The Crucified

When we speak about Jesus Christ and think about Him, the crucial fact of His crucifixion and resurrection should be our focus point. We also proclaim this in the Last Supper as written in Luke 22:19-20 “And He took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is My body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of Me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you.'' Jesus certainly did a great deal and everything was of divine origin and of eternal significance. There is a lot that we don’t know. In John 21:25 we read: “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.” But, what we know and must know as followers of Jesus Christ, is the profound meaning and purpose of the mission of the Son of God on this earth. We proclaim the Gospel and also live our daily lives on the basis of the forgiveness of sin which occurred at Calvary. We don’t make a humanistic improver of the world of Jesus, but see in Him the Lamb of God, who was led to the slaughter. In Isaiah 53:7 we read: “He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth.” Many don’t want to see and embrace this Jesus. But, our sins made this necessary and it is nothing other than unmerited grace and heavenly mercy that brought us from darkness to light. The forgiveness of sin and the faith in the death and resurrection of God’s Son Jesus Christ, on my behalf, is the Gospel! In Him we live and move and have our being, when we call ourselves the redeemed. And we can know this, because God’s Spirit reveals it to our own spirit – we are and will remain the children of God (Romans 8:16)!

It is ultimately the mystery of God – His incarnation – we cannot really fathom and comprehend it. We cannot comprehend eternity and cannot fathom the eternal plan of salvation, but we can believe it from the heart. This is the will of God. The statement in John 6:29 sums it up: “This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.'' And what exactly should we believe? Peter says in Acts 10:42-43 “And He commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is He which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. To Him give all the prophets witness, that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins.” That is what it is all about. We don’t believe in God as a genie and wish-fulfiller or as a last option when nothing is working out in my life. Also not in His name as a kind of nebulous recitation ritual to set things in motion that correspond to my will, but not that of God. In 2 Timothy 3:2-5 we are expressly warned against a totally erroneous type of faith – as here, (unfortunately) believers also have to be addressed: “For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” ! An atheist does not even have the appearance of Godly fear. When we see and perceive Jesus as the crucified, and believe in Him in this manner, it protects us from any form of superficiality, credulity and arrogance. God became human and humbled Himself to death for you and me (Philippians 2:5-8). That is the reason and foundation of our salvation – and your only justification before the holy and eternal God. Amen.

Jörg Bauer