Why Did Jesus Come Into The World?

by Micky Galloway

Though some may challenge the historical evidence that Jesus Christ came into the world, there is ample evidence to affirm that it is an historical fact. Reporting on Emperor Nero’s decision to blame the Christians for the fire that had destroyed Rome in AD 64, the Roman historian Tacitus wrote: “Nero fastened the guilt ... on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of … Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome …” (Tacitus, Annals 15.44, cited in Strobel, The Case for Christ, page 82). Pliny, the Roman governor of Bithynia in Asia Minor wrote in one of his letters, around AD 112, regarding those accused of being Christians: “They were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god, and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble to partake of food – but food of an ordinary and innocent kind” (Pliny, Letters, translated by William Melmoth, revised by W.M.L. Hutchinson (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1935), volume II, X:96, cited in Habermas, The Historical Jesus, page 199). However, the historical nature of Jesus is not the purpose of this article. What do the Scriptures tell us about why Jesus left the glory of heaven to come into this world?

To Do The Father’s Will. Jesus himself said, “For I am come down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me” (John 6:38). He affirmed that he only had a brief time to do the works of the Father, “We must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work” (John 9:4). Just before Jesus was arrested and crucified he prayed, “Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that the son may glorify thee … I glorified thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which thou hast given me to do” (John 17:1, 4). On the cross he said, “It is finished.” The text then tells us, “he bowed his head, and gave up his spirit” (John 19:30). The Hebrew writer tells us the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin, therefore the Father sent His Son. “Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, But a body didst thou prepare for me … Then said I, Lo, I am come (In the roll of the book it is written of me) To do thy will, O God” (Hebrews 10:4-7). Jesus was obedient to the Father in every way even unto death. Paul wrote, “Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus … he humbled himself, becoming obedient (even) unto death, yea, the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:5-8).

To Make Known The Father. The apostle John wrote of Jesus, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared (him)” (John 1:18). This unique relationship abundantly qualified Jesus to perfectly reveal the Father. Jesus said to Thomas, “If ye had known me, ye would have known my Father also: from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.” This prompted the statement from Philip, “Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and dost thou not know me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; how sayest thou, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I say unto you I speak not from myself: but the Father abiding in me doeth his works” (John 14:7-10). The fact that He “came down from heaven” (John 3:13 KJV) qualified him to bear witness to what He had “seen” and “heard.” Jesus said, “I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you: howbeit he that sent me is true; and the things which I heard from him, these speak I unto the world … I speak the things which I have seen with (my) Father” (John 8:26, 38). Jesus declared the Father in every word and deed.

To Destroy The Works Of The Devil. Sin, its consequences and all its ugliness, is the central theme of why Jesus Christ came into the world. Please note that “he that doeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. To this end was the Son of God manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil” (I John 3:7-8). Just days before His crucifixion, Jesus said, “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto myself. But this he said, signifying by what manner of death he should die” (John 12:31-33). The Hebrew writer makes it abundantly clear that Satan was brought to nothing. “Since then the children are sharers in flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same; that through death he might bring to nought him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and might deliver all them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:14-15). Therefore Paul preached victory through Christ crucified.

To Take Away Sins. “And ye know that he was manifested to take away sins; and in him is no sin” (I John 3:5). Sin is a transgression of God’s law and reaps the consequence of spiritual death, i.e. separation from God (I John 3:4; Isaiah 59:1-2). As the sacrifice of the blood of animals could not take away sins (Hebrews 10:1-4), and “apart from shedding of blood there is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22); it was necessary for man to die, but not just any man. We are redeemed “with precious blood, as of a lamb without spot, (even the blood) of Christ” (I Peter 1:19). We are sanctified “through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10). Christ was offered once “to bear the sins of many” (Hebrews 9:28; cf. I Peter 2:24). Such an offering was necessary that God might be just. We are justified “by his blood” (Romans 5:9). In the sacrifice of His Son, God in his infinite wisdom, prepared the means by which the grace of God and the justice of God might be reconciled. The apostle Paul wrote that we are “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God set forth (to be) a propitiation, through faith, in his blood, to show his righteousness because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of God; for the showing, (I say), of his righteousness at this present season: that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:24-26). “But God commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

How richly blessed we are that Jesus came into the world. Indeed, a profound statement of John the Baptist, “Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).