What a Savior!

Mark Dunagan
12/26/10 - Sunday Morning

What a Savior!

One of the descriptive titles that is applied to Jesus is "The only begotten" (John 1:18). This expression can be defined as, "single of its kind, only" (Thayer, p. 417). "Unique (in kind), of something that is the only example of its category" (Arndt, p. 527). The Scriptures declare that Jesus is entirely unique. But in what ways?

Unique in Reference to Prophecy

Unlike your life and mine, Jesus' life was described in detail long before He was even born:

• The where of His birth: Bethlehem (Micah 5:2).
• The how of His birth: Born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14).
• The when of His birth: See Daniel 9:24-26

He would be born of a woman (Genesis 3:15), from the line of Seth (Genesis 4:26), through Noah's son Shem (Genesis 9:26-27), and Abraham (Genesis 12:3). He would come through the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10) and would be the son of David (2 Samuel 7:12). He would die for our sins (Isaiah 53), and would rise from the dead (Psalm 2:7; 16:10).

Unique in Birth

As previously noted, Jesus would be born of a virgin. To this Isaiah (7:14), Matthew (1:22-23), Luke (1:26f) and Paul all agree (Galatians 4:4). Of all human births, Jesus' birth stands as completely unique.

Unique in Life

From the first miracle recorded in Cana of Galilee (John 2:1), Jesus' public teaching career was marked by one miracle after another (John 3:2; Acts 2:22). "These were not healings of delusional illnesses, nor where they explainable on natural grounds. They were unique in that they were immediate, always successful, had no known relapses, and healed illnesses that were incurable by medicine, such as persons born blind (John 9). Jesus even raised several people from the dead (John 11:39)" (Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, Norman L. Geisler, pp. 135-136).

Unique in Death

A number of miracles also surrounded Jesus' death, including darkness from noon to 3 p.m. (Mark 15:33) and the earthquake that opened the tombs and rent the temple veil from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51-54). John 19:30 says, "When Jesus therefore had received the sour wine. He said, 'It is finished!' And He bowed His head, and gave up His spirit". It looks as though Jesus was not "overcome by death", but rather He voluntarily surrendered to the ending of His earthly existence. Earlier Jesus stated that no one would "take" His life, rather He would lay down His life and take it up again (John 10:18), referring to His resurrection.

Unique in the Purpose of His Death

Among human leaders, even religious leaders, one often sees the leader issue commands and then allow others to make the sacrifices or lay their lives on the line. In Jesus, we see that the God who rules this world is not a God who simply barks orders from a place of safety and expects others to do the hard work. Jesus is a very unique leader. Instead of standing back and sending out His followers to suffer, He took the lead. He gave His life first! In other words, it is as if God is saying: "Before we start anything, I want to demonstrate why you should love Me and be willing to put Me first. I will put you first by dying for your sins" (Romans 5:6-8). Many leaders have died for a cause, yet Jesus did not die to advance a mere earthly cause, rather, He died for our sins.

Unique in His Sinlessness

Some of Jesus' enemies made accusations against Him, yet no one was ever able to prove anything. Rather, we have one statement after another, some from completely unbiased witnesses, who actually met Jesus and then offered their verdict:

• "I find no guilt in this man" (Luke 23:4).
• "But this man has done nothing wrong" (Luke 23:41).
• "Certainly this man was innocent" (Luke 23:47).
• "One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15).
• "Who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth"(1 Peter 2:22).

This is entirely unheard of, especially when we remember all the scandals that often come out years later concerning various leaders that people have admired. Even religious leaders and founders of other religions do not even come close to Jesus' sinlessness.

• Muhammad the founder of Islam was not consistent with his own teachings. As a polygamist, he exceeded even the number of wives (four) he had prescribed for his religion. He also plundered caravans coming to Mecca, some of whom were on pilgrimage.
• Various Hindu gurus have been far from examples of virtue. The Bagwan Sri Rajneesh accumulated dozens of Rolls Royces as gifts from his followers. The Beatles become disillusioned with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi when they learned that he was far more interested in the body of one of the women in their party than with any of their souls. Even the respected Mahatma Gandhi slept with women other than his wife.

