When Christians talk about Jesus, they understand that the man who lived in our first century, who taught and worked miracles, who died and rose again, is in fact, God.

This belief may seem natural if we have been brought up to believe it is true but it was not so for those who first watched and listened to Jesus in person. It is good that we have the four Gospels to give us some detail about how this belief came about. Here are a few pointers showing why we rightly believe that Jesus is God. (I’ve included Bible references so various points can be checked if that would be helpful.)

First, Jesus was born into the nation of Israel that had a long history of God being among them. This didn’t mean he was among them as a visible person but that he spoke to them by prophets, saved them from their enemies, heard their prayers and promised them a future. One of their greatest prophets, Moses, recognised that the only thing that made Israel distinct from other nations was that God was among them (Exodus 33:16).

This was not always welcomed. Like us today, Israelites didn’t necessarily like the idea of God being among them. But God promised the nation that a child would be born and be called ‘God with us’ (‘Emmanuel’ in Hebrew; Isaiah 7:14). The prophet Isaiah also said that this child would come to Israel, as their King, to save them from the distress into which they had fallen. His name would be, ‘Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of peace’ (Isaiah 9:6-7). These are all titles appropriate to God, and the Gospels make it clear that Jesus is fulfilling these prophecies (Matthew 1:21-23).

Second, when Jesus begins to teach and to mend lives broken by sickness and wrongdoing, he doesn’t want people to announce that he is Israel’s anointed king, that is, their Messiah. He does this, not because he isn’t but because people have mistaken views of what a Messiah will do. Before Jesus can be properly identified, he has to show what manner of God they should worship and what this God wants to do (e.g. John 6:15, 27).

For example, he says pleasing God is not just keeping rules but loving God and one’s neighbour. He says freedom is not being stronger than one’s enemies but being a child of God who is free from sin (John 8:33-38).

He does things God wants to get done to show what it looks like when God is among them. He heals rather than condemns, welcomes the poor in spirit rather than the proud. He protests the abuses of religion by forcibly evicting profiteers from the temple—what he calls ‘my Father’s house’.  He uses attraction rather than coercion, persuasion rather than force.

Third, Jesus speaks and acts as God. When he says that a crippled man’s sins are forgiven, authorities rightly point out that only God can forgive sin (Mark 2:1-12). When he calls God his Father, Jews understand him to be making himself equal with God—and Jesus doesn’t contradict them (John 5:18). In fact he says people should honour him just as they honour the Father because the Father has given him power of life or death over humanity (John 5:22-23). When he is asked if he is greater than their forefather Abraham, he says ‘Before Abraham was, I am’ (John 8:53-59). Jews know what this means—he is claiming eternity of being, claiming to be God—and they attempt to stone him on the spot.

Perhaps, as offensive to human pride as anything else, Jesus claims to be the light of the world (John 9:5), the shepherd of the sheep (John 10:7-16), the resurrection and the life (John 11:25) and much besides. Our entire enlightenment, welfare and future are in his hands. These things are not a role for one human being over the rest of humanity. They are tasks only God can perform—we are his creatures, not a self-sustaining humanity. Human ‘messiahs’ cannot fix what God has made.

Fourth, Jesus announces that the judgement of the world is about to happen, and then, speaks about his own death (John 12:31-33). The big decision for everyone is whether they see their God coming to them in Jesus Christ. This is the point on which humanity is judged.

But also, John the Baptist has said Jesus will ‘take away the sins of the world’ (John 1:29) and this is what Jesus is about to do. Judgement is about to happen, and Jesus knows we can’t live under the pain and shame of our failure and guilt. He voluntarily stands in the place where the judgement on our sin will fall so that he can give us back our true humanity. Only God would think to do this, and only our God could do this.

Then, Jesus is hung on a cross to die. While dying, he asks his Father to forgive us who kill him. Then, he rises from the dead and says, ‘Peace be with you’.

When Thomas, one of the disciples, sees that Jesus is really alive, he says to him, ‘My Lord and my God’ (John 20:26-28). Perhaps involuntarily, he blurts out the truth. This man is God, and man, at the same time. Only God has been able to speak to our need and bring us to himself as true human beings.

