NO OTHER JESUS

Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no saviour...I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remember your sins no more. [Is. 43.11,25]

Mankind, in the person of Adam and Eve, fell away from God. He had created the world for them and had given them dominion over everything in it. There was only one thing asked of them in return: that they refrain from eating of the fruit of one tree. One tree in all of the world was forbidden to them. Why? Part of the reason was that there had to be a choice involved for mankind. Obedience to the Lord, where there is no chance of being disobedient, is meaningless. To be really free, and not a powerless puppet, mankind had to be able to choose rebellion as well as obedience. It might seem a small thing, being denied the fruit of one tree in all of creation, but that one thing proved too much for Adam and Eve. God had wanted them to grow in knowledge. They walked in the cool of the evening with their God and learned from their experiences of life. They would learn what was good and honourable and true through experience. Evil they could learn about as the potential opposite of their experience, rather than directly through experience. Eating of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was not God's will for them.

Satan told Eve that God had lied to them; that their Lord wished to hold them back from true freedom, true knowledge. He told her that they were being kept from their true destiny: knowing good and evil, like God himself. Eve believed Satan, believing that God was a liar, that she had a right to something that God was denying her. It is not clear whether Adam believed this also; but he did something as bad. He put his companion's will above God's. He chose her instead of the Lord, and so shared in the fall. What this meant for creation was tragic. Mankind had been given dominion by God. By accepting Satan's word over the Lord's, they passed their dominion over to the Enemy. Ever since, creation, as Paul said, has been groaning in bondage, waiting eagerly for its liberation. Instead of Paradise, Earth has become cursed with volcanoes, tornados, floods, famine, deserts and heat waves.

Mankind, too, has been groaning in bondage. Adam and Eve believed Satan had their best interests in mind when they accepted his word about the forbidden Tree. But they were blind to the deep and everlasting hatred that Satan has for mankind. He who had been the highest being in creation, the most beautiful and powerful of all things made by God, who had attempted to take mastery over God himself in his pride, lost everything. Thrown down from his high position, eternally separated from his destiny and proper place through his own arrogance, imagine his fury when he saw mankind given such a high place in the heart of God. Made in God's own image, mankind was freely given all that Satan believed was his by right. And what lowly, undeserving creatures we are! Even before the Fall, how could we ever have hoped to compete with the angels in their beauty, intelligence and glory. And yet, such was the love of God for us, that he created us to be Masters of his creation, intimate friends and children of God Almighty. No wonder Satan hates mankind and has tried everything in his power to kill, steal and destroy. In order to get some idea of the depth of his hatred, it is necessary only to see what he has done to the planet, and to what depths he has enticed man to fall. Holocausts, wars, racism, genocide, abuse, drug addictions, these are the legacy of Satan, the fruit of his evil workings in the human heart. Who could save us from such horror?

The Lord, in Isaiah, says that only he can forgive our sins, he is the only saviour. Why? Because, as the Word says:

The Lord looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. [Ps. 14.2-3]

God revealed himself to Abraham, to Moses, to the Prophets. He gave the Law so that anyone who would even obey the basics, the Commandments, would be acceptable to God. But even this we could not do. As the Lord said through Jeremiah:

Why should I forgive you? Your children have forsaken me and sworn by gods that are not gods. I supplied all their needs, yet they committed adultery...Should I not punish them for this? [Jer. 5.7-9]

There was no legal or moral ground upon which we could stand and say that we did not deserve to be abandoned by God utterly. He had shown through history, especially the history of the Chosen People of Israel, that mankind truly was a slave to sin and found it impossible to achieve a right standing before God, what God calls "righteousness". Redemption was impossible for mankind to achieve.

I have often felt that we can take so much about God for granted. We come before him alone or in fellowship as though there was nothing at all unusual going on. But we are coming face to face with God Almighty, the Creator, the First and the Last, the One who made everything and who holds everything in place. Have you ever imagined what that would be like if he did not love us? What would be our attitude if we knew that he was angry with us, righteously angry and fully intending to treat us as we deserve? Can you even begin to imagine the dread, the fear, the absolute terror that would mean to us? But, no matter how young or inexperienced we are in the ways of the Lord, the one thing we believe and trust is that his heart towards us is full of love and compassion.

