The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel, Classic Version, 2015Sample

Jesus is the Key

• Madonna said, ‘When I was growing up I was religious in a passionate way. Jesus Christ was like a movie star, my favourite idol of all.’
• Novelist H.G. Wells said, ‘I am an historian, I am not a believer. But this penniless preacher from Galilee is irresistibly the centre of history.’
• Napoleon Bonaparte said, ‘I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man.’

Even people who would not describe themselves as followers of Jesus recognise that there is something extraordinary about him.

The key to life is Jesus. The key to understanding the Bible is Jesus. The key to understanding God’s character is Jesus. The key to getting our lives sorted out is Jesus. No one, not even angels, can compare to Jesus (Hebrews 1:1–14).

If we want to know what God is like, we need to look at Jesus. He said, ‘Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father’ (John 14:9). Everything we read and understand about God through the Bible needs to be read through the lens of Jesus. He is the ultimate revelation of God.

Psalm 119:129-136

1. Jesus provides cleansing from our sins

Reading the Bible is, in some ways, like looking in a mirror with a very bright light: ‘The unfolding of your words gives light’ (v.130a). The light reveals what is wrong with our life and what we need to have cleaned up. It reveals the things that cause a barrier between us and God.

This barrier was removed when Jesus provided cleansing for our sins. Through Jesus, we can be confident that God’s face will shine upon us (v.135).

The psalmist prays, ‘Turn to me and have mercy on me, as you always do to those who love your name. Direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me. Redeem me from human oppression, that I may obey your precepts. Make your face shine upon your servant’ (vv.132–135a).

The psalmist’s prayer foreshadows the great act of Jesus in providing purification for sins. Through Jesus we can always turn to God and know that he will have mercy on us ‘as [he] always [does] to those who love [his] name’ (v.132).

Lord, thank you for Jesus. Thank you that I can always turn to you with confidence knowing that you will have mercy on me. Thank you for your redemption.

Lord, may no sin rule over me. Keep me from pride, anger, lust, greed, envy, prayerlessness, rivalry and all the other temptations of life. Lord, I pray that you would make your face shine upon me today.

Hebrews 1:1-14

2. Jesus is superior to angels

Jesus is unique and he is all we need. As Eugene Peterson points out, we do not need Jesus-and-angels. We do not need Jesus-and-Moses. We do not need Jesus-and-priesthood. ‘This letter deletes the hyphens, the add-ons’; all we need is Jesus.

The book of Hebrews is all about who Jesus is, and how he is better and greater than any other being, teaching, or religious system. It opens with a comparison between Jesus and the Old Testament prophets. It explains the wonderful truth of how God spoke through the prophets, but then describes how Jesus is even better (1:1–3). He is ‘the heir of all things’, he was involved in creation, he is the ultimate revelation of God, he is our sustainer, and he is our redeemer. The reason for all of this lies in who Jesus is.

Jesus ‘is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being’ (Hebrews 1:3). As The Message puts it, he ‘perfectly mirrors God, and is stamped with God’s nature.’

Jesus came to sort out our lives. ‘After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven’ (Hebrews 1:3b). Sitting down symbolises the fact that his work was finished (see also John 19:30).

There have always been people who can’t accept this truth. Today, some argue that Jesus was ‘just a great religious teacher’, and nothing more. In a similar way, at the time of this letter, some people were arguing that Jesus was ‘just an angel’. The writer of Hebrews says: ‘So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs’ (Hebrews 1:4). He then goes on to argue the superiority of Jesus over the angels.

There are nearly 300 references to angels in the Bible. What do we know about them?

In this passage we see that angels worship and serve God (vv.6–7). They are God’s messengers (v.7, MSG). They are spiritual beings who serve Christians (v.14). They ‘are sent to serve those who will inherit salvation’ (v.14).

Angels guard and protect us (Psalm 91:11). For example, an angel strengthened Jesus at Gethsemane (Luke 22:43). Each church has one (Revelation chapters 1–3).

