Calvary Road Baptist Church
“CHRIST’S POSITIONS”
A bit of an unusual message on this occasion. I guess it will be more of an informational sermon than anything else. These are the kinds of background messages from God’s Word that show up in Christians’ lives and lifestyle choices which are sparse in their Church attendance. You cannot neglect the means of grace without consequence.
Without contradiction, it can be stated that the Bible teaches that salvation and the forgiveness of sins is a matter of who you know, not what you know. If you know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, a future in heaven, power for living this side of eternity, and many other things, accompany your knowledge of Him.
But what accompanies a knowledge about Him? What are the benefits of being a person who does not know Christ personally but knows much about Him? None come to my mind. As a matter of fact, in the case of a person who dies knowing much about Christ but not having a personal relationship with Him, Scripture teaches that person’s future to be bleaker than someone who knew nothing about Christ.
So, knowing things about Jesus Christ really does one no good while they are lost. But once you become a child of God, it behooves you to know things about your Savior. Even as Christians, our great tendency is to underestimate our Lord and minimize both His wonderful person and His glorious power. To offset that tendency in the Christian’s life, it serves you well to be amazed and overwhelmed with the glory, the might, the power, and the graciousness of our wonderful Lord and His great salvation.
To that end, and to declare where Scripture, this Church, and I, stand regarding the Person of Christ, let us look at Christ through the ages, His positions, with seven main points.
First, THERE IS CHRIST IN HEAVEN
What of this One called the Christ before He came to earth?
As to His eternity, Scripture speaks loudly. In Isaiah 9.6, the pre-incarnate Christ is termed, among other things, “The everlasting Father:”
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
In Daniel 7.9, He is referred to as “the Ancient of Days:”
“I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.”
Micah, in Micah 5.2, writes that His
“goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”
But above all these verses booms the pen of the Apostle John:
“In the beginning was the Word,”
John 1.1. And in John 1.2,
“The same was in the beginning with God.”
The Bible teaches, therefore we believe, that Jesus Christ is eternal and without beginning.
As to His identity, Scripture is again clear. Jesus is the Son of God. The chief priests admitted while He hung on the cross,
“he said, I am the Son of God.”[1]
Unclean spirits, in Mark 3.11,
“cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God.”
Nathanael, on the occasion of their first meeting, said,
“Rabbi, thou art the Son of God.”[2]
I could cite dozens more passages, but for time. He declared Himself to be the Son of God. Others declared that He is the Son of God. But He is more than that.
Called by Isaiah “The mighty God.”[3] Called by Isaiah “The everlasting Father.”[4] We know that Jesus Christ is God. We know that He is God because an inspired John wrote that He is God. Again,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word (Jesus) was with God, and the Word was God.”
We know that He is God because this sinless One received the worship and adoration of men without protestation. We know that He is God because Paul declares Him to be God when he writes in Colossians 2.9,
“For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”
We also know that He is God because God addressed Him as God. Hebrews 1.8 reads,
“But unto the Son he [God] saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.”
Let there be no mistake about it. The Bible teaches it. We believe and so declare it ... Jesus Christ is God! He has always been God and will always be God.
Second, THERE IS CHRIST INCARNATE
The word incarnate refers to dwelling in the flesh. That event called the incarnation by Bible teachers is the event whereby Jesus, the eternal God, became a human being.
As to His conception, several things must be pointed out: From the prediction of Isaiah 7.14, as well as the testimony of Mary in Luke chapter 1, we know that the conception of the Lord Jesus in the womb of Mary was unique, for she was a virgin. The Holy Spirit of God overshadowed her in a way unparalleled in human history. At that time, when the miraculous conception took place in her womb, God clothed Himself in human flesh. John 1.14, recording the event, reads,
“And the Word was made flesh.”
As to His composition, controversy has raged throughout history. Limited in time, I can only say that Christ is what He appears to be in Scripture. On the one hand, he is portrayed as fully human, yet without sin.[5] But He is also shown and declared God, as we have already seen. While not pretending to understand what the Bible does not attempt to explain, I share what the Bible does nevertheless declare: That Jesus Christ is both human and Divine; that Jesus Christ possesses a fully human nature, yet without sin, and that He possesses the nature of Deity. Who is this One Who experienced the incarnation? He is the God-Man.
