The Man, the Mission, the Messiah

How much do we really know about Jesus? Is he man? Is he God? Is he a fictitious character? These and other questions burn in the minds of many Christians concerning this ... Jesus. We would like to believe that we, above all else, know who he is. But if someone was to ask us who we believe he is, our answer is usually very shallow. As a matter of fact, we generally hide behind the ‘faith' word. Well, in this article we will not hide, we will open the scripture and reveal to you ‘Jesus the man', his mission and, why we know him to be the ‘Messiah'.

Every Christian has a duty to study the scriptures for themselves, "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightfully dividing the word of truth". 2 Timothy 2:15 KJV

When God created humanity he gave him a name, ‘Adam'. The DNA found in EVERY human being today was housed in Adam; male and female. God created, in Adam, all that we are; all that we could ever be; every race, nationality, skin color, etc,. But for them to be manifested in the earth Adam needed a suitable helper.

The first miracle that God performed on behalf of his beloved creation was to reach deep in the bowels of Adam and bring forth a generation. He gave Adam the privilege of naming her, and Adam named her ‘Eve', meaning ‘Woman'.

In the recordings of biblical history, in the Genesis account, it says the first humans disobeyed God, and as a result, became estranged from Him. God no longer fellowshipped with them; they were now tainted with sin, and sin has no place in the presence of God. There was no remedy for man to regain his right standing before God, thus, man was forever banished from Gods' presence. God had to deal with man from a distance.

Since man lacked the ability to reach God, in His Holy Place, God had to reach down into a world filled with "all kinds of evil", and rescue His beloved. But, before that could happen two things would have to happen first:

(1) sin would have to be dealt with,

(2) Man would have to die.

In the Genesis account God said, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and blessing and calamity you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die". Genesis 2:17 AMP

For us to wrap our minds around this we have to know one more thing. Adam is not a personal name; it wasn't used as a personal name until after the fall (see Genesis 4:25), It literally means, ‘Mankind', male and female. So, only someone who can represent ‘All Mankind' can satisfy the just demand of God. "And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven." I Corinthians 15:45-47 KJV

I like the way James A. Fowler puts it in his article ‘The Perfect Man' :

"So to express both His justice and His grace at the same time in remedying man's dilemma, the mediator, the savior, would of necessity have to be a God-Man.

As God He could administer His power in overcoming the ‘works of the devil,' (I John 3:8), from whom sin is derived, and thus forgive mankind their sin by His grace.

As Man the mediatorial savior could be the recipient of the death consequences of sin and satisfy God just demands".

As many of us struggle with this paradox of unknown proportion, the Incarnation, we try to wrap our minds around this one time event in human history when God breached all the laws of man and nature to introduce himself ......... in person. "There is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus". I Timothy 2:5