God became flesh on a wonderous day when baby boy was born to a virgin mother in the town of Bethlehem. The child had no earthly father for He was the only begotten Son of God. Baby Jesus grew into a man, who worked miracles, taught like no other and lived a perfect life. He set a great example for all of humanity to follow. The example included compassion, love and obedience. God's Son established His church and gave his life for the redemption of mankind. but, in an attempt to understand the depth of the Lord's sacrifice, we must understand what He was, what He became, and what He is.
"Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, 'Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?' that is, 'My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, 'This Man is calling for Elijah!' Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink. The rest said, 'Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him.' And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, 'Truly this was the Son of God!'" (Matthew 27:45-54)
These words reveal the agonizing death of the Lord. It is an extremely sad, frightening and humbling realization. Deep emotions of sadness are stirred in the hearts of Christians when we recall the suffering of our Savior. However, at the same time we rejoice in the knowledge that the crucifixion of Jesus was no more His end than His birth was His beginning. Jesus, our Lord and Savior, arose!
"Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men. But the angel answered and said to the women, 'Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay'" (Matthew 28:1-6).
Jesus paid the ransom for sin with His life. He then conquered death and rose from the grave to continue being our eternal Savior. He did what could be done only by one who was of the divine nature and at the same time fully human. In this, Jesus is unique. Because of this, Jesus is eternal. The word eternal is defined as, "1. Without beginning or ending; lasting throughout time: 2. Independent of time conditions; timeless."
Some people think of the eternality of Christ in the following way: Birth----Death----Burial----Resurrection----ETERNITY. This however, is not a proper understanding of eternity. It implies that while Jesus is eternal in future time, He had an origin in the conceptual time frame of man. To think in this way is to misunderstand or deny the definition of eternal. It is important to understand that in order to be eternal, Jesus not only lives eternally in future time but must by definition have had no beginning. A more accurate illustration of the eternal nature of the Lord is as follows. ETERNITY----Birth----Death----Burial----Resurrection----ETERNITY.
We have defined the word eternal. We have illustrated the concept of eternity. It has been stated that Jesus is eternal. Now, let us examine the words of an eyewitness. The apostle John wrote,
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made" (John 1:1-3).
The "Word" in this passage is Jesus. "It is a unique contribution of the prologue of the Gospel of John that it revels the Word of God not merely as an attribute of God, but as a distinct person within the Godhead, dwelling with the Creator before the creation began, and acting as the divine agent in the creation. The prologue speaks not of 'the word of God' but of the Word who was with God, and was God."
