The King of Glory

By / Dec 19

When I was young, I couldn’t “wait” for Christmas each year. The anticipation of receiving presents made December seem longer than every other month. As I have gotten older, Christmas has taken on more of a “weight.” Like many church musicians, much of my annual labor is occupied with Christmas. Preparations for Lessons and Carols begin as early as June followed by a steady stream of work culminating in December’s services. Every year this process reminds me of the awe-inspiring significance of our Savior’s birth.

The Old Testament word for “glory” is closely related to the concept of “weight” or “heaviness.” To the Hebrew mind, weight carried with it the notion of importance. We use the concept of weight in a similar way when we say things like, “he is worth his weight in gold,” or “this is heavy news.” When the Bible uses the word “glory” to describe God, its intention is “to say that he is preeminent in existence and that the whole universe is filled with the evidence of his importance and sublimity.” [1] The word “glory” is often used to describe a visible manifestation of God’s power and majesty. For example, Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God.”  The immensity, power, and beauty of the night sky points to the even greater power and majesty of the Creator. Imagine a seesaw for a moment. If the whole universe was put on one side of the seesaw and God on the other, which side would be sticking up in the air? The concept of “glory” teaches us God is “heavier,” so the universe would be!

The theme for this year’s Lessons & Carols services is “The King of Glory.” The phrase comes from Benjamin Hanby’s carol “Who Is He in Yonder Stall?”

              Who is He in yonder stall, at whose feet the shepherds fall?
              ‘Tis the Lord, O wondrous story, ‘tis the Lord, the King of glory;
              At His feet we humbly fall: crown Him, crown Him Lord of all.

The New Testament uses “glory” in several different ways in relation to Christ. First, the Eternal Son shares in the glory of the Godhead. Hebrews 1:3 says, “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” Similarly, Jesus’ prayer in the Upper Room reveals His eternal glory: “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed” (John 17:5).

Second, in His Incarnation the Son of God displays the glory of God in salvation. At His birth the angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased” (Luke 2:14). John writes in his gospel, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14-15). Jesus specifically associated glory with giving himself up to death on the cross: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit…Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” (John 12:23-24, 27-28).

Third, Christ’s exaltation to God’s right hand following His resurrection and ascension glorifies God. Philippians 2:9-11 says: “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Finally, Christ’s great desire for the redeemed is that they would share and behold His glory: “The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:22–24).

What are you waiting for this Christmas? Will that something bring the lasting fulfillment or peace that you so deeply desire? Will it carry any “weight?” The message of Christmas is that God through Jesus Christ has given to His people more than can possibly be imagined, a gift which far outweighs any other gift we could receive, because in Christ He gives us Himself. And this gift is received by grace through faith.

Paul writes to the Ephesians 3:14-21: “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

[1] Allen P. Ross,  Recalling the Hope of Glory (Kregel Publications, 2006), 44.



He Will Save His People

By / Dec 22


Promise, Punishment, and Patience

By / Dec 8


The All-Encompassing Gift

By / Jan 12

Introduction

We come to the conclusion of a four-part series on “Our Gifts in Christ.” We began with the gift of Christ himself, how everything we receive from God the Father is received through Christ. We looked at the gift of being specially chosen by God to receive these gifts. And then we considered the specific gift of salvation as described through adoption, redemption, and forgiveness. In conclusion, verses 9-10 present how far reaching the gifts in Christ are, or how all-encompassing the gift of Christ really is.

Text

Up to now, we have been thinking of our gifts as those given to each of us individually. The Christ gift is my gift that God has given me. God the Father has chosen me before the foundation of the world to receive the gift of salvation. I have been adopted, redeemed, and forgiven. All of this is true, but the apostle Paul is now taking us beyond ourselves to the big picture of what God the Father is leading everything to in Christ, God the Son.

9making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ

We need to back up just a phrase to “in all wisdom and insight,” in verse 8. The line of thought then is this: God has given us the wisdom and insight to know the mystery of his will. The mystery is not that of a riddle which we had to be given the cleverness to figure out. Rather, it is the plan, the purpose of God which he had not fully revealed until Jesus Christ came and fulfilled his atoning work, and even then, not until the Holy Spirit gave the understanding for the apostles and early church to discern what all was taking place in Christ.

What then is the mystery of God’s will? Verse 10 supplies the answer.

10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Here is an instance in which the explanation of the mystery is a mystery. What fullness of time? What things – everything that exists? What exactly is meant by “unite.” The Greek word is rare, only being used one other time in the New Testament in Romans 13:9 where the commandments of the law are said to be summed up in the command to love one’s neighbor. The word can also mean to gather together.

To get to an understanding of this mysterious explanation of the mystery of God, we are going to explore how the Scriptures move along this thought of uniting, as translating in our version. We will begin with the epistle of Ephesians.

Go down further in the chapter, beginning with verse 15:

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all (1:19-23).

Paul has been celebrating with his readers the blessings of the salvation that they have in Christ. He is saying now to his fellow saints that his prayer for them is to really know what their hope in the future entails, how truly wondrous in riches is their inheritance. It encompasses more than being individually saved from condemnation, even more than getting to go to heaven when one dies. Christ’s work involves more than a rescue operation. He did not merely go into enemy territory, bring out prisoners, and then return to whatever he was doing before.

When God the Father raised Christ from the dead, he then lifted him up to and seated his Son at his right hand. That was not merely a show of affection, but a positioning of authority and power. He is “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.” Here we see Christ’s greatness and power. But there is more. God the Father “put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things.” Christ is not only the greatest, he is ruler; he is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is ruler over all things.

Neither the Father nor the Son were content with rescue; they determined that is was time to overthrow the rebellion of Satan and his legions altogether. The cross was the beginning of that overthrow. But it is not complete, as we well know through experience. The enemy is as active as ever with his legions. Where are the forces of Christ? Where is his army?

