What is the work which God the Father gave to Jesus?
This was the salvation of all those whom God had chosen.
Where does the Bible teach this?
There are many texts which speak of Jesus’ mission. Some texts are general statements of this; others are Jesus’ own words regarding His mission.
1 John 3
What are the general statements?
Consider John’s statement:
Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:7-8)
Here John gives the destruction of the devil as the purpose for Jesus’ mission.
Does this not align with the curse put on the serpent?
It surely does. God cursed the serpent with these words:
Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life; and I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” (Genesis 3:13-15)
The crushing of Satan is predicted here, and John makes reference to it. Clearly, the coming of Jesus was to reverse Satan’s initial victory. This is something John comes back to again and again.
Where does John do this?
This can be seen in the great antithesis that John gives us between Jesus who is the truth and Satan who does nothing but lie.
- On the one hand is Jesus who is the way, the truth, and the life. (John 14:6) He came and lived among us being full of grace and truth. (John 1:14, 17) He tells the truth (John 8:40, 45-46), and “Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice,” He said. (John 18:37)
- The unbelievers, on the other hand, cannot believe in Jesus because they are of their father the devil. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44) The devil is the great dragon, the serpent of old, and he deceives the whole world. (Revelation 12:9; 13:14) He is the beast who speaks through the false prophet who deceives people by doing doing false miracles. (Revelation 19:10) He was thrown into an abyss so that he would not deceive the nations any longer. After 1000 years, he will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth. Eventually this deceiver will be thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. (Revelation 20:3, 8, 10)
How is this significant?
It shows us how the concept of truth in John’s mind is very much dependent on his relationship to God. Truth comes from God and the person who comes from God speaks the truth. This is the theology that we find in the aforementioned verses. Kostenberger writes “the notion of truth is inextricably related to God, and to Jesus’ relationship with God.”
In John, then, truth is first and foremost a theological, and perhaps even more accurately, a Christological concept. Rather than merely connoting correspondence with reality, as in Greek philosophy, or factual accuracy, as in Roman thought, truth, for John, while also being propositional, is at the heart a personal, relational concept that has its roots and origin in none other than God himself. As the psalmist (Psalm 31:5) and the prophet (Isaiah 65:16) call God “the God of truth,” so John’s Gospel proclaims that God is truth, and that therefore his Word is truth. Jesus, then, is the truth, because he is sent from God and has come to reveal the Father and to carry out his salvation-historical purposes. For this reason the only way for us to know the truth is to know God through Jesus Christ (John 8:31; 14:6; 17:3).
What does this verse teach us then about Jesus’ mission?
It shows us that Jesus’ mission was part of the ongoing antithesis between the mission of Satan in this world and the work of God promised to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:15.
John 14
What did Jesus mean when He taught His followers that He was the way, the truth, and the life?
Jesus says this:
Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going.” Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. (John 14:1-6)
Clearly, Jesus being the way, the truth, and the life is His response to Thomas’ question. Thomas doesn’t know the way or the place where Jesus is going. Jesus answers Thomas by continuing His previous thought that He is going to His Father’s house. When Jesus says that He is “the way,” He is identifying Himself as the only way by which one can enter the Father’s house. The truth and the life are to be explained as a hendiadys. Whitelaw (p303): “Christ is the way because He is the truth and the life.” See Vos’s explanation (p510) of this verse where he understands the word truth here as an adjective meaning the highest conception or ideal form as when Jesus said He was the “true light” or “true vine” or “true bread.” This understanding fits well with the last clause that Jesus is the only way to the Father.