And on one occasion, “Jesus wept,” John 11, verse 35. He was moved to tears—not so much over the death of His beloved Lazarus, but at the show of emotion that He saw in Mary and Martha and those who loved Lazarus. Yet, through all of His life, Jesus obeyed the Will of God in all things.

As a human, it was possible for Jesus to sin, but He did not sin. Sometimes this is a point which is overlooked. People might say it was “impossible” for Him to sin. I submit to you that without the possibility of sin, then there could have been no temptation. So we realize and understand that Jesus, indeed, could have sinned, but He did not.

Let’s look now at Jesus’ SUFFERING and DEATH. The cross was a curse and a stumbling block. Deuteronomy 21:22-23: [God said,] “If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God.” Galatians 3:13: “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’)…” 1 Corinthians 1:23: “but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness…”

Jesus spoke of His own suffering, and His impending suffering and His passion on the cross, Luke 24:46 [“Then He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day…”]; Matthew 16:21 [“From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.”]; and Matthew 17:12 [“But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands.”].

All of that is bound up in the humanity of Jesus. As a human, He had to die to atone for the sins of mankind—for human sin, Hebrews 9, verses 11 through 14 [“But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His Own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”]. IF Jesus’ Deity left him before He died on the cross, or IF, in some other way, His death was nothing more than a “sham,” then there is NO atonement for sin. There is NO sacrifice for sin. There is NO forgiveness for sin. It is an essential point to our understanding of the life of Jesus that we KNOW that He HAD to die to atone for the sins of mankind: His suffering and His death really happened! It really was what we read about on the pages of the New Testament.

Thinking about the past, the present and the future, let’s look at the WORK OF CHRIST. First, what Jesus has done in the past: He was active in the creation; He came to earth to fulfill God’s plan to save man eternally; and in doing so, He fulfilled Old Testament prophecies. Jesus entered the world at just the right time, Paul says, Galatians 4:4 and 5 [“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”]. He lived a sinless life as a man, which enabled Him to serve as a sacrifice for our sins. He died on Calvary’s cross, shedding His Own blood as a sacrifice to God for our transgressions. In doing this, He reconciled us—that is, He brought us back to God. And all of this was accomplished by the work of Christ in His passion and death on the cross, and, ultimately, by His resurrection from the dead. On earth, Jesus was a Teacher Who taught God’s Will for man in this age. He commanded His followers to teach others all that He had taught them, and He sent the Holy Spirit to guide the apostles into all Truth and to establish the church. That is the work Jesus has done in the past.

What is Christ doing now? What is His present work? He continues to be the Savior of the lost; He continues to be the Head of the church; He continues to be the King, the Ruler, of the Kingdom; and He now acts as Mediator between God and man.

Then there is the third aspect to Christ’s work, which is His unfinished work—His future work—which awaits His second coming at the end of the age. That will be an event that everyone will know about. At the time of the judgment, He will be the Judge, and He will sentence many to eternal destruction. But those who are faithful, those who are His children, He will usher into the presence of God.