What does the Bible mean when it says that Jesus redeemed us?

Series: Growing Together in God's Grace

February 24, 2013

Dear friends in Christ.

I’d like to begin this morning by telling you a story that you might recognize, because this is a story that I have used on a number of occasions.  I know I used it in a sermon when I was in South Dakota.  I know that I’ve used it in confirmation classes, but I cannot remember if I’ve ever used in a sermon since I’ve been here.  So, if you’ve heard it before, hopefully you’ll enjoy it as much as you did the first time you heard it.  It is a story about a little boy named Tom who carried his new boat to the edge of the river.  “He carefully placed it in the water and slowly let out the string. How smoothly the boat sailed! Tom sat in the warm sunshine, admiring the little boat that he had built. Suddenly a strong current caught the boat. Tom tried to pull it back to shore, but the string broke. The little boat raced downstream.  Tom ran along the sandy shore as fast as he could. But his little boat soon slipped out of sight. All afternoon he searched for the boat. Finally, when it was too dark to look any longer, Tom sadly went home.  A few days later, on the way home from school, Tom spotted a boat just like his in a store window. When he got closer, he could see -- sure enough -- it was his! Tom hurried to the store manager: "Sir, that's my boat in your window! I made it!" "Sorry, son, but someone else brought it in this morning. If you want it, you'll have to buy it for one dollar." Tom ran home and counted all his money. Exactly one dollar! When he reached the store, he rushed to the counter. "Here's the money for my boat." As he left the store, Tom hugged his boat and said, "Now you're twice mine. First, I made you and now I bought you.”[1]

 Well, in the same way that Tom made his boat and then later redeemed his boat when he bought it back from the store clerk, so also Jesus, our Savior redeemed us from our lives of slavery to sin and death.  For the truth is, that is what we were before we came to faith in Jesus as our Savior.  Just as Jesus tells us himself when he says, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." (John 8:34–36, NIV84) and as Paul tells us, “Just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned—" (Romans 5:12, NIV84).  Though the Lord had made us, just as Tom had made his boat, we were lost to the Lord when we fell into sin.  For when we fell in to sin, we became slaves of sin, worthy only of death, and subservient only to our master, the devil.  Only about 150 years ago, this was the norm for so many people of color in our nation.  They were slaves who were subservient to their masters.  If they disobeyed their masters, they could be beaten.  If there master was in a bad mood, they could be beaten.  If there master was cruel, vindictive, or simply wanted to show off, they could be beaten.  In so many cases the live of a slave was a miserable existence.  This is why Christ came to redeem us.  He came to redeem us, to buy us back, and set us free from our slavery to sin, death, and satan.

In the publication, Our Daily Bread, Paul Lee Tan illustrated the meaning of redemption with this story, “When A.J. Gordon was pastor of a church in Boston, he met a young boy in front of the sanctuary carrying a rusty cage in which several birds fluttered nervously. Gordon inquired, "Son, where did you get those birds?" The boy replied, "I trapped them out in the field." "What are you going to do with them?" "I'm going to play with them, and then I guess I'll just feed them to an old cat we have at home." When Gordon offered to buy them, the lad exclaimed, "Mister, you don't want them, they're just little old wild birds and can't sing very well." Gordon replied, "I'll give you $2 for the cage and the birds." "Okay, it's a deal, but you're making a bad bargain." The exchange was made and the boy went away whistling, happy with his shiny coins. Gordon walked around to the back of the church property, opened the door of the small wire coop, and let the struggling creatures soar into the blue.”[2]   Before Christ redeemed us, we were like those struggling creatures.  We couldn’t free ourselves from our slavery to sin, so Christ set us free from our sins by shedding his precious blood in our place.