Some years after the resurrection, Jesus comes to the person we now know as the apostle Paul. He sees a bright light and hears a commanding voice that he recognises as his ‘Lord’ (Acts 9:1-8). Confronted by the ‘Lord’ he thinks he is serving, he asks who this ‘Lord’ is. ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting’ is the reply. He discovers that Jesus has been given the name above every name—that is, Jesus is Lord, or God (Philippians 2:9-11).

Later on, her reflects on this encounter and says, ‘For God, who said, ”Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ’ (2 Cor. 4:6).

Perhaps the reason we don’t want God in our lives is because we have a false view of who he is. The whole Bible, the story of Jesus and the proclamation of his good news are here for us to know our God—and his face is the face of Jesus.

I looked up all the New Testament references to the name ‘Jesus’ after Jesus rises from the dead. There are over 300 of them. Most of them have an addition—that is, ‘Jesus Christ’, ‘Lord Jesus’ or ‘the Lord Jesus Christ’.

Anyone may like or even love the man Jesus, but only God can reveal himself. Jesus said that only his Father in heaven could reveal to Peter that he was the Christ (Matt. 16:16-17). And to be the Christ and to do what a Messiah must do is to be our God, not just human.

Today, we need the help of the Holy Spirit to call Christ ‘Lord’ (1 Cor. 12:3). It is not a merely logical or intuitive decision. If you look at the revelation God has given us in the Bible and say ‘Jesus is Lord’, God has come to you.

We get some idea what Paul means by ‘Lord’ when he says, ‘For us, there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist’ (1 Cor. 8:6). To call Jesus ‘Lord’ is to acknowledge him, with Thomas, as your Lord and your God.

You have to be God to reveal God, and this is what Jesus has done. ‘No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known’ (John 1:18). We should not minimize the Son of God by easy familiarity with the warmth of his human name. He islove itself, and we have no comfort apart from him. But he is God. And if he were not God, he could not help us.

Every Christian knows that when they believe in Jesus Christ, they should then live as a Christian. For example, instead of being angry, immoral or lazy, they may say, ‘I should now be helpful, pure or useful’. The new life we have—the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 8:2) is holy and we know this is now the way to live.

It doesn’t take long for any of us as Christians to realise that change isn’t as easy as we thought it might be. We all discover the same problem, that when we try to say ‘No’ to the past, the old inclinations and habits are still expecting to be noticed. And the world around us is travelling in a very different direction and calling us to conform. If we don’t find help for this problem, we may give up and say that the Christian life doesn’t work.

We need the help of the Holy Spirit.

Our life began as a Christian because God gave his Holy Spirit to us. We turned from being ‘good enough’ and trusted in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. Then, we received God promised gift, the Holy Spirit.

Jesus calls the Spirit ‘anotherHelper’. Until that point, hehad been the Helper for the disciples—answering their questions, connecting them with God, showing them the way to live and what to hope for. In particular, he showed them how to deal with their own failures. But now he says the Holy Spirit will do this work.

In fact, Jesus says it is better for him to go and for the Holy Spirit to come, so, the help he brings must be as real as what Jesus has brought, or better. He is God’s gift when we trust in Christ, but now, what help can he give to struggling Christians?

Paul deals with this matter when he writes to some young Christians in Galatia. He says that if we walk by the Spirit we won’t do what the flesh wants (Galatians 5:16). This is a big claim. Will one action—walking by the Spirit, fix the whole problem?

What the flesh wants is plain to see—being free with our use of sex, coveting what other’s have, pride and slander to mention a few. Paul mentions numbers of things (5:19-21). So does Jesus (Mark 7:20-23). Elsewhere, Paul says our natural tendency—our flesh—doesn’t want to do what God wants (Rom. 8:7). Will all this just go away if we walk by the Spirit? Well, yes, so long as we understand what Paul means by this.

Walking by the Spirit isn’t just being directed by some kind of heavenly GPS—saying ‘Go here!’ ‘Do this!’ or ‘Keep away from this.’ What Paul has said already in his letter to this young Galatian church shows that the Holy Spirit supplies everything we need to get going as Christians (3:2-5).