Now the wonder truly begins. God the Father gave Christ “as head over all things to the church” (v. 22), the church which is “his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” (v. 23). This is a complex passage, to be sure, but I think one point that we can take away from it is that the church is Christ’s army. It is through the church that Christ wages battle against the enemy, at least the battle that involves this world.

This seems incredulous to us, if only because we look at ourselves and one another, and think, “Me – a warrior?” If we use ourselves as the starting point, we should scoff. But Paul is not spurring us on to look within ourselves at the power we possess; rather, his prayer is that we will have the eyes of faith to see the power of God at work in us through our Head, the Lord Jesus Christ. What should we be seeing?

See what God has already done. Individually, we walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air (2:2); now we are actually walking in the good works that God prepared us to do (2:10). How did that happen? Because God “raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (2:6). That is God’s power at work. We have changed and are changing.

But now go further. In Christ’s saving us he has caused the salvation act to include more than individual reconciliation with God; it is a reconciliation that brings together two divided groups of mankind. There are many divisions, of course, among the human race, but there is the one great divide when it comes to a relationship with God. There is the Jewish nation, and there is everybody else classified as the Gentiles. Paul is frank about the division. He tells the Ephesian Gentiles if 2:12 that as Gentiles they were “separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”

He says of his Jewish kinsmen in Romans 9:4-5: “They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.”

What? Were we second-class citizens? Yes, we were, until Christ came.

For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God (2:14-19).

There is now no division in our relationship to God – we who are in Christ are one. We are not a collection of saved individuals, some of whom are nearer to God than others; many of whom remain disconnected with one another. We are fellow citizens, fellow members of God’s household, fellow members of Christ’s one body.

Paul describes this inclusion, this reconciliation as the mystery of Christ that was imparted to him and which established his own ministry to the Gentiles. As he goes on to explain in chapter 3:

This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

7 Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power. 8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

So for the early church, the great mystery to comprehend was that the church went beyond just including the Jewish covenant people, but involved a uniting, a gathering in, of Gentiles from all nations.

Is this then all that the mystery entails – that anyone – Jew or Gentile – who comes to Christ will be saved? No, there is more. God’s plans to not involve only human beings whom he has elected to be saved. His grand work of redemption is not limited to snatching his chosen people out of the world but of transforming the world itself. This is the God who “created all things” (3:9). The plan of our verse 10 is to unite “all things in Christ.” In verse 11, we are told that God works “all things according to the counsel of his will.” And verse 22 reminds us that God has placed “all things under Christ’s feet.”

So what does this mean? Does God intend to save all people? Are all things that have been evil going to be turned to good? It is an inviting thought. But the Scripture is not there. Scripture does not present a scene where all who are wicked – be they human or spirit – will be transformed and reconciled to God. Rather, they will be cast out, thrown into the lake of fire, shut out from the heavenly city gates.

There will be someday a restoration of all things in the sense of peace, harmony, and justice prevailing in God’s kingdom. But that restoration takes place, not because evil is transformed but because evil is banished along with all creatures who remain under its influence.

This restoration includes creation.

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now (Romans 8:19-22).

What is creation looking forward to? The day of the new heaven and the new earth (Revelation 21:1). Creation is looking to the same thing we are for ourselves in which our perishable bodies will be changed to imperishable bodies. Creation is looking to the end of decay, as our own bodies are. Death still infects creation, as it infects our bodies. But the day will come when death will be no more. The day will come when the former things have passed away and all things remaining will be united, things in heaven and on earth.

There will be a day in which there is no division between heaven and earth. There will be no longing for a heavenly home. This world will not be a place that we are passing through. This world will be a heavenly abode in that paradise will be restored.

And we will not believe in heaven by faith. There will be no contrast between the things that are seen and the things that are unseen, for everything will be seen. All things will be united. There will not be the things to be believed by faith and the things we can see clearly. We will see all things clearly. For all things – all of creation, all that is of the spiritual world, all that is a part of our existence – will be united, gathered together, summed up in Christ who is over all.

Listen to this glorious exposition in Colossians 1:15-20:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

This is the glorious future – a world described in Revelation when the bride is joined with her husband. On that day “death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (21:4).

Yes, that is our hope, there lies the riches of our glorious inheritance. What then does this mean for us now. We long for such a day precisely because it is not the world we live in now. There seems to be no uniting or gathering in Christ. Divisions seem to be multiplying and the division between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world only growing further apart. The church seems to be a far cry from being a conquering army. The forces of evil seem to be far greater in number and power.

But what seems to be is not what truly is. Our glory is veiled, but our glory exists, nevertheless. What we see and believe by faith is nevertheless more real, more lasting than what we see with our eyes. But one thing we need to be doing is a better job of seeing with our eyes.

We see the church declining in number and influence, but that is only because we equate the church with the western church. Great strides are being made in Africa and Asia, enough so that the majority of the Christian church will soon be in what used to be considered unfertile land. As exasperated as we may feel with what is happening in our territory, be assured that the enemy is exasperated with the ground lost in land he once had sealed.

We see estrangement and division within families and personal relationships. Jesus warned us that such divisions would result in following him. But for all the division, everyone of us can attest to how Christ has united us or others we know with people who formerly were enemies. The gospel goes forth because so many former enemies have become reconciled in Christ. Its power has been displayed, not in the vanquishing of foes, but in the reconciling of foes to one another. It has been displayed in the power of forgiveness. We know that. We can attest to it, whether it is in being forgiven or possessing the will to forgive.

