FOUR: Master of the spiritual universe

OK, so I said last week that I wanted to separate the supernatural universe from the spiritual one, and this is why. Jesus deals with something called sin, and this is so important that it needed a blog on its own.

In this series I have wanted to show you, and I will be honest, convince you that Jesus is who he says he is, and that all authority is his. He really is the master of the universe.

Jesus didn’t contradict himself, he didn’t undo anything we see in the Old Testament, he fulfilled it, he even said that himself. The issue of sin (disobedience to God) had infected humanity right from day one, and was the thing Jesus had to sort out. He carried the consequence of sin, the wages of it (death) and paid that price for us, full stop. The bible is very clear on all of this, and what is really incredible for me is that Jesus was forgiving sins even before this happened.

“Your sins are forgiven”

Jesus was speaking, teaching, healing and doing incredible things but he was also saying to people ‘your sins are forgiven.’ OK, now this is the part where we can really see that Jesus was either completely mad and believed he was the son of God in a delusional way or, he was the son of God. The only one with power to forgive sin was God. The only place to find that forgiveness was through God and in particular, for the 1st century Jewish culture, it was in the observation of the laws and patterns of life and sacrifice God had shown them. But here not only does Jesus pay for our sins on the cross with his life, he was showing those around him and us today that the authority was his.

This is something that immediately marked him for death. The people listening had drawn the first conclusion, this bloke is blaspheming, he is telling us he can forgive sin, ie he is the son of God, which he just can’t be, so we must kill him. They refused to believe that he really was the master of the spiritual universe and had authority to forgive sin.

Have a read of Matthew 9:1-8
“Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So, he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” Then the man got up and went home.

This is great news for us, Jesus was who he said he was. His life, death and resurrection has really freed us from sin! I don’t know about you but this really is showing the master of the universe and the master of me!

Last blog next week on this, don’t miss it!

Photo Credit: John Towner