Who Christ is..

Take me to Heaven: Part 4

Greetings!

Standing on the bridge, I felt overwhelmed by the enormity of the situation. It was like being a feather floating in a barren sea, too soaked by the sense of impossible inadequacy to even lift itself from the cold water. A feeling of dread came over me, as if night had fallen in the afternoon. I was lost and confused, unable to comprehend what was happening around me. It was like a toddler waddling through an active battlefield, tears pouring down my face as my infantile mind tried to make sense of the horrors it was witnessing.

Questions flooded my mystified mind like water pouring into a shot glass, overwhelming me as I watched fish after fish vanish over the edge of the never-ending waterfall at the end of the systematic stream, never to be seen again. I was completely unable to catch a single one of those dead fish. But God…

It’s important to remember that even when we are unable to accomplish something on our own, God is still able. He has the power to redeem and save us, even when we are dead in our sins. By turning to Him and placing our faith in Jesus Christ, we can receive the forgiveness and salvation that we so desperately need.

“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!”

Ephesians 2:4-5a

How do dead fish, being swept away over the edge of a never ending waterfall, at the end of a calculatingly systematic stream, have anything to do with God saving lost sinners? Well it doesn’t really, but if you are asking yourself the question, I will refer you to last week’s post, “Who Man is“, which will hopefully give clarity to the calamity in which you may have found yourself.

I feel like a feather floating in the midst of an infinitely vast ocean as I study who Christ is. The ocean is not barren but beautiful, representing the enormity of what Christ has done throughout all of redemptive history, from creation to now. As I contemplate the depth of His love and the magnitude of His saving power, I am overwhelmed to the point that my knees feel weak, even though I am sitting down. It’s humbling to realize just how small I am in comparison to the greatness of God and the grandeur of His plan.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Revelation 1:8

Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end, and nothing came before him and nothing will come after him. Our minds cannot fathom the extent of his greatness, but here I sit, attempting to capture it in a blog post. It’s like trying to fit the ocean into a milk carton.

Jesus, fully God and fully man, was born of a virgin to reveal God to mankind and redeem lost sinners. He willingly set aside his divine rights to become a servant and left behind the perfection and glories of heaven. The place from which he descended was unimaginably perfect and beyond our understanding. Yet, he came to earth and was despised and rejected by the very people he created. He sacrificed everything to save us.

This truth should both mortify and excite us, but many fail to fully acknowledge it because they are not honest with themselves. We are all lost sinners in need of redemption, and it is only through Jesus that we can be saved.

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Philippians 2:5-8

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.”

John 1:1-2

“and now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.”

John 17:5

I explain it to my kids like this:

Imagine you’re at Disneyland (or whatever your happy place may be). It’s a perfect day with no lines, everything is free, and you never have to leave. You get to spend every day doing whatever you want with your best friends who are also the only ones there. You have nothing to do but enjoy each other’s company, forever and for all eternity.

Now, imagine leaving this perfect place. Leaving perfection. Exiting the absolutely, without question, unequivocally most perfect, ideal place imaginable. And you leave not because you have to, but because you choose to.

Really imagine for a second that you choose to leave this perfect place. You leave because you want to go to a place where people hate you, a place filled with nothing but pain and suffering. It’s a place worse than a school day filled with teachers who loathe you and classmates who despise you and want to see you dead. Imagine with me, for a second, leaving your perfect place to gather up all these people who hate you. Imagine wanting to bring them back with you to your perfect place, to allow the very people who long to see you dead and who eventually achieved their desire of watching you die to enjoy your happy place with you and your friends forever.

Imagine that foolishness!

But this entire description pales in comparison to what Christ actually did. I know, but this is the best I can do to describe in my own words what Christ actually did.

Have we paused long enough to consider the truth? Have we considered the fact that at one time, we hated Jesus Christ? But because He loved us first, He saved us and opened our eyes. Faith in Jesus is the best possible outcome for all mankind. He is the only escape from the wrath of God, the wrath we all deserve. He has saved us who believe to the praise of God’s glorious grace forever and ever. Amen!