In the Old Testament, God said that when an animal (such as a sheep or bull) was sacrificed, it was the blood of the animal that paid for the people’s sins.  (see Leviticus 17:10-14)  The life of the animal was in its blood.  When the blood was drained from the animal, its life was God.  This was the price that had to be paid for the people to have forgiveness, and this was the price that Jesus paid to ransom us, or redeem us from our slavery to sin.  This is the very truth of which Paul assures us in his letter to the Romans:  “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus." (Romans 3:21–26, NIV84)

In an online Bible Study Robert Davis paints a very vivid picture of the price that Jesus paid to redeem us!  Using the name Yahweh to refer to God the Father, and the name Adonai to refer to Jesus, Robert Davis says, “Yahweh The Father laid His hand on the head of the Son Adonai and crushed Him with the full force of His wrath to pay for the sin debt for all mankind....Adonai was slaughtered across His back with a cat of nine tails...beaten and whipped....spikes nailed through His hands and feet so Adonai couldn't get off the altar [of the cross]....and when His job was complete...all sin had been paid for...He cries out it is finished and slumped over on the alter....and they speared Adonai to drain the blood…onto the altar for man and for God....and on the third day Adonai rose from the dead...Hallelujah!!!!! [3]

There was no price other than the blood of Jesus that could set us free from our sins, as the Sons of Korah tell us in Psalm 49: “No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him— 8 the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough—" (Psalm 49:7–8, NIV84) and as Peter tells us, “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God." (1 Peter 1:18–21, NIV84)

Not all the money in the world could ever be enough to pay for the sin of even just one person!  But Jesus’ blood did what all the world’s money could never do.  It paid the ransom to free us from our slavery to sin, death, and the devil.  It was able to pay the ransom because it was God who made his Son, who had no sin, to be sin for us, so that we might be the righteousness of God.  It was God, the Father, who laid on his Son the iniquity of us all, allowing him to be pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities so that by his wounds we might have peace.  In short, God the Father made his Son the Scapegoat who bore our sins in our place. (see Leviticus 16:20-22) You see, each year, on the Day of Atonement, a live goat would be brought to the temple so that the High Priest might place his hands on its head and confess all the sins of the People of Israel.  In this way the High Priest would place the sins of the people on the scapegoat.  Then the goat would be led out into the desert to be left to die, thus picturing the sins of the people going away with the goat.  Though the goat hadn’t sinned, he died because all the sins of the people had been placed on him.  So it was with Jesus.  Even though he hadn’t sinned, he died because all the sins of the world had been placed upon his innocent head.

He died in our place to free us from our sins, and he rose again from the dead to assure us that we have been redeemed.  Though he was the one who made us, he was also the one to redeem us by his death and resurrection from the dead.  Now, through faith in him, we know the forgiveness that is ours.  Out of thanks for the one who made us and redeemed us, we now seek to live our lives to serve him.  Through faith in the one who loved us so much that he gave his life in our place, we now look forward to the day when he will take us to be with him forever in his heavenly kingdom.  As John say, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1, NIV84)

Give thanks to the Lord your God that he has redeemed us through the precious blood of his Son, Jesus Christ, Our Savior.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

GraceEvangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN

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[1] Copied from: http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/r/redemption.htm accessed on February 23, 2013, Originally published by Good News Publishers, Westchester, IL.

[2] Copied from: http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/r/redemption.htm accessed on February 23, 2013, Originally published in Our Daily Bread.

[3] Copied from: https://faithlife.com/notes/16055  accessed February 23, 2013.

Jesus is our Prophet, Priest, and King

 

Series: Growing Together in God's Grace

First Sunday in Lent February 17, 2013

Dear friends in Christ.

When I was a kid, one of my favorite things about Saturday morning cartoons was School House Rock. If you are not familiar with it or simply don’t remember it, School House Rock, was a series of animated musical and educational short films that aired from 1973-1979, airing on ABC during Saturday morning cartoons.  Each video was roughly 3 minutes long and they were designed to teach children on a number of different subjects.  There were videos that dealt with math, grammar, science, and even our Government.  From the familiar Conjunction Junction, What’s Your Function? to I’m Just a Bill, these videos inspired many of the children of my generation and even instilled some of these concepts that would later be expanded teachers in our Schools.  Case in point, one of these vides from this series was designed to teach children about the three offices or branches of our federal government.  Using the concept of a three ring circus they showed that in the same way that a single circus can have three different rings so also our government has three branches.  Each of those branches has a specific purpose and each branch was designed to be a check and a balance for the other branches so that our government would run smoothly and be a benefit to our nation.

