When a soldier dies, his commander no longer counts him as part of the fighting force. When a leader dies, nobody dreams of expecting him to lead, let alone trusting in his ongoing leadership. So, why does Christ still matter, bearing in mind that he died?

Well, quite simply, not only did he die – but he also rose again from the dead. It’s no great feat to die, but it’s quite something to rise from the dead – and it’s something which should tell us two really central things about Christ himself:

• First; that because he rose again we can be certain of the claims he made about himself – he really is the Son of God
• Second; that he is not now dead, but lives – he lives as Lord now, and we can have confidence in his future return because the greatest possible obstacle is already defeated

It is with this first in mind that Paul declares in the passage we looked at earlier in this chapter that Christ “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). In raising him from the dead, God adds divine testimony to the word of Jesus and his claim to be the Christ, the Son of God. We should not ignore this most powerful and physical reason to receive the word and promise of Christ!

As Paul gives thanks to God, he recounts this great work in resurrection, declaring of it:

…²⁰ that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, ²¹ far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

Ephesians 1:20-21

As to the second point, it is because Christ lives and reigns as Lord, and because he has promised salvation to all those who believe, it is the risen Lord for whom we wait and whom we trust to deliver us from God’s wrath against sinners. We go on to read in I Thessalonians, we “wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come” (I Thessalonians 1:9-10). Indeed, the very hope of a Christian depends on the resurrection, for as Paul explains, “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17).

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One of the most striking features of the gospel accounts is that so many in Israel appeared to be actively awaiting the coming of Christ. There is good reason for this, for this coming of Christ is something clearly predicted by the Old Testament scriptures. In this way, perhaps the coming of Christ should be seen not so much as a ‘new development’ but rather as the final manifestation of something long awaited and much promised.

It is with this in mind that Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, prophesies concerning the Christ saying:

⁶⁸ “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,

for he has visited and redeemed his people

⁶⁹ and has raised up a horn of salvation for us

in the house of his servant David,

⁷⁰ as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,

⁷¹ that we should be saved from our enemies

and from the hand of all who hate us;

Luke 1:68-71

Using rich language taken from the Psalms and other parts of scripture, he expresses this coming of Christ most directly as a fulfilment of the promises of God; salvation as the prophets promised.

He goes on to explain what these promises stated as their end. He makes reference to the holy covenant that God made with Abraham, casting back his attention to events almost two thousand years beforehand¹:

⁷² to show the mercy promised to our fathers

and to remember his holy covenant,

⁷³ the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us

⁷⁴ that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,

might serve him without fear,

⁷⁵ in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

Luke 1:72-75

In order that we might more fully understand this, we’ll start by having a look at some of the promises to Abraham which are fulfilled in Christ, and then move our attention to later passages that again describe the promised work of Christ. First of all, let us look at the promise which God made to Abraham after he had not withheld his own Son from sacrifice. The promise here is not only for Abraham, but it is a promise of God’s blessing to all the nations of the earth – a blessing in Abraham’s offspring:

¹⁷ I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, ¹⁸ and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.

Genesis 22:18

But who is this offspring? Well, Abraham’s son who was to inherit the covenant was Isaac, but yet that same Isaac was delivered a promise almost identical to that given Abraham, in Genesis 26:4, where God promised to Isaac “and in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed”! As the Holy Spirit explains by the hand of Paul, this ‘offspring’ refers to Christ (Galatians 3:16). It is in Christ, who is indeed a descendant of Abraham according to the flesh (Luke 3:34) in whom all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.

The next important period in which we see frequent direct reference to the work of Christ is at the time of King David² and during the subsequent periods as Israel gets driven away into captivity. The intention of King David to build a house for God is the occasion of yet another prophecy, echoing the words of that to Abraham but now with the focus on an everlasting rule.

¹² When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

II Samuel 7:12-13

Now, the line of kings descended from David did continue for some time – yet it too would fail, and not only would no descendant of David be on the throne, but the people driven out into exile there would not even be a throne. So how is it that God promises such a thing? What is the meaning of this prophecy?

This too, is to be fulfilled in Christ. Isaiah³ writes before the exile of a ‘stump of Jesse’ (Jesse was King David’s father, from whose line also Jesus is descended):

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,

and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

Isaiah 11:1

Again, at a later time when all seems lost and there seems to be no hope of a fulfilment of salvation – Zechariah⁴ prophesies:

Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord.

