In his letter to Titus, Paul continues to shed light on why Jesus came. Jesus came to redeem us, to purify us, to make us his treasured possession so we are predisposed to serve Him and our neighbor with good works. What a bright outlook this is for us as we begin a new year. Note: If […]
In asking “Why did Jesus come?”, we have looked primarily to the gospel accounts. But Paul’s epistle to Timothy also adds this explicit declaration “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”. We may often agree that we sin, but we shrink from the painful truth of our entire identity as sinners. Paul, in noting the depth of his […]
In this text, the apostle John continues to answer our question, “Why did Jesus come?” Here he declares that Jesus came to take way sins and destroy the devil’s work. We are incapable of cleaning out the accumulated guilt from the sin of our lives, no matter how hard we try. Only Jesus can exchange our sin for […]
Jesus came into the world to make the Father known. He also came to bring sight to the blind. In this text an incident in Jesus’ ministry reveals who He is, the Light that illuminates both our sin and the path to eternal life. Blindness was found in both the man who could not see and the Pharisees […]
When we enter the Advent season, we are reminded of that profound moment in human history when the Second Person of the trinity took on human flesh. Jesus was God incarnate, God with us. The scriptures teach that this was not one of God’s afterthoughts, or a reaction to events on earth, but the outcome of a […]
Like a Caesar or an Alexander the Great, Jesus sets out to take over the world. But He doesn’t use money or political power or sword. He fulfills the prophetic announcement of John the Baptist, receives the blessing of His Father and the Holy Spirit at His baptism, repels Satan in the desert, and begins preaching. In our […]
In this text, we hear a declaration and a command. Jesus prophesies the arrival of a new age, the kingdom of God, embodied in Jesus himself. He proclaims this gospel to all who will embrace the truth of it and look to Him as their king for their salvation as they live a life of repentance. Even though this […]
In this gospel text we see the Jesus who identifies with our sin in His baptism, and then enters the desert, the cursed place, to do battle with Satan. Just as the Israelites were tempted to unfaithfulness in the desert after passing through the waters of the Red Sea, so Jesus experienced a far more severe […]