India #5 Christology
April 2024 India • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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INTRODUCTION Colossians 1:15-18; Philippians 2:5-11;
INTRODUCTION Colossians 1:15-18; Philippians 2:5-11;
During this session we are going to engage in Christology.
Christology is the branch of theology where we look at the person, nature and work of Jesus of Nazareth.
Christology is formed from two words.
Christ and logos.
Christ is the Greek equivalent of Messiah, which means the anointed One.
Logos is the spoken word.
Literally Christology means to speak of Christ.
And as ministers of the gospel, that is our primary role, to speak Christ into the world.
Thus far we have studied the depravity of man and soteriology, the doctrines of salvation.
In our study of man we saw man’s need for God, but also his total inability to seek, know and understand God.
Next in our study of soteriology we looked some of the most beautiful truths of salvation.
In Christology, we see how YHWH brought lost man and salvation together.
This is what Christian preaching and teaching is really all about, proclaiming the excellencies of Jesus Christ who saved us.
But you are a chosen family, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
Let me inject a little hermeneutics at this time.
Hermeneutics is the art and science of Biblical interpretation.
Part of good interpretation is recognizing and understanding specific ways in which the scripture is framed.
Here is one example, anytime you see those two words “so that”, it is what is called a purpose clause.
A purpose clause explains why something was accomplished by God.
In 1 Peter 2:9 we see a purpose clause, and in this case it explains why God in salvation chose us, made us a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and His possession.
YHWH did all of this so that we could proclaim the excellencies of Jesus Christ.
That is really what we are all about, telling the world about the greatness of all that Jesus is.
This is why we were chosen, to proclaim Jesus to the world.
To tell the world of the One who saved us, and can save them.
The reality is, that before we can preach His excellencies, we must first understand the Him in all His excellencies.
JESUS IS GOD
JESUS IS GOD
This is the first truth the apostle Paul establishes in Colossians 1:15, speaking of Jesus……
Colossians 1:15 (LSB)
Who is the image of the invisible God,
Image is from the Greek word eikon.
Caesar’s used a stamp or a ring that had their face imprinted on it, they then made an impression in wax to seal a scroll.
That stamp with their image verified that the document was from Caesar.
What Paul is saying, is that in Christ is the very image of the invisible God, He has the stamp of deity upon Him.
God is spirit, He is invisible.
In Jesus, God was made visible to the world.
When you looked at Jesus, you were looking at God.
In the incarnate life, Jesus did many many things just to prove that He was indeed the eternal God.
He demonstrated omniscience on a regular basis.
Omniscience is the complete ability to know what is hidden to others.
Jesus proved His omniscience by telling people what they would do in the future.
Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times.
And we know Peter did just that.
“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat. “But I have prayed earnestly for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, once you have returned, strengthen your brothers.”
These two passages are related and describe the same event.
In the Luke account we see that Jesus was assuring Peter he would fail, but that he would also come out of it stronger.
Then in John 21, we have that great passage where Jesus restores Peter after Peter had denied Him.
And in that discussion, Jesus tells Peter how he will die.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go.” Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me!”
Jesus was telling Peter, when you are old, they will take you where you do not want to go.
Friends, the reason Peter denied knowing Jesus was he was scared they would crucify him also.
Jesus is telling Peter, what you avoided by denying Me, will one day take place, you will die by crucifixion.
And guess what, 30 years later, the Casaer Nero, would have Peter arrested and would crucify both Peter and his wife.
In all of this Jesus demonstrated Godlike omniscience, thus proving He is the image of the invisible God.
We believe this because we know that God alone is omniscient.
God alone knows our thoughts and actions, before they take place.
“Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My counsel will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’,
God alone knows both the beginning of all things, and the end of all things.
God alone knows things that have not yet been done.
God knows the future, because He knows all things.
Jesus repeatedly demonstrated omniscience thus proving in one respect He is the eternal God.
God is Spirit, and the spirit world is invisible to us.
There are myriads upon myriads of angels coming and going and doing God’s work, but we cannot see them because they are part of the spirit world.
Demons also are roaming about, even Satan roams about seeking someone to devour, but we cannot see Him for most of the time they are in spirit form.
“God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Our focus here is that God is a Spirit.
Moses spoke with YHWH on many occasions, but Moses had to ask to see God is His glory.
YHWH was invisible to Moses and the people, which is why YHWH had to wrap Himself in a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night so that the people knew God was leading them.
When Jesus became incarnate, He made the invisible God visible to mankind.
In John 14:8 we read…
Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
They had never seen God the Father and desired to do so.
But in John 14:9-11 Jesus responded
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all so long and have you not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak from Myself, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves.
Jesus was the manifestation of the invisible God because He is God.
Colossians 1:15 is so important because of the implications.
What this is really saying is that Jesus is the perfect replica of God because He is God.
Wrapped up in that truth is the idea that everything they knew YHWH to be, was also true of Jesus because He is the perfect representation of YHWH.
Everything that the Father is, Jesus is also.
First, Jesus is the supreme Being in all of Creation.
