CHRIST is...
Jeremy Northrop
There are so many different ways Christ has been described. Some have come up with memorable ways to think about Jesus such as “to the depressed, He is real joy” or “to the enslaved, He is genuine freedom.” The Bible describes Him in so many different ways. One passage which does such is Isaiah 9:6 which reads, “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Christ can also be described in various ways by using the English letters which spells His name.
The ‘C’ in Christ can stand for crucified. One can easily hear the cry of the mob as they chanted, “Crucify Him, crucify him” (Luke 23:21). The events surrounding the crucifixion of Christ only reinforce the fact that He went through agony on so many different levels. He endured emotional agony with the betrayal of Judas (Matthew 26:14-15) and the denial of Peter (John 18:17, 25, 26-27). He is turned over to the politician Pilate who was willing to crucify him in order to please the people (Mark 15:15). He endured great amounts of physical pain as He was scourged (Matthew 27:26), mocked with a crown of thorns (Mark 15:17), and hanged on a cross (Mark 15:21-30). Of course, all of this was in the presence of a great crowd which included His own mother. All of this humility is only multiplied when one learns that he was innocent! Pilate found nothing wrong with Him (Luke 23:14). He was sinless. All of the rest of humanity has sinned (Romans 3:23). Christ was guiltless and endured the cross.
The ‘H’ in Christ will suitably stand for holy. If something is holy, it is set apart for a specific purpose. Another idea of holy is the compilation of all the attributes of Christ. All that Christ is (love, purity, sinless) can be summed up in the word holy. Certainly, Christ was set apart for a specific purpose. Peter, in Acts 2, spoke of the prophecies of Joel, Isaiah, and others and how they all pointed to the coming of Christ. Christ was anointed by God and chose to submit to the will of God which was that He come to the world and die for the sins of humanity. He is also holy in the idea that while on earth, He was sinless or perfect. He exhorted His followers to do the same thing as Peter quoted in 1Peter 1:16, “Be holy, for I am holy.” The exhortation of scripture is that the followers of Christ imitate what is good (1Corinthians 11:1; Philippians 2:5).
The ‘R’ in Christ stands for risen. Jesus is risen from the grave. Often times, statements are made which tell of Christ dying for all humanity. While in a sense this is true, had He only died, it would have meant very little for people today. In order to overthrow Satan and evil, He had to overcome death. He had to rise from the dead. He had to raise from the dead in order for the scripture to be fulfilled (1Corinthians 15:4b). He had to rise from the dead in order to prove that He is the Son of God (Romans 1:4). He had to rise from the dead in order for all of humanity to have salvation (Romans 4:25). If He did not overcome death, no one today could have salvation from sin (1Corinthians 15:14-17). The emphasis of preaching and teaching today needs to include Christ’s resurrection from the dead, not just the fact that He died. Paul emphasized such in 1Corinthians 15:1-4.
The ‘I’ in Christ stands for instructor. He is the master teacher, the pattern of life for humanity, and the example mankind has to follow. All of these things can be summed up in the idea of Christ serving as an instructor. Jesus gave an immense amount of public discourses during His life on earth. Matthew 4, 7, and 9 all tell how Jesus spent time teaching the word. More than that, He practiced what He taught. He spent time with individuals such as Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, and the woman in adultery (John 3, 4, and 8). He reasoned with people and people saw the wondrous works He did. No one could have accused Christ of being one who did not live what He taught. He lived humility and taught humility in John 13. He taught love and lived love in His life. He is the best instructor for Christians today.
The ‘S’ can stand for secure. The entire book of 1John teaches the assurance the child of God can have. Perhaps this is most vividly seen in 1John 1:7, “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” If people today will submit to the will of Christ, then they can have genuine assurance in the life they live. The writer of Hebrews expresses such in Hebrews 4:14, “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.” Because Jesus is who He is, then Christians today can cling to the confession they live with their lives. Jesus provides a degree of security which cannot be found anywhere else in the world.
Finally, the ‘T’ stands for treasure. Because Christ has been crucified, because Christ is holy, because Christ is risen from the dead, because Christ is the best instructor for humanity, and because of the security which can be found in Christ, Christians have a treasure worth more than all the precious stones in the world. Jesus offers mankind rest, a kind of rest which cannot be found in any other. Consider His words:
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30).
It is interesting at best to consider all that Jesus went through while on earth and He still invites people to Him. The word ‘rest’ appears less than 60 times in the New Testament. Two of them are in this divine invitation. These six qualities which Christ possesses give His followers an example after which to pattern their lives. These qualities give Christians security in lives they live.
