THE CHRIST

THE CHRIST
Beautiful Jesus
Wonderful counselor
Faithful in all Your ways
Faithful through all of my days
I worship You and You alone
I bow down before Your throne
I declare You are the ONE
That You are God’s only Son
Beautiful Jesus
You’re so beautiful Jesus

Christ Jesus is the most exquisite, magnificent,
Beautiful person who ever lived,
Even though we do not know what he looked like.
His beauty transcends all concepts of beauty.
He is the perfect representative of the Living God;
Not just a good man, not simply a prophet,
But God himself in the form of a man;
The WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE.

OVERVIEW:
Few people living today have not heard of THE CHRIST, JESUS.
The Christmas story is known throughout the world.
Christmas, the celebration of his birth,
Is celebrated throughout the world.
The God of creation, Jehovah, the Self-Existent One,
Chose a specific time in history,
To reveal himself, in a body, as a man, to the world.
The humble birth of this man changed the course of world history.
The calendar is now divided into the time before Christ (BC)
And the time after Christ (AD).
The followers of Christ have taken His teaching
And His Scriptures and His Spirit,
To virtually every nation on earth.
It is unquestionable, that this man, Christ Jesus,
Is the most important and influential person who ever lived.
Yet, Christ Jesus never wrote a single word himself.
He only lived on earth for approximately 33 years.
He only gained notoriety in Israel
For the last three and one half years of his life,
When he ministered in the power of the Spirit of God.
The first words he preached were,
“Repent for the kingdom of God is near.” (Matthew 4:17)

He preached the “good news” that God would forgive the sins of those
Who would by faith, believe in him, turn from their sin and live for him.
He chose a group of twelve common men to teach
And disciple for the last three and one half years.
Christ Jesus revealed the glory of God as no other man.
He performed miraculous signs and wonders never before seen.
He healed the sick, and raised the dead to life.
He cast out demons from those oppressed by the devil.
The final proof that he was the Christ of God
Was the fact that God raised him from the dead,
After which he showed himself to his disciples,
Approximately 500 in total.
He said of himself:
I am the way the truth and the life
No one comes to the Father except through me.
If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well.
From now on, you do know him and have seen him. (John 14:6-7)

In other words, Christ Jesus is the visible form of God.
God is a Spirit who cannot be seen.
He made himself flesh, embodied in Christ Jesus,
To reveal himself to the world.

JESUS TEACHES NICODEMUS
Now there was a man of the Pharisees, Nicodemus,
A member of the Jewish ruling council.
He came to Jesus at night and said,
‘Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God.
For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing
If God were not with him.’

In reply Jesus declared,
‘I tell you the truth, unless a man is born again,
He cannot see the kingdom of God.’
‘How can a man be born when he is old’ Nicodemus asked.
‘Surely he cannot enter a second time
Into his mother’s womb to be born!’
Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth,
Unless a man is born of water and the Spirit,
He cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
You should not be surprised at my saying,
You must be born again.
The wind blows wherever it pleases.
You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from
Or where it is going.
So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.’
‘How can this be?’ Nicodemus asked.
‘You are Israel’s teacher,’ said Jesus,
‘And you do not understand these things?
I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know,
And we testify to what we have seen,
But still you people do not accept our testimony.
I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe;
How then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?
No one has ever gone into heaven
Except the one who came from heaven--
The Son of Man.
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert,
So the Son of Man must be lifted up,
That everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
That whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
But to save the world through him.
Whoever believes in him is not condemned,
But whoever does not believe stands condemned already
Because he has not believe in the name of God’s one and only Son.
This is the verdict: Light has come into the world,
But men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light
For fear that his deeds will be exposed.
But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light,
So that it may be seen plainly
That what he has done has been done through God.’ (John 3:1-21)

THE END OF THE AGE
Christ Jesus promised to come again, at the end of the age.
To take all believers to be with him in heaven.

Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am.
And to see my glory, the glory you have given me
Because you loved me before the creation of the world. (John 17:24)

This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven,
Will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven. (Acts 1:11)

This is the hope of every believer.
On the cross of Calvary Jesus said to the one thief who repented:
I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise. (Luke 23:43)

THE OLD TESTEMANT:
God the Father chose the nation Israel to reveal Himself in and through.
Through their recorded history God revealed Himself and His Christ.
He gave them Ten Commandments and a form of worship
That would enable them to live in harmony and relationship with Him.
He delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt with great signs and wonders.
He provided for them for forty years in the wilderness.
He brought them into the land that He had promised.
Nevertheless, Israel rebelled against God time and again.
Time and again, when they cried out to God,
He would deliver them from the circumstances their sin had gotten them into.
God sent them prophets and judges, Godly men and women, filled with His Spirit,
Through whom he would deliver them and show them God’s holy way.
This went on in repeated cycles until the time of Christ.
At the time of Christ Jesus, Israel, having disobeyed God, was under Roman rule.