Well, just as our government has three branches to it, our Savior also holds three different offices, or jobs, you could say.  As we know from our days in Sunday school and Confirmation class, we know that the three offices our Savior holds are, Prophet, Priest, and King.  We know that these offices were given to him by his heavenly Father so that he might be a benefit and a blessing to us, making us his own through his life, his death, and his resurrection.  This is what Jesus did for us while on earth serving as our Prophet, our Priest, and our King. 

“But why,” you might be asking, “why did Jesus serve in these three offices?”  What was the point of them?  What was the point of him serving as our Prophet, our Priest, and our King?  Well, as we know, everything that was written about the coming Savior was written to teach us and instruct us, and just about everything in the Old Testament was designed to foreshadow what the Savior would do when he came.  Take for example the office of prophet.  We know from the Old Testament Scriptures that the job of the prophet was to go and tell people the word of God.  All you have to do is page through the Old Testament and you see example after example of prophets proclaiming to the people all the things that the Lord wanted them to say.  This is exactly what prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah did.  This is exactly what Elijah and Elisha did.  This is exactly what Nathan did when he came to King David, and this is what Moses did as he led the people of Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land.  In fact, it was Moses who prophesied that Jesus would serve as a Prophet of the Lord, when Moses proclaimed, “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.” (Deuteronomy 18:15, NIV84)

Isn’t this exactly what Jesus did when he was here on the earth?  All we have to do is read the gospels and we learn that in the short three years of his earthly ministry Jesus was constantly traveling.  He was moving from place to place so that he might continually proclaim to all the Israelites the message of the Lord’s salvation through faith in him.  For in the same way that the Old Testament Prophets proclaimed the Word of God and pointed people toward the coming Savior, Jesus continually proclaimed the Word of God and pointed people to himself, the Savior of the World.  In fact, if you ever have the opportunity to see a map of all the places that Jesus traveled, you will quickly realize that he traveled throughout all of the territory that had once been held by the twelve tribe of Israel.  He preached God’s Law, convicting the people of their sins, and he preached the gospel message of God’s forgiveness—forgiveness that would be completely and fully won for us when he sacrificed himself on the cross for our sins. 

In this way the Lord Jesus served as our prophet while he lived here on earth, yet, this is an office that our Savior still holds today.  For after he rose from the dead and returned to his Father in heaven, he sent his apostles out to proclaim the message of salvation.  They went out and proclaimed all that Jesus said and did and the message of salvation continued to spread from generation to generation.  Even today as the Lord sends us out to proclaim the message of salvation, we proclaim the very words that he spoke while he was here on earth.  We read and study the very message of salvation that he proclaimed, and through his word he continues to proclaim to us the message that he once proclaimed to his people.  But the office of prophet is not the only office Jesus held, for in the same way that our government is more than just the office of the President, not only did our Savior hold the office of Prophet, he also held the office of Priest. 

Now, when the Lord established the Tabernacle in the wilderness, and later the Temple in Jerusalem, the whole system of worship was designed to show how they had been separated from their God by sin, and that they needed someone to intercede on their behalf.  This was another Old Testament picture of what the coming Savior would do for them, and this picture was vividly revealed in the office of the Priests.  You see, in Moses day, and until the need for the daily sacrifice was done away with by Jesus’ death and resurrection, the priests served as the intermediaries between God and the People.  So, if you had been living in those days and you became so angry with a person that you initiated a fist fight with him, the Law of Moses said that you had to make a very specific sacrifice to receive forgiveness for that sin.  But the thing was, you couldn’t do it yourself.  You would have to go to the priest at the Tabernacle or at the Temple with your offering.  The priest would make the sacrifice on your behalf and then tell you that your sin had been forgiven because the sacrifice to God had been made on your behalf.

