Behold the Man: It is Christ or Nothing

Written by Rev. Thorin Anderson

I understand that average Americans travel as many miles each year as their great grandparents did in their lifetimes, largely thanks to a man named Henry Ford.  The free world owes a debt of gratitude to Mr. Ford because he radically altered life experiences for millions, making it possible for average citizens to travel to places they would never see otherwise. Being able to afford an automobile has made us all more free.

Would it not be strange if we were to celebrate the birth of Mr. Ford but never mention his automobile and the fact that he put it in the price range of the average citizen, making our lives and our experiences far richer. It would be strange indeed.

And does it not seem most peculiar that every December we celebrate the birth of a Man who altered the course of history and enriched the lives of billions of people across the globe; yet at annual public celebrations of His birth, at least in America, no mention is made of what He did and why He is so significant!

Christ’s early years were inauspicious, but His three year ministry, death and resurrection have shaken the foundations of the world and altered every nation where they were proclaimed.

Why did He come and what should His coming mean for us?

Among the reasons for Christ’s coming is that of rescuing mankind.  God alone can repair what Adam and Eve broke, and we ignore His offer of forgiveness at our own peril.

Jesus stated that He came to do the will of His Father.  This is more important than it might seem because it reveals the heart of God, His wisdom, and His great love for us.  Jesus said in John 6:38 that “I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”

Many resist the message Christ delivered declaring it to be too negative.  But in John 3:17 that criticism is shown to be faulty.  It reads, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

I understand that the honesty of Scripture is a sticking point for many.  In Mark 2:17, Jesus explained that He came to call “sinners to repentance.”  Sadly, in spite of all the evidence of our sinfulness, few are willing to own up to it; but in Luke 13:3 Christ made the need for repentance perfectly clear saying, “unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”  Peter noted, in II Peter 3:9 that God, “is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”  People who feel perfectly well are not likely to see their doctor. And those who do not know they are sinners tend not seek out the Savior!

Jesus noted that “men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed,” (John 3:19, 20 NKJV).

I have a mechanic friend who for a reasonable fee fixes my car when it breaks down.  I am grateful for the service He provides me.  I also have a Savior who can “fix” what’s wrong with us, which is our sin.  It seems strange that when we consider all the misery of the world caused by sin, so few desire God to fix the problem.

Now, many are not aware of what their problem is in the first place, which is the next reason I list for Christ’s coming.  He “turned on the light” to expose our problem so that we could see what ails us.  It is not a pretty sight, our sin, but until we know what the problem is, we have no idea how it can be corrected.  For this reason, then, Christ came: to be “the Light of the world.”  (John 1:4, 5; 8:12; 12:46).

Jesus noted sadly that “men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed,” (John 3:19, 20 NKJV).

This light is a metaphor for truth.  In other words, Jesus came to tell us the truth.  It is nothing to boast of that our culture is characterized by lying.  God hates lies, and so should we.  A dying man desperately needs the truth of what his illness is, if he is to be cured.  And we also, who are “dead in trespasses and sins,” need the truth so as to know how we can be made alive.  For that purpose, Christ came.  When He stood before Pilate, facing a mockery of a trial, He noted that He came “to bear witness to the truth,” which is why He was hated then and why so many still hate Him today!  People love their sin and hate having it exposed.

Elsewhere He promised that when we accept the truth, it “will make (us) free,” (John 8:32).  If the truth sets us free, what will lies do?

Among the many truths Christ brought us is the truth regarding our enemy, Satan.  Now Satan is quite intelligent, and he knows that if he can distract us with lies, he can defeat or discourage us.  One of the greatest lies he has foisted upon us is the popular caricature that most people visualize when they hear his name  We imagine a red, horned and tailed being, that is, in fact pure fantasy.  No one believes such a being exists.  And, of course, such a being does not exist.  We do not know precisely what Satan looks like, but we do know that he was created the most beautiful of God’s angels but fell by rebelling against God.  He may well remain a beautiful being, but his intentions are evil beyond words.

