God Has Exalted Jesus Christ – Part 1

(Acts 5:29-32, Phil. 2:5-11, Ps. 2)

God has exalted His Son.  He has given Him a name above every name.  It is expressed in various ways for us.  God Himself, the source of all, the Living God, has exalted the man, Jesus, and given Him all authority.  This man who is called the first-born from the dead is seated at the right hand of God.  Jesus Himself says to John on the isle of Patmos, “I am He that lives and was dead.”  He later says, “I have sat down with my Father on His throne.”  Some years ago, I was in a diner for breakfast and some men had gathered there for fellowship.  I use that word as their clear purpose was to share the life that Christ is.  One of them was clearly the leader.  We could call him an elder.  It was so plain that he had a maturity beyond the others.  This is not to say the others were immature as I spoke for a few minutes to one of the group as they got settled.  I said something to the leader and he responded, “It is a mystery and a marvel.”  That is a simple and wonderful expression of who Jesus is.

It is written that all things were created by Him, for Him, and through Him.  He was with the Father before the world was, and He knew it.  No other man is like this man.  Born of a virgin, without earthly father, born by a sovereign act of the Holy Spirit.  He is the first born of all creation in this.  At His natural birth, God was doing something greater than the creation of Adam.  That was only the beginning of the revealing of His Son.  God gave Him to be the Lamb, the sacrifice for al the sins of mankind.  And He accomplished more than that.  He is the last Adam.  He is standing, and laying down His life, for us all.  The essence of the good news is that when He died, we all died.  Now some extend this that all our saved.  No, we were all dead in sins.  But God made us alive together in Him.  We must receive the life of the risen Christ.  We must believe that so that it becomes our life.

How was it that God so honored Jesus above all?  Read Isaiah 57:15 and 66:1-2.  He regards the humble, the broken and contrite among men.  Christ became sin for us.  That in itself is a mystery but it is the very wisdom of God.  We read in the passage from Paul’s letter to the Philippians, Jesus humbled Himself.  The Son; like His Father is meek and lowly in heart.  This is essential to His nature.  This may not compute to us.  The Lord is who He is.  He is I am that I am.  He does not have to prove anything.  His purpose is to reconcile all things to Himself, and this He has done in and through His Son.  And we are invited and pleaded with to come and participate.  Read Romans 12:1-2.  The Spirit through Paul beseeches us to be transformed.  Humble yourself under God’s hand and process, and He will exalt you at the proper time.

Humility is the way to honor.  It was so for Jesus and it is so for us in Him.  True humility results in obedience.  He who is willing and obedient will eat the good of the land. (Is. 1:19)  The Lord is referring here to spiritual good.  Jesus was in tune with His Father and did what He saw the Father doing.  He spoke what He heard from His Father.  He was focused on this.  It’s written that  the Lord creates the hearing ear.  This is that ear of our inner man, our spirit.  We can call it conscience where we hear the still small voice.  While we cannot always be in the secret place, we learn to maintain a stillness and a listening ear.  We live in His presence.  He is our very present help by the Spirit.  As Jesus said, by the Spirit, He and the Father will make their abode in us.

As He makes His dwelling in us, His kingdom has come to us.  It is increasing in us.  AS we His people are so possessed by Him, His testimony, His witness is increasing in the earth.  This did not begin yesterday.  The Lord has been working through the entire earth for 2000 years.  Yes, that process is not yet complete but it is in progress and is accelerating.  Many continue to resist the truth.  So we include Psalm 2 as a reference.  The nations rage.  Resistance to the true revelation of Christ continues.  It shows up on many levels including among the collection of believers.  Churches divide over what, for many of us, are obvious issues.  These separations reflect that final separation of sheep from goats.  Mankind wants mercy without justice.  The justice of God was fulfilled at the cross.  The world hates Jesus Christ because His death seals it’s end.  Now that is not the final end for the Lord is creating new heavens and a new earth. So we pray, “Come, Lord Jesus.”

