He is The Way, The Truth, and The Life

Why Jesus?  Who was He?

Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, who is God in the flesh that came to fulfill the eternal atonement, the forgiveness of sins once and for all!

The Bible proclaims Jesus is God:

• "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made." (John 1:1-3)
• "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 1:14)
• "He is the image of the invisible God." (Colossians 1:15)
• "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power." (Colossians 2:9-10)

Jesus Himself proclaims He is God:

• Jesus forgives the paralytic of his sins in Mark 2.  The response from the scribes was, "Why does this man speak blasphemies like this?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?" (Mark 2:5-7)
• "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him." (John 14:7)
• "He who has seen Me has seen the Father." (John 14:9)
• The high priest asked Jesus, "Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?"  Jesus said, "I AM, and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven."  Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, "What further need do we have of witnesses?  You have heard the blasphemy, what do you think?"  And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death. (Mark 14:61-64, also see Matthew 26:64 and Luke 22:70)

(They wanted to kill Him because He proclaimed to be God, many religions say Jesus was a good prophet, or a created being, but He was either God in the flesh or He was a liar.  John specifically wrote his gospel, the last gospel written, to put a stamp on Jesus's deity.  Many were claiming He was not God in the flesh, but one created before creation that the Father created through. This belief came to be known as Arianism and was one of the main heresies denounced at the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D.  Many religions today still hold to this belief, i.e., Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses.  It has been around since the beginning and refuted throughout scripture, especially in the gospel of John.  Beware of this teaching and run from any church you are or may get involved in that teaches this.  Reading through scripture as well as the early church fathers that were disciples of the Apostles you will see the heavy claim that Jesus is God in the flesh, God dwelt among us!)

Many ask why Jesus had to die?  Why did we need a sacrifice?  

In Genesis we see how God created the world, He created it perfect and good.  Man was created with a choice to either obey God or not, Adam chose to rebel as we do today.  That rebellion spiritually separates us from our Most Holy God who is so Holy that sin cannot enter His presence.  

For man to see how Holy God is and how sinful and rebellious we are God set up the Mosaic Law through Moses, in this law is where we get the 10 Commandments.  There were actually 613 commandments in the Mosaic Law which were impossible to keep.  Through the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy God gives instructions on how to receive atonement for breaking those laws through blood sacrifices.  The blood was important because from the very beginning God told Adam that if he disobeys then there would be death, spiritual and physical.  The first death was the animal God killed to use it's skin to cover Adam and Eve's shame, a sign of death to cover sin.  Abel's blood offering pleased God more than Cain's offering of fruit, Abraham offered blood sacrifices, and so on. These were even before the law of Moses.  Then the law actually detailed what and how to sacrifice for specific sins.  So to atone for sin there needed to be death/blood even from the very beginning.

This practice of sacrificing would never be complete, this did not actually wash away sin but would show obedience to His law.  The law could not save a person but would show how their ability to keep up with their sins by sacrificing would be impossible.  It would show the need for God to intervene and provide an eternal sacrifice sufficient for all sin for all time.  

Romans 8:3-4 says, "For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.  And so He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."  

2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."

You see Christ became the sacrifice for the world, that all who accept Him and His sacrifice will partake in His atonement, His forgiveness, once and for all for our sins.  This sacrifice had to be so pure, without blemish, for it to be sufficient for the Most Holy God to wipe away our sins and to be able to go back into His presence.  God Himself came down from His throne, as a sinless, blameless man to be our blood sacrifice.  Once done, He said, "It is finished," the sins of the world were taken, then He died.  "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

This is important because if any other religion claims to be able to find God through anything other than blood sacrifice then this would not be consistent with who God is and what He has always required.  Good living, a certain # of prayers, giving, nothing but blood can atone for sin.  Anything other than God Himself (eternal) being that sacrifice, through Christ, then at best you would have a temporary solution for an eternal problem.  Jesus is our eternal blood sacrifice efficient to wash away all of our sins and allows us to enter the Kingdom of God on that day, in His presence.  Not only on that glorious day, but even today, with the covering of Christ's blood He has covered us with His righteousness, and we are allowed to enter the Most Holy place with our prayers directly to God Himself.  

                                                                           THEN  HE  ROSE!!!