Why Jesus Christ (and John) Said He Came to this Earth – Part II

“The West has lost Christ, and that is why it is dying; that is the only reason.”                        Fyodor Dostoevsky – Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist and philosopher - - 1821 - 1881

The Living God decided before the foundations of the world and the universe what He would do to restore us to our intended purpose through His Son Jesus. But He waited for thousands of years until the right time to bring it to pass. So God the Son had lots of time as He had to watch the world and humanity self destruct and as He had to watch Israel on the most part live way below its privileged high calling - - He had lots of time to with Father and Holy Spirit determine all that He would do when the time was right. When He came to earth as fully human He denied Himself the right to draw upon all of His powers of deity. So He had to develop His sense of purpose and passion and direction through His communion and fellowship with Father and Holy Spirit. All of the rest of these purpose statements below come straight from the heart of God. May our meditations on them be pleasing in His sight.

11.  To Give Spiritual Sight and Revelation to the Humble and Afflicted & to Blind the Proud and Hard Hearted: “And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” John 9:39

Jesus while on earth delighted in giving spiritual sight to those who were blind, but who knew it, and who wanted Him to help them. For those who were blind because of hard heartedness, He left them in their sad state. He gave them what they wanted.

12.   To Give us Abundant Life: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” John 10:10

As one who was born again, but who had two feet solidly planted in the world by the time I was born again, this truth was one of the things the Holy Spirit used to begin to wean me off the ways of the world. Jesus didn’t come just to give us a ticket to heaven. He came to give us abundance and fullness of His life even in this earthly life. The world has no match for this kind of life. It is indeed the life of God.

13.  To Suffer & Die for Our sins & Salvation: “Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.” John 12:27

The more Jesus as fully man walked with and communed with God the Father and Holy Sprit the more He knew and understood what His ultimate destiny was. And the more He understood it the more He pursued it albeit with grief and some level of dread. Perhaps mostly because He knew at some point on the cross He would experience for the first time ever some kind of separation from His Father (see Matthew 27:46).

14.   To Deliver Much Needed Light and Deliver Us from Darkness: “I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.” John 12:46

Jesus knows more than any of us the destruction that spiritual darkness wreaks on humanity. He came to pierce that awful darkness and deliver many from it – as many as would believe in and trust in Him. Had he not come and had He not delivered us, we would still be enslaved to this darkness.

15.  To Testify of and Proclaim the Truth: “Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” John 18:37

Jesus came primarily to testify of the truth of Himself and His relationship with Father and Holy Spirit. The world system is built solely on lies from the father of lies. Only the truth, which ultimately is a person, can free us from these damaging and damning lies. The truth is wonderfully liberating when it is coupled with a ongoing every deepening relationship with the God of truth.

16.  To Take Away Sins: “You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.” I John 3:5

Jesus entered this world, and dwelt on this earth for 33 years, and allowed evil men to nail Him to the cross so that you and I could be freed from all sin. He hates all sin. He sees its destructiveness and deceitfulness and what it does to individuals, marriages, families, cities, nations, etc. He wants communion and fellowship with us and that can only take place when we allow Him to daily deal with our sins. This is why God decided that the very first proclamation in the New Testament (Matthew 1:21) re: why Jesus came to earth was that He “…will save His people from their sins.” This proclamation of course was made by the angel Gabriel.

17.  To Destroy the Works of the Devil: “…The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” I John 3:8

Jesus agreed to live on this earth for 33 years and to die on the cross and to be raised from the dead on the third day so that all the awful works of Satan could be destroyed. He did this in many ways. One was He made disciples who would form His church, which in time would spread to the ends of the earth. Another way is He gave us a solid body of truth that helps us detect and turn from Satan’s lies. Another way is He broke the estrangement and condemnation and accusation all inspired by Satan that kept us from intimacy with God through the shedding of His blood. Contextually from I John 3, Jesus broke the stranglehold of sin and gave us a way to be free from sin and to walk in righteousness.

18.  So that we might live through Him: “…God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.” I John 4:9                                                                All of us are physically alive, but most are dead spiritually. The Father sent His Son that we might be delivered from spiritual death and made alive with the life of God so that we can live unto God the rest of our days.

19.  To Be the Propitiation for Our Sins: “…He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” I John 4:10                                                                                             God out of His  great love for us sent His Son Jesus to satisfy divine wrath and divine justice by dying as the only possible satisfactory sacrifice for the enormity of our sins.                    

20.  To Be the Savior of the World: “We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.” I John 4:14                                                                     This world that God created to bring Him glory and to share in His glory was lost and headed for hell. The Father sent His Son to save us from our sins, to pay our spiritual debts, and to make us whole again and ever more responsive to His will and way.

Father we praise You that when You – the living triune God – decided to create a people  from among every tribe, tongue and nation who would know You and walk with You and enjoy You and glorify You, You never gave up. You never aborted Your mission – even with all of our rebellion and idolatry and unbelief. We praise You that You instead chose to solve the problem that we created. We praise You that You determined to get to the roots and foundations of all our sickness and perversion and corruption by sending Your Son to explain You to us and to reconcile us to Yourself. We praise You Jesus for all that was in Your great heart when You came to this sin laden earth and that You accomplished it all and are still accomplishing it with perfect faithfulness. May You be glorified as more and more discover all that was in Your heart – living God – for doing the unthinkable – by choosing to become sin that we might become righteous. Glory be to Your name!! Amen.