The best life summary ever told Part-1

I remember when I was in high school  I was required to read several books during the school year. You were encouraged to read the whole book thoroughly, not only because you were going to be tested on it, but also because you were required to write a summary of it. So, if you decided to skim through the pages and not read the whole book, your summary wasn't going to be a very accurate one.

The apostle Paul, in 1 Timothy 3:16, gives us an excellent summary of the life of Jesus and in my humble opinion, it's the best life summary ever told, a very accurate one. This is what Paul says in this majestic verse:

"Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory".

First of all, we can see that Paul calls this summary of Jesus life "the mistery of godliness" and he says it's "great ". How can he not say it's great when in only one verse he summarizes the life of the only begotten Son of God, the only sinless man who ever lived? So, Paul summarizes our Lord's life in six different stages:

1. His incarnation.

    God became a man so he could walk a sinless life and therefore becoming the propitiation of our sins. Jesus was the perfect and only sacrifice that could satisfy God as a payment for all our sins. In Philippians 2, Paul puts it very clearly. He tells  us that Jesus who " was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men". Jesus walked this earth for approximately thirty three years to accomplish the task the Father had given Him. He was a man with a purpose.

2. His resurrection.

     Some versions of the Bible translate this word "vindicated" as "justified", not that Jesus needed to be justified for His sins for He was a sinless man, but he was justified in the sense that he came to be what He always was. He "was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead. (Romans 1:4 ESV). He "was declared to be the Son of God.....by His resurrection from the dead". Not coming out of that tomb would have invalidated His promise that He would rise on the third day according to the Scriptures. Not coming out of that tomb would have made people's unbelief even worse. Aren't you glad He came out of that tomb validating everything that He had promised? What a Lord, what a Savior!

3. His manifestation.

     His coming to the world was witnessed by a host of angelic beings besides the shepherds  and later on the wise men (Luke 2). He was also seen by angels and helped when he went into the desert to be tempted by Satan (Matthew 4). Angels were the largest group of witnesseses present at Jesus birth. Don't you think that was a very loving gesture of the Father to organize such a welcoming party for Jesus?Not only human beings saw Him. Angelics ones did too and that should tell us the importance of such an event. A King was being born, Our King of glory, our King of Kings, our king of righteousness. This King wasn't like any other king. This King came to save that which was lost. He came to transfer us from the dominion of darkness to His kingdom, a kingdom that will never fail and will never fade away. 

4. His gospel.

     He came to preach the good news to every creature. He came to save sinners  through His sacrifice on the Cross of Calvary. He is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. He preached, He sacrificed, He saves. Paul unequivocally speaks of this Gospel when he stated that "For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). We wouldn't have a Gospel if the Son of God hadn't been willing to go through everything He went through. He did that for you and me, and  for that, we owe Him. He was the ultimate sacrifice, God's only begotten Son. He is worthy of our praise. Yes, He is worthy!

  

The point of the matter is that now and forever  we should be thankful for the life   that Jesus lived. He lived and gave His life so you and I could have eternal life, a type of life that He can only give! Again I ask: "aren't you glad He did that for you and me? It's an awesome and a merciful thing He did for us. Don't ever lose that focus!

We're not finished quite yet. Next time we'll wrap up this incredible life summary that the apostle Paul penned for our own edification. Stay tuned and be blessed!