A teaching by Peter McArthur.

We are told in the Word that the reason John the Baptiser came was to reveal the Messiah Jesus to the nation of Israel.

“On the morrow, John sees Jesus coming toward him and said, Behold! The Lamb of God, taking away the sin of the world! This is He about whom I said, After me comes a Man who has been before me, for He was preceding me. And I did not know Him; but that He be revealed to Israel, for this reason I came baptizing in water.” John 1:29-31

It’s interesting to note how the ministry of the Lord Jesus is a re-run of John’s ministry in the early stages. For instance, John’s first message was “Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mtt 3:2).

Some of Jesus’ earliest recorded words of His ministry were identical (Mtt 4:17 ). Then we have John coming out of the desert (Mk 1:4 ), and Jesus going into the desert (Mk 1:12 ). There is an identification and link here, and just as John’s purpose was to reveal, so too we can expect that Jesus of course would do much revealing.

In mainstream church teaching THE reason that Jesus came is given as “to save us” – or variations on the same theme (deliver us, free us, forgive us, restore us to the Father, etc.) All are valid, but simply don’t do justice to the wide breadth of WHY HE CAME.

In fact by talking about “why He came” may give us the wrong end of the stick. The scriptural focus is more on the idea that Jesus was sent! There’s a world of difference. When we speak of why Jesus came we are seeing it from an earthly perspective: He came to us. But when we speak of Jesus being sent we are then talking about it from a heavenly perspective. He was sent from the Father’s presence as part of the Father’s purpose. Can you see the important difference?

One is an earthly perspective; the other a heavenly view point. One is man’s perspective, the other is the Father’s. It’s this latter one that is the most common in Scripture. Look at these verses about Jesus being sent.

Mtt 10: 40 “The one who receives you receives me, and the one who receives me receives the one who sent me.”

Mk 9: 37 “Whoever welcomes a child like this in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

Lk 4: 43 “I have to proclaim the good news about the kingdom of God in the other cities also, for that is what I was sent to do.”

Lk 9: 48 “Then he said to them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.”

Jhn 5: 36-38 “But I have a greater testimony than John’s, for the works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. Moreover, the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his appearance,  nor do you have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe in the one whom he sent.“

Jhn 6: 29, 39 and 57  “Jesus answered them, This is the work of God: to believe in the one whom he has sent.” “And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything that he has given me, but should raise it to life on the last day.” “Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will also live because of me. ”

Jhn 7: 28-29 “At this point Jesus, still teaching in the temple, shouted, “So you know me and know where I have come from? I have not come on my own accord. But the one who sent me is true, and he is the one you do not know.  I know him because I have come from him and he sent me.”

Jhn 8: 18 “I am testifying about myself, and the Father who sent me is testifying about me.”

Jhn 14: 24 “The one who does not love me does not keep my words. The word that you hear is not mine, but comes from the Father who sent me.”

Gal 4: 4 “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law.”

1 Jhn 4: 9 “This is how God’s love was revealed among us: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him.”

1 Jhn 4: 14 “We have seen for ourselves and can testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world.”

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So now let’s look at the 16 Biblical reasons the Word gives for “why Jesus was SENT”.

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1. To save His people from sin

“And she will bear a son and you shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.” Mtt 1:21

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2. To proclaim

“And He said to them, Let us go into the neighbouring towns that I may proclaim there also. For it was for this I came forth.” Mk 1:38

“But He said to them, It is right for Me to proclaim the gospel, the kingdom of God, to the other cities, because for this I was sent.” Luk 4:43

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3. To save the lost

“For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.” Mtt 18:1

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4. To stop us from perishing, and to have everlasting life

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone believing into Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Jhn 3:16

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5. To give us life abundantly

“The thief does not come except that he may steal, and kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life and may have it abundantly.” Jhn 10:1

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6. To be light

“I have come a light to the world, that everyone who believes into Me may not remain in the darkness.” Jhn 12:46

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7. Not to judge but to save the world

“And if anyone hears My Words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come that I might judge the world, but that I might save the world.” Jhn 12:47

