Jesus is Lord of all . . .

The devotional book that I’m using this year has given much space to the preeminence of Christ. While the author’s words are good, the Lord usually speaks to me a little differently, often from the same Scripture passages. This is also evidence of His Lordship; He knows each human heart and life situation. He knows what His people need to hear on any given day. As I read through today’s passages, these thoughts came to me concerning the evidence God has shown me that Jesus is Lord of all . . .

Death could not hold Him.

“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it . . . . Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” (Acts 2: 22–24; 36)

There are other resurrections recorded in the Bible, but all of them were at the command of God’s servants, either prophets or Jesus Christ, yet Jesus rose from the grave without anyone calling Him to come forth. It was simply impossible for the Author of life to stay dead. He is Lord.

He changes the lives of those who believe.

“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:1–4)

The Word of God says that when a person believes, they become a new creation. We do not become perfect in this life (our old nature habitually interferes), but change happens, and perfection will be ours in eternity. Others may form new habits or be affected by events that change their value system, but only Jesus Christ can turn hearts from sin and selfishness, that we can consider others more significant than themselves. He is Lord.

He obeyed God completely.

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 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 2:5–11)

Not one Christian or anyone else can make this claim of being totally obedient. Only Jesus is totally sinless. Only Jesus is totally worthy of worship for He is unlike anything or anyone else. This is God the Son, the God-man who reveals the Father, who listens to the Spirit, who is without any reason to humble Himself except that God sent Him to earth to do it. He set aside His rights as God and took on human flesh as a baby! He grew and learned obedience through the things He suffered — just like we do. He then did the unthinkable; He took our sin on Himself, bore our guilt and took our punishment by dying for us. Not only that, for those who believe He gives His righteousness, even His very life, that we might live forever. No one else can do that, even if they wanted to. Jesus is Lord.

^^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, every morning when I sit down to hear from You, You never disappoint me. Your voice is like a warm blanket, covering my anxious thoughts, and restoring that which so often slips my mind. You get inside my head and tell me exactly what I need to hear, replacing my foolish ideas with Your wisdom, forgiving and comforting that foolishness and telling me again and again that I am Yours and You are mine. You have risen from the dead, and You are at work in this world. Yes, You are Lord of all!

Long ago in Bethlehem . . .

There is a difference between a word from God and the Word of God, yet both of them are the means by which God makes Himself known. The first one tilts toward communication while the Word of God is about incarnation.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:1–5) And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

“Word” in these verses is “logos.” It started out as a technical philosophical term, then became a concept for the Stoics to describe principles that gave the world its character and coherence. Then Philo, a philosophical theologian of Judaism, tried to reconcile Greek philosophical theories about the universe with the biblical accounts of creation by God’s spoken word.

In the Bible, John and others choose this Word to designate Jesus, God the Son, who became flesh to mediate between God and us. The Logos is both God’s creative means and His revelation of Himself. He also holds the world together by “the Word of His power.”

When Jesus began His ministry, the people wanted signs to prove who He was. He calmed the storms, turned water into wine, healed the sick, and raised the dead, but that wasn’t enough. “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (John 1:11).

While the Jews expected their Messiah to deliver them from Roman oppression, they did not expect God Himself to come. They looked at the divine things He did and the human body that He was in and said No, this is not possible. Our God is too holy, too transcendent, too almighty to be born in a stable, to become one of us. He must be blaspheming.

Yet our God did become human. We cannot see Him, so He accommodated our need to see. I could speculate about His birth, but instead accept that it was the first miracle — Jesus was not born of a father or any man, yet He was born in the flesh. This is not so strange when I remember that this Word who became flesh also made the first father and mother by speaking, so why could He not be virgin born? Nothing is impossible for God.

Jesus offered signs and wonders. He performed miracles. He never sinned, not once. But He also claimed to be God — and for that they rejected and killed Him.

As He suffered and died, the Logos asked His Father to forgive those who nailed Him there. In that suffering and death He paid the penalty for our sin and brought forgiveness and the offer of eternal life. As the Bible says, “To all who did receive him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).