Reconciliation is happening. It has happened throughout the centuries as the church grew and dominated western culture. And even as the church’s influence seems to be declining, yet there is peace among the nations precisely because they have adapted Christian values. The post-modern, atheistic western society does not realize how much indebted it is to the principles of Scripture and of the gospel.

Do not let the clothing of the church’s meekness lead you to underestimate the power of God at work. We know through Scripture that God’s power is most shown in our weakness. We know that he delights in the salvation of those not considered wise or mighty by the world. We know  – that he has entrusted the gospel in jars of clay. Jesus taught us that the kingdom of God is like the seed planted in the soil and grows we know not how.

The world is not out of control. History is not a never-ending circle going nowhere. It is moving forward under the sovereign control of God, who has placed all things under Christ, who is our head. We are on the side of the Lord of Hosts who is subjecting evil forces according to his plan and time table. It will be in the fullness of time – when all has come about as God has determined – that what is now known by faith will be made reality to everyone – friend and foe of God, regenerate and unregenerate. The day will come will all will bow the knee before Jesus Christ – whether out of willing obedience or out of coercion. The day will come when evil will be doomed, not reconciled, but condemned and cast away. Then the world and the heavens will be united in glory and peace and joy.

There may be some of you who refuse to accept this prospect. Is that because you have thoroughly studied the scriptures and examined your own heart in light of God’s Word? Or is it because you have merely accepted what a society that has rejected God propounds and it seems the easiest thing to believe? You are here on the earth but a brief spell. We are speaking of what takes place for eternity. Is it not worth the effort to search out? Is there anything more important than what takes place forever? God is the God of all things, including you. Will you deny him? Ignore him? When the fullness of time arrives, you will not be able to do either. Why not now join with the choirs of angels and sing blessing to his name?



The Chosen Gift

By / Dec 22

Introduction

My wife and I enjoy receiving cards in the Christmas season. Some have annual newsletters. Some include pictures. Some just have a signature. But it doesn’t matter to us. It is nice to be thought of. A friend took the time to let us know that we are, indeed, friends.

The only time when a card loses its charm is when the names of the senders are merely printed.  Once we received a card that the giver wrote and printed nothing. The one advantage was that we could use the card to send to someone else. What was made clear was that we were little more than names on what must have been a long list.

Our passage is intended to assure us that the gift of Christ we received did not fall into our hands because our names happened to appear in a list. We received our gift because God the Father personally chose us to receive. We were, and still remain, very much in his mind.

Text

…even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will…

Last Sunday, we explored the wondrous gift of Christ himself and all the other gifts we receive through him. I hope that those of you who followed along the recital of gift after gift, blessing after blessing were indeed blessed as we counted the uncountable riches we have in Christ. But there may have been some of you who also doubted that such blessings really could be yours or secured for you. What if you were to lose them? What if you received only a portion? Because, if you were saved by chance; if you were saved by your own wit, how secure can your salvation and the blessings that accompany it really be?

Verses 4 and 5 tell us that we receive all these blessings in Christ because God chose us; he predestinated us to receive them. We were not pulled out of a lottery basket. The gift of salvation was not handed out indiscriminately and we happened to be in the right place at the right time.

Look at verse 4. God chose us in Christ, when? When he had time to observe us and measure our worthiness? He chose us before we were born; not just before we were born; before God had laid the foundation of the world. Before God created the world, he had chosen us to belong to him; he had chosen us to be holy and blameless before him. Yes, God had chosen us to be his holy people, and even the Fall, which brought in sin and death, has not succeeded in changing his original intention.

Because God chose us in Christ, he assured that Satan’s intent would be foiled, that the Fall itself would be turned into a means to all the more display his glory. Those whom God chose to be his would be made his through the work of his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Satan’s intent was to rob God of his chosen people. That intent failed because his chosen people were chosen in God the Son.

Verse 5 fleshes this out further. God predestined us – predetermined, foreordained – to be adopted through Jesus Christ. It is true that Satan succeeded through the Fall in cutting all mankind off from the gracious covenant relationship with God. We were cast out of the Garden. We were barred from the Tree of Life. Far from being holy and blameless, we became guilty sinners. It appeared that Satan foiled God’s good purpose.

And yet, even as God pronounced judgment, he foretold how his good purpose would be fulfilled.

I will put enmity between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and her offspring;

he shall bruise your head,

and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15).

There would be, literally, a seed of Eve, an offspring who would battle Satan and win victory. That offspring would be Jesus Christ, the Son of God made flesh. His victory would take place upon a cross. He would suffer his own wound, but he would also strike the decisive blow against the Enemy. He would bring us near to God by his blood. He would become our peace, reconciling us to God through the cross, thereby killing the hostility between us and God. The result is that instead of being enemies of God, we become his adopted children.

All of this would take place “according to the purpose of his will.” It would happen not according to God’s hope, but his good pleasure, another synonym to use with purpose. We have heard such expression in movies with kings. Someone will ask, “What is the pleasure of the king?” meaning what is the will of the king. And whatever the will is is what will take place.

These concepts of God choosing us, predestinating us, and then carrying out his will to make us his is conveyed throughout the first two chapters.

Verses 9 and 10 read: “making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ  as a plan for the fullness of time.” God is making known his will, according to his own good pleasure. This purpose is carried out in Christ, according to the way God planned it to be. God is not rewriting his plan as he goes along. He is not winging it. He is not figuring it out as he goes along.

Verse 11 piles on the terms: “In Christ we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.” We have been predestined. We have been predestined according to the purpose, the good pleasure, of God. God is the one who works all things according to the counsel of his will. He works all things, not some or most things. He works all things according to the counsel of his own will.

Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord,

          or what man shows him his counsel?

Whom did he consult,

          and who made him understand?

Who taught him the path of justice,

          and taught him knowledge,

          and showed him the way of understanding? (Isaiah 40:13-14)

Chapter 2 presents God carrying out his will. Verse 4 reads: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.”