First, he enables us to relate and talk to God like Jesus did—he is ‘the Spirit of his Son’ in our hearts enabling us to say Father or ‘Abba’—a word that Jesus used (4:6 with Mark 14:36). Second, this relationshipsis so clear and firm that we know that what God has done in us will last until we meet God—we will be welcomed as righteous people in God’s sight (5:5). That is a life changing hope to have and to live by.

Now, he says, ‘Walk by the Spirit.’ Every day, we need to know we are not on our own. We have a helper.

Every day, we know we are righteous because of God’s gift and not because of our performance (3:2-5). For example, if we do wrong, we are not immediately back on our own having to stand before God as condemned—under law. We are in the presence of his grace—grace made real to us by God saying he will live with us by his Spirit—grace that is seeking our restoration.

Real changes in life don’t happen because we simply listen to different instructions. They happen because we find ourselves in a different relationship. We are God’s children.

It is true that the desires of our flesh fight against the new life God has brought to us, but then, the Holy Spirit within us also has strong desires—to master what we have been (5:17). He is present as our helper!

The result of this is that we can’t do what we want to do. We are not as free as we thought we were. One way or another, we need a master. And the Spirit is present, telling us that we are children of God, and that we will stand righteous before God on the last day. And he is making us feel awful about giving way to the flesh! That’s helpful!

When the battle is on, what will we choose? Will we make choices based on the fact that God doesn’t matter? The things our flesh keeps us working at are plain enough—and sometimes, hard work! Pleasing ourselves isn’t all plain sailing! Do we want this—for ourselves, or for the world?

On the other hand, the Spirit produces fruit. We may tend a garden but we can’t make an apple! Fruit grows and the good that grows in our lives as we walk by the Spirit is not forced, not us. God is working, and he is producing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness and much besides.

So Paul says, look at what you get when you go your own way (6:7-10). If you sow wild oats, that is what you will get. If you give way to yourself without God, again and again, you will get the results of that—corruption. But if you ‘sow to the Spirit you will reap eternal life. That is not only what you get when you die, it is the dignity and joy and permanence of doing something eternal right now.

Think about what happens if you remain your own person. Think about the fruit God produces. Live in line with the Spirit God has sent. You can’t see him. You can’t control him. But you can listen to what he is telling you about your Saviour and his grace, your Father God and your relationship to him, and the hopes he has for you, and you will see his fruit. And you can be confident that what God produces is real and will last.

When people first begin to trust in Jesus Christ, they are told that if they believe in him they will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. They are not told they will go to heaven, or even be forgiven—though that is certainly true. They are not given a list of dos and don’ts or activities they should now go to—though these things may be important. They are told they will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is what it means to become a Christian.

This is not something you can manage or commit yourself to or promise. This is something that happens to you. Christians are people who’ve had enough of what they can manage and are looking for what someone else can do—what God can do.

Christians are people who realize God is serious about the mess we are in—serious enough to let his own Son be our victim. Yes. That’s what the first people to hear the Christian message were accused of—they had killed their Messiah—God’s Son.

So God sends a Saviour into the world, and we, that is, the part of humanity that were there at the time, kill him. That’s how big our problem is.

We know better than that now! Or do we?

When people say they can make up their own mind about what is right and wrong, they have to end up ‘killing’ Christ all over again. Jesus says he is the truth. He is saying you can’t live truly in God’s creation without him. If you say that too loudly in the world today you may find out how much people hate Jesus Christ.

The world, or our part of it, doesn’t crucify people they disagree with now but they have many other very effective ways of silencing those they don’t like.

So we say to the world today, ‘You are killing Christ!’ Here is Jesus, the one who teaches us to love, not kill; to do good, not merely look good; to be wary of our own motives, not critical of others; to love God, not manage him; to trust God, not make out he doesn’t exist. Those who want to be their own person with no-one above them, no-one to tell them what is true, will have to silence Christ—one way or another.

We may not carry a hammer and nails, get ourselves in a frenzy and shout in the streets that Jesus should die, but we will have the same hate and the same distain and same ruthlessness to remove the evidence about who he is and what he can do.