When Paul writes the Jesus is the firstborn of all creation we need to understand this carefully.
The cults like Mormonism, and the Jehovah’s Witnesses have all wrongly interpreted this to mean that Jesus is a created being, that He is not the eternal God.
This is in error.
The Greek word for firstborn is prototokos.
In that Roman culture, the prototokos was not always the first son chronologically.
This word firstborn has nothing to do with birth order.
The prototokos was the son who was chosen by the Father to lead the family after the father’s death.
Sometimes it was a younger son who the father chose as the prototokos because he was better suited to lead the family.
Sometimes, if there were no qualified sons, the father went out and found a young man who was qualified, and adopted him to be his son, the prototokos to lead the family.
The point is, the prototokos was not the first son born into the world, he was the son whom the father chose to be the supreme leaders of the family.
So when we read that Jesus is the firstborn of all creation, it is not saying he was created, it is saying that Jesus is the most important being in all of creation.
He is the One whom the Father has chosen to hold supreme authority over all of the creation.
He rules over the entire universe, attending to all the details of leadership.
And nothing, absolutely nothing happens in all the universe that Jesus has not approved.
What the prototokos really demonstrates is that Jesus is sovereign.
He is sovereign over all the affairs of men.
We tend to think that this world is spinning out of control, but it is not, Jesus has it under His control.
For example, we think governments are the products of men, when in reality, governments are the product of a sovereign God.
Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist have been appointed by God.
Your prime minister is in power because He is appointed by God.
Our president is in power because he is appointed by God.
They are not good leaders either one of them.
But they are there to serve the purposes of God, even when we cannot understand it.
But we can take heart that the king is not the final authority.
The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of Yahweh; He turns it wherever He pleases.
Friends, our God, our Savior, Jesus has full control of every leader in every country.
And Jesus can turn their heart to do whatever Jesus desires.
We are tempted to ask, how can a God hating evil man be God’s choice for president of the United States or prime minister of India.
The answer is very simple, some rulers are given to nations by God as a blessing, and some are given by God as judgment.
I would argue that at this point in history, both my nation and yours are under the judgment of God.
My nation is under the judgment of God because we have abandoned God as a nation.
Your nation is under the judgment of God because as Romans 1:18-20 says…..
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, both His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
But the primary point, Jesus is sovereign.
Notice in verse 16, even thrones and dominions, rulers and authorities, both good and bad were created by Jesus, ordained by Jesus, to accomplish His will.
Sometimes, God raised up evil nations to punish even His chosen people Israel.
He is sovereign.
Listen to Ephesians 1:11
In Him, we also have been made an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,
Jesus works all thing according to the counsel of His will.
In other words, He does what He wants, when He wants, and for His own reasons,
That is sovereignty, Jesus is the supreme being in the universe, He is the prototokos.
Second, Jesus is the Creator.
This is an important distinction, Jesus is the Creator, and is not a creation.
I have heard that the Jehovah’s Witnesses are doing very well in India.
They do not believe that Jesus is the eternal God.
They believe Jesus is a created being.
But the truth is, Jesus is the Creator.
John the Apostle makes this point in his gospel in the opening three verses.
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 came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
In the beginning, before anything was created, was the Word.
This is noticeably similar to Genesis 1:1, In the beginning, God!
Now friends, if you want to show a JW that Jesus is the eternal God, here it is.
If God preceded creation, then so too did Jesus, because the language is identical.
The normal laws of Biblical interpretation dictate that if you interpret a phrase to mean something, when that same phrase appears again you must interpret it the same way.
Just as Elohim preceded the creation, so too did Jesus precede the creation.
In fact, in Genesis 1:1, Elohim is plural which indicates that God is a plurality.
We know and understand that to mean that God is a Trinity.
One God who exists in three persons.
In the first 300 years of church history, the church struggled with the concept of the Trinity.
The problem is that the Bible teaches that there is one God.
“Hear, O Israel! Yahweh is our God, Yahweh is one!
But also the Bible clearly teaches the Trinity.
God exists in three distinct persons.
We see all three at the baptism of Jesus.
As Jesus is being baptized by John the Baptist, the Father speaks from heaven, the Spirit of God descends upon Jesus as a dove, as Jesus is coming up out of the water.
All three persons of the Trinity are present which is one reason we believe in the Trinity.
But what does that mean that there is One God who exists in three persons?
This is explained in verse 19, for all the fullness to dwell in Him.
Fullness of what? the fullness of God.
You have to look forward a bit to Col 2:9
For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells bodily,
In Christ, all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.
This is what the early church debated and struggled with.
Some refused to believe in the Trinity arguing that the Trinity denied the One God principle.
Others argued strongly for the Trinity, but in so doing had to explain how three persons could exist as One God.
In the end, Trinitarian doctrine won the day because of one old and forgotten Greek word, homousious.
Homoousious means “one substance’
The Council of Nicea met to decide this matter and this is what they settled on.
God was homoousious, of one substance.
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, are of one substance.
There are not three gods, but One God with one substance that exists in three persons.
