Continuing on in this blog series on The Impact of Calling, I have decided to lengthen out this series for a few reasons. Originally this month’s blog would end with the impact of calling Mikaela and I have experienced, but after some spiritual reflection and positive feedback I received, this blog series will continue on for several more months. After all we have not even dipped into the New Testament for the most part as we have looked at Abraham, David, and Jonah thus far. So transitioning into the New Testament we will look at the life of Jesus in establishing the authority in which Jesus commissions every believer to go and share the Good News.
Now, this blog will be different than the previous ones because we are talking about Jesus and as such will have a different approach to calling as Jesus is the cornerstone and foundation in the Christian faith. To do this, this month’s blog and January’s blog will be devoted to looking at the life, ministry, resurrection, and calling of Jesus. To those of you who may read this blog and do not know much of this Jesus or the Christian faith, my goal with this blog is twofold. First is to give a brief overview of Jesus from both the Old Testament and New Testament in sharing a few of the many prophecies of the coming of Jesus and secondly help establish the need of humanity in needing a Savior being Jesus. And if you are just jumping in on this series, I would encourage you to go back and read Part One of this series as I build off of those for this and future blogs on The Impact of Calling.
Then my goal with January’s blog is to focus in on and share the impact of calling that Jesus in turn commissions every person who accepts Him as Lord and Savior. My hope is to do this with two blogs, but perhaps I will need February for this as well? So we shall see, without going further, let’s dive in shall we?
As it has been said by many Christian authors, ministers, and other teachers of the Christian faith, you cannot teach the Old Testament without teaching the New Testament and you cannot teach the New Testament without teaching the Old Testament. The two are interwoven together so profoundly as we read prophecies again and again of the coming of Jesus in the Old Testament. To only teach about Jesus from the New Testament is a fatal mistake for any Christian author, minister, believer or church to make.
One of the earliest prophecies of the coming of Jesus is found in Genesis 3 after the fall, when sin enters the world by Adam and Eve through the temptation of the serpent, being Satan. As God gives his indictment and conviction to not only Adam and Eve, but also the serpent being Satan, this is the curse God speaks against Satan.
Then the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head and you will strike his heel.”
Genesis 3:14-15 NLT
Then the Lord God judges the woman and the man and tells them the consequence of their rebellion and sin. Now the once unbroken fellowship that Adam and Eve had with the Creator became severed and their rebellion implanted evil in human hearts. The world’s evil does not come from some defect in creation; God put the world under a curse because of human rebellion. When humanity first came to be in the Garden of Eden, God gave the man Place, Purpose, Provision, Identity, & Parameters. There were consequences for humanity’s action in disobeying the one and only parameter/commandment God had given.
So since the first rebellion, God has been working purposefully in history to restore humans to fellowship with Him, which God does so through the He, being Jesus.
The majority of the rest of the Old Testament of God’s story is a cycle of the Israelites sinning and God meeting them where they are at in saving them and restoring them to Him. There was judgement for their sin, however God was at work through those He had called like Abraham, David, and Jonah to lead His people who were common people, yet God chose them to be a part of His saving plan. This saving plan that the prophets came to learn about of this He who would restore not only Israel to right standing before God, but restore people of all nations. One of the many prophets, named Isaiah wrote concerning this Savior and writes…
All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).
Isaiah 7:14 NLT
For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders, and he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!
Isaiah 9:6-7 NLT
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of king David. Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!” Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”
Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.” The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God.”
Luke 1:26-35 NLT
After Jesus was born, as he grew up he devoted himself to the study of Scripture and prayer with the Father. In the first century, many Jews (and Jews were a part of the descendants of Israel) and they eagerly looked for the coming of the Messiah, a deliver who would defeat Israel’s enemies and usher in an era of peace and prosperity for God’s people. There was widespread hope that a king from David’s line would reestablish David’s dynasty and reign in righteousness and justice on David’s throne in Jerusalem. However, Jesus was an unexpected King and surprised many.
Jesus’ ministry was expanse from healings, exorcisms, raising the dead, and teachings created wonder, awe, amazement, and fear. He healed the sick, the blind, the deaf, the lame, expelled evil spirits that had brought people to their knees and oppressed them, raised to life youth and friends alike, his teachings were filled with wonder as crowds attentively listened to him as he taught about the kingdom of God and the blessings of God. Many who listened to him were filled with awe and were amazed at the miracles He performed, but also filled with fear implying respect, awe, and at times, knee-knocking terror in realizing that a greater power was at work within Jesus.
However, not everyone was thrilled with Jesus. He “often came into conflict with the Pharisees who were religious leaders with strict adherence to the law of the Old Testament and ones they made up themselves. Jesus accused them of hypocrisy and of elevating human rules over God’s righteous standards. Jesus opposed the Pharisees because they were leading people away from God’s plan for redemption. They were the theological shepherds of Israel, but Jesus criticizes them as hypocrites for their perversions of doctrine and practice. From the outset of Jesus’ ministry, the Pharisees oppose the work of God that He does, mostly because of their meticulous observance of the law and Jesus’ shocking disregard of their traditions” (NLT Illustrated Study Bible). The crowds were amazed at Jesus’ teaching, for he taught with real authority – quite unlike their teachers of religious law. The teachers of religious law despised him and their hatred grew for him more and more and enough to bring them to plot and plan how to kill Jesus.
Soon, Judas who was one of the twelves disciples of Jesus, betrayed Jesus in handing Him over to the teachers of religious law as He was arrested, however Jesus was fully aware of Judas’s plot, but it was all a part of God’s plan. He knew that it was God’s plan that through Him, He would be the one to die on a cross in order to save humanity from their sin. After an unfair trial, Jesus is sentenced to death and was nailed to a cross. We read in the book of Matthew…
At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah. One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to him on a reed stick so he could drink. But the rest said, “Wait! Let’s see whether Elijah comes to save him.”
Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit. At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead. They left the cemetery after Jesus’ resurrection, went into the holy city of Jerusalem, and appeared too many people. The Roman officer and the other soldiers at the crucifixion were terrified by the earthquake and all that had happened. They said, “This man truly was the Son of God!”
Matthew 27:45-54 NLT
However, three days later Jesus was raised from the dead by the Father (Acts 2:32; Romans 6:4; & Galatians 1:1), Jesus himself (John 2:18-19 & John 10:18), and the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:11 & 1 Peter 3:18). Then after Jesus was resurrected, recorded in the book of Luke we read…
Then he said, “When I was with you before, I told you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And he said, “Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day. It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’ You are witnesses of all these things. And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.”
Then Jesus led them to Bethany, and lifting his hands to heaven, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up to heaven. So they worshiped him and then returned to Jerusalem filled with great joy. And they spent all of their time in the Temple, praising God.
Luke 24:44-53 NLT
Following this in the book of Acts, which immediately follows Jesus’ ascension into heaven, the Holy Spirit came upon all the believers who were meeting together in one place and the birth of the church came as they preached the Gospel, the saving work of God through his one and only Son Jesus Christ. I will stop here for now and when we revisit this next month, we will begin with The Great Commission in Matthew 28 (a central part to the Christian faith) where Jesus commissions His disciples just before ascending to heaven as we just read above in Luke 24.
Best Regards,
Derrick Shipley