The Person of Jesus
The Person on the Cross – Jesus.
This series of evening services is devoted to this one main theme, Soteriology. That word means, the theology of salvation or atonement theories. In other words, over the four services, we are delving deep into what it means for Jesus to go to Cross on our behalf. Tonight, we’re going to think a little bit on how our Christology, that is the understanding of who Christ is, fits within our wider Atonement theory. Now we’re going to be jumping around the bible a bit tonight so if you do have them then great but don’t worry, I will read out the relevant scriptures as we go.
To start out I want to take us to a rather trivial example that we might then be able to apply more substantive meaning. On BBC there is a programme called Fake or Fortune. Has anyone seen it? It’s absolutely brilliant! Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould team up to examine works of art that their owners claim are long-lost masterpiece! They then go to these extreme efforts to try and prove that the piece of art is the real deal. Scientific analysis, following the providence often to other countries, bringing in art historians and other gallery and auction houses until they have built up a pretty good picture, see what I did there, and then they present their case to the relevant authority. Typically, it comes back as a no, but on those odd occasions when they get the yes there is much joy and celebration.
Whether or not the painting is authentic, what is evident is the extraordinary ability of the artist to create a work of true beauty. Something that is distinguishable, thought provoking and unique. Now a lot of these paintings when they are damaged need restoration, the problem with restoration, is that the restorer changes the work of art, it can never be as it was, arguably the only one who can restore the artwork to its true authentic self is the artist themselves. And that is what God does in the person of Jesus, the artist steps into His creation in order to restore it to its true nature. Born in a state of sin, restored to a state of grace.
Only Jesus could atone for Sin because only He could walk the perfect path and in Him only is the fulfilment of the Law and of the Prophecy concerning the Messiah. This is why in the Transfiguration image we have both Moses and Elijah with Jesus. Moses points to Jesus being the fulfilment of the Law and Elijah points to the Jesus being the fulfilment of the Prophecy concerning the Messianic arrival. More on this later.
When considering who Jesus is, our reading from Colossians is a good place to start. Starting at verse 13 it reads “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” now tying this together in verse 16 we see Christ’s authorship of creation. “For by Him all things where created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rules or authorities – all things were created through him and for him.”
What is distinctive about the Christian faith is the person of Jesus Christ. As we see in Philippians 2 Jesus emptied Himself by taking on the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of man. When in this human form, he further humbled Himself before God be being obedient to the will of the Father even to the point of dying on the Cross so that humanity might be reconciled. And through this humility God has lifted Him up on high in order that every knee should bow, and tongue confess Him Lord. All of this Paul tells us in order to glorify the Father! Amen!
In the person of Jesus, we find the greatest example of humility and the greatest example of Lordship these qualities are not always ones that go together but in Him they do. The author of creation steps down into it so that He might right the wrongs His creation has wrought. This is amazing grace indeed.
Humanity’s fall is a problem, and like most problems the best way to solve problems is by going back to the start. We see in Genesis chapter 1 the creation of humankind. In verse 27 it reads “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He create him, male and female He created them.” The problem comes that in the fall we are knocked out of alignment with Him. At the very beginning there was no barrier between humanity and God. God freely walked in the garden and met with Adam. Post fall humanity could not come near God without dying. Think of Moses up the mountain in Exodus 33 verse 20 God says to Moses “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” There is a problem if in the relationship you cannot look at the other person and live. Marriage prep 101 you got to be able to look at your partner and engage in conversation. We see this marriage language used in Isaiah to describe the kind of relationship God wants with His people. Chp 62 verses 5-7 “For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your builder marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bridge, so shall your God rejoice over you.” This is a relationship so intimate, so personal that this dividing wall of sin was a very serious problem indeed. It needed the builder’s skill in order to undo what had been done. It’s a bit like when we think we can do a job around the house and someone tells us get the professional in, but we give it a go away, it never ends up going well does it! The previous covenant was Isreal trying to do it themselves, it was time they called the professional in.
Jesus is then the image of the invisible of God. The incarnate God who walked amongst us in order to put right the mess that we are guilty of creating. We have to think of Sin as while being in time also being an eternity problem, on the Cross Jesus dealt with the sins of the past, present and future, the remedy had to have eternal consequences. So our redeemer had to be divine. More than this, verse 18 of our Colossians reading tells us, “He is the head of the body, the Church, he is the beginning, the first born from dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. Verse 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.” Salvation flips on its head, no longer something that could be earnt, but now a freely given gift by Jesus’ actions on the cross.