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8. To deliver us

“…who gave Himself for our sins, so that He might deliver us out of the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father…” Gal 1:4

“…and to await His Son from Heaven, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus, the One delivering us from the coming wrath.” 1 Thess 1:10

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9. To redeem and purify

“…who gave Himself on our behalf, that He might redeem us from all lawlessness and purify a special people for Himself, zealous of good works.” Titus 2:14

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10. To confirm promises

“And I say, Jesus Christ has become a minister of circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises of the fathers.” Rms 15:8

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11. To save sinners

“Faithful is the Word and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” 1 Tim 1:1

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12. To take away the sin (literally in the Greek)

“And you know that that One was revealed that He might take away our sins (THE sin), and sin is not in Him.” 1 Jhn 3:5

“He has been manifested for putting away of sin through the sacrifice of Himself.” Heb 9:26

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13. To destroy the devil’s work

“The one practicing sin is of the devil, because the devil sins from the beginning. For this reason the Son of God was revealed, that He might demolish the works of the devil.” 1 Jhn 3:8

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14. To give understanding

“And we know that the Son of God has come, and He has given to us an understanding that we may know the true One…” 1 Jhn 5:20

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15. To abolish death

“But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who has abolished death…” 2 Tim 1:10

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16. To be the propitiation

“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation relating to our sins.” 1 Jhn 4:10

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All these texts provide a broad and expansive number of reasons “why Jesus was sent”.

It would do us well to declare and teach ALL these truths when we evangelize or witness to others.

The simple statement of saying to the unsaved that “Jesus came to save us”, or similar words, is not at all totally biblical, nor helpful.

Let us be more accurate, and more biblical in what we declare to be the reason/s for the revealing of the Messiah to mankind.

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Peter McArthur The Issachar Ministry, Australia www.issachar.org.au

According to traditional Jewish understanding, the Sabbath does not conclude until three
bright stars are seen at the beginning of nightfall (the Jewish and therefore Biblical day
begins at sunset, not twelve midnight). In times past those heralding stars had to be
seen from the precincts of the Temple. Not until they were seen at dusk from the
vantage point of Jerusalem was the Sabbath deemed to have ended.

This sets a principle for us, which is: in Scriptural prophecy, all celestial and eternal
events are to be viewed from the perspective of natural Jerusalem. The red blood moon,
a falling star, a comet, or the Sabbath stars, etc., must first be seen from the perspective
of the natural city of Jerusalem in the natural land of Israel.

If the celestial event is seen from any other vantage point, but not seen from Jerusalem,
it is regarded as not warranting undue attention. In other words, all prophecy involving
celestial signs can only be regarded as valid if they can be seen from natural Jerusalem.

We can now extend this principle further: so too all spiritual issues are to be discerned
and judged from the perspective of Spiritual Jerusalem. Another way of saying this is
that issues must be seen from the Heavenly viewpoint and not from the earthly, worldly
or even religious one.

This is vital to understand if we are to fathom the grand panorama of God’s eternal
purposes. We must seek to view things from a heavenly frame of reference, not a
worldly one, a religious, or even a Christian one. Heaven is always the reference point
in Scripture.

In fact the Bible begins with this perspective very much in mind :

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…
Gen 1:1

It is the heavenly realm that comes first in God’s agenda of the created order, not earth,
or even light!

We can take this one step back and find an even earlier reference point : God Himself!

In the beginning GOD (Gen 1:1) and, In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1).

This establishes the fact that God is the source, the beginning of everything. He is the
author of all things, all promises, all destinies, all designs. Everything emanates from
Him and everything returns back to Him. He is the one supreme focus of absolutely
everything.

Another way of stating this is that, pertaining to humanity, we are seeded from the
Father. The seed was placed within the first Man, Adam. Out of him came the first
Woman (ishshah lit. = bride). Adam named his bride Eve (lit. = life, living) because she
was the mother of all living .

Their first child was seeded from them both, but was not born in the Garden of Eden but
outside of it, after sin had erupted. Earthly things had displaced heavenly things. Surely
it was God’s intention that the seed of Adam and Eve should be born in the Garden, not
outside it. An earthly focus (giving way to the serpent s words) had supplanted the
heavenly focus (heeding God’s words).

