The Uniqueness of Christ

I finished the last post with these questions: Why was Jesus made King? What is so special about him?

I believe these are important questions that it seems are rarely asked by Christians.  Maybe we asked these questions when we first came to Christ, but sometimes it’s good to look back on the simple things.

To put it in the simplest of terms; Jesus was made King because He could do something that none of the rest of us could do.

Now let’s not get ahead of ourselves here!  I know what you’re thinking….maybe.  You might be thinking, ‘Oh, I get it. Ed’s going to talk about how Jesus came back to life.’  Yeah, well, maybe eventually, but not yet.

Can you think of what Jesus could do that we can’t?  I’ll give you hint…it’s got nothing to do with carpentry!  Although, I am a totally useless carpenter….

I want us to go back to the Cross in our minds.  I’ve often been encouraged to put myself in the place of many figures surrounding the cross; Barrabas, Simon of Cyrene, Mary, John, the centurion, one of the thieves…

I want you to put yourself in Jesus place.  You are laid down with your shoulders on the crosspiece.  Your arms are held out over the wood while iron spikes are driven through your hands near the wrist.  Your legs are crossed and nailed to the pole. The pole is lifted up until it slides into the prepared hole with a jarring thud.  You hang there as people jeer at you and spit at you.  You hang there until you can’t breathe anymore.

All of us would find that extremely hard, but there is something about Jesus that makes it worse.  Jesus didn’t have to do it.  He had a choice.  All he had to do was say, ‘no’, and it all stops; the pain, the teasing, the fear of separation from the Father.

Now put yourself in his place.

I couldn’t do it.  I can tell you now, I would be off of that cross so fast!  I don’t think there’s anything that could keep me on there.  It wouldn’t matter if I had an angel whispering to me that this is for everyone; everyone who has ever lived, is living, and ever will live!  I can save them if I just stay on the cross.  I know I couldn’t do it.

But Jesus could.

That’s why He gets to be King.  That’s why He received power from the Father to take His life back.  That’s why all those who follow Him will live forever.

Jesus of Nazareth, in the big moments and in the small, always chose to sacrifice himself, and obey the Father.  He perfectly fulfilled the role of man, and was the express image of God.

So what does that mean to us?

Alot of things.  Everything.

We’ll start looking at the implications of the life of the King next time.

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