This Logos could not be held in death by a tomb or by the will of man. In the resurrection, He offered the final proof, the final miracle to show everyone who He is and why He came. If this does not show His deity; if this cannot be believed — then there is nothing left for those who ask for more proof.

Wrath clashes with love…

What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object? It could be that the only time this happened was at Calvary when the wrath of God met the Son of God. Or did it? Could Jesus in His humanity have borne that wrath without being crushed? Anyone who has read the Bible knows the power of God’s fury against sin. No one can stand against it. But what about the power of His love?

These two met at the cross. Vital to the clash was that the power of God supported the human nature of Christ, and kept Him from being pulverized by divine wrath. Otherwise Jesus, a man like us only without sin, could not stand in His own strength under God’s great fury. God upheld Him…

Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him…. (Isaiah 42:1)

One important truth about Jesus Christ is that He lived here as a man. That means He needed to rely on God’s power and the leading of the Holy Spirit just like we do. He did not do anything on His own. He never took a vacation from being a dependent and Spirit-filled person. Not like me, who has one day of victory over sin (at least no sin that I notice) and then experiences a pride-filled crash the next because I think I’ve got it made.

Jesus never did that. He humbly depended on the Father and the Spirit as a fully human person, setting aside His great power that He might be like us. If I had been in His position and knew how little humanity would appreciate that sacrifice, I would have thought twice about giving up anything.

But He did it. He knew that He would bear the weight of the wrath of God when He prayed, “Let this cup (of wrath) pass from me” but He also said, “Nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done.” He was totally at the mercy of God. Without being upheld by the power of the Holy Spirit, He would never have survived that horrible weight of wrath.

Saturday and Sunday were marvelous. Sunday night I crashed because I began thinking I was an immovable object. In my case, it was not the irresistible force of God’s anger that got me, but the resistible power of temptation, resistible when faith not flesh or the lies of Satan are at the helm. Instead of being like Jesus who yielded to the power of God that He might not be crushed, I thought I could handle this by myself, prideful in supposing that I didn’t need to power of God to help me. If Jesus needed to rely on His Father, then who do I think I am?

Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you. (Psalm 33:20–22)

The power of God upheld the human nature of Christ at Calvary. The power of God also appeared in raising Him from the dead.

… and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. (Ephesians 1:19–21)

This power of God unlocked the belly of the whale to deliver Jonah, to rescue Daniel from the lion’s den, and to keep the fire from burning his three friends, but this is nothing compared to the resurrection of Christ. In that great deliverance, God exercised power over Himself. He quenched the flames of his own wrath, which was hotter than millions of Nebuchadnezzar’s furnaces, and unlocked the tomb that held Jesus in death, a tomb stronger than the belly of a great fish.

Jesus met the powers of hell and conquered all, glorifying the power of God and “declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4). This was what happened when the irresistible force met the immoveable object – they both lost and they both won. Every proof that verified Jesus as God’s Son was nothing compared to the resurrection for in it, God won the conflict over His own Self and by that victory, set sinners free from His wrath and His Son free from it also.

Jesus conquered death

Death is on my mind. In the past few weeks, several friends have died or lost loved ones. I could not have picked a worse time to read a book about the last great war where death is also a recurring theme. In coming to the Bible to hear God speak today, how delightful that He points to the reality of the resurrection.

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. (1 Corinthians 15:20)

The resurrection is foundation to my faith in Christ. In fact, “If Christ has not been raised, preaching is in vain. . . . Faith is futile and we are still in our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:14,17).

But that is not all. The resurrection also proves the deity of Jesus Christ. The Bible says He “was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4). Moses and other prophets performed miracles, so it could be that Jesus of Nazareth could be seen as only a prophet —  apart from the resurrection.

The resurrection also points to Jesus’ sovereignty over all things, including life and death. “For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living” (Romans 14:9). The One who conquered death rightly rules over all things. I can trust Him because His power is a sure thing.

The resurrection has vital implications for other aspects of my salvation. Both justification (being declared free from guilt) and new life are linked to the fact that Jesus rose from the dead. In a discussion about Abraham, Paul wrote,

That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. (Romans 4:22–25)

As for new life in Christ, the apostle Peter wrote of the reason why this is our hope. (Remembering that in the Bible, hope is a promised certainty rather than the ‘wish’ or ‘hope so’ that is associated with that word today.)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. (1 Peter 1:3)

Paul also repeated this as the promise of God. “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:11).