How often it is that heaven s agenda has been delayed (but never supplanted) by the
earthly. It takes men and women of revealed insight to keep on the right path; people of
heavenly vision who will not give way to the earthly, even religious, vision. Joshua and
Caleb were two who had the correct heaven-sent vision. The other ten spies were taken
in by the earthly issue; fear of the giants in the land, etc.

What should have been a relatively quick entry into grander things (the Promised Land)
became a staggering hard learning curve of forty years! And even then many failed to
understand and fully enter in. In fact two tribes chose to remain on the other side, close
to entering in, but encamped on the eastern side of the River Jordan. Close, but not fully
in.

Remember, Judas heard all of Christ’s sermons. Close but not there!

Believing the right teaching, being part of a Holy Spirit inspired move of God, sitting with
anointed brethren and sharing, making choices of coming out of Babylon, pursuing
Biblical truth and excellence, associating with those of the worthy household – all these
are right choices but if the initial vision is not in accord with God’s pre-determined plan,
we will come close, but never fully arrive. When we come face to face with entering in
we will most likely choose to stay just over the river – watching from a distance, perhaps
even associating with the right brethren, but not quite there.

Therefore it’s vital to have a clear understanding of God’s grand plan, to have a heavenly
vision, a supernatural focus. We are to make sure we nurture what God has revealed to
us, treating it as precious treasure (which may sometimes cause us to act strangely) and
not cast it before swine.

In the end there is only one right way; there are not detours acceptable, no diversions
suitable, no options to be added. He has ordained one way and one way only for us to
arrive at His predestined place.

That vision He gives to one person, or a small group of people, and chooses to work
through them. Is that exclusivity on God’s part? No. He understands only too well that
crowds make compromising choices, that groups will debate and reconsider, that entities
will sway one s mind. So initially He chooses one or only a few, to reveal His plans to.

Moses was the only one of his generation to whom the Lord revealed His grand plan of
deliverance. God then had that shared with others, but Moses was the spokesman, he
was God ‘s voice. The Lord expected the people to listen to His spokesman. He intended
that they should listen to the vision Moses handed to them from Him.

They had to believe that Moses knew the vision. They had to accept he heard from
heaven. When their mumbling and grumbling caused them to disbelieve, they lost
confidence in the spokesman. They resisted what he spoke. They no longer accepted he
had the correct path clear in his mind. Heavenly purposes were soon displaced by
earthly considerations and short-term conveniences.

All seemingly valid, all seemed to have good considerations, after all there are women
and children stuck out here in the desert. “Think of them, Moses. We can ‘t let the elderly
who’ve been used to the houses, food, climate and the support of city life cope with this
desert wandering any more. Have some compassion Moses! Aren’t you a man of God!
And by the way, are you really sure you had a spiritual experience up there on the
mountain? We think you’re a good enough leader but are you certain it was God who
spoke to you and not your own imaginings? Let’s reconsider before it’s too late.”

Such is the talk of discouragement, of disbelief, of disobedience, and eventually, of disaster.
But Moses would not budge. Heaven had spoken. I have talked with you from heaven
said the Lord (Exo. 20: 22). Moses was enraptured by all its power and forcefulness. His
very mind was overtaken by heaven s ways, heaven s voice, heaven s plans. For forty
days and nights he was enveloped in the pure atmosphere of heaven with the Lord. For
forty days and nights his mind was increasingly adjusted and altered, his vision redirected
and his thoughts re-aligned to heaven. It permeated his mind and soul, even his
very bones. So much so that he was somewhat transfigured and his face actually
beamed with Shekinah light as he came down from that mountain. No wonder the Father
sent Moses to Jesus at His transfiguration (Matt 17:3).

You see, it does matter what heaven says. To substitute any part of the plan, to redirect
even one small measure of the vision, to make the focus a little more realistic ,
acceptable or balanced will always cause the disintegration of the purity of heaven’s
ways. It certainly does matter a very great deal that we stick to the revealed plan, the
predestined purpose, the heaven-sent vision, and never, never substitute any other way
for it. Ever!

