2002-12-20
Good Morning Fellow Believers,
Recently, some new readers have begun receiving these messages each day, I would like to begin by thanking all of you for your continuing interest in them. Believe me, each one of you is a cherished treasure to God and to me.
It should come as no surprise to that our Lord, Jesus Christ, whom I call “Yeshua HaMessiach Adonai”- Hebrew for “Jesus, our Messiah and Lord,” is a very favorite topic upon which I can write. The Holy Spirit directs me to continue our analysis of EPH 4: 4-6 today with the next of the seven elements: 4) one Lord. To refresh memories, here’s the entire passage: “There is one body and one Spirit, just as there is one hope to which God has called you. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism; there is one God and Father of all mankind, Who is Lord of all, works through all, and is in all.” Understanding Who Jesus Christ really is didn’t come naturally for me. I had been raised by my traditional Jewish family to think that a whole group of people, the Christians, were elevating this “ordinary rabbi and teacher” to an imaginary level of importance that He didn’t really deserve. But, something not explained by the physical laws of the universe happened to me, the same thing that happens to each person called to faith by the God Who loves us so dearly. I have told the story before of my question viewed as an outburst in an eight grade Jewish synagogue class. That was the question: How do you explain that Jesus Christ is God’s Son and has a divine as well as a human nature? You’ll remember that this question led to a loss of control of my class by the teacher and a call to my father with his assertion, “we have a problem, Doctor, with your daughter!” Indeed, they did have a problem, one that I feel happy to say persists today. It was the same problem that Saul of Tarsus had after his encounter with the Lord on the road to Damascus [AC 9: 3-6] the very next time he faced the Sanhedrin [Jewish Ruling Council for which he had been working, formerly persecuting Jewish Christians. God has the power to bring the most unexpected people to faith and cause them to want to give up their lives to His service. I can’t tell you that I understood at that initial moment in my life what was happening to me, but I knew I would never be the same again. Saul of Tarsus must have known it too.
After many years of spending daily time with the word, I found myself in need of further understanding than I had of Who Jesus Christ really is. JN 1: 1-4 is one of the most illuminating passages on this subject. “Before the world was created, the Word already existed; He was with God, and He was the same as God. Through Him God made all things; not one thing in all creation was made without Him. The Word was the source of life, and this life brought light to mankind.” Anyone who has been a believer in Christ for awhile knows that He is part of a Trinity or Godhead. This is the three personalities of the one God Who is our Creator. Christ is the second personality of God, as COL 1: 15 describes Him, “the visible likeness of the invisible God…the first-born Son, superior to all created things.” We’re told in the John passage that He existed before the world was created. This is supported by COL 1: 19-20, “For it was by God’s own decision that the Son has in Himself the full nature of God. Through the Son, then, God decided to bring the whole universe back to Himself. God made peace through His Son’s death on the cross and so brought back to Himself all things, both on earth and in heaven.” JN 14: 9, 11 also lends understanding. “Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father…Believe Me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.” We get the picture of a pre-Creation council in heaven at which the Father makes the decision to send Christ to earth to be sacrificed on the cross after a public ministry and become the means by which mankind is saved in 1 PET 1: 20-21, “He had been chosen by God before the creation of the world and was revealed in these last days for your sake. Through Him you believe in God, Who raised Him from death and gave Him glory; and so your faith and hope are fixed on God.” Our ability to recognize Christ’s importance to our very survival comes in JN 14: 6 with His very own words, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one goes to the Father except by Me.”
To some who have believed in Him for a long time, this may seem like just another recitation of the basics taught to all who are new in the faith. But, I am finding out that each time we return to these basics, even years after our commitment to the faith, God has something new to teach us. He gives each of us a deeper appreciation for that wonderful miracle of grace that is Christ’s Atonement and resurrection. We are called today and often to return to these basics about our Redeemer and to put them in the context of what we have learned about our faith since the last time we did this. The lessons in doing this are amazing, just as our awesome God is. There is still more for me to write about our one Lord, and that will be the subject of tomorrow’s message. For now, we should each meditate on what He means to us in our individual and congregational lives. We should think about how He helps us to be worthy to receive the blessings and the protection against Satan that we have.
PRAYER: O Lord, words seem inadequate to express the thanks we feel for the opportunity of salvation that You have given us through the death of Your Son on the cross and our faith in Him. He has made it possible for us to answer Your call to lives of holiness in the affirmative. Yes Lord, we hear You, and we desire to obey You. It is Christ Who makes our love for You perfect. 1 JN 1: 5-6, “But whoever obeys His word is the one whose love for God has really been made perfect. This is how we can be sure that we are in union with God; whoever says that he remains in union with God should live just as Jesus Christ did.” You have given us the paradigm for how we should think, act, and live through His example. You are so righteous that You never ask us to make a change or face a challenge that You haven’t first equipped us to do or confront. Your promise of 1 COR 10: 13 is real, just as are all Your promises to us. Through Christ, You give us a new perspective on suffering, one that leads us on the path to eternal life. Christ has told us in LK 9: 23-24, “If anyone wants to come with Me, He must forget himself, take up his cross every day, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his own life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.” When we suffer for Christ’s sake, we can feel His mark of ownership on us, which is a blessing. 1 PET 4: 16, 19 “…If you suffer because you are a Christian, do not be ashamed of it, but thank God that you bear Christ’s name…So then, those who suffer because it is God’s will for them, should by their good actions trust themselves completely to their Creator, Who always keeps His promises.” Long ago in Isaiah’s time, You prompted him to write IS 53: 1-12, the clearest, most prophetic description of Christ’s life, death on the cross, and resurrection yet given to mankind. Those You called to faith believed it. We, who have the hindsight of history, know that You kept that promise, just as You will keep them all. We humbly bow before You to confess our sins and to offer You our adoration, worship, diligence, loyalty, glory, honor, trust, obedience, heartfelt thanks and praise. In Christ’s holy name, we pray. Amen.
Christ’s heart of obedience and courage of faith led Him to the pain and suffering of the cross. But our loving Abba had no plan to abandon Him (or us) to the world of the dead [RO 8: 29; PS 16: 10]. Instead, Christ was raised to sit at God’s right side while His enemies are into a footstool under His feet [PS 110: 1]. His death opened the heavenly Holy of Holies and positioned Him there to be our Advocate and Intercessor with God [HE 9: 12 and 8: 1-2]. He is our High Priest forever in heaven. There is no other person who fulfills every prophecy about Him other than Jesus Christ. For that reason, I cannot call Him simply Jesus. He is the Christ, our Savior and the same Messiah for whom my traditional Jewish brothers and sisters still search. We are blessed to have Him in our lives, and He is there, because our God loves each of us so very much. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn