Jesus Christ: Sent to Accomplish the Work
In His high priestly prayer, Jesus prayed for Himself (Jn 17:1–5); for His disciples (Jn 17:6–19); and for His church (Jn 17:20–26). As the crisis of the crucifixion loomed, our Lord prayed that He would be glorified with the glory He shared with the Father before the world was (Jn 17:5).
The hour of His greatest suffering had arrived. It would be the work performed in the next day that would bring our Savior maximum glory. Jesus had been given the authority to lay down His life for His people (Jn 10:18), whom the Father had given to Him before the Word began (Jn 17:2, 6, 24).
Knowing God…was the end goal objective. The means for growing in the knowledge of the truth is the grace of God, in sending the Holy Spirit to each of God’s elect, redeemed people (Jn 14:26; 15:26). It is the Spirit of Christ who teaches us the Word of God and imparts faith to us as a gift of God (Jn 14:26; Eph 2:8–9). This is the life of God in the regenerated soul (Gal 2:20; Col 1:27).
The Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit, to give life to whomever they wish (Jn 5:21). This is eternal life: new (Rom 6:4); abundant (Jn 10:10); and eventually resurrection and everlasting life. It is the new principle in the born again that manifests as faith, hope, and love. We know whom we have believed because He is living in our hearts (Rom 8:9, 11), having poured out the love of God (Rom 5:5). We know God by knowing Christ, the wisdom and the power of God (1 Cor 1:24).
The Apostle Paul claimed he knew whom he believed (2 Tim 1:12). This faith came with the conviction that Christ was able to do what He said He would do. When He did it, He declared: “It is finished” (Jn 19:30). Jesus was sent from God the Father to accomplish the work that was required for the redemption of God’s chosen people (Jn 17:3–4), given to Him to save them from the just judgment and righteous wrath of God (Mt 1:21; Rom 1:18; 1 Thess 1:10).
God sent His only begotten Son for this work; so that by doing it to perfection, both God the Father and God the Son would be glorified (Jn 17:1–5). We learn Christ by the Spirit of truth illumining the Word of truth in our hearts and minds (Eph 1:18). This Word of knowledge is the revelation of God that renews the mind of the saint to have the mind of Christ (Rom 12:2; 1 Cor 2:16).
The Christian knows more than information, more than knowledge, he or she knows the intimacy of a personal relationship with the One who loved us and gave Himself for us (Gal 2:20). This is exactly what the world does not know because the world cannot receive the Holy Spirit (Jn 14:17), who has been given to us: the elect; redeemed; regenerate; indwelt; believers positioned in Christ.
Although this knowledge is not secret knowledge, it requires the Holy Spirit’s help as our Teacher to understand it (Jn 14:26). Let us therefore consider, some of the work Jesus accomplished when He was sent to save His people from their sins (Mt 1:21).
First, Jesus was without inherited sin (Ps 51:5; Rom 5:12), without a sin nature (Eph 2:3), and He did not commit sins in practice (2 Cor 5:21; Heb 4:15). He was impeccable because He is God, who cannot sin, even though He was tempted in every way as we are tempted to lawlessness.
Second, this means that Jesus fulfilled the Law of God by doing everything right (Mt 5:17). His right standing before God the Father was by His meritorious working (1 Jn 2:1). This is why the Bible identifies Him as Jesus Christ, the righteous and the Just who justifies the ungodly (Rom 4:5; 8:33).
Third, Jesus justifies His people by shedding His precious blood on the cross of Calvary (1 Pet 2:9). By His death, our sins have been forgiven (Mt 26:28). We have been released from the consequences of our sins because He cancelled our entire debt of sin (Col 2:14). Hence, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1).
Fourth, when Jesus bore our sins in His body on the cross, He saved us (Titus 3:5; 1 Pet 2:9). What we naturally deserve is eternal punishment in the fiery hell of the lake of fire (Mt 25:41, 46; Jude 7; Rev 20:14–15). Thus, at the cross, we witness the mercy of God toward sinners of His own choosing (Rom 11:5–6; 2 Tim 2:19), saying, “I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy” (Rom 9:15–16).
Fifth, at the cross, Jesus reconciled His people to God (Rom 5:10; 2 Cor 5:18). He put an end to the enmity between us and God. No longer are we estranged from Him; but rather, we have been adopted into His family through Jesus’ ministry of reconciliation (Rom 8:15, 23; 2 Cor 5:20).
Sixth, at the cross, Jesus mediated our peace with God (Rom 5:5). We have peace with God by the blood of the eternal covenant of grace, whereby the God of peace, forever withholds His righteous wrath (Rom 3:25; Heb 2:17; 1 Jn 2:2; 4:10).
Seventh, Jesus propitiated the wrath of God at the cross by offering Himself as the unblemished Lamb of God (Jn 1:29), who received all of the sins of all of His people from all time and every place upon Himself to absorb the wrath of God in our place (2 Cor 5:21).
Eight, at the cross, Jesus was our substitute sacrifice (Is 53:12; 1 Pet 2:24). He offered Himself to God one time (Heb 7:27); and God accepted His blood sacrifice of Himself on our behalf, by raising Him from the dead as ample proof. He who knew no sin became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God through Him (2 Cor 5:21).
Ninth, Jesus endured the sufferings of the cross for the joy set before Him (Heb 12:2) — an eternity with His beloved bride, His church, the Israel of God (Is 49:1–6; Rom 9:6; Gal 6:16).
Finally, at the cross, to which the Father sent Him, Jesus accomplished the necessary ransom payment for our release from slavery to sin (Mt 20:28; Mk 10:45), the devil, and the world system opposed to God.
In conclusion, we see the manifold work of Christ during His earthly ministry. He accomplished it all to perfection; and it was for the purpose of our salvation, for which He was sent. For these reasons, He is crowned with glory, forever.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
November 21, 2024
John 17:3–4
