IS HE REALLY THAT BIG?

IS HE REALLY THAT BIG?

                And beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all of the Scriptures.”  Luke 24:27

                “For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.” John 1:17  

                “Therefore also God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father.” Phil. 2:9, 10

                “And Jesus came up to them and spoke to them saying: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Mt. 28:19, 20

               
                “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up His spirit. And behold the veil in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom and the earth shook; and the rocks were split and the tombs were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.” Mt. 27:50-53

                “And while they were eating, Jesus took some bread and after a blessing He broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat this is My body.” And He took a cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying, “Drink from it all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant which is to be shed on behalf of many for forgiveness of sins. Mt. 26:26-28.

                Each of these texts above tells us something about how big Jesus really is. He is the true Lamb upon whose blood He built a New Covenant. He is the complete fulfillment of everything that was promised and prophesied in the Old Covenant. He is the reality of all types and shadows. He is the fulfillment of all Law. He is the rest that was lost in Eden. He is the Tree of Life from which Adam and Eve were banned. He is the eternal life that mankind lost in the fall. Jesus is the living reality upon which all types, shadows and symbols were built and now that the real has come we can do what Jesus’ disciples did…We can drop everything and follow Him.

                “But whatever things were gain to me those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. Phil. 3:8-9

                “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?  This is the only thing I want to find out from you; did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfect by the flesh? Does He then who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law or by the hearing of faith? Gal 3:1-3, 5

                If we want to understand Paul’s astonishment at the Galatian’s return to the Law, we must truly understand how big Paul considered Jesus to be. To Paul, the entire history of mankind from the fall of Adam onward was now swallowed up in the death and resurrection of Jesus. In Him a New Covenant has been established. This New covenant answers every question, fulfills every promise and brings to an end every Law and type and shadow that pointed in His direction. Our worship is now directed to Him.

                To this very day, everyone who seeks fulfillment in the Old covenant, or tries to prove obedience through the Old Covenant… or who seeks REST from the Old Covenant, or peace, or faith, they remain an astonishment to Paul, for in his eyes, Jesus is that big.

                Even our own personal history comes to an end at the cross:

                “For through the Law I died to the Law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and delivered Himself up for me… for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.” Gal 2:19-21

                The life, death and resurrection of Jesus brings all of history to a close and drops it into the deepest part of the ocean and then offers us a New High Priest, a new Law, a completely new covenant and a new life that the Old Covenant could not provide simply because it was not designed to do so.

                So when it comes to moving from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant the Sabbath stands at the fulcrum point. We are given a choice. Will we continue to derive our rest from the observance of the day, or are we going to enter into Christ’s rest… the REST that HE offered when He said, “come unto Me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.’ Mt. 11:28

                The question still remains: Is Jesus really that big? Is He big enough to be our Sabbath? Is He big enough to be our righteousness? Is He really big enough so that when I obey Him, the entire Law is fulfilled? Again, to me, our view of the Sabbath is our prime indicator of how big our Jesus is. Is Jesus big enough to give us the REST to which the Law could only point? Is He big enough to fulfill the Law in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to His Spirit? Is He big enough to be everything in us that the Law promised? Is the fruit of His Spirit enough or must we add our own works to His seemingly incomplete plan?

                As our youth leader pointed out in our Wednesday night Bible study: Isaiah said in chapter 6:1

                “In the year of King Uzziah’s death, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted and the train of His robe filling the temple.”

                Today we have kings standing in our life that block our vision of Jesus Christ. We have rendered Jesus as “small” by our many doctrines, because we have yet to receive the revelation that Paul received.

                The Sabbath represents a wonderful gift of REST from God, but if we seek to keep it in an Old Covenant way, it becomes a poor substitute for the true REST that we receive when we trust in Christ’s perfect work for us, both in life and in death. It is that new life imparted to us from Pentecost by the Holy Spirit that the Law is now fulfilled…not be keeping the symbol, but by entering into the REST to which it pointed.

                “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and through whom are all things in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them “Brethren.” Heb. 2:10, 11

                “There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.” Heb. 4:9-10

                Our REST is in Christ as we trust in His works instead of our own. Jesus has become our High Priest after the order of Melchizedek… and as such, He initiated for us a New Covenant in His blood. We would do well to enter fully into that which our Lord has provided in this New Covenant.

                But the question still remains: Is Jesus big enough? Does He actually have that much authority and power? Has all authority really been given to Him in heaven and on earth and under the earth?

                YES… I BELIEVE THAT HE IS THAT BIG.     

                “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.” Heb. 1:1-2 He is that big!

                At the revelation of Jesus Christ, Paul dropped everything and followed Jesus. Considering everything that he and learned under the Law to be rubbish compared to knowing Christ, He pressed on toward the mark of his high calling in Christ Jesus.