On man's trail

Have you wondered any time how Jesus's life on earth 2000 years ago, is of any significance to a man living today in the 21st century ? We often think of it as one act of intervention by God, which is now history. We think of it as God's sacrifice that lasted no longer than about 33 years. In reality, it is an intervention that lasts for eternity and that has changed the face of humanity on earth.

Several men in the old testament had agonized over the triviality of human life. Bildad while advising Job in Ch 25 compares a son of man negatively to the moon and the stars and says he is less likley to be pure as he is only a maggot and a worm. King David in Psalms 8:3-5 muses, "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings". Again in Psalms 144 he wonders, "O LORD, what is man that you care for him, the son of man that you think of him? Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow." In Numbers 23:19, we find that man is called a liar who speaks and does not act, one who changes his mind and does not fulfil his promise. Man who had been created in God's image, had stooped to this depth over time, and God was about to act to restore him to his original glory.

Phil 2:5-7 states that Jesus, "being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!" He did not hold on to his status as the Son of God, but came down to become a Son of Man. In Eph 5:23 we find that "Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her", as an ideal husband does for a wife he loves. In verses 32 and 33, we find that marriage on earth is a type of God's union with man. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." Paul calls this a Profound mystery.

His union with man is not a 33 year old affair that is reversed and forgotten for eternity. It has forever changed the Son of God. God who is a spirit, and who does not live in a body of flesh, came down to inhabit a body and forever carries the mark of that intervention. That is what we find in John 20, where on the evening of that first day of the week after his death, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Jesus showed him once again to Thomas who said "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it", and asked him "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." Apostle John in Rev 5:6 sees Jesus as " a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne". Even today, he carries marks that will remind him of the days he walked among men.

Why did he intervene in an irreversible manner as this? Hebrews 2:9-11 say that we see Jesus, who as a Son of Man was made a little lower than the angels, "now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. Further in verses 14-15 we read, "Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death".

Jesus descended to depths, enmeshed himself with us, and has picked us up into glory together with him. Son of God became son of man, to help the sons of men become Sons of God.   Hebrews 2:16 points out that he did not do such a thing for the Angels. From this intervention we see that the sons of men are precious in His sight, more than anything else. Today, we need not despair as Job or David did. We need not doubt if God really cares for man. When God looks at Jesus, bearing the marks of the cost he had borne to make us his brothers, he forgives us and accepts us as His children. Today, we know that we are worth all the trouble he has taken to restore us to former glory and have the hope of becoming Sons of God. That is what Christ's sojourn on earth 2000 years ago, has done for humanity.

Power to overcome

Have you ever wondered what happened to the promise in 2 Cor 5:17, of all things becoming new. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" You probably expected a miraculous change overnight. If you can recall your first commute back home from the evening evangelistic crusade where you gave your heart to Christ, you might remember the feeling you had that all your old nature is gone. Then over the next couple of days, as some of those defects slowly began to show up again, you might have been surprised and shocked that they were still lurking below the surface. And over the ensuing days, you might have slowly given up and finally started to believe that nothing happened when you experienced new birth.

What is the reason for this common experience. In 1 Cor.1:22, Paul tells the Corinthian church that "Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom". We too like the Jews who repeatedly wanted God to prove himself with some miracle, probably expect God to work magic with our lives. In Mat 16:1, we find that "the Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven". We want him to transform us in an instant in a painless manner. When we don't see that happen, we get disappointed. Or like the Greeks who looked for wisdom to live the right way, who listened to the likes of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, look for some wonderful formula out of the bible, that will help us live victoriously without much labour and pain. Paul adds "...but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles (I Cor 2:23)". Paul says that we do not need a miracle or some new wisdom, but we need to learn of the crucified Christ. Why did he not qualify this Christ with some other adjective such as the 'coming King', or 'the son of God'; why talk about his cross?

What is the message of the Cross that Paul speaks of loftily, in many of his epistles. It is true that cross signifies agony and shame that Christ had to suffer, to pay for our sins. But there is something more to Cross than these. If we look at Christ hours before he hung on the cross we see him praying, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done (Luk 22:42)." It is the submission of the human will to God's will that so roundly defines the cross. In Heb 5:8,9 we find "Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered, and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him". Learning obedience is the path to eternal salvation. He has shown us the path that we may follow, and has thereby become the source of eternal salvation. It is not by an overnight miracle or through some quick and easy formula, but through minute-by-minute submission of our will to God's will. Paul reiterates this to the Galatians "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. (Gal 5:24)"

To them that obey him and learn to submit their wills to God, Christ gives strength and power to overcome. Paul therefore concludes in I Cor 1:24, "but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." In I Cor 2:2 he asserts, "I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified". This he says he did, so that our faith might rest on God's power, and he later goes on to add, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" (I Cor 2:9). We have the example of Christ and Paul, who were enabled by God's power when they submitted to the cross. Consider the following verses. "For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God's power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God's power we will live with him to serve you (II Cor 13:4). "For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. (Rom 6:6-10)"


Let me now summarize in one verse. Gal 6:14,15 shows us this relationship between new creation and the cross. "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world...what counts is a new creation." If we remain in Christ, we are a new creation, and we remain in Christ by continually submitting our wills to God's will. When we are wronged, do we repay the wrong or submit to Christ's command that tells us to repay the evil with good. When someone slaps us on the cheek, do we show the other cheek as Christ commanded or do we say it would be foolish to do so. To the greek, Cross is foolishness but to him who is called to follow Christ, it is the Wisdom of God.