We were dead; we were not men and women dying who grabbed oxygen masks just in time. We were dead. But God made us alive together with Christ. He acted according the purpose of his will.

First, he sent his Son: “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4).

“When the fullness of time had come” – when time reached God’s timing – God sent forth his Son, as he had planned, to make redemption available. So then, did God merely plan the means of salvation and then leave it up to us to take hold of it? Was it the means of salvation that was predestinated? In other words, did God choose the type of people who would be saved – namely, any who would choose Christ – and then left the choice up to whomever might lay hold of it? Thus, as the beginning of verse 8 states, “by grace you have been saved through faith.” By grace – by God’s gracious work of sending Christ – we are saved when we by our own choice exercise faith.

This seems reasonable as one reads through Ephesians 1-3 and sees how much of it is speaking of the church, which is now made part of the covenant that exclusively belonged to the Jewish nation. The rest of chapter 2 and first half of chapter 3 address the mystery of God’s will to include Gentiles as partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus. And, indeed, 3:11 uses the same language of God’s will is this regard: “This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

But then, how do we come into the church? What makes us considered saved? It is the faith that we exercise as individuals. It is not the church that is saved, which then includes whatever individuals might happen to choose to believe. It is we individuals in 1:13 – “when [we] heard the word of truth, the gospel of [our] salvation, and believed in him” – who make up the church. The guarantee of an inheritance is made to us as individuals. The whole point of the doxology in chapter 1 is to give us individual assurance that we have been sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. It is not the church that has been sealed, and we then are included individually as long as we maintain our policy premiums. We are sealed.

Verse 2:8 continues: “And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

The faith we exercise to receive our inheritance is God’s gift to us. It does not come out of our own works. There is nothing that we can point to in ourselves to explain where the faith comes from or even to explain why God should give us faith. No one may boast. We might then do good works once we are in Christ, but we find that even those works were prepared by God beforehand.

God has planned our salvation. He has chosen who will receive salvation. He has planned the means, according the purpose of his will. He has carried out his will toward us.

Lessons

So let us join with the apostle Paul in proclaiming “Blessed be the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ.” But then that is what many of us who have been chosen are reluctant to do – blessing God because he has predestinated us. Something doesn’t quite seem right about it?

Why does this doctrine bother us so? For some the problem is what predestination implies about free will. How can we have free will if our salvation is predestined? For others the issue is one of fairness. How can it be fair for some to be predestined to be saved and others are left out? And then others simply point out that there are verses that specifically say God wants all persons to be saved. How can we make sense of them if predestination is true?

These are challenging questions and worth pursuing. But for this time, I want us to consider why it is that Scripture teaches us the doctrine. Besides this passage, there are two other significant ones that present the subject at length. As we read them, observe the reasons why the subject is brought up.

First is John 6:35-44:

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.  But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out…  And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.  For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”  They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘Ihave come down from heaven’?”  Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves.  No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

Here is Jesus giving an open invitation: “whoever comes to me shall not hunger.” He then observes: “you have seen me and yet do not believe.” How then does he explain this lack of response? He has a tougher crowd than usual to convince? No, he states: “All that the Father gives me will come to me.” They will come, and when they come they will never be cast out. Members of the crowd grumble, Who do you think you are? Again, Jesus responds. Grumble all you want, but the reason you do not come to me in faith is that “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (v. 44).

Why does Jesus respond this way? He seems to have two points to make. One is that, contrary to appearances, he has not failed to achieve his purpose – in this case to win over his audience. He has done his part – give the open invitation. God the Father will then carry out his own purpose in drawing those whom he has chosen to give to his Son. The other point is to assure the chosen, that those whom the Father has determined to give will indeed come and that they may be assured of their reception.

The other passage is Romans 9: 6-20:

But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel,  and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return and Sarah shall have a son.”  And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac,  though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of his call—  she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”  As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means!  For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”  So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”  So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?”  But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”

Paul also wishes to express that there is no failure on God’s part regarding salvation. “It is not as though the word of God has failed.” The promise of salvation is made in advance “in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of his call” (v. 11).

He is assuring his readers that God has not failed but also that their own inclusion is not some glitch in the divine computer system. They are children of the promise, not children who slipped into a system designed for another people. Their reception of God’s compassion lay not in their “human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy” (16).

What does that mean for us? He has got us and he will not let go. God chose us before the foundation of the world. He predestined us to receive the gift of Christ, his Son. He gave us as gifts to his Son, and the Son shall lose no one whom the Father has given, and he shall raise us up on the last day.

He anticipates the same objections we have raised. His basic answer is, do not question our Creator. Neither he nor Jesus nor any other biblical writer takes effort to defend God. They simply explain what he is doing and give us assurance that God is just, that he is merciful, and that he will carry out whatever his will concerning us may be. Or to put it simply – let God be God.

Can you do that? You will acknowledge that as a created human being you have limited ability to understand the mind and ways of your infinite, eternal Creator. Surely you will admit that he can think and do things that you cannot think all the way through. Can you not let God be God?

But it doesn’t seem fair; it doesn’t seem to be loving! Look at the Cross. What do you see? The babe of Christmas is now the sacrificial lamb of Good Friday. Do you, a sinner, believe that you understand justice better than God? His Son hangs on a cross for your sins. Are you prepared, because you can’t figure out the fairness of his choosing to give you his Son, to then accuse him of injustice? You know your heart – how sinful it is. Are you really going to place yourself in the position of saying of God what is merciful and what is not? Of determining what is the act of love and what is not?

