JESUS IS_________ [PART 1]
John 1:1-3
When I think about who Jesus is, that hymn "Something About That Name" comes to mind! "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus... there's just something about that name!" See Jesus is ________!
- The Great One
- The Second Person of the Trinity
- The Messiah
- The Son of God
- The I’AM of all Creation
- The Great Teacher
- The Great Shepherd
- The very Word of God made flesh
- The First and the Last
- The Bread of Life
- The final amen
- The Great High Priest
- He is the image of the invisible God
- The Judge of the living and the dead
- The Name above all names
- The Alpha and Omega
- The Beginning and the End
We need stop and ask ourselves the hard questions! Was Jesus just a man like you and me? YES.
HE HAD A HUMAN BIRTH! In Luke 1:35 “And the
angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of
the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be
called holy—the Son of God.” HE HAD A HUMAN MIND! In Luke 2:52 “And
Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.” HE HAD HUMAN EMOTIONS! In John 12:27 "Now
is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'?
But for this purpose I have come to this hour.” BUT! Here is where I put “but” to
the previous question! YES HE WAS A MAN LIKE YOU AND ME! BUT COMPLETELY SINLESS. In 2 Cor 5:21 “For our
sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God.
Sadly the world doesn't look at Jesus in this light! The Bible says they
only saw him as a man, a miracle worker who met there need as John wrote in chapter 6 of his gospel. To this fallen world Jesus, is
nothing more than a children’s tale to tell at bedtime…… like “Jack and the
Beanstock.”
- Some would say “Jesus is no more than angel created by God.”
- Some would say “Jesus is a small puny deity created by God”
- Some would say “Jesus is folklore, made up tale to help the weak”
- Some would say “Jesus is a god like the rest of us”
Again, sadly these ideas are wrong and my heart
breaks because of their blindness to the beauty and truth found in His name. He wasn’t some man
who could build solid furniture and tables! He was much more than this. He is the second
person of the Trinity…..fully God and fully man! He had all the same
characteristics as the Father and the Holy Spirit inside the Godhead. Paul wrote about Jesus this way! Col 1:16-19 “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. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in
him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,”
This is what makes
Jesus unique above or separate from His creation. He is the one who
took part in creation. He is the One who
life into existence. He is the One who
is keeping your beating right now. Jesus was fully God
and fully man who came to earth [which He created] on rescue mission to die for
His sinful rebellious creation [You and me]
He came to save us
from ourselves. We come to one of the most well written gospels about
who Jesus was and is in my opinion “The Gospel of John” A letter written to
display the glory of the Son in His humanity to tell the world that He is the
God incarnate. What I love about
John’s gospel is that he doesn’t waste time getting to who Jesus is. Not that the other
gospel didn’t revere or display the glory of Christ…..the focus on John’s
gospel is the man who Jesus was and is…….God incarnate deity.Throughout the next few weeks leading into the New Year…….We are going to
see for ourselves the underlining theme that displays Jesus not only as a man
but as the Son of God who is God in the flesh. One of the first
precious truths about Jesus we see John write about……. is a key truth to understanding
this gospel letter, and that is Jesus is…….
THE ETERNAL SON [V1-V3]
What does that mean?
- Before light, water, the moon, and stars were put into their rightful places……He was there.
- Before plant life, flowers and trees were put into their rightful place…..He was there.
- Before animals, insects, fish, and birds were put into their rightful place….He was there
- Before angels were created……He was there
- Before Adam breathed in his first breath …….He was there
- Before you were created……He was there
As Psalm 90:2 says “Before the mountains were brought
forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to
everlasting you are God.” See He was much
more than some man…….He was before all things! Remember what Jesus said to the Pharisee’s “before Abraham was, I AM” Which could possibly
be translated “I will be what I will be” This is gives us
clear indication that Godhead [Jesus the second Person of the trinity] is completely
independent of His creation. Wayne Grudem in his Systematic Theology book defines it
this way
“God is independence is defined as follows: God does not need us or the rest of
creation for anything, yet we and the rest of creation can glorify Him and
bring Him joy. This attribute of God is sometimes called His self-existence or
His aseity [from the Latin words “a se”,
which means “from himself”]. Scripture is very
clear in several places that God does not need any part of creation in order to
exist or for any other reason. He is completely
self-sufficient, and absolutely independent. For example.......
Acts 17:24-25 “The
God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth,
does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as
though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and
breath and everything.”
Job 41:11 God says
“Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the
whole heaven is mine.”
Ps 50:10-12 “For
every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all
the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. "If I
were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.”
This is what John’s opening statement is directing us
too (v1-v3) The fact that Jesus
was there when the earth was without “form
and void”. [Gen 1:1-2]. Which means “not finished in its shape and as yet
uninhabited by creatures” And what’s amazing
God would decorate His creation in 6 days! That’s how amazing
our God is……that’s how amazing Jesus is! He was in the beginning….He lived outside
of time and has no beginning because He always existed. (v1) “was” is an important word here! The “verb”
highlights the eternal pre-existence of the Word [Jesus] Meaning it has no
end or beginning because Jesus is God incarnate. So when Jesus came
to this earth He never ceased to be God but took on a genuine human nature/body
and voluntarily refrained from His independent exercise of the attributes of
deity.That’s amazing! And as a reminder Paul penned these
beautiful words……..Phil 2:6-11 “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.”
You might be asking yourself what does this have to do
with me? How can I apply this passage to my life? By embracing the
grace that was given by Jesus in His humiliation and exaltation. By understanding
that an independent God who spoke all things into existence ….completely
perfect and sovereign who needs nothing from us chooses to come to this earth
and saves fallen undeserving sinners like you and me. That in eternity
past Jesus would come and lay down His life for your sin, so that you could
live with Him for all eternity. That in eternity
past, Jesus would leave His glory, to give us a living hope through His death
and resurrection. That in eternity
past Jesus would reveal Himself to you for the simple reason He can! He’s God.
The gospel is much more than a man dying for our sin! And I'm not minimizing that major importance...... It’s about a God who
is infinitely worthy and deserving of our praise even if He sends us to Hell….But the beauty is
that He came to earth to save sinners which I am the chief of them all. He came in His
humanity by lowering Himself to die for our sin. Why? Because He
can and He chose to!
He is WORD and the WORD was with God and the WORD is God. The Self existent
One who loved you despite your ugliness of sin and rebellion. Church family! Embrace this truth this morning and fall
to your knees to the Eternal Son of God who is our Saviour. Jesus is the eternal Christ who came to save
sinners.
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