Pastor Tim Brown, Calvary Chapel Fremont, Sunday November 7, 2010

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      A Crash Course in Christology

      Revelation 5:1-14       

In c4 we see God the Father upon His throne in all His glory.  We see God the Spirit shining in His 7fold light.  The four living creatures do not cease to cry “Holy, holy, holy.”  The 24 elders fall down and cast their crowns b4 Him and worship His glory.  But something/Someone is missing -  

John doesn’t take us straight from C4 n2 C6  because the picture of God is incomplete.  The point being made in C4-5 is that b4 we see the judgment of God we need 2c character of the God who brings judgment.  This will prepare us for the vicious judgments we see in C6-19.  The vision of God in C4 is incomplete w/o the vision of the Lamb in C5.  We have God the Father/God the Spirit – where is God the Son?  We have the Creator/where is the Redeemer?     A picture of Fran/kids/grandkids – no me.  Where’s Tim?  Picture is incomplete.

Jesus the Lamb of God is here/is God.  It is important that we see Jesus as co-participant w/ Him who sits on the throne.  We see the love of God in the Lamb and we see the wrath of God in the Lamb.  Silly notion of OT v NT God.    No full understanding of who God is apart from God the Son.

Christology – the study of Christ.  When you study Christ as He’s presented in the Scriptures you have to tie yourself into a pretzel to escape the conclusion that He is not only the Son of God, but God the Son – 2nd person of the Trinity.  The Lamb that was on the cross is in full agreement w/ the Father who is on the throne.   

Four wonderful truths about Jesus Christ – God the Son.

He has the ability to bring history to a close   1-7

Whatever you want to call it, this book contains the blueprint for the end of history, ushering in of the Millennium/eternity.  God has a plan for the end of history.  When the angel cried out if there was anyone worthy to open the book, he was asking if there is anyone who has the ability to bring history to a close.   

John weeps because there is no one to bring history to a close, to usher in the golden age of the Millennium/eternity – and we should weep, too.  It means man will continue to visit inhumanity upon man.  No end in sight to the constant march of sin/death.  Albert Einstein: I don’t know what weapons WW3 will be fought w/, but WW4 will be fought w/ sticks and stones.  No one was found who had the ability to bring history to a close/usher in the golden ages – that doesn’t mean no one has tried.   

History will continue w/ man attempting to usher in the golden age – and history will continue w/ man failing.  The philosopher Marx said he could bring history to paradise /politician Lenin/criminals Stalin and Mao/the megalomaniac Hitler.  The Worker’s Paradise of communism has claimed a minimum of 100 M.  The 1000 Year Reich lasted 12 years claimed at least 11 M + carnage of WW2.

When will Messiah come?  I asked this of Miriam, our Israel guide: “When people on earth get along.”  I thought, YIKES!.  To me, this is pessimistic because it is unrealistic.  And yet w/ all the failed attempts to create a utopia for man, there is a growing confidence in our ability to heal ourselves.   

We don’t need God – we can do it ourselves.  We don’t need God to bring order to history/peace to our lives/end to sin.  It is becoming popular to leave out ‘under God’ in the Pledge of Allegiance.  Some say that it wasn’t part of the original – but that’s not why it’s left out.  They are not protesting its inclusion, but its truth.   

Only Christ can bring history to a close and usher in golden ages.  Our 1st parents sinned/corrupted human nature sin/bondage to sin.  Paul Morphy was a world champion chess player who viewed painting of Satan playing chess w/ a young man who was looking forlorn because checkmated/his soul was lost.  Morphy knew more about chess than the painter and set up chess board exactly as it was in the picture.  He said he would take the man’s place and made the move that set the man free.  Sanders in ‘Christ Indwelling…’ p.38.   

This is what Jesus did – when you were checkmated in your sin, Jesus made the move that set you free/the move you couldn’t make.  Christ’s ability to take book/open seals based upon His sacrifice on the cross which delivered us from Satan’s power.    

He has the ability to bring us to God   8-10

‘Thou wast slain’

Slaughtered – put to death at hands of evil men.   