Can you not simply hold out your hands, receive the gift your Father has chosen to give you, and then give thanks, accepting that your Father really is the smartest Father in all the world and that he loves you more than anybody else, and that all you need to do is trust him to know and to do what is best. That is why he is telling you through his Word about all this choosing and predestinating. He is say, “My child, I’ve got you. I have never not had you. I have always known you, always chosen you to be mine, and I have worked everything out to make you mind. I will never let you go. Trust me.”

And then, if anyone is here who has never come to Christ, and you ask if that is because you are not chosen; then come now and answer the call of Jesus Christ, and test his promise that whoever should come to him, he will never cast out but raise you up on the last day.

You may think you are here by chance. Is it not likely that he has brought you into this sanctuary to hear this message at this time, so that you might come to Christ who calls you?



The Christ Gift

By / Dec 15

Introduction

We are in the season of gift-giving or, depending on what excites you more, gift-receiving. We have the wonderful assistance of ads to help us with the process. Some gifts, we are told, are gifts “that keep on giving,” like the annual subscription for Sports Illustrated my brother gives me. There are practical gifts, gag gifts, sentimental gifts. There are gifts that are “just right” for the specific relationship. And then there is the “perfect gift.” That is the store card or general credit card that allows the recipient to purchase whatever he or she really wants. Of course, the greater the money amount on the card, the more perfect the perfect gift becomes!

For four Sunday evenings we will consider the gifts that God our Father considers to be the true perfect gifts that keep on giving blessing after blessing. This evening we begin with the gift through which all the other gifts come.

Text

Let me read our text, and you should not have difficulty understanding what that special gift is.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:

2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,

The special gift is the Christ-gift. Consider how just in these three verses he impacts everything.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

Paul is an apostle in the church made that way by the will of God. But Paul is an apostle of Christ Jesus. If he is not an apostle of Christ Jesus, he is an apostle of nothing. It is the Lord Jesus who stopped him in the middle of the road to Emmaus, who gave Paul the commission to carry his name “before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel,” even to “suffer for the sake of [his] name” (Acts 9:15-16). Paul received the gospel not “from any man” but “through a revelation of Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:12). And that gospel was the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. An apostle is commissioned to carry a message. Without Christ, Paul has no commission and no message.

But it not just a matter for Paul of not having a career. Without Christ, Paul himself remains lost. He has no Savior, no redemption. Paul had considered himself an apostle before Christ; he was an apostle for the law. He was so zealous in his cause that he embarked on a journey beyond the bounds of Palestine so as to promote the law and arrest law-breakers. But his credentials as law-keeper and law-enforcer were but rubbish. Without Christ, all his attempts at having a righteousness of his own came to nothing. But God gave to him the gift of Christ, both to save him and to make him an apostle.

To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:

Paul addresses his readers. They are saints, i.e. they are “agios,” people who “set apart” by God. That is the essential meaning of saint. The saints are made saints because they are set apart in Christ Jesus. As the verses will make clear, they are chosen by God in Christ (v. 4); they are adopted as God’s children through Christ (v. 5); they are redeemed by Christ’s blood and receive forgiveness of their trespasses in him (v. 7). Without Christ they were dead in their trespasses and children of wrath (2:1, 3). But they were made alive with Christ and shown kindness in Christ Jesus (2:4, 6).  It is in Christ Jesus that they are brought near to God by his blood (2:13). It is upon Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that they grow into an “agios” holy temple in the Lord (2:21). Without the gift of Christ they are not saints. If they are set apart for anything, it is for destruction.

“In Ephesus” may or may not be in the original. This could have been a letter intended to be circulated among churches that included Ephesus. The other main descriptor of the readers is that they are faithful. The saints are faithful, but they are faithful in Christ Jesus. They have faith in Christ, but that faith is not their own; it is a gift of God. The power that God the Father gives to us to be faithful is the power that he worked in Christ. We are filled with the fullness of God as we know the love of Christ. We were given grace and gifts by Christ. We grow into faith and knowledge of Christ. We live according to the way we “learned Christ.” We walk in love “as Christ loved us (5:2). We are light in the Lord (5:8). Whether we are wives or husbands or children or parents or even slaves, we live with Christ as our model. There is no sense of faithfulness if we are not faithful in Christ and to Christ.

2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

So, we have seen Paul as he is in Christ. We have seen his readers (and us) as they are in Christ. What of Christ himself? Verse 2 sheds light on this. The greeting, which is the same in every epistle but one, places the Lord Jesus Christ on the same level as God our Father. It is from both that believers receive grace and peace.

This is different from saying that God our Father blesses us with grace and peace through Christ, although such a teaching is true and is the primary teaching of the epistle. As much as it is true that God our Father blesses us in and through Christ, we are not to understand that to mean Christ is merely an instrument which God the Father makes use of, such as he may do through angels and even fellow humans. There is no similar statement of anything coming from God the Father and from an angel or an apostle or anyone. To raise Christ on such a level is to equate him with the Father. Therefore to be connected with Christ as saints set apart for him, or to receive anything in and through him, is to be connected with God himself.

Verse 3 brings to clarity and fullness what the previous two verses have presented and which sets forth the premise of the first three chapters.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,

God the Father is “God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We who know Christ know God the Father as the Father of our Lord. That is how we know the first Person of the Trinity. Apart from Christ, we do not know him, we do not relate to him.

To give an example, in the context of Tenth Church, I have my own identity. You know me as Marion or as Pastor Clark or whatever it is you call me. When I am outside of Tenth, specifically when I am outside of Tenth and with my daughter, I am known as “Sarah’s dad.” “So, you are Sarah’s dad. Everybody, this is Sarah’s dad.” Take away Sarah and I am unknown and have no relationship, no connection with many people.

This type of identity is more fused between God the Father and the Son. Yes, there are two, even three distinct Persons in the godhead. Even so, none of the Persons exist or acts outside of the other. They act interdependently. I actually do have a life outside of and independent from my daughter. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are always working (mysteriously to us) together.

