Jesus’ Ministry – What It Means For You

Jesus’ Ministry – What It Means For You
Dennis Huebshman

Jesus was fully man and fully God when all that was written about Him took place during His lifetime here on earth. Some would ask, why He waited so long to start His ministry. Why didn’t Jesus start His ministry at age 12 when He was in the temple questioning and impressing the Pharisees with His remarkable knowledge? (Luke 2:42,46-49) It was obvious He impressed the religious leaders like no other young person ever had.

There was a valid reason He waited until age 30, and that was because of credibility. (Luke 3:23) After leaving Egypt, God’s instructions to the Israelites was a man had to be 30 years of age to serve in the temple as a priest or prophet. (Numbers chapter 4 has several examples of this.)

If He had started earlier, He would have been challenged by the Pharisees on the basis of age, so He took that argument away from them. When He went into the temple at Nazareth and read from the prophet Isaiah (61:1-2), and then closed the scroll and SAT DOWN, He did so with authority. This caused a real problem with the religious leaders because after reading from the scrolls, it was customary to remain standing as a sign of reverence. When Jesus sat down, He was claiming the passage He read was about Him, and showed Divine Authority. He was not “educated” through the normal channels of the Sanhedrin and therefore they would not accept Him.

Please note, Jesus always deferred His power to the Heavenly Father. (Hebrews 2:9) He gave up some of His divine nature so He could fulfill the sacrifice needed to atone for our sins. As I said earlier, He was still Fully God, but also Fully Human. He had to live a perfect sinless life, or the sacrifice would be null and void. I have actually heard some people say they believe Jesus sinned at least once during His lifetime. If that were the case, the Father could not have accepted His blood as atonement for our sins.

After this, the religious leaders continuously tried to trap Jesus, but always failed. His biggest issues seemed to always be with the religious leaders of that time. However, He was always in complete control right up to the cross at Calvary. He even controlled His crucifixion.

In John 10:17-18 (paraphrased) Jesus said No one takes My life, I give it willingly

Please remember the New Testament was not yet available. Any time Jesus referenced scriptures, they were Old Testament passages. What troubled the Pharisees was, He was always totally correct. They couldn’t understand how He knew so much. They didn’t realize Jesus, through the Holy Spirit and about 40 selected men WAS THE ONE WHO PROVIDED ALL THOSE WORDS.

Some ask why Jesus was not accepted by everyone as He walked around with a halo over His head, didn’t He? The problem is they have not read Isaiah 53:2 – “He sprouted up like a twig before God, a root out of parched soil. He had no stately form or majesty that might catch our attention, no special appearance that we should want to follow Him”. In other words, He didn’t fit into what we would call today the “Hollywood Profile”. He wasn’t the Messiah they expected.

His followers were not able to refer to the Gospels or Letters of Paul because they had not been written yet. The oldest book in the New Testament was written by James about 44-49 AD, And James, brother of Jesus, was an unbeliever until after the resurrection, as were most of His followers. They knew He was special, but until He appeared after rising, they weren’t totally convinced.

After receiving the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, after Jesus ascended to Heaven, His followers were then willing to die for what they now knew to be the truth. Some were martyred in very awful ways yet refused to recant their belief.

Something to note: Jesus never compromised His ministry for anyone. He was and is willing to accept all persons who believe in Him, and accept Him as Lord and Savior He is the only way to the Father. (John 14:6) ALL who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. Acts 2:21/Romans 10:13.

Too many so-called Christians today are saying there are many ways to Heaven besides Jesus. Some are even saying there is no Hell. This is being done to attract larger crowds by giving them words that please rather words of Truth. They are direct from Satan’s handbook.

There are numerous verses that contradict this, but two passages are very plain: a.) John 3:18 and b.) 1 John 5:10-12.

The absolute truth is very plain, but for some very hard to follow. First, we are all sinners needing to accept Jesus’ sacrifice for us. To do this, pray to Him and tell Him you know this is so. When you make this confession, and believe He died for our sins, and was raised from the dead, then ask Him to be your Savior and He will accept you as one of His own. (1 John 1:8-10) The Holy Spirit will come to live within you, and you have a Heavenly home.

The alternative is to be bound for Hell, a place made for Satan and his demons. Satan wants you with him, and God wants you with Him. It’s totally your Choice. Accept Jesus today, and assure your eternal Heavenly Home.