Was it, as is commonly believed, impossible for Jesus of Nazareth to sin while He walked the earth?  The answer has eternal significance for those who seek to spend eternity with Him in that it reveals what the salvation seeker must do in order to qualify for eternal life.  To answer that question we must first understand what He endured during His time of ministry, specifically on the day of His death.

The apostle Paul notes that Jesus walked (lived the life He lived) for several reasons.  One of the most important was to qualify to celebrate the annual Passover.  Christ being the saint’s perfect example, he/she must “discern the Lord’s body” so as to partake of the Holy Day “worthily” (1 Cor. 11:29).  The first Passover took place in Egypt the night before the Israelites, along with “a mixed multitude” of Gentile converts, were freed from captivity.  That Passover, with the killing of a lamb and the use of its blood, symbolized the future death of the Lamb of God and the shedding of His blood for the forgiveness of their past sins.  Upon their release from captivity (from Egypt=to sin), God ordered Israel, and His church today, to celebrate the Passover every year during the spring.  His Very Elect obey Him by “observing the Lord’s body” and take note of the damage that was done to it.  In Scripture we are told that His visage was marred more than any man ever had been or ever would be (Isa. 52:14).  Following the beating He endured, one could not tell if He was a man or an animal.  With that vision in mind, His true saint will be certain that there is no hidden sin lurking within him as he partakes of the Passover feast.  The Apostle Paul proclaims that, because Christ was sacrificed for us, let us keep the feast (of Passover).  The counterfeit church refuses to obey God’s command issued through Paul.  The consequences for her rebellion are dire.

If a church member does not partake of Passover, or partakes of it while harboring sin (unworthily), one is not a true child of Go–one is a tare in God’s wheat field, a goat among His sheep.  Paul reminded the Corinthian Church (and us) that in the past some had not “observed the Lord’s body” and therefore had partaken of the Passover feast unworthily.  Because of this many had eaten and drank damnation upon themselves, causing them to be weak and sickly.  Many of them had died before their time.  PAUL IS WRITING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH SOME 25 YEARS AFTER THE FOUNDING OF THE CHURCH ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST 31 A.D.  If God’s church is not to observe His Holy Days, why, within a generation, had He not told the apostles?  Pardon me for getting off the track.  But some things need to be proclaimed.  This “fine print,” though rejected by the church, will be embraced by those who want to join Christ on His throne in the Kingdom of God following His Second Advent.

The following are some points to be considered relative to what Jesus endured as a man.  The question at hand is whether He had any God-given powers available to Him that other men did not have and do not have.  I will address this question by posing a few questions.  The reader must answer the questions for him/herself.

If, as we are told, Christ could not sin, why did Satan tempt Him following His 40 day fast?  If Jesus could not sin, Satan’s efforts were all in vain.  He had knowingly wasted of his time and suffered a spiritual defeat.  If the fix was in for the Messiah, why does it state in Hebrews 4:15 that He was tempted in all points as all men are, “yet without sin.”  If He could not sin, this is a meaningless statement.  If he could not sin, why bring up the subject of temptation?  Why would Satan waste his time and effort to tempt Him if He was incapable of sinning?  For example:

“Then Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be TEMPTED by the devil.  And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights He was hungry.  And when the tempter (Satan) came to him, he said, ‘If you truly are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread (Mathew 4:1-3).'” Here we find Satan trying desperately to cause Jesus to sin.  Again, why?  And consider this, if Jesus could not sin, why did He offer up prayers and supplications to God with “strong cryings and tears to Him Who could save him from death (Heb. 5:7)?  JESUS CAME TO EARTH TO DIE.  HE DID NOT FEAR PHYSICAL DEATH.  HE FEARED THAT HE MIGHT WEAKEN AND SIN, THEREBY SEPARATING HIMSELF FROM GOD, WHICH IS SPIRITUAL DEATH (Isa. 59:2/ Ps. 51:11), which, I know from experience, is worse than physical death.  If He had sinned He would have been disqualified from being man’s Savior.  This is what He feared.  He was crying out to His Father for strength so that He would not fail.

Recall that in the Garden of Gethsemene on the night before His crucifixion Jesus, under incredible stress, prayed so hard that His sweat became mixed with blood oozing out of burst blood vessels in his forehead.  Extreme stress can cause those vessels to burst, making it appear that one is sweating blood.  Why was He under so much stress if He could not fail?  Again, Christ did not fear death in that He came to earth for that purpose.  Knowing that He could fail, He ask if there was any other way for Him to fulfill His commission than what He knew was about to take place?  The prospect of failure was paramount in His mind.  Because He was totally dedicated to the Father and was determined to fulfill His will, Jesus said in His final words on the subject, “not My will but Thine be done.”  What does this say about His supposed immunity from pain?

Jesus had a will as do all other men.  His will was not to fail due to the torture and pain that lay ahead of Him.  Wanting to please the Father more than Himself, He submitted His human will to God’s will.  That He feared separation from God for having been “made sin,” He cried out as death approached “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”  Because He was “MADE TO BE SIN” by taking on Himself the sins of the world (2 Cor. 5:21), His Father turned away from Him as He hung on that cross.  The counterfeit church is drowning in its own spiritual vomit by believing and obeying a perverted gospel preached by Satan’s false prophets (Gal. 1:6-9).  She worships and obeys the god of this world (2 Cor. 4:4) because she refuses to submit to the God of the Bible–the Book she claims contains His Truth.  She and the world she is spiritually in bed with are destined for destruction.  But we as individuals need not be part of that world.  We need not suffer God’s wrath that is soon coming upon this world.  The choice is ours.  To assure our inclusion in His end-time family, the God seeker must first of all obey His command found in 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1.  We must leave the Catholic/Protestant religious system and remain separate from it.  We must have absolutely nothing to do with that “unclean thing” because, as Paul pointed out to the church at Corinth, what relationship does God have with Satan, does a believer have with an unbeliever, does God have with idols (crosses, fish symbols, statues, pictures, etc.).  What unity, we must ask ourselves, does right have with wrong, does holiness have with sin, does light have with darkness?  The answer is: NONE.

Jesus warned holiness seekers that obeying Him would cause them many problems.  Jesus warned that the saint’s worst enemies would be those of his/her own family (Mt. 10:36).  Be reminded that Christ’s brethren did not believe in Him (Jn. 7:5).  One of His brothers, speaking for the family, told Him to leave the area where they lived (Jn. 7:3).  Jesus warned His true saints that they would “… be hated for My name’s sake.  But he who endures (persecution for being holy) to the end (of life) will (at Christ’s return) be saved” (Mat. 10:22).  Read Persecution by that name.  Again, I have gotten off the subject.  I will return to it in the next posting.  L.J.