But also the point for us is that we cannot know God the Father except in relation to Christ, nor can we receive the blessings of redemption or the “spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” except in that relationship. Jesus’ words in John 14:6-10a is instructive.

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?

We do not know God the Father apart from knowing him through God the Son, who is our Lord Jesus Christ. Furthermore, we may not refer to him as God our Father if we do not know God the Son as our Lord Jesus Christ. The idea that we worship the same God as any other religion simply is not true. The Trinity is not how we conceive God from our Christian perspective; the Trinity is the one true God. If we do not worship God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, we worship a false god.

The last half of verse 3 brings us to the clear, all-encompassing point: who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. It is in Christ that God our Father blesses us with every spiritual blessing.

What are these spiritual blessings? That is what the first chapters present, and what the remaining chapters are based upon. We will look at some of them in more detail over three weeks, but let’s list them all now.

There is the blessing of being personally chosen by God to belong to him; there is the blessing of being changed from sinners before him to becoming holy and blameless. We who objects of wrath are adopted as his beloved children. We receive his glorious grace. We are redeemed, forgiven of our trespasses. We are given an inheritance of glory which is guaranteed by the Holy Spirit. We are awakened to hope; we are given power. We were dead in our trespasses and have been raised to life. We are seated with Christ in the heavenly places. We have been given faith and re-created to do good works, which themselves are gifts for us.

We who are gentiles were brought near to God. We have been united with believing Jews, being made one with them in God’s covenant. We are with them fellow citizens in God’s kingdom. We are united as a temple for God. We now have boldness and access to God.

These gifts, which are of immeasurable value, are poured out on us. God’s grace is lavished upon us. He gives them all of out of his love for us, a love that he has because he is rich in mercy. Our primary challenge is to comprehend the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us, to know the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ’s love that actually surpasses knowledge. Our great Giver is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think. In other words, God blows out of the water any wish list we might come up with.

These are all spiritual gifts, gifts which flow from God the Father, are found in Christ, and come by way of the Holy Spirit. But they also include what may be called the common grace gifts – gifts which are distributed to and among those without Christ.

First of all, if that promise had never been made in Genesis 3, that there would come one day a Redeemer who would crush Satan and redeem God’s people, there would be no purpose in letting the history of the world proceed – a history that includes much good along with the evil; a world that contains much beauty and pleasure along with ugliness and pain. There would be no common grace gifts without the promise of the Christ-gift.

And though the unregenerate surely enjoy common grace blessings, they cannot share in the same joy that we possess who know the Giver because we are in Christ. You have experienced this, perhaps even this past Thanksgiving. However much thankfulness is expressed (and usually little or none is), you have felt sadness that they could not/would not give thanks to God whom they know in Christ. Whatever it is they make express delight in – be it nature or relationships or good fortune – they cannot give thanks and praise where it is due; they do not know the Giver; they miss the point of it all, as they do every Christmas season. Indeed, the very attempt to manufacture a season of joy reveals the emptiness of an unregenerate people who do not know Christ, who cannot receive gifts from God through the Christ-gift. Somehow the season all on its own magically unites families, creates romantic love, fulfills the desires of children, whatever it is that we are aching for. But that is the wishful thinking needed for a world that does know the Giver of the Christ-gift.

Lessons

What about you who do know the Giver. You know the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you feel blessed? As you enter into the season of joy, do you count your uncountable blessings that you have in Christ? Do you bless God for blessing you?

It is easy, so easy as to be expected, that we allow the cares of living to crowd out reflection and thanksgiving for the spiritual blessings we possess. What we see and experience in the flesh is more real to us than what we know by faith. But now you have that opportunity to reflect on what is the greater reality, to give thanks for the gift you have received from your Father.

Do you feel alone? Do you have no family or are estranged from your family? That is painful, but don’t forget the spiritual blessing and reality that you have been adopted in Christ into the family of God your Father. You will not be estranged from him, never be cast out; the one relationship that matters most is the most secured, because it is sealed by God the Holy Spirit.

Do you feel poor? You have lost your job or stuck in a job that doesn’t pay enough? That is worrying, to be sure, but don’t forget that your are the richest person in the world. You possess the riches of God’s glorious inheritance in the saints. You possess every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. And you will not lose of penny of what you possess. Your inheritance is kept safe and you are kept safe until the day you receive your heavenly, glorious reward.

Do you feel threatened or despised? You have been redeemed from slavery, from death, from anything that has held you in bondage and would seek to harm you. Your sins are forgive…your sins are forgiven. You were dead; you have been raised to new life. And all this has taken place because God your Father is rich in mercy; because in his mercy he loves you with a great love. Who then, what then, should you fear?

Yes, life is difficult; it is painful, filled with grief. And yet the trials of life all the more should stir in us hope, desire, pleasure, thanksgiving for the spiritual blessings we have, blessings that cannot be taken away, blessings that are assured of coming to full fruition in glory. Blessings that are ours in Christ because we possess the blessing of Christ himself. We possess the Christ-gift.

We possess Christ. He is ours. It was unto us that this Savior was born. He is our Redeemer. He is our Light who shined in the darkness of our sinful hearts, who still shines for us as we make our way through a dark world. It was to us that a child, a son was given to be our Ruler, to sit on the throne as our King. He has won our forgiveness and has claimed us as his own. He is our good Shepherd who cares for us and knows us by name. He protects us, he feeds us. He is our High Priest who intercedes for us. He abides in us and we in him. He is our Friend, our Brother. He is not ashamed of us; he loves us and is merciful to us. He will not let us go, never cast us away.