Jesus Christ Preeminent

(Col. 1:15-20)

We move into a new year and a new decade.  But the testimony of God, the living words that proceed from the mouth of our Father do not change.  We look for a fresh word, something like that manna in the wilderness that is for today.  He is always the bread of life.  He always is life Himself.  We can always turn to Him that our inner man, our Spirit would be strengthened.  So I was unsure what to write for this blog and I heard “write about Jesus.”  Pretty simple, very direct, and always appropriate.

This passage from Paul’s letter says so much in a few words.  I have a card for introduction to this blog and the words on the back state my purpose.  “That Jesus Christ might be seen for who He truly is .”  We could stop right there and sit with that thought for a long while.  Do you know Him?  Are you growing in that knowledge?  He is the image of the invisible God.  After 2000 years, it does not cease to cause me to wonder why such resistance to Him continues.  Over the last few years, Psalm 2 continues to ring true.  “Why do the nations rage and the people imagine a vain thing?”  We cannot face the fact of our deep human need and that God has provided the answers in His Son.  That sounds so trite, so simplistic, and our human pride says it must be another way.  To be sure life has it’s complexities and we can get stuck in perplexity.

Don’t stay there.  He has made peace (vs. 20) through the blood of His cross.  He has reconciled all things to Himself.  We must say that in the broad view of humanity and the cosmos, that is yet a work in progress.  For Paul, I think he had a present awareness of that reality.  He walked worthy of his calling to be a demonstration of that reconciliation.  He gave his life, laid it down, so that God might pour him out for many to come to the Lord.  That is an apostolic calling.  Paul knew and continually worked that God’s purpose was to reveal Christ to the world.  Continue reading his words to the Colossians and Paul expresses these thoughts deeply and beautifully.  Remember Paul had significant, spiritual experiences.  He was blind for 3 days after His initial meeting with the Lord Jesus.  It blinded him!  And the Lord sent a man for his restoration.  Later he was brought into the third heaven.  While he was not free to share the details, it changed him and his perspective.

Are you growing in grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.  We are to desire spirituals (I Cor. 14:1) but we are warned by many about seeking “experiences.”  Is your goal to know Jesus?  Paul, Saul at the time, was not looking for Him, he was persecuting Him!  Are His ways higher than pour ways!  Yes they are!  Paul later said he was zealous for God but not according to knowledge.  And we must say that Stephen’s witness as Saul held the coats of those who stoned Jesus’ friend Stephen, was part of that process of the Lord capturing Saul.  Transformed so that he changed his name to Paul.  So I, and others, continue to seek His face.  Yes we do so to seer our land healed but a higher call exists and is heard.  Come to me, the Lord says, so that we might know each other.  Whether the land is fully restored to our liking, or not.  Does your heart belong to Him?  Are your affections set above where He sits today?

We are aware, or we should be aware, of the importance of the cross of Christ.  It has been a symbol, a picture, almost an idol.  The reality of what Christ did shook the natural and spiritual world.  For those present in Jerusalem at the time, it was filtered through their relationship to the man, Jesus.  Some loved Him dearly.  Some thought He was the hope of the nation and that was now dashed.  Many hated Him and thought His death would save the nation.  The high priest had no idea what he really said when he declared that it was good for one man to die.  He was the reconciliation of man with God.  The Father’s plan and purpose were accomplished.  God had seen it from the foundations of the world and the world was about to hear what had been done.  It was important for the Son to spend 40 days with them, with His church, to show Himself.

It has not changed today.  He told them before His death that He would not leave them orphans.  He would not leave them alone.  He would come to them.  He came by the Spirit.  As though that were not enough, He met John on Patmos and gave specific instructions and messages for each of 7 churches throughout Asia.  I think it important to note that Jesus focused upon what were in lands foreign to the Jew.  He did not have a message for the church at Jerusalem.  That church had been dispersed.  Peter in his first letter addresses believers as pilgrims dispersed.  The thought is that these who had been scattered from Judea were like seed spread throughout the world to carry the truth.  The Lord of the harvest had scattered His people for a purpose.  May He so move us and direct our steps, arranging divine connections that life might flow and He would have that people, that bride, that He gave Himself up for.