Why did Jesus Christ come into this world?

The significance of the coming of Jesus Christ has been digressed through entertaining festivities, exchanging gifts and enjoying holidays. Our attempt here is to look beyond the cloud of digressions and to straightaway consider the purpose of Christ’s coming into the world.

The Bible, through four writers, gives an insightful description of the purpose of the Lord’s coming into this world. These four writers come from different walks of life. Matthew, a tax collector. Mark, a common man. Luke, a doctor. John, a fisherman. They, in their own unique styles, portray different aspects of the character and commission of Jesus Christ.

Matthew’s Witness

Matthew portrays Christ as the King of Israel. However this King was not going about to create an empire, or amass wealth, or increase power. His stated purpose of coming was that “The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Matt 20:28).

This King had a great sacrifice to make. To deliver his subjects from captivity, he had to give his own life as a ransom for their deliverance! Yes, nothing else but a sacrifice of his life could pay that ransom. We are the captives. The ransom is the price of our sins. The wages of sin is death. If not his substitutionary death, mankind would have died in their sins.

The Jews were at that point in history subdued by the Roman empire. It was that political captivity they thought the Messiah King will deliver them from. But God had their real need in mind. He provisioned their deliverance from spiritual captivity.

Mark’s Witness

Mark portrays Christ as the Servant of God. This Minister had no political clout. He wasn’t there to allure people with false promises. He being the Servant of God was concerned about the purpose for which his Master sent him. He said, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Mark 2:17). And so he tirelessly went from city to village preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.”

The urgency and scope of his ministry stemmed out of this that, “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). This is God’s yardstick of holiness. The standards of this world credits righteousness for good works and religious piety. But none of this has any standing before God. Man urgently needs to be reconciled back to God. To do that, the Lord Jesus Christ had to pave open a way of reconciliation.

Luke’s Witness

Luke portrays Jesus Christ as the Perfect Man. He witnessed a perfection in his growth, his words and his moral character. The Lord was unlike any other man that ever lived. But his distinction from sinful mankind didn’t keep him from loving them. In his compassion he declared, “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). There was a genuine concern in the heart of Christ for lost souls. It was a love par excellence that brought the Creator of all things to come to seek and to save this lost world.

A lost person needs to be shown the right way. Man is lost in his own devices trying to attain salvation – in pilgrimages, in charity, in good works, in rituals, in religion. But none of his ways can bring him to God. That is why God, in his foreknowledge, sent his Son to save helpless mankind.

John’s Witness

John portrays Christ as the Son of God. He records a purpose statement of Christ which rightly can be made only by God. “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). God not only shows mercy to sinners, but lavishes them with his grace by giving them life in abundance. This abundant life is an eternal life beyond the grave.

The scriptures remind us that “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb 9:27). This judgment means eternal death for those that die in their sins.

But God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved (John 3:16,17).

Consider the purpose of Christ’s coming into the world. He came because he loved you. He came to save you.