It did matter a lot how Noah built the ark; it did matter a lot that Moses made certain the
Tabernacle tent was constructed after heaven’s own plan; it did matter that David
instructed Solomon to stick to the plans received from heaven for the Temple. It did
matter how Joshua captured Jericho, for no other plan to take the city would have
succeeded.

And of course it did matter absolutely that Jesus only did what heaven showed Him to do
and spoke what heaven spoke.

The pattern of heaven does matter entirely. It’s the only trustworthy pattern, the only
complete and competent design. Father does know best! Throughout His-story all who
have adhered to heaven’s voice have seen the result.

You could asked Abraham about that, you could ask Moses, David, Josiah, Paul or any
other of the great heavenly-orientated saints and they will tell you the same thing.
Human considerations and balanced viewpoints and realistic agendas just do not fit in
with the plans of heaven. It s as stark and mind-affronting as that.

Why? Because heaven has a life all of its own. All things are seeded from heaven; all
things are born from that realm. And the greatest and most astonishing act of God
working in man is being born again from above .

Usually we omit those last two words and just say we’re born again. But the phrase
literally means we are born again from above , or from the top (Strongs G509). We
are born from heaven!

This is extremely important both to grasp and to proclaim. It s from above that we are
conceived. It s from the Father that we are seeded with an eternal life-seed.
…having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible
seed, through the living Word of God, and abiding forever.
1 Pet 1:23

Earthly-realm views cannot comprehend this. Religion says it accepts this doctrine, but it
certainly neither teaches it fully, or in fact really believes in it. So brother persecutes
brother; the earth-bound ones persecute the heavenly-dreamers (Gen. 37: 18-20).

The One having come from above is above all. The one being of the
earth is earthy, and speaks of the earth. The One coming out of Heaven is above all .
John 3:31
And He said to them, You are from below; I am from above. You are
from this world; I am not from this world.
John 8:23

The worldly and religious ones would not accept the Heaven-Man Jesus, God coming
and abiding in the flesh; today they still will not accept those in whom God and heaven
abide.

The earthly realm always wants its own way and always seeks its own recognition.
When heaven proclaims another way of doing things, the earthly realm will shout foul .
When heaven puts us through a particular spiritual experience (although we rarely see
the experience as spiritually beneficial at the time!), the fleshy realm in us protests
loudly. Why? Because the heavenly realm has only one way of dealing with the earthly.
It must subjugate it by attacking all its priorities, which are, self-importance, selfrecognition,
self-service, self-aggrandisement, self-pride, self-pity, self-sufficiency, selfbelief,
and self-serving vision.

Heaven does the exact opposite of what earth-realm people think is important. There is
a clash because heavenly-desired things cannot be accomplished by a mixture with the
earthly. Heaven confronts and re-moulds us so that we conform to its vision, to the great
Plan of the Lord.

This may take some time. In the case of the Israelites it took forty years wandering
(although it was certainly not an aimless wandering; God was the director), and the
death of one entire generation. In the case of David it took some fifteen years until Saul
was removed from the throne. Each time there was a period of learning heaven’s ways.

Not using earthly principles to deal with the issue, but allowing heavenly concepts to
take root before the fullness of time arrived bringing in the necessary change.
Heaven was the Governor, not earth! Those who are wise will always look to heaven for
their orders.

It’s a very wise person indeed who will take the necessary time to learn heaven’s ways.
And it takes a very courageous person to live habitually subjugated to God while He
prunes back the wild branches and re-shapes us to conform to His desired image.

There is no other way – this is it and this is how it will be! Bend to it or be broken by it.
In the end we need to remember that heaven has the superiority in all things. The
sooner we learn to live from the heavenly realm and see the heavenly perspective, the
better off we shall be in spirit, soul and body – and even socially.

Let us remember that the heavenly perspective of our sojourning on earth is this:
God has taken us out,
to lead us through,
in order to bring us into.

..May you know His richest blessings!
..In Messiah,
..Peter McArthur

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