"Who is This Jesus?"

12:50 AM - Jun. 26, 2006 - Add to the Wildness

Who is this Jesus?

Last time I was here we looked at who God is. I thought that was a good place for me to start. What better to follow up with than the second person of the Trinity. Jesus Christ.

In the last month or so, there has been a lot of talk about Jesus. With the book and now movie, "The Da Vinci Code," Christ has been talked about in the media and in coffee shops and homes all over North America and perhaps abroad. In fact it has been brought up to me at work by a number of unbelievers. Comments such as, "If you read this book, you’d give up on all this God stuff." And so on.

            That brings to mind Jude 3. "…I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints."

We cannot just sit back and say, "It's OK, I know what I believe and that's good enough." According to Jude, we need to offer up a defense when questioned. And in order to be able to do that, we need to have a defense to give. We need to know who this Jesus is and why we believe in Him and not someone else.

            We'll be looking at Colossians 1:15-22 today and see what the Scriptures have to say about who Jesus is.

Col. 1:15-17 (NASB) 
    And He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation. [16] For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-- all things have been created by Him and for Him. [17] And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.         

            1. A. He is God’s Image    He is the image of the invisible God. How can that be? How can you have an image of something invisible? The first thing that came to mind was a postcard I saw of Wyoming at night. It was just a completely black postcard. No picture at all. Obviously, that’s not the case with Christ. What did God say in the Old Testament about making images of Him? He said no! That's pretty straightforward. God made Christ His image so we could see who He was. Not for an image to worship as many religions do, but so John could say, "…what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled concerning the word of life…v4, we proclaim to you also…" (1 John 1:3,4)

How can things be "proven" in the courts? Witnesses and evidence. What did John say we have? Witnesses and evidence.

John 1:18 says, "no man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him."

            In John 14:8 Philip says to Christ, "Show us the Father." Jesus said in v 9, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you do not know Me, Philip? He who has seen me, has seen the Father..."

            B. He is the first born   He is the first born of creation. Other’s were raised from the dead, but they retained their old bodies. What was different about the way Christ was raised? Can we walk through walls? More importantly, Can we enter God’s presence with these bodies? We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. (1 Cor. 15:51) We’ll cover that a bit more later.

            C. He is God’s right hand   For by Him all things were created. Again this speaks loudly of His Deity. It also says that Jesus is the one that did the work. This is artificially separating Jesus from the rest of the Godhead, but this will help keep it within my understanding. Think about this…

            To whom is the act of creation attributed?

            Who came to earth?

            Who was tempted as we are?

            Who paid for our sin on the cross?

            These are all actions. Christ, as God, performed all these acts within the will of the Father. Jesus says in John 4:34, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent me, and to do His work."

            D. He is God’s equal   "He is before all things…" That doesn’t make sense grammatically. It should be, He was before all things, right? Wrong. Jesus said in John 8:58, "Truly, Truly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." That’s that very same grammatical error. Right from the mouth of Christ. Maybe He should have gone back to school? On the other hand if we look at what it means, it makes more sense grammatically. As we covered last time I was here, God is outside of time, because He created it. He cannot be bound by something created. He makes the rules. So if He said he exists outside of time, he means just that. And who but God could actually make this statement?

            Now, in the DaVinci Code, the writer says that the "church" made Jesus into god. God’s word says that the writer speaks the lies of his father, the devil. 1 John 2:22 says, "Who is the liar, but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ…" This is the Bible’s official stance on the writer of the DaVinci Code.

In Him all things hold together.  It has been said that all God would have to do for everything to fall apart would be for Him to just stop holding it together. That’s what Col. 1:17 says and also Hebrews 1:3. "He is the radiance of His Glory and the exact representation of His nature and upholds all things by the word of His power."

Col. 1:18-19 (NASB) 
    He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything. [19] For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fulness to dwell in Him...

            2. A. He is the Church’s Head   "He is also the head of the body, the church." That says it nicely, but what does it mean? Well, what does the head of a corporation do? He makes the decisions. He makes the rules. He is also supposed to be the leader and an example to those under His influence. In the world, some of those things don’t happen, but we can all agree that those are what should happen. Now Christ is perfect and He does those things. So, if we are running our churches outside of what God has set out for us in the Bible, we are being insubordinate to His leadership and in turn, sinning. Eph. 1:22-23 says, "And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, (v23) which is His body…"

            1Cor. 11:3 says, "But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ."

This is the leadership structure that God Himself has set up and we need to follow His example of submission to the Father and then in turn leadership to the church. We've all met people whose body doesn’t follow instructions from the head. It's not graceful or pretty. It is a constant reminder of corruption of nature because of sin. On the other hand when we see a body responding correctly to the desires of the head, the results can be amazing. Professional athletes, dancers, musicians, etc. In the same way, if the church is submitting to the desires of Christ, it is a God pleasing and beautiful thing.

          B. He is the church’s foundation  In v18 it says He IS the beginning. Without Christ, could the church exist? What is necessary for the church to exist?
    According to scripture, we need to be redeemed from our sin to be in the body of Christ. At that point we belong to Christ and are by default part of His church. Pretty simple, but very exclusive as well.
    1 John 1:1-3 says, "What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled concerning the Word of Life- and the life was manifested to us and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us- what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, that you also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ."

In 5:13, John continues, "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life."

    These are but an overview, but they tell us what Christ is to and for the church.

