This is a time when the world remembers the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. Let me just say that there are very few people in the world that do not believe in the crucifixion of Christ. There is no time to speak about the abundant details available about the existence of Jesus the first century as a historical person, but let us just say there it is an undisputed fact among neutral historians. The resurrection of Christ, however, is of great importance, but also a greater sense of division.
Jesus, the Lamb of God
If I were to ask you, who Jesus was/is, I will hear a variety of answers. Son of God, Savior, Lord, Redeemer, The Promised Messiah, the King of Kings, Lamb of God.
When I say Lamb what comes to mind. an innocent, very cute animal. That's true. But the lamb had a very special in minds and hearts of people in Israel at that time.
For centuries, the Hebrew people or the Israelites had a practice called Passover. It was first conducted at the time of Moses, about 1400 years before Jesus when God delivered the people of Israel from captivity in Egypt. They held it annually to commemmorate this event. During this time, they would sacrifice a young lamb that had no physical blemish and sprinkle the blood as instructed by God. By doing this they identified as the people of God and God forgave their sin. Once, a very well known prophet at that time, he was known as John the Baptist, saw Jesus and remarked, "Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world."
When the people of Israel heard that, they might have got a clear picture of what Jesus was in the world to do.
The God of the Bible is a holy God. It is something that is so unique. The Bible teaches us that angels are constantly worshipping God saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord." He is so holy that anything unholy cannot enter into His presence.
We live in a sinful world. I know that honest people do not claim to be without mistakes or wrongdoing or what the Bible calls "sin." Any fault, any mistake, any action, any thought, any word, any attitude that is morally wrong is sin before God. When there is sin in us we cannot enter God's presence. The Bible identifies the fundamental problem with this world as originating in "sin" and the resultant "fall" from God's grace and presence. As long as this remained, there is no way to approach God and be united with Him, which is God's purpose for mankind.
This is where Jesus Christ's life and work is important. Jesus is the Son of God who came into this world because God in His wisdom knew that we would not be able to get rid of our sin, even if we wanted to. A perfectly just God sent His Son into this world as a sacrifice for mankind's sins. It was not a pretend death for Jesus, but a real death upon the cross as a sacrifice for our sins. The perfect love of God met with the perfect justice of God when Jesus died for our sins.
The most famous verse in the Bible is John 3:16. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. God does not want us to sacrifice our lives in the sense of dying for Him. What He requires of us is to believe in what He has done for each of us. He sent forth His son on our behalf.
We all have sin in us, some of it is expressed and some of it is hidden, waiting for an opportunity. When we repent of the sin in us and put our faith in God's ability to forgive our sin because of what Jesus has done for us, He saves us from the punishment that we deserve for our sins. That's
Why is Jesus so special? Why is His death so important. Why is His life so important? It is because He stands unique in every way.
The Uniqueness of Christ
1.Uniqueness in His birth
Very unusual circumstances surrounded the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. The most important of these is the fact that Jesus was born miraculously, of a virgin in Bethlehem, a town of Judah.
The author of the Gospel of Matthew, one of the disciples of Christ, remembered that more than 700 years before Christ, prophet Isaiah wrote about this.
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
Isaiah 7:14
2. UniqueNESS in His Teaching
When Jesus began teaching, He spoke of things that the world had never heard of. It was not good teaching; it was revolutionary. We are not shocked when we hear about it. But imagine at a time thousands of years ago, when might was right (it still is, in many cases), that someone stood up and said that those that desired to lead must be a servant of all, that we ought to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, do good to them that hate you, and pray for those who despitefully use us and persecute us. And He showed that He did the same.
3. Uniqueness in His Life
No ruler, or teacher, or leader in the world with the exception of Jesus ever claims to have lived a sinless life. But the Bible declares that boldly. Jesus lived a completely sinless life. His life was open in front of his family and his disciples. In spite of seeing him up close everyday, none of them saw anything improper in Him ever.
“Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me?
John 8:46
Praise God for He was the perfect, sinless sacrifice ffor each of us.
4. Uniqueness in His death
600 years before Christ, prophet Daniel wrote this:
“Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing.
In 457 BC, in the 7 year of King Artaxerxes, he gave a decree to Ezra to rebuild Jerusalem’s courts and appoint magistrates and judges and enforce God’s Law and the king’s law, to bring back
From there 483 years later is when Jesus was crucified. Adjusting for how calendars worked then, this might have been to the exact month.
Imagine being accurate about a prophecy that was made 483 years ago. Imagine that something said 230 years before American regained independence comes true. It is that dramatic an event. And only the eternal wisdom of God could accomplish this. Haellelujah!
5. UniqueNESS IN HIS RESURRECTION
What is resurrection? There are many people in history thought to be dead it came back to life. It could happen for any number of reasons. They could be wrongly identified as being dead. Or could have been a fabricated story. However, if it was not true, there was one group of people who would know for sure that it was a fabricated story, a lie. The disciples witnessed this life-changing miracle first hand.
Let’s take a look at them for a second. They were ordinary people, uneducated, blue collar, working class, no-nonsense men. They met Him, they were changed by Him, they believed Jesus was the Messiah. Jesus taught them for years what He had come to do in direct and indirect ways, they did not really understand it. They thought Jesus would lead a rebellion against the ruling Roman kingdom and would restore the Kingdom of Israel. At Jesus’s death, they had lost all hope. They were distraught. Everything they had been living for had come crashing down in a matter of hours. Just 5 days before, they accompanied Jesus when He entered triumphantly into Jerusalem riding a donkey just as it was prophesied by Zachariah.
Zach 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
And now, their leader, their teacher, their master was killed. It was over. Or so they thought!
Even before Jesus was killed, they ran away and even denied knowing Him. They were fearful and despondent. Then came the resurrection. On the third day, Jesus was raised from the dead by the power of God. He appeared to Mary, and then to the disciples. They were not joyful initially, they were in disbelief! In fact one of them was so suspicious that this was a prank that he had to put his fingers into the holes in the hands of the LORD to make sure that it was the same person. He had seen His Savior’s hands and feet pierced. There was no more doubt in their hearts. And the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead changed them forever. That encounter completely transformed them. The resurrected Christ then spent 40 days with His disciples and ascended into heaven.
When they met the living Jesus, they were ready to follow Him and live for Him.
When they met the resurrected Christ, they were ready to go wherever He sent them and die for Him.
This 180 degree transformation of a scared bunch of people from being afraid for their lives to being witnesses who gladly gave their lives to be tortured and killed for the sake of their LORD is testament to the fact that God is true and Jesus truly resurrected from the dead.
Today, we serve a Risen Savior. Like it happened to the disciples, let the encounter with the resurrected LORD change us so much that our lives will be transformed by God forever. Praise the Lord!