He created us out of love, and he showed us our complete inability to please him, because he loves us. We needed to know that we were totally powerless. Because he had determined, before he even created us, that he would also redeem us through the Blood of the Lamb, "slain from the creation of the world".[Revelation 13.8] It was the will of God that he would redeem us even though it meant the Cross. The Scriptures are absolutely full of the plan of the Most High to redeem his people. But how could this be done? Mankind could not save themselves, because they were slaves to sin, they had passed the authority in this world over to Satan. It was not possible that anyone born under sin could save his fellow creatures, as the psalmist said:

No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him - the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough - that he should live on forever and never see decay. [Ps. 49.7-8]

And yet, God promised Abraham that he would send a Redeemer. He also promised Abraham that it would be one of his descendants who would pay the ransom for sin. When you read the story of Abraham, there are so many things pointing to Jesus. Abraham tried to bring about God's will in his own wisdom, and instead produced a son, Ishmael, whose descendants have warred with Israel ever since. The son of the Promise, Isaac, is called Abraham's one and only son. Although he had another boy, Isaac was the "one and only son" because there was a uniqueness to his relationship to his father. Jesus, too, is called God's one and only son for the same reason.

God told Abraham to take Isaac to a place God would show him, and there sacrifice the boy to the Lord. Abraham must have been devastated, to kill the one God had made the heir to the Promise, his only son! Look at the symbolism of what happened. Abraham was sent to the region of Moriah. He was pointed to a hill near Moriah, and he laid the wood for the sacrificial fire on Isaac's back and let him carry it up the hill. We are told in Hebrews that Abraham had to exercise real faith in bringing his son to that hill. But, we are also told that he believed that God would raise Isaac from the dead, if necessary, to fulfil his promise that from the boy would come the Saviour. Genesis tells us that from the time he decided to obey God and sacrifice Isaac, he suffered until, on the third day, he received his son back, as it were, from the dead. As Hebrews 11.19 says:

Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.

For Isaac was not to be sacrificed in the end.

Abraham was acting out a picture for our sake. Because when we read this story we realize that another Father would actually have his Son carry the wood up that hill and be sacrificed there. Abraham may not have realised the full implications of what he said to his son, when Isaac asked about the sacrifice that day:

Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?" "Yes, my son", Abraham replied. "The fire and the wood are here", Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son". [Gen. 22.7- 8]

Now where was this taking place? The Bible says that a city gradually grew up around Moriah. This city was Jerusalem, and Moriah was the hill on which the Temple was eventually built. On Moriah, the altar of sacrifice to the Lord was established. But Genesis does not make clear whether the hill up which Isaac carried the wood was Moriah, or just near Moriah. Abraham named the hill "The Lord will Provide", or, "I AM the Provider". It is probable that this was not Moriah, since it is said that the sacrifice was to take place in "the region of Moriah". Perhaps "The Lord will Provide" was another hill. Because close to Moriah was the hill later known as, Golgotha, or Calvary, up which another one and only son carried the wood on which the sacrifice would be laid, and on which the Father would provide the Lamb for the sacrifice.

John the Baptist knew his Scriptures. When he saw Jesus coming to him for baptism, he cried out:

Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world! [Jn. 1.29]

But the story of the Lamb did not end there. In the Book of Revelation, we find a Lamb on the Throne, looking as though it had been slain. [Rev. 5.6] And the heavenly beings sang a song to the Lamb:

You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth. [Rev. 5.9-10]

What, then, do we find? Mankind had fallen into slavery. No man could redeem another, only God could forgive sins. God himself provided a Lamb for sacrifice, and by his blood our sins have been forgiven. "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" [Lk. 5.20]

That was one of the two duties of the Messiah: to bring to men the forgiveness of their sins. Men were in slavery to sin, it was not just that they committed sins, that they were sinners, but that they were sin. All had sinned and fallen short, all were condemned by the Law as law-breakers. A ransom had to be paid in order to bring forgiveness and the power of sin then had to be broken. But as slaves, they could not break free. They had to be set free, and their slavery to sin ended. How was this to be done? By reversing the failure of Adam and Eve. In them, mankind had chosen to listen to Satan's advice. "Did God say...? Not so." They had decided freely to submit to the word of Satan and call God a liar. They denied God's right to guide the course of their lives, to direct their growth into maturity and authority on the earth. As a result, Satan won the right to rule instead. he became their Master, instead of God.

