What Christ Came to Do: Bear Witness to the Truth and Love of the Father

(This is part 4 of a series of Advent posts on what Christ came to do.)

John 18:37 "...For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Whoever is of the truth hears My voice."

In His role as Prophet, Jesus came to show us the Father and reveal His truth and love to the people of God.

John 17:25-26 "O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."

Jesus manifested the Father in both words and actions. He taught that love was the essence of the Law of God.

Mark 12:29-31 [In response to a question about which was the greatest commandment] Jesus answered them, "The first of all the commandments is, 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment and the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."

He showed us love by the self-sacrificing way He loved us.

I John 3:16 "By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."

I John 4:10 "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

Now Christ continues to bear witness to the truth and love of the Father through His Body, the Church.

Acts 14:3 "Therefore they [disciples], stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands."

II Corinthians 10:5 [ Paul, speaking of the work of the Church as warfare], "...casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,..."

The "Great Commission," the marching orders of the Church left to all of us by our risen Lord, instruct us to continue the witness of Christ. We are to witness of His redemptive sacrifice, as signified by baptism, and also the truth of the Law of God. These are the truths that will call God's people to Himself and bring glory to His name.

Matthew 28:18-20 Then Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given Me in heaven and on earth, Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.

Comments

[brad]

I really need to link your posts at my blog. I think we blog to very similar purposes. I think blogging purely to promote devotion and discipleship is where it is at.
Keep it up.
brad

[Dory]

Thanks for the kind words, Brad. Your 21st Century Reformation blog is on my regular reading list, too.