Who is JESUS?
The celebration
began as the devil gloated over his success of deceiving Eve into disobeying
God. The plan was to destroy God’s wonderful creation by masterfully plotting
to convincingly mix truth with error, and having her to believe that God was
keeping something from them. After all, God had given Adam and Eve access to
everything in the garden with the exception of one fruit-bearing tree – the
tree that possessed the knowledge of both good and evil.
What was it about that particular tree
that God would forbid them to not only touch, but to even eat of its seemingly
delights? After all, the snake, with whom she was having the intriguing
conversation, was enjoying the branches and intertwined in the leaves of that
very tree without a single bit of hesitation as she watched his every move. Eve’s
thoughts pondered the warning that had been given to them, but the snake’s
words were more enticing to her ears and curiosity penetrated her mind, for God
had to have been denying them a great pleasure that they deserved to have, or
was He?
After weighing her options with
unknowingly half-truths, she reached, touched, plucked, ate and then shared the
forbidden fruit with her husband. What a day of great celebration it was for
the devil and his demonic host. He had successfully deceived God’s created
beings as he had done in Heaven. Now, he had gotten revenge for the ultimate
eviction that he received as Lucifer. But wait! There was something that he
hadn’t taken into consideration.
God had a plan that the devil knew nothing
about. This plan of God would put a major kink into things, for Satan’s aim was
for the complete destruction of mankind. No one could possibly undo what had
been done, or so he thought. No, God would not even think of doing something
that insane or would He? Everything would have been lost, but God was not about
to allow that to happen. A plan had been made. The devil had been put on
notice. His victory would be temporary.
His demonic rule would come to an end. His reign had a term limit. He
would be replaced as the god of this world with the King of kings and Lord of
lords. God’s son, Yeshua Hamashiach, Jesus the Messiah, would come to uncoil
the devil’s plans. JESUS was and is His name. The question is then asked, “Who
is Jesus?”
Immanuel
“…Its outspread wings will cover
the breadth of your land, O Immanuel! Raise the war cry, you nations, and be
shattered! Listen, all you distant lands. Prepare for battle, and be shattered!
Prepare for battle, and be shattered! Devise your strategy, but it will be
thwarted; propose your plan, but it will not stand, for God is with us” (Isaiah
8:8-10).
After the fall of man,
God made a promise to Eve in the garden that all was not lost. There would
indeed be consequences for what they had done, but God was going to send a
Savior to save man from his sins. The payment for what they had done was high.
It would cost the life of One to be exchanged for the souls of many. The Bible
says, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your
offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel”
(Genesis 3:13). There would not only be a dislike for the snake and man
in the natural, but there would be animosity between the devil, who is a
poisonous serpent, and mankind in the spirit realm forever. The Bible says, “The
great dragon was hurled down – that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan,
who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels
with him (Revelation 12:9). In Genesis, God told the serpent that He,
speaking of the coming Savior, would crush his head, and the devil would strike
his heel. The devil’s strike would not be strong enough to defeat God, but the
crushing of the enemy’s head would be the ultimate defeat once and for all.
Adam
and Eve may have thought that they would see this take place during their
lifetime. It would be a long time, however, before the completion of that
promise would take place. God had great plans that would take time to come into
fruition as man had to wait for the arrival of the Savior, but He was coming. The
Bible says, “Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be
with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah
7:14). There had to be a sacrifice, so that man would not be eternally
lost. The greatest sacrifice would be God’s own son, Immanuel.
Immanuel would come to
earth with the sole mission to teach people the ways of his Father and to
redeem man from his sins. For without
this sacrifice, man would have been doomed to go to an eternal hell. The Bible
says, “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with
blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin”
(Hebrews 9:22). The ordinances of the sacrifices began with Moses and
Aaron, but the shedding of animals’ blood could not permanently replace the
Sacrifice of God’s son. The Bible says, “But those sacrifices are an annual reminder
of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away
sins” (Hebrews 10:3-4). Sin was such a poison to mankind, that even the
death of animals could not wash it permanently away.
Immanuel was willing to
leave His royal place in Heaven in order to take on the debt of mankind’s iniquity
by offering himself as a sacrificial Lamb. The Bible says, “Therefore, when
Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not
desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings
you were not pleased. Then I said, ‘Here I am – it is written about me in the
scroll – I have come to do your will, O God’ ” (Hebrews 10:5-7). Immanuel
offered His life in exchange for ours. He gave everything that He had in order
that we may have life. He came in the form of a baby, who lived amongst
sinners, to set the example for us to follow and taught us to be subservient to
His father just as He was. Immanuel was both God and man who was and forever
will be with us. The Bible says, “All this took place to fulfill what the
Lord has said through the prophet. “The virgin will be with child and will give
birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel – which means, “God with us”
(Matthew 1:22-23).
The Carpenter
“Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his
mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?” (Matthew
13:55).
The angel, Gabrielle, was sent to inform Mary that she would be the
vessel through which the Son of God would come to earth. This would be no
ordinary child, but one filled with the Spirit of God who would save mankind
from their sins. The Bible says, “The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will
come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy
one to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). Mary had the
favor of God upon her life and was deemed worthy to be the mother of His son. She
had to follow the ways of God in all that she did, for Jesus would not be like
other children, but was to be the Savior of the world. The Bible says, “Today
in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord”
(Luke 2:11).
Long before Jesus was ready to begin His mission in ministry, the Bible
makes reference to Jesus being a carpenter. The Bible says, “Isn’t
this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph,
Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” and they took offense at him”
(Mark 6:3). Jesus’ earthly father, Joseph, was a carpenter by trade,
and more probable than not, taught Him the craft of carpentry. A carpenter,
during Biblical times, was known to be a builder of many things and was a
popular skill to have. Most trades were taught hands-on and were handed down
from father to son during those times. Jesus, being filled with the Spirit of
God, was given wisdom. In addition to what His earthly father taught him, His
Heavenly Father gave Him knowledge for what He needed to know in both the
spiritual and natural to prepare Him for his Divine assignment. The Bible says,
“My
son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your
ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for
insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of
the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his
mouth come knowledge and understanding” (Proverbs 2:1-6).
Jesus not only built things for a living prior to ministry, but He was
sent to earth to help build and restore lives by rescuing man from the hands of
the enemy. The devil’s desire was to destroy anything that God had created and built,
but Jesus came to undo the curse that was brought on by sin in that He bore the
curse himself. The Bible says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the
law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is
hung on a tree” (Galatians 3:13). Man no longer had to be subjected to
the curse of sin, for Jesus gave His own life to secure man’s place with the
Father for those who accepted Him.
Jesus took great care to set the foundation for the Kingdom of God by
showing man the way to the Father and His eternal love. In teaching His
followers about God, Jesus sometimes made references to building things in the
natural to help everyone to understand how He, as the Master Carpenter of our
lives, is there to build us up for the Kingdom of Heaven. The Bible says,
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into
practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came
down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it
did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears
these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man
who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the
winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crush”
(Matthew 7:24-27).
Jesus taught the
disciples that they needed a firm foundation that could only be found in Him. They
would not be easily swayed by the enemy’s schemes if they placed their faith
and trust in Him. He was the Carpenter that could make them into the pieces to
be used for His Father, but they must be firmly planted in Him because Jesus
was and still is the Firm Foundation. The Bible says, “For no one can lay any
foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1
Corinthians 2:11). The storms of life will blow, the rain of trials
will fall, the devils earthshaking roar will be felt and heard, but our
Foundation is sure in Him who had us in mind before the beginning of time. The
Bible says, “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love” (Ephesians
1:4).
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