Jesus: Life of History Part One

Jesus and His Life of History 

Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. John 21:25 English Standard Version

A. Introduction and Overview

The New Testament story about Jesus the Messiah is the message of the Sovereign LORD God to the world and continues the Old Testament story of Adam, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel).  The New Testament writers wanted EVERYONE to know and believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior because He is the long-awaited Promised Messiah (Christ) and Hosanna from the family line of Abraham and King David predicted in the Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures that brings salvation to the world.  Indeed, the Sovereign LORD God sent His Son Jesus and appointed His Son Jesus the King of the Jews and Ruler of the world with all power, authority, glory, and dominion as promised in the Old Testament.  

The Old Testament promised that the Sovereign LORD God would save the world through the holy Seed of a woman and defeat Satan by this holy Seed.  The Sovereign LORD God’s saving promise to save the world with His covenants to Abraham, Moses, and David, and then the new covenant promised to the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel.  Jesus fulfills these Old Testament promises and continues the Old Testament as the Apostle and High Priest appointed by His Holy Father – the living Sovereign LORD God.  The hopeful message about Jesus in the New Testament cannot be separated from the Old Testament storyline.  

When the New Testament opens, Jesus the Messiah came with the saving grace and life of God’s Kingdom.  Jesus is the Son of Man and the Christ (Messiah, Anointed One) who received the Kingdom from His Holy Father – the Ancient of Days with all glory, power, authority, and dominion.  Jesus is the new and better Moses and the great Prophet that Moses predicted would come speaking His Holy Father’s word as He is the Word of God – the Logos.  Even more, Jesus is the new Joshua that gives everyone the heart rest from His Holy Father – the Sovereign LORD God of heaven and earth.  Jesus is the true wisdom that leads us in the ways of God.  Significantly, Jesus is the Righteous Servant of God and Immanuel (God with us) predicted by the Old Testament prophets who atoned and gave His sinless life for our sins and the sins of the world as the perfect Lamb of God.  Jesus is our Creator, and He deserves our love and worship as Lord like His Holy Father – the Sovereign LORD God.  Most important, Jesus is God and the Son of the living Sovereign LORD God of heaven and earth. 

Everyone who believes and accepts Jesus as their Messiah (Christ) and the Son of the living God receives salvation and abundant life now and for eternity through our repentance with faith and obedience to Jesus and His Name.  During His short public ministry on earth, Jesus announced that He is the Resurrection and Life as Jesus is the Word of Life and Author of Life that speaks and teaches the Sovereign LORD God’s words.  The Name of Jesus means Savior, as Jesus is the Lord and Savior of the world.  Jesus’s Greek name is related to the Hebrew name Joshua, which means the Lord is salvation or Yahweh saves.  Jesus the Messiah is the Savior and King who changed world history. 

Jesus LIVES! The New Testament writers wrote to inform EVERYONE that the Resurrected Jesus is ALIVE, and He was a REAL historical person.  The Gospel writers tell of Jesus’s humanness, including His sorrow, disappointment, displeasure, anger, amazement, fatigue, and even uncertainty.  Jesus is Lord as the covenant Yahweh of Israel – the Great I AM.  The Gospel writer John presented Jesus as the Great “I AM” – covenant Yahweh (LORD) sent from His Holy Father in heaven.  John’s favorite designation of Jesus is that Jesus was “sent” by His Holy Father – the Sovereign LORD God.  Jesus’s title as Lord is rendered “Kurios” in the New Testament and functions as the Greek equivalent to the Hebrew divine name Yahweh. 

The New Testament writers tell the stories of many people who saw and eyewitness Jesus in human flesh and witnessed Jesus’s many miracles, wonders, and divine signs, including His resurrection from complete death to bring salvation and forgiveness to the world.  The Gospel writers – Apostle Matthew, John Mark, Luke, and Apostle John – agreed that Jesus’s tomb in Jerusalem was empty on Sunday morning.  Mary Magdalene saw the Resurrected Jesus in Jerusalem on Sunday, and Mary Magdalene became the first evangelist as she ran and told the other remaining apostles of Jesus.  Then, the Resurrected Jesus appeared with other women who faithfully followed Him during His ministry on Resurrection Sunday.  Next, the Resurrected Jesus appeared to two men who were going to Emmaus on Resurrection Sunday.  Afterward, the Resurrected Jesus appeared ALIVE as promised to Peter and the other remaining apostles after evil Judas Iscariot plotted with the envious religious leaders to kill Him for the love of money.  The Resurrected Jesus appeared to His disciples at Mount Olives in Galilee as He promised before ascension to heaven into the Glory Cloud, and He commanded His disciples to take the Good News (Gospel) of His life and message to the whole world to obey.  Even more, the Apostle Paul proclaimed that the Resurrected Jesus appeared ALIVE to more than 500 people and then to His half-brother James and all His apostles.  Notably, the Resurrected Jesus appeared to the Apostle Paul on the Damascus Road in His shining glorious light. 

