Why did Jesus have to live a full life? I mean, if He came to die on the cross for sins and then be resurrected, why didn’t He just come a week before His crucifixion?
When I’ve asked that question, I have received different responses.
- To teach
- To heal
- To preach
“And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.”
Matthew 4:23
Jesus did do all that during His lifetime. But ultimately He lived to obey God the Father. He perfectly kept the whole law of God. This is known as the active obedience of Christ. And it is because of His perfect obedience that we can be credited His perfect righteousness.
“For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.”
Romans 5:19
This is the doctrine of justification, that a person who believes, trusts, looks to Christ alone by faith, can be declared righteous before God in the divine courtroom.
On one occasion, Jesus made this astonishing claim about Himself.
“…for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”
John 8:29b
Jesus always pleased the Father. Not just sometimes, but always. Not just when He felt like it, but always. Not just when He was not tempted, which He was, but always.
Yet on another occasion, when asked by a lawyer what he should do to inherit eternal life, Jesus asked him what was written in the Law(Luke 10:25-26). The lawyer answered that you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself(Luke 10:27). And do you know what Jesus’ response was to the lawyer’s answer?
“And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
Luke 10:28
What kind of response was that by Jesus? Was He not properly schooled in evangelism? Shouldn’t He have said something to the effect of:
- “You have answered wrongly; instead, you must pray to receive Me in your heart.”
- “You have answered wrongly; instead, you must repent and believe in Me.”
- “You have answered wrongly; instead, you must confess Me as Lord and believe that I will be raised from the dead.”
But the Incarnate Word, Jesus Christ, the Eternal Son of God, said that the lawyer answered correctly because He knew that the requirement of God the Father was perfect obedience, And because no sinner could ever obey perfectly and thus meet the strict demands of the Law, Jesus did. So in His active obedience He always loved God and His neighbor perfectly.
“That perfect life which Christ lived is credited to the account of every person who puts their trust in Him. Here is the heart of the Christian Gospel. On the cross, Jesus dies, for my sin. In other words, God treats Him as if He lived my life. Turns right around, and by my faith in Christ, God treats me as if I lived His life. He credits his life to my account. That’s the doctrine of justification and the heart of Christianity.”
-John MacArthur(Larry King Live, Who was Jesus? Dec. 24, 2004)
The day before his death, the great Princeton theologian and founding member of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church sent these final words to his friend John Murray.
“I am so thankful for the active obedience of Christ; no hope without it.”
-J Graschem Machen
No hope without the active obedience of Christ. Do you have this hope?
“My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.”Hymn
