus then is the only way to get into heaven not based upon my or other Christian's beliefs but based upon who He is and what He has done! This is not a competition between religious leaders or people's rights to believe what they choose to believe. After all man was created with a "free will" to choose to believe in whatever they want and to live as they please. However, that "free will," does not negate or reduce the reality of Christ and who He is. Our human opinions and thoughts about that are meaningless in light of what is at stake. "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." John 3:17 If after reading this your heart and spirit is leading you to believe that Jesus is the only way-please read the following verse. Romans 10:9 "that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. for with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Just tell God that you believe that His Son died for you and that His death covers your sin and that you receive the free gift of salvation that He has provided to you out of love. Thank Him for it and begin to live a life of faith in Christ Jesus.