Jesus Is The Reason (Part 2)

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6, NIV).

Jesus's birth is a significant point in history. Not only was it foretold throughout the Old Testament, as we saw in part one of the same-titled post, but it was also a turning point in all of mankind.

Throughout the Old Testament, we see a recurring theme of the Israelites, God's chosen people, turning from God, but then calling out to him for help when things go awry. The whole bible is a connected story that tells the tale of sin's hold on mankind, and God's love for us and His plan from the beginning to have a relationship with us. The problem is that mankind continued to fall into sin despite the laws God had given them. The question became, how could mankind truly be saved from their sins if they always seemed to fall short of all the laws that God had given them? What is beautiful is that God always had a plan for our salvation, and Jesus coming to earth was the answer.

The Fall of Mankind

In Genesis, we can read about God creating everything from the heavens to the earth, the waters, and the land, as well as man and woman. After creating the man, Adam, he gave him a specific and important commandment saying, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die" (Genesis 3:16-17, NIV). Then out of Adam's rib, he created a woman, Eve. In the next chapter, we already see both Adam and Eve being tempted to eat of the fruit God commanded them not to eat and failing to follow God's command. This is the moment that sin was introduced into the world and because of their actions, Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden.

Unfortunately, mankind continued to fall into more and more evil. Only a few chapters later, in chapter 6, we can read, "The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time" (Genesis 6:5, NIV). Even through mankind's wickedness, though, God had a plan. Many generations later, God made a covenant, or a promise, with a man named Abram, saying, "Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you" (Genesis 12:1-3). Ultimately, God would use Abram to demonstrate his purpose to the world. God desired to redeem humanity from the depths to which they had fallen, and eventually, through Abram's lineage, redemption would be offered to the whole world through Jesus.

The Law and The Spirit

Many years and generations passed after God's promise to Abram, but his lineage grew into the Israelite nation. In Exodus, we can read of their bondage and slavery in Egypt, and how God freed them through a man named Moses. After escaping from Egypt, God gave Moses commandments or rules that the Israelites were to follow. The commandments grew to become the Law, a strict set of rules used to govern the Israelites and create order. The Law was also a guide for holy living and detailed how to deal with sin and its consequences. Throughout the rest of the Old Testament, however, we continue to see the theme of the Israelites falling to sin and leaving God, then getting into trouble and calling out to God again and again.

The Law, while important, was not able to save us because mankind continued to fall. The Law shows us our need for God. In Romans, this is reiterated by the apostle Paul who says, "7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, 'You shall not covet.' 8But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead" (Romans 7:4-6). This is where Jesus comes in, God's righteous plan. The first chapter of Matthew describes the lineage of Jesus from Abram all the way to Jesus. Jesus was God's plan all along to send down his son to die for us so that Jesus could be the connection between us and God. Without Jesus, we would have no direct connection to God.

"6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code" (Romans 7:6).

This is why John 3:16 is the most famous scripture because it encapsulates God's plan, the Gospel. Jesus is the true reason for this season because this is the time of year that we celebrate the fact that God came down to earth in the form of Jesus Christ.

"16For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him" (John 3:16-17).