“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”

Romans 5:6

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 5:8

“for if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son”

Romans 5:10

“And you, who were once alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,” Colossians 1:21a

Colossians 1:21a

He came to earth as a man, to live the life that we cannot, to die the death that we deserve, and to be miraculously raised from the dead, conquering death itself and proving that He is God, all while accomplishing God’s wonderful plan of redemption. He is our advocate, continually praying for us even now, because in every way, He has been tempted just as we have, yet without sinning. He endured the pressures of fleshly desires without breaking, so that God may be most glorified in the saving of lost sinners, who should be most satisfied in knowing Him.

“For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”

Hebrews 2:18

“For we do not have a high priest who in unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

Hebrews 4:15

It may sound crazy to some, but the greatest and most amazing thing Christ ever did was to descend down from heaven. This is the greatest sacrifice he could have ever made for us… to descend from bliss, to seek and save the lost, to seek and save the most undeserving. He lived a righteous life for us, only to be nailed to a cross for our sins.

The most unimaginable and wonderful thing that has ever happened in the history of all things is to know that God exists and that He descended down to our level to reveal Himself to us. He revealed Himself to us in the form of Jesus Christ, who is the Christ forever and ever. Amen!

“He is the image of the invisible God,”

Colossians 1:15

Who is Christ? He is the one who loves us more than we can possibly imagine. He is the Son of God, the Savior of humanity, our Redeemer, King, and Lord. He is the very one who died on the cross for our sins, becoming sin and a curse for us. He is the only completely innocent man to ever live, the very Word of God, the true God, the eternal life, and our Creator. He is Jesus Christ, the Christ forever and ever, Amen!

“[He is] the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through [him].”

John 14:6

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us…”

Galatians 3:13a

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.”

John 1:1-4

He is the very one who left the only perfectly perfect place in existence: Heaven, in perfect fellowship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

He is our risen Savior!

“Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know – this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pains of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.”

Acts 1:22-24

I know that I have only scratched the surface of who Christ is, and I probably didn’t even do that great a job of it. But that’s because the more I learn about him, the more I realize how much more there is to learn. And this excites me to no end, because it means that I can never become exhausted with him. The closer I get to him, the smaller and more insignificant I feel. As the magnitude of his majesty and glory reveals itself more and more to me, I realize how truly small I am and how much I need him.

I feel like a nine-year-old trying to explain the complexities of war to a group of veterans. Completely inadequate and unqualified! But at the same time, I’m exhilarated. How could I not be? What an incomprehensibly immense privilege it is to speak, write, and even think about the second member of the Trinity, the one and only Savior, our King, the Lord of all, creator of all, Jesus Christ! He is the Christ, the prophesied Messiah! Hallelujah and amen!

Here are links to to previous three parts…

Take me to Heaven, Who God Is, Who Man Is

In Him, with love,

mike

P.s.

My intention is to continue in a deeper study of who he is, after we complete looking at all the aspects of the gospel. So far we have covered God, man, and Christ. Next week we look at response. That is, how do we respond to our understanding of, who God is, who we are, and who Christ is.

“if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Romans 10:9

Here are some references I’ve used from scripture to further fuel your personal study of who Christ is (this is by no means exhaustive)…

John 10:30; 14:9-10; John 1:3; Col 1:15-17; Heb 1:2; Phil 2:5-8; Col 2:9; Mic 5:2; John 5:23; Isa 7:14; Matt 1:23, 25; Luke 1:26-35; John 1:1, 14; Ps 2:7-9; Isa 9:6; John 1:29; Phil 2:9-11; Heb 7:25-26; 1 Pet 1:18-19; Phil 2:5-8; John 10:15; Rom 3:24-25; 5:8; 1 Pet 2:24; Rom 3:25; 5:8-9; 2 Cor 5:14-15; 1 Pet 2:24; 3:18; Matt 28:6; Luke 24:38-39; Acts 2:30-31; Rom 4:25; 8:34; Heb 7:25; 9:24; 1 John 2:1; John 5:26-29; 14:19; Rom 4:25; 6:5-10; 1 Cor 15:20, 23; Acts 1:9-11; 1 Thess 4:13-18; Rev 20; John 5:22-23; 1 Cor 3:10-15; 2 Cor 5:10; Matt 25:31-46; Rev 20:11-15; 1 Tim 2:5; Eph 1:22; 5:23; Col 1:18; Isa 9:6-7; Ezek 37:24-28; Luke 1:31-33; Matt 25:14-46; Acts 17:30-31