Our LORD and Saviour Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ is Savior and LORD as God. He was manifested in the flesh. We believe his virgin birth, His sinless human life, His divine miracles, His vicarious and atoning death, His bodily resurrection, his ascension, his mediator work and His future personal return in power and glory (Luke 1:32-33, John 1:1-4, 1 Timothy 2:5-6, 6:16).

The Bible is the Word of God. The Bible is full of exciting stories that date from the beginning of time till the end of time. However, the Bible is a collection of real stories that point to one story-an ultimate love story.

God’s creation is all good

When God created the universe it was all good. That is how it is recorded in the book of Genesis. After God made something new the Word records that it was good. The final creation was man; the utmost masterpiece of creation. Man is the only creation that was made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27 KJV).

After God created man, the Word continues to say that it was good; and this time the record says that it was very good. God had a strong relationship with man. He visited man every day (Genesis 3:8-9).

The treacherous one

The devil was cast down from heaven to earth. This means that the earth was his territory. But God had given man dominion (Genesis 1:28) and Satan did not like this. So he schemed against man and he led man to sin against God. Satan influenced man to eat the forbidden fruit (Genesis 2:16-17).

God had commanded man not to eat the fruit; otherwise, they would die (Genesis 2:16-17). They indeed died when they ate the fruit. They died spiritually, not to mention that physical death was also a portion of the repercussions. Their connection with God was severely severed.

God passed His judgment as required, but since God loved man so much, He put a redemption plan in the very beginning.

“And I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; her offspring will attack your head, and you will attack her offspring’s heel.”

(Genesis 3:15 KJV).

The plan

The offspring of the woman is the Savior of the world (Jesus was born of a woman) and the offspring of the serpent was the sinful mankind. Jesus attacked the head of the serpent (Satan and his human agents) by redeeming the human race. The sufferings He undertook as He accomplished this are the bruising on the heel as recorded in this verse.

As the people continue to multiply fill the earth, several nations and kingdoms are born. Humanity migrates to the ends of the earth bearing different ethnicities, races, and generations. The Bible particularly notes the stories of the nation of Israel (the Jewish nation); God’s chosen people. God always saves them from different threats that jeopardize their continuity. We see this when they are saved from slavery after 400 years, when they are saved from other kingdoms as they inherit their promised land and how God always defends them even in battle. 

The Israelites on the other hand are a stubborn people who more often than not disregard their all-powerful God. However, in all circumstances, God always manages to save them. He formulated several laws that would guide them to live in peace and keep their sinful nature at bay. God also sent out several prophets to keep Israel in line, but in most cases, Israel rebelled. He always showed His saving power. This is a foreshadow of how God stretches out His hand to humanity to receive salvation and albeit humanity refutes God’s mercy. 

Since God had put a system of laws to show humans that they are not righteous, Jesus Christ had to fulfill this law for us to become the righteous people that we would never have been (2 Corinthians 5:21). He had to die on our behalf, and therefore, He became the sacrificial lamb who paid our ransom.

This man Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ was sired by the Holy Ghost; meaning that He was not an ordinary child (Luke 1:35). He had to be born of God because if He was born of man, He would have the sinful nature and He would not be able to save man. He was God and He had to come to save the sinful human race as God wanted. Jesus Christ never sinned. He lived a Holy life fulfilling the law of Moses and therefore a perfect sacrifice: Holy and blameless before God. 

Jesus Christ spent His days on earth teaching a Gospel of love, humility, and repentance. He was circumcised at the age of 8 days according to the Hebrew culture. He was a Jew born of the virgin Mary who was betrothed to a carpenter named Joseph. Jesus therefore lived a Jewish life and was brought up in God’s ways. 

He began His ministry at the age of 30. He was baptized by John the Baptist, as was the Jewish culture. He thereafter fasted for 40 days in preparation of His ministry. Christ’s ministry was characterized by supernatural events such as miracles and physical healing. His teachings were excellent and elaborate and people could not get enough of Jesus. As a result, He pulled enormous crowds and caught the attention of the authorities. The Romans were particularly not interested in Him, but he managed to raise the eyebrows of the Jewish leaders.

They loathed Him because of His teachings. He claimed he was the Messiah. The Jewish leaders would not believe this even though it was the plain truth. Even the prophets Jeremiah, Isaiah, Joel and Hosea among others had prophesied His birth and life centuries before He was born. In a bout of fear, jealousy and insecurity, they crafted false conspiracies against Christ and were able to capture Him on false accusations. The sentence? A shameful death on the cross!

The consequence of sin is death

The consequence of sin was death (Genesis 1:17, Romans 6:23) and all generations are born spiritually dead. That is why everyone has to get saved.

What makes a difference in the death of the Messiah and renders the whole story realistic is His resurrection. Jesus Christ was tortured before He died. He remained dead for two days and on the third day He resurrected and appeared to His disciples. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then there would be no salvation for humanity. This resurrection means that we died with Him in the death and we have resurrected with Him; meaning we have a new life (Romans 6:8).

Christ shed His blood on the cross for our redemption. He became the ultimate sacrifice for our sin; the lamb of God. His death is the reason we live.

By accepting our sin we die with Him and resurrect with Him too. After Jesus had finished His job of redemption He went up into heaven (the ascension) and is seated in the right hand of The Father.

He, therefore, became our advocate and He is the mediator between us and God the Father. (2 Timothy 2:5) Jesus will surely come back to unite with His people, His beloved the Church, also known as His bride.