THE LORDSHIP OF JESUS CHRIST, CHAPTER 3

 

For those unfamiliar with the story of the Bible who may be seeking to remedy that unfamiliarity, I would recommend that they start reading in the New Testament. It is there that they will be introduced immediately to Jesus who is the central character of the whole Bible. For many novice readers of the Bible who then attempt to read the Old Testament of the Bible (its first 39 books), it initially seems like they are reading a completely unrelated story which seems to describe a completely different God.

But with a little patience and persistence the reader will begin to suspect that this is not a different story but is in fact the prequel to the New Testament. Then a strange supernatural thing happens as they continue to become acquainted with the lives of the patriarchs, judges, kings and prophets, as these characters interact with enemies, giants, angels, strange heavenly beings, and GOD Himself, the reader begins to see in a similar way to what a photographer could not previously see clearly until his camera’s focus was adjusted to make the picture clear — the GOD who created, acted, spoke and judged, frequently referred to Himself as ‘us’, ‘we’, ‘our’, and at times seemed to have conversations with divine characters identified as ‘the LORD’ and ‘Me’ and ‘His Spirit’ (Isa. 48:16).

And this all begins to sound very reminiscent of the GOD described in the New Testament as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. With a growing knowledge of the Bible and hunger to understand it, the follower of Christ discovers that literally for thousands of years prior to this day there have been many many others who have also walked the journey of discovery through the mysterious pages of the Bible and have each made a startling discovery about the human Jesus’ pre-existence throughout the pages of the Old Testament. 

As a young Christian I used to hear the old-timers say about the Bible, “The New is concealed in the Old and the Old is revealed in the New.” Apparently, what they were saying was that things that would one day be revealed in the New Testament were already in the Old Testament, but were disguised. Those very same disguised things in the Old Testament are then like the disguised super-hero who takes his disguise off to reveal his true identity. The apostle Paul revealed that it was Jesus who created the heavens and the earth in the beginning (Gen. 1:1; Col. 1:15-18). It was the apostle John who recorded that it was the ‘pre-incarnate’ (that is, before Jesus came into the world through the womb of Mary) Jesus who appeared to Abraham with two accompanying heavenly beings before these two accompanists went to Sodom and Gomorrah to destroy its citizens for their sexual perversion (Jn. 8:56). The writer of The Epistle to the Hebrews revealed that it was Jesus who sent the prophets to wayward Israel summoning them to repent, and that throughout this time it was Jesus who was sustaining the entire universe (Heb. 1:1-3). And it was Matthew and Luke who recorded Jesus walking out of Jerusalem to ascend up the overlooking Mount of Olives where Jesus sat down to look at the city that had just rejected Him. Christ then said something that clearly shocked His Jewish disciples. “Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, I sent you prophets…and you rejected them.”

This is what sets Christianity apart from every other religion. Buddha did not claim to be GOD (in fact, he claimed there was no GOD). Zoroaster did not claim to be GOD. Mohammed did not claim to be GOD. But Jesus did. Unlike the claim of Mormons (“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints”) Jesus was not a human who became a god. And unlike the claim of Seventh Day Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jesus was not the Archangel Michael who then became the Christ (we note in Revelation 12 that Jesus is distinguished from Michael as He ascended to His Father and was enthroned at His Father’s right hand while the archangel Michael overthrew Satan casting him and his fellow fallen evil beings out of the heaven (Rev. 12:7-9).

 

CHRISTOPHANIES, THEOPHANIES,
& ‘THE ANGEL OF THE LORD’

An “epiphany” is an appearing. A theophany is ‘an appearance of God.’ A Christophany is ‘an appearance of the Second Person of the Godhead (Jesus).’ If you would like to dive a little deeper into the study of theophanies and Christophanies then refer to diagram extract from Holman Bible Dictionary adjacent. There are significant instances of these in which most biblical scholars have reasons to believe that they all refer to pre-incarnate appearances of Christ.

