Last Sunday I preached on Matthew 5:4, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." I mentioned that mourning is not a dead-end street, it's the road of redemption that leads us straight to Jesus Christ. He is the One who has come "to heal the brokenhearted" and "to comfort all who mourn" (Isa. 61:1-2). In Christ we have all the comfort - and everything else - we need. Jesus is the all-sufficient Savior who meets the deepest needs and longings of the human soul.
Several days ago we received a mailing from our former church in Richmond, Virginia, that included the pastor's summary of a recent article by Revive magazine (Winter 2010, Volume 40, Issue 4), which offered a significant look at the superiority and sufficiency of Christ:
- Jesus is the true and better Adam who passed the test in the garden and whose obedience is imputed to us.
- Jesus is the true and better Abel who, though innocently slain, has blood that cries out, not for our condemnation, but for acquittal.
- Jesus is the true and better Abraham who answered the call of God to leave all the comfortable and familiar and go out into the void to create a new people of God.
- Jesus is the true and better Isaac who was not just offered up by His Father on the mount, but was truly sacrificed for us.
- Jesus is the true and better Joseph who, at the right hand of the King, forgives those who betrayed and sold Him, and uses His new power to save them.
- Jesus is the true and better Moses who stands in the gap between the people and God, and who mediates a new covenant.
- Jesus is the true and better Rock of Moses who, struck with the rod of God's justice, now gives us water in the desert.
- Jesus is the true and better Job, the truly innocent sufferer, who then intercedes for and saves His foolish friends.
- Jesus is the true and better David whose victory becomes His people's victory, though they never lifted a stone to accomplish it themselves.
- Jesus is the true and better Esther who left His ultimate and heavenly palace, and who didn't just risk His life but gave it to save His people.
- Jesus is the true and better Jonah who was cast out into the storm so that we could be brought in.
- Jesus is the real Passover Lamb, innocent, perfect, helpless, slain so the angel of death will pass over us.
- Jesus is the true temple, the true prophet, the true priest, the true king, the true sacrifice, the true lamb, the true light, the true bread.
All these marvelous identities and realities we find in our Lord. Can you think of some others? Hallelujah, what a Savior!