To you who do not possess such a gift, would you not now receive it, receive him? Christ is not being withheld from you. You may be on the naughty list, but all the more then will he freely become yours. As Jesus himself said, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17). It is only when you refuse to accept that you are a sinner that he does not become your Christ-gift. Will you let pride prevent you from receiving the gift that brings with it every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places? Is your intellect offended? Your moral character? Your sense of independence? Will you be the kind of person who refuses good gifts because they are not given on your terms?

All you need is a humbled heart, a meek heart to receive him, and Christ will enter in. To all who receive this gift, who receive Christ, let us delight in him and bless the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.



Advent: The Plan

By / Dec 26


Advent: The Announcement

By / Dec 19


Made Like His Brothers

By / Dec 12

Introduction

Back in the 90’s there was a popular song entitled, “What If God Was One of Us.” A question the song causes one to ask is whether God really does know what it is like to be human – to face the everyday ups and downs of life? Does he know what it is like to work late, to commute on a crowded bus, to do laundry and fix supper, to be tired, to be sick? Does he know what it is like to feel rushed during the Christmas season, to feel anxious about buying presents and getting them mailed on time, or not being able to buy presents because you don’t have a job, or what it’s like feeling alone because you haven’t been invited anywhere, or because your loved one is no longer with you? Does God know what it feels like?

Our text addresses that question.

Text

Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

The writer of Hebrews has written powerfully of the work of Christ as the “founder of [our salvation], as he refers to it in verse 10. Through his suffering, specifically through suffering death, he won the victory over the devil and delivered his people. Read verses 14 and 15:

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

Jesus took on flesh and blood that he might suffer, and in that suffering, in his death, he won great victory for his people. I like how Rick Phillips says it in his commentary on these verses: “Jesus is the champion from heaven who has defeated our hellish foe by his victory on the cross.”

I think of C. S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Aslan, by submitting to death on the great table, breaks the spell of the Deep Magic, frees Edmund from the penalty of his sin and delivers all Narnia from its lifelong slavery to the White Witch. Our Lord won an even greater victory! What a great champion! To win that kind of victory – to conquer death by first submitting to death – the Son of God must take on flesh and blood.

There is another reason for taking on flesh and blood, indicated again in verse 10: “For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.”

That phrase “make…perfect through suffering” seems odd. Couple it with a similar statement in 5:7-9:

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him…

Again, we have that phrase, “being made perfect.” What does it mean? It does not refer to his character. You and I do have our character improved by suffering. All of us can attest how suffering has made us better persons (though oddly enough, we do whatever we can to avoid it). But Jesus’ suffering perfected him to fulfill his role as Deliverer. His suffering resulted from his very obedience. By his obedience he fulfilled all that was required of righteousness. He endured suffering without sin; he persevered in suffering to attain his victory and thereby became the perfect Redeemer of his people. The sacrificial lamb on the cross was a righteous lamb, a lamb without blemish, and as such could make “propitiation for the sins of the people.”

We now come back to our text. That work of sacrifice – that is the work of the “high priest in the service of God.” There is the work of deliverance done “out there” on the battle field. But there is also the work of bringing before God a sacrifice to atone for our sins. An offering to God must be rendered, and it must be rendered by a priest acting on our behalf.

This is what a priest does. He acts on man’s behalf before God. He acts on behalf of sinful man. Indeed, that is why he is necessary. Man – any human being – ought to come into God’s presence to offer worship to him, to commune with him. That was the case with our first parents, Adam and Eve. God would visit with them in the Garden of Eden. They needed no one to come between them, nor did they need a sacrifice to offer. But the Fall took place. Man – both Adam and Eve – sinned, and sin has been with us ever since, as we all demonstrate.

But God is holy. He cannot abide with sin. And sinful flesh cannot come before him, not without some sacrificial offering to make propitiation for sin. What does propitiation mean? If you have a different translation from mine, you might read a different word in verse 17, such as reconciliation or atonement or expiation. Propitiation includes all those senses. Propitiation recognizes that sin separates man from God and that something must be done to bring about reconciliation, something that allows man to enter again into the presence of God and be received by God. Atonement needs to be made. Satisfaction, or reparation, must somehow be paid to God. The sin must be removed, and so expiation must occur – the removal of sin and its stain. When all this takes place – when sin is removed, and satisfaction is given to God, then God is reconciled, then God is propitiated. His just wrath against sin is appeased, and we are accepted before him as justified.

All of this is accomplished by the sacrificial offering… or sort of. The writer of Hebrews will make clear in chapter 10 that “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” Both the sacrifice and the priest are blemished and cannot effectually carry out their duty.

Then why the system and why has God not slain every priest entering into his temple? Because the system and the priest point to the High Priest who was to come and offer the perfect sacrifice, namely, himself. For a time, God was willing to pass over sin and to honor the imperfect sacrifices made by imperfect priests.

So let’s go back to the system to understand what our text is teaching us. It mentions specifically the High Priest and the “sins of the people.” There was an occasion in which the High Priest of the nation of Israel made propitiation for the sins of the people of Israel. It was the annual Day of Atonement. On that one day of the year, the High Priest entered into the Holy of Holies, the holiest portion of the temple separated from the rest of the temple by double curtains. In the Holy of Holies resided the Mercy Seat, a rectangular slab made of solid gold that contained the Ark of the Covenant, a box which contained the Ten Commandments. On the Mercy Seat stood two gold cherubim angels.

Again, once a year the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies alone with burning incense that created a cloud of smoke. He entered after having consecrated himself by offering a sacrifice for his own sins. He took with him the blood of an animal to offer before the Holy God as atonement for the sins of the people. He sprinkled that blood on the Mercy Seat with the intent to propitiate God’s just wrath against sin, so that he and his people would indeed receive mercy instead of judgment and thus live.