These reasons include:

(i) The theophany is sometimes referred to as the Angel of the LORD who then spoke in the first person as GOD (“I say…” or “I will…”)  (Gen 16:7-13) unlike prophets or mere angels who spoke on behalf of the LORD, (“Thus says the LORD…” )

(ii) The theophany often received worship as GOD (Gen. 17:3; Josh. 5:14)

(iii) The theophany is sometimes referred to as the Glory of the Lord (Exo. 33:9-10; Ezek. 10:4) and the Name of the Lord (Isa. 30:27; 59:19).

The Lord Jesus Christ was revealed within the Old Testament as the LORD, GOD, the Angel of the Lord, the Commander of the Army of the Lord, the Name of the Lord, and the Glory of the Lord. The Old Testament writers also revealed that He was the Son of God (Psalm 2:7; Prov. 30:4). In the intertestamental period there was a growing awareness that the God of Israel had an eternal Son (Wisd. of Sol. 2:18; 4Ezra 7:28-29; 13:32, 37, 52; 14:9; Book of Enoch 105:2). This pre-New Testament literature reveals that the Lord Jesus Christ was the eternal Son of God whom the prophet Isaiah not only said that the day was coming when He would be born as a human from the womb of a virgin (Isa. 7:14), the prophet also revealed His magnificent identity:

For to us a child is born,
to us a Son is given;
and the government shall be upon His shoulder,
and His name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of His government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over His kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
Isaiah 9:6-7

WHAT THIS ALL MEANS FOR YOU

The GOD who created the universe, our earth, our first father and mother, and you, is your LORD! You were made by Him and for Him. You are not an accident. He has a purpose for your life. But you can choose either to embrace Him as your LORD – leading to your eternal life and divine bliss; or, despise Him and reject His claim to Lordship and declare your eternal opposition to Him. For those who choose the former, and accept Christ as the rightful Lord of their life, they also discover that He cares infinitely for them with an unconditional love. Accepting Christ’s Lordship is a deeply spiritual transaction where He does for the believer what only the True Lord can do – forgive their sins and gift them with eternal life. Knowing Christ as Lord gives the believer a new heart of love and care for others which leads the believer to have a burden to pray for those who do not know the Lord. It is also gives the believer the confidence that their prayers are being heard. And this is why I want you to realise who Jesus really is, and what His Lordship means for you! 

Your Pastor,

Andrew

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THE LORDSHIP OF JESUS CHRIST, Chapter 1

 Chapter 1, INTRODUCTION

Today, “Jesus Christ is Lord” sounds like a bumper sticker or part of an ancient church liturgy but when Christianity was founded if someone uttered these words it could literally mean death! ’o christos ’o kurios “Christ is Lord” was a risky thing to declare when the only safe thing to declare was ’o kaiser ’o kurios “Caesar is Lord”! Yet it was upon these words that the earliest confession of the Church was founded. For the early Christians, this was not a glib, throw-away line uttered during a church service or something declared with a sticker on the backside of your donkey (or chariot if you were wealthy). It is my thesis that the Lordship of Christ is the most important of all truths. Nothing is truer. It is the truth that has produced the greatest good in the world. Because this truth was revealed to people: (i) the Church was founded and continues to grow and spread despite irrational persecution; (ii) the gospel was preached so that people should be saved; (iii) the divinely inspired New Testament books were written; (iv) hospitals were opened; (v) schools were commenced; (vi) universities were formed; (vii) charities were established; and, (viii) civil governments were constituted — all because: Jesus Christ is Lord! I want to help you move past seeing this truth as a mere bumper sticker/fridge-magnet, to discovering why it has been the most revolutionary revelation! 