The Prime Victim

In Mat 9:2, Jesus tells the paralytic man that his sins have been forgiven. Now wait! This paralytic man like any of us could have wronged a lot of people, but how can Jesus write away all his wrongs. Only the victim can forgive the wrongs. But we may say that He is God and therefore can forgive. The Jews in Jesus's time too,like us, thought God can forgive except that they were not willing to believe that this Jesus was God. "Who can forgive sins but God alone? (Luk 5:21)"

But there could be others who question the Christian Gospel on the grounds that how could even God simply wipe away all of one's sins when one has wronged so many people in his lifetime. The reason why Jesus can forgive sins is because he suffers along with any victim. He is the suffering God who suffers with his children in the world.

Consider Jesus's statements about judgment day: "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.(Mat 25:37-40)' Similarly he tells that those on the left also will answer "'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.(Mat 25:44,45)' He makes it plain that the good we do to the least in the family, neighbourhood or society, we do it to him, and the good we deny to the least, we deny it to him. He is impacted positively or negatively by all our deeds.

Consider Paul's caution to the labourer and to the housewife: "Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord (Eph 5:22)". "Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free (Eph 5:5-8)". These are just 2 illustrations by Paul to highlight the fact that whatever we do on earth, impact our Lord. Not just the wife's obedience or the worker's service but a whole lot of other acts that we do, actually reach our Lord and impact him.

Probably to highlight this fact, our Lord shows the prodigal son as pleading to his father, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you (Luk 15:18)". Joseph seemed to know that committing adultery with Potiphar's wife is not just sin against her husband but also against God. "My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God? (Gen 39:9)"

Let us know for sure this day, that whatever we do, impacts the Lord. May the Lord give us this understanding, and let this knowledge keep us from sinning against our Lord, in all that we say and do.

Vital Connection

We have been created for a purpose and that is to bear fruit. In John 15:16, Jesus tells his disciples ".. I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last". In ver 5 Jesus says "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit". Imagine the world to be the Father's garden (John 15:1). He has sent his son Jesus into this world to bless the world by placing him as the Vine at the center of the garden. The vine can take its fruits to all parts of the garden through the branches that reaches out in all directions. In the same way, Jesus can bless all sections of the society through us his children. The world will see love, know joy and obtain goodness through us who will bear the fruit of "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal. 5:22,23).

His purpose for us then is that we are loving, joyful, peacable, patient, kind, good, gentle and self-controlled while we live on this earth. We might know already that we are to be people of this kind, but all too often we might be running out of love, patience, kindness, goodness and gentleness. At the drop of a hat, we might be losing our joy and peace and controlling our minds can only be easier said than done. We then start questioning if that really is the purpose when God does not seem to help us bear fruit.

Our God is a good God who does not expect something from us without providing for it. He is Jehovah Jireh who provides for our needs. He has told us how we can bear fruit and serve our purpose on earth. Let us look closely at the 'vine & branches' metaphor to unlock the secret. If you see fruits on some branches and don't see them on others, what can be the reason? They are branches of the same vine, so the problem does not lie in the soil or in the vine. It is in the "connection". "No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine (ver 5). A branch that is not connected to the vine is actually cut off from it and soon withers and dies (ver 6). It is the sap in the vine that carries the nutrients to the ends of each branch and helps it to bud, blossom (into flowers) and ripen (into fruits). For us to bear fruit and be a blessing to the world we must remain - stay connected - in him.

In John 15, Jesus specifically talks about 3 connections. Remain in me (ver 4). Remain in my love (ver 9). Let my word remain in you (ver 7). He is the Living Word, and all 3 connections are related to His word. We remain in his love by obeying his commandments (ver 10). To obey his commandments, we should be instructed in his word (his word should remain in us). And how can we be expected to receive instruction unless we remain in him, wait on him in prayer, and in reading and meditating on the Bible. When we think we are God's children and that missing one morning's devotion or one night's prayer will not matter too much to God, we will do well to remember that we are slowly losing connection and a branch that loses connection is sure to wither and die. We often forget this and then wonder why we don't seem to be the new creation that God has made us into. We often doubt our salvation or the word that implies a saved person to be a changed person -- "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come (2 Cor 5:17). That is because we are not remaining in him, though we have come to know him and have experienced what it is to be in Him. We then start trying to be good by ourselves before finally giving up.

The secret is to "keep remaining in Him." Let me close with 2 verses that tell us clearly that we can bear fruit only through God working in us when we are remaining in him. Paul tells the Colossians that he prays that they "may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, . . . being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might (Col. 1:10,11)". He calls this power "his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet..(Ephes. 1:19-22)". We can win over flesh, sin, devil and self and bear fruit, ONLY with his power.

Paul calls our hope for such glory "a mystery" and that secret is "Christ in you" (Col 1:27). When we remain in Christ, he remains in us and enables us to bear fruit.