The Supremacy of Christ

I didn’t have an extended time of prayer yesterday… and I paid the price. When I pray, the day seems longer and my attitude can handle whatever happens. Not so yesterday. I was constantly dropping things, crabby, and didn’t get much done.

Today’s devotional tells me why. It is about the supremacy of Christ. He rules over illness, the weather, evil spirits, and all created matter.

And standing over her, [Jesus] rebuked the fever, and it left her; and she immediately got up and waited on them. (Luke 4:39)
They came to Jesus and woke Him up, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And He got up and rebuked the wind and the surging waves, and they stopped, and it became calm. (Luke 8:24)
While [his father] was still approaching, the demon slammed [the boy] to the ground and threw him into a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the boy and gave him back to his father. (Luke 9:42)

When Jesus speaks, He has not only the will to change things but the power to do so. Illness may have to do with chemical reactions in our body cells, with molecules and electrons and the laws of physics and chemistry, yet Jesus designed those laws ages ago and sustains them each day…

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:16–17)
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high... (Hebrews 1:3)

… but His Word is above all these laws, reversing them by rebuking them. As Piper points out, when Christ thinks a thing with sufficient intentionality, it materializes. All matter is utterly dependent for its origin, existence, and stability on the thought of Christ.

What about the other minds besides Christ’s? For example, unclean spirits? The NT clearly shows that the mind of Christ rules them too. One thought from Him and whether matter or mind, He sustains. He governs or it can also be altered, healed, cherished forever, or extinguished. All that exists hangs on His will. This is amazing and faith-building!

PRAY: When I pray and give myself and my day to You, this is not mere sentiment or even a yielding of my will. It is asking You to do what I ask (or even more) by the power of Your will. When I pray, it requires humility as well as faith in Your all-encompassing, all-sustaining, all-governing power. If I do not pray, who or what am I trusting? This is the Gospel repeated again. I cannot save myself and I cannot keep myself in Your will and expect great things. Only You, in Your enduring and faithful grace, can do that. I’ve no excuse for neglecting prayer, only a confession of the sin of it.

Worthy of every song I could ever sing . . .

2 Kings 19; Psalms 135–136; Hosea 12; Hebrews 1

A few of the cults grant that Jesus is more than a mere man but have decided that He is an angel. They need to read the first chapter of Hebrews 1:5–14. These verses contrast the difference.

For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”? This is a quote from Psalm 2 declaring that Jesus is uniquely the Son of God in that God was responsible for bringing Him into the world in a human body, a babe born in Bethlehem. Angels are described as messengers from God and created by Him, not His unique children.

“I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son”? This one is from 2 Samuel 7:14 and Psalm 89:26-27. This term is used to define the heir of David who would have dominion over the world. This is never said of angels.

And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” This is alluded to in Deuteronomy 32:43 and Psalm 97:7. Again, this is a term is being heir of all things rather than a timeline describing Jesus as ‘born first’ as an angel or as a man. He is pre-eminent and because of that, the created angels worship Him.

Of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire.” (From Psalm 104:4) But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.” (Psalm 45:6-7, Isaiah 61:1-3) This statement contrasts the purpose of the angels as messengers with power and the eternal ruling power of Jesus Christ. He is ultimate in His desire for righteousness and hatred of evil, and ultimate in being anointed with joy. He is the content of the messages that the angels bring, one of the means by which God revealed Him.

And, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.” Psalm 102:25-27. These verses declare the creative and eternal power of Christ and that He lives forever, always the same, without beginning or end. The angels do not create; they were created!

And to which of the angels has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”? Psalm 110:1. God never gave angels this exalted place. Christ alone takes this place. As for the angels, “Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?”

For this, there are too many sources to list. The Bible plainly states that angels minister to those who obtain salvation, but it is Jesus Christ that makes that salvation possible. He cannot be a mere angel for His role is different as well as His person and His relationship to the Father. He not only saves God’s people from their enemies (a message to them in the Psalms and the entire OT and here in Hebrews) but He also saves those who believe from the penalty and power of sin and eventually from its presence. Angels cannot do that.

APPLY: Going through what Christ has done and is doing fills my heart with worship. Angels are great, but the Son of God is light in darkness, hope in trials, everything I need for this life and for life eternal. There are not enough songs to sing, choruses to shout, hallelujahs and amens to say yet I will praise Him in the time He gives me here and continue forever.