            C. He is the church’s example   That’s an obvious one. We should all strive to be like Christ. In v 19 it says, "it was the Father’s good pleasure." Christ didn’t do anything on earth of His own will. Phil. 2:6-7 says "…although He existed in the form of God, (He) did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond servant…" From the highest to the lowest. In one fell swoop.
    Can you recall any instance where Christ just went and did what he wanted? Even as a child we are told that He was about His Father’s business. Luke 3:43-52.
    We are told in Romans 12:1 what our service should be. "I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship." That sounds very much like a bond servant to me. Total sacrifice of oneself for his master. We touched on that last time I was here, but that was a while ago, so we’ll look quickly at it again.
    Does a servant get praise for doing his/her job? Even doing it well? No, that's their job. Perhaps with a good master a servant would be thanked, but not praised. There is no glory in it at all. Not for us anyway. All we do should glorify God. That is our job. What do we get out of the deal? Not much. Just eternity with God as joint heirs with Christ. That’s all.

            One more thing about v 19. It says "all the fullness to dwell in Him" Does that sound like it leaves any wiggle room? Nope. That reminds me of John 14:6. "I am the way…"

            That brings us to the next point.

            3. A.  Jesus is Man’s Only Way  Through Him, that is Christ, to reconcile all things to himself. Again, no wiggle room at all. People can say they’ll find their own way to God, but it won’t be the God of the Bible. He has set His way to Himself. He can do that. Through the blood of His cross. There is no co-redemptress. The word 'His' is singular, and male to boot. Also, it was His blood, not mass, or baptism or going to church or anything that man can do that 'made peace.'

            Also, it was only through the cross. The Old Testament prophets foretold of the way Christ would be killed before crucifiction even existed. There was only one way for this to happen because it was "according to the scriptures." (1 Cor. 15:3) Also according to the scriptures, He was to be spotless. Sinless. Only He was, so only He fit the criteria.

Remember last time when I talked about 'infinitude;? Well again, Christ, being God, was the only person that could pay an infinite debt. Again, only Christ fit the bill.

            B. He is man’s Redeemer.  He reconciled you. For those who have accepted His gift of salvation, our debt has been paid, we have been returned to favor. We are no longer at adds with God. We have been reconciled.

            Let me ask you, who needs to be reconciled to God? Romans 3:23 says we all do. Some already are by accepting Christ's sacrifice, but most aren't. Remember in the Old Testament when Israel was wondering in the desert. God brought a plague of fiery (poisonous) snakes on the people for their disobedience. Moses was told to take a pole and place a bronze serpent on it. This is where the medical sign with the snake comes from. All the people had to do was look at this sign and they would be healed. If they didn't, they died. Simple, I know, but many refused for many reasons and died instead of making this simple step and admitting they were at fault and only God could save them.

            This is at the heart of every anti-christian comment, movie, book or speech. They will not admit they could be wrong and that only God can save them.

            Well, this passage doesn’t stop there.

Col. 1:22-23 (NASB) 
    yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach-- [23] if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.

            C. Jesus is man’s sanctifier.   Sanctification is just a big word for 'made holy.' Just as in v 22 when Paul says, "holy and blameless and beyond reproach." Can you imagine those things? I can't. Neither could King David. In Psalms 119:5,6 he writes, "Oh that my ways may be established to keep Thy statutes! Then I shall not be ashamed when I look upon all Thy commandments." And remember that God called David a man after His own heart!
    Paul says in Romans 7:24-25, "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!"
    Christ did it all! What is the next statement in 8:1? "There is therefore now NO CONDEMNATION for those who are in Christ Jesus!"  AMEN!!!!

            Who are we being presented to? Just as Christ, as the first born of the dead, presented Himself to the Father, Christ will be presenting us each personally to the Father, Holy and blameless and beyond reproach! Again: No condemnation. God may ask us why He should allow us into heaven and Christ Himself will say, "Because I bought this one with my own blood."

1 Cor. 15:51-58 (NASB) 
    Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, [52] in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. [53] For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. [54] But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory. [55] "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" [56] The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; [57] but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. [58] Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.

Hey!

I got tagged, a while back, and I've just answered all of the questions. I also got to pick three people to pass the tag on to. (I picked Charpist, JocelynDixon, and... can you guess...)

1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, and find line 4.

2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can. What can you touch?

3. What was the last thing you watched on TV?

4. Without looking, guess what time it is.

5. Now look at the clock. What is the actual time?

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?

7. When did you last step outside? What were you doing?

8. Before you started this survey, what did you look at?

9. What are you wearing?

10. Did you dream last night?

11. When did you last laugh?

12. What is on the walls of the room you are in?

13. Seen anything weird lately?

14. What do you think of this quiz?

15. What was the last film you saw?

16. If you became a multi-millionaire over night, what would you buy?

17. Tell me something about you that I don't know.

18. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?

19. Do you like to dance?

20. Comment to George Bush:

21. Imagine your first child is a girl. What would you name her?

22. Imagine your first child is a boy. What would you name him?

23. Would you ever consider living abroad?

24. What do you want God to say to you when you reach the pearly gates?

25. 3 people who must also answer this on their blogs.

Have fun! :-)

~Dragontongue

Dragontongue - 11:39 PM - Jun. 27, 2006

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Untitled Comment

I am so sorry your vacation plans fell through and hope your truck is in working order in no time.

I enjoyed reading Dave's sermon on who is the Biblical Jesus! It is amazing to see the differences in this Jesus from what is presented by those who try to just present Jesus from a historical perspective. It sometimes discourages me when I hear professing Christians who are theologically wrong on the diety of Christ and on the truth that Jesus is the only way for man to be redeemed.

Blessings ~

AcceptanceWithJoy - 12:57 PM - Jun. 29, 2006

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