Why though was Jesus’s blood the only blood that could suffice? Leviticus 17:11 makes it clear that the life is in the blood. “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” And in Romans 6:23 Paul tells us that the wages of sin is death. This is why the blood of animals was spilled upon the altar, only life can only pay for death. But the blood of animals was not sufficient, but in Hebrews 10:14 we see “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.” Jesus’ blood was more than enough. God is a just God, the wages of sin had to be paid for, and there was only one way that could sufficiently be done, that was for pure blood to pay the price.
We’ve spent a bit of time now on the personhood of Christ now let’s turn our attention to this rather profound juxtaposition we find in Jesus of great humility and highest exaltation.
Philippians 2:6-7 “who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard quality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.”
We saw in Genesis how God chose to make humanity in His image. Now the tables have turned, and God steps down into the image of humanity. He takes on flesh in order to walk amongst His creation. The very God who could have wiped it all away in an instant instead chose love. His love for His creation drives Him to empty Himself and take on this form. The Word that John speaks of, becomes flesh and dwelt amongst His creation. It needed a human to pay the punishment for sin, and only God could bare infinite wrath. The atoner had to then be fully man and fully God.
One of the most profound things about Jesus was that He willing without protest to go to the Cross. Isiah’s prophecy foretold this in chp 53:7 “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter.” In total obedience to the Will of the Father Jesus performs the greatest act of love. In the old system the priest made the sacrifice, under this new covenant there is a new high priest, and the sacrifice He makes is Himself.
Hebrews 2:17-18 makes clear an aspect of Jesus’s nature that Walter Wink picks up on in his Powers trilogy. It says “Therefore, he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.” Wink makes an interesting point in reference to this verse. He writes himself that, “Jesus never fights the darkness nor flees under the cover of it, but goes with it, goes into it… He enters the darkness, freely, voluntarily. The darkness is not dispelled or illuminated. It remains vast, untamed void… it becomes the darkness of God… because of this any Christian can now enter any darkness and trust God to wrest from it meaning, coherence and resurrection.”
This is a rather deep theological idea. That because Jesus was tested in His suffering, He becomes the one from whom we draw meaning in our own trials and sufferings. That Jesus is the one who stands at the beginning, through out and at the end of our lives, and that we can trust that he knows the best path for us and understands entirely the sufferings we endure in this life.
It’s hard to wrestle meaning from dark times in our lives. While we’re going through them it can feel as if they are all encompassing. But through what Jesus did for us on the cross, we can trust that there is meaning and hope for the future. All of this relates back to God wanting to be in relationship with His creation. Think on the people you call first in times of difficulty, I very much doubt that the amazon delivery person is on the list. It’s more likely to be family, close friends, in other words people we have a relationship with. The deeper our relationship with Jesus, the stronger that becomes, the more we turn to Him, the less able it is for evil to distract us from His presence in our lives. That relationship is built out of time spent in communication, time in prayer, worship and study of scriptures.
Lastly then our Christology is determined by the prophecy that surrounds Jesus.
Even in Genesis we see prophecy that points to Jesus being the one who would take away our sins and be victorious over the power of death. Gen 3:15 God says to the devil “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike His heel.” Even from this early point in the scriptures we get some idea of how God is going to deal with the problem of sin.
We see pretty much throughout the entirety of Isaiah multiple parts of the prophecy relate directly to Jesus. In chapter 9 Isaiah reveals that Jesus will be born of a woman, and names Him wonderful counsellor and prince of peace. In chapter 53 Isaiah lays out for us what will happen to Jesus in order to bring about that reconciliation the Father in heaven wants for us. It’s too much read right now but the entire chapter outlines the suffering Christ endured for us on the cross. Even the prophet Jeremiah foretold of the coming of Christ. Chp 31:31 “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant… it will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband.” Again we get the language of marriage, of intimate relationship, of a closeness that goes deeper than a causal acquaintance.
I know that tonight’s topic is the person of Christ within the wider soteriological narrative. But one of the things I hope is coming through loud and clear is the longing God has to be reconciled with His creation. This theme of husband and bridge comes up multiple times throughout the OT. The salvation of humanity is an act of unimaginable love and grace. God did not need to save us, he chose to out of a love we are not even remotely capable of fathoming.
