WHAT JESUS DID FOR YOU
By W. G. Guy
What Jesus did for you He did for everyone in the world, past, present and future. However, most people in the world are unaware of who He really is, or what He did for us (and you). Jesus, the Son of God, was God’s person to bring restoration of mankind back into fellowship with Almighty God, our Creator.
God made man in His own image and likeness; but that image and likeness was lost due to sin, because of the craft and subtly of Satan, who was jealous of man who was given rule over this planet.
Genesis 1:26-27 – And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them, (not trans or convertible).
Sin separated man from God, but God had a plan to restore man back into fellowship with Him. This required an atoning sacrifice on behalf of mankind, (you), to bring about total redemption from the fallen, sinful state. This is known as REDEMPTION: redemption means to restore to the original state. Jesus became our redeemer to bring about this restoration back into fellowship with God as He originally intended for man (and you) to have.
This plan of redemption for you began as Jesus became about thirty years old. The age of thirty is the age that the Hebrew priests were allowed to begin their service in ministry. This is the age that Jesus stopped serving His earthly family and began to serve His Heavenly Father, who then acknowledged Jesus as His Son.
Luke 3:22-23 – And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph,
Jesus is also called a High Priest as He made intercession for us (and you).
Hebrews 4:14 – Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
Typically the work of a priest is to intervene on man’s behalf to God; this is to present man to God by making intercession: this is exactly what Jesus did for us (and you).
Under the terms of the old covenant, a spotless lamb was used as the atoning sacrifice whose shed blood covered the sins of God’s people, Israel. However, lamb’s blood merely covered sins, but did not totally remove those sins. This changed when Jesus became our Passover Lamb as His shed blood removed the penalty an offense of our (and your) sins.
1 John 1:7 – But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
Christians consider that our redemption was accomplished by what Jesus did and suffered on the cross. However, Christ’s redemptive work for us (and you) began before He was crucified on the cross. Jesus’ work of redemption began as He went about preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God for nearly three and a half years after His water baptism. He was telling those who would listen that God had a plan of mercy and grace for them (and you) if accepted by faith. He traveled all over the land of Israel to declare this message of God’s kingdom which is His love and provision for all, (and you).
Jesus’ redemptive work for us (and you) became pronounced as He suffered and prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. It was there that He died to self as He submitted to the will and the purpose of God the Father. That purpose was to complete the plan of redemption.
Matthew 26:36-39 – Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
Jesus was forcibly taken from the garden and made to stand trial before the priestly and political leadership of the land until the religious leaders of Israel convinced the Roman ruler to have Jesus crucified. However, Jesus’ work of redemption was still ongoing before He was ever placed on the cross. His blood was being shed as He was tortured, mocked and defamed before the people and by the Roman soldiers.
John 19:1 – Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands.
Scourging was a serious and painful form of torture that causes severe bleeding from lacerations of the back referred to as stripes. The Roman means of scourging meant being beaten with a whip that had multiple leather thons that each had a peace of broken bone at the end. Each strike on the back with this whip would lacerate the skin shredding it open causing blood to pour out.
Placing a crown of thorns on His head also caused massive bleeding as there are many blood vessels in the head just under the skin. Thus Jesus began shedding His blood before He was placed on the cross.
Isaiah 53:4-5 – Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Notice three human elements were affected as Jesus paid for our (and your) redemption. These areas consist of spirit, soul and body. Spirit – the life force that was separated from God by sin is now atoned for and restored back to God. The soul, or mind, now had peace knowing that there is now no fear of facing eternal punishment for sin and alienation from God. The body can receive physical healing as Jesus paid for it with His broken body. This is what Communion, or the Lord’s Supper, represents.
1 Corinthians 11:23-25 – For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
Then Jesus was led away to Golgotha to be hung on a cross and crucified. As stated before, Jesus’ redemption and shedding His blood began before He was put on the cross. On the cross is where the plan of redemption was finished, just as Jesus declared.
John 19:30 – When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
When Jesus said, “It is finished”, that means everything that is needed and provided for our total redemption has now been provided; nothing else is needed but accept, by faith, this eternal truth. The plan of redemption was completed, nothing more needs to be done for it to be accomplished other than for you to accept what Jesus did for you. He is our redeemer, the only one who restores us (and you) back to God as our loving Heavenly Father. This is the gospel message that is to go into all of the world,
1 Peter 2:24 – Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