It was those accused of exactly these things who became the first Christians. So how did it happen, and does it happen now? And here is the surprise. We find out how God treats his enemies. This is how this opening scene in the Christians story unfolds (see Acts 2).

First, God sends his Holy Spirit, and all the apostles Jesus has chosen are given remarkable ability to speak in languages that people understand. More than this, they are filled with the truth Jesus has given them, and are bold to speak regardless of the consequences.

Then, the apostle Peter tells them about God’s Son, Jesus whom they had crucified just a few weeks before. ‘You killed him’ he says. And God raised him up from the dead. More than that, he lifted him up to heaven to sit beside him and to manage all his affairs.

That’s the basic Christian message. Everything is in the hands of Jesus Christ—he is Lord. The very one the world hates is in charge, and he is the one we have to deal with. That puts us in a very dangerous position. So what can we do? At this point, we get a surprise. God doesn’t treat his enemies like we do.

Effectively, God says to us, ‘You made the wrong choice. You said Jesus was wrong, and I have shown that he was right—by reversing the results of your murder. And I have given him responsibility for all my affairs.

‘But you can choose again! You can believe that Jesus Christ is my Son and the world’s Leader and Saviour. If you do, I will give you my Holy Spirit!’

We don’t turn our life around. God gives his Spirit to us. Something has to come from heaven for us to change.

Earlier on, a leading academic called Nicodemus visited Jesus. He was impressed with him—with what he was saying and what he was doing. But he was puzzled too. He could see God was with Jesus and, perhaps, could see that God was not with him in the same way.

Jesus said, ‘You need a new birth. You need to be born of the Spirit or you will never be part of the world God is making—his kingdom.’ Here is a respectable, intelligent and responsible man, and Jesus is telling him he needs something he can’t control or make—something ‘from above’.

What God said to Nicodemus is now happening. God says through his apostle Peter, ‘Say “Yes” to Jesus Christ. Identify yourself with him by baptism, trust him to forgive your sins and you will receive a gift—the Holy Spirit.’

So many are baptized—for forgiveness. That is what they want. They don’t want to live with the guilt of killing Christ. But what do they get? Not just forgiveness but the Holy Spirit. God doesn’t just tick a box in heaven to say we are forgiven. He actually comes to live with us. That really is practical forgiveness.

It is important to know that the Holy Spirit doesn’t attract us to himself. We may not be aware of him as a person because he is pointing to Christ, and to God who is now our Father. But, like Jesus told Nicodemus, the Holy Spirit is like a wind you can’t see but whose power you can recognise.

Receiving the Holy Spirit is not just about feeling better or even getting closer to God. It is about him coming to do something we can’t do ourselves—that is, know and love God and trust him like a child.

Are you ready for a miracle? Through faith in Jesus Christ, a proud person is made grateful for God’s mercy. A fearful person calls God Father. And we can all see God for who he is—wonderfully kind. And we can see our neighbor, not as a rival but as someone to help.

This is what one of Israel’s prophets had said:

‘…I wilI remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules’ (Ezekiel 36:26-27).

© Grant Thorpe; October 2019

It’s important to know what happens after this life, and Jesus Christ has not left us guessing. There is a lot that remains a mystery, but he has told us enough to be sure that there is an eternal life and that life after our death will be real and wonderful—that is, for those who trust in him.

How real is all of this? Guesses are not much help. Wishing won’t make it happen. We need to hear from someone who knows and we need to be persuaded that what such a person says includes us. Jesus said a number of times that he could give us eternal life—that is, a quality of life that would begin now and continue after our death. But all this came together when he was killed and then rose from the dead. Here is where he gained the credibility to tell us what is to come.

Some think faith in God and in Jesus Christ is a leap in the dark, but it’s not really like this—especially when it comes to knowing what happens after death. Jesus Christ died. Pure and simple—he was dead. Then, he was seen alive by numbers of people, even by many people at one time. We know the conversations he had with various people and the effect he produced on those he met.

