Radical Redemption

This is precisely why what the world needs now is Jesus! He came to earth as redeemer, savior, the Prince of Peace. The irony is that what Jesus brought to the world is itself radical! Every other religion relies on people to save themselves – be good, be better, be superior. But God says we are fallen and incapable of saving ourselves. So, He sent His one and only Son, Jesus, born of a woman, both man and God, perfect in every way, full of righteousness, and humble in character to take the penalty for sin upon Himself.

Praise God, His mercy, and grace is indeed a radical redemption!

Redemption Foretold

The gospel, good news, is the reconciliation of all mankind to God and is the integrating theme of the entire Bible. From Genesis to Malachi and Matthew to Revelation, the Bible tells the story of how God loved His creation so much that He provided a way of redemption from the beginning of creation. After Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden paradise, God promised a way for salvation: “…And I will put enmity between you (serpent) and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Genesis 3:15

To fulfill His Garden promise to send a savior, God chose Abram to establish a unique people through whom He would send Messiah, Jesus: “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Genesis 12:1-3

Once God renamed Abram as Abraham, he bore Isaac who continued the Messianic line. Matthew 1 and Luke 3:23-38 chronicle the generations of Jesus’ ancestry. Many prophets confirmed God’s plan of a Savior, and Jesus fulfilled hundreds of precise prophecies in His birth, life, death, and resurrection. We cannot fully know the reasons God chose to wait 2000 years to send Jesus after the promise in the Garden. But fulfillment of hundreds of prophecies confirm that Jesus was indeed the promised Messiah born through the seed of Abraham.

Jesus’ Messianic Declaration

In the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, he went into the synagogue in Nazareth and read from Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. ”Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Luke 4:18 – 21

Rejected in His hometown of Nazareth, Jesus departed when they tried to kill him for His claim of fulfilling this Messianic prophesy. Yet Jesus went on to preach the good news, heal many, and free the oppressed just as prophesied. After selecting His disciples, and preaching throughout Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem, Jesus confirmed His Messianic identity on the night of the Last Supper: “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well… Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.” John 14:6, 9 – 14

Many others claimed to be the Messiah, but none could back up their claims as Jesus did with miracles and authoritative teaching. To the Jewish religious leaders as well as the Roman authorities, Jesus was a radical threat to their control.

Jesus’ Radical Mission

Who but God the Creator could make such a radical provision for the salvation of all who receive Him: “For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” Romans 5:10

John 17 shares the amazing oneness Jesus had with the Father, knowing that His mission was to die in place of sinful humans, both Jew and Gentile: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” John 17:1-5

Through Jesus’ radical mission we also become one with the Father and Son through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The trinity of God in three persons is evident from Genesis through Revelation and is expressed by the apostle Paul referencing the church as the body of Christ: “There is one body, and one spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling: one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” Ephesians 4:4-6

Jesus’ Radical Teaching

In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, He spoke of a radical way of living and worshiping God: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven… Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven… Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matthew 5:3-12

Who could live with such humility, righteousness, grace, and purity? Jesus went on to teach that the people were to be salt and light to the world: “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven… For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven… You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven… Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5: 16, 20, 43-45, 48 Jesus established a radically new standard of righteousness for His kingdom!

Jesus’ Radical Character

After Jesus’ death and resurrection, He prepared His disciples for His ascension unto the Father and cautioned them to stay in Jerusalem until He sent a helper, the Holy Spirit who would transform and empower them to fulfill the Great Commission to spread the gospel to all the world. It is only through the Holy Spirit that believers can live the qualities preached in the Sermon on the Mount. The apostle Paul would later teach that the ministry of the Holy Spirit enables all believers to be transformed and in Christlike character exhibit the fruit of the spirit: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Galatians 5:21-23 Jesus exhibited all these character traits, a perfect model for His followers then and today.

Jesus’ Radical Kingdom

Jesus spoke of His Kingdom many times throughout his ministry. Nicodemus, a Pharisee, came to Jesus secretly by night to question Jesus about His identity: “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
John 3:1-7 Jesus also spoke of a spiritual rebirth for all who would receive Him as Savior. Nicodemus did not understand, but Jesus would soon fulfill His mission of self-sacrifice.

