The Mission and Offices of Jesus Christ

Once we have identified Jesus with the Christ, the Son of God, we naturally wonder why God sent his Son Jesus Christ into this world, who became flesh, and dwelt among us? Today we will study the mission of Jesus Christ, without which, the office titles would be meaningless. Let us hear what the Scriptures say with regard to this (all quotes are from the King James Version) :

And she [Mary] shall bring forth a son, and thou [Joseph] shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21)

The name JESUS means Savior, and so the name of Jesus already indicates the mission. It is plainly stated that **his people** are to be saved from **their sins**. Who are his people? The elect -- first the Jews, then the Gentiles, as explained in the parables (The parable of the wicked husbandmen in Matthew 21:33-41, and the parable of the marriage feast in Matthew 22:1-14), and by apostle Paul in Romans 11. Remember those famous verses in the Exodus? "Let my people go!" Moses is a shadow of the true Savior to come, and Egypt shadows the state of sins, and the people were slaves. But who were saved by the passover in Egypt? Aren't they that put the blood of the passover lamb on their doors by their faith, without regard to persons? The same is true when the True Lamb of God is sacrificed. So the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached the gospel unto Abraham: In your seed shall all nations be blessed (the promises sworn by God himself, and the seed being Christ). Isiah the prophet also said: And in his name shall the Gentiles trust (as cited in Matthew 12:21). Another prophecy by Isiah: And all flesh shall see the salvation of God (as cited in Luke 3:6).

Do man must be saved from sins? The consequence of sin is death -- complete and eternal separation from the living God: God is the God of the living, not of the dead. All good things come from God, and such a separation from God is just terrible. We now still enjoy a lot of good things in this life, righteous or unrighteous, for the final judgment is not yet. And none can free themselves from the bondage of sin, which comes from the womb even at the conception. Since we are all dead even before we were born, how can we save ourselves? We must therefore need a Savior!

How did Jesus save us from our sins? First he needs to get there, yet not by his own sin -- as he is sinless, but by bearing our sins, and to die in our stead. Then, he breaks the power of death, and was raised again the third day! Thus, all of us are no longer subject to the bondage of sin, but become free. But we first need to delegate our sins to him, so that we identifies ourselves with the death of Jesus Christ (he died in our stead), and then with his life everlasting (we participate in his life). We are freed from the dominion of the power of darkness, and saved into the Kingdom of light. For the atonement of sins, Jesus Christ is the High Priest; for the freedom and life, Jesus Christ is the almighty King that overcome the power of darkness to bring us into the Kingdom of God; and for us to put our faith in him to be saved (to delegate our sins onto him, to identify with his death and resurrection), Jesus is the Prophet (in fact, all the prophets are sent by him), so that we can believe in the Word and have eternal life.

Praise the Lord!