With the Christmas season approaching, we are generally presented with the nativity scene of the baby Jesus in His bed of hay, His mother, the shepherds, sundry animals and the wise men from the East bringing their gifts.
I wonder how many people think about the reason for the coming of Jesus. In order to find an answer to my question, I decided to ask ten people – mostly strangers – to give me their thoughts as to why Jesus came. As you can imagine, I received a variety of answers. One man said, “I have no idea”, while another told me that “nobody knows”. A neighbour told me that Jesus came to show us how to live, while a lady replied to my question by asking, “Wasn’t it to do something about our sins”? Three other folk said that they had never thought about it. I was saddened by these comments. It is disappointing to think that the most stupendous event in human history, the coming of God’s Son into the world to enable men and women to be saved from their sins, to enjoy an intimate relationship with their loving heavenly Father and to live forever, should be a matter of such widespread ignorance and indifference, particularly when we realise that what we think of Jesus will determine our eternal destiny.
Let us turn to God’s Word for the answer to our question. “Why did Jesus come”? We will look first at John 1:18, where we learn that “no man has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him”. One translation says that Jesus has “interpreted” His Father. So the first reason for Jesus coming was to show us what God was like. Jesus was loving, kind, joyful, forgiving, generous, powerful, wise and sinless; actually he was called “a friend of sinners”, so we learn that God has all of these benevolent, kindly attributes. We read something of God’s love from 1 John 4:9-10: “This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins”.
So Jesus came into the world that we might have life and that we might have it to the full (John 10:10 NIV). This means that, apart from a saving relationship with the Lord Jesus, we are all “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). 1 Timothy 5:6 tells of a woman living in pleasure being dead while she lives. Then we learn from Luke 19:10 that “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost”. In Luke 15 Jesus told stories of a lost sheep, a lost coin and a lost son and how each of these was found, bringing joy to God’s heart. It is not God’s will that any of us should die in our sins and be forever lost, but rather that we should repent of our sins, turn away from them and trust in the Saviour’s death, for “He bore your sins in His own body on the tree”. What a joy it is to have the assurance that God has forgiven us and that we can have peace with God (Romans 5:1).
We read in John 12:46 that Jesus said, “I have come into the world as light, so that no one who believes in Me should stay in darkness”. The Lord Jesus told the apostle Paul that his mission was to preach the good news to all who would receive it. He was to “open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among them that are sanctified by faith that is in Me” (Acts 26:18).
Much more could be added in answer to the question, “Why did Jesus come?”, but we must conclude from what God’s Word tells us that nothing is more important in life than that we have a living, loving and lasting relationship with God through the Saviour’s death, burial and rising again. “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15).
This article was written by Pastor Geoffrey Davies. He is a frequent contributor to this column. He lives in Melbourne, Australia, where he pastored a church for over twenty-five years. For many years, he has travelled widely, continuing his ministry of encouragement and Bible teaching.
