What Jesus Accomplished Outside of the Cross

So often we talk about what Jesus accomplished at the cross, but what about what Jesus accomplished outside of the cross? 

For some time I've been preaching that the "finished work of Jesus," is much more than what Jesus did. When we speak of "the cross," we're talking about much more than Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. Yes, Jesus is the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8). But salvation was accomplished because of who Jesus is, as much as it was accomplished by what Jesus did. In other words, we can't separate Jesus' work from Jesus' person. Salvation is a person named Jesus. The incarnation, and atonement go together. We don't have salvation without the incarnation, and the atonement. As I've said so many times, and I will continue to emphasize, that salvation was accomplished in Jesus life, death, resurrection, ascension, and sending of the Spirit. 

God became man so that he could live out the God-life of other-centered-love, as us, and share with us the abundant life (John 10:10; 17:3). God became man so that he could die our death. God became man so that he could be raised to new life, as us (Col. 3:3-4). God became man so that he could offer himself anew to God, as us. God became man so that he could forever be at rest in the heavenly realm, as us (Eph. 2:5-6). God sent the Holy Spirit so that we would be awakened to the reality that has been pioneered in Christ Jesus.

So the Reality of salvation is  found in Jesus' person and work. Salvation is realized in Jesus' person and work. The cross symbolizes who God is, as well as what he has accomplished in the person of Jesus.  

Heaven Or Iowa?

In the movie, "Field of Dreams," Ray Kinsella builds a baseball field in the middle of his corn fields after hearing a voice that tells him, "If you build it, he will come." Soon deceased baseball players, raised from the dead as young men, come out of Ray's cornfields. One of the players is Ray's father, John Kinsella. While Ray and John are renewing their relationship, John asks  Ray, "Is this heaven?" Ray replies, "It's Iowa," and then asks John, "Is there a heaven?"  John says, "Oh yeah, it's the place dreams come true."

The book of Genesis says that God called the "expanse," heaven (Gen. 1:8). The writer of Ecclesiastes tells us that God is in heaven (Eccl. 5:2). Jesus said, heaven is the throne of God (Mat. 5:34). God the Father is in heaven (Mark 11:25-26). The Holy Spirit descended from heaven as a dove, and rested upon Jesus (John 1:32).  Jesus said, no one has ascended to heaven, except the Son of Man, the Bread of God, who has descended from heaven (John 3:13; 6:33, 38, 41). Therefore, if we want to know about heaven, we have one source of information, and that's from the one who has descended from heaven, Jesus.

In the Gospel of John, chapter 3, Jesus was having a conversation with Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee. The Pharisees rejected Jesus, and his testimony.  He told Nicodemus that a person had to be born again, or born of the spirit,  to see, and enter into the kingdom of  God (or kingdom of heaven). He then went on to say that being born of the spirit, has to do with believing in the Son of God, Jesus (John 3:1-21).

We have placed so much emphasis on heaven being a place that we go to after we die, and little  emphasis on the relationship that we have with God in Christ Jesus. Heaven is a metaphor for salvation and eternal life. It is a present, and future reality. It's a relationship that we have with God. We have been brought into this relationship in Christ, because of who he is, and because of what he has done. Jesus said, "This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (John 17:3). It's necessary to believe in Jesus, to trust him, to "eat the bread of God," so that he lives within us, and so that we fully experience the life that he has already given us, for this is the will of the Father (John 6:40, 50-51). 

Jesus made these bold statements:

I am the Bread of Life (John 6:35). 

I am the Light of the World (John 8:12).

I am the Door (John 10:9). 

I am the Good Shepherd (John 10:11).

I am the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25). 

I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). 

I am the True Vine (John 15:1).

I am, the Alpha and the Omega, the First, and the Last, the Beginning, and the End (Rev. 22:13).

Jesus is our life! In him we experience heaven. Salvation is a person, Jesus. Just like Jesus said, "I am...". 

