| QUESTIONS 4 &
5
Note:
The questions below are both addressed in the following answer.
What
Place Has Jesus Christ In Our Prayers?
Why
Pray In His Name And No Other?
To answer these queries we
need to establish the position Jesus Christ has with regard to all of creation
and the relationship He has with God and with the whole of that creation.
The Logos
Prior to His coming in flesh,
the Original, the Beginning, of God's creation is identified
in Scripture as the Word, or the Expression, as the Greek
Logos
may be more exactly rendered. By God's design and appointment He is the
Image of the invisible God. He is both the Representation
and the appointed Representative of God, His Father. His, then,
has been the privilege and responsibility for bringing the rest of creation
into existence. His, also, is the privilege and responsibility for bringing
that
same creation, that has become estranged, into a grand reconciliation
with God. To all of creation He speaks for the Father. Every
revelation of God is through Him!
Rev.3:14
… the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, and God's Creative Original:
Jn.1:1-3 In
the beginning was the word, and the word was toward God,
and God was the word.
This was in the beginning
toward God.
All came into being
through it,
and apart from it not
even one thing came into being which has come into being.
Col.1:15-17
Who is the Image of the invisible God, Firstborn of every creature,
for in Him
is all created, that in the heavens and that on the
earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones, or lordships, or sovereignties, or authorities,
all is created through
Him and for Him,
and He is before
all, and all has its cohesion in Him.
2Cor.4:4 … Christ,
Who is the Image of the invisible God,…
Jn.1:14
And the Word became flesh and tabernacles among us,
and we gaze at His glory,
a glory as of an only-begotten
from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Col.1:20
and through Him to reconcile all to Him
(making peace through the
blood of His cross),
through Him, whether those
on
the earth or those in the heavens.
2Cor.5:18,19
Yet all is of God, Who conciliates us to Himself through
Christ,
and is giving us the dispensation
of the conciliation,
how that God was in Christ,
conciliating the world to Himself,
not reckoning their offenses
to them, and placing in us the word of the conciliation.
The Son of God
We, believers of today, are
all sons of God as witnessed by His spirit which makes its home in us.
The rest of mankind will attain to that privileged position at the Consummation,
when God is All in all in accord with His set schedule.
Rom.8:14-16
For whoever are being led by God's spirit, these are sons of God.
For you did not get slavery's
spirit to fear again,
but you got the spirit
of sonship, in which we are crying, "Abba, Father!"
The spirit itself is testifying
together with our spirit that we are children of God.
1Cor.15:22-28
For even as, in Adam, all are dying,
thus also, in Christ, shall
all
be
vivified.
Yet each in his own class:
the Firstfruit, Christ;
thereupon
those who are Christ's in His presence;
thereafter
the
consummation,
whenever He may be giving up the kingdom to His God and Father,
whenever He should be nullifying all sovereignty and all authority and
power….
But, only ONE is THE Son of
God. At His baptism by John the baptist, and at the mount of transfiguration
with Peter, James and John, God declared that Jesus is His Son, the Beloved.
Heb.1:5
For to whom of the messengers said He at any time,
"My Son art
Thou! I, today, have begotten Thee"?
And again, "I shall
be to Him for a Father and He shall be to Me for a Son"?
Mt.3:16,17
Now, being baptized, Jesus straightway stepped up from the water,
and lo! opened up to Him
were the heavens,
and He perceived the spirit
of God descending as if a dove, and coming on Him.
And lo! a voice out of the
heavens, saying,
"This is My Son,
the Beloved, in Whom I delight."
Mt.17:4,5 ...Peter
said to Jesus, "Lord, it is ideal for us to be here!
If Thou art willing, I shall
be making three tabernacles here,
for Thee one, and for Moses
one, and for Elijah one."
While he is still speaking,
lo! a luminous cloud overshadows them,
and lo! a voice out of the
cloud, saying,
"This is My Son,
the Beloved, in Whom I delight. Hear Him!"
Jn.3:35
The Father is loving the Son and has given all into His hand.
