THE VICTORIOUS CHRIST

Victory is something that is sweet, especially when you go through pain and difficult situations to attain it. e.g. Students who struggle to pass exams when he had no teacher or getting employment after numerous applications or farmer getting bumper harvest after trials. Therefore, it is no surprise that everybody wants to be associated with such victories. Example, in parliament we have opposition but when there is victory for Ghana, parliament is without opposition. Am I wrong?

Brethren, Christ is the cornerstone of Christianity. In fact, no Christ- no Christianity. But who is Christ and what did He achieve for Christianity that we need to believe in Him only? Some people try to compare Christ with other so called ‘prophets’. Today, even some church leaders are preaching around that we worship the same God with the other religions. That is one of the biggest deceptions of Satan and he is using some Christians to propagate these lies. As a fact, if you deny the son, you cannot have the father (1Jn2:23), so let us not equal Christ with any religion’s leader.

In the beginning

In the beginning (Genesis), God created man and so loved man that HE befriended Him in the Garden of Eden. But Satan, through the serpent deceived man/ woman and that destroyed God’s wonderful friendship with mankind. This sin made God sad and regretful that He sacked man/woman from the wonderful Garden of Eden. Since then, Man has been dead spiritually and fallen short of God’s glory.

But, as loving as our God is- the God who loves to forgive sins than to punish; our God, who was always looking out for sinful man like the prodigal son’s father,  designed a wonderful plan to deliver man from sin and hopelessness. God gave Jesus, His only begotten son to be sacrificed as a ‘lamb’ for the purpose. Jesus, being in nature God, did not have it easy throughout the task and Satan did not take kindly with Jesus.  Eg. Just after His 40days fasting, Satan tempted Him to destroy the plan (Matt. 4). Even when he was a baby, Satan through King Herod even killed innocent children, in order to kill Jesus.  Jesus had to endure hardships, oppositions, shame, insults, rejection, etc. until He was crucified on the cross to fulfill the wonderful salvation plan that God had for mankind. Even one of His closest friends and disciple, became His enemy and traitor i.e. Judas.

Christ’s victory

Although Christ had the power to overcome His accusers with the numerous Angels in Heaven, He did none of those. Bible says He humbled Himself till death on the cross. As a Christian, how do you humble yourself to endure the sufferings of Christianity- Hardships, insults, rejection, mockery, shame, persecutions within and without the church and pain? Christ endured the pain from the crown of thorns, all for sins that He did not commit but you and me.

Satan thought He has destroyed God’s plan until Jesus Christ resurrected from death after three (3) days and three (3) nights in the grave, as He promised. Brethren, Christ was and has been victorious over death- this is no film show but real, according to proof of scripture. Some don’t believe that one can die and resurrect after three (3) days. This victorious resurrection over death has given us hope in the Lord. This resurrection should be our reason for patience in suffering as Christians.

Nature of the victory 

Isaiah 50:4-9: reveals Christ’s patience in suffering. Like Christ, we will go through various trials, even to the point of death just to endure the Christian life. But we should not grow weary till He comes.V9 says “the Lord will help us” to be victorious in the end. As Christians, we have a task to preach the gospel till Christ comes (Matt. 28). You will go through persecutions. Your best friend, your family, your church elder (eg. like priests in Jesus time), your teacher, etc. - can be your persecutor in the course, but don’t give up because Christ says: He will never leave you nor forsake you. He will help you out. Hallelujah.

Phil 2: 5-11: tells us to be humble, if we want to achieve our purpose as Christians. Christ humbled Himself before becoming victorious over death. He had the opportunity to call the heavenly Angels to fight Pilate and the Roman Army but He accepted to be humiliated because of our sins. The result of the humility is that God has exalted Him. Some of us professing Christian cannot stand insults, persecutions or shame for Christ. We can’t be humble because of the small knowledge and wealth we have. Bible says God opposes the proud but exalts the humble. Do you want God to exalt you? Then be humble. 

Matt. 27:45-56: In the difficulty, Jesus asked why the father has forsaken Him. Sometimes we get to a point in our Christian life when things seem to be at a standstill. You ask whether our God exist; whether He is the same healer and miracle worker you read of in the bible. Today, you can find it difficult to sometimes differentiate between a believer and an unbeliever because of money. Morality and holiness have become secondary. Today when you insist on the word of God you have a name (conservative), when you live politically correct, you are praised - the world loves you for that. Most of us are losing focus on our calling as Christians because of difficulties- we can’t endure. Christ endured the shame on the cross, what about you?

Lessons from Christ’s Victory

Today our fellowships have become mere entertainment; we are no longer serious about salvation but financial prosperity (Rev. 3:14). Our fellowships do not transform lives anymore. Our lifestyles are turning people away from Christ. Most of us cannot give simple salvation message to people we meet or live with. We think it is other people’s duty. Some of us have to wear T-shirt with gospel inscriptions before people see us as Christians (church-goers).  From the victory of Christ we learn:

·  Endurance in the trials: Christ attained this sweet victory through suffering. If you profess you know Him, are you also ready to go through the current suffering to attain the future glory? You need to endure the suffering, the persecutions, the isolation, the rejections, the name calls, and then you can confidently rejoice in the victory of Christ over death. You can endure suffering and stand when you seek Christ diligently and get closer to Him in prayer, study and walk in His word, depend on the Holy Spirit, Patience in affliction and avail yourself for the works of the kingdom.

·     Healing & Deliverance: Our curses, our diseases and our sins were laid on Him at Calvary. We have healing and deliverance from the demons! By His stripes we are healed (Is. 53:5)

·     Hope: We have hope for the future resurrection but will it be to shame or glory? (2Corinth. 5:10)

·     Easy access to God: It is finished! We don’t need goats and sheep for cleansing sin; we don’t need a priest to approach the throne of grace but ourselves as priest and Christ as our High priest.

Finally

Jesus ascended into heaven and now sits on the right hand side of God, interceding for us in everything. However, on earth he has given us a task- to continue in what HE lived for and to disciple people for Him. In Acts 11:26, the people living like Him were called Christians. Are you called Christian because you live the Christian life or because you attend church? Today Christ is looking for sincere Christians, not the hot/cold type like the Laodiceans church in Rev. 3:14?

How is your relationship with Christ today? Are you living in holiness for Christ or you are pleasing the world? Let the victory of Christ at Calvary encourage us to live in obedience to His word, so that when Christ appears, we will meet Him in joy.

I conclude with Isaiah 40:31. Trust in Jesus and you will get eternal life. Amen!