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Christ is the subject and center of the Bible and is the main content of the Bible from beginning to end. Even more He is the reality of our faith. We who have believed into Him and received grace must know Him in a thorough way.
1) “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21).
When Christ was incarnated to be a man, He was given the name Jesus by an angel. Jesus is equivalent to Joshua in Hebrew (Num. 13:16), which means the salvation of Jehovah, or Jehovah the Savior. Thus, He is the Savior, who will save His people from their sins.
1) “Mary, of whom was born Jesus, Who is called Christ” (Matt. 1:16).
The second name of Christ is Christ, the equivalent of Messiah in Hebrew (John 1:41), which means the anointed One. This name reveals that He is God’s anointed One, being anointed by God with His Spirit to create and to redeem in order to fulfill God’s eternal purpose.
1) “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us” (Matt. 1:23).
Jesus and Christ were names given by God. When men discovered that He was God, they called Him Emmanuel, which means God with us. This name reveals that Jesus, who is our Savior, and Christ, who is God’s Anointed, are actually God Himself coming to be with us.
1) “Christ, who is over all, God blessed forever” (Rom. 9:5).
This word simply and strongly declares that Christ is God, who is over all, the complete God blessed forever.
1) “But these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” (John 20:31).
We have already seen how God has the aspects of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. All Three — God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit — are God, even the one unique God. Since Christ is God, He is not only God the Father, but also God the Son, that is, the Son of God.
1) “In the beginning was the Word…and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh” (John 1:1, 14).
2) “The Man, Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5).
3) “And confessedly, great is the mystery of godliness, who was manifested in the flesh” (1 Tim. 3:16).
The three portions of the Word above clearly tell us that Jesus Christ, who is God, became flesh to be a perfect man with a human body and human nature. Therefore, He is God manifested in the flesh. He is God and He is man, a God-man, possessing both the divine and the human natures. As to His divine nature, He is completely God; as to His human nature, He is perfectly man. This is a great mystery.
1) “You in the beginning, Lord, have founded the earth, and the heavens are the works of Your hands” (Heb. 1:10).
This tells us that Christ is also the Creator.
1) “The Son of His love…Firstborn of all creation” (Col. 1:13, 15).
This makes known to us that Christ is also a creature; He is the Firstborn, the first item, of all creation. As God, He is the Creator of heaven and earth; as a man, He is the first One of all creation.
In being anointed by God to be God’s anointed One to fulfill His eternal plan, Christ accomplished and will accomplish the following great things:
1) “You in the beginning, Lord, have founded the earth, and the heavens are the works of Your hands” (Heb. 1:10).
2) “Because in Him were all things created in the heavens and on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or lordships or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him” (Col. 1:16).
These two verses tell us that the first great thing Christ did was to create the heavens and the earth, all things, and man. Hence, He is the Creator of all things.
1) “And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us…full of grace and reality” (John 1:14).
The second great thing accomplished by Christ, God’s Anointed, was that He as God became flesh; that is, He came to be a man in the flesh to be the tabernacle of God among men, bringing God to men to be realized as reality and to be received as grace. Reality is God known and contacted by man, and grace is God received and enjoyed by man. In the fleshly tabernacle which He became, Christ lived with man for thirty-three and a half years, thus fully bringing God to man to be his reality and grace.
To fulfill God’s eternal plan, Christ, who is God’s Anointed, brought God to men in His earthly tabernacle to be contacted by men. After thirty-three and a half years, He went to the cross to be crucified to accomplish the redemption in God’s eternal plan. This is the third great thing He did, solving, once and for all, the problem of everything that God had condemned in the universe, such as Satan, sin, the world, the flesh, the old man, and the old creation. He did this for God and for those who are chosen by God, who will eternally inherit His salvation.
Christ gave up His own life, and He Himself took it back by rising from among the dead (John 10:17-18). This is the fourth great thing He did, which accomplished the following three matters pertaining to us:
1) “Jesus…was raised because of our justification” (Rom. 4:24-25).
The death of Christ accomplished redemption for us that we might be justified by God, yet His resurrection is needed to confirm the effectiveness of His death. Therefore, His resurrection is the evidence of our justification.
2) “Even when we were dead in offenses, made us alive together with Christ…and raised us up together…in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:5-6).
The resurrection of Christ released God’s life from within Him for us to receive, making us alive together with Christ and raising us up together.
3) “Who [God]…has regenerated us…through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from among the dead” (1 Pet. 1:3).
Since Christ resurrected to release His life into us, He regenerated us that we may be a born-again, new man.
