Jesus-The Source
Jesus is Our Source
source
a generative force : cause
a point of origin or procurement : beginning
one that initiates : author also : prototype, model
one that supplies information
3 times in the book of Revelation Jesus is referred to as the Alpha and the Omega. First and last letters in the Greek alphabet. Jesus is the beginning and the end of all things. In this lesson as we look at Jesus as our source we will focus on the beginning, but we must never forget that He will return again someday to bring about the consummation or end of the entirety of our physical existence in fervent heat. It is at that time that all will stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
Our lesson takes place on the other end of the spectrum at the beginning or source of all things. We must remember that the beginning is pointing toward and leading to the end one day when the Lord returns.
As I contemplated this subject I realized that it could be a very expansive lesson. It would probably make for an informative series. However, due to our time constraints and our purpose tonight let me present you a few aspects in which Jesus is our source. This study of course begins in the book of Genesis with the creation of the universe in six 24 hour days.
SOURCE OF OUR CREATION
This aspect of Jesus fulfills the generative and point of origin aspects of the definition of source.
· John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
· Colossians 1:16-17 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
· Hebrews 1:1-2 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.
This does not imply that God the Father or the Holy Spirit had nothing to do with creation.
· The Father - 1 Corinthians 8:5-6 For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, 6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.
· The Holy Spirit - Genesis 1:2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.
o Psalm 104:21 You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; And You renew the face of the ground.
Our problem in understanding this comes from our placing a disparity within the Godhead that does not exist. There is no difference in purpose or nature or power between God the Father, God the Son, or God the Holy Spirit.
These texts simply imply that Jesus was an equal participant in the creative process with the entirety of the Godhead. That is why the word translated God in Genesis 1 is the word “Eloheem” which is plural denoting the entirety of the Godhead.
As we will see in a moment it is the same for bringing salvation to man.
Such an understanding is important because there are those who do not believe in the Jesus’ equality within the Godhead. They try to say that Christ is not God because John 1:1 does not contain the definite Greek article “kai” before God at the end of the verse to imply that Jesus is not the same as God, but instead a small “g” god.
It is important for us to understand that Jesus is the force behind creation because it makes His sacrifice more powerful. He did not send some lower being to be His proxy in dying on the cross. The power of the cross is the fact that the creator God became the creation and died to save what He had made.
Philippians 2:6 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Closely related to the fact that Jesus is the source of creation is that He is also the source of life.
SOURCE OF LIFE
In Genesis 2:7 it tells us of the creation of man, Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
John 1:4 states that “In Him was life…” This statement does not just mean that Jesus was alive. It implies that He is the source of life. He is that place from which life comes. It is Jesus who breathed into Adam so that he could become a living soul.
You, me, and indeed all the countless billions of people who have ever breathed the breath of life upon this earth received life from Jesus Christ. There is no option in regards to this. All men receive this life from Jesus.
However, this statement should be seen as two-fold. He is the source of both physical life as in Genesis 2:7 and spiritual life.
John 14:6
John 10:27-28 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.
1 John 5:11-12 And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.
While this eternal life comes from Christ, unlike our physical life we have a choice as to whether we receive it or not. The receiving of this life comes from our following the example that Jesus set for us in His life upon this earth.
This leads us to the fact that Jesus is the source of how to live.
SOURCE OF HOW TO LIVE THE LIFE HE GAVE US
The definition states that “source” is a prototype or model of something. It shows us what we should be.
Adam and Eve were given a very good and perfect world to live in and they are prime examples that mankind is never satisfied. They foolishly chose to live their life in disobedience and all men save one have made the same mistake.
1 Peter 2:21 For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps,
Mankind lost the ability to live eternally because of sin or in other words they did not live as they should have, Jesus gives us back that ability through the remission of sin found in His perfectly sinless blood shed on the cross at Calvary.
He left this example of how to live in one of the most visible ways in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus said three times in prayer “not My will but Thy will be done.”
Hebrews 5:8-9 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. 9 And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation,
This is not implying that He learned how to obey – instead it is saying that He learned the totality of obedience – the hardest and ultimate obedience is obedience that leads to death. (Stephen)
Jesus showed us how to live – that is, He showed us that as Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 12, the whole duty of man is to fear God and keep His commandments. Jesus left us that example and is the source of how to live.
Not only does He show us how to live, but shows us how to have the best life possible. John 10:10 Have life and have it more abundantly.
As He shows us how to live and to have this abundant life, Jesus shows us God according to Hebrews 1:2. He told Philip in John 14:9 that “he who has seen Me has seen the Father.” Jesus is our source for seeing and knowing God, according Hebrews 1:2, the express image of God. This is the reason that John calls Jesus the Word, the Logos, because He is the embodiment of the Gospel, the express image of God and His Word. The definition of source also includes “one that supplies information.” Jesus provides the only information about God. The more we understand God and His nature, the better we are able to transform our lives into His likeness as we are commanded in Romans 12.
The Bible as a whole, but especially the life of Jesus shows us the nature of God.
I am particular amazed by a small verse in recording a moment in the life of Christ. All of you probably have it memorized. John 11:35 Jesus still weeps for us when we hurt and suffer in this life.
In the life of Christ we see,
· God’s love in coming and dying
· God’s mercy as He forgave those who drove the nails in his hands and feet and beat Him repeatedly since the night before.
· The sacrificial nature of God
· God’s compassion in healing the sick
· His zeal for right in the cleansing of the temple
· His strength in the Garden of Gethsemane
· His humility as He washed 12 men’s dirty feet
How do we come to understand Jesus and His life?
Understanding Jesus and following His example is dependant upon our consuming Him. (Feeding the 5,000 and the next day) (John 6:53 “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourself.” Jesus was teaching that people must partake of Him through knowledge of His life and His word. We see this fact illustrated so well by Peter at the end of John 6. Most of those people that Jesus was teaching that day left because they refused to understand or seek to know what Jesus was talking about. Jesus asked the disciples if they were going to leave also and Peter responded, “to whom shall we go, You have words of eternal life.”
These words of eternal life are the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Paul stated that he was not ashamed of the Gospel for it was the power of God unto salvation. That brings us to the last aspect in Jesus is our Source, that is that He is the source of our salvation.
SOURCE OF OUR SALVATION
The definition of the word source also included the definition of “one that initiates” “author”
In this sense, the writer of Hebrews would call Jesus the “author of our salvation” in Hebrews 2:10; 12:2. In 2:10 the writer states that He is the author through sufferings, the sufferings of the cross.
In Romans 5:8-11, Paul tells us that But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
The plan of God to bring salvation to men by Jesus was from before the foundation of the world in Ephesians 1:4. Jesus confirmed this fact when He stated in Matthew 25:34, “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
This plan was put into effect in Genesis 3:15 when God promised redemption to Adam and Eve through their seed. This plan began to clarify as Abraham was promised that a great nation would spring forth from him and from that people would come a seed that would bless all nations. Paul provides commentary on this seed in Galatians 3:16 when he clarifies that it is not the nation of Israel (seeds) but it is Christ (seed). The only truly special aspect of the Israelite nation is Christ. Christ on the cross was the culmination of this great plan, Jesus’ resurrection from the dead on a Sunday morning was its ultimate victory for all according 1 Corinthians 15. One day, judgment will be the conclusion of this great plan.
The salvation, hope, strength, peace, joy, and eternal victory provided by this plan are available to all who live today. Unfortunately not everyone takes advantage of the opportunity.