CHRIST FORETOLD:
Throughout their history God revealed His Christ to Israel
In the form of supernatural visitations.
The prophets foretold the Christ who would come
And restore God’s Kingdom to Israel,
And remove their sin permanently and for eternity.
The Old Testament Scriptures were full of prophecies of the coming of the Christ.
The Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One,
Is the focal point of God’s revelation to mankind in the Old Testament
As well as the New Testament.
He is the one who would repair the relationship between God and man
For all who had faith in God and His Christ.
In Jeremiah 31: 31-34, The Lord declares:
The time is coming,
When I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
And with the house of Judah
It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers
When I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt
Because they broke my covenant
Though I was a husband to them.
This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
After that time,
I will put my laws in their minds
And write upon their hearts.
I will be their God,
And they will be my people.
No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
Or a man his brother, saying 'Know the Lord,’
Because they will all know me
From the least of them to the greatest
For I will forgive their wickedness
And remember their sins no more.

The Apostle John picks up this theme in the New Testament in 1 John 2:20:
But you have an anointing from the Holy One,
And all of you know the truth.
I do not write to you because you do not know the truth,
But because you do know it
And because no lie comes from the truth.
Continuing in 1 John 2:27, John says:
As for you
The anointing you received from him remains in you,
And you do not need anyone to teach you.
But as his anointing teaches you about all things
And as that anointing is real, not counterfeit
Just as it has taught you remain in him.

Here the apostle John brings together the Old and New Testaments
Regarding the nature of the New Covenant
And the anointing, the baptism (immersion) in the Holy Spirit
That would be imparted by “The Messiah, The Christ, The Anointed One.”

The apostle Paul brings Jeremiah 31: 31-34
Into Hebrews 8: 10-12. He then says:
By making this covenant new, he has made the first one obsolete;
And what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.

So, Christ Jesus, The Anointed One, brings into being a New Covenant
By His shed blood on the cross of Calvary;
The fact of His resurrection from the dead,
And the power of his Anointing, given to those who believe.
This Anointing, the impartation of His Spirit, this immersion in His Spirit,
Enables a Christian to overcome the evil in this world and live for God.
It is God’s supernatural, indwelling empowerment.

JOHN THE BAPTIST:
THE MAN SENT TO ANNOUNCE THE CHRIST TO ISRAEL
God the Father chose John the Baptist to make the announcement
Of the coming of The Christ.
As was foretold by scripture John the Baptist was:
A voice of one calling in the desert, Prepare the way for the Lord,
Make straight paths for him. (Matthew. 3:3)

John the Baptist preached a baptism of repentance in the desert,
And most of the people of Israel went to him in the desert and were baptized,
Obeying the still small voice of God who had drawn them to Himself,
And being compelled by the Spirit of God, to do so.
The only ones who did not go out to him were the religious leaders of Israel,
Who refused to acknowledge that John was a prophet from God.
The same ones who refused to accept Christ Jesus as their Messiah
John the Baptist said of the Christ:
I baptize with water for repentance
But after me will come one who is more powerful than I,
Whose sandal I am not fit to carry.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
His winnowing fork is in his hand
And he will clear his threshing floor,
Gathering the wheat into his barn
And burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire. (Matthew. 3:11)

In John 1:29, John the Baptist spoke of the atoning work of Christ:
Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

THE MINISTRY OF CHRIST:
Christ Jesus came to accomplish a number of specific tasks:
To reveal the character and nature of God who is an invisible Spirit;
Christ is the visible image of God; God made man.
To prove that he was the Christ of God through signs, wonders and various miracles.
He healed the sick, the lame, the blind the deaf and all manner of conditions.
He raised the dead. He drove out demons.
He walked on water, stopped a storm with a command
And feed thousands with a few fish and a little bread.

He quoted from the Book of Isaiah, saying he was the fulfillment:
The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
Because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
And recovery of sight for the blind,
To release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (Isaiah 61:1)

He came to gather those who were drawn to Him by the Spirit of God.
Those who would believe He was who He said He was.
To teach His disciples to minister in the power of the Holy Spirit as He had.
To die for the sins of the world.
After His death and resurrection,
He came to indwell His believers
And enable them to do the same ministry that He had done.
He promised to come again at the end of the age for all who will believe.
Baptized by John the Baptist:
Christ Jesus was unknown in Israel until He was about thirty years old.
He then came to John the Baptist and was baptized along with the many
Who were coming to John to be baptized.
As Jesus was baptized He prayed and
…Heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him
In bodily form like a dove.
And a voice came from heaven:
‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’ (Luke 3:21-22)