Rom.1:4 concerning
His
Son
(Who comes of the seed of
David according to the flesh,
Who is designated Son
of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness,
by the resurrection of the
dead), Jesus Christ, our Lord,….
The Son's disposition is always
to do the will of His Father and to bring Him all glory. When it was His
Father's will that He should set aside all His God-given glory and come
to earth as a human being to suffer and die for all of creation, the Son
obeyed with implicit and undaunted faith in His Father! Because of this
God gives Him the place of Lord over all others.
Jn.17:1-5 These
things speaks Jesus, and lifting His eyes to heaven, He said,
"Father, come has
the hour. Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son should be glorifying Thee,
according as Thou givest
Him
authority over all flesh,
that everything which Thou
hast given to Him, He should be giving it to them,
even life eonian. Now it
is eonian life that they may know Thee, the only true God,
and Him Whom Thou dost
commission, Jesus Christ.
"I glorify Thee on the earth,
finishing the work
which Thou hast given Me, that I should be doing it.
"And now glorify Thou Me,
Father, with Thyself,
with the glory which I had
before the world is with Thee.
Mt.26:39 And
coming forward a little, He falls on His face, praying and saying,
"My Father, if it is possible,
let this cup pass by from Me.
However, not as I will,
but
as Thou!"
Mt.26:42 Again,
coming away a second time, He prays, saying, "My Father,
if this can not pass by
from Me if I should not drink it, let Thy will be done!"
Phil.2:5-8
For let this disposition be in you, which is in Christ Jesus also,
Who, being inherently in
the form of God, deems it not pillaging to be equal with God,
nevertheless empties Himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming to be in the likeness
of humanity, and, being found in fashion as a human,
He humbles Himself, becoming
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Phil.2:9-11 Wherefore,
also, God highly exalts Him,
and graces Him with the
name that is above every name, that in the name of Jesus
every knee should
be bowing, celestial and terrestrial and subterranean,
and every tongue should
be acclaiming that Jesus Christ is Lord,
for the glory of God, the
Father.
And we, of the body of Christ,
have this transcendent blessing of being among the first to acclaim Him
as our Lord. This is a whole-hearted acknowledgement, not mere lip-service.
1Cor.12:3
Wherefore I am making known to you
that no one, speaking by
God's spirit, is saying, "Anathema is Jesus."
And no one is able to say
"Lord is Jesus" except by holy spirit.
1Cor.8:5,6
For even if so be that there are those being termed gods,
whether in heaven or on
earth, even as there are many gods and many lords, nevertheless for
us there is …one Lord, Jesus Christ, through Whom all is, ...
Mt.7:21-23
"Not everyone saying to Me `Lord! Lord!'
will be entering into the
kingdom of the heavens,
but he who is doing the
will of My Father Who is in the heavens.
Many will be declaring to
Me in that day,
`Lord! Lord! Was it not
in
Your name that we prophesy,
and in Your name
cast out demons, and in Your name do many powerful deeds?'
And then shall I be avowing
to them that
`I never knew you! Depart
from Me, workers of lawlessness!'
The Saviour of the
World
In keeping with the meaning
of His name Jesus, which is Yahweh-Saviour, God is
saving the world through Him. Every being has come into existence
through Him and He bears the responsibility for their well-being. Only
He, therefore, is qualified to represent creation. He is creation's
Representative just as He is God's! Therefore, when, through Adam,
death became the destiny of all mankind, Jesus had to die,
sinless though He is, taking on Himself the penalty due on Adam's progeny,
so
that all, each and every one of them, will be given life! The
death of no one else in creation could suffice to set things right
with a just and holy God. Scripture recognises Jesus as the one
Mediator of God and of man.
Rom.5:12-14
Therefore, even as through one man sin entered into the world,
and through sin death,
and thus death passed
through into all mankind, on which all sinned--
for until law sin was in
the world,
yet sin is not being
taken into account when there is no law;
nevertheless death
reigns from Adam unto Moses,
over those also who do not
sin in the likeness of the transgression of Adam,…
Rom.5:18 Consequently,
then,
as it was
through one offense for all
mankind
for condemnation,
thus also it is through
one
just award for all mankind for
life's
justifying.