As our High Priest, Jesus represented us before the Lord when he, as our Priest, sacrificed himself as the offering of atonement to pay for our sins.  In fact, the writer to the Hebrews tells us, “For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. 25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him." (Hebrews 9:24–28, NIV84)  And as John tells us, “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 2:1–2, NIV84)

Though countless animals were offered day after day at the Temple in the Old Testament times, not one of those was able to completely take away sins, because each one of those sacrifices was a picture of the complete atonement that Jesus would make as our High Priest.  When people brought sheep and watched the priest burn their offerings on the altar for their sins, they were viewing a vivid picture of how the coming Savior was pay for all their sins.  All sins would be put on him and he, rather than they, or rather than we, would be put to death for that sin.  That is the amazing thing!  Jesus was not only the priest who offered the sacrifice on behalf of sins of the world, he was also the sacrifice that paid the price our sins deserved. 

Yet, this was not the end of Jesus’ roll as our priest, for still today he serves as our intercessor in heaven.  As we heard from John only a moment ago, “we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.” (1 John 2:1, NIV 84)  Or as Paul tells us, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time." (1 Timothy 2:5–6, NIV84)  As our Priest it is Jesus who continually intercedes for us before his Father’s throne in heaven.  He is the one who speaks to the Father in our defense, who reminds our Father that we are now innocent because he has washed us clean of every spot and stain of sin, and he is the one who carries our prayers to our Father’s throne as well.  No longer do we need a human priest to intercede for us before our God, because we can approach our God with full confidence, through Jesus who is our High Priest in heaven.

Yet, there is one final office of our Savior at which we want to look today, and that is the office of King.  We know that Jesus is our King because he himself declared it to be so, when Pilate asked him if he was a king.  Now, in the days of the Old Testament, the king was kind of like the president of the country.  He wasn’t elected by the people rather he was elected, or chosen by God.  As the king, two of his main duties were to make decisions that were beneficial to the welfare of the people, as well as to take the lead in defending the nation when an enemy attacks.  This is exactly what Jesus did as our King while he was here on earth, he fought the battle against sin and death and won the victory for us, as the writer to the Hebrews tells us, “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—" (Hebrews 2:14, NIV84)  and as Paul tells us, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 15:56–57, NIV84)

Before the Super Bowl was played this year, both teams received all sorts of press and praise in the news papers.  But since the Ravens were victorious, they are the ones who are receiving all the praise and accolades of victory.  Both teams worked hard throughout the season.  They battled ferociously on the field in the final game, and when it was all said and done it was the Ravens who had won it for themselves and for their fans.  As our King Jesus deserves all our praise because he is the one who fought the battle against sin and satan and won the victory over death for each and every one of us.  Now, because of his victory, we know that he lives and reigns in our hearts.  He still fights for us and cares for us our King who is still leading us through this life on our way to the life that is to come, where we will live by his side, forever, in his heavenly kingdom.

How amazing it is that Jesus, our redeemer, served these three offices while he was here on earth and still continues to serve them from heaven.  What a blessing that we are blessed so completely by his willing obedience.  As our Prophet, Priest, and King, Jesus has freed us from our sins, made us his own by faith, and continues to lead us on the path to heaven.  May we always live as his children, praising him that we are his own, that he has forgiven us, and that we will one day live with him forever. 

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

GraceEvangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN

Immanuel (John 18:3-12)

Series: Names of Wondrous Love

Ash Wednesday

February 13, 2013

 

Dear friends in Christ.

Imagine with me, for a moment, a scene that took place back in eternity.  A scene that took place even before the Lord created the heavens and the earth.  Imagine with me, the Father speaking to his beloved Son and saying, “Son, the only way to free mankind from sin’s curse is for you to take on human flesh and put yourself in mankind’s place; to become a speck of cells in a woman’s womb and to be born as a helpless child; to become a man so that you can be the perfect substitute for mankind, not only under the law, but also on the cross so that every lawbreaking sinner deserves.”  Though we really don’t know how the dialogue went back in eternity when the Lord God was planning for the salvation of the human race, even before he had created us, we do know the Son’s response.  It was willing obedience to his Father’s plan and wondrous love for unlovable sinners, love far beyond our comprehension.