The apostle Paul said, "When Christ who is our life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory (Col. 3:4 my emphasis). When Christ is revealed, we will experience the fullness of heaven in our new, glorified bodies. We have borne the image of the man from earth [Adam], and we  will also bear the image of the heavenly man [Jesus] (1 Cor. 15:47-49). 

We are [already] seated with him in the heavenly realm (Eph. 2:5-6). We're seated with him, because we are one with him in his person.

The present heaven, and the present earth will both pass away (Luke 21:33).  But the good news is, Jesus is the pioneer of the new creation - the new earth, and new heaven (Isa. 65:17; Rev. 21:1-5).

Watch my latest video on heaven.

Just What Is The Purpose Of The Bible?

In the movie “A Few Good Men,” Lieutenant Jonathan Kendrick (played by Keifer Sutherland) tells Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee (played by Tom Cruise) 

“I have two books at my bedside, Lieutenant: the Marine Corps Code of Conduct and the King James Bible.”  

It's estimated that more than six billion copies of the Bible have been sold. But how many people know what the purpose of the Bible is? 

I opened the Bible for the very first time while attending college at the University of Minnesota. There wasn't enough room on campus for all the students that desired on-campus housing, so we were placed at the Hotel Duluth. I read through chapters of the Bible and found it very interesting, but I never understood what the real purpose was. 

Jesus said to the very religious and pious people of his day, “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you possess eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life John 5:39-40 (TNIV). 

These are the same people that let the Law come between them and the Life Giver! They even accused Jesus of being a sinner, a blasphemer and eventually got their wish and had him “gorified.” They were sin-centric not Christ-centric, and therefore never experienced the freedom of the new life that Christ wanted to give them; the freedom that resurrection Sunday pictures. 

Jesus, the Messiah, said he did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; but to fulfill them (Mat. 5:17 TNIV). The word fulfill is the Greek word Pleroo, and it means to complete. Jesus not only completed the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms, but he is the Light that opens up the Scriptures so that we can understand them (Luke 24:44-45).

The Light of the gospel of Jesus Christ will remove the scales from your eyes and the shackles from your ankles! 

Are you living life thinking that Jesus called you to change?  Changed equals “chained.” It's "do it yourself religion," as Bible translator and author Francois du Toit says. Jesus never called us to change. He calls us to receive a new life in him (Gal. 2:20; Col. 3:3). 

I couldn’t understand the purpose of the Bible when I opened it up for the first time while attending UMD, because I never wholeheartedly received what God wanted to give me in Jesus Christ. 

The purpose of the Bible is to lead us to Jesus Christ for eternal life or immortality in him; that we may receive freedom and participate in the new life we have in him; and that we would grow in the grace and knowledge of him (2 Peter 3:18); and that we would participate in his priestly ministry. 

I’m sending each of you a “key.” Here it comes! Now catch it. Stand up. With the key in one hand, lift the opposite leg up and put your foot over your knee. OK. Now reach down and unlock the shackle from your ankle. Shake it off and free yourself from that ball and chain that you’ve been carrying around. Now do the Hallelujah dance. Jump up and down and yell, “I am free! Free! Free! Hallelujah Amen! 

You are now free to experience your new life in Christ!  You have been unshackled from whatever sin or problem, fear or anxiety that you have focused your life on! You are now free to enjoy your life in Christ. You are free to wholeheartedly experience him! To live in Him! The old life is gone with all its sin and problems and fears. It’s really that simple. Don’t complicate it. Don’t labor. Rest in Jesus (Mat. 11:28-30). 

There is no life in the prophets. There is no life in Bible stories; nor is there life in the Scriptures; but the Scriptures, the Bible does point us to Christ who fulfilled them; he filled them to the full; he completed them; because as the Messiah, that’s  what He was called to do. Jesus completed his earthly ministry when he was resurrected from the dead, and ascended to the Father.

We have been given a new life in Christ - not a changed life, but a new life in Him - eternal life in him - freedom in Him! We share in his priestly ministry. It’s good news for everyone, especially for those who believe. 

We are free! Free! Free! Celebrate your freedom in Christ!