TODAY’S SCRIPTURE 1 Timothy 1:15
Have you ever been chosen for a special task? Perhaps you were picked to coach a Little League team. Maybe the Bible class leader asked you to teach in his absence on an upcoming Sunday. The right person needs to be picked for the job and with being chosen comes responsibility. Jesus Christ accepted the assignment to be our Savior.
A significant part of Jesus wearing the title Christ means He was tasked with completing a job. He is the Messiah with a mission! The purpose of Jesus coming to the world is to save sinners. In fact, Jesus explicitly states this as His mission: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). Another way to express this is to say that the chief mission of Jesus Christ is atonement. Atonement may be defined as the work Christ did in His life and death to earn our salvation. Christ atones for sin by paying the penalty of sin in His sacrifice, removing God’s wrath as our propitiation, overcoming our separation from God through reconciliation, and freeing us from bondage to sin and Satan in redemption.
Not only is Jesus tasked with a mission, but He is also equipped to get the job done. This is another critical aspect to understanding what is meant by God’s Anointed One. Whenever God anoints people for a special role, He empowers them to accomplish the job. For example, David is anointed by Samuel and has success after success, both militarily and politically, because God’s Spirit is upon him.
With Jesus, it is a unique anointing. You see, Jesus Himself is divine –– the only human ever able to claim that and be truthful. The Old Testament predicted a coming divine Messiah. In Jesus’ testimony through words and deeds, He validates His divine nature. Jesus is “in the very form of God” (Philippians 2:6) and “the exact imprint of [God’s] nature” (Hebrews 1:3). Jesus is God! And because of His divine nature, He is uniquely qualified to be the Messiah. Jesus Christ was chosen to save, and He alone as God in the flesh is able to accomplish that mission.
Today, I will…give thanks for Jesus’ coming to seek and save the lost. And because I am the foremost sinner I know, I am so grateful for the mission of the Messiah to save me and atone for my sins at the cross.