But God is not their Father (Hebrews 1:5). In this way, Jesus is far superior and every Christian is better off than them because God is our Father. The writer of Hebrews sets out seven passages from Old Testament scriptures to show the superiority of Jesus over the angels (Psalm 2:7; 2 Samuel 7:14; Deuteronomy 32:43; Psalm 104:4; Psalm 45:6–7; Psalm 102:25–27; Psalm 110:1).

All these passages are the answer to anyone who says that Jesus was only an angel or a ‘great religious teacher’. The peak of the argument is in Hebrews 1:8, ‘About the Son he says, “Your throne, O God …” ’. This is an outright ascription of the divinity to Jesus.

Lord, thank you for angels. Thank you that you send angels to guard and protect us. Thank you that they serve us. But thank you even more for Jesus, who is far superior to all angels.

Lamentations 3:40-5:22

3. Jesus is the anointed Messiah

The writer of Lamentations says, ‘Let us lift up our hearts and our hands’ (3:41). The lifting of hearts and hands seem to go together in prayer. Raising hands in prayer is not eccentric or weird, it is the traditional form of prayer in both the Old Testament and New Testament. The writer calls the people to pray and says, ‘Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord’ (v.40). As The Message puts it, ‘Let’s take a good look at the way we’re living and reorder our lives under God’ (v.40, MSG). This is an important discipline in a life of faith. Ask God to reveal if there are any areas of your life that you need to change.

We then need to return to God in confession and repentance (v.42 onwards). Now we know that we will be forgiven and our relationship with God will be restored because of what Jesus has done for us. This passage, like so many others in the Old Testament, points forward to Jesus.

The writer of Lamentations says, ‘You, O Lord, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation’ (5:19).

The writer of Hebrews says of Jesus: “Your throne, O God, will last forever … therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy” ’ (Hebrews 1:8–9). Jesus is God’s anointed one – the Christ, the Messiah.

He is the one to whom all the Scriptures point. The people of God were expecting the Lord’s anointed. The writer of Lamentations speaks of ‘the Lord’s anointed’ (Lamentations 4:20). The Hebrew word for anointed one is ‘Meshiach’ from which we get the word Messiah. He goes on to say, ‘to you also the cup will be passed’ (v.21). Jesus spoke of the cup he would drink (Mark 10:38, John 18:11). Jesus is thinking of the cup of God’s wrath against sin.

God’s anger is not like ours. It contains no element of spite, pettiness or hypocrisy. It is the reaction of a holy and loving God towards sin. Passages like this help us to understand how serious our sin is in God’s sight and how amazing it is that on the cross Jesus bore the wrath of God for us.

The prophet sees that they are cut off from God by their sin: ‘You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through’ (Lamentations 3:44). This is the barrier that Jesus removed when he drank the cup of God’s wrath and provided purification for sins. This is the answer to the prayer of the writer of Lamentations when he prayed, ‘Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may return; renew our days as of old’ (5:21).

Lord, thank you that because of Jesus, the Anointed One and the one who drank the cup, your presence is no longer covered with a cloud, and prayer can get through to you. Thank you that we can lift up our hearts and our hands to you. Thank you that you restore us to yourself and you renew us.

Thank you that although we read the many words about judgment in the Bible, we can read them through the lens of Jesus who revealed your true character and provided purification for our sins. Thank you for Jesus. Thank you that the key to life is in Jesus. Thank you that we can know and understand who you are through Jesus.

Pippa Adds

Hebrews 1:7,14

‘In speaking of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire” (v.7).

‘Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?’ (v.14).

It is exciting to think there are angels flying around the world bringing help to the people of God.

Notes:

Madonna, SPIN, May 1985.

Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version Anglicised, Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 Biblica, formerly International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, an Hachette UK company. All rights reserved. ‘NIV’ is a registered trademark of Biblica. UK trademark number 1448790.

Scripture quotations marked (AMP) taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture marked (MSG) taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.