“When the time was perfect ‘God sent his Son, born of a woman [Mary], born under the law’ (Gal. 4:4a). He was the reality toward which all the Old Testament animal sacrifices symbolically pointed. So upon seeing him, John [the Baptist] declared. ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’ (John 1:29). Jesus was ‘the Lamb slain from the creation of the world’ (Rev, 13:8). It was he who revealed his future coming to Abraham (John 8:56), to Moses (Deut.18:15; Heb.11:26), to the wandering Israelites (Heb. 4:2), to David (Acts 25-31), and to many others. Jesus taught that the Old Testament pointed to him (Luke 24:25-27, 44) and it was not until his followers understood this that they could understand the [OT] Scriptures (Luke 24:25) because ‘these are the Scriptures that testify about me,’ he claimed (John 5:39).
“An angel told Joseph to name Mary’s son ‘Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins" (Matt. 1:21). To accomplish salvation Jesus had to live perfectly under God’s law as a human and then willingly substitute his own life as a payment for the penalty that sin demands (Heb, 2:14-15; 2 Cor, 5:21). So, Jesus lived perfectly under the law-without ever sinning (Heb.4-15; 1 John 3:5). He alone could look at his enemies and say, ‘Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?’ (John 8:46). And at the end of his perfect life, in the most amazing expression of love ever shown, he subjected himself to the wrath and curse of God on the cross, dying in the place of sinners (Rom 5:8; Gal. 3:12-14; Matt. 27:45-46).
“It was only through a perfect God-Man, substituting himself and paying the debt that sin demands from God’s justice, that human sinners could be saved. There is no other possible way of salvation (John 4:6; Acts 4:12; Rom 3:19-26; Gal. 2:21; 3:21). All that Jesus did, he did ‘to seek and to save what was lost’ (Luke 19:10).
“Following Jesus’ substitutionary death , on the third day God raised him from the dead, proving to all that he accepted his Son’s life and sacrifice, and forever establishing the truthfulness of all of Christ’s claims (Rom. 1:4; Acts 2:22-24; Phil. 2:5-11). After appearing to hundreds of disciples over a period of several weeks, Jesus physically ascended into heaven. The apostles who saw all of these things were transformed by the Spirit into courageous witnesses who traveled throughout the world proclaiming the good news of salvation through Jesus and making disciples. They taught the disciples to do the same until the return of Jesus (Acts 1:1-11; 1 Cor, 1-8; Acts 2-4; 8:1-4; 14:21-23; 1 Cor. 10:31-11:1; Phil. 4:9; Matt. 24:14). As the Son of Man, Jesus is now seated at the right hand of God’s throne where he sovereignly directs the affairs of all creation and represents his children until his return (Matt. 28:16-20; Heb. 7:22-26; 1 John 2:1).
“This brief summary of the Old and New Testament story is given to show that the Bible is primarily a Book that reveals the history of salvation. Scripture is the story of God’s saving love. It primarily depicts how God prepared the world for the First Coming of his Son and what he has done and is doing to prepare the world for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.”1
1 A. Scott Moreau (editor), Evangelical Dictionary of World Missions (2000 pp. 848-849). Baker
Academic, Grand Rapids, MI.
