AUTHORITY OF CHRIST--SUPREME AND
ABSOLUTE
When God sent our Savior from Heaven to
this sin ruined orb, He set forth clear and unmistakable
evidence of our Savior's divinity.
Though Christ partook of human flesh, He
was absolutely unique, or different from all other mortals,
as we shall note.
First: He was unique in the fact that His
Spirit came from another world to this world. He said,
"before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58). Again "I came down
from Heaven (John 6:38) and again, "Father, glorify Thou Me
with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was"
(John 17:5). And again, for Thou lovest me before the
foundation of the world" (John 17:24).
Surely all will agree that Christ, in
this fact, was indeed unique.
Second: Christ was unique in prophecy;
Many details concerning His coming were foretold centuries
before He appeared. The prophet Daniel foretold the time of
His comming. The place of His birth was plainly foretold by
Micah, in these words, "Thou, Bethlehem, though thou be
little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall
he come forth unto Me, that is to be ruler in Israel; Whose
goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting" (Micah
5:2).
Isaiah, called "the greatest of the
prophets" most clearly describes the sufferings of Christ in
His atonement for sin. Indeed, so numerous are such
prophecies of the Old Testament that Peter declares, "To Him
give all the prophets witness." (Acts 10:43)
Neither Zoroaster nor Confucius, nor
Mohammed, nor Buddha could cite any prophecies about
themselves; but Luke says of Christ, that on His way to
Emmaus after His resurrection, "beginning at Moses and all
the prophets He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures
the things concerning Himself" (Luke 24:27)
Third: Christ was unique in having no
human father. The devout Joseph was chagrined and shocked
and exasperated to find that Mary, his darling sweetheart,
was pregnant "so he planned to break off the engagement"
(Phillips translation of Matt. 1:19). But an angel appeared
to him and said, "Don't be afraid to take Mary to be your
wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy
Ghost." So Joseph knew, by celestial testimony, that Jesus
had no human father.
Fourth: Christ was unique in miracles.
Only of Christ is it true, that as many as touched Him were
made perfectly whole (Matt 14:36). and "He healed them all"
(Matt. 12:15). Even more than this is true of Christ. D. L.
Moody was called to preach at the funeral of a man of great
influence. Because many would attend, Mr Moody determined to
preach the best possible funeral sermon that many might br
won of Christ. He resolved to find out how Christ Himself
preached a funeral sermon, and to pattern after Him. But
while noting carefully all the Gospel accounts of Christ at
funerals he was startled to learn that in all the sacred
records, never once did Jesus preach a funeral sermon. He
always raised the dead! CHRIST is indeed unique.
Fifth: Christ never made a mistake. He
never had to apologize and never to regret.
Sixth: Christ never once sinned but
always sought to please the Father, He repeatedly said, "I
seek not My own will but the will of Him Who sent me," In
fact, He said His very food was to do the Father's will
(John 4:34).
Seventh: Because Jesus was unique in
never sinning. He could be, and was the only man of all
mankind who could be the atonement for the sins of the
world, or take the place of the sinner as "the Lamb, slain
from the foundation of the world" (Rev. 13:8). John the
Baptist, pointing to Him, cried out, "Behold the Lamb of god
Who taketh away the sins of the world." After His death and
resurrection, Jesus Himself declared, "Thus it is written
and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise from the
dead the third day, that repentance and remission of sins
should be preached in His Name among all nations" (Luke
24:46,47).
Even this does not exhaust the matchless
marvels of Jesus Christ. There remains a most important
point in which Christ is unique. This last is an infinite
attribute of Christ and exalts His divine majesty almost
beyond the capacity of the human mind to comprehend. It is
the marvelous fact that, after His resurrection, Christ
became, so far as this world is concerned, actually
Omnipresent or everywhere present, at the same
time---exactly as God the Father is Omnipresent.
Jesus said, "Where two or three are
gathered together in My Name there am I in the midst of
them" (Matt. 18:20). In giving "the great commission" to the
eleven, Jesus sent them "into the world." One went to India,
one to Asia-Minor, one to Africa. John died on the Isle of
Patmos. Others went in other directions, but to each of them
He said, "Lo I am with you always and even unto the end of
the age." He promised specifically and repeatedly to abide
in each believer who would "keep His Words."
In His last discourse alone He cited this
fact at least 9 different times. For example in John 14:23
Jesus explained, "If a man love Me he will keep My Words;
and My Father will love him and I will love him and We will
come unto him and make our abode with him." In His prayer in
John 17, He said the believer would be one with Him and the
Father "even as We are One," i.e., exactly as the father
dwelt in Jesus so Jesus said He would dwell in the true
believer. And the very last words of this same 17th chapter
of John are "I in them."
