We are created by God and for God. He sent His Son to reveal Himself to us. So God gave us prophets and the law. God wants us to know Him.as the living Word. He also gave us His written Word. Jesus Christ Said "I am not come to destroy the law and prophets but to fulfill(Matt 5:17). Old Testament is taking us forward to Christ. And the New Testament tells us how He came and what He did for us. Bible is not given to scare us but it is God's love letter to us. It was not written for scholars but for the common people in their common language.
Jesus Christ is eternally ,equally and essentially God. Every thing have their existence Him(1 Cor 8:6). He is the creator and not the created(John 1:3). Apart from Him nothing was made. He is the sovereign source, the divine agent of creation. For His use all things were created(Col 1:16' Eph 2:10; Heb 11:3).As some think water,air and fire are not the agent of creation. Nor we are the product of some unplanned chemical process. Jesus is the creator and He sustainer of this universe(Heb 1:3).In creation we see God's power and wisdom. Bible says Christ is the power and wisdom of God(1Cor 1:24).He carries all things to their final destiny by controlling and guiding them. God did not create this universe and left it alone. So we can trust our Creator to protect and guide us in our life journey.
In Him was life. (John 1:4). Jesus is the source of life. Both physical and spiritual life come from Hi.m. Here the emphasis in on our spiritual life.This life was the light of men. Christ is the true and complete light. He is able to give light of reason and conscience. This light shines on all people. This world is in darkness. In the Bible darkness referred to our sin and unbelief(John3:19).There is always a hostility between darkness and light. Yet light continue to shine and darkness never extinguish this light in the life of believers.( 1John 4:4).
John the Baptist was not the complete light but was a witness of light. He was sent from God to bear witness of Christ. He was the forerunner of Christ(Is 40:3-5; Mal 3:1). He came to make ready the way of the Lord by giving the baptism of repentance. He was commissioned by God to lead people to a saving faith in Christ. His ministry was to give Christ all the glory. John testified that he is not Christ,or Elijah or the other prophet
He was the voice crying in the wilderness to repent for the kingdom of God is at hand(Matt 3:2).His ultimate desire was that Christ must increase but he must decrease. We are also commissioned with a similar ministry today. To reach the world with Gospel of Jesus Christ and make disciples for Him. Jesus testified of John the Baptist that he is the greatest among all prophets. May be because he was privileged to see the one he proclaimed.(Matt 11:11). But no position in this life can be compared with the glory of Christ.
Jesus is more than a prophet. He came to fulfill what prophets prophesied.They wondered in whom all these prophecies are going to be fulfilled. They knew that these prophecies reached far beyond their time. In Genesis 3:15 we read about the enmity between Satan and the Seed of the woman. Christ came born of a woman to destroy the works of the devil (Heb 2:14; 1John 3:8).To Abraham God said "in you all the families of the earth be blessed."(Gen 12:3). That promise was fulfilled in Christ(Galatians 3:16).Christ also fulfilled the law.We failed to obey the law. But Christ fulfilled the Law in His life. Father testified of Jesus that this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Christ also fulfilled the law in His death. Law says that the soul that sins should die. Christ bore our sins and died so we can be dead to sin and live in righteousness.(1Pet 2:24).
Christ fulfilled the law in us. Christ came to be our sin offering. He became the atonement for our sin that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. Now God is able to fulfill the law in us by enabling us to live in obedience to the Holy Spirit(Rom 8:3)What prophets searched are now openly fulfilled by Christ and proclaimed by the Apostles for us. What a privilege to live in the age of New Testament revelation. Yet many people reject Christ, the true Light who fulfilled the prophets and the law.
He came to His own and His own received Him not.. Christ came to revel the Father and save the world. He preached about the acceptable year of the Lord. But people were furious and rejected Him(Lk 4:19.28). Jesus healed the sick but Pharisees sought to kill Him(Lk 6:11).He did all things well yet people shouted crucify Him, crucify Him. But there is always a small remnant to receive Jesus as their Lord and follow Him. Are you one among them.? May God help us!!