Zechariah 6:12

Whilst these prophecies set out promises of Christ as the answer to the promises to Abraham, Isaac and David, yet there are others which are rooted in more general promises of salvation. Amongst these are detailed discussions of the coming of Christ. We see, for example, Isaiah’s prophecy that the Lord will give to his people a sign – a sign that “the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel”, and again Micah⁵’s wonderful promise that from Bethlehem will come a ruler who originates “of old, from ancient days”:

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,

who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,

from you shall come forth for me

one who is to be ruler in Israel,

whose origin is from of old,

from ancient days.

Micah 5:2

The motif of the coming saviour, one who will come with power is very common within Biblical literature as the prophets point forwards to Christ and the promised salvation. Thus, we read the words of Baalam declare that “a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel” (Numbers 24:17), and from the Psalms “The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies!” (Psalm 110:2).

As we continue our discussion of Christ and his work of salvation, we will see many more places where the Old Testament scriptures are fulfilled, and these will be discussed in their proper place.

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Thinking about names and their meaning is fascinating, and deeply instructive; however lest we focus on the terms instead of the person they represent – we’ll now turn our attention to “this Jesus”.

When Paul the apostle wrote to the church in Rome, he uses his opening greeting to summarise some of the most important things about Jesus as regards the Gospel. Let’s look at it together:

¹ Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, ² which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, ³ concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh ⁴ and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord

Romans 1:1-4

What points does he make? First of all, he confirms what we have already said, that Christ is Jesus, and in him is fulfilled the promise of the Old Testament.

Next however, we are given three very important statements regarding Jesus. First, that he is the Son of God; second, that he is a descendant of man according to ‘the flesh’; and third, that he is Jesus Christ our Lord.

Christ: man and God

The first two of these points (that Christ is the son of God and that he is descended from man) are probably as confusing as they are important, and the manner in which both are true at the same time is something we’ll need to look at in a little detail. In order to do this, we’ll take a look at the way John starts his Gospel – because amongst the introductions to Jesus the Christ given by the Bible, this stands out, starting before creation rather than with the events of the birth.

John talks about ‘the Word’ which, we’ll read, was in the beginning. In fact, the ‘Word’, John reveals, was not only with God in the beginning, but the Word was God:

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of men.⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 1:1-5

The mysterious ‘Word’ is explained a few verses later, in verse fourteen, where we read that the Word became human (flesh) and lived amongst men. Whilst it takes no great deductive leap to see that the Word is Christ even at this point, and the rest of John’s gospel makes this link indisputable:

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:14

This then provides us another answer to our question, “who is Christ?” – that Christ is God, that Christ was with God in the beginning, and that all things that were created were created through him. Yet, not only that, but it shows how we arrive at the second point, that he became man by becoming flesh and dwelling among us.

These perspectives present two important ways to describe Christ; that he is both divine and human. As to the nature of this, the scripture as a whole leads us to conclude that he is ‘fully man’ and also ‘fully God’. Try to keep these two distinct but inseparable natures of Christ in mind as we continue to discuss his role in salvation.

Christ is: Jesus, God, and man

Christ the Lord

We noted as our third point that Paul also calls Jesus “Lord” when he greets the Christians in Rome. This can be a helpful term for our understanding of Jesus, and it primarily expresses the concept of master or ruler. This is the title used by the angels who herald the birth of Christ when they greet the shepherds with the wonderful news that “unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11), and it’s also the term of choice for his disciples as they speak to him.

The Old Testament also establishes the basis for this term, and contains prophesies directly related to it. For example, Christ explains his role as Lord by using a passage from the Psalms (Psalm 110:1), explaining the way in which whilst he is descended from King David yet he is a greater than him, having a divine rule that makes him Lord even over Kings:

⁴¹ Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, ⁴² saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” ⁴³ He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying:

⁴⁴ “‘The Lord said to my Lord,

Sit at my right hand,

until I put your enemies under your feet’?

⁴⁵ If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?”

Matthew 22:41-45

So, for Christ to be Lord is an expression of his status as ruler – but not only over his followers, but in an absolute or divine sense. He is not just a king or a lord, but rather “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:16).

There is also, in some parts of the New Testament, a further significance to the title “Lord” – for the Greek word κύριος (kyrios) we translate “Lord” is used in Greek to translate the Hebrew name for God, יהוה(Yahweh, in some Bibles written Lord). So, to confess that Jesus is Lord in this sense is no less than to confess that he is God – and this is just what we find in places such as Paul’s exhortation to the Romans where he quotes the Old Testament (Hebrew) prophet Joel who wrote of Yahweh as applying to Christ (Joel 2:32):

⁹ … if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (….) ¹³ For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord (originally Yahweh) will be saved.”