When Pilate questioned Jesus before His crucifixion, he asked if Jesus was a king. He replied: “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

“You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” John 18:35-37

Jesus’ Resurrection Power

For Jesus’ to complete His mission He had to resurrect. Jesus demonstrated His power tp resurrect by raising His friend Lazarus from the dead: Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”  So, they took away the stone…

Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”  The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” John 11:25-41

Not only had he died, but Lazarus lay in his tomb four days and decomposition had set in. The religious leaders sought to put Lazarus to death again in order to deny his resurrection!

Once Jesus was crucified, Roman guards were placed at His tomb to ensure the body could not be “stolen” to then “claim” resurrection. When Jesus arose and they saw the empty tomb, the soldiers scattered in fear of their own lives. To call the resurrection radical is a redundancy to the extreme! Who but God can raise the dead?

Jesus then appeared to 500 of His disciples as unimpeachable evidence that He was indeed alive: “After his suffering, (Jesus) presented himself to (his disciples) and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive.” Acts 1:3

Resurrection Documentation

The historical record of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection is exhaustive. In addition to the gospel accounts of eyewitnesses and the apostles’ epistles to the church, there are innumerable extra-biblical accounts by first century historians, the preservation of biblical manuscripts including the Dead Sea Scrolls, archaeological discoveries confirming Biblical history, and of course the fulfillment of hundreds of prophecies. The apologetics of Jesus’ resurrection are overwhelming even to the most skeptical.

Yet, if that is insufficient evidence, consider the work of Jeremiah J. Johnston, PhD, The Jesus Discoveries: 10 Historic Finds that Bring Us Face-to-face with Jesus, 2026. Johnston presents the latest research on the Shroud of Turin, “the burial cloth believed to have wrapped the crucified Jesus. The blood, the wounds, the scourge marks, the piercing in the side, the crown of thorns—every feature mirrors and corresponds to the Passion narratives of the gospels.” (page 16) While documented history of the shroud dates to the mid-fourteenth century, there are references that go back to as early as the second century. In recent decades over 100 experts in various scientific fields analyzed the shroud. A carbon dating test in 1988 that dated the shroud to the thirteenth century has since proven false. More recent biological, Wide-Angle X-ray Scattering and AI facilitated testing have validated a first century origin in the Middle East. Additionally, there are no known technologies even today let alone in the Middle Ages which could account for the image in the shroud.

Johnston goes on to share the research of Dr. Bruno Barberis, a mathematician and physicist, who calculated the probability that a single crucified man could have experienced all the wound features of the shroud is 1 in 200 billion. Since the Roman Empire was the only government to practice execution by crucifixion and only a few hundred thousand may have suffered their brutality, the individual’s image in the shroud represents the only one to suffer these wounds. In addition, the wounds were prophesied hundreds of years before their fulfillment. (pag26) In other words, the Shroud of Turin bears an anatomically perfect, front-and-back image of a crucified man—an image that defies replication by conventional means. (page 27)

Jesus’ resurrection power was and is supernatural. Because He is risen, Jesus’ sacrifice for humanity is sufficient for reconciliation to God, the Father. One simply needs to believe and receive.

Jesus’ Radical Prophecy

After His resurrection when Jesus appeared to His disciples, they were elated until they remembered His prophesy at the Last Supper of His return to the Father: “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” John 14:2-4 They would join him in His eternal Kingdom, just as He had promised the believing thief on the cross.

Earlier in His ministry the disciples inquired about the end times and Jesus confirmed that He would come again: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains…

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come…

“Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.” Matthew 24

While we await Jesus’ Second Coming, the church is called to spread the gospel to all the world: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-19

Amazing Grace

Every Passover/Easter we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection and give Him praise for His sacrifice and radical redemption! If you have not received Jesus’ gift of salvation, this Easter turn to Him and receive Him as Lord and Savior. He promises to make each born again believer a new creation: “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” II Corinthians 5:17

Jesus’ radical grace is truly amazing. The perennial favorite song Amazing Grace captures our humble gratitude in this moving video rendition by Gloria Franchi: Amazing Grace

With blessings,
Sheryl Dawson
March 18, 2026