Let's begin with who Jesus is, and then move on to what He does for us.
This is what the Bible teaches us about who Jesus was - He was God - and who He became - He became man.
The Bible doesn't say that (a) Jesus was man, but not God; (b) Jesus was God, but not man; (c) Jesus was neither God nor man.
Jesus is truly God and truly man. He's fully God and fully man.
The Bible doesn't say that the man, Jesus, was elevated to the status of God in the eyes of His followers who believed in Him. The Gospel begins with "the Word was God", and then goes on to say, "The Word became flesh."
(2) "Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9).
Many say, "How can a man be God?" That is a wrong question to ask!
What we should ask is this: "Can God become a man?"
When we ask this question in the light of the Bible's teaching - "All things are possible with God", we can acknowledge that the Word, who is God, has become flesh.
Many ask, "How can we see God in Jesus Christ?", when we see, in Jesus, a man who suffered hunger, thirst and tiredness, a man who can only be in one place at one time, when we hear Jesus speaking of His Second Coming - "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" (Matthew 24:36; Mark 13:32).
Listen to the words of Jesus, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9).
We do not see everything we could possibly know about God - "Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see", but we do see everything we need to know about Him. We see Jesus as the Way through whom we come to know God as Father.
(3) We come to know God the Father through Jesus the Saviour.
This is not a matter of intellectual knowledge. It is with the faith of the heart that we trust Jesus Christ as Saviour and come to know God as Father.
What does it mean to trust Jesus Christ as Saviour?
It is really important that we understand what the Bible means when it speaks of Jesus Christ as our Saviour.
- What is a Saviour?
(a) Suppose you are drowning in the ocean. Suppose someone throws you a book - "Three Easy Lessons On How To Swim", would he be a Saviour? - No! He may be an educator, but he's definitely not a Saviour!
(b) Suppose a man got out of his boat, jumped in alongside you and showed you how to swim, saying to you, "This is what you do", what he be a Saviour? - Of course not! He may be an example, but he wouldn't be a Saviour!
(c) What if he took you into his boat, took you ten miles from the shore and then threw you back into the ocean, an said, "Now, make your own way back to the shore", would he be a Saviour? By no means! He would be like a kind of probation officer who helps out for a while, and then leaves you to go it alone. He would be like a kind of social worker, who gives a bit of help and then leaves you to make it on your own.
We don't need someone who will give up on us, leaving us to our own devices.We need a Saviour who is able to save to the uttermost all who come to God through Him (Hebrews 7:25).
(d) What is a Saviour? A Saviour is One who takes you safely all the way to the shore. This is the promise of Jesus Christ, our Saviour - "him who comes to Me I will not cast out" (John 6:37).
Jesus is so much more than an educator, an example or a probation officer.
- An educator may fail us if we do not learn the system of doctrine properly.
- An example will fail us. An example that we cannot live up to only serves to make us more conscious of our failure.
- A probation officer provides us with temporary help, but he also will fail us. When we are cast out on our own, failure becomes a very real possibility.
- The Lord Jesus Christ will not fail us. There is no possibility of failure. By ourselves, we are failures. With Him, the possibility of failure is excluded, since we have His promise: "and this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of the Father, that every one who sees the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life; and I will raise Him up at the last day" (John 6:39-40).
What a great Saviour we have! He has come from heaven to earth, and He will take us from earth to heaven. We can trust Him to finish what He starts. In Him, we have full salvation - eternal salvation.
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