The One who spoke the world into existence entered materially into His World and “split time in half”. He came to rescue the world because a great betrayal occurred. One of His chief agents was filled with self-deception and conceited envy and manipulated a serpent to his bidding in destroying the very last and highest of the Lord’s “very good” creation. Disappointingly she fell for it – and her husband who was supposed to protect her failed in his most basic of responsibilities. Their fall from innocence and into grace plunged that was momentarily and formerly under their vice-regency. The world had now gone rogue. When the Eternal Son of God submitted to His co-LORD, the Holy Spirit placed Him into a virgin’s womb by uniting his consciousness and sinless essence with the ovum of this young virgin. In doing so, Immanuel relinquished none of His sovereign power or prerogatives but chose to lay aside His glory and become fully human. And for those who came to recognise who He actually was, it ever caused them to fall down at His feet in adoration, or shrink back from Him in terror. The side-effect of those who who adored him was a new ability to sleep. If you have trouble sleeping because of worries, you too can discover how an acquaintance with the Lordship of Jesus the Christ can also help you to sleep better.
After Jesus the Christ rose physically from the dead and all of the effects of His earthly body’s rigamortis had been undone, He appeared to His disciples as the Lord over Heaven and Earth (Matt. 28:18) who possessed all authority. And when a vincible earthly ruler began to murder each of Christ’s apostles one-by-one commencing with James, Herod then selected Peter as his next victim and had him locked up to await his public execution. But with the words of Christ ringing in his ears from their conversation on the beach on the shore the Sea of Galilee (Jn 21:18-19) it was the Lord’s statement – when you are old – that enabled the imprisoned Peter to be able to do something very unusual for a man about to brutally die:
¶ Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison.
Acts 12:6
In Dr. F.W. Boreham’s famous 1915 essay Sleepy Hollow he asks and answers this profound question – “Why do we send missionaries to the heathen? Why, indeed, but to teach the people how to sleep?” He then goes on to explain himself by giving example after example of the remarkable transformation the gospel carried by missionaries to the far-flung corners of the world had on the ability of its recipients to sleep peaceably! He summarises many missionary reports with this quote: “The essential difference between a Christian and a cannibal is that a Christian knows how to go to sleep, and a cannibal doesn’t.” Dr. Boreham tells of other believers down through the ages who had also experienced the joy of peaceful sleep because their hearts were filled with the supernatural joy that can only come from a revelation of the Lordship of Jesus the Christ. This would explain how the Apostle Paul could eventually go face-to-face with his executor – rested and enjoying the peace of Christ. He shared with the Colossians a glimpse of his revelation of the Lord Jesus (Col. 1:16-17)
Was Jesus aware of His identity as the eternal Son of God and Lord of Heaven and Earth? If He wasn’t, then the episode in Luke 8:22-24 is inexplicable! Despite the dangerously rough weather, the disciples had to wake Jesus who was asleep in the boat.
Jesus demonstrated His Lordship over matter when He multiplied the fish and loaves to feed to the five thousand. He exercised His Lordship over sickness and disease when He cleansed lepers, opened the eyes of the blind, healed the lame, and unstopped deaf ears (Luke 7:22). He exercised His Lordship over demons and evil spirits. But perhaps the lead-up events to His growing demonstrations of His lordship were the adumbrations of His power over death! Jesus raised the noble’s dead daughter back to life (Matt. 9:25). Jesus raised the dead son of the widow of Nain back to life (Luke 7:14-15). And then, Jesus raised the man who was dead and buried for four-days back to life by simply speaking the command to rise from the dead and “come forth!” (John 11:43-44).
The next time you read through the Gospels, note how Jesus exercised His Lordship by simply commanding it to be so. There were demonstrations of His Lordship that revealed that He was Lord of all the earth and that distance and space between Him and those who benefited from His voiced command was no obstacle. And the same thing applies today. The distance between the heavenly enthroned Christ and His worshippers is inconsequential to what He can do for those who call on His Name! The amazing truth about Jesus is that once He conquered sin and death through His cross and His resurrection, then His ascension, then His glorification, He has now spoken in a way that every knee will one day bow before Him, and every tongue will confess that He is Lord (Phil. 2:9-11). And this should cause you to sleep well — if you know Him.
Your Pastor,
Andrew
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