Another had to be found who would live completely in the will of God, never choosing his own path, never second-guessing God's direction. It would take a man to voluntarily live a life of service under God in order to win back from Satan man's proper place, exercising dominion on this world. Here was the dual role of the Messiah: to bring forgiveness of sins, and to win back through a life of submission the right to rule. It would take God to forgive sins and redeem the sinner; it would take a man to break the power of Satan over mankind and win back man's rightful authority in this world. That is why God had to become man; that is why Jesus had to be God.

This dual role was foretold by the prophets, but it was impossible for the Israelites to understand how the two roles could be performed by one person. They could never decide exactly what the Messiah was to be. But God had told us through the Prophets exactly what this would mean. In the Book of Zechariah, we are given a clear picture of what Messiah was to be. In Chapter 3, the high priest, Joshua, and his fellow priests, are referred to as:

...men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch. [Zech. 3.8]

The 'Branch" is another name for the coming Messiah, and we are told that Joshua is somehow symbolic of him. Then, in Chapter 6, Joshua is given a crown and told to sit on the throne. It is a magnificent picture of the Messiah:

Tell him this is what the Lord Almighty says:

'Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the Lord. It is he who will build the temple of the Lord, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two.' [Zech. 6.12- 13]

What detail we are given here! First of all, Joshua is the name of the Branch: "Joshua" is the Hebrew name, translated into Greek as "Jesus". Then we are told that Jesus will be both High-Priest and King, an office never known to the people of Israel. The High-Priest was the one who offered sacrifice for the forgiveness of the sins of the people. The King was the ruler, the man who had authority, dominion, over the earthly kingdom. The two offices were never combined, they involved very different responsibilities. In fact, when Saul, as King, tried to take the part of the priest and offer sacrifice before the Lord, he was rejected as King over Israel for his presumption. [1 Sam. 13]

But the Messiah would be both High-Priest and King: forgiver of sins and ruler on earth. But he would conquer through sacrifice, as Isaiah foretold:

See, my servant shall act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him - his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness - so will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him...He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering...He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed...After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. [Is. 52.13-15;53.3-5,11-12]

Here is as clear a picture of the ministry of Jesus as one can find in the Prophets, and as clear a description of the Gospel as one will find in the entire Bible. The Suffering Servant would triumph through suffering, and bring healing and restoration to many.

Paul was given a wonderful insight into this truth in his letter to the Philippians. He recognised the need for Jesus to come down as a servant in order to triumph:

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross! [Phil. 2.5-8]

This is the key to understanding who Jesus was: how he could be both God and man; how he could call the Father greater than himself, while being fully God. It took God himself in the flesh to save us, apart from God there is no saviour and only God could forgive our sins. So, as Paul says, he emptied himself. This means that, although he never ceased to be God, he willingly closed himself off from his divine nature in complete submission to the Father. During the course of his life, he was "about my Father's business", as he told Mary and Joseph at the age of twelve. Jesus emphasised again and again that he only did what the Father willed, only said what the Father gave him to say, only went as the Father directed him to go. Satan tried to tempt him as he had Adam and Eve. In the wilderness temptations, we find Satan trying to convince Jesus that it would be good and reasonable for the Son of God to act independently of the Father. Jesus never did. And by remaining obedient, even through death, he broke the power of Satan over mankind.