Another lie of Satan is that our sin is not really a serious problem, that we’re not so bad.  But just as a lion kills without mercy, Satan’s intent is to destroy whoever he can.  He has great power over those who are not under the protection of God, available through Christ.  If you have not come to God through faith in Jesus Christ, you are vulnerable to the deception and destruction of Satan.  But Christ came, in part, to defeat Satan.  “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil,” (I John 3:8, NKJV).  Satan’s power over us is broken when we come to Christ in faith.

Another benefit of God’s truth is the joy it brings us.  When the angels announced Christ’s birth to the shepherds, as recorded in Luke 2, their message was that Christ’s birth was a cause for great joy!  It wasn’t joy that a child was born, but that a particular Child was born!  The Child they would find in a manger in Bethlehem was THE “Child” prophesied in Isaiah 9:6: “unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder.  And His name will be called, Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”  In those names we understand how richly He will bless all who trust in Him, and through them comes the joy the angels referenced.

But contrary to many false preachers, all is not rosy and wonderful for God’s people, yet.  The Bible is manifestly clear that many did not then and do not now welcome Christ’s coming; and that while He brings joy to those who love Him, He also brings judgment to those who do not.   For them, He had cutting words in Matthew 10:34, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth.  I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”  And in John 9:39, concerning the religious leaders who rejected His claims of deity and the evidence He provided, he said, “For judgment I have come into this world. . . .” John the Baptist, in John 3:36 states clearly that rejecting Jesus Christ brings severe consequences: “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him,” (NKJV).

Therefore, from a human standpoint, the most impactful purpose for Christ’s coming was to save us from the judgment for our sins!  After His transformative meeting with a sinful tax collector in Luke 19, Christ noted that, “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”  Or in the words of the former Pharisee, Paul, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief,” (I Timothy 1:15 NKJV).

Everyone of us enters this world a sinner; and you may protest that you did not choose to be a sinner.  You are right on that point, but you do choose whether you will remain one!  God offers you forgiveness, and a totally clean record, if you repent of your sin and trust Christ to forgive you!  The choice is now yours.

Finally, those who hear the Truth, accept it, repent of their sin, ask for His forgiveness, and trust His word to grant it, are provided eternal life.  Which is another reason for His coming.  He told His listeners in John 10:10 that, “I have come that they may have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

Death may not be what you think it is.  It is not cessation of existence.    When a tree is cut down, we say that it is dead.  It is cut off from its life source; and so it is for us.  Being separated from God, our source of life, even before we were born, we enter this world spiritually dead.  We do not see God, feel God, or hear Him speak. Many take the easy way and simply declare Him non-existent.  But He is and always has been.  Sadly, we are separated from Him, which He calls “dead;” but He offers to “enliven” anyone who repents of their sin and trusts Him, thus making them alive, or reconnected to God.   This is the “New Birth” the Bible refers to, and what Jesus refers to as being “born again” in John 3.  It is so important that we be born again that Jesus states emphatically that only those who have been born again will enter God’s kingdom!

Because we so easily fudge on our words and intentions, we somehow think God does the same.  However, He does not equivocate or misrepresent Himself or the process of being reconciled to Him.  His statement that, “unless a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” must be taken literally and seriously. “God is not a man that He should lie. . . .” (Numbers 23:19 NKJV).

If mankind were able to satisfy the perfect standards of God and save himself, it is safe to say that Christ would not have put Himself through all that He endured at man’s hands, especially a Roman crucifixion. He came, lived a perfect life, died a vicarious death accepting in Himself the wrath of God that was due us, and rose again for our benefit, because we had no other hope.

I encourage you to receive the message that ought to be the theme of every Christmas celebration: Mankind daily manifests his sinful condition and his inability to do anything about it, but God sent His Son to redeem any who trust in Him. We need a Savior!

Those who come to Christ discover for themselves the true joy of the season, a joy that will last for eternity!

Any other message is a costly distraction.