Christ Came & Will Come Again

The New International Version Chapter 14

53 They took Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests, the elders and the teachers of the law came together. 54 Peter followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. There he sat with the guards and warmed himself at the fire.

55 The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any. 56 Many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree.

57 Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: 58 “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with human hands and in three days will build another, not made with hands.’ ” 59 Yet even then their testimony did not agree.

60 Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” 61 But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.

Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”

62 “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

63 The high priest tore his clothes. “Why do we need any more witnesses?” he asked. 64 “You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?”

They all condemned him as worthy of death. 65 Then some began to spit at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, “Prophesy!” And the guards took him and beat him.

Christ Came As The Authority

The New International Version Chapter 7

13 “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, o coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him.

The case against him was a fraud, it was a jammed through procedding, and even those who tried to rig the case couldnt get it right.

Their stories changed, their lies were exposed, the religious leaders tried to set Jesus up and it didnt work.

He just let them run their course, it was great.

They propped up witness after witness after witness and Jesus just sat there not needing to defend himself, because they were dismantling their own arguments.

Now, the reason these people wanted to sabotage Christ, the reason they wanted to stop him, is because he upset their formality of religion.

They were very upset at Christ because they had control over the religious section of society. In their towns, their culture, these men controlled things, and they embraced it for themselves.

The religious leaders come after Christ and want to put him on display as a fraud, because their own interests are being taken away.

He is messing with our systmem, he is trying to say he knows better. That he speaks on behalf of God.

That is what the religious leaders thought. The imagined that Christ had said, I am the chosen one of God. I am his ambassador, I am his voice.

Thats what was the origniial charge. And it turns out, that the witnesses were doing a crummy job of even making that stick.

So the Pharisees turn and say, fine, lets ask him....are you God’s special man, are you his chosen voice?

He affirms that is partly true, then goes further. He makes them so upset they rip their clothes by his next answer.

His answer says, not only do i speak for God, I am the one that will come later to judge everyone else.

Christ says, I am the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven.

If you were to go back in your bible, this idea, the heavens coming down, the son of man, the Mighty One…they are all ideas of the Cosmos, the glory, the maker of all things right…thats the Son of Man. In daniel , in Ezekial 16, there is this idea of Son of Man.

He was the one that would come from heaven and make all things striaght, he was going to level then wicked, he was going to elevate the holy, the good. He would punish the evil, and reward the righteous.

And make all things new again.

Now, thats an insane statement.

Instead of saying, yes I teach different than what you would like, he says, no…thats too gentle, thats too subtle…I am the Son of Man , not just a messenger of God, but rather part of the God head, I am the Son of Man that you have read about.

In the movie Gladiator, Maimus Arlius was made a slave fighter because of a manipulation of an insecure man who wanted power and dethrones Maximus of being leader. He takes his place.

He has to fight to save his life, and he makes it all the way to the emperor’s presence in the arena.

They all assume that Maximus has died, and this man is what they call the Spaniard. The emperor comes to the Spainard, this nusicance, they guy that is beating all his traps, all his tricks, and says, well…lets see what this guy is all about.

He keeps his helment on, and when the emperor gets close enough, Maximus removes his helment and reveals, no I am not just an annoying guy to your pracfices, to your plans, to your desires, I am the true and rightful king, I am the one who should be listened to, and in the famous line he says “I will have my revenge, in this life or the next”.

The emperor is shaken to his core, is terrified, see that, I thought this was a small issue, but now I see, this is a giant issue that I must deal with.

When we think of incarnation, we cannot only think of the baby Christ, because this was his FIRST coming.

There is a second coming, and when he does, it will be something to behold. It will be amazing. It will be the clouds of heaven.

We have a small glimpse of what that looks like in Christ, the glory of God in infant babe.

But this is just a seed of whats to come.

The New International Version Chapter 7

His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

The issue that gets people rilled up about Christianity, is not its morality, is not its edicts, is not its commands…thats all easy stuff…people are accustomed to that. People are fairly used to those.

You have rules for all sorts of things, you live by rules of conduct.

What creates real action, what animates people....

Look…I have said some fairly difficult Gospel truths, I have stated that the bible alone is authoritative, I have suggested that if you do not want to love what Christ loves, you are not of faith.

I have stated that you should not give money unless you give it freely and joyfully....and you must give financially to the Gospel.

I have stated that if you do not share faith with others, you are in danger of not being a Christian.