Jesus became sin for us, who knew no sin. He even went to hell for us, suffering the torments of demons until he had atoned for each one of us individually. Then he arose, bringing back with him captives and gifts. The Father raised him from the dead to justify him in the eyes of all creation, to put his stamp of approval and authority on everything Jesus did and said. Before he came to earth, Jesus existed with the Father and the Spirit from before time. He did not think that equality with God was something he had to hang on to for the sake of his dignity or position, but was not ashamed to call us brothers. He emptied himself, submitting his will to the Father, making the Father "greater" than himself during his life on earth. And then, when he had accomplished all he came to do, he returned to where he had come from, back to "the glory I had with you before the world was made".

In Isaiah, we read of God swearing an oath. He swore, not by heaven or earth, but by himself, a very serious, sacred oath:

By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked: Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear. They will say of me, 'In the Lord alone are righteousness and strength'. [Is. 45.23-24]

This is a powerful thing, and it becomes even more powerful when we read in Philippians what the Father has done in response to the obedience of Jesus, his Servant Son:

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. [Phil. 2.9- 11]

God says: "before me every knee shall bow". God has declared that "at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow". Can we see now why it is so vital that Jesus is God come in the flesh? No one else could have saved us. No one else could have broken the power of sin and death, as he did. The victory over Satan had to be won by a Son of Man, because God was not going to undermine his entire plan for mankind by acting in his place. But only the Son of God could have been the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world.

There is only one God, only one Creator, only one Saviour and Redeemer. There can be only one First and Last. By coming to earth as a man, Jesus not only restored what Adam lost, he gained even more for us. He showed us the full revelation of God, at least as far as our minds can grasp such a vision. That is why we find Jesus praying to the Father. It has been asked: if Jesus is God, and the Father is God, why did Jesus need to talk to him? Jesus didn't need to verbally talk to his Father, because he was never out of touch with his Father until the awful moment on Calvary when that eternal communion was broken and he cried: "My God, my God, why have you left me?" In John 11, Jesus tells us why he sometimes prayed aloud to his Father. Standing before the grave of Lazarus, he said:

Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me. [Jn. 11.41-42]

Note that he says "you have heard me", even though he has not yet raised Lazarus from the dead. he knows that he has already been heard. Again, in John 17, at the Last Supper, Jesus prayed for all believers, and explained again why he prayed aloud:

I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. [Jn. 17.13]

Jesus spoke about the Father, and prayed as he did to the Father, so that we would see the relationship which exists between them. He deliberately made it clear to all that there was a Father and a Son, and yet they were one. Jesus took the titles of God, accepted worship as God and saved us as God, because he is God. He spoke of the Father and the Spirit, so that we might know that there is a complexity to our God that we otherwise could never have imagined. This is not something dreamed up hundreds of years after the event, but the revelation of God to man. No-one could have dreamt this up. Nor should we presume to imagine that, unless we understand revelation, it is not true. As John says: "The Light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it" [Jn. 1.5]. And again:

We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true - even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. [1 Jn. 5.20-21]

And he has adopted us as his sons. Heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, as Paul calls us. We have, in Jesus, been raised even higher than Adam could ever have hoped to go, because God always turns cursing into greater blessing, and Satan can only ever be an instrument of God in bringing about his will in heaven and on earth. This too, is something that a mere man could never have done. Only God himself could give us such an inheritance, and that should become the focus for further study.

For if Jesus went to so much suffering for our sake; if he would even risk the communion of the Godhead to save us, then we need to know why? When Jesus became sin for us, the Father had to turn away from him in wrath. When Jesus died physically, that perfect fellowship which had existed between Father, Son and Spirit since before time, was challenged. The God who created all things and holds all things in place went through something no one can even begin to imagine. The pain of Abraham was nothing compared to this Father and Son. Indeed, creation itself was put at risk on Calvary, so that, when Jesus died, the dead arose, the sun was darkened, and all sorts of unnatural phenomena occurred. We need to ask ourselves why this was done on our behalf. What is it to be saved and adopted by God? What does it mean that, at that moment of death, the Curtain in the Temple was torn from top to bottom?

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Part 3