This blog post was written by Charis Founder and President, Andrew Wommack.
From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Matthew 16:21
Despite the abundance of clear prophecies—and Jesus’s own words—about His death and resurrection, Jesus’ disciples didn’t understand what He came to earth to accomplish.
They, like many others, expected Jesus to establish the Messianic promise of peace on earth in a physical sense (Is. 2:1-4). It wasn’t until Jesus’ resurrection that the disciples remembered His words and believed (Luke 24:5-9).
The greatest truth of the Bible is that Jesus died for our sins, not His own. This is what sets Christianity apart from the other religions of the world. Jesus was completely sinless. No other religious leader has ever claimed to be sinless. Neither has any other leader given his life in sacrifice for the sins of others. Of course, it wouldn’t have done any good if one had! But, since Jesus was the sinless Son of God, His life was more valuable than yours or mine. His life was worthy of right standing before God. He could claim relationship with God as a right instead of an inherited benefit.
But He didn’t. Philippians 2 says—
[Jesus] being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; [7] rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. [8] And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!
Philippians 2:6-8, New International Version
Jesus’ death and resurrection revealed His true purpose in coming to earth. He came to reveal God’s grace and make His rights available to us through faith (Rom. 8:17 and Gal. 3:29). But don’t take my word for it. Jesus provided the ultimate verification of His authority to give us “life and life more abundantly”—His tomb is empty (John 10:10). He arose from the dead! Praise God!