Temped by the devil:
After being baptized by John the Baptist,
Jesus was led by the Spirit of God into the desert,
Where He ate nothing for forty days.
Then the devil came to Him and said:
'If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.'
Jesus answered, ‘It is written; Man does not live on bread alone.’
But on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'

The devil led him up to a high place
And showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.
And said to him, ‘I will give you all their authority and splendor,
For it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.
So if you worship me, it will all be yours.’
Jesus answered, ‘it is written:
Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’

The devil led him to Jerusalem
And had him stand on the highest point of the temple.
‘If you are the Son of God,’ he said, ‘throw yourself down from here.
For it is written;
He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully;
They will lift you up in their hands,
So you will not strike your foot against a stone.’
Jesus answered, it says:
‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ (Luke 4:3-12)

Jesus Begins His Ministry:
Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.
‘The time has come.’ he said.
‘The Kingdom of God is near.
Repent and believe the good news.’ (Mark 1:14-15)

Jesus chooses twelve disciples
One of which would ultimately betray him, Judas Iscariot.
For approximately three and one half years Christ Jesus ministered before Israel.
Teaching in their synagogues,
Performing signs and wonders that verified who he said he was.
Finally, the Truth compelled Him to speak against the religious establishment;
This angered them and resulted in their demanding of Pontius Pilot
That He be crucified.
At the demand of the Jewish religious establishment,
Christ Jesus was put to death on the cross of Calvary.
However, it was not only the Jewish religious establishment
That put Christ to death,
It was the sin of every person who ever lived, and all have sinned.

THE COMMAND OF CHRIST JESUS:
After His resurrection,
Christ Jesus commanded that His disciples wait in Jerusalem
Until they had received what the Father had promised and He had foretold;
The impartation of the Holy Spirit; the Anointing from “The Anointed One.”
The same impartation spoken of in Jeremiah 31 and 1 John.

If you love me, you will obey what I command.
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor
To be with you forever - The Spirit of truth.
The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him.
But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. (John 14:15-17)

What was this command?
It was to wait in Jerusalem until the Father sent the Holy Spirit.
Wait until you are baptized (immersed) in the Holy Spirit.

On that day you will realize that I am in my Father,
And you are in me, and I am in you. (Christ in us). (John 14:20)
That day was the Day of Pentecost.

Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.
He who loves me will be loved by my Father,
And I too will love him and show myself to him. (John 14:21)

If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.
My Father will love him, and we will come and make our home with him.
(John 14: 23)

He who does not love me will not obey my teaching.
These words you hear are not my own;
They belong to the Father who sent me. (John 14:24)

All this I have spoken while still with you.
But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name,
Will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
(John. 14:25-26)

When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father,
The Spirit of truth, who goes out from the Father,
He will testify about me; … (John. 15:26)

…When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.
He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears,
And he will tell you what is yet to come.
He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine
And making it known to you.
All that belongs to the Father is mine.
That is why I said that Spirit will take from what is mine
And make it know to you. (John. 16:13-15)

THE PREEMINENCE OF CHRIST:
Christ is the focus of both the Old and New Testaments, because He is the redeemer
And the Scriptures are the story of God’s plan of redemption;
God redeeming man to Himself.
Christ and the Father are ONE.
Christ Jesus said to Philip, His disciple:
Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. (John 14:9)
Christ is the perfect image of the Father, the perfect revelation of the Father.
Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
Christ Jesus showed to the whole world who God is;
His nature and His incomparable love.
If a person cannot see God in Christ Jesus, he cannot see God at all,
For Christ Jesus perfectly represents God the Father.

THE PREEMINENCE OF THE WORDS OF CHIRST:
Since Christ Jesus is the most important person who ever lived
(being God in the flesh),
It follows that the words He spoke are the most important words ever spoken.
It also follows that the words that He spoke with the greatest intensity,
Are the most important of the words He spoke.
As recorded in the New Testament
Here are the words that Christ Jesus spoke with the greatest intensity:
On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice:
‘If a man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink
Whoever believes in me as the Scripture has said
Streams of living water will flow from within him.’
By this he meant the Spirit
Whom those who believed in him were later to receive.
Up to that time the Spirit had not been given,
Since Jesus had not yet been glorified.' (John 7:37-39)

At the end of the last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation,
Christ Jesus again gives an invitation to the “THIRSTY”:
He (Christ Jesus) said to me:
‘It is done
I am the Alpha and Omega
The Beginning and the End
To him who is thirsty
I will give to drink without cost
From the spring of the water of life.
He who overcomes will inherit all this
And I will be his God
And he will be my son.’ (Revelation 21:6-7)

In the last chapter of the Book Of Revelation
Again the invitation is given to the “THIRSTY“.
This time by the Spirit and the Bride of Christ:
The Spirit and the bride say, Come!
And let him who hears say, ’Come!’
Whoever is thirsty, let him come
And whoever wishes
Let him take the free gift of the water of life. (Revelation 22:17)

So, at the high point of His ministry,
Christ Jesus loudly invites anyone who is thirsty to come to Him
To receive streams of Living Water.
At the end of the last book of the New Testament,
Christ Jesus again gives the same invitation.
Finally in the last chapter in the last book of the New Testament,
The Spirit and the Bride Give again the FINAL invitation
To receive the “free gift of the water of life.”
The invitation to receive the “free gift of the water of life”
Is the preeminent invitation in the Word of God
And issued by God made Flesh, Christ Jesus.