Some claim these records are just made up, but they are people who have already decided that miracles don’t happen. If you read the Bible text as it is, it passes all the usual tests of historical reliability. This is important because faith in Jesus Christ is not an idea or a philosophy or a wish. Jesus shows it is real by dying, and rising from the dead with a new body—same person, same body, but transformed now into something eternal. So what happened?

First, Jesus appeared to two women. Perhaps they needed to know first. Perhaps they were better at assimilating something that was totally unexpected. Whatever, they told the apostles Jesus had chosen, and two of them raced to the empty tomb. The body wrappings had collapsed. Apparently, Jesus didn’t need to unravel anything to get free.

Then, Jesus appeared in a locked room—without breaking in. The disciples had locked themselves away because they were nervous about what the authorities might do next. The locked door was no trouble to Jesus. He just came in.

Now clearly, the disciples were dealing with the same Jesus they had known. They knew who he was. He repeated what he had said before he was killed—’Peace be with you.’ He had more reason to say this now that before, because death was not a threat any more. He hadn’t just ‘cheated’ death by escaping it. He had defeated it by rising from the dead.

He was the same Jesus who had hung on a cross, and had the same body—even though it was now changed. The disciples were still having trouble believing a crucified Jesus could be talking to them. It must be a spirit they thought. So he asked them to feel the holes made by nails in his hands and feet. He asked for some fish to eat so they could see it disappear!

He also reminded them that he had prophesied all this. He showed them that this is what their religion was about—the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead, and God’s forgiveness for sin must be announced everywhere. Forgiveness and eternal life belong together. God can see what we are of ourselves, and it doesn’t warrant eternal life. But Christ died in the way sinners deserve to die—and he did it for us and in our place. His resurrection is not just saying that there is a thing called eternal life, It is saying that we can have it because we are relying on what he has done about our sins.

Put in another way, Jesus came to remove the shroud—the death garment—in which we are all wrapped. God had said earlier that he would ‘swallow up death for all time’ and ‘wipe away tears from all faces’ (Isaiah 25:7-8).

A week later, Jesus repeated his visit to the apostles, and this time, Thomas, who missed the first meeting, was present. The others hadn’t convinced him that Jesus was really alive, so Jesus told him to do the feel test—’Check these wounds in my hands and in my side!’ Thomas is the prototype for all of us who were not there when Jesus rose. The Lord expected him to believe without seeing for himself. But he did say, ‘You are blessed because you saw and believed.’ And then he added, ‘Blessed are all who haven’t seen and yet believe!’

Jesus doesn’t need to pop up out of nowhere to make people believe. He has appeared to chosen witnesses and told them to go everywhere announcing, not only that we can live after dying, but that we may be forgiven by believing his message. This is what makes life after death believable. We are forgiven because Jesus died in our place. We don’t have to fear death because we are forgiven. It will be good to meet God, not dreadful.

There were other remarkable meetings with Jesus, especially at the side of a lake when Jesus told disciples where to put a net to catch some fish, and then he ate some with them, sitting around a fire. At that time, Jesus completely rehabilitated Peter who had failed badly. Peter now had confidence, not only in Jesus but also in what Jesus would do in him.

For a final time, Jesus came to his apostles. He told them he had all authority in heaven and earth. He said he would be with them to the end of time. Then he ascended into heaven. He was lifted up until he was lost to sight in a cloud. The Jesus Christ in whom Christians believe has returned to his Father, God, but returned as a human being, raised from the dead.

Now, where does this leave us? We have no way of finding out what happens after death, but Jesus does. He says he will give eternal life to all who believe in him. ‘Eternal life’ is literally ‘life of the ages’. It’s what you have beyond this present life, but it is also what you have when you give up making out you are good enough as you are. Simply, you are trusting him to forgive you. It is a quality of life, not merely a length of life. In that sense, eternal life has begun already. Jesus said, ‘This is eternal life, that we know the Father (God) and Jesus Christ whom he sent.’ If you know God, you can be sure of the future.

Jesus is called ‘the first fruits’ of all who have died, meaning that he is the first of the ‘crop’. He rose from death, and those who trust him will rise—like he did. He had a body and could relate and converse and eat, and his followers will also have a body and converse and eat. Jesus no longer had restrictions as to what his body could do, and it certainly wasn’t going to die again, and we will have a body in which we will know one another and relate and converse, and we will never die.

