Study 3: More about Jesus in the Bible?

So, let’s keep building on what we are discovering about the Bible, and in particular what it says about Jesus. It can get a little bit confusing at times because the Bible uses different terms to describe Jesus—sometimes based on his character and who he is, rather than just his name.

For example, in some places, the Greek word ‘Logos’ (which actually means ‘Word’) refers to him. In other places, he is referred to as the Son of God, or the Son of Man, or the Son of David. At other times, he’s called the Lamb of God, the Light of the World, Emmanuel, the Messiah, the Christ, and even the Bread or the Water of Life.

It wasn’t, however, just Jesus’ name that set him apart—being born to a virgin was a pretty impressive start for anyone to have. Mary hadn’t had any sexual relationship with her fiancé Joseph, and yet she was found to be pregnant—something that God had planned to happen miraculously.

Why? Well, one of the interesting things about this is that Jesus being born in the same way as you and I meant he was fully human, and yet he was also (this bit hurts my head) fully God too!

Because Joseph didn’t contribute to the birth of Jesus, Jesus didn’t walk into the same inherited sin that had impacted humanity so devastatingly up to this point. Does that make sense? It was like he was fully human (because he had flesh and bones, just like us), but because of the virgin birth, he was also fully God—without sin.

And this bit is really important, because the life of Jesus builds up to a moment in history where the Bible tells us that Jesus—God’s own Son, who lived an absolutely blameless, sinless life—actually ‘became’ sin for you and for me.

Before Jesus arrived at the cross, where he was crucified, he lived an incredible life. We’ll talk more about this in the Gospel study coming up, but all of his life pointed to the cross.

Why is this so important?

Well, Jesus came to complete the ultimate rescue mission—but it needed to include a few things. God is holy and cannot be acquainted with sin, and sin must carry with it a consequence—a punishment—and sadly, that punishment is death. But the God we see in the Bible loved us so much that he found a way to meet sin's consequences, through the obedience of Jesus on the cross.

This is, without doubt, one of the most offensive and powerful things about the Christian message in the Bible: that Jesus, an innocent man—God’s own Son—actually became sin for you and for me. He took the consequences of our lives and our sin and dealt with them on the cross. By doing this, he gives us ultimate freedom and a restored relationship with God today.

Wow.

The Bible doesn’t impose this on anyone. The amazing thing here is that this is a free gift—but it’s a free choice too. You can say, yes, thank you Jesus—or, no, I can deal with this on my own.