This is the final episode in our series on ‘What think ye of Christ?’ so we should briefly re-cap to remind ourselves of the big picture here. In the words of John Newtown’s hymn:
What think ye of Christ? is the test
To try both your state and your scheme;
You cannot be right in the rest,
Unless you think rightly of him;
As Jesus appears in your view,
As he is beloved or not,
So God is disposed to you,
And mercy, or wrath are your lot.
Some take him a creature to be,
A man, or an angel at most:
Sure these have not feelings like me,
Nor know themselves wretched, and lost;
So guilty, so helpless, am I,
I durst not confide in his blood;
Nor on his protection rely,
Unless I were sure he is God.
Some call him a Savior in word,
But mix their own works with their plan;
And hope he his help will afford,
When they have done all that they can;
If sayings prove rather too light,
(A little they own they may fail)
They purpose to make up full weight,
By casting his name in the the scale.
Some style him the pearl of great price,
And say he’s the fountain of joys,
Yet feed upon folly and vice,
And cleave to the world and its toys;
Like Judas, the Savior they kiss,
And while they salute him, betray;
Ah! what will professions like this
Avail in his terrible day.
If ask’d what of Jesus I think,
Although my best thoughts are but poor;
I say he’s my meat and my drink,
My life, and my strength, and my store,
My shepherd, my husband, my friend,
My savior from sin, and from thrall,
My hope from beginning to end,
My portion, my Lord, and my all.
We began by considering some of the perversions so far as what people think of Christ. They were mainly with respect to the substance of his nature – is he man, is he God, is he both, always, entirely? Having a right view of these truths is absolutely fundamental to the rest of the truth of Scripture. As we have seen over the last few weeks the Word of God reveals him to be the Eternal Son of God and therefore, eternally God and as being incarnate – God manifest in the flesh, truly God, truly man from his conception up unto this present day. These truths underpin the work of Christ, past, present and future. Particularly so far as his work for us is concerned, at Calvary as the sin bearer and presently as High Priest and then his future work in the world as Judge – he cannot be those things except he be truly God and truly man. So these truths are absolutely crucial.
However, there is still confusion amongst people as to his present and future ministries. And so we do well to consider this aspect and above all, be encouraged and have further cause for worship of our Saviour.
Present Ministries
High Priest
The ministry of the Lord Jesus as High Priest is brought out in the book of Hebrews where he is shown to be one who could sympathise with the difficulties which the believers were going through since after all, He had also gone that way. This is a great encouragement to us all, especially in times of persecution, trial or sorrow. We can be sure of this, that whilst in relation to the work of the cross nothing more needs to be done, that in relation to our sojourn down here the Lord Jesus is very much active in constant service to aid, relieve and support His people.
He wept, He suffered, He bore reproach, He learned obedience, He was tempted (yet without sin). And so He understands. He understands as a true man. If you go through trials, endure persecution or experience sorrow, you can pour out your heart to Him and know that He totally understands.
The work of the High Priest in Hebrews is not in relation to dealing with sin. The matter of our sin is not really in view. This is important because we often confuse the High Priestly ministry of the Lord Jesus as being one that is connected with addressing our daily sin. Whereas, the writer says that the matter of sin has once and for all been dealt with. It is because it has been dealt with that he can be a High Priest, notice the words ‘that He might be’ in Hebrews 2:17-18. This type of confusion is easily explained – we generally think of the High Priest as one who would be involved in the matter of sin’s being atoned for. And the writer to the Hebrews speaks of the intercession which the Lord Jesus makes for us (Hebrews 7:25). But with ‘types’ of the Lord Jesus that come over from the Old Testament, it is important to note the contrasts as well as similarities between the earthly type and the heavenly reality. The matter of dealing with sin (past, present & future) is one such contrast. Since we know that ours sins have been dealt with once and for all, the intercession which the Lord Jesus makes for us cannot be in relation to the forgiveness of sins. Rather it has to do with obtaining mercy and finding ‘grace to help in time of need’, (Heb 4:16).