This is made clear because of the following:
It was first proclaimed by the Christ of God.
It was one of two times the Bible records that he spoke loudly
And therefore intensely.
This proclamation was made at the highest point of his ministry.
It was reiterated by Christ Jesus at the last of the final book of the Bible.
It was reiterated by the Spirit and the Bride as final invitation of the Word of God.

The other time Christ Jesus spoke with intensity was in John 12:44-50:
Then Jesus cried out,
'When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only
But in the one who sent me.
When he looks at me he sees the one who sent me.
I have come into the world as a light,
So that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.
As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them,

I do not judge him.
For I did not come to judge the world,
But to save it.
There is a judge for the one who rejects me
And does not accept my words;
That very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day.
For I did not speak of my own accord
But the Father who sent me commanded me what to say
And how to say it.
I know that his command leads to eternal life.
So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.’

Christ Jesus was emphasizing that He is the embodiment of God,
God made visible, God in the flesh.
When you see Him you see God.
He is also emphasizing His mission:
To save those who would believe Him and accept His offer of eternal life.
Those who do not receive Him, having heard what He said,
Are condemned by the very word He spoke.
In the beginning of his ministry Christ Jesus,

Also spoke about the “Living Water” to a Samaritan woman as follows:
Jesus answered her,
‘If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink,
You would have asked him and he would have given you Living Water.’ (John 4: 10)
Jesus answered,
‘Everyone who drinks this water (natural water) will be thirsty again,
But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.
Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water
Welling up to eternal life.’ (John 4:13-14)

COME TO ME AND DRINK:
This invitation of Christ Jesus is for the “THIRSTY.”
The “Living Water” He offers is His Holy Spirit.
This “Living Water” flows from the throne of God. (Rev. 22:1-3)
The flow is initiated by the “Baptism in the Holy Spirit” by the hand of Christ.
Christ is the Baptizer. Baptism means to immerse.
Christ Jesus immerses those who believe, in the Holy Spirit,
So that they are saturated with Him. Christ Jesus said:

‘I am going to send you what my Father has promised;
But stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.’
(Luke 24:49)

‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised,
Which you have heard me speak about.
For John baptized with water,
But in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ (Acts 1:4-5)

This baptism is available to whosoever will come to Christ “THIRSTY,”
And “WAIT” on Him to receive.
It is for those who understand that Christ is “LIFE,” and desire His “LIFE;”
Those who understand there is no “LIFE” apart from Him;
Who are willing to live His “WAY,” and by His “TRUTH;”
Those who are willing to seek first the Kingdom of God,
And make it their treasure.

Christ Jesus said:
‘Seek first his (the Father’s) kingdom and his righteousness,
And all these things (everything you have need of)
Will be given to you as well.’ (Matthew. 6:33).

Christ Jesus said about God’s Kingdom:
‘The kingdom of God does not come visibly,
Nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ’there it is,’
Because the kingdom of God is within you.’ (Luke 17: 20-21)

The Kingdom of God is Christ in you,
The Holy Spirit within you, the Anointing of Christ within you,
The “Living Water” within you, The only hope of glory (everlasting life).
The apostle Paul said that God had given him a commission
To present to the church,
The word of God in its fullness -
The mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations,
But is now disclosed to the saints.
To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles
The glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you the hope of glory.
(Colossians. 1:26-27)

The only hope that any person has is Christ in them;
The Holy Spirit in them.
That is the hope of glory or eternal life.
We Christians believe that when we die,
We go to live with the Father forever, in Heaven.
That hope is base on Christ living within us.
Our body will die but the Spirit of Christ in us is eternal.
That is our hope.

There’s a pool of blood and a broken body
That will determine your eternity
There’s a sacrifice of a holy life
That separates all of history
There’s a soon coming King a reward to bring
For those who give their lives even unto death
They will all fly away
It could be most any day
To be with Him in never ending joy
Lord of glory Your Bride awaits you
Our lamps are burning come soon
Jesus, Messiah we are longing for You
We are holding back the battle at the gate

*All Scriptures are from The New International Version.