1) Jesus’
Perfect Life Verifies His Messianic Pedigree
and His Salvation Message
and His Salvation Message
Promises of a future Messianic King were prophesized hundreds of years before the Christ-child was ever born (see T. D. Alexander's, The Servant King for an excellent survey of this). The Old Testament prophets predicted exactly where the Messiah would be born, his royal family lineage, and what He would accomplish, among many things.[1]
At what point young Jesus fully understood His Deity and Messiahship is not clear,[2] but by age twelve Jesus is already teaching the religious leaders in His “Father’s house.” Jesus had some understanding of His chief mission even at a young age.
Jesus started His public ministry
around the age of thirty years old.[3]
“Luke 3:21-22 shows that with Jesus’ baptism comes the divine confirmation that
Jesus is the Divine Messiah.
The testimony of heaven is that Jesus is the "beloved Son" of God.[4] Jesus public ministry was comprised of mainly
preaching and miracles (see John 2-11). During his three and half year ministry Jesus spent much of
His time proclaiming the divine message of faith and repentance.[5]
As the “Anointed One,” Jesus understood that He was God,
very God (see John 1:1-14). As the God-man, Jesus had the
ability to perform supernatural works that in turn validated His divine
message. It was His clear cut message (the gospel according
to Jesus) that really infuriated the religious leaders as well as the superficial Jesus groupies. On a number of occasions the apostate leaders
of Judaism accused Jesus of blasphemy.[6] The people of Israel ultimately put Jesus to
death because they hated His message of genuine faith (alone) and humble repentance
(for an example of this see John 6:60-7:1).
The events surrounding the Lord's crucifixion point to
His innocence as well as His sinless perfection. Because the Jews were under Roman
jurisdiction they needed Pontius Pilate’s permission to kill Jesus. They accused Jesus of “blasphemy” because of
His Messianic claims of Deity.[7] To prove His claims were a lie, all the
people had to do was find one sin that Jesus committed and present it to the
authorities.[8] Yet, Pilate (as well as the people) could not
find one blemish in Jesus' perfect life. During
his mock trial even Pilate’s own wife proclaimed that Jesus was a righteous
man.[9]
As with Caiaphas in John 11:49-53 this lady spoke far better than she knew.
During Jesus’ life and ministry He was "tempted in
all points, as we are, yet He was without sin" (Heb. 4:15). The Lamb of God was spotless and blameless in
the sight of man and God. During his ministry in Israel Jesus declared over and over again that He was the Divinely commissioned Son of God. “This was either the most horrible blasphemy
or the most glorious truth.”[10] Jesus is either a liar, a lunatic, or he is the Lord (For example in John 17:1-5 the Son prays that the Father would glorify Him. This petition would be the height of blasphemy if Jesus is not who He claims to be). Jesus' perfect, unblemished life verified that He
truly was who He claimed to be (the Messiah, the Son of God[11])
and that His gospel message was from God and was thus authoritative. SERIES TO BE CONTINUED-
[1]
See 2 Samuel 7:12-14; Isaiah 7:14, 9:6-7, 11, 53; Micah 5:2; Luke 2:4; Roman 1:3; Phil. 2:5-11;
[2]
Some scholars believe at around age 12 Jesus had a full understanding of His
deity and His mission on earth. See Luke
2:40-49.
[3]
William Barclay, The Gospel of Luke, The Daily Study Bible Series
(Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1975), 37.
[4]
Darrell L. Bock, Luke 1:1-9:50, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New
Testament (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 1994), 345.
[5]
See Luke 4:14-21, 31-36, 43-44.
[6]
See John 5:18, 10:33, John 19:7.
[7]
Read John 19:7ff; Lev 24:16.
[8]
Since Jesus claimed to be God (the divine Messiah) then it is absolutely
necessary that He lived a perfect life.
[9]
John 18:38, 19:7; Matthew 27:4, 15-23.
[10]
William Hendrickson, The Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids, Mich.:
Baker Books, 1961), 417.
[11]
See John 20:30-31.
