Jesus Christ

1. Jesus Christ His nature, person, and mission

2. The Incarnation • The Incarnation is the event wherein God assumed our human nature in order to accomplish our salvation. • Human Nature = a body, soul (w/intellect and free will) • Salvation = the free gift of deliverance from sin and death and the invitation to Eternal Life. • This event occurs at the Annunciation because of Mary’s “Fiat” or “Yes” to God’s plan. (Lk. 1:35). • Mary was the chosen instrument of God, Who singled her out to bring Jesus into the world. • This was in fulfillment of the promise of God in Gen. 3:15, “she shall crush your head, while you lie in wait for her heel.”

3. Mary and the Incarnation • Mary is the long awaited “woman” through whom the power of evil will be crushed. • The Incarnation occurs, “through the Power of the Holy Spirit”. (Lk. 1:35). • The conception of Jesus, therefore is accomplished through a miracle and not through the normal means of begetting children. • This is in fulfillment of the prophesy of Isaiah, “Therefore, the Lord Himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be Emmanuel.” Is. 7:14. • The miraculous nature of the conception of Jesus illustrates His Divinity.

4. The Perpetual Virginity of Mary • There are some common objections against the ever-virginity of Mary. • How could anyone not have sex? • This is an objection of the modern world and its overemphasis on sex, but it certainly was not an attitude held in the ancient world. • There were several examples within Judaism of living single and celibate: • Jesus – no mention of a wife in the Gospels, plus marriage was incompatible with His mission. • John the Baptist – no wife, probably took vow. • St. Paul – clearly states he is unmarried in 1 Cor. 7:7. • Jeremiah – from the Old Test. is commanded by God not to marry (Jer. 16:2). • The Essenes – were a 1st century group of Jews who lived an ascetical life, including for some, celibacy. • Other O.T. Examples – often in the O.T. when there was a great theophany of God, the Jews would refrain from sexual relations to honor and focus on God’s Revelation. • Now look at Mary’s situation – as a Jewish woman who received the greatest Theophany in history, God Himself dwelling in her, how could she expect to have a “normal” life after that? • Does it not make sense that the total gift of herself to God included her sexuality?

5. The Brothers of the Lord • The New Testament clearly states that Jesus had “brothers”, so who are these “brothers of the Lord”? • A couple points on this: • The Greek word used in the New Testament is adelphos is not just a word for brother. • The New Testament never mentions that any of the “brothers of the Lord” are the children of Mary. • If Jesus had blood brothers, why are they absent from the foot of the Cross? • So who are they? • They could be cousins or close relatives. • They could be Joseph’s children from a previous marriage (a long standing tradition is that Joseph was an older man who was a widower). • They could be close followers of Jesus. • The bottom line is that they are not the children of Mary.

6. Jesus the Word • Jesus’ existence did not begin at the Incarnation, John’s Gospel attests, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, He was in the beginning with God.” Jn. 1:1-2. • Jesus, as the Second Person of the Trinity, eternally existed as a Person within the Trinity, but in time and history He entered into the world through the Virgin Mary. • Jesus, the Word, communicates the Message of salvation to the world through the absolutely unique event of the Incarnation. • He also communicates the Father in a new way … let’s think – give some descriptions of God in the Old Testament? • God needed to deal with Israel as a Father scolds a child who is about to burn himself on a stove. • Jesus reveals a more “adult” relationship with God – one that is based on love not merely on fear of punishment. • This is what Jesus means when He says, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father” Jn. 14:9 • We see in Jesus a God Who is loving, merciful, compassionate, and willing to give His all for us, His children.

7. Jesus the Fulfillment • God had been communicating Himself throughout the Old Testament through the Covenants, the Law, and the Prophets. • Jesus is the fulfillment of the Covenants, the Law and the Prophets. • Jesus establishes the New Covenant, “…this is the New Covenant in My Blood, which shall be shed for you.” Lk. 22:20. • Jesus fulfills the Law, “a new Commandment I give to you: that you love one another, as I have loved you” Jn., 13:34 • He fulfills the Prophets, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” Mt. 4:17.

8. Jesus and the Kingdom • As Christians we often miss the point of Jesus’ life. • We clearly see the point of the Cross as the event which fulfilled the justice owed to God because of human sin. • But, Jesus is not merely a Divine account settler. • He invites us into the Kingdom of Heaven: • He invites us to partake in the New Covenant, which is His own Body and Blood (feeding on the Presence) offered as a free gift to us for our salvation, “No one takes my life, but I freely lay it down…” Jn. 10:18 • He calls us into the Church which is, “the pillar and foundation of the truth.” I Tim. 3:15. • He calls us to partake of His own Divine Life, “He has bestowed on us the precious and very great promise, so that through them you may come to share in the Divine Nature.” II Pet. 1:4. • He calls us to Heaven, “Come, you blessed of my Father and possess the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Mt. 25:34. • He promises us that we will rise like Him, “For if we have been united together in a death like His, we shall also rise in a resurrection like His.” Romans 6:5. • He promises us the Beatific Vision, which is the direct vision of God in Heaven. • This begins in a spirit but at Christ’s Second Coming, when our bodies rise, we shall be in the presence of God in the New Heaven and New Earth. (cf. Rev. 21:1).

9. What is Resurrection? • The Resurrection of the Dead is another often misunderstood belief. • Many reduce the resurrection to the soul’s departure from the body and it’s ascension into heaven – a spiritual resurrection. • These images are contrary to the New Testament: • Jesus assures of Judgment first (Mt. 25). • Jesus’ bodily Resurrection points forward to a bodily resurrection, not a spiritual one. • Resurrection is always connected to the body, and any definition separated from it does not get the full meaning.

10. Do We Have Proof? • Christianity hinges on the question: did the Resurrection of Jesus really happen? • To answer this we have to look at the arguments against the Resurrection and the evidence which supports the bodily Resurrection of Jesus. • The Arguments Against the Resurrection: • 1. Jesus didn’t really die, instead he was drugged and revived later – False: the Romans were experts in how to kill, they certainly would not have allowed Jesus to live. • 2. When the women go to the tomb, they met someone else who looked like Jesus. False: I think someone would have noticed soon enough. • 3. Jesus only appeared to those who believed in Him, therefore they are biased. False: Thomas and Paul did not believe, and all of Jesus’ followers did not believe after the devastation of the Cross. • 4. People often have visions of those who have died, and that is what happened to the Apostles. False: the Apostles knew of things like this, why not say “it is his spirit” or “his ghost”, why say “He’s been raised from the dead”? Also, ghosts do not eat and Jesus eats several times in the post-Resurrection appearances.

11. More Proof 1. The tombs of the Prophets and Jewish martyrs were places of prayer and pilgrimage in the 1st century. There is no such record of people visiting Jesus’ tomb – because He is not there. 2. The early Church’s emphasis on Sunday as the day of worship is hard to explain unless something did happen at the tomb on that Sunday of the Resurrection. 3. Would you die for a lie? The Apostles and thousands in the early Church willingly went to their death defending Jesus’ Resurrection, if it was faked would you would hold to a lie till the end?

12. It’s True! We have seen ample proof for the Resurrection of Jesus. If the Resurrection is true, then Christianity is true. If Christianity is true, all of the promises that Jesus made to us will come true. If it is all true … • Then what are you waiting for, “Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” II Cor. 6:2.