In fact, the body Jesus has now must be more than what the disciples saw and touched. He appeared to them in a manner suited to the occasion. But when Christ comes to Paul, there is nothing ordinary about his appearance (Acts 9:3-5)! When John sees Christ in a vision, the Lord is glorious and fully in command (Revelation 1:12-18).

Paul tells us this mortal body must put on immortality (1 Cor. 15:53). John says we well be like him because we will see him as he is (1 John 3:2). We ourselves will not be ordinary but transformed—ready for a ‘forever’ life.

That leaves a lot we don’t know, but then, it is amazing to know this much. Jesus is the key to it all. He said, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me will live even if he dies’ (John 11:25).

Suggested reading: John 20:19-29

© Grant Thorpe, 2/8/2019

I read an interesting opinion piece by Stuart Waiton in The Australian (30 Dec. ’13) that referred to the frequent public apologies being offered in recent years. He claims it is an attempt by those in authority to regain honour for our justice system by giving it a more humane face. 

My reason for drawing attention to the article is that our world sees judging as cold, rigid and unforgiving and that this attitude may well carry over into how we think about God. If he is Judge, what chance is there of having a relationship with him? I have sought to show in an earlier blog, that God being Judge arises from his relationship with us and expresses that relationship, something for which we are grateful and rely on. But let me continue by showing what it means that Jesus, to whom God has entrusted all judging activity, came and died among us.

Jesus said, ‘Now is the judgement of this world…’ (John 12:31), and the context shows he is talking about his death. If all judgement has been entrusted to him, we have to understand that, from his cross, Jesus, far from being only a victim, is actually judging the world. Jesus said, “This is the judgement: Light [Jesus] has come into the world.” People then either prefer darkness or come to the light (John 3:19-21). The Jews and Romans who encountered him hated the light and crucified the Son of God. They, on behalf of us all, reveal the truth about humanity (John 9:39-41). We have judged ourselves by condemning Jesus.

The early preaching of the apostles regularly drew attention to this. ‘You nailed [him] to a cross by the hands of godless men’ (Acts 2:23). This is our sin really, that we kill the Son of God (John 16:8-9) and crucify him again, so to speak, when we are awakened by the truth and then turn away from it (Heb. 6:6).

Notice that Jesus, from the cross, is not only revealing the truth about us; he is disempowering the Prince of the world; Satan is thrown down from his position of eminence. Clearly, all who continue to follow the world and its Prince, share his fate. Judgement is not only being announced, it is being executed. Then again, with the downfall of the world’s Prince, Jesus becomes the rightful leader of humanity and will gather ‘all men’ to him. This means all who believe in him—people of all nations and all who will inherit the world to come. History is being rearranged, the truth needed for the future of the world is being established and the new people are being gathered. This great throng will find that the judgement of the world has already occurred and that it has not led to their condemnation but to their life (John  5:24).

We should note that Christ’s death does not look like a judge declaring what is right and wrong and then executing his decision. His weakness rather than his strength is what we see. This is why the Church cannot preach the gospel from a position of strength. We need to live in the love that took Christ to his cross and suffer the scorn and pain of those who reject him. Going to the world with a message that judgement is being worked out when Christ is crucified is not a message of vindictiveness but of forgiveness. This leads us to a second way in which Christ’s death is the judgement of this world.

Jesus did not come to judge but to save (John 3:17). Strange mission for a judge! But God is a Saviour. His Son is a Saviour. He has been given all responsibility to judge the world so that all will honour him as they honour the Father. If we stand before our Judge, and what he says will happen, he tends to have our attention! But Christ has also been given authority to judge so we will believe in him and not be condemned (John 5:22-24). He wants our attention so we will be saved. We could say that Jesus Christ, the Judge, has come over to our side of the courtroom to act as our Advocate (1 Jo. 2:1). He intercedes or intervenes for us so we will not be condemned (Rom. 8:34). He does not change roles but brings his authority as Judge into his role as Advocate. But how can he be an advocate for those deserving condemnation?