But the thing that has gotten the most animation from us. The most conversation, the most amount of emails…is masks.

Why?

Because its ok Clint for the church to tell me about giving, sure the church needs money. You can tell me about morals, that seems ok.

But look, faith does not tell me to wear Or not to wear a mask. Too far.

Ok, thats whats going on here. But times a million.

Christ is saying, my authority doesn't just go areas which you deem useful, my authority is over everything, everyone, and for all time.

Christ’s authoiry over your life is the following. What you do with your money. What you do with parenting. What you do with dating. What you do with sexuality. What you do with jobs. Its all his. He is over it all.

Christ Will Come Again As Authority

Christ, the child, came as someone who would not just be a pet, of be controlled, or be directed....he came as child that is to be king, not a debater of philosophy.

And there is a biblical trajectory that we must know about.

I referenced the passages in Daniel and Ezekiel...

Typically how Christ reveals himself to his people is in pieces and shadows until the reveal.

Apple store this when they would do little hints and drops here and there.

They would give a 10% of the reveal. Then 20% then a new feature here, and then there…then the big reveal.

And each time it would be something that was grand, and greater than what came before.

In the OT you would have shadows of the Messiah, you would have hints of him, you would have veiled ideas of the coming king.

So when Christ came to us in infant form, when he says, I am the Son of Man, although you see me as a tiny babe, I am so much more than you can picture.

And when I come again, when the clouds come rolling down from heaven.

When the heavens open up, its going to be incredible.

My second return will do three things, it will do many things…but it will do three things I want to say here.

Clarity

Unity

Restoration

Clarity

Right now, everyone operates in a world of free flowing thought.

We all have options and opinions, we are very modern people.

Even here in the middle america, where we dont think that certain thoughts and ideals have come.

We think we live in a traditional and outside the influence of those other coastal.

Well, let me say…its no different.

Modern minds all have this idea, and its true here as it is on the coasts.

My freedoms, my ideals, my wants, my desires, those are paramount. Those are priority number one. And my deepest need is to become fulfilled.

I have the right to be happy. I am an independent and free thinker.

So what happens is that we end up with a multitude of thoughts and opinions, and disagreements, and at the end of the day, we all can say…well I live my life, you live yours.

Thats the most modern thinking ever.

But when Christ comes, there will no longer be disagreement on who is God. There will no longer be discussion on which religion makes the most sense.

Colleges will not have comparative religion any longer as a class. It will be ended.

Christ came as a babe, to tell us of the coming time, when there will be no more discussion, but rather declaration.

Much of my time as a pastor I am trying to encourage, and persuade people to see the Gospel as more lovely than their way.

When Christ comes again, the time of encouragement is done. Its clear, there is no other way.

Unity

When Christ came as a babe, it started the unification effort of our bent world.

It was his inauguration of kingship.

The birth started what the second coming with conclude.

When Christ came as a babe, the church that he inaugurated was comprised of Jews, Gentiles, Greek, Romans, Gentiles, religious, men and women, sexually outcast, financially outcast, ethnically outcast.

The Church should be the most diverse community on planet earth. It should be, and one day it will be.

On the second coming of Christ, what he did to briong the church into existence, will be culminated by complete and utter unity.

No dividional lines, no heirarchy, the ideal that Dr King had when he said, all men created equal, will be truer than any other time.

RIght now, we do not live in a united time, we should but we do not.

Christmas reminds us, we are all working towards complete and utter unity under the banner of Christ when he comes.

Restoration

Christ was the best doctor when he came. He healed the lame, he brought sight to the blind…this infant, would grow to the man Christ who performed miracles and made all the untrue things true again.

But this first time was only a precursor to the next time.

When he comes again, this authority, this one who is above all…will make every last bent thing straight.

No more animosity, no more confusion, no more unhealthy, no more conflict, no more misunderstanding, none.

He healed and brought reconciliation, in part, because when he comes again, he will completely reconcile all that is bent.

How do you Hear it

Angels we have heard on high, singing over the plain...

Christ the child is born today,

Do you hear this as an inspirational word.

Or do you hear this as the trumpet blast of the king who is coming again?

Do you hear this as a suggestion, or as the whole system cracking inauguration that it was meant to be.

Christ is not a child you tell where to go and what to eat.

Christ the child came as a gentle one, ahead of the riding clouds king to come.

I urge you, don’t miss this. How do you hear the good news of his birth. Hear it as a king’s banner not as a cute birth announcement.