What if God was One of Us?

Saturday, 17th May 2008

Hooray! It is a long weekend and as a bonus, I am going to blog for 3 consecutive days!

I've been a Christian since December 1978, when I made the decision to accept Jesus as my Lord and Saviour at the Billy Graham Crusade held at the National Stadium.

However, it was only very recently that I understood the following:

1. Why Jesus had to become a man
2. Why Jesus had to die
3. Why Jesus had to die on a cross

To get answers to the above, we have to go back to the Old Testament.

Have you ever wondered why Jesus could not just come down as an angel instead? In the Old Testament, we read several references to "the angel of the LORD", which many believe to be the pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus in human form.

Yet to redeem mankind, Jesus had to become a man, starting off as a foetus in the womb of Mary.

So why did He have to do so?

In the Old Testament, there is this concept of a "kinsman redeemer" or ga-al גאל (Strong's H1350).

If anyone had lost an inheritance that was supposed to be his, this kinsman-redeemer could come in to buy back that which was lost.

This person had to have 3 qualities:
1. He must be from the same family
2. He must be able
3. He must be willing

In the book of Ruth, we see this principle taking place in the life of Ruth. Boaz was a relative of Elimelech (who was Naomi's son and Ruth's husband). By buying over the land, the kinsman-redeemer would also end up acquiring the dead man's widow, Ruth. We read in Ruth 4:6 of another man who had the qualities 1 and 2, but he was not willing to redeem Ruth because he did not want to endanger his own estate.

Boaz is a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ because Jesus is our kinsman-redeemer.

And in order to qualify to become our kinsman-redeemer, Jesus had to become one of us -- ie. a man.

There was a secular song made popular in 1996 by Joan Osbourne entitled "What if God was one of us?" It was quite an irreverent song, and it's a pity that Joan may not have been aware that God did indeed become one of us 2,000 years ago -- so that He could be our kinsman-redeemer.

4,000 years before that, a man forfeited to the devil the authority that God had bestowed upon mankind to subdue the earth. It took another man to redeem back what that first man had forfeited. Hallelujah!

Tomorrow, I will blog about why Jesus had to die...
And on Monday, I will blog about why Jesus had to die on a cross...