So, when the time came and Christ, who is God from all eternity became true man, he didn’t give up his deity.  Rather, he added our humanity to his person.  He became the God-man, one person with both a divine nature and a human nature.  This was the miracle behind the divine plan of salvation.  As God, it was Christ who gave the laws.  As man, he was subject to them.  As the God-man, his perfect keeping of the law was applied to you and me.  As God, he could not die.  As man he was mortal.  As the God man he did die, and with his holly, precious blood, he made the full payment that was demanded for our sins.

Nearly seven hundred years before his birth, God used his prophet to put a name on this miracle when Isaiah foretold, The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." (Isaiah 7:14, NIV84)  Roughly nine months before Jesus’ birth, the angel repeated these same words to Joseph.  The baby would be Immanuel, the name that very simply means, “God with us.”

When Jesus was on earth not many recognized him as Immanuel, because he had put aside the use of his divine powers.  He still had them, but he only made use of them occasionally so that he could walk the road to Calvary.  But on that night at the Garden of Gethsemane, we get a glimpse of God with us.  I wonder what Malchus, the high priest’s servant would tell us about Jesus?  Fingering his ear that had been sliced off by the rash swoop of Peter’s sward and then sealed back on by Jesus’ loving hand I can only imagine Malchus wondering, “Who is this Jesus anyway?”

When the soldiers who came forward to bind Jesus’ hands and lead him away they must have been wondering about Jesus as well.  How different this arrest was!  They had come with their lanterns to comb through the shadows of the garden to find a dangerous criminal, only to have him walk out to meet them.  They had come ready to fight off his followers only to hear him tell his followers to put their weapons away.  But strangest of all was how they had been knocked to the ground when they heard Jesus say, “I am he.”  How they must have stepped forward somewhat hesitantly to slap the handcuffs on him. While they ended up arresting him, they could hardly say they had overpowered him. It was more as if he was letting them arrest him.  It was more like he was going with them willingly. If they had been students of the Old Testament, they might have recalled the words of Isaiah chapter 53, “He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth” (v. 7). No, this was no ordinary man whom they were arresting. This was Immanuel, the God-man in wondrous love going silently, willingly to the slaughter.

What about the One who was arrested? What would he say? He could hardly say, “I didn’t know where it would all lead to.” In verse 4 of our text, we are told, “Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, ‘Who is it you want?’” The God-man knew what was coming. He knew about the cruel punches that would bruise his face. The sharp thorns that would rip his scalp. The sadistic whip that would chew up his back. The cruel nails that would puncture his flesh. The fires of hell that would sear his soul. He knew all this, and yet he willingly let them tie his hands. Nor could he say, “I couldn’t do anything else.” This was the almighty Lord, who with one snap of his fingers could have had more than 72,000 angels there to surround him and who with one sentence had already placed his would-be captors on the ground.

We really don’t have to ask what Jesus would have said that night in the garden. He had already said it earlier. In John 10:17,18 he declared, “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.” Jesus would speak to us of willingness, of willing love for sinners that tied his hands tighter than any rope, of willing love for sinners that compelled him to carry out the Father’s plan of salvation.

This is Jesus, our Savior.  This is Immanuel, God with us.  He is not a God who is far off in the heavens, glancing at us from time to time across the miles. Rather He is our God who is here with us to free us from our sins.  He is our God who stands before us in his Word with those comforting words: “Go in peace, your sins are forgiven.” He’s there in his Holy Supper, giving us the very body and blood that he used to pay for our sins. Our Immanuel has promised never to leave us or forsake us, but to surround us with his forgiveness.

He’s “God with us” also in our troubles. He is the one who knows what they are like because he suffered many of them himself. Is it grief caused by the loss of a loved one? He knows, having wept at the grave of his friend Lazarus. Is it temptation that never seems to leave us alone? He knows, as one who faced Satan’s relentless attacks from the beginning to the end of his earthly ministry. Is it loneliness brought on by unfaithful friends? He knows, having experienced the betrayal of a Judas and the denial of a Peter. Not only does he know but he can do something about our troubles as the God-man who can do anything.

