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WEEKLY
Volume 2 Number 13
26 August 2007
Jesus Is the Christ
(Message delivered by Rev Hien
Nguyen at the Sunday Worship Service, 2 pm, August 19, 2007)
Text:
1 John 5:1-5
We are commanded to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And surely the more we know Him, the more we shall honour Him, love Him, trust in Him, fear Him, appreciate Him and humbly submit to Him.
When the Samaritan woman met the Lord Jesus Christ (John 4), she was impressed by our Lord’s kindness and gentleness because He did not despise her or discriminate against her like other Jews. Talking with our Lord and being surprised at His omniscience, she said unto Him, “Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet” (v 19). Then, after hearing our Lord talk about true worship in spirit and in truth, she said to Him, “I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things” (v 25). And Jesus said to her, “I that speak unto thee am he” (v 26). Knowing that Jesus was the Christ, she left her water pot, went her way into her city and said to
her people, “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” (v 29). Then the Samaritans asked Jesus to stay with them, and He stayed there two days. Once hearing Jesus’ Word in person, they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world” (v 42). Dear friends, I do pray that you can say likewise because you know the Lord Jesus Christ personally.
Jesus Is the Christ
The apostle John wrote the Gospel with a clear purpose, “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name” (John 20:31) and in his first epistle, chapter 5:1-5, he listed some evidences of a born-again Christian: “believeth that Jesus is the Christ” (v 1), “loveth” God and His Children (v 1), “keep his commandments” (vv 2-3), “overcometh the world” (v 4), “believeth that Jesus is the Son of God” (v 5). Let us focus on the meaning of “Jesus is the Christ."
Jesus is the human name and Christ is the divine name of our Lord. Jesus is a short form of Joshua or Jehoshua, which means, “Jehovah is salvation”. Then, Jesus means Saviour. His incarnation, His virgin birth, His death for our sins, and His resurrection for our justification secured our
salvation for ever. Christ (or the Messiah) means the Anointed One, “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn” (Isa 61:1-2). This prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who read that Scripture text and said, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4:18-19, 21), and later the Holy Spirit confirmed through Peter’s preaching, “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him” (Acts 10:38).
There are three anointed offices: the priestly, the kingly and the prophetic. Aaron and his sons were anointed so that they might minister unto the Lord in the priest’s office (Exod 28:41; Lev 8:12), Saul, David and Solomon were anointed to be king over Israel (1 Sam 10:1; 16:13; 1 Kings 1:39), and Elisha was anointed to be prophet in Elijah’s prophetic ministry (1 Kings 19:16). Then Jesus is the Christ, who has been anointed to be the great High Priest, the King of kings, and the Divine Prophet.
When our Lord Jesus asked his disciples, “But whom say ye that I am?” Peter answered and said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said unto him, “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven” (Matt 16:15-17). This shows that we do need the divine revelation to surely know that Jesus is the Christ, and we do need to be born again to believe this truth with our full submission, “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God” (1 John 5:1), because Satan and his fallen angels also know that Jesus is the Christ, but they are not saved due to their rebellion, “And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ.” (Luke 4:41). Dear friends, when you and I believe that Jesus is the Christ, we must mean that He is our Saviour as High Priest, King of kings, and Divine Prophet with our saving faith and full submission. Is He really our High Priest, our King, and our Prophet?
Jesus Is the Great High Priest
The high priest represented the people before God Himself. He held a leadership position in the religious life of the people. He alone wore the Urim and the Thummim, and Israel came to him to learn the will of God (Num 27:21) and he bore “ the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place, for a memorial before the LORD continually ” (Exod 28:29). He offered a sin offering for his own sins and the sin of the congregation (Lev. 4:3–21; 9:7). He burnt sweet incense every morning and lit the lamps in the evening and burnt incense upon it (Exod 30:7-8). He lifted his hand toward the people and blessed them (Lev 9:22), etc . Most importantly, once a year he conducted the service on the Day of Atonement, when he alone entered the Holy of Holies behind the veil before God, always bringing with him the blood of the sacrifice and sprinkled it on the mercy seat to make atonement for himself and for the people for all the sins they had committed (Lev 16).
The human high priests were weak and mortal and had to offer a sin offering for himself and for the people daily and yearly (Heb 7:27; 9:7, 25). But our Lord Jesus Christ is our “great high priest” (Heb 4:14) who is “for ever after the order of Melchisedec,” the Priest-King
(Heb 5:6-10; 7:1), “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners” (Heb 7:26), who sacrificed Himself and offered His own blood once for all to put away sin (Heb 7:27; 9:14, 26), and “he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood” (Heb 7:24) and “is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens” (Heb 8:1), and “now to appear in the presence of God for us” (Heb 9:24). Therefore, He “is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Heb 7:25).
Dear friends, how can you and I as sinners go near the holy God and be acceptable unto Him? We do need the Lord Jesus Christ, our great High Priest, who is our perfect Representative before God, who is ever living to make intercession for us, and by whom our spiritual sacrifices are “acceptable to God” (1 Peter 2:5). We do need His blood to keep on cleansing us from all our sins so that we may maintain our fellowship with God (1 John 1:7) and overcome the accusation of Satan ( Rev 12:11). As our great High Priest can “be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,” let us therefore “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb 4:15-16).
Jesus Christ Is the King
Looking forward to their Messiah as their “Prince of Peace” (Isa 9:6) and “King” (Zec 9:9), coming to deliver them from the bondage of the Roman Empire and restore their nation, the Jews did not expect their Messiah to be shamefully despised and crucified on the cross (Isa 53).
Our Lord Jesus, the King, was rejected and persecuted since He was born. While the wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, seeking to worship the newborn King, asking, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him” (Matt 2:2), Herod was troubled, gathering all the chief priests and scribes and “demanded of them where Christ should be born” (v 4). Knowing that Christ would be born in Bethlehem, later this wicked king killed “all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under” (Matt 2:16). Herod only wanted himself to be king, and nowadays many only want to be king of their own lives!
Pilate asked the Jews, “Will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews?” They cried, “Not this man, but Barabbas” who was a robber (John 18:40), and “We have no king but Caesar” (John 19:15). Nowadays, there are many who reject Christ also and choose another to be their King!
Being crucified on the cross, with “a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS” (Luke 23:38), our Lord Jesus was mocked by the religious leaders and others, “Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe” (Mark 15:32), even one of the thieves said to Jesus, “If thou be Christ, save thyself and us” (Luke 23:39), but the other thief later repented and said to Jesus, his King, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom” (Luke 23:42). Nowadays, many still challenge and mock the kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ and very few humbly acknowledge their sins, repent and receive the Lord Jesus as their Saviour and King.
Dear friends, Jesus is the Christ, the King, who humbly came to die for sinners, but He rose again, and God has “exalted” Him “with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour” (Acts 5:31) and says, “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom” (Heb 1:8). How about you and me? Shall we also “exalt” the Lord Jesus as the King of our hearts and our lives? Does He have full authority and full control over our lives? If we decide to do whatever we like regardless of His approval, He is not truly our King. If we say, read, watch, listen to or do whatever we like or go wherever we like regardless of His guidance and Word, He is not our King. Many still arrogantly despise, challenge, mock and reject the Lord Jesus as their King, but when He comes again the second time with all His might and glory as “King of kings, and Lord of lords” (Rev 19:16), they cannot stand before Him to hear His sentence, “But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me” (Luke 19:27).
Dear friends, our Lord Jesus Christ is also the King of heaven and earth and universe, and we can trust in His sovereignty and providence as He is able to make all things work together for good unto us when we love Him and submit to Him as our King (Rom 8:28).
Jesus Is the Divine Prophet
A prophet is God’s spokesman and representative to His people. His ministry is to speak exactly God’s Word to the people as well as to properly foretell, warn, rebuke, teach, and preach according to God’s Word. God promised to Moses, “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him” (Deut 18:18-19). And this promise has been fulfilled in our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 3:22-23; 7:37), who is God’s Spokesman and Representative to us. Truly God has “spoken unto us by his Son” (Heb 1:2). Our Lord Jesus says, “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.
And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak
therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.” (John 12:48-50). Therefore, Jesus’ words are God’s words and truth (John 17:8, 14, 17) and “shall not pass away” (Matt 24:35; Mark 13:31; Luke
21:33 ). It is thus dangerous to arrogantly attack, question, criticize, twist, misinterpret, mistranslate, modify or cast doubt on God’s Word as many people do, even “scholars”, to serve their own worldly purpose and selfish ambitions, for this will be their tragic end, “And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people” (Acts 3:23). Then, if our Lord Jesus is our Divine Prophet, we should rather hear and obey Him and not others.
Conclusion
Dear friends, only our Lord Jesus is our true Christ, so let us not be deceived by false Christs or false prophets (Matt 24:23-24). Knowing that the Lord Jesus is the true Christ, do we really rely on Him, our great High Priest before God? Do we really submit to Him, our King of kings? Do we really hear Him and obey Him and His Word, our Divine Prophet? As we look forward to meeting our King of kings, who will come to establish His millennial Kingdom of peace on earth, may God help us not to be “ashamed of the gospel of Christ” (Rom 1:16), but to be like Paul, who after meeting Jesus, “straightway… preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God… proving that this is very Christ” (Acts 9:20, 22). Amen.
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