Again, the Lord Jesus isn’t High Priest for an finite period of time as with the earthly Tabernacle. Rather, his priesthood is after the order of Melchisidec, a priest continually. Thus the one that is there to support us today will always be there, the same dependable Christ. We don’t have to start over with a new High Priest like they would have had to in the earthly Tabernacle. Christ is better = the message of the book of Hebrews.
Advocate
So what about the matter of daily sin. True, it is dealt with once and for all. But there’s no use pretending that practically speaking, we can just live in sin. True Christians wont – indefinitely. They become deeply upset by the fact that they have sinned, let God down, failed again! What can meet our need in these circumstances. How can things be resolved so we can move on. This is where the ministry of The Lord Jesus as Advocate comes in.
Now confusion abounds here also because we project our understanding of what an Advocate does in the context of a legal defence, into scripture. The Lord Jesus does not go before the Father to plead our case and seek forgiveness for sins that we have committed, pointing to his finished work at Calvary. Remember, the matter of our sin – from a legal, punitive perspective – is dealt with. So when we come to 1 John 1, we don’t have a court room scene. We explained it this way – a child misbehaves at the dinner table and the father asks him to leave the table, go to his room and think about what he has done. The child storms upstairs completely defiant. At this point, the child leaves the sphere of family fellowship and whilst in his room, in particular, moves outside the sphere of enjoyment of his relationship with his Father. A short while later, the mother will go to the child and firmly but graciously make the child aware of why he was asked to leave the table. The child calms, remorse sets in and in due course, he apologises and sheds a tear or two. Then, the mother takes the child’s hand and brings him back to the dinner table where he re-enters the sphere of family fellowship and his enjoyment of his relationship with his Father continues as if nothing had happened. This, is how the Lord Jesus ministers to us as advocate.
Without building on the illustration anymore than we need to, as Advocate, the Lord Jesus is the one who makes us conscious of failure and draws us back into the sphere of enjoying fellowship with the Father (which John states is his primary reason for writing, 1 John 1:1-4).
These two ministries are unhelpfully combined in the hymn ‘Before the throne of God above’ which perpetuates the idea that our Advocate is pleading for us. Apart from that it’s a great hymn – one line even states “Who made an end of all my sin”.
Future Ministries
King
In the wider sphere of Church testimony there is a great deal of emphasis on the Lord Jesus as King. This is down to a fairly fundamental difference in the way God’s plan of events is viewed for the world vs the church. Supposing for a moment we viewed Matthew 28:18 as referring to a literal kingdom authority. Supposing we viewed 1 Corinthians 15:25 as referring to Christ’s literal reign as being present. Then we would see the Lord Jesus’ primary ministry as King. Although he is not here physically, nevertheless we are his subjects and in due time all things will be subdued. The constitution is perhaps captured best in the sermon on the mount and that is what we should seek to bring into effect socially and even politically where possible. When all the world is subject to him through the vehicle of the church Christ will come (and may or may not establish his millennial kingdom).
That however, is not how we view those scriptures. We view them as future and not present.
Now scriptural clearly teaches that there is a kingdom which all believers are in since being ‘delivered…from the power of darkness’ (Col 1:13). And in a spiritual way we do recognise the Lord Jesus as King of our hearts. But he is not physically in residence yet and the remit of the church is not to bring reform inline with the normal responsibilities of a kingdom authority. Instead, our remit is to call men to spiritual rebirth through the preaching of the gospel. The Kingdom of God is within us and we should by all means show that by living out the beatitude attitude, but the Lord Jesus’s present role so far as authority is concerned is primarily defined as being Head over the church – our role as being members of his body to serve him out of love not out of duty. And so collectively we recognise him to be Head understanding there will come a day when Christ’s primary charge, received of His Father, will be to reign over a physical kingdom.
Again, hymnology plays a role here in forming our view, perhaps inadvertently, but either way.
Judge: 2 Timothy 4:1