Third, THERE IS CHRIST IN DEATH
As to His identification, Christ identified Himself with sinful mankind when He was baptized at the hand of John the Baptist. Though He was Himself without sin, He took our sin upon Himself:
“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin,”
Second Corinthians 5.21.
As to His crucifixion. By identifying with sinful mankind, the Lord Jesus Christ suffered our deserved punishment on the cross at the hand of God,
“The just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God,”
First Peter 3.18.
Was it a stake He was nailed to, or a cross He was hung from? Are the Jehovah’s Witnesses correct, or has Christianity been correct about this for two thousand years? If He were hung from a stake, His hands would have been fastened with a single nail. From a cross, two nails. Referring to the print of the nails (plural) in His hands, John 20.25, doubting Thomas inadvertently reveals that Jesus Christ was nailed to a cross (requiring two nails for His hands), not a stake (requiring one nail for His hands). We read,
“The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
Fourth, THERE IS CHRIST IN RESURRECTION
That Christ rose from the dead is historically established.[6] His resurrection is beyond dispute:
As to its purpose, why was Christ raised from the dead? Referring to Christ being “raised again for our justification” in Romans 4.25, the Apostle Paul speaks not of our justification before God but before men. The venerable John Gill wrote,
“Christ’s resurrection did not procure the justification of His people, that was done by His obedience and death; but was for the testification of it, that it might fully appear that sin was atoned for.”[7]
That is, Jesus Christ was raised from the dead to show all the world that God was well pleased with the sacrifice of His Son for our sins. Christ’s resurrection shows that everything is okay with the Father and me, and you, too, if you’ve come to Jesus by faith.
As to its power, did you know that the power of the Father raised the Lord Jesus? Truly did the Apostle Peter point out that Christ was raised from the dead because it was not possible that death should hold Him, Acts 2.24:
“Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.”
After all, how could the Author of life remain dead? Amen?
Fifth, THERE IS CHRIST INTERCEDING
As I speak, Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of His Father, in heaven, interceding for His own.[8]
As to the purpose of His intercession. It’s very simple. You and I need help. What with Satan constantly accusing us, Revelation 12.10, and with our many problems, issues, and shortcomings, we need someone on our side in heaven. That’s just exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ, our Advocate, according to First John 2.1, does for us. He speaks on our behalf to the Father when we need help:
“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
And folks, we need a great deal of help.
As to the people of His intercession, just who does Jesus Christ, our risen and ascended Savior, help out? Who does He intercede for? Does He intercede for everyone? Christ’s prayer of intercession, in John chapter 17, tells us who Christ intercedes for. John 17.9 reads,
“I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me.”
Christ does intercede, but He intercedes only for those who know Him as personal Savior. Does He intercede for the lost? No. He saves lost people, and then He intercedes for those He has saved. Until an individual is a Christian, that person is God’s enemy and not His advocate, Romans 5.10:
“For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”
Sixth, THERE IS CHRIST IN REVELATION
As to the program of His revelation, which is His return. Did you know the Bible teaches that Christ is coming again? World events cause us to ponder His return more and more, do they not? And when He returns He will come back the same way He left ... visibly and in clouds. Consider Acts 1.6-11 and the declaration of the two angels:
6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.
10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
The Lord Jesus Christ’s program for returning is as follows: The next Biblical event, as I understand the Bible, is the Rapture, or the uptaking to heaven of the Christians. Then come seven years of horrible tribulation on earth. And then the Lord Jesus will gloriously return in power and great glory.
As to its power ... what about the power of His return? Let us recognize that the events associated with Christ’s powerful return are a complicated set of intertwined events unfolding at the very end of the seven years known as Daniel’s 70th week.[9]
My understanding of these future events is predicated on my conviction that the covenant God made with Abraham will be fulfilled, that the Church is not Israel and Israel is not the Church, and that despite their complexities prophetical passages are best approached with a commitment to the normal, historical, and grammatical approach to interpretation.[10] This understood, I am persuaded that near the end of the 70th week of Daniel, the spirits of demons will work miracles, reaching out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them for the battle of that great day of God Almighty, Revelation 16.14. Where will the kings of the earth meet? A place called Armageddon, Revelation 16.16.
