Jesus Declares His Mission

MEMORY SELECTION: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the Gospel.” —Mark 1:15

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Luke 4:14-24

AFTER his begettal of the Holy Spirit at Jordan, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where he studied and fasted for forty days and forty nights. And it was at this time, also, that he was tempted of Satan. The account in the 4th chapter of Luke continues, telling how, after Jesus had been tempted by Satan, he returned to Galilee, and there he began to tell forth the message of the kingdom. On one of these occasions in a synagogue he made the wonderful proclamation of his ministry. He read from the scroll the prophecy of himself recorded in Isaiah 61:1,2: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Luke 4:18,19) At this point he closed the book, and to a hushed and attentive audience he said (vs. 21), “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”

The primary purpose of the first advent of Jesus was that he was to lay his life down in sacrifice. By providing a perfect life for the perfect forfeited life of Adam, he would make available the means for the reconciliation of the world. But the Heavenly Father specified that Jesus must lay his life down in a special way. (Luke 24:25-27; Isa. 53:1-12) The specification was that he should preach the Gospel and serve the interests of the prospective kingdom, and especially the apostles and disciples whom God had called and given the hope of being heirs with our Lord in the kingdom.—Gal. 6:10

The preaching of the Gospel was as a light shining into a dark place. The message was especially hated by the scribes and Pharisees because it threatened their position and prestige. Jesus also was obnoxious to them—he was the “stone of stumbling.” They refused to accept him as their Messiah. So the preaching of the Gospel was under difficult and trying circumstances; it brought on most of our Lord’s trials and was the thing that eventually brought him to the cross.

Jesus likened his mission on earth to baptism, saying, “But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!” (Luke 12:50) When Jesus submitted himself to John the Baptist to be immersed in water, it beautifully symbolized his walk and mission. As John lowered Jesus backward into the water, it pictured the death of Jesus’ own will—the complete submission of his own interests, will, ambitions, desires; and as John raised him up out of the water it pictured him being raised to newness of life—a life completely dedicated to the doing of the Heavenly Father’s will, regardless of cost.

The Apostle Paul, in Hebrews 5:8,9, states, “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect [consummated in character], he became the Author [cause] of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.”

Why did the Heavenly Father specify that Jesus lay his life down in this manner? The Scriptures state that if Jesus, being a man, had simply given his life to take Adam’s place in death, he would have gone out of existence. Jesus said in John 6:51, “I will give … my flesh … for the life of the world.” But God designed that Jesus would be returned to a spirit life—a spirit life on the divine plane. He was begotten to the spirit plane of life at Jordan when the Holy Spirit descended upon him. And since the divine life is immortal, it was necessary to test Jesus’ loyalty beyond any question of doubt and to develop his new mind through suffering. In Hebrews 2:10 we read, “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.”

Jesus was faithful in carrying out his mission. In the 40th Psalm, which is a prophecy concerning Jesus and his ministry, the prophet depicts Jesus as saying, “I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy loving-kindness and thy truth from the great congregation.”—vss. 9,10

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