Romans 10:9, 13

Christ is Lord

Christ the Son of God

Whilst the title of Lord is founded in the relationship of Christ as ruler and Lord over man, the title of Son of God which we’ve touched on already is based upon the relationship between Christ and God. We’ve already seen in our introduction to Christ that Christ is both God and man; and here we start to see a little of the way in which this divine authority and status rests upon Christ. It is a status and position which is established early in the narrative account, with Luke recording that the very angel who announced the forthcoming birth used such a term:

³⁰ And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

Luke 1:30-32

The same terms are again used at the baptism of Jesus, when the voice of God declares that he is the Son of God. It is already clear that this Jesus is not merely a prophet or holy man – but distinctly and definitely of God.

¹⁶ And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; ¹⁷ and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Matthew 3:16-17

Although it would take his disciples some time to really understand his divinity, only really coming to terms with it after he died and had risen again, the demons were aware of it from the beginning – testifying to him as the Son of God.

²⁸ And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. ²⁹ And behold, they cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”

Matthew 8:28-29

By the time Christ had risen and sent the Holy Spirit to his disciples, this title as applied to Christ was well understood and employed in the scripture. We see expressions describing God as the Father of Jesus, and Jesus as the Son of God in many places within the letters of the New Testament – such as this statement from the letter to the Colossians:

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you

Colossians 1:3

Christ is: the Son of God

Christ the Son of Man

Now, in what may initially seem to be a contradiction to the title ‘Son of God’, Christ frequently describes himself as the Son of Man. It is this term by which Jesus often refers to himself, hinting at his fulfilment of the vision of Daniel¹. Likewise, it puts forward his humanity and so contributes to a certain tension as those around him seek to understand just who he is.

A powerful example of this phrase is seen in the so-called account of the healing of the paralytic. Here we meet Jesus who performed two miracles, separated by a teaching about himself.

The first, was to forgive the sins of a paralytic man – an action which is to declare himself to be God who alone can forgive sins. The second, was to heal the man, an action which is explained as being done to show that “the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”:

² And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” … ⁶ But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” ⁷ And he rose and went home.

Matthew 9:2-7

Notably, it’s also the way that Christ later refers to himself when he predicts his death and resurrection (e.g. Mark 8:31).

Christ is: the Son of Man

There is so much more that could be said about who the Christ is that it would fill volumes and to cover them all is beyond the scope of this book². However, having set out some of the foundations, we will go on to learn a lot more about Christ in the rest of the book.

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If we are to have any hope of properly assessing the significance of a death, we must first know the significance of the one who died. So, if we are to understand that Christ died for our sins, it is necessary that we know who Christ was, or indeed is. To do this we’ll ask, and try to answer, four questions:

• “What might one mean by ‘Christ’?” starts off our discussion by asking the meaning and significance of ‘Christ’
• “Who is this Jesus, the Christ?” seeks to introduce Jesus as the Bible explains him
• “Was the Christ really promised?” takes a brief look at what scripture had foretold of him
• Finally, “Didn’t Christ die?”, looks at Christ beyond the cross and the grave

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One of the highlights of Matthew’s gospel is the confession given by Peter, one of the disciples:

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”

Matthew 16:16

The word Christ itself literally mean ‘anointed’, but its connotations are larger than that. It’s a word which connects us to the scriptures of the Old Testament – that part of the Bible written long before Jesus¹ was born. In these we learn that ‘the Christ’ refers specifically to ‘the Lord’s anointed’, and fulfils many promises.

It’s actually the same word as ‘Messiah’², which you may have heard before. Messiah is a Hebrew word, whilst ‘Christ’ is derived from the Greek word Christós (Χριστός) used to translate it in the New Testament.

Although the concept of being ‘anointed’ is well established in the old Testament, being characteristic of prophets, priests, and kings³, it is also reserved for a specific Christ, one both promised, and awaited. So, when wise men came to King Herod stating that they’d seen a star signifying the birth of the king of the Jews, it was only natural that he’s respond by trying to find out “where the Christ was to be born” (Matthew 2:4).

Likewise, when a group of angels came to tell shepherds the good news of the promised birth, they announced that “unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).

The New Testament, and indeed the Bible as a whole teaches us that this Saviour, Christ the Lord, is a specific person, one Jesus of Nazareth.

Through his life, and even after his death, Jesus is shown to be Christ. For example, we read of Andrew, who when he started following Jesus, called his brother saying ‘“We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ)’ (John 1:41). Similarly, when Jesus later met a Samaritan woman at a well she told him “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ)”. Jesus replied to her, saying “I who speak to you am he” (John 4:25-6).

It is a declaration which is at the heart of the message which was preached to Jews by the early church – for example, we read of Paul who reasoned with those in Thessalonica from the scriptures, saying “this Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ” (Acts 16:3).

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