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becomes King and takes over the
throne of the earth.
Prior to the begettal and birth of
Jesus, God had said to bis mother–
to-be, Mary, by bis angel: "And,
behold, thou shalt conceive in thy
womb, and bring forth a son, and
shalt call bis name Jesus. He shall
be great, and shall be caBed the
Son of the Highest: and the Lord
God shall give unto him the throne
of bis father David: and he shall
reign over the house of Jacob for
ever; and of his kingdom there shall
be no end" (Luke 1:31-33). His
gospel was the good news of that
kingdom-the kingdom of God.
It
is vital that we understand, at
this point, that Jesus, during his
human life, was both God and man .
In Isaiah 7:14, Mary, the mother of
J esus, was prophesied as the virgin
who was going to bear a son. That
Son's name, in this prophecy, was
to be called lmmanue l , which
means " God with us." In other
words, Jesus was God as well as
human man . He had no human
father. God Almighty was bi s
father who begat him by means of
the Holy Spirit. But though Jesus
was actually "God with us," he was
also human like all other humans.
He was subject to being tempted
just as all other humans are
tempted. Although he was actually
God in the human flesh, yet in bis
ministry he functioned as a human.
Remember, he was the second
Adam. It was necessary for him
that he, as a human, reject the "for–
bidden tree" and accept the tree of
life.
It
was necessary that he, as the
fir s t Adam might have done ,
choose to rely completely on God
the Father. In fact, God was actual–
ly in Christ and J esus obeyed the
Father completely. He qualified to
wrest the throne of the earth from
Satan.
Jesus Was God
Why was it necessary that Jesus be
actually God in the human flesh?
Why was it necessary that he be
God? Why was it necessary that he
be human ? As God, he was the
Maker of all mankind. In Ephe–
sians 3:9 it is revealed tbat God
created all things by J esus Christ.
When Jesus was boro as a human,
bis life as our Maker was greater
than the sum total of all human
May 1986
lives. Since it is humans who have
sinned and come under the death
penalty, God's law required human
death as the penalty for human sin.
But, as our Maker, Jesus was the
only human whose death could pay
the penal ty for the sins of a ll
humans.
In no other way could the Cre–
ator God have redeemed a vast
humanity condemned to the penal–
ty of death.
Jesus Beaten for Our Heallng
We need to bear in mind that
though Jesus was God i n the
human ftesh, he was also human
even as you and
l.
He could suffer
the same physical pains. He had
been condemned to death by the
Roman governor Pilate on clam–
orous demand of shouting Jews.
He was a strong, vigorous, young
man of about 33 years of age, in the
peak of health. Because he had never
broken even one law of health, he
suffered the process of dying as no
other human ever did. He had been
up all night without sleep during the
trial before Pilate. Pilate, later that
morning , delivered him to be
scourged before being put to death.
Scourging consisted of being
stripped to the waist, bound over in
a bent position, tied to a post. He
was beaten by whips made of leath–
er thongs weighted down by pieces
of lead, broken shards of bone and
s ha rp jagged pi eces of metal,
attached at intervals of four to five
inches along the leather thongs.
They were designed to imbed
themselves deeply into the ftesh as
the thongs wrapped themselves
around the body. He was whipped
until bis flesh was toro open and
even his ribs appeared. Scourging
was intended to weaken the victims
so they would die quickly on the
stake of crucifixion. As foretold in
Isaiah 52:14: " His visage was so
marred more than any man, and his
form more than the sons of men."
This indescribable scourging was
endured that believers might be
healed from physical transgression,
sicknesses or disease (Isa. 53:5; 1
Pet. 2:24) . What a terrible price
our own very Maker paid that we
might, by believing, be healed. Yet
nearly all professing believers total–
ly ignore what their Savior pro–
vided for them, and instead of rely-
ing on him, pu t their faith in
human doctors, drugs, medicines
and knives.
Jesus was so weakened by this
terrible chas tisement that he was
unable to carry his cross, as he was
required to do, but for a short dis–
tance. Another was appointed to
carry it for him.
The Most Palnful and Desplcable
Death
Outside the city walls, at the Place
of the Skull (Golgotha), Jesus was
nailed to the cross. He was humil–
iated, spat · upon, ridiculed, and
jeered at.
More than that , because at that
moment he had taken on himself
our sins, in order to pay the penalty
in our stead , he was forsaken by
even his Father, God. As he hung
on the cross, helpless, a soldier
stabbed him with a spear; he
screamed in pain (Matt. 27:50,
Moffatt) and then died. He did this
because you and 1 have trans–
gressed the law of God. He paid the
supreme possible sacrifice for you
and forme.
One more supremely vi tal truth.
The resur rection of Jesus from the
dead was that of a human being and
the only one that could make possi–
ble the resurrect ion of humans,
once dead, to immortal life.
Now another vital prophecy. In
Isaiah 9:6-7: "For unto usa child is
boro, unto us a son is given: and the
goveroment shall be upon his shoul–
der: and bis name shall be called
Wonderful , Counseller, The mighty
God, The everlasting Father, The
Prince of Peace. Of the increase of
his goveroment and peace there shall
be no end, upon the throne of David,
and upon his kingdom, to order it,
and to establish it with judgment and
with justice from henceforth even
for ever. The zeal of the Lord of
hosts will perform this." Notice the
goveroment would be on bis shoul–
der. Jesus is going to be King over all
the earth. And one of the purposes of
bis coming was to announce that
kingdom. Jesus' gospel was not only
good news-it was an announcement
or good news proclamation of the
coming kingdom of God. What a
tragedy that a "traditional Chris–
tianity" has forsaken and lost that
vital and glorious gospel message
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