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The Christ
THE CHRIST
And he said unto them, but whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, the Christ of God.
For all of his childhood days…his teens…his young adult years…Jesus lived in stark obscurity. On a global scale, a meager carpenter’s family, in the village of Nazareth, is about as obscure as it gets. Jesus was simply a man like all men. Unknown…like us…save our own small circle. Unremarkable…like us…toiling away our days. He was known at the village gates, as Joseph and Mary’s firstborn…Jesus…of Nazareth. An older brother, like many of us. A playful child…a spry teenage lad…a young craftsman, honing his trade. Pensive and pious, I’m certain…but as ordinary as you and I.
For 30 years, Jesus walked this same path that we all walk. Then oddly…at the minimum age for priesthood…my lord’s path took a drastic turn. Gone was the likeable neighbor, the handy carpenter, and the trusted friend from Nazareth. For the next 3 ½ years…for the tithe of his short life…Jesus would now don, the royal mantle of Christ.
Wherefore holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus.
The Christ of God. Not a last name…but a regal title. Minister in the holy of holies. Leader of his enslaved people out of Egypt. The promised son Isaac, and the second birth Jacob. How beautifully God, across the pages of time, would weave the fabric of this mantle. He would use holy men of God…and their very lives…to knit together the breastplate, the ephod, and the mitre. With Holy Ghost precision, he would weave this robe with Egypt’s very Passover lamb…and tailor its cuffs, with Isaiah’s man of sorrows. The needlework of his broidered coat, he would spin of Joseph’s rejection and betrayal. The curious girdle, of that very man Moses…and his first law-breaking journey down Mount Sinai. Because this Christ of God revelation, dates back some 430 years before Moses climbed Sinai. All the way back to an ancient promise, made to Abram in Haran.
But more than these…above all of the regalia…beyond the sheer magnitude of this holy office, was something much more wonderful. Israel knew that this robe…so long languishing in a closet…this ministry of the Christ of God, was reserved for the very offspring of God. God’s own, begotten son.
I will declare the decree: the lord hath said unto me, thou art my son; this day have I begotten thee.
Peter’s answer, then, truly was a revelation. The Christ of God was his answer. Not only Jesus, the son of God…but the son of God at work. The son of God; his ministry fully afoot, and he, fully clothed in the ancient mantle of Christ. The Christ of God…fully engaged…with an Achilles heel…in bruising the head of the serpent, as the promised seed of the woman.
Easily the most compelling story in scripture, is our God’s visit to Mount Sinai, as Israel flees Egypt. The shaking rumble of his presence, strikes terror in the heart of every man. His bright, hot holiness sets the very mountain a smoke. Here, the timeless Ten Commandments are meted out. Here, a covenant between God and Israel is forged, as over 600 laws are enacted. Here, a trembling, terrified chosen people, are twice-told of moving a great distance from this awesome presence. For their God was a consuming fire…a swirl of thunderings, lightnings, and thick dark clouds of black smoke.
This event marked the end of an old era, and the beginning of a new one. It also represented a serious departure for our God. No more an enigma…a brief appearance as the angel of the lord…voices and visions in the night. No longer a fire consuming a mountain…yet like the burning bush…causing it no harm. Now, our God wanted to dwell among us. Beneath all of the noise and smoke going on, an interior designer of impeccable taste, was picking the colors, the fabric types, sizes and shapes, the kinds of wood and metal, the furniture design…and even the utinsels…of his new residence. In this tent, in this new era, he would dwell among them. It would be his home, and the courthouse of his law.
The word was made flesh, and dwelt among us for 30 years. Of course, being made flesh, carries with it a full compliment of free will. The decision to enter the ministry at 30…to fulfill all righteousness…was his to make. Yet here, a corner of the veil is lifted, for just a peek. For to trace the will of Emmanuel to its start, as with every man, we return to the instant of conception. To trace the word made flesh, back to the womb of Mary, is to understand that will. Because that instant of conception, was the creative agent of the word. The eternal word. The same word that uttered…let there be light. The same word that was in the beginning with God, and was God. The same word, that thousands of years earlier, had said I come, to do thy will, O God. Here is the root…the origin…and hence the very fiber, of the lad who, at 12 years of age, wishes to be about his father’s business. And scarcely 21 years later, that same free will could be found in the furnace, sweating great drops of blood, and crying nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. His faith in his father is a hushed, holy thing; found throughout the psalms. It would sustain him, even through the gates of death.
