The Most Amazing Man

John 14:6 records Jesus telling his disciples, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”  No other person in human history ever made the bold claims that Christ did.  No other figure dared to challenge the existing paradigm of religion and man’s understanding of God.  Only Jesus could demolish the barriers that separate man from God and redeem mankind through the sacrifice of himself as atonement for our rebellious hearts and subsequently rise from the dead in his conquest over it.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ forever changed the course of history.  It confirmed everything written in the Old Testament as truth and sparked the Christian Church into becoming the most benevolent and loving movement on earth for the last two thousand years (don’t conflate religion with the true Church here).  Jesus has motivated millions upon millions to stand strong in the face of adversity and bear good fruit through good works that have fed the starving, housed the homeless, clothed the poor and healed the sick. Today there are approximately 2.38 billion Christians in the world. History is truly his story.

Dr. Ravi Zacharias once said there are four absolutes in our relativistic culture.  These are evil, justice, love and forgiveness.  Evil is prevalent in society and measurable in statistics of violence and war.  We pursue justice and fairness in our laws and judicial systems.  Love is something everyone has experienced at one time or another and is one of our most basic instincts.  And finally, each and every one of us has done something we have regretted later.  We have all made mistakes and asked for forgiveness, usually from those we love.

All four of these absolutes converged at one moment in history, when Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross at Calvary.  Jesus revealed the evil present in every person’s heart, he was just and justifies those who believe in him, he loved us so greatly that he willingly laid down his own life as a ransom for ours and he asked forgiveness for those who hung him on the cross.  It is through him that our forgiveness is possible.

Throughout history, evil has prevailed because people and people groups cannot forgive each other for their wrongs, and evil manifests itself as greed and motivates individuals and nations battle over food, real estate or resources.  Forgiveness has been absent in the classrooms, on the schoolyard, between city gangs and on the battlefields.  The logic of un-forgiveness dominates the worldviews of evolutionists, atheists, Hindus, Muslims, secular society and even many Christians.  Hindus speak of Karma and Muslims believe their good deeds must outweigh their bad deeds in order to pay for sin, while many deny that sin exists at all.  Conversely, Jesus paid the penalty of all sin himself. 

None of us can write a cheque big enough to pay for our own sins, let alone the sins of others.  Only Jesus could because only Jesus lived a sinless life (1 Peter 2:22; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1John 1:35).  As difficult as that is to comprehend, Christ then rose from the death and proved what he said and did was God’s truth.  Anyone who truly believes this is forgiven of their sins and has passed from death to life just as Jesus did.

The testimony of Jesus’s life is that he endured hardship, persecution and suffering despite being fully capable of taking a much less difficult path. He did this because the paths that we will travel in our own lives will not be exempt from these challenges.  Jesus was a trailblazer because he was willing to live his life on our terms, thereby making his authority authentic.  If Christ had never walked a mile in our shoes he could never ask us to forgive our enemies.  It is because he did that he can (Hebrews 4:15).

Life is punctuated by suffering because we live in a fallen world where evil is prevalent.  No other understanding of the pathway to God compares to the pathway provided by Jesus.  He conquered evil by experiencing it for himself and drove the cross through its heart by using it to bring about forgiveness.  He used the very instrument devised by evil men to silence him and erase his legacy to vindicate himself and establish his testimony forever! 

God’s methodologies are sometimes hard to comprehend as was the case with Joseph who was sold by his brothers into slavery and carried off to Egypt only to rise to a position of authority and ultimately save his brothers and his father from starvation.  Genesis 50:20 records Joseph telling his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is being done, the saving of many lives.”

No matter what life throws at us, it cannot overwhelm Jesus.  When we believe in our hearts that Jesus died and rose again he enters our bodies and dwells within us.  In the third chapter of the book of Revelation, Jesus says, “Here I am!  I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.  To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne.  He who has an ear, let him hear….” Revelation 3:20-22a.

Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world.  John 16:33b, and John elaborates in 1 John 4:4 using the context of the evil spirit of the antichrist.  “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” 

We don’t know where God will lead us when he calls us.  We don’t know how our present challenges will be used by God to benefit others as well as ourselves.   Paul the apostle tells us, “For now we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.” 1 Corinthians 13:9, and adds in verse 12, “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

When the King chooses you, you have no idea of his plan and his vision of your deployment.  One thing I have learned is that Christ has led me on a mission I never even dreamed of.  He has changed the direction of my life and blessed many through the words he inspires me to write.  I receive hundreds of messages of blessings from all around the world affirming this.  But before he lifted me up, he broke my life to pieces and I cried out to him and surrendered completely to him. In my own defeat I found victory in Christ and the glory is his.

Paul advises in Philippians 2:5-8, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:  Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!”

There has never been a man like Jesus!  All the things that were done in the Old Testament in an attempt to please God, serve God and be holy, culminated in Christ.  He did what no other man could do.  He lived a perfectly blameless life.  He explained the meaning of the scriptures and opened the window to God’s heart so that even children could understand him.  He gave meaning to our very existence.

Hebrews 4:12-13 declares, “For the word of God is living and active.  Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.  Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight.  Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”  Christ brought the scriptures to life!

Jesus was intentional in the things he taught, and he legitimized the scriptures by fulfilling every prophesy written about him.  He predicted the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple (AD 70), the Jewish diaspora and the rebirth of the nation of Israel.  John 21:25 tells us, “Jesus did many other things as well.  If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” 

No one can have a genuine encounter with the risen Christ and remain unchanged.  This amazing man has a metamorphic impact on the spiritually dead and revitalizes those who put their faith in him.  He has altered civilization by changing one heart at a time. The mustard seed has grown and yielded a harvest that is more than a thousand-fold and impacts all of humanity. Jesus’s words and actions resonate throughout the earth and transcend time, cultures and languages. 1 John 4:19 tells us, “We love because he first loved us.”  Love changes everything.

Great leaders lead by example and Jesus is the epitome of great leadership.  He exuded compassion for the marginalized, wisdom for the inquisitive, strength for the weary, reverence for our Father in heaven and courage to remain faithful even if it meant his own death. Even in death he paved the way through it to eternal life!  No one else even comes close to exemplifying his leadership and no one ever will.  Even his enemies were captivated by him.  Pilate was perplexed and the temple guards conceded, “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” John 6:46.