It is perhaps the most glorious fact of
all Christian Truth and experience that the personal, risen,
loving Christ of Galilee not only is "alive indeed," but
actually makes His residence in the body of true obedient
believers. He, today, verily, uses the believer's body as
His temple.
Thus Paul could say, "No longer I but
Christ liveth in me." The most sublime and glorious
privilege of any believer is to acknowledge the presence of
the risen Christ, and to completely turn over to our ever
living, loving, and watching Savior, the reins of our life
on earth: thus giving the risen Christ a body in which to
dwell and through which to continue His deeds of
mercy.
When we glimpse of the actual uniqueness
and divinity of Christ, we begin to realize why John the
Baptist said, "He Who comes from Heaven is far above all
others--far superior to all others in prominence and in
excellence" (John 3:31---Amplified New Test.). Then we
appreciate the words of John the beloved, recorded on the
Isle of Patmos: "I was in the Spirit of the Lord's Day and
heard behind me a great voice of a trumpet saying I am Alpha
and Omega, the first and the last, and I turned to see the
Voice that spake to me. And being turned I saw seven golden
candlesticks. And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one
like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the
foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head
and His hairs were white like wool---as white as snow; and
His eyes were as a flame of fire. His feet like unto fine
brass as if they burned in a furnace; and His voice as the
sound of many waters. And He Had in His right hand seven
stars. And out of His mouth went a sharp two edged sword;
and His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
And He laid His right hand upon me saying unto me, 'Fear
not, I am the first and the last. I am He that liveth and
was dead and behold I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have
the keys of hell and of death.'... And when he had taken the
book, the four beasts and the four and twenty elders fell
down before the Lamb and they sung a new song saying, "Thou
art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof
for Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood
out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation; and
hast made us unto our God kings and priests; and we shall
reign on the earth. And I beheld and heard the voice of many
angels round about the Throne and the beasts and the elders;
and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand
and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice, 'Worthy
is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and
wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.' And
every creature which is in Heaven and on the earth and such
as are in the sea and all that are in them heard I saying,
'blessing and glory and power be unto Him that sitteth upon
the throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever' (Rev
1:10-11;12-18; 5:8-13)
Because the Authority of Christ is,
indeed, divine and unique, and Supreme, let us now study in
deep humility and with obedience of heart EXACTLY WHAT OUR
SAVIOR TAUGHT about Sin.
The very name Jesus indicates God's
purpose to save us from sin. The angel who encouraged Joseph
to go ahead with his marriage said he must call the baby's
name "Jesus" "for," said the angel, "He shall save His
People from their sins."
After the angels, the next mouthpiece of
God, in telling how Christ was related to sin, was John the
Baptist--a prophet and special advance agent of Christ.
"Repent!" he cried, "for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand!"
(Matt 3:2).
To the false religious leaders of his day
who had rationalized away the need for true holiness of
heart, John shouted in stentorian tones, "Bring forth fruits
meet for repentance!" or "Show by your lives that you have
repented." "For now", said John, "the axe is laid at the
root of the trees, and every tree which bringeth not forth
good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire." "I, indeed
baptize with water unto repentance but He that cometh after
me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear.
He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire."
Then re-emphasizing the need for real obedience of heart
John uses another metaphor--"Whose fan is in His hand and He
will throughly purge His floor and gather His wheat into the
garner, but will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
Far from preaching a soft and compromising little sermonette
about "turning around," John made it clear that what God
requires is to stop all wickedness and do only what is
right, and his illustrations were unmistakably clear in
emphasizing this.
Christ Himself described His own
objective as "To call, not the righteous, but sinners to
repentance." The positive statement of Christ in this
passage is, "I am come to call sinners to repentance" (Matt
9:13).
At this point let us remember that Jesus
taught that WITH WILLINGNESS OF HEART TO OBEY GOD, THERE
COMES AN ADDED ILLUMINATION FROM GOD. In John 7:16 Jesus
said to the Pharisees: "My doctrine (i.e. teaching) is not
Mine but His that sent me. If any man will do His will, he
shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God, or whether
I speak of Myself." The Amplified New Testament translates
this, "My teaching is not My own, but His Who sent Me. If
any man desires to do His will (God's pleasure) he will have
the needed illumination to recognize and can tell for
himself, whether the teaching is from God or whether I am
speaking from Myself, and of My own accord and on My own
authority." LET US THEN BE SURE that in our approach to this
study, we are, first of all, willing to do God's will. For
only thus can we hope to discern the Truth.
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