‘Christ became Obedient unto death, Unto death a death upon the cross
Therefore God has raised Him to the heights, Giving Him a name above all names.’
When I hear this song, I always feel delighted that grateful that only Jesus could do that…
To understand why only Jesus could do that, we should know why did Jesus have to die in the 1st place.
For this we have to go to the 1st book of the bible.
Genesis 2:16-17 says…16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;17but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
We all know the story of Adam and Eve and how God created Man in his image. He created Adam from dust by breathing (Gods spirit) into Adam, giving him life and out of Adam’s Rib created Eve and both had the same spirit that gave them life. God gave them dominion over every thing in the garden of Eden and asked them NOT to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge but, they could eat from any other tree in Eden. Adam and Eve walked with God and talked with God in the Spirit. How wonderful the feeling would have been to be with GOD…
Now Genesis 3:6 says…So, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
When the serpent tempted Eve, Adam was with Eve. Eve was deceived by the serpent into eating the fruit, but Adam saw that when Eve ate the fruit she did not die and then ate the fruit, hence Adam sinned with his eyes open. He disobeyed God’s direct instruction of not to eat from the tree of knowledge.
When Adam sinned, he was not in the spirit any more, he could not see God anymore, he could only hear his voice.
When God called out to Adam where are you? it was not because God could not see Adam. He is God…He saw Adam and he knew what Adam did… God was asking Adam, where are you in the walk with me? You were with me all this while… we were so connected. What happened? Why did you not believe me? I gave you everything, why did you not trust me?
When Adam disobeyed God, Sin came into the world. God gave this world to Adam and Adam gave it to Satan. Adam and the generations after Adam sinned and became a slave to Sin, Adam died in spirit and could no longer be with God. Death came into being and Man had to die eventually…. But God could not see Man perish. He could not see his beautiful creation go into Satan’s hand, he could not see his precious creation perish away… God knew that when Man will die, he will be judged God will have to punish him according to the Law. He is a JUST God…And he thought of a way to redeem Man.
If we do something wrong, we ought to be punished. And God will punish the one who does wrong. So, God sent his Son Jesus… Jesus is GODs WORD that became flesh, became human and came into this world to pay the price for SIN. So, Jesus was 100% GOD and 100% MAN. Jesus never sinned but when he carried that CROSS, he carried the SIN of the whole world, he was punished for our SINs and also DIED for us on the cross and went to HADES because of the SIN that we had done. But HADES could not contain him (Acts 2:31). Because he was righteous and never ever sinned in his life, he only came to bear our SINs and punishments and paid our PRICE in FULL and so HADES could not contain him and threw him out and GOD raised him up because of his righteousness and raised him over all principalities and Names … Jesus accomplished the work on the CROSS by bearing the sins of the world. He opened the door to heaven. In dying he gave us eternal life. What Adam Lost ….Jesus restored.
WE ALL HAVE SINNED AND WE ALL FALL SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD…(Romans 3:23)
BUT there is GOOD NEWS…. whoever, repents and believes that JESUS is the SON of GOD and JESUS died for us, that person is SAVED. The Holyspirit is deposited in him/her and the person is a changed person now because the Holyspirit is teaching and convicting us all the time. The Holyspirit reveals and testifies about Jesus to us, helps us to love Jesus and to follow Jesus. It’s the persons choice of what to follow…. Live in the Past of SIN and GUILT or be saved and follow JESUS. God has now forgiven the sins of this person and no longer remembers the sin of this person, he does not see this person, he now sees Jesus in this person’s place who is righteous and without SIN.
For us to be SAVED. JESUS had to die. Jesus conquered death because now when we die and go to God on Judgement Day, he sees the righteousness of his son Jesus on us and will say… you have not sinned, you can enter heaven, because my SON has paid a price for you. God sees the blood of Jesus on us. Our redemption is purchased by JESUS. We belong to JESUS. We are no longer slaves to SIN, but are called brothers and sisters of JESUS.
In the Old testament the Lamb was given as a sin offering to GOD for atonement of sin. This Lamb had to be without blemish. Jesus in the New testament is that Lamb without blemish, but where a lamb in the old testament had to be sacrificed every time for atonement of SIN. Jesus did it all… once and for all. The price was paid once and we have to save as many people to not let this sacrifice go in vain. Its like getting a Group Pass where you can have as many people come along as long as you believe the person who gave you this pass that is JESUS…. So simple and easy.
