Jesus Encounters

Jesus came to reveal God to man. He was born under the law and therefore He obeyed it. This included keeping festivals His Father had instructed the Israelites to keep. The Passover is one such festival. During this festival Jesus did signs and wonders which caused many to believe. Though many believed, Jesus did not trust Himself to them because He knew what was within man.

Many Believed

Jesus walked about healing, casting out demons and teaching. When people saw things with their own eyes, which they could not understand, they believed. John says that many believed. How did this success affect Jesus?

Did Not Trust

John tells us that Jesus did not commit Himself to men. No one needed to tell Him, He already new what was in them.  Time and again the triune God reached out to people who made promises to follow His way and then fell back.

Knew What was Within

Jesus was the creator and in Rev. 2:23 He identifies himself as He who searches minds and hearts. He knew what was within man. God the creator looks not to the external. He looks to the mind and heart. Jeremiah 17:9 reads,

“The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; Who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings.”

The signs and wonders Jesus performed got people’s attention. It was a doorway to a relationship with Almighty God. Some entered and some did not. Though many believed, Jesus did not trust Himself to them because He knew what was within man.

Still He came, still He surrendered to a cruel death, and still He wants our hearts.

The Word in the flesh came not as a flash in the pan but as fulfillment of the scripture. The words and actions of Jesus pointed to His Deity. As John tells the stories about Jesus, he is also relaying to His readers that the man Jesus surpassed all others. The disciples knew and believed because His zeal, and His testimony became the Word fulfilled.

His Zeal

When Jesus walked into the temple to celebrate the Passover as instructed by His Father, He was angry. This place, meant as a place of prayer, had become a place of merchandise. He was as a man obsessed, making a whip of chords and driving the sellers and their merchandise out, pouring out their profits and throwing their tables over. What had been provided for man’s relationship with God had degraded to greed and selfishness.

His Testimony

His actions caused a huge commotion. There had to be an accounting. “What gives you the right to barge in here and disrupt our business? Show us!” the Jews said. The Jews always wanted a sign. In this case they didn’t understand the action taken in front of them as fulfilled word. Therefore, Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Limited by their understanding, they saw only the building in which they stood. “How could something that took 46 years to build be raised in three days?” Jesus, however, was speaking of His body.

The Word Fulfilled

On this occasion the disciples remembered a scripture. “Zeal for Your house has eaten me up.” What Jesus was doing had been prophesied by the Psalm written by King David. Here in front of them this Jesus they were learning about was fulfilling the scripture. They did not however, understand about raising the temple until after His death. After His resurrection, they remembered He had said this. Further revelation came. The scripture and the words of Jesus lined up. The disciples knew and believed because His zeal, and His testimony became the Word fulfilled.

When God sent His Son to earth, we did not receive a pampered prince nor a coddled king. Instead, we received a veracious victor and a majestic Messiah. God sent His Son as a vulnerable baby to a humble family. He also placed Him within an oppressed culture, to a world that despised Him. God as man surrendered for a time His heavenly role. He came for a grand purpose which resulted in a mighty outcome.

A Heavenly Role

Before coming to earth, Jesus had a role in heaven. Jesus was One with the Father and they enjoyed constant fellowship. Through Jesus, God created the world. The angels worshipped Him. To explain this truth, Paul writes in the letter to the Colossians;

“For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things and in Him all things consist.”

His Grand Purpose

He gave up His heavenly role for a grand purpose. The writer to the Hebrews states what it is.

“Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

Further in Colossians we read,

“For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fulness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of this cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and irreproachable in His sight-“

The Outcome:

Prophecied

As a result, humanity learned first hand about God. Isaiah 53 describes the man who would come,

“For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness, and when we see Him there is no beauty that we should desire Him.”

“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;“

“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him and by His stripes we are healed.”

Participated

The apostle John writes of these things as a participant.

“that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handed, concerning the Word of life, the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us.”

The writer to the Hebrews tells us that Jesus was tempted in all things, as we are in order to sympathize with our weaknesses. He is our Great High Priest who daily intercedes for us.

Proclaimed

As Isaiah foretold, and the first century experienced, God through Jesus came to earth. John and the other apostles tell their story. They share their experiences so we can have fellowship and be One with the Father and His Son. He writes so that our joy may be full.

“Blessing and honour and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb forever and ever!”

Is it any wonder that at Christmas time we sing

“Joy to the World?!”

God as man surrendered for a time His heavenly role. He came for a grand purpose which resulted in a mighty outcome.