Sample Essay #2 – The Person of Jesus Christ

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

In this essay, the focus will be on Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour of the world. First, we will find out that Jesus is God as much as the Father and the Holy Spirit. After that we will find out a few things about Jesus in the Old Testament, followed by His human birth, life and sacrifice. We will find out that Jesus was fully God and fully man and that it is essential for us to know Him!

Our God is an awesome God! He is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, everlasting and unchanging. He is the King of kings and the LORD of lords! He reigns forever! How wonderful! Something else that is really special about Him is that He is one God, existing in three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, a triune God, a Holy Trinity! No Person in the Godhead has come into being earlier or later than the other and none is above or less than the other. They are co-eternal and co-equal. How is that possible? He is God! ‘Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for me?’ (Jer.32:27). It is hard for us to understand, but He says (Jes.55:8-9): ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.’

When we read the Old Testament superficially it might not seem to be about Jesus. We might even think that He is actually not present in there, and that the focus in the Old Testament is on God the Father, and in the New Testament on God the Son. But if we think that, we are far from the truth. Jesus is present on every page of the Old Testament. Even the first verse of the Bible includes Jesus. It states (Gen 1:1): ‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.’ The name for God used here in Hebrew is ‘Elohim’. This is a plural form and incorporates Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In verse 26 we read: ‘And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…’ Who is God talking to? That can only be Himself! Basically, it is a conversation between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So, was Jesus present during the creation of the world? He definitely was and we read that clearly in John 1:3: ‘All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.’

Is this the only way in which we see Jesus portrayed throughout the Old Testament? No, certainly not! Everything points towards Jesus in the Old Testament! Let’s think about the story of Abraham when he is called to sacrifice Isaac, his son. When they are on their way and Isaac asks about a sacrificial animal, Abraham replies: ‘My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering’ (Gen.22:8). Besides, all the animals that were being sacrificed in the tabernacle and temple had to be without spot or blemish, and blood needed to be shed. The tabernacle and the temple itself pointed towards Jesus, even the utensils and the colours that had to be used! Furthermore, we even meet the Person of Jesus several times in the Old Testament, usually as the Angel of the Lord, and many people’s lives served as foreshadows of Christ’s life. But, I think, most clearly of all, pictured in the Old Testament, was the need of a Saviour, the need for the Messiah, Jesus Christ!

From the beginning we see that ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?’ (Jer.17:9) and ‘out of the heart proceed evil thoughts’ (Matt.15:19). Adam and Eve were created perfectly (Gen.1:31): ‘And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.’ Adam had the possibility not to sin. But he disobeyed God and brought sin into this world. From that time, it is a fact that ‘all have sinned and come short of the glory of God’ (Rom.3:23). We serve a holy God and He says: be holy, for I am holy. Especially the book of Leviticus deals with God’s holiness. So, we need to be in a right standing with God. But unfortunately, we cannot! And we see that throughout the Old Testament, especially the refrains in Judges: ‘and the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord’ and ‘but every man did that which was right in his own eyes’ clearly describe our natural state. God kept sending prophets to warn the people to turn to Him, but they kept failing. The entire Old Testament makes it as clear as day: we need a Saviour!

This Saviour is being promised in the Old Testament! We see a multitude of prophesies about the coming Messiah. A few examples are: ‘And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel’(Gen.3:15). ‘The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be’ (Gen.49:10). ‘I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee’ (Psalm 2:7). ‘Therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel’ (Isa.7:14). ‘Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, The Lord Our Righteousness’ (Jer.23:5-6). ‘But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting’ (Mic.5:2). ‘I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed’ (Dan.7:13-14).

At the close of the Old Testament we see that our natural state is just hopeless. The Jews have returned from exile but just keep falling back into sins. A dark period without any prophets follows. Israel sins and suffers, wars and persecutions take place, the temple is desecrated. Nothing seems to remain of the Davidic royal lineage and Israel ends up under Roman rule. The stage is set for the Messiah to come, and He comes! Prophecy after prophesy is being fulfilled! There are still ancestors of David! Mary, a virgin, becomes pregnant by the Holy Spirit and Jesus is born in a humble way and has a manger as His cradle! Wonderful things happen: shepherds in a field hear angels speak and sing, and they bow before a Baby; wise men from the east bring expensive presents and old people in the temple worship Jesus. Besides that, a new prophet appears on the scene to prepare the way for the Lord! ‘For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace’ (Isa.9:6).

We do not read much about Jesus’ youth. He was born in Bethlehem, was presented in the temple in Jerusalem, fled to Egypt and after they returned, He lived with Joseph and Mary and his brothers and sisters in Nazareth. Every year they went to the temple in Jerusalem for the Passover Festival. We read that when he was twelve, Joseph and Mary didn’t see Him on the way back and found Him in the temple after three days. He sat among the teachers listening and asking questions. Everyone who heard Him was amazed at His intelligent answers. ‘And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man’ (Luke 2:52). When Jesus was about 30 years, He started His ministry and was baptised by John. The main focus of the Gospels is on these three years of Jesus’ life: His ministry, suffering, death and resurrection.

Jesus chose 12 disciples, whom He prepared to go into the world to spread the Good News of the living God, and how to become part of His Kingdom. Daily He taught them, and they heard Him teach the people, saw Him healing the sick, reaching out to the outcasts, withstanding the self-righteous people, working and performing miracles and setting an example of how to live in humble submission towards others and God to the glory of God and the advancement of His Kingdom. In everything Jesus did, He was an example to us of how we should love God above everything and everyone and our neighbours as we love ourselves. Jesus lived and exemplary life for everyone and we should follow His example! Was this the main reason for God to send His Son into this world? No, absolutely not!

Why did Jesus come into this world physically? Well, let us listen to what the Bible teaches. Jesus came to testify to the truth: ‘To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth’ (John 18:37). Jesus also came into this world to destroy the works of satan: ‘He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil’ (1 John 3:9). Jesus was sent to save: ‘For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved’ (John 3:17); ‘And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world’ (1 John 4:14); ‘For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost’ (Luke 19:10). He came to bear and be an atoning Sacrifice for our sins: ‘And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin’ (1 John 3:5); ‘Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins’ (1 John 4:10); ‘Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed’ (1 Pet.2:24). The Father also sent His Son into this world to give us eternal life: ‘In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him’ (1 John 4:7); ‘For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life’ (John 3:16).

So, it was essential for Jesus to come into this world full of lies, where satan rules (cf. John 12:31; 2 Cor.4:4; Eph.2:2), a world lost in sin and unrighteousness without hope of eternal life. But why had it to be Jesus? Was there no other substitute? No, none but Jesus could do this, because the way to restoration was only possible through Someone who would be 100% God and 100% human. We were created perfect for eternal life, but we disobeyed God, and he had said: ‘But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die’ (Gen.2:17). Romans 6:23 states: ‘For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.’ By sinning we lost the possibility to live eternally with God. As He is a righteous God, we cannot stand before him unrighteously. But as we saw throughout the Old Testament, nobody has the ability to live up to God’s standards. We are guilty and the penalty needs to be paid. This can only be done by Someone who is innocent and there is only One who is guiltless and that is God, so Jesus needed to be fully God.

Sin was brought into the world by men: ‘Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned’ (Rom.5:12). So, only a man could pay the debt. This man needed to be tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin (Heb.4:15). So, a sinless man had to be sacrificed to appease the wrath of God over sins and set the condemned free. ‘For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous’ (Rom.5:17-19). So, we can only be made righteous before God through the shedding of the blood of the Man Jesus Christ. He needed to die in our place. ‘For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit’ (2 Pet.3:18). ‘In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace’ (Eph.1:7). ‘For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God’ (Eph.2:8). ‘For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth’ (Rom.1:16). Salvation is only possible through Jesus Christ!

So, in this essay we saw that Jesus is God, co-eternal and co-equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Jesus is present throughout the Old Testament. He is there spiritually and physically. His life and work on earth is being symbolised by people, their lives, animals, service, tabernacle, temple and utensils. The Old Testament is packed with prophesies about Jesus’ first and second coming and His birth, life and sacrifice. Besides this, the Old Testament portrays the necessity of a Saviour and sets the scene for His coming. In the New Testament we see all the prophecies about His first coming being fulfilled, we see His exemplary life, we learn more about the reasons why He came to this earth, and why He had to be fully God and fully man. ‘Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved’ (Acts 4:12). We all need salvation! We all need a Saviour! ‘For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Rom.3:23) and we can be ‘justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus’ (Rom.3:24). There is no salvation, except in the Messiah, Jesus Christ, eternal God and Saviour of humankind! ‘Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the Lord? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else’ (Isa.45:21-22). Jesus saves!