Now here is what our text is telling us. Jesus is the High Priest. He has entered into the Holy of Holies, the real Holy of Holies in heaven, and he has presented the truly effectual sacrifice – his own body with his own blood. And thus, he has truly propitiated the just wrath of God for all our sins. As 10:12 makes plain, “Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins.”

Let’s review for a moment. We have been contemplating the purpose for why the Son of God took on flesh and blood, i.e. the purpose of the incarnation. We have seen how his incarnation allowed him to do the work of conquering death through his own death and deliver his people from bondage. His incarnation also allowed for him to exercise obedience through his sufferings so that he was made the perfect sacrifice and priest who could then make propitiation for our sins.

There is a third reason that our verse gives us, one that, if we grasp it, will do much to comfort us. Look at the first half of the verse: “Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God…”

The Son of God took on flesh and blood that he might become merciful and faithful as a high priest. Think back again to the role of the High Priest. Once a year he is going to risk his own life to make propitiation for the sins of the people. If ever there would be a time that he would be struck dead by God, it would likely be then – entering into the most holy place of all the earth, the place of the presence of God. If you were a Jew in those days, how do you want your High Priest to feel about you and your fellow citizens? Would you be troubled if he were to be irritated with you? Would you care if he felt disinterested toward you? Would you be concerned if, as the day drew near, he took less and less interest in his duties?

You certainly do not want a High Priest begrudgingly acting on your behalf before God. He is your lifeline to God. Perhaps then you do your best to encourage him. You do what you can not to be a burden. But, really, what are the chances of, year after year, millions of sinners keeping the priest happy in his work?

Our real hope is in having a merciful and faithful High Priest in the service of God. And what will make him merciful and faithful? It is being someone who is able, as 4:15 tells us, “to sympathize with our weaknesses.” It is being someone who has faced the same temptations as we have, who has suffered when tempted. It is being someone who is beset with the weaknesses that accompany flesh and bone. And so, on those days when he is ready to give up because of the irritations of a wayward people, he comes back to himself and mercy rises up in him as he reflects on his own weaknesses and the temptations that afflict him. And so he deals gently, as 5:2 notes, with the ignorant and wayward.

There is an interesting feature about the Day of Atonement concerning the dress of the High Priest. The normal attire for the High Priest, when carrying out his office, was very elaborate. He wore a robe of bright colors, interwoven with gold. There was a breastplate with precious stones and gold. He had a headdress also adorn with gold. But on the Day of Atonement, he wore only plain linen. The day that he enters into the Holy of Holies, he comes representing his people dressed as one of them, identified as one of them.

And so our High Priest dressed as one of us. Indeed, as our text states, he had to do it. He “had to be made like his brothers in every respect.” He had to be conceived and brought forth from a mother’s womb. He had to experience cold and heat. He had to grow from a helpless babe and pass through the stages of life that we all grow through. He had to know what it was like to be poor and to be oppressed. He had to know what it was like to have to learn how to read and to work with his hands. He had to know what it was like to be slighted and to be regarded as a fool. He had to know what it was like to lose loved ones and to experience the indignities of flesh that is exposed to sickness.

And more, our High Priest had to know what it was like to be tempted day in and day out. To be poor and tempted to covet. To be threatened and tempted to lie. To be tempted with lust. To be tempted to steal. To be hated and tempted to murder in his heart. To be ruled by sinful parents and sinful authorities and tempted to show dishonor. Foremost, he had to face in reality what we feared would come upon us – to have the Day of Atonement draw ever near when he would offer the ultimate sacrifice of his body on the cross, when he would receive that just wrath we so feared. And so the temptation was placed each day before him to worship another god, to do anything to avoid such a fate.

He had to be made like us in every respect – to feel the weakness of the flesh, to know the fears that haunted his brothers and sisters. Yet without ever giving in to sin. “But then he cannot identify with being a sinner,” we might say. True, but neither can we identify with always persevering. We cannot know the depth of his suffering. We sin to end the suffering. He bore it all.

And because he did, he proved himself a faithful High Priest. He never failed, never. He never gave in. He always did the will of his Father; he always delighted in doing the will of his Father. He was faithful to the end of his days on earth, and he remains faithful and merciful in heaven.

That is what the incarnation – taking on flesh and blood – assured. We know now that our High Priest is always merciful and faithful. Listen to these comforting words from 4:14-16:

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

We have all felt at some time (maybe most of the time) that, while we know the work of salvation on our behalf was down out of love, and, yes, out of mercy, surely there had to be some reluctance on Jesus’ part. And we will even look to the incarnation for support. Surely he had to begrudge a little bit the humiliation of taking on flesh and surely the humiliation of suffering in the flesh. And if he had had some idealistic view of suffering for mankind while in heaven, when he experienced personally the ugliness of man, surely then he had to ask himself why he was enduring all this.

Well, evidently, it made him all the more merciful toward us and all the more faithful to carry out his purpose as High Priest. Evidently, he cared all the more for us and determined all the more to obey his Father. If ever the Son had not shared the Father’s burden for man (which is not true), if he was acting only out of obedience to his Father, then taking on flesh and blood won his sympathy for us.

Your High Priest made propitiation for your sins out of mercy for you, out of sympathy for you. And understand this, he still intercedes for you out of mercy.

“But I’ve failed him so many times.” He knows. But he also knows the suffering you go through to battle temptation. He knows how weak your flesh is and why it is so difficult to stay obedient. He knows the sorrows that have weakened your faith. He understands how the troubles of life undermine your faith. He knows how unrelenting Satan is in his attacks against you. He understands how strong are the lures of the world to give in to its way of life. And he remains faithful to act on your behalf as your High Priest. Because, remember, he was made like you in every respect. Your High Priest is your Brother. And he will always, always look on you with mercy.



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