Intro
Thank you Chuck for giving us the opportunity to speak to our familiar church home. This is very special for me and so I want to use the time talking about my favorite person. Not Jaden, not even my wife, but about Jesus. In John 17 Jesus said:
John 17:24
Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
What does He mean? What is the glory God has given Him? We are going to look at a few Bible passages to better understand what it is we will see when we see His glory.
Firstborn
We’ll start at the beginning. Colossians tells us Jesus was the first created being:
Col 1:15
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
1 Corinthians makes it clear that after the Creation of Christ, God caused everything else to be under Jesus, except God Himself:
1 Cor 15:27-28
For he "has put everything under his feet." Now when it says that "everything" has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. 28 When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.
Creator
So Jesus was there at the beginning of time and then everything else was made through Him:
John 1:1-3
1:1 In the beginning was the Word, (Jesus is the Word) and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
Col 1:16-20
16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
John 1:3
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
Trinity
Understanding the relationship of Jesus to God the Father and within the trinity is difficult or impossible for our small pea-brains. This chart may help a little:
. While they are clearly three separate entries, they overlap into a singular Godhead. As we go through the passages pertaining to Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit we can see how they fit into different circles and overlaps on this chart. For instance, when Colossians 1:15 says Jesus is the firstborn over all creation, that would go into the Jesus circle, outside any overlap. But when Jesus says:
Matt 28:20
And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
That would go into the part of the chart where Jesus overlaps the Holy Spirit because Jesus now lives in us by the Spirit. In John 17 we have a passage which belongs in the overlap between Jesus and God:
John 17:21-23
21 …Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23 I in them and you in me.
Another passage that should go into this overlap between God and Jesus is:
John 8:58-59
"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" 59 At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
The Jews flared at this reply because when Jesus said, “I am”, He was applying to Himself the first name of God given to Moses at the burning bush. God told Moses to call Him, “I am that I am.” Here Jesus shares the same title.
John 10:29-30
29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one."
Verse 29 belongs in the Jesus only circle, while verse 30 is where they overlap.
Divine
Many passages belong in this overlap and they prove the divinity of Jesus. Here are a couple more examples:
Titus 2:13
while we wait for the blessed hope-the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,
Isa 9:6
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
New age adherents and cults say Jesus is just another of many self-made gods. Hindus would agree. Buddhists say Jesus is a wise teacher. Islam says He is a prophet. The problem is they neglect His divinity. Let me read one of my favorite quotes from C.S. Lewis:
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. “ That is the one thing we must not say. The man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic-- on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg-- or else he would be the devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or he is a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
Attributes of Jesus
What else can we learn about Jesus? Here are a few words that describe Him:
Omnipotent
Omniscient
Omnipresent
That is a fancy way of saying Jesus has might, insight, and is all around us tight. A couple of weeks ago we met a man in Africa who named his two children Omnipotent and Omniscient. When Judy Ervine pointed out to him that it bordered on blasphemy it came out he didn’t really understand the meanings of the words. In case you are considering these as birth names, let me go over the meanings.
Omnipotent means Jesus is all powerful.
Matt 28:18-19
Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
Phil 3:20-21
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
Everything is under His control. He is all powerful.
Omniscient means Jesus knows all things.
Mark 2:6-8
6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 "Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" 8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things?”
Rev 2:1-2
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands: 2 I know your deeds…
He knows our deeds as He knows all things.
Omnipresent means Jesus is everywhere. We have already seen on our chart how the Holy Spirit brings Jesus’ presence everywhere.
Incarnation
Another fancy word we use to describe Jesus is incarnation. This means Jesus is God stuffed into a human body. The reason for this is so we can better understand Him. If you and I wanted butterflies to understand us, the best plan would be for one of us to become a worm, go into a cocoon, and hatch out as a butterfly. The other butterflies would see the incarnation and identify with a fellow butterfly. The human/butterfly could then use butterfly talk (rub antennae or whatever they do) to explain as best as possible the world of humans. So the incarnation is Jesus coming into our world to explain God.
Heb 1:1-4
1:1 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.
Compassion
So what is it we learn about God through Jesus? The most important lesson is God’s compassion and fatherly yearning to see His children made whole.
Isa 40:11
He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.
Isa 42:3
A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.
Matt 8:16-17
16 When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
"He took up our infirmities
and carried our diseases."
The parable of Jesus that gives us the most insight into God’s heart is about a self-centered, wayward son who later returns to His father. Jesus ends the beautiful story like this:
Luke 15:20
But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
Jesus demonstrates, in the flesh, God’s compassion. He demonstrates all God’s power and all God’s compassion in the same package.
Col 1:16-20
16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
It is simply amazing to me that Jesus is responsible for holding all things together. There are six billion people in the world. Jesus knows every hair on their heads and every hurt in their lives. There are 10 to the 21st power stars in the universe. That is 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 and Jesus holds every quark of every atom together. This is what Jesus spoke about when He said He wanted us to see His glory in heaven.
Conclusion
These are amazing facts. But just knowing about Jesus won’t do us any good. The demons for whom hell is reserved know these facts far better than any of us and yet it has done them no good.
James 2:19
You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that-and shudder.
The difference is we can do more than know about Jesus, we can know Him as the lover of our soul and best friend. This great God, this holder of all things, this compassionate One is my best friend and He can be yours as well.
Col 3:4
When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Indeed, Jesus is our life.
Heb 12:2
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…
I pray we can all do just that.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, You are so beautiful and incredible. I want a full and rich relationship with You for eternity. I cannot settle for a shallow belief in you. I want to love You and be loved by You. I want to be like those young lovers that get all gooey-eyed and can’t get enough of each other. They tune out the rest of the world. That is the relationship I want with You.
Lord, I want to fix my eyes on You.
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