New Focus Church

The Lord Jesus Christ came into the world in ‘the fulness of time’. That is, He came when God had prepared all the circumstances for His manifestation. The people, the places, the timing and the events of Christ’s birth were not left to chance but purposefully organised so that everything promised, prophesied and appertaining to Christ’s birth would be exactly as God had planned.

The Lord Jesus Christ’s coming was promised and prophesied. The Old Testament believers had lots of knowledge about the Messiah’s coming and many glorious aspects of Christ revealed to them concerning His nature, character, work and accomplishments. Our Saviour’s name ‘shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace’.

The world had not long been created when Satan in the form of a serpent tempted Adam and Eve to disobey God’s command. The result was not the blessedness man hoped for but shame, guilt and expulsion from the presence and fellowship of God. Yet, even in the very process of declaiming sin and bringing judgment our Lord God gave mankind hope by pointing forward to a Seed who would destroy the works of the devil. It pleased the Lord that our Redeemer be bruised, yet our Saviour in turn has by His suffering bruised that old serpent’s head and destroyed the works of the devil.

At the Saviour’s ascension we are told Christ was received up into heaven, that is, He was received with praise, glory and worship as the victor returned from the fight. As believers we look forward to the day we shall be caught up by Him, ever to dwell with Him, our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Our Saviour’s great commission to His disciples was that they preach the gospel to every creature. It was the gospel for free, sovereign grace that must be preached. The message of particular redemption, complete forgiveness and justifying righteousness for God’s people by the death of Jesus Christ. That is the gospel. Nothing else will do. May the Lord give us boldness to continue to preach the same gospel to our generation that the Apostles preached to theirs.

20 November 2022

Our Saviour’s Resurrection Day visits totalled five and each of them was designed to help, support, encourage and comfort His people for the challenges they faced. Being visited by the risen Christ is a privilege granted exclusively to the Lord’s elect and a gift discovered by faith each time the gospel is preached to the heart of a child of God.

For the women present that morning by the empty tomb, and all who believe their testimony, and the testimony of scripture, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the indisputable fact that fuels our faith. By Christ’s resurrection we have the good hope of entering heaven with these very bodies suitably changed, there to experience and enjoy life with Christ forever.

The burial of the Lord Jesus Christ is as much an integral part of the gospel as the death and resurrection of Christ, Paul tells us. Here we consider the fact of Christ's  burial, the scriptural significance of Christ's burial, and the power and comfort of Christ's burial for God's people. 

As our Lord Jesus Christ hung on the cross there was three hours of darkness and an earthquake which shattered rocks and opened graves. Nature groaned as the Son of God suffered. The Saviour felt the absence of His Father’s comfort in the midst of His trials but He drank the cup of suffering to the end and with the satisfaction of God’s justice came a return of the sun and the rending of the temple veil that shielded the holy of holies. A new and living way of access to God was now opened for sinners.

Our Lord Jesus Christ’s suffering did not end with His physical abuse at the hands of His enemies. Throughout these first three hours of His hanging on the cross the soldiers who crucified Him, the thieves with whom He was crucified, the passers-by, the religious Jews all shouted scorn at the pitiful figure and tempted Him to prove His claims and come down from the cross. But our Saviour would not be distracted from His great work and for the love of His people and for the joy that was set before Him He endured the cross, despising the shame.