What is Jesus’ Message in the New Testament
Jesus’ first words recorded after His baptism, recognized as the “official” beginning of His ministry as the Messiah of Israel and Saviour of the world, and His retreat into the desert where Satan tempted Him with fame and power, were, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Mt :17; Mk 1:15) μετανοέω metanoeo, translated as “repent”, means a change of mind, or of perception, opinion, ideas. Jesus’ first call to the people was “change”; they were to change the way they thought. His reason: the kingdom of God was at hand. Mark added that He had told the people to “believe the gospel”, which means “good news”. What was that good news? That the “kingdom of God” or the “kingdom of heaven” was “at hand”; it was upon them. They would reach out and touch it, figuratively speaking, if they would change their thinking and believe that good news.
The nation was awaiting a saviour to free them from the oppression of Rome. They had been told in their early days, after Moses had led them out from under Pharaoh, that God would abundantly bless and protect them as long as they were faithful and obedient, but if they were disobedient and faithless, that He would progressively surrender them to the trials and problems of the world: famine, natural disasters, poverty, struggle, war, thefts, etc. Imperative to keep in mind is that God had repeatedly demonstrated His presence and His power to this people by miracles beyond imagination. Their forefathers recorded His mighty feats and that first generation of refugees from Egypt saw the plagues upon their oppressors while their own region was kept clean and safe. They saw the Red Sea stand up like walls, with a dry seabed to cross over, which then collapsed upon the army of Egypt that pursued them to capture and force them back to slavery. They saw the water flow from the rock when Moses struck it; they saw the manna appear on the ground when they were hungry. They saw the quails arrive on the wind. They saw the forbidden leftovers breed worms and stink, while the commanded double-portion on the day prior to Sabbath remained perfect and sound for eating on the second day. They had seen the pillar of cloud by day and the tower of fire by night that led them through a land they did not know; they saw the sun stand still when Joshua fought, and countless other events that only One with absolute power to over-ride natural laws and circumstances could bring to pass. And yet, as soon as they settled into their new land, instead of living in faithful gratitude to the God Which had freed them, preserved them through their travels, and provided for their needs, they were unfaithful, following the evil practices of the nations around them which worshipped idols and performed sorcery.
Despite all they had seen and all God had done, they incurred His wrath by their failure to live as He commanded, embracing sin and devils; they earned the consequences that God had told them would result, generations prior. And now, they lamented the consequences of their disobedience, wishing that God would get them out of the trouble that they brought upon themselves by rejecting the only source of good and right, love and truth. They wanted their kingdom back, and had re-framed the idea of their “Messiah” to fit that desire. But that is not what God would send. Christ’s message to the nation was “change” and “believe”.
Many people claim that Jesus’ primary message was to love your neighbour; but the gospels do not support that claim. It is over-simplistic and extra-contextual to refer to a single comment He made to a specific person under specific circumstances as “His message”. The Sadducees had failed in their attempt to entrap Him in His words, so the Pharisees stood up to try, demanding of Him what is the “great commandment in the law”. His answer was: “’Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’” Matthew 22:37-40 In another situation, an “expert” in the Law of Moses, tried to test Him by asking what he must do to inherit eternal life. When Jesus turned the question back upon the law-expert by asking how he would read what is written in the Law, the other’s answer was, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.” (Lk 10:27) When Jesus replied that he had rightly answered, telling him to do thus and he would live, the self-righteous lawyer asked Him who is his neighbour, resulting in Jesus’ famous parable of the “Good Samaritan” – which was a reprehensible to him who sought self-justification.
Contrasted to these two mentions by Jesus to love one’s neighbour, Jesus warns of hell and condemnation many times, including that His hearers were assured to be condemned to hell if they did not change. He rebuked the hypocrites with harsh words and warnings of eternal damnation. His condemnation of the lies, hypocrisy, and abuse of the more powerful members of society were clear, cutting, and consistent. While He expressed great compassion for the thousands of ordinary people who followed Him, He also warned them that they needed to believe God, and believe Christ. to the crowds who heard His “Sermon on the Mount”, He warned, “For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:20 followed by a list of examples of their misunderstanding of God’s standard of righteousness and the Law He had given on demand to an unfaithful nation at Sinai, including the threat of hell for offences common among them. Jesus spent more time talking about hell than He spent talking about loving one’s neighbour.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke devote a significant amount of their writing to Jesus’ actions, particularly His miracles, whereas John devotes a substantial portion of his gospel to Jesus words to the crowds as well as to His disciples. His predominant message is to repent and believe on Him for eternal life, with the warning that men will otherwise perish. The antidote to perishing is faith toward Christ, which is His focus throughout John’s record.
We can see by the texts at the beginning of the study, and the gospel records of Christ’s words and actions, that His “message” is that man will perish, apart from salvation gained by faith in Him. By faith, we gain forgiveness of sin and eternal life; without faith, we keep our reservation in everlasting hell. By highlighting the many sins of the nation of Israel in His company, He demonstrated the wickedness of the human individual, and God’s “reason” for condemnation. By demonstrating His godhead, He shows that this condemnation does not reside exclusively with the Father, perceived wrongly by millions to be “the God of the Old Testament”, but that the one true and living God, which comprises three divine Persons including Jesus Who came to purchase our redemption from the grave, has condemned all sin in all men, and prescribed everlasting separation from God as the sole punishment appropriate for such evil, while also loving humanity in such a way that, “God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance”. For this reason, God the Father gave His Son, Jesus Christ, Who gave Himself willingly as the “propitiation” for our sins, so that God could I forgive our sins, for all wrong must be judged and punished, and so that we may receive everlasting life in place of the death our sin has earned for us, if we will believe Him. (John 3:16)
This message is reflected throughout the Old Testament where God pronounces judgment on Israel as well as on the world at large, while also declaring His love for that nation, and His intention to provide the means by which men may be saved from the necessary justice of death – eternal condemnation – by His divine provision for that outcome. Understanding the “background” of world history vis a vis man’s relationship with God, the rebellion of most and the desire of some for fellowship with God, of God’s deep love for mankind and His absolute righteousness which demand justice at every point, and God’s mercy motivated by that same love, that foresaw both the problem and the only mechanism for a just solution to it, helps to eliminate the misunderstanding that a God which exercises judgement is a cruel or unreasonable deity, and when we carefully read Christ’s recorded words, we can see in them the mirror of what God spoke and worked out in past history concerning justice for men’s evil actions and unbelief. The following sections will aid in that exercise.
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