Christ becomes the subject of the judgement he has come to reveal. In the Bible, this is spoken about in three ways.

First, the prophet Isaiah (53:5-12) foretells that a Servant of God will be chastened with a view to our wellbeing. He says we will be healed because of the scourging he receives. God lays our iniquity on him, and he makes himself a guilt offering for us, we who will now be declared righteous. Christ becomes this suffering Servant. He brings justice to the nations (Is. 42:1-4) but in this strange way of suffering for those whose fate lies in his hand. He is highly exalted because he sprinkles many nations (52:13-15). He becomes great by pouring himself out to death and interceding for his people (53:12). He takes the place of the people he condemns and wins a new future for them.

Second, Christ is made a curse for us (Gal. 3:10, 13). This is the penalty for breaking God’s law, but it also expresses the revulsion God has when we turn from him to make idols of things he has made and live by our lusts instead by his commands. This becomes clear by reading Deuteronomy 28. Jesus Christ loved his Father, felt his jealous love for the creatures he had made, and made himself an offering for the sins of his people.

Third, Christ makes propitiation for us (Rom. 3:25; Heb. 2:17; 1 Jo. 2:2; 4:10). That is, he turns God’s wrath away from us by submitting himself to the holy wrath of his Father against us. Looked at from God’s point of view, wrath is expressed by giving us up to our sins (Rom. 1:24, 26, 28) but now he gives up his Son to our sins (Rom. 4:25; 8:32). He becomes all that we are in our ignorance and hatred of God. Quite stunningly, Paul says God made him to be sin for us—the one who had never sinned—so we would be made the righteousness of God in him (2 Co. 5:21).

Whole books are written on this matter, as they should be, but my point here is simply that Christ’s death is the place for the world’s judgement. At one time or another, all of us must come to terms with this. God’s desire is that we will not run from, but to the one he has appointed as our Judge.

The biblical term for a judgement that is favourable to us is ‘justification’. This is not saying we are justified in what we have done but that God has announced that we are justified in his sight on the basis of what Christ has done. No amount of pleasant words or happy thoughts can hide the truth that we are answerable to God. We need to know that the court has sat, that all the facts are known and that God is now righteous in declaring us righteous. Only Christ can secure this for us and he has done so, fully and freely.

Many try to know the love of God by avoiding the fact of judgement but it doesn’t work. No number of human platitudes, or even divine providences, can break through to us that God is love. His loves comes to us as justification (Rom. 5:1-5; 8:31-38). Then it has moral validity and is convincing. The real holy God has come to a real sinner and really announced that he or she is justified. Christ has really come to us as our Judge, to save and not condemn, but his ‘no condemnation’ is still the word of our Judge! His word is final because it is just.

Then again, our righteousness is not just a formal acquittal; it is an unassailable righteousness before God forever. It comes to us with all the dignity of Jesus dying willingly because he loved his Father (John 14:31). It is not called ‘the righteousness of God’ for nothing! He is its author and sustainer, and we ‘are made the righteousness of God in [Christ]’ (2 Cor. 5:21). All this is done so we will never sin again, but then, we do, and we have an Advocate who is righteous and who has made propitiation. There is no real peace outside of this.

How necessary this is! It is necessary now because no one can properly function when they live under condemnation. It is not surprising that we spend so much time justifying ourselves! How much better to hear it from our Judge; that is, from our Saviour. It is necessary, too, in regard to the final judgement. None of us can avoid standing before Christ at the end of our life. God has appointed him as the world’s Judge and assured us of this by raising him from the dead (Acts 17:31).

Christ has brought the final judgement into history, while he was among us, so we could hear this word of justification now. Those who hear this word have no remaining threat standing against them; not here or hereafter. Love has hit home. This is very heaven! It is also the one moral incentive that gives us a ‘head of steam’ in our fight against the world, the flesh and the devil. It’s called gratitude, or perhaps just holy love.

I want to consider how God’s judgements may be working out in our present history. It is of no value to have an idea of God being Judge if he himself is inept or inactive. God willing, I will look at this in a further blog.