Rom.5:19 For
even
as,
through the disobedience
of the one man, the many were
constituted
sinners,
thus also,
through the obedience
of the One,
the many shall be constituted just.
1Tim.1:15 Faithful
is the saying, and worthy of all welcome,
that Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners,…
Jn.3:16,17 For
thus God loves the world, so that He gives His only-begotten Son,
that everyone who is believing
in Him
should not be perishing,
but may be having life eonian.
For God does not dispatch
His Son into the world that He should be judging the world,
but that the world may
be saved through Him.
Rom.5:8 yet
God is commending this love of His to us,
seeing that, while we are
still
sinners, Christ died for our sakes.
2Cor.5:14 For
the love of Christ is constraining us, judging this, that,
if One died for the sake
of all, consequently all died.
2Cor.5:21 For
the One not knowing sin, He makes to be sin for our sakes
that we may be becoming
God's righteousness in Him.
1Tim.2:3-7 for
this is ideal and welcome in the sight of our Saviour, God,
Who wills that all
mankind be saved and come into a realization of the truth.
For there is one
God, and one Mediator of God and mankind, a Man, Christ Jesus,
Who is giving Himself a
correspondent Ransom for all (the testimony in its own eras),
Act.4:12
And there is no salvation in any other one, for neither is there
any other name,
given under heaven among
men, in which we must be saved
1Tim.4:9-11
Faithful is the saying and worthy of all welcome
(for for this are we toiling
and being reproached),
that we rely on the living
God, Who is the Saviour of all mankind, especially of believers.
These things be charging
and teaching.
The Christ of God
Christ, from the Greek
Christos,
which means anointed, is the Anointed One of God. In Scripture,
prophets, kings and priests were anointed into office, distinguishing them,
or setting them apart, from the rest of the people. The anointing is the
appointment to a position to effect a particular service. Jesus, the Son
of God, is set apart from the rest of creation, appointed to represent
God in the affairs of creation. Christ is His title and, often,
He is referred to by His title alone. He is the Christ of God (Lk.9:20).
It is His office, His God-given commission, to carry into
effect God's intention in all things.
Jn.8:42
… For out of God I came forth and am arriving.
For neither have I come
of Myself, but He commissions Me.
Act.2:36 … God
makes
Him
Lord as well as Christ--this Jesus…
The combination of the name
Jesus with the title Christ is very often used of the Son of God
in the Greek Scriptures. It will be found therein that, usually, when the
emphasis is on salvation, the combination Jesus Christ is
used and that when the emphasis is on position or status, it is
His title that is emphasised and Christ Jesus is preferred. This
term is most often used in Paul's letters.
The Head of the Body
The believers of the evangel
of the Uncircumcision, announced through Paul, are members of one organism,
which it terms 'the body of Christ' (1Cor.12:27). Christ Jesus is
recognised as 'the Head' of the ecclesia 'which is His body'
(Eph.1:21). This ecclesia, a collection of called-out-ones, is looked on
as 'the complement of the One completing the all in all' (Eph.1:22).
All members in this ecclesia are encouraged and expected to:
Eph.4:13
…attain to the unity of the faith and of the realization of the son of
God,
to a mature man, to the
measure of the stature of the complement of the Christ' .
Eph.4:15,16
Now, being true, in love we should be making all grow into Him,
Who is the Head--Christ--
out of Whom the entire body,
being articulated together
and united through every assimilation of the supply,
in accord with the operation
in measure of each one's part,
is making for the growth
of the body, for the upbuilding of itself in love.
These terms of Head and
body
and complement are not used of the believers of the
evangel of the Circumcision! This high privilege, of being members of the
one body and looked on as Christ's complement is, therefore, exclusive
to the evangel announced through Paul to the nations! It places us on a
level no others out of all of God's creation can attain. It establishes
us, in grace, in a very special relationship with Christ and, therefore,
with God!
The Lord Jesus Christ,
our Saviour
The twelve apostles never
preached a salvation apart from the promises to Israel (cf Act.2:5-40).
