CORE
Bible Concepts “God the Son: Lord, Jesus and Christ� BibleClass.com.au Teaching Series Series: Core Bible Concepts Part: #7 Main Scripture: Acts 2:36; Matthew 16:13-16 Teacher: Dr Paul Iles Date: 29.05.2013
Inline, direct scripture quotes are italicised. Block quotes are indented. The New King James Version is used unless otherwise stated. This transcript has undergone minor editing to ensure readability.
The MP3 audio of the study upon which this transcript is based and a learning guide are available from http://bibleclass.com.au/
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Introduction Matthew 16 13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 14 15 16
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Acts 2 36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
Jesus. The babe, born in Bethlehem’s manger. The man who walked the streets of Nazareth. The man who preached amongst the streets of Galilee. That humble, humiliated, rejected and crucified man - the very same - has been made both Lord and Christ.
Acts 2:36 brings each name together: Lord, Jesus and Christ. Each one brings out a particular emphasis of the character and glory of our blessed Lord. That is the purpose of this study: to determine what each of these names reveals to us about God and who He is, as He is revealed in Christ.
Lord This title in particular, when applied to Jesus Christ, is bringing out the fullness of His deity; His Godhead; His absolute equality with God. He was the one in whom dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily1. As such, it denotes He supremacy, authority, ownership and protection.
Jesus & Jehovah Recall the sacred name of God from the Old Testament, which we covered in a previous study YHWH or Jehovah. All of the features and characteristics which are ascribed to Jehovah in the Old Testament are ascribed to Jesus Christ as Lord in the New Testament. Think firstly of the supremacy of the Lord Jesus: Revelation tells us that He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords2. Think of His authority: every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord3. Think of Him as the one who has ownership of all things. It even came out in the humble state of His manhood when He sent the disciples to get a colt for Him to ride upon during the triumphal entry. They were instructed to tell anyone who questioned them, The Lord has need of it4. Think of Jehovah who saves in relation to Peter, as he is sinking amongst the waves of the storm, He cries out, Lord, save me!5 1 2 3 4 5
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Colossians 2:9 Revelation 17:14; 19:16 Philippians 2:11 Luke 19:31 Matthew 14:30
Think of Him as the object of worship: in the resurrection appearance before Thomas, who saw Him in the fullness of the resurrection, with the marks of Calvary in His hands and in His side, Thomas says, My Lord and my God!6 There is deity and worship ascribed to Him. It is because He was in the very form of God that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Jehovah declared His absolute supremacy: You shall have no other Gods before me7. Jehovah displayed absolute authority. He spoke and it was done. Jehovah had complete ownership of all things: For the earth is the Lord’s and all its fullness8. Jehovah provided beautiful protection, as David captured it in Psalm 23: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. • Jehovah was the object of worship, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him alone shalt thou serve - the second commandment.
• • • •
Jehovah, God, is the ultimate and supreme and Jesus Christ stands there as the same, in the fullness of this title, “Lord.” It is often said that the Jehovah of the Old Testament is the Jesus of the New, for He is Lord! Colossians 2 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily
Let’s take it further. There are verses in the New Testament which are quoted from the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, the word used is YHWH/Jehovah - the absolute name of God in His own uniqueness and being. When those references are translated in the New Testament, they are applied to the Lord Jesus, translated as Lord in a direct reference to Him. Take an example from Luke 1:76. Here we have the mission statement of John the Baptist in a quote from Malachi 3: Luke 1 76 “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways,
Where the forerunner is going before Jehovah in Malachi, in Like 1:57 He is clearly going before the Lord Jesus. Romans 10:13 is a quote from Joel 2:32 and it says: For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Romans 14:11, where we all stand before judgement seat of Christ is a quote from Isaiah 45:23: For it is written:
“As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God.”