My eternal destiny depends on the resurrection. Without its reality, I have no hope. However, the promises of God are made sure by this amazing event in history. That is, if Christ did not rise from the dead, then I shall not rise, but because He has risen then all who are alive or asleep in Christ will not perish; we shall step into eternity and see Him face to face.

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Oh Father, while death casts a pall, Your Word calls it a mere shadow (Psalm 23). Faith in You means that those who believe and have gone before me, have passed through that shadow and are now in the light of Your presence. I am sure of this because Jesus came, died, and rose again. He gives life to us who are otherwise dead in our trespasses and sins, and life to those who have died in Christ, yet who will never die. Thank You for faith to believe and thank You that You already live in my heart. Your life is my life because death could not hold You. You walked out of that tomb a winner!

This is no plastic tablecloth

A salesman came to my door with a plastic tablecloth in a plastic bag. He held out the bag and told me he was giving it away, no strings attached. I looked at the ‘gift’ and told him that I was not interested. He said, “But it is free.”

I said that I didn’t need another plastic tablecloth, free or not. He was pushy. He even became angry. Not to be intimidated, I insisted that I didn’t need his free gift and closed the door.

I never did find out what he was actually selling. While I’m immediately turned off by those fake, “How are you” questions, I’m also immediately suspicious when a salesperson avoids saying why they are at my door. Is all that preamble supposed to make me curious? Or are they ashamed of their product?

Credentials are important too. Sometimes the salesman at the door wears a name badge like those issued by companies so workers can go through their security and gain entrance to their workplace. I’m never impressed with that either. It takes more than a verbal claim and a strong sales pitch to convince me. Besides being a “tough sell,” I know enough about computer graphics to realize that anyone can make a convincing badge.

In the spiritual realm, the ‘toughest sells’ are the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, His miracles, and the declaration that He rose from the dead. The Bible focuses most on the last event, the resurrection and often declares it.

The Greek word “declared” is the root of our English word for “horizon.” It means “to distinguish” just like the horizon is a clear demarcation line between the sky and the earth. I wrote yesterday how my subjective experience was a proof to me that Jesus is alive and is God in human flesh, yet that experience is not universal, nor will it convince anyone else, particularly after I am dead and gone. The real proof is in this declaration. At the very beginning of Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, he said God promised the good news . . .

“. . . concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” (Romans 1:3-4)

Jesus was declared as God’s Son coming in human flesh, yet distinguished as more than mere human by the power of the Holy Spirit and by the fact that He rose from the dead. This was the testing point, and is the crux of Christianity. Paul would later write:

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. (1 Corinthians 15:13-14)

This then makes the resurrection also a testing point for our faith. Certain cults who claim to follow and exalt Jesus Christ fail on this point. They refuse the idea that Jesus rose from the dead and say He was either changed to some other form, or never actually died, even that He deceived His disciples in some way.

So then the test for Jesus being God is the resurrection, but the test for people who claim to believe and follow Him is also the resurrection. Christians are convinced and acknowledge that He died and rose again.

This blog is called ‘Practical Faith’ because I’m that kind of person. If I don’t need a plastic tablecloth, it matters not that it is free. My mantra is that a bargain is a bargain only if I need it. But I need Jesus. I need One who gives forgiveness for my sin and removal of my guilt. I need One who can change and cleanse my bad habits and make me a new person. I need His assurance of grace and of my eternal destiny.

I’ve often said, “Don’t give me a sales pitch. I will investigate myself, and if I need it, I will buy it. No one has to sell it to me.” Jesus knows what I am like, so He didn’t give me a sales pitch nor did He send any of His people to pressure me. Instead, He had me reading the Bible and let me do whatever I wanted. One day I realized that ‘doing what I wanted’ was totally messing up my life. I also realized that I needed help. With that door open, He simply walked into my heart and became the most incredible — and practical — free gift anyone could every receive.