“This is a faithful saying and worthy of
all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom
I am chief.”
--- 1Timothy 1:15 (NKJV)
Who
is He? (v15b)
iii.
Truly
God
Jesus is not only the promised Messiah, and the Savior, but also
God, who is not from the world – “came into the world.” He was
outside the world; He is external. He has no beginning; he is eternal. He shows
up in the world in the form of a babe in Bethlehem. That’s why Isaiah, 700
years before Christ was born said of Christ in Isiah 9:6 “Son is given,”
not born. As God, He has no birth! He is “Mighty God.” Colossians
1:15-18 further confirms that He is the Creator and Sustainer and Judge of the
Universe!
“He is the image of the
invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by
Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible
and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All
things were created through Him and for Him. And He is
before all things, and in Him all things
consist. And He is the head of the
body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in
all things He may have the preeminence.”
This is the God who loves the world. He never abandons his people!
He could have annihilated the world on
the first day Adam sinned through which the whole universe was bondage to sin!
He could have started a new one! He has been patient!
Man took the patience of God for granted
and kept on sinning. God will not be patient forever. He demonstrated once by
drowning the world in the flood of Noah
and said that he would one day annihilate the whole universe in fire and create
a new one. God will surely do, but He is patient for us to be saved until now!
He still calls each one of us to mend our ways and to follow Him before it is
too late!
iv.
Truly
Man
Jesus is not only truly God,
but also truly man, because He came to the world and the world has seen Him, and even crucified Him!
This is the beauty of the Gospel. That God became a man to save man from their sins. Why, because we can never save ourselves! We can never
make ourselves acceptable to God. We are destined to doom, to death and then to
eternal hell! If there is any mean of Salvation, God has to save us! No man can
save us because he cannot save even himself! Moses cannot save himself, Peter
cannot save himself; Salvation has to be external – outside of us! Angels
cannot save us because they too are created being like us, they cannot bear the
infinite eternal punishment of God. Only Jesus who is God eternal, infinite can
bear the infinite eternal punishment of God!
Have you ever wondered why God could not just forgive us and make
us righteous without Jesus Christ going to the Cross? The reason is – Sin is so
serious to God. And God has to be just. You
surely will not want the Supreme Court Justice to say, “I have forgiven that
party, they don’t need to come to the court!” The court will require you to be
in the court, and the justice has to be
pronounced – either jail or capital punishment. And God, the perfect
Judge, will he not be more righteous? The punishment for sin is Capital
punishment – death! Justice has to be met here on earth because the crime scene is here on earth!
Man has to bear for his sins, but no man
can bear his own sins because God’s punishment is limitless. Therefore, the
second person of the triune God becomes a man
in the person of Jesus Christ to bear man’s sins! But, why would one man
sacrifice forgive all the sins of all people of all times? Because He is not
just a man, He is truly God. If you weigh the sins of all the people of all the
world of all times putting in one side of a scale, and if you put the
righteousness of Jesus in the other side of a scale, Christ outweighs our sins
surpassingly! That is why God could forgive us all in Christ!
This is the good news of Jesus. He is the promised Messiah to
deliver us from sins, He is the Savior of all people, He is truly Man to bear
man’s sin, and He is truly God to bear it all fully!