Of all the animals whose death I have observed, the lamb and the ewe are the only ones who do not struggle when they are struck: at the moment when the knife cuts the jugular, the ewe relaxes and does not try to flee or kick. It gives way perfectly. It dies with a sort of acceptance. Another animal cannot be found which signifies in the same way the acceptance of death. That is why it is the only one that corresponds to Jesus: “I lay down my life.”  J. Ellul   

‘Didst purchase for God’

Freedom for a slave was accomplished by depositing money in temple – now the property of God.  You could never pay what was due – too expensive.  Jesus brought your purchase price n2 heaven.  Heb. 9:11-14

He has the attributes of God   5-7

    * 7 horns – omnipotence
    * 7 eyes – omniscience
    * Sent out into all the earth – omnipresence

Deity deniers point to days of His flesh

    * Deny omnipotence – Jn. 14:28  Father is greater
    * Deny omniscience – Mt. 24:36  Son doesn’t know time
    * Deny omnipresence – one place at a time

Self-limitation of Jesus Christ   Phil. 2:5-7

    * Frenchman in America who disciplines self to speak only English and do everything American – diet, fashions, music, customs… Any less a Frenchman?
    * In similar way, Christ limited Himself.  But even as a Frenchman would be hard pressed to disguise his accent, so the accent of love is easily discerned in Christ.

Deity deniers point to only half the evidence

    * If I told you that your girlfriend doesn’t love you because she told me so, you would say, “Well, she was mad at me then, but not now”.  I would insist that I know what she told me.  But she had dinner and a movie with you last night and accepted your marriage proposal.  How silly for me to insist she doesn’t love you when I have only ½ the evidence.
    * It is dishonest to insist Jesus isn’t God by pointing only to the days of His flesh.  Let’s also point to Jesus in His glory!  Put both halves together.

He receives the adoration of God   7-14

The Lamb approaches the throne w/o bowing, no throwing down of self, no casting of crowns, no singing, no cover of wing.  This is Very God coming unto Very God.

When the Lamb takes the book all heaven rips loose w/ glorious praise to God.  If Jesus isn’t God, heaven is full of idolaters.  Heaven is as excited about the Lamb as they are about Him who sits on the throne

Every created being falls at the foot of the Lamb and Him who sits upon the throne!  This is where ur2b.

   A little girl had baked the gingerbread man. And after she had put the icing on it and the raisins, buttons and so forth, this little gingerbread man jumped out of the pan and began to run down the street. And she began to chase after him. And he called back, Run, run, as fast as you can, you’ll never catch me, I’m a gingerbread man. And he was right. She couldn’t catch him. And she went home weeping and sorrowful.

   The next day as she was walking down the street, as she passed the bakery, as she looked into the window, there in the case was her gingerbread man smiling at her. And so she went into the bakery and she said to the owner, I want my gingerbread man. He’s there in the window. The baker said, He will cost you ten cents. She said, No, you don’t understand. He’s mine. The baker said, I’m sorry, if you want him, it will cost you ten cents. So she went home and emptied out her piggy bank, got the ten coins, went back to the baker and said, I want now my gingerbread man, as she placed the ten cents down on the counter. He pulled it out of the case and handed it to her and she clasped it tightly onto her chest as she said, Now you are really mine. First of all, I made you and now I have bought you. You’re really mine.

   As Jesus clutches you close, He says, Now you are really Mine. I made you and I bought you. You’re really Mine. He has redeemed us by His blood. c. smith

Yet many understand that man can solve any problem man faces.

Perfectionism teaches that human effort is adequate to cure human evil… Perfectionism is rich in consequences.  The war to end all wars ushered in a century of wars / the war on poverty spent trillions of dollars but left poverty untouched / the war on unhappiness that enriched assorted gurus was accompanied by soaring rates of suicide.  The Humanist Manifesto says that no deity will save us, we must save ourselves…President Clinton misquoted the apostle Paul: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has imagined what we can build.”  The Revenge of Conscience / J. Budziszewaki