Jesus the Christ is the almighty King of kings and Lord of lords. Consider the magnitude of these words from the apostle Paul, who, when He encountered the risen-from-the-dead Lord Jesus Christ his immediate response is described in the Book of Acts:

And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him,
“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”
And he said, “Who are you, Lord?”
And He said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
Acts 9:4-5

From this encounter with the Lord, he wrote to the Ephesian church via his epistle to Timothy:

It is perhaps difficult for us appreciate just how dangerous these words were by the apostle Paul. But ponder them and you soon realise that they were written for a public audience, widely copied, and distributed, before the apostle stood trial before Caesar Nero in AD 64. It may come as no surprise to you then that the Caesar ordered Paul to be taken from his trial in Rome down to the coastal port and beheaded. Many scholars, including this one, believe that there is an honorific reference to Paul’s martyrdom in the closing book of Bible (which was written in AD 65) recorded in Revelation 20:4. The price that many of the early Christians paid for believing and refusing to recant that Jesus Christ was Lord was their martyrdom. 

CHRIST REVEALED HIS LORDSHIP IN THE WAY HE SPOKE

As a prophet Jesus never uttered the usual preliminary announcement, Thus says the Lord. Instead in every instance, He prefaced His declarations with divine phrases like, I say unto you… or  Truly, truly, I say to you that… which was in essence a statement that what He was stating was inerrant (without error and not possible to incorrect). Even those in authority who came to hear Jesus were taken back by the purity, truthfulness, and divine inspiration of everything Jesus said:

When Jesus was brought before the Roman Governor, it was the Governor who trembled in the presence of Christ and not the other way around! It sees that Pontius Pilate felt that he was in the presence of a powerful king (Jn. 18:37). This reluctance to treat Jesus unjustly was compounded by his wife receiving a warning in a dream about Jesus being no ordinary man. Tradition has it that his wife’s name was Claudia and that after the resurrection of the Christ she herself became a Christian.

If it hasn’t yet dawned on you that maybe Jesus was who He claimed to be, LORD, in Whom “All authority in heaven and in earth” has been given to Him (Matt. 28:18-20) because He conquered the “last enemy” (1Cor. 15:26), then consider this fact:

No-one in all of history had emphatically declared that his or her words would outlive the universe itself (Matt. 24:35)!!! It was acknowledged by the Dutch theologian Abraham Kuyper, who later became the Prime Minister of Holland, who famously reflected, “There is not a square inch of anywhere in the universe over which Jesus Christ does not declare: ‘Mine!’” But there is something even more inconceivable about this Most glorious King of the Universe: He knows you! (Consider John 4:29.)

Over the next few chapters of this series, I want to delve into this unfathomable truth and give you a glimpse of why the Lordship of Jesus Christ is both the greatest comfort and the greatest terror. I hope to introduce you to the LORD Jesus Christ in a way that brings you to your knees in adoration of Him and fills your heart, mind, and soul with ineffable wonder and ecstasy. 

For it is written,“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me,
and every tongue shall confess to God.”
Romans 14:11

So that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:10-11

Your Pastor,

Andrew

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God's Sovereignty

They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful. (Revelation 17:14)

This verse (written around late 63AD) forms part of the context for the events about to occur with the ending of the Old Covenant
elements (the Temple, the Priesthood, and the Sacrificial system of Law). The events leading up to the close of the Old Covenant are referred to in the New Testament as "the last days" (eg. Hebrews 1:2) or "the end of the ages" (eg. 1Cor. 10:11; Hebrews 9:26). Revelation 17:14 describes the Conquering Christ who overcomes all opposition to Him, His Cause, and His people.

When someone has the ability to achieve their predetermined will and plan with exact precision by integrating all of the variables circumstances, free-will agents, and even disobedience, we refer to this phenomenon as "sovereignty".

This verse in Revelation is a clear statement of Christ's sovereignty. He is "Lord of lords and King of kings". He will always achieve His predetermined will and plan. And this applies no more powerfully in His plan of salvation. For those He saves are - "called", "chosen" and enabled by Him to be "faithful".

Thank God for His sovereign grace!