Looking at events from thirty thousand feet, students of prophecy will remember that when the Lord Jesus comes again, He will be opposed by four of the greatest armies ever assembled, the forces of the antichrist, the northern federation (Russia and her allies), the Kings of the East (the 200,000,000 soldiers of Asia), and the King of the South (also called the Southern Confederacy).[11]
“As we survey the whole campaign of Armageddon we observe a number of results: (1) The armies of the South are destroyed in campaign; (2) the armies of the northern confederacy are smitten by the Lord; (3) the armies of the Beast and the east are slain by the Lord at the second advent; (4) the Beast and the False Prophet are cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 19:20); (5) unbelievers have been purged out of Israel (Zech. 13:8); (6) believers have been purged as the result of these invasions (Zech. 13:9); (7) Satan is bound (Rev. 20:2). Thus the Lord destroys every hostile force that would challenge His right to rule as Messiah over the earth.”[12]
These world powers will initially oppose each other. But when the surviving regathered Jewish people cry out to their Messiah for help He will hear and respond. Those who have come to Armageddon as enemies will then align in opposition to the Lord Jesus Christ when He returns. But will they be able to withstand the Lord’s assault? No way. His power will be so overwhelming, His might so very awesome, that He only speaks and His enemies are slain.
Christ’s power is of such magnitude that the combined armies of all mankind are as children opposing Him. Truly, in the demonstration of omnipotent power, He will show forth at His Second Coming, we see Jesus Christ to be the omnipotent God. Let us read Revelation 19.11-21:
11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.
20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.
Finally, CHRIST IN ETERNITY
As to His dominion. The Revelation shows us that Christ’s rule is all-inclusive, that He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, not only in the millennium but throughout eternity as well. It is required that Christ put all His enemies under His feet.
As to His durability. This old earth has seen kingdoms come and kingdoms go. Each nation that rises thinks it will be the one to last, but they all must crumble. Christ’s rule is different, however. His rule will not crumble, for the Bible teaches it to be eternal and everlasting.
Is it not a glorious Savior Who can come from heaven’s glory, do marvelous work for the benefit of undeserving sinners, and then return to heaven’s glory? How can a child of God hesitate to serve a risen Savior like that? How can a lost man or woman not be drawn to One so wonderful as this?
Are you a child of God committed to His service? Are you a testimony for the cause of this Lord Jesus Christ? Do you serve Him through His glorious Church, which service that begins here will continue throughout eternity, Ephesians 3.21.
My friend, if you don’t long to serve a lord like this, something’s wrong in your life, and you need to repent. Amen?
__________
[1] Matthew 27.43
[2] John 1.49
[3] Isaiah 9.6
[4] Ibid.
[5] Hebrews 4.15; 9.28
[6] Simon Greenleaf, The Testimony Of The Evangelists: The Gospels Examined by the Rules of Evidence Administered in Courts of Justice, (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Classics, 1995 reprint), Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona, The Case For The Resurrection Of Jesus, (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2004), N. T. Wright, The Resurrection Of The Son Of God, (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003)
[7] John Gill, An Exposition of the Epistle of Paul to the Romans - Newport Commentary Series, (Springfield, MO: Particular Baptist Press, reprinted 2002), page 129.
[8] Psalm 16.11; 110.1; Matthew 26.64; Mark 12.36; 14.62; 16.19; Luke 20.42; 22.69; John 3.13; 13.1; 14.2-4; Acts 1.9-11; 2.33, 34-35; 7.56; Romans 8.34; Ephesians 1.20; 6.9; Colossians 3.1; Second Thessalonians 1.7; Hebrews 1.3, 13; 8.1; 9.24; 10.12-13; 12.2; 1 Peter 3.22; Revelation 19.11
[9] Daniel 9.24-27
[10] This is well sort forth by Paul Lee Tan, The Interpretation Of Prophecy, (Winona Lake, Indiana: BMH Books, 1974)
[11] J. Dwight Pentecost, Things To Come, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1958), page 342.
[12] Ibid., page 358.
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Pastor@CalvaryRoadBaptist.Church