What this means is that they are of the same nature and essence, and that they share one life.
The Jews understood this when they listened to Jesus speak.
To the Jew, if a person said someone was my father, they understood that to mean that they are of the same nature and essence as their father.
So when Jesus said YHWH is My Father, they understood Jesus was saying I am of the same nature and essence as God.
This angered them because they believed God was One from Deuteronomy 6:4.
But that was the very claim Jesus continually made.
To say that Jesus is of the same nature and essence as God is to say Jesus is God.
And again, the Jews heard Him loud and clear and wanted to stone Jesus for blasphemy.
Jesus answered them, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?” The Jews answered Him, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself God.”
They knew Jesus was claiming to be God, and that was blasphemy in their mind.
Which is true unless Jesus really is God!
So what did Jesus do?
He went out daily and did the works that only God could do.
In fact, on one occasion Jesus cast out a demon, listen to what Jesus said about that miracle.
“But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
That Jesus could cast out demons was proof positive that He was Messiah, the eternal God and the kingdom was in their midst.
If the fullness of God dwells in Jesus in bodily form, then certain realities must be noted.
Jesus is co-eternal.
Jesus is before all things. verse 17.
God is eternal, and if Jesus is fully God then He is eternal.
That means that Jesus has no beginning and no end.
That is the claim of scripture.
Before anything existed, there was God.
And that includes Jesus, the second person of the Godhead.
As well as the Spirit of God the third person of the God head.
Before in verse 17 speaks of more than time.
It speaks of importance.
This is saying not only did Jesus exist before the Creation, but that He is also more important than anything in the creation.
He simply has always existed as the second person in the Trinity.
This is why Jesus could say, before Abraham was, I AM.
I AM is the name YHWH.
When Moses had an encounter with the Angel of the Lord in Exodus 3, it was with God.
Just so you know, anytime you see the title Angel of the Lord or Angel of God, it is usually the preincarnate Jesus who has appeared.
Such is the case in Exodus 3.
Jesus appeared as the Angel of the Lord to Moses at the burning bush.
In John’s gospel, 8 times Jesus claimed the title I Am for Himself.
I am the Bread of life.
I am the Light of the world.
I am resurrection and the life.
I am the vine.
Before Abraham was I am.
I am the good shepherd.
I am the door.
And I am the way the truth and the life.
In every case, Jesus was saying I am the eternal God.
Jesus is co-equal.
This means that Jesus has and enjoys all the privileges of the Father.
Jesus is Sovereign.
Jesus is omnipotent.
Jesus is omniscient.
Jesis is omnipresent.
If an attribute exists in the Father, then it also exists in the Son.
Everything that is true of the Father with regard to His attributes, is also true of the Son.
Which is why when Philip asked Jesus to show them the Father, Jesus responded in this manner…..
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all so long and have you not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Clearly Jesus claimed equality with the Father.
Everything that the Father is, I Am also.
Then to push the point, Jesus said, if you don’t believe My words, believe the works that I do. John 14:11
“Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves.
Jesus didn’t just claim to be God, He proved it.
Every single day Jesus did the works that only God could do.
Miracle after miracle demonstrated that Jesus was God and that God was with Jesus.
John would write John 21:25
And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written one after the other, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
Jesus did thousands upon thousands of miracles to demonstrate that He was indeed God.
Paul would write that the ultimate proof of the true identity of Jesus is seen in the resurrection.
who was designated as the Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,
When Jesus resurrected Himself from the dead that settled the dispute, Jesus is God in all His fullness.
Jesus is omnipotent.
One of the great attributes of God is His almighty power.
Nothing can stand against God, nothing can thwart His plans, nothing can overcome God.
So if Jesus is the eternal God, equal to God, has the fullness of God, you would expect Him to demonstrate omnipotence, and he did.
John chose 7 miracles to demonstrate this, and the other gospel writers included even more miracles.
First Jesus turned a few pots of water into wine.
In that simple miracle, Jesus proved His power over the molecular structure of water and wine.
Water is made up of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen.
Wine is made up of water, ethanol, acids, sugars and tannins, plus several other components.
Where did the ethanol, acids, sugars and tannins come from?
Jesus created them, and then arranged them to form wine,
In John 5 Jesus healed a lame man who had been lame for 38 years.
Folks, after 38 years, there were no muscles, the joints would have been stiff and unusable.
Yet in a instant, the man got up and walked.
Jesus created new muscles, and everything else needed for the man to walk.
In John 6, Jesus took a few crackers and a couple of fish, and fed 20 to 25 thousands people.
How?
He created bread and fish, enough for everybody to eat there fill, and have 12 baskets full of leftovers.
Do you see what Jesus was doing?
He was doing what only God could do, create.
Jesus didn’t just claim to be God, He proved it.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
The primary point of Paul’s treatise here is this, Jesus is the supreme Being in all of the universe.
He if fully God, having within Himself all the fullness of God.
The cults are products of Satanic influence who have set out to destroy the truth about Jesus.
His fully God, the Creator, the pre-imminent One.