Paul was set apart and commissioned for a different message which is meant
for and directed to those out of the nations (Gal.1:15,16; Act.13:2).
The moment at which we were believing when hearing the evangel concerning
our salvation we were being sealed with God's holy spirit of promise,
which guarantees our deliverance from death and sin. We long for
this deliverance, waiting in expectation. God will send us
our Saviour to deliver us from this present situation of humiliation
wherein we experience weakness and corruption because of our subjection
to the dictates of death and sin.
Eph.1:13,14
In Whom you also--
on hearing the word
of truth, the evangel of your salvation--
in Whom on believing
also, you are sealed with the holy spirit of promise
(which is an earnest
of the enjoyment of our allotment,
to the deliverance
of that which has been procured)…
Rom.8:23 … we
ourselves also, who have the firstfruit of the spirit, we ourselves also,
are groaning in ourselves,
awaiting
the sonship, the deliverance of our body.
Phil.3:20,21
For our realm is inherent in the heavens,
out of which we are awaiting
a Saviour also, the Lord, Jesus Christ,
Who will transfigure
the body of our humiliation, to conform it to the body of His glory,
in accord with the operation
which enables Him even to subject all to Himself.
The Firstborn among
many
Long before the world
came to be created, there was the Logos, the Word, Jesus the Christ of
God, in His function of bringing God's plans into reality. The wonder
of it is that Scripture places us in Christ at that time!
As far as God is concerned, we have been, even from then, the complement
of
Christ, an inherent part of Him without which He is not complete!
Where is there a privilege to equal this?
Eph.1:3-6
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Who blesses us with every
spiritual blessing among the celestials, in Christ,
according as He chooses
us in Him before the disruption of the world,
we to be holy and flawless
in His sight,
in love designating us beforehand
for the place of a son for Him through Christ Jesus;
in accord with the delight
of His will, for the laud of the glory of His grace,
which graces us in the Beloved:
Though, elsewhere in Scripture,
we are said to be sons (plural) of God, the passage above says that
God designates us (plural) for the place of a son (singular) for
Him.
Eph.4:13
… that we should all attain to the unity of the faith
and of the realization of
the
son of God,
to a mature man,
to the measure of the stature of the complement of the Christ,
This passage speaks of a spiritual
growth we should all strive for together, to the point of maturity
where we all realise the privilege of what it is to be the
son of God, together becoming a fitting complement of the
Christ.
This is difficult for many
believers to picture, but it should not be. When Adam was created, Eve
was already latent in him - an inherent, integral,
part of Adam before she came to be herself! She is the complement of
Adam, that part which makes him complete.
Gen.2:18
And saying is Yahweh Elohim,
"Not good is it for the
human for him to be alone.
Make for him will I a helper
as his complement."
Gen.2:21-23
And falling is a stupor on the human, caused by Yahweh Elohim,
and he is sleeping.
And taking is He one of
his angular organs and is closing the flesh under it.
And Yahweh Elohim is building
the angular organ, which He takes from the human,
into a woman, and
bringing her is He to the human.
And saying is the human,
"This was once bone of my bones and flesh from my flesh.
This shall be called woman,
for from her man is this taken.
Taking all these considerations
into account, Jesus Christ is the only One through Whom we can pray
to the Father, to His God and our God! No others can fill His
office. He is the one and only Mediator of God and mankind. There is no
other!
Period!
To approach God through any other being is an outright rejection
of God's appointment, and it would be sheer imbecility to expect
our prayers to please Him.
Rom.8:34,35
Who is the Condemner?
Christ Jesus, the One dying,
yet rather being roused,
Who is also at God's right
hand, Who is pleading also for our sakes?
What shall be separating
us from the love of God in Christ Jesus?….
1Tim.2:5 For
there is one God, and one Mediator of God and mankind,
a Man, Christ Jesus,
1Cor.8:6 … for
us there is one God, the Father, out of Whom all is, and we for Him,
and one Lord, Jesus
Christ, through Whom all is, and we through Him.
September 2001
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