Jesus (Continued)
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Jesus lived a life where he never committed a sin, despite being tempted, or faced with situations where he had to choose right over wrong (1) (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus overcame the sinful way of thinking which is natural to humankind. This human way is called a “law of sin” in (2) (Romans 7-21-23). The serpent thought this way in the Garden of Eden.
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Instead, Jesus loved God and perfectly submitted his own will—his heart, mind, soul—to his Father’s will (3) (Hebrews 10:7). Jesus ultimately “humbled himself by being obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (4) (Philippians 2:8). He sacrificed his life as God willed, dying a sacrificial death on a crucifixion stake at age thirty three.
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Through his sacrifice Jesus was able to destroy the power of death. “And by that will we have been sanctified [made clean and pure] through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (5) (Hebrews 10:10).
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God resurrected Jesus from the dead three days after his death. God restored Jesus’s life and gave him immortality, a perfected state of endless life with an incorruptible body and mind—one that cannot grow old or die.
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Thus Jesus was the first descendant of Adam to benefit from the promise of salvation from sin and death, and the first person to experience the revealing of God’s glory and live eternally.
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A very important title Jesus had with his name was Christ. Christ is not a name like “Jesus”, but a title that describes a role or office, like president or prime minister. Christ is a Greek word that means “anointed”. In Hebrew, the word “anointed” is Messiah (6) (John 1:41).
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“Messiah” and “Christ” refer to Jesus’s role as a future king of Israel. Jesus came first as a Saviour and will come again as a king. The “Christ” means the person that God chose, by anointing, to reign forever in the Kingdom. Jesus will rule over the earth with those people who have been saved through this Hope.
We see how the Bible teaches that Jesus had a past role as Saviour and has a future role as eternal King. As Saviour, he opened the way to eternal life by defeating sin in himself and destroying the power of death. As the Christ, Jesus will rule forever along with the people he has saved.
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Read the next section to understand how God provided baptism as a way for faithful believers to be saved and become a part of this glorious Hope of salvation through Jesus the Christ.
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