The last area to explore tonight before I draw this sermon to a close is the confirmation of Jesus as the Messiah.
If Jesus is not the Messiah, the Christ, the one through whom salvation is found, then everything we have talked about is pointless.
In order to understand how Jesus fulfils both the law and prophets we need to turn to Daniels vision and the scene of the Transfiguration. Those who want to find it can do so in chapter 7.
Daniels vision tells of four beasts that arise one after the other. I won’t go into too much detail, but the four beasts are in early Israelite thought meant to represent four kingdoms that will rule on earth. Babylon, Persia, the Greek and Roman empires. The last beast, the greatest of them represents the Roman empire.
Daniel says, “There shall be a fourth kingdom on earth that shall be different from all the other kingdoms. It shall devour the whole earth and trample it down and break it to pieces.”
A serious situation to be in.
Daniel says that this beast will wage war against the Holy Ones of God that is until the Ancient One takes his throne and pronounces his Judgement.
The judgment is that God will appoint a new ruler, one who whose kingdom would have no end and who’s dominion could not be overcome.
The Israelites lived with two things in mind. One there must be a fulfilment of the law and second that they were promised a messiah that would lead them out of the final occupation of the fourth kingdom.
Every time the Israelite people heard, Son of Man, to which Daniel mentions many times, they would have thought back this part of the book of Daniel, the one who looked human coming on the clouds to be given power and authority, the one who’s kingdom would never end.
This brings us to transfiguration scene.
Jesus ascends the mountain with John Peter and James. Jesus had just got done teaching and performing miracles including the feeding of the five thousand, where Jesus reveals himself to be the one who feeds his people. He is the bread that does not fade unlike that which they received.
In the run up to the transfiguration scene the gospel also includes Peter’s declaration that he believes Jesus to be the Messiah.
The gospel also includes Jesus revealing to the disciples that he will die and be resurrected
So quite a lot happens in the build-up to this part of Lukes Gospel.
These parts of the gospel of Luke present Jesus as the Jesus who provides, the Jesus who gives himself and the Jesus who Conquers.
In the Transfiguration arguably we could say we have the Jesus who is confirmed and crowned as the Messiah. We glimpse in this scene echoes of Daniel’s prophetic vision of the Son of Man coming before the ancient of days. All of Heaven cries out in praise.
But importantly what we have here in the transfiguration is three key figures.
Firstly, Moses who represents the law, is present. The one to whom God presents the ten commandments and leads God’s people out of the wilderness.
Secondly, Elijah the prophet is there representing the promises God had made to his people to send to them a messiah who would lead the people out of occupation and end the four kingdom rule ushering in a new everlasting heavenly kingdom.
And lastly and most importantly Jesus in who both the law and prophets find their fulfilment.
The people were primed, ready and waiting for a messiah. They would have all known and understood the prophetic message of Daniel and the four beastly kingdoms. They would have recognised the Roman empire to have been the fourth and final, with its large reach, and iron grip over its territories.
Yet Jesus’ kingdom accomplishes much more than just a change of leadership in natural government. The messiah came not to overturn a political occupation but a spiritual one. To fulfil the law and the promise of God.
In the fulfilment of the law Jesus ushers in a new covenant, this time not based in the blood of animals but in His blood. The emphasis of sacrifice changes. The God who provides food the weary provides the sacrifice for pardon.
The transfigured Christ is confirmation that Jesus is God’s Messiah.
We’ve covered a lot this evening, and even still we are yet to scratch the surface of who Jesus is. We cannot contain Him, and box Him into our own kind of mini theologies. He is too big, too powerful, to awesome to fit into any length of sermon.
Yet, in order to have a neat conclusion to this sermon I’ll sum things up like this.
Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the incarnate God who walked amongst His creation, the Word made flesh. Everything was made through Him and he is author of creation, seeing His creation in need of restoration He steps down into it. His longing for relationship with His creation led to the greatest act of love upon the cross whereby He endured all our sufferings and now we confident in His victory over death and can rely on Him to draw hope from even the darkest of days. The reconciliation He brings is a new covenant, this time paid for by His own blood, which was the only sufficient sacrifice for sin, He opens the door through which we now may enter and receive eternal life.
Amen.