01.043. WHAT GOD DID THROUGH HIS SON JESUS CHRIST
Lesson Thirty-Eight WHAT GOD DID THROUGH HIS SON JESUS CHRIST Scripture Reading: John 14:1-10.
Scriptures to Memorize: “God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners, hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in his Son” (Hebrews 1:1-2). “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19). “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9).
133. Q. What, firstly, did God do through His Son Jesus Christ?
A. Through Jesus Christ God revealed Himself to mankind.
(1) Hebrews 1:1-2—“God . . . hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in his Son.” John 1:18—“No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” John 12:45—“he that beholdeth me beholdeth him that sent me.” John 14:9—“he that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” (2) If you would listen to the wisdom of God, hear, study, meditate upon the teaching of Jesus. No human being has ever been able to add one moral or spiritual truth to the body of teaching which He left in the world. John 7:46—“Never man so spake.” Matthew 7:28—“the multitudes were astonished at his teaching,” etc. (3) If you would know something of the holiness of God, contemplate the matchless purity of Jesus, who not only gave a perfect teaching, but a perfect example as well. John 8:46—“which of you convicteth me of sin?” He made the will of His heavenly Father the supreme rule of conduct in His life. John 4:34—“My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to accomplish his work.” And to the last moment of His incarnate life, even during His agony in the garden, the burden of His prayer was, always, “nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42). (4) If you would see the power of God contemplate all the “mighty works and wonders and signs which God did by him” (Acts 2:22). In this connection, note the wide variety of His miracles as to kind, such as, the feeding of a multitude with a few loaves and fishes, the turning of water into wine, the cursing of the fig tree, the stilling of the tempest, the casting out of demons, the healing of the sick of all manner of diseases, and the raising of the dead. He had but to speak, and all Nature obeyed His voice. Matthew 8:27—“and the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?” (5) If you would comprehend the love of God for man, behold the Sacrificial Lamb suffering upon Calvary’s tree, the innocent for the guilty, offering Himself voluntarily and freely for the sins of the whole world. Isaiah 53:5—“He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” John 15:13—“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” 1 John 4:10—“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
134. Q. What, secondly, did God do through His Son Jesus Christ?
A. Through Jesus Christ He gave to all mankind a Perfect Pattern of living, a Perfect Example of righteousness and holiness.
Hebrews 4:15—“For we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one that hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” Hebrews 7:26—“For such a high priest became us, holy, guileless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.” etc. Because of His personal purity, God has presented Him to us as our only Leader and Exemplar in the conflict of life. Isaiah 55:4—“Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander to the peoples.” Matthew 17:5—“This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.” Ephesians 5:1-2—“Be ye therefore imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, even as Christ also loved you, and gave himself up for us.” 1 Thessalonians 1:6—“And ye became imitators of us, and of the Lord.” Hebrews 12:1-2—“Therefore let us also . . . lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” One reason why the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14) was, that He might show us by His example how we should live and walk in order to please God.
135. Q. What, thirdly, did God do through His Son Jesus Christ?
A. In Jesus Christ God provided an all-sufficient Atonement for the sins of the whole world.
(This subject will be treated fully in Lesson Thirty-Nine.) 136.Q.What, fourthly, did God do through His Son Jesus Christ?
A. Through Jesus Christ He ratified and established the New Covenant, the Covenant of Grace, with its essential principles, laws, institutions, blessings, and rewards.
(1) The New Covenant was ratified when Christ died on the Cross. Hebrews 8:6—“But now hath he obtained a ministry the more excellent, by so much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which hath been enacted upon better promises.” Hebrews 9:15-16, “And for this cause he is the mediator of a new covenant, that a death having taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, they that have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must of necessity be the death of him that made it.” (2) The New Covenant is the Covenant of Grace. Romans 8:3—“For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” John 1:17—“For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Romans 6:14—“For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under law, but under grace.” Romans 5:21—“that, as sin reigned in death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (3) The New Covenant is the Gospel Covenant. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, “Now I make known unto you, brethren, the gospel which I preached unto you . . . For I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried; and that he hath been raised on the third day according to the scriptures.” Romans 1:16—“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
137. Q. What, fifthly, did God do through his Son Jesus Christ?
A. Through Jesus Christ He achieved the conquest of death and procured for His saints the hope and certainty of a glorious immortality.
Acts 2:32—“This Jesus did God raise up, whereof we are all witnesses.” Acts 10:40—“Him God raised up the third day.” John 11:25-26—“I am the resurrection, and the life . . . whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die.” 2 Timothy 1:10—“our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” Romans 8:11—“he that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall give life also to your mortal bodies through his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” Php 3:20-21—“the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory.” Our Lord Jesus Christ proposes to redeem us not only from the bondage of sin, but from the bondage of death as well. Romans 8:23—“we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” Cf. also 1 Corinthians 15:35-57.
138. Q. What, finally, does God propose to do through His Son Jesus Christ?
A. He proposes nothing short of the complete purging of our world of all the works of the devil.
Hebrews 2:14-15—“Since then the children are sharers in flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same; that through death he might bring to nought him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and might deliver all them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” 1 John 3:8—“To this end was the Son of God manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” 1 Corinthians 15:25-26—“For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be abolished is death.” Revelation 20:10—“And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the beast and the false prophet; and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” Revelation 20:14—“And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire.” Revelation 21:4—“and death shall be no more.” 2 Peter 3:13—“But, according to promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”
REVIEW EXAMINATION OVER LESSON THIRTY-EIGHT 133.Q.What, firstly, did God do through His Son Jesus Christ?
134. Q. What, secondly, did God do through His Son Jesus Christ?
135. Q. What, thirdly, did God do through His Son Jesus Christ?
136. Q. What, fourthly, did God do through His Son Jesus Christ?
137. Q. What, fifthly, did God do through his Son Jesus Christ?
138. Q. What, finally, does God propose to do through His Son Jesus Christ?