In many of these cases and others, people have excused such abuses by saying something like, "Well, that is to be expected when a man takes on such a tremendous responsibility, when they are so talented, surrounded by such power, and are admired by so many followers". Yet we never have to make such an argument when it comes to Jesus. I think this is probably one reason why people have tried, without any evidence, to create a mythical sinful relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. There have always been people who have tried to bring Jesus down to their level. The good news is that Jesus wants to bring us up to His level.

His Unique Balance

When it comes to following men, one typically has to make a choice and sacrifice something. Some leaders or philosophies are too violent, others are too passive. In Jesus we see the only leader who has been able to perfectly combine these seemingly opposite traits.

• He professed humility, in washing the disciple's feet (John 13), yet He equally claimed to be God (John 14:9).
• He was meek and lowly in heart (Matthew 11:29), and advocated turning the other cheek when it came to personal slights (Matthew 5:39); yet He overturned the tables of the moneychangers, made a scourge of cords, drove people out of the temple area and severely rebuked religious hypocrites (John 2; Matthew 23).
• He was uncompromising when it came to God's moral standards (Matthew 5:28), and yet He encouraged sinners to repent and renew their lives (John 8:11).
• He was surrounded by multitudes and yet had time for children (Matthew 18:3).
• His opponents never found an argument that He could not answer (Matthew 22). He dealt with all the hard questions of His time (Matthew 22:21, 29, 36). And yet when He gave answers or taught He used simple language and illustrations that everyone could understand (Matthew 22:37-39).
• Even though many Jewish leaders wanted to destroy Him (John 11:57), He was willing to talk to and spend time with any leader who showed an interest in truth (John 3:2).
• He was extremely patient, even demonstrating love and mercy toward those crucifying Him (Luke 23:34, and miraculously reattaching the ear of one of the mob who came to take Him to His death (Luke 22:50). Yet there was no patience toward those teaching error and leading others astray (Matthew 23:15).
• In order to "get things done" many leaders over the years have had to "accommodate" and "adjust" their standards and ideals in order to accomplish their goals. We never find Jesus accommodating Himself to the errors of His time. He firmly rebuked and corrected the errors of the time (Matthew 5:21-22; Matthew 23:16-33; John 2:15-16). His enemies understood this perfectly: Here was a person who would not bend and could be neither bought nor compromised (Matthew 22:16).

His Unique Nature

Apollonius of Tyana (d. A.D. 98) is sometimes presented by critics of Christianity as an example of someone who reviled Christ in his claim to be the Son of God. Yet when we really study what is said about this man, we find a different story. Philostratus' biography of Apollonius ends with his death. Jesus' biographies all end with His resurrection (Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20). Philostratus was not an eyewitness, but was commissioned to compose a biography 120 years after the death of Apollonius. The Gospels were either written by eyewitnesses of the resurrected Christ (Matthew, John) or close friends of eyewitnesses (Mark, Luke). The gospels were not written a century after Jesus died, rather, within that generation. Paul even quotes from the book of Luke when writing First Timothy (5:18). The stories about Apollonius are contradictory. Some say he died in Ephesus, others in Lindus or Crete, and then appeared, while the Gospels all agree regarding where and when Jesus died and where and when He was resurrected. Philostratus only records one "appearance" of Apollonius, and this supposedly to a man sleeping, who said he saw him in a vision some 200 years after he died. By contrast, Jesus appeared to many people, in fact, to 500 at one time.

Finally, there is another big difference. The claim is that Apollonius was deified. This claim is equally made for many others, yet Jesus was not "deified". Unlike myths and legends where a man "becomes" divine, Jesus did not "become" divine, rather He had always been God. He was God before His incarnation (John 1:1), during His stay on earth (John 14:9) and after He was resurrected (Hebrews 1:3). Added to this, when myths claim that a man was deified, it is saying that such a person became a god among many other gods. Yet, not so with Jesus. He is not a god among many, rather, He is 100% God (Colossians 2:9).

Mark Dunagan/Beaverton Church of Christ/503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net