The four New Testament Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – give the story and public life of the historical Jesus. The New Testament writers wanted the world to know that Jesus was a real historic man with human flesh and blood, but Jesus was also God.  Jesus was the God-Man that walked and lived amongst the world He created.  Thus, Jesus was both fully Man and God – the God-Man – united in His Divine Body.  The Holy Bible teaches that the Resurrected Jesus lives in the heavens, and He is seated at the right hand of His Holy Father.  After Jesus endured suffering on Calvary’s Cross for the sins of the world, Jesus sat down at the right hand of His Holy Father in heaven.  Sometimes, the Resurrected Jesus stands at the right hand of His Holy Father when He receives His holy servants into heaven.  

Jesus is One with His Holy Father – the Most High God, Yahweh.  Significantly, Jesus is filled with His Father’s glory and grace.  The King of the Universe has appointed His Son Jesus – the Son of Man – over His Kingdom with all His power, glory, authority, and dominion.  Therefore, Jesus has all power and authority in heaven and earth, and He is the King and Head of the church.  The King of the Universe appointed Jesus as King and Heir of all things and gave the Resurrected Jesus all authority in heaven and on earth as Lord.  Therefore, Jesus deserves all respect and allegiance as God. 

Other sources outside the New Testament give evidence that Jesus lived and walked the earth.  Proof of Jesus’s existence appears in non-Christian writings from historian Josephus (ca. A.D. 37-100), who wrote the great Jewish War with Rome. Also, Roman historians and other Roman writers noted the existence of Jesus, but they labeled Jesus as a troublemaker and magician who performed miracles. Rabbinic and other Jewish writings such as the Talmud and Midrashim have references to Jesus as “Yeshu” or “Yeshu ha Notzri” (“the Nazarene’), and they also considered Jesus a magician and a deceiver of Israel. The Qur’an references Jesus, His mother Mary, and Jesus’s disciples as well as Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension. 

Jesus is the Jewish descendant of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Israel), and King David, as the world’s salvation is from the Jews.  The New Testament writers continued Israel’s story and promise from the Old Testament with the coming of the Sovereign LORD God’s only begotten and unique Son, Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah (Christ, Anointed One).  In the Old Testament, the Sovereign LORD God made covenants (promises): 

• Noah’s covenant regarding the flood (see Genesis 6:18; Genesis 9:1-17) 
• Abraham with the Promise Land of Canaan (Israel-Palestine) and turning Abraham into a great nation (see Genesis 15:1-21; Genesis 17:1-27)
• Israel at Mount Sinai (see Exodus 19:1-24:18)
• Phinehas for a priestly dynasty (see Numbers 25:10-13)
• King David with the promise of a royal dynasty (see 2 Samuel 7:5-16)
• Promise through the prophet Jeremiah to make a “new covenant” of writing God’s Law (Torah) on the people’s hearts (see Jeremiah 31:31-34).

The complete and final fulfillment of the Sovereign LORD God’s covenant with His servant David is found in Jesus the Messiah, the Son of David and the Most High God.  The prophet Isaiah predicted that Jesus the Messiah would come from David’s family.  However, Jesus the Messiah was more than a descendant of King David because King David called Jesus his Lord.  

The Sovereign LORD God, as the King of Glory and King of the Universe, called Abraham and Abraham’s descendants Isaac, Jacob (Israel), and Jacob’s twelve sons (Twelve tribes of Israel) to take His holy message of goodness and justice into all the world as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.  With Jesus’s coming, the Sovereign LORD God sent His Son, Jesus the Lamb, into the world to proclaim and continue His message to all the world and bring salvation through repentance with obedience and faith in His Son, Jesus.  Jesus brought heaven’s goodness to earth – the Kingdom of God and the transforming Holy Spirit’s power, and He continued His Holy and Righteous Father’s message to the world with a Spirit-driven message of repentance.  Jesus’s message of repentance means to actively change one’s mind and whole heart from Satan’s selfish, lawlessness, and evil actions with sorrow for sin and turn through repentance with obedience and faith to Him and His Holy Father, which leads to God’s transformation of life by the Holy Spirit of God.  The Sovereign LORD God and His Son Jesus want a world filled with love, mercy, kindness, joy, patience, and peace towards one another and not Satan’s idolatry, murder and hatred, division and prejudice, adultery and sexual sins, lies and corruption, stealing and embezzlement, bribery, greed, and jealousy.  The Holy Bible promises that the new heavens and earth will be created and filled with light and righteousness and none of Satan’s evil, sorrows, and darkness.  

 

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