That word made flesh…the word in the mouth of the prophets, had fallen silent for 400 years. Rome had conquered all. Then, from the obscure village of Nazareth…of a plain carpenter’s family…rises Christ. At last the closet is breached, and the hanger left bare. Only after Jesus reached the minimum age for priesthood, did he even qualify, for the ancient mantle of Christ. Even then…at the age of 30, his willingness to don that mantle was needed. It could not be forced upon him against his will. Emmanuel…God with us…the word made flesh, is such an incredible miracle. God in Christ then, is the oak tree from that acorn. God with us is a temple in the building for 30 years. God in Christ…is his arrival, and his 3 ½ year ministry, in that holy temple. Does this, then, reduce Jesus to a mere shell? Is the son of God, at 30 years old, suddenly transformed into a walking zombie…under the complete control of his Father? Far from it.
When the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us for 33 years, He was just as human as you and I. From that instant of conception in Mary’s womb, until His final crucified statement:
Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.
This was a human being. Body, soul, and spirit…just like us. This was a strong soul…a strong spirit. Born of the union; of a young Jewish virgin, and the word, this soul and spirit would be like no other.
When we are baptized with the Holy Ghost…by Jesus Christ…we come at last to the narrow way. Are we an empty shell? Are we walking zombies? We are changed men, no doubt. But the charge of being simply a robot, under the Spirit’s control, is false. We have no less free will after our new birth, than before. We are no less infected with the law of sin, after our new birth, than before. The new birth is not a sudden hijacking of our soul and spirit. It is our spirit; being re-born and inhabited, by His Spirit. It is our soul; reacting to this change…fighting it…thwarting it…re-directing it. The soul has been running the show to this point. Now, it must give way to the re-born spirit.
The fullness of God…in any man…begs the emptiness of that man. For in the very cradle of our emptiness…our helplessness…does His fullness nest, and minister. Some men’s souls are bold and noble…their emptiness small…and thus is their God. Some men’s souls are humble and broken…their emptiness great…and thus is their God.
My life path has been especially designed for me…for my salvation. It is not the same as your path. I have my own, peculiar impurities. This requires a peculiar set of bumps and ruts on my path, to purge those impurities. When I grow in the Spirit, my trust grows…that the Father’s will for me, is far better than my will for me. But our will does not die so easily. Our path includes a life-long effort, to crucify our own will, in lieu of His will. As newborn Christians, we’re probably 10% successful in this effort. As a mature Christian, perhaps 30 % successful. But we are hardly zombies, or empty shells. Our joy comes, when we can abide in that 30%.
In the word made flesh, the fullness of God inhabiting the emptiness of man, is perfected. His final thought, before He gave up the ghost, was this:
In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust: let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness. Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save me. For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name’s sake lead me, and guide me. Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength.
This…as He writhed in the final stages, of death by brutal crucifixion. Here is a human will 100% submitted, to the will of His Father…come what may. It is weakness perfected. It is complete distrust of self, for every move you make…a total reliance upon God. A zombie? A shell? Perhaps our failure; to comprehend such complete submission as the Master’s, gives rise to these rants. Rather, He was our Saviour…who spoke the words of His Father. And a will surrendered, is not an absent will.
But these are only the beginnings of Christ. For if we today are the body of Christ, then is Christ still here. Emmanuel was conceived of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of Mary. The present body of Christ was conceived of the Holy Ghost, in the upper room of mother Jerusalem. And as God was then in Christ…for the ministry of reconciliation…so it is today.
All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.
Indeed, His holiness is so intense…His purity so extreme…His righteousness so bright and hot…that were God not in Christ, we should all be consumed in a moment.
Much as our o-zone mediates the wrath and fury of the sun, so does Christ mediate the terrifying rumble of Sinai. Many have prophesied of His appearing, and looked for His star in the east. But their vision was limited. They saw but His coming to Israel…in the days of His flesh. Today, however, the fullness of Christ’s ministry is revealed:
Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest in his saints: to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
And if Christ be in you…then is God also still in Christ…in you. Such was the testimony of our brother John:
Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son
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