25/07/11

The Gospel that saves us

2 Timothy 1:10 - But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:

We learned some days back in Hebrew the word translated as flesh also means the understanding or message and in Greek the word also means nature. Before Jesus came as man although the Word was given unto man, man had no understanding of the Word. So when Jesus came He not only completed the Word but also made it possible to man to understand the Word and that is why His introduction in John talks of Jesus being the Word of God.

Without the Word it is impossible for man to be saved. So when Jesus became the Word manifested in the flesh He bought hope for the salvation of man so that anyone who believes in Him (in the Word) will be saved.

Jesus said unless we eat of His flesh we will not have life, eating of His flesh means accepting His message and becoming one in His nature. Thus to know Jesus we need to know the Word. People are deceived that we need not go deep into studying and understanding the Word, it is like saying we do not need to really understand and know Jesus. Unless we do not know Him, we do not know His Name (nature) and therefore will not have authority in His Name.

Other than completing the Word and becoming the Word manifested in the flesh He also became the sacrifice for our sins. By His dead (dying and going to Hell) and resurrection (coming back from Hell) He broke the curse of spiritual death (our spirits becoming dust) which God had put on the generations of Adam and Eve, so that whoever believes in Him does not go to Hell. His resurrection was a confirmation of the curse been broken.

The word blood in Greek also means sacrifice so drinking of His blood means accept His sacrifice into our lives. That is the reason unleavened bread and wine (unfermented grape juice) is used as His flesh and blood for what we need to have is the understanding of what they represent. The Jews could not digest when Jesus spoke of eating His flesh and drinking His blood. They thought the real thing and did not know the actual meaning of what Jesus meant. Even though we eat mere unleavened bread and drink wine in real life, we spiritually need to accept the Word and accept the sacrifice of Jesus as our own.

With these factors we now have a living Good News (Gospel) which enables us to have eternal life by returning to our real home in Heaven with God.


[ Prayer Starter ]
Lord Jesus, we thank You for becoming the Word manifested in the flesh. Without You it would have been impossible for man to be saved. When there was darkness even before this creation God saw You as the light which overcame darkness and through You we too have become the children of light. Lord, help us to realize the real value of having You and knowing You. Build a thirst in us to know your Word by the help of your Spirit...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.


[ Reference Scriptures ]
John 1:1
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:11-14
11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 6:51-54
51 "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."
52 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"
53 Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.
54 "Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

Daniel 12:8-9
8 And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?
9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.

Genesis 3:17-19
17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

The Word of God was given free to us, therefore we should also share it freely with others. (All rights are with God)