He’s “God with us” also in our feeble attempts at serving him. When it’s two steps forward and three steps backward on the path of sanctified living, he knows. When it’s our old sinful nature getting once again the upper hand in daily battle with our new man, he knows. He’s there to whisper in our ears, “Don’t give up. Remember, I have already paid for your sins, and I remember your failings no more. Remember that I’m here to strengthen you through Word and sacrament so that you can walk more closely with me. Remember I am Immanuel—‘God with you.’”

And he will be “God with us” when our last moment comes. We know not when that time will be. But we do know who will be there at our side when it comes. When the walk through the valley of the shadows faces us, what comfort to be able to say, “I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” What comfort to know that he’s well acquainted with the valley of death because he has walked it before us. What comfort to know that though the shadows may threaten us, they can’t harm us because he has paid for sin and conquered death. What comfort to know our walk will end in heaven at his side where we can say to him whose love has brought us there, “Now I am always with you.”

We can’t leave the Garden of Gethsemane without one more look at our Immanuel. Listen to what he’s telling us in his wondrous love. “Don’t you see,” he tells us, “I let them tie me that I might untie you.” “Don’t you see,” he says, “with the crimson scissors of my blood I’ve cut through the cords of sin that bound you hand and foot for Satan’s service and for hell’s confinement.” “Don’t you see,” he says, “you’re free—free from sin, free from Satan, free from death, free to live for me on earth, and free to live with me in heaven.”

Lord, help us never to lose sight of our Immanuel and of his wondrous love.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN

Why is it important to know that Jesus is both God and Man?

Series: Growing Together in God's Grace

February 10, 2013

Dear friends in Christ.

Even though we are in the middle of winter right now, let’s fast forward in our thinking to the summer time and baseball season.  Imagine with me that today is the state championship game.  It is the bottom of the 9th inning, the bases are loaded, there are two outs.  Le Sueur is just one hit away from winning the title and the team’s weakest hitter is up.  The team’s best hitter is on the bench because he injured his ankle and can’t play shortstop as he usually does.  But he has his uniform on so he can pinch-hit if he is needed.  What would you do if this was your situation and you were the coach?  Without even having to think about it, you would have your best hitter pinch-hit so that the team would have a better chance at winning the title and going home victorious.  In a similar way, we have a “pinch hitter” who stepped in and won salvation for all of us.  We could never win salvation for ourselves, so Jesus became our substitute and did that for us.  In fact, as we study the lesson before us this morning, we will take a close look at what the Bible tells us about Jesus himself, how he was both God and man.  As we do this, we will seek to answer for ourselves the question, “Why is it important for us to know that Jesus is both God and Man?”

To answer this question, we want to take a look at the Scriptures and see why Jesus is God and man.  We look first at 1 John 5:20 where we read, “We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life." (1 John 5:20, NIV84) and next we read 1 Timothy 2:5 where Paul tells us, “There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” (1 Timothy 2:5, NIV84).  Though there are many other passages that we could include here today, from these two passages alone it is clear to us why we know that Jesus is both God and man.  Simply put, we know that it is true because that is what the Bible teaches!  Here and in other passages we learn that Jesus is the Son of God who is both true God and true man! 

In our world we have special electronic devices that are programmable and that can store, retrieve, and process data.  We call these special devices computers.  We call them computers simply because this is the name that we have given to the devices that we use to store, retrieve, access and process data and information in our world today.  Likewise, when the Bible calls Jesus God, id does so because that is what Jesus is, and when the Bible calls Jesus man, it does so because that is what Jesus is.  As we confess in the creed, Jesus is both true God and true man, and we know this not only because the Bible calls Jesus both God and man, but because the Bible also reveals that Jesus has attributes and actions of both God and man. 