Hence Romans 5:19 says…For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.
We are made righteous by the blood of JESUS and only JESUS could do that for us because he LOVED us. Christ became obedient unto death because of his LOVE for US….
Matthew 16:24 says…Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
Even here Jesus gives us a choice, ‘if anyone desires’…Of course I desire you Jesus, you died for ME, you love ME and I desire to follow you… The Holyspirit in me helps me to love you more and because of that love I want to follow you Jesus, I have a choice to follow Jesus and I want to follow him because of what he did for me on that cross and I am called to share that good news with the world.
Jesus said…Deny yourself……Oh Oh…. But How??……I have my career, I have properties, a life, family, I have created all this in this world for me to live peacefully and comfortably…. I love you Jesus but how can I leave all this behind me and follow you?
But Jesus only says….’Deny himself and take his cross and follow me’
Deny yourself does not mean leave everything and follow Jesus. It simply means, surrender to Jesus, give up all your passions and desires for Jesus. Allow Jesus to enter your heart and change you, take complete control of you. When the Holyspirit is cleansing you and purifying you and sanctifying you, breaking you, melting you and moulding you, to be like Jesus…This is when people see you, they don’t see you but they see Jesus. When you pray for them and touch them for healing it’s not you, but Jesus touching them and Jesus healing them. Your life will not radiate you anymore but through you Jesus…We are Ambassadors of Christ spreading the glory of GOD to the entire world that through us others may know how awesome our GOD is, that he is the only TRUE LIVING GOD….Jesus Lives….and so do we.
- Your desires and passions are not yours anymore but Gods, to do GOOD towards your brothers and sisters in Christ and towards your neighbors.
- Your plans are not yours but Gods purpose in your life.
- Your path is not yours but Gods calling on your life.
You can either have Jesus in your heart or money, wealth, riches, career and family. Its either this or that.
Deny self simply means total surrender to God and being humble and obedient unto him allowing him to work through your life. Deny whatever your flesh wants and do whatever the spirit wants to do. Jesus was obedient to God and we have to follow the example of Jesus and be obedient to GOD even if it means dying for JESUS when persecution comes.
Jesus says Take your cross and follow me.
My cross has my sins and guilt and shame which I have exchanged with Jesus when I accepted Jesus as my lord and saviour. Jesus carried my cross of SIN when he walked to calvary and I carry Jesus’s cross which is so light because it has nothing for Jesus never sinned. But carrying my cross daily means confessing daily for the sins that I may have done, unknowingly or knowingly and repenting for it and correcting it. So, in doing so, there will be one day when I do not SIN anymore because the Holyspirit has sanctified me by correcting me and I made a choice to follow the voice of the Holyspirit in renewing my mind to have a mind like Christ. Jesus said to follow him because Jesus became flesh, also to set an example of how believers should live.
Jesus was God he did not need baptism of water. But Jesus was baptized to set an example to us that we need to repent and be baptized in water and Holyspirit to see the kingdom of God(John3:3). In Baptism when we are immersed in water symbolises being buried with Christ and when we are lifted up symbolises that we are risen in Christ (Romans 6:4)
When Jesus was tempted in the desert by Satan, he did not give in to temptation rather quoted scriptures thus setting an example that when we are faced with temptations, we need to be steadfast and trust God through the promises that God has given us through the words in the Bible.(Matthew 4:1-11)
Jesus loved to pray to God alone… talk to God alone and thus sets and example that we need to set time alone, getting on our knees to pray to God not in fancy words but talking to GOD from our heart because GOD knows our heart, and he loves to talk to us.
Jesus went around doing good after being baptized with the holy spirit as Isaiah 61:1 says…“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken hearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
I take this not only to be for Jesus but we ALL are called to do the same. If Jesus did this with the help of the Holyspirit, then he set an example for us to follow. It’s the same Holyspirit that will empower us to follow Jesus to preach good news of the Gospel to everyone, heal the broken hearted, set the captives free and free people from bondage.
WE ALL ARE CALLED TO FOLLOW THE EXAMPLE THAT JESUS HAS SET BEFORE US…Let the Holyspirit guide you to follow Jesus.
Today if Jesus asks you to follow him. Don’t cling onto worldly things, but set your heart on Jesus and cling only to HIM…As Hebrew 4:7 says… “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.”
I have decided to FOLLOW JESUS what is your choice?
Ambassadors of Christ 