So, when you use the name, “Lord” next time, use it reverently and carefully and think of all the 6 7 8
John 20:28 Exodus 20:3 Psalm 24:1; 1 Corinthians 10:28
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implications that the name contains. When we use it, we are acknowledging Him in the fullness of His Godhead and deity. I feel we must not be content to constantly use the name, “Jesus” as is so often done. We must think of Him as “Lord Jesus.” I don’t mean you can’t use the former, of course, but some of us grew up in the 1960s when the popular thing in the evangelical world was the “Jesus revolution” amongst the young people. It had its foundations on such a weak basis, because it spawned the notion that the Lord Jesus Christ was just another fella - a mate or a guy who you just spoke of with a certain casualness as though we were somehow on equal grounds. In light of the clear truth that Jesus is Lord, this is a totally wrong attitude.
Jesus “Jesus” is the name which is used in relation to His coming into the world as a man. Jesus is just the Greek form of Joshua. There were many boys running around the streets in those days called Jesus - Godly parents used the name because it means, “Jehovah is our Saviour.” The Lord Jesus came into the world and, at His birth, that name was given to Him. It marked His humiliation and humanity. But there is something beautiful about this. Apparently, in the original text of Matthew 1:21, there is a particular grammatical sign above the name, putting it in the imperfect tense - the sign of the yod. That sign, the scholars tell us, gives absolute certainty. In the light of that, notice, You shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins (Emphasis added). He was not just another boy with a common name! He was God manifest in flesh as the Saviour come into the world and there was absolute certainty about the fact that He shall save His people from their sins. This name brings out the reality of the humanity of the Lord Jesus, the glory of His humiliation and the wonder of God being made manifest in the flesh. It is His personal name in manhood. But He who is Jesus is also the Lord! And when they preached Him in the resurrection, they did not just preach Him as Jesus, did they? Not just a man who died down here, humiliated and humbled and crucified, but this same Jesus, God had made both Lord and Christ.
The Christ This is His official name. Is speaks of the place to which this person belongs and the place that He has a right to take. It also means, “the anointed one.” So, when we speak of the Christ, we are pointing Him out as the One who is anointed by God. In other words, He is the Messiah. He fulfills all the qualifications of Messiah and has been appointed to take that role. Therefore, when Peter uses this name at Pentecost, He is really referring to Him as God’s promised One. He is the fulfillment of all prophecy, and He has been put into the place, taking up the roles that are required by God’s anointing. When someone was anointed, it was an outward sign of their appointment to an office, for all to see. It also meant that person was set apart for that office; they became sacrosanct for it.
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To illustrate with an example, recall the time when David’s followers wanted him to kill Saul. David rebuked them, saying he could do no such thing because Saul was the Lord’s anointed9. There is something sacrosanct about that position. The practice of anointing also indicated the communication of the Holy Spirit to the one who was annointed. Although it was only an outward sign, it showed that God was communicating the Holy Spirit Himself to the person entering that office. 1 Samuel 16 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.
Samuel was there to appoint one of Jesse’s sons to the position of king of Israel, to rule according to the word of God. Samuel singled David out from all of the others, thereby making him sacrosanct; set apart for the office to which he was called, and anointed him with oil at which time the Spirit of the Lord came upon him from that day forward. Exactly the same thing occurred when Saul himself was anointed king. You can also deduce the same principles in the New Testament: 1 Corinthians 1 21 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, 22 who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
God has made us one of the saints, bringing us into an official position of blessing and heirship. Then, in conjunction with that, Paul writes that He has sealed us, giving us the Spirit in our hearts. Both elements are there: the sacrosanct position of the anointed, and the communication of the Holy Spirit to the anointed. As we know, there were three particular offices that required anointing: • Prophet; • Priest; and • King. Now think of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Prophet, the Priest, the King... The Christ. The anointing of the Lord Jesus is seen particularly in relation to His becoming a man, Jesus, to do the work that was appointed Him. There was a public proclamation by God of His anointing to fulfill the roll of the Christ; the prophet, the priest and the king. It is right to say that the Holy Spirit was always on the Lord Jesus Christ, even in the pre-incarnate state due to the complete fellowship between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. But, in relation to His coming into the world as a man, being a man fitted for the office of Messiah and all that it implied, there is a beautiful anointing declaration by God upon Him. This declaration marked Him out as distinct and different from every other man. Ultimately, a confirmation of the titles Jesus and Lord; He was God manifest in the flesh. That was the essential nature of the Christ, the Son of the Living God. 9
1 Samuel 24:6
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The first such indication is brought to us at His conception: Luke 1 35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.