Take for example Matthew 8:23-27.  This is the account of Jesus stilling the storm on the Sea of Galilee.  You remember how he was tired when he got into the boat with his disciples and how he fell asleep.  When the storm came up and the disciples were terrified that they would drown, they actually had to wake Jesus up.  But when they woke him up, he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves and the storm completely calmed down.  Or again, John 11:38-44: you will undoubtedly remember how Jesus arrived at the home of Mary and Martha four days after Lazarus had died.  When he went out to the tomb, Jesus was deeply moved and troubled in his spirit, and even he broke down and wept at the place where Lazarus was buried.  Yet that wasn’t the end of it, because it was there that Jesus gave the order to open the tomb.  It was there that Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”  It was there that Lazarus came forth from the tomb, because Jesus had raised him from the dead and given his life back to him.

These are but a couple examples of Jesus’ actions and attributes that show him to be both God and man, and there are so many more in the Scriptures that reveal the same thing.  These are but a few examples, yet these examples show that Jesus is, indeed both God and man in one person; for in the same way that we don’t call just any device a computer, we don’t call just any person both God and man. When it comes to computers, they must have the characteristics of a computer, such as a screen, a keyboard or keypad, some form of internal memory storage and so on. They must also perform the actions of a computer, such as being able to process the data entered into it, perform mathematical calculations, perform word processing tasks, and in this day and age, connect one to the internet.  Well, in the same way that all these actions and characteristics demonstrate what a computer is, so also Jesus actions and attributes reveal him to be both God and man, just as the Bible tells us.

But how did it happen that Jesus became true God and true man in one person?  For us, this is a very easy question to answer because we know the Scriptures so well and we hold their truth so closely in our hearts.  We know and believe what the angel revealed to Joseph in his dream when the angel said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.”" (Matthew 1:20–23, NIV84)  We know the account of Luke 1 where Gabriel says to Mary, “You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus." He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High…The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:31,32,35, NIV84)

We know this and believe this and even cherish this in our hearts.  Though there are more and more people today, even Christians, who scoff at the idea that this miracle could even happen, we know that it did, because the Lord reveals it to us in his Word.  We know and believe and confess that it was through the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus was conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary so that he could be born as both true man and true God so that by his life, by his death, and by his resurrection he could free us from our sins, make us his own by faith, and deliver us finally to his heavenly kingdom forever.

This is why Jesus needed to be both God and man in one body.  It wasn’t that he was like an actor who was playing two different rolls in a movie, he was and is both God and man at the same time in one body.  He had to be both God and man at the same time so that he might be subject to God’s laws just as Paul tells us in Galatians 4: “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5 to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons." (Galatians 4:4–5, NIV84)  As the God-man, Jesus was able to do what we could not, as the writer to the Hebrews tells us, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin." (Hebrews 4:15, NIV84)  Though Jesus is the Son of God who established the Law for his people, when he was born as a human being, he was subjected to God’s Law just like we have been all our lives, however, because Jesus was without sin, he was able to do what we could not do.  He was able to live a perfect, holy, sinless life in our place.  He was able to completely keep God’s law, which is something that we have always failed to do, and because he was able to keep God’s Law perfectly for us, he was also able to apply that perfection and righteousness to us as our substitute, as Paul assures us in Romans 5, “For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous." (Romans 5:19, NIV84)

What a comfort it is to know that because Jesus was both God and man, he was able to keep perfectly all of God’s laws.  Because Jesus was both God and man he was able to be our substitute as the writer to the Hebrews reminds us, “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—" (Hebrews 2:14, NIV84).  Had Jesus not been human, he could not have died, because God is eternal and therefore does not die.  To us, becoming a man just so that he could die might not seem like the best reason, but Jesus knew what he was doing, and in his great love for us, he did what otherwise would have made no sense at all.  He became human so that he could die on the cross to pay the price of our sins, and he was God almighty so that by his perfect and innocent death he could bestow his righteousness upon us.  Just as john the Baptist reminded us when he said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29, NIV84)

Because Jesus is both God and man, he was able to step in and accomplish what we could not.  He was able to win the victory for us by his perfect life, his innocent sufferings and death, and by his resurrection from the dead.  If he had not been our substitute we would still be lost in our trespasses and sins.  But thanks be to God that Jesus stepped in as our “pinch hitter” winning the victory for us, so that through faith in him we would have eternal life.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

GraceEvangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN