From the beginning of time people anticipated someone who
would restore what Adam and Eve had lost in the garden. God promised that a
particular offspring of the woman would crush the deceiver and restore peace
with God. God promised Abraham that through his descendants would arise a man
who would become a blessing to all the peoples of the earth. God called to
himself a ragtag group of people to be his representatives on earth as he
worked to restore humanity and he promised to them a king who would rule with
kindness, justice, and mercy. The Jews expected a priest who would go before
God for them to seek reconciliation with God when they went astray. They longed
for a prophet who would bring words of life from God to guide them to a new
creation life. How all of these expectations could be met in one person was a
mystery.
Then, after hundreds of years of silence from God, in a
small village in Israel, not among the important and mighty but among the meek
and lowly, a little baby boy was born in a stable. He was born to a woman who
had never been with a man. The broken human nature that each person received
from the union of their father and mother passed by this boy in his unique
conception. He wasn’t born of two people like all other people, he was
specially conceived by God’s Holy Spirit; he was God’s Son, God himself in the
flesh.
His earthly parents named him Jesus (meaning God saves)
because he will save his people from their sins. He lived a perfectly obedient
life, never once straying from the will of God. He spoke the words of life from
God like a prophet. He interceded before God on behalf of his people as a
priest. He brought his kingdom of peace, justice, kindness, and mercy to dwell
within his people. Everywhere he brought his kingly authority people were
changed; blind people received sight, paralyzed people could walk, hungry
people ate plentifully. The promised redeemer had arrived!
However, in a confusing twist of events the people turned on
him. He threatened the authority of the rulers and religious leaders. He didn’t
fit the mold of what the people though the redeemer should be. So they
condemned him to die like a criminal. They mocked his claim to be king by
putting a crown of thorns on his head and a purple robe around his shoulders.
The Romans killed him by hanging him on a cross to starve, to suffocate, to
bleed. When he died, his friends took him off the cross and laid him in a tomb,
hearts aching and confused about how the redeemer could die.
But God knew what he was doing. This was all part of his
plan. The redeemer had to die; he wasn’t coming to redeem an earthly kingdom,
but to make it possible to bring rebellious people into his heavenly kingdom.
The curse that every person bore since the beginning of creation, the
punishment that every person deserved for turning against God Jesus took upon
himself on the cross bearing the wrath of God on behalf of his own people.
Right before he died he cried out, “It is finished!” proclaiming that his
mission was complete; the debt that people owed to God was satisfied.
Even though he died horribly on that cross and he lay
lifeless in the tomb, death could not hold God. After three days Jesus rose
from the grave showing himself to hundreds of people so that nobody in Israel
could deny it. He crushed death under his heal. He stood victorious over the
curse, over death, over sin. He became the hope of resurrection for all his
people. After spending many days with his disciples he ascended into heaven and
sent his Holy Spirit to live within all who put their trust in him. Dwelling
within his people he helps them live the same victorious life over sin and
temptation, and he gives them hope for the day when all creation will be
restored.
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