Immediately it is clear that the activity is definitely of the Holy Spirit in relation to the beginning of the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then we see Him in baptism, moving to officially take up His public position in ministry: Luke 3 22 And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”
There is His anointing. Of course we don’t mean to say that the Holy Spirit was not upon Him before that day, but rather we are searching out the external marks of the anointing of Messiah that came upon Him as the Christ of God. A further indication is brought to us at the commencement of Jesus’ public ministry, when He stands up in the Synagogue in Nazareth to read from the scroll of Isaiah: Luke 3 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: 18
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“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
(Emphasis added)
Then Jesus said the most amazing thing:
Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” 20
(Emphasis added)
He said, “the Christ is here!” Here was the Messiah; the Prophet, the Priest, the King; God’s annointed One. He went and preached, “The kingdom of God is at hand... the kingdom of God is amongst you.” The King is here! Likewise, He told them that, “The Son of Man must suffer many things... Must be delivered up... Must die.” For the Priest had come! The annointed priest who would make one sacrifice for sin forever. Thus we see the fullness of the Holy Spirit’s work in His role of anointing the Christ. Everything that the Lord Jesus did as a man was done in the power of the Holy Spirit, and that is
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remarkable. I repeat: Everything that the Lord Jesus did as a man, He did not do depending on His own inherent, divine power as God, but He was a dependent man and it was done in the power of the Holy Spirit. John 3 34 ...for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. [KJV]
Look at the cross:
Hebrews 9 14 ...through the eternal Spirit [He] offered Himself without spot to God
Look at His miracles: God did them through Him according to Acts 2:22.
Furthermore, when they said that He was Beelzebub, the Prince of Demons, they were sinning against the Holy Spirit.
Summary So, we have seen the Christ, anointed by the Holy Spirit for that office to which He was set apart. As the Prophet, He was the mouthpiece of God: Hebrews 1 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son
As the Priest, He came and He offered Himself. That is amazing! Hebrews 9 14 ...through the eternal Spirit [He] offered Himself without spot to God
As the King, if He was to be the one to rule and reign, then He must suffer first. That is Isaiah 53. Secondly, He must restore all things under the hand of God and bring back a universe in subjugation and in harmony under the hand of Almighty God. Ultimately, by ruling in justice and equity He will take the Kingdom and deliver it up to God the Father of all - 1 Corinthians 15:24. Ephesians 1 9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. 11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance
He will bring harmony where there has been disharmony. He will bring holiness where there has been sin. He will bring reconciliation where there has been hostility. As God and man once walked together in the cool of the day, so Christ will bring us back to God through the sacrifice of His own blood. God has one eternal purpose, that the Lord Jesus Christ, in His exaltation should redeem all creation in a universe of glory, of bliss, of holiness, harmony and eternal happiness. And we shall be there, because it is in Him that we also have obtained an inheritance. And every knee will bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
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This is how we must preach Jesus. Just like Peter did - yes, He is Jesus, but this same Jesus has God made both Lord and Christ! Yes, we’re telling people about Jesus, but He is Lord! He is majesty, authority and power. He is Christ! He is God’s appointed ruler, God’s appointed word and God’s appointed sacrifice for sin. He is the one who became Jesus amongst men to redeem men. Acts 2 36 “...know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
In the light of this, Peter’s confession is absolutely magnificent:
Matthew 16 16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
See you in the next study.
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