If Jesus, because of His great love for us, had not died for mankind, we would be forever doomed to eternal damnation and suffering. It therefore behooves us to every now and again study who Christ is, and the process by which he accomplished our salvation.
First of all, ‘Christ’ is not Jesus’ last name! ‘Christ’ is a title that means ‘the anointed one’. That Jesus was anointed means that He was empowered to do the will of the Father. This happened at His baptism when the Spirit descended like a dove and alighted upon Him (Matthew 3:16). As it is written, “. . . how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” (Acts 10:38).
Now, we know that Jesus was God. For it is written, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . . . And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” (John 1:1, 14). Why then did the all-powerful God in the person of Jesus have to be empowered? It is because when the Word (God) came to earth and became flesh (man), He decided to operate purely as a human being. As it is written, “who (Jesus), although being essentially one with God and in the form of God, possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God, did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained, But stripped Himself of all privileges and rightful dignity, so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like men and was born a human being,” (Philippians 2:6-7 AMPC).
A follow-up question, then, is “Why did God become Man?” You see, it was man (Adam) who sinned, and it was therefore a man who had to be punished for sin, or better still, it had to be a man to redeem man. But there was no man who could ever qualify to be punished for the sin of man and thereby set man free from the guilt and punishment for sin. Why? Because “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) since the sin of the first man, Adam, is automatically transmitted to every person who is born. In His great love for mankind, knowing that the man He loves would never save himself, God chose to become a real Man, ‘another’ Adam, and take on Him the punishment for sinful man. Hallelujah! “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous,” (Romans 5:19).
Related Sermon:
And having obtained eternal salvation for us as a pure man, Jesus is now God as He always was before the Word (God) became flesh (Man). For His prayer before going to the cross – for the Father to glorify Him together with Himself with the glory which He had with Him before the world (John 17:4-5)– was answered. For after He “stripped Himself of all privileges and rightful dignity, so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like men and was born a human being,” (Philippians 2:7 AMPC) and after humbling Himself and becoming obedient to the death on the cross (verse 8), “God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father,” (Philippians 2:9-11 NKJV). Hallelujah!
Jesus is now in heaven at the right-hand of the Father (Romans 8:34), waiting for the time when He will return to earth to restore all things (Acts 3:21) which fell when man (Adam) fell. May we now live for Him who died for us (2 Corinthians 5:15). Then when He returns, He will find us worthy to enter the kingdom of God and to reign with Him.
God bless you.