MORE ATTRIBUTES OF CHRIST REVEALING HIM AS GOD

MORE ATTRIBUTES OF CHRIST REVEALING HIM AS GOD

Christ is UNCHANGEABLE

• Heb. 1:10-12 "And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail."
• Heb. 13:8 "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever."

Problem: Did He not become man?

- only a change of position, not in His person.

 Christ is OMNIPRESENT

• Matt. 18:20 "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
• Matt. 28:20 "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."
• Col. 3:11 "Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all."

(John 3:13 involves a serious textual problem and should not be used as a proof text)

Problem: Did His body become omnipresent? "ascended up to heaven" This is an emphatic claim to deity, as Christ here refers to Proverbs 30:4, and appropriates it as applying uniquely to Himself, thus claiming to be the only begotten Son of God. Not even David had yet “ascended into the heavens” (Acts 2:34), but Jesus had descended from heaven (note also John 3:31), and would soon ascend back to heaven (John 20:17) and even now (by virtue of the indissoluble union of the triune Godhead) was still “in heaven.”

Christ is OMNISCIENT

John 2:24-25 with Jer. 17:9-10 "But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man."

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings."

John 6:64 "But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him."

John 16:30 "Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God."

Col. 2:3 "In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

Rev. 2:2, 9, 13; Rev. 3:1, 8, 15 "I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:" etc.

         Examples: Matt. 17:24-27 "And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute? He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers? Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free. Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee."

         Luke 5:22 "But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts?"

         John 1:48 "Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee."

         John 4:16-19 "Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet."

         John 21:6 "And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes."

 

Problem: Was not Christ's Knowledge limited? How can one unknow something unless He is God!

Examples: Mark 11:13 "And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet."

Mark 13:32 "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." How can a person unknow something unless He is God.

Matt. 24:36 "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only."

Matt. 26:39 "And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt."

Answer: Explained by the Kenosis

         Isa. 50:4-5 "The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back."

         John 5:20 "For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth: and he will show him greater works than these, that ye may marvel."

         John 8:26, 28, 38 "I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him."
"Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things."
"I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father."

         John 12:49 "For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak."

         John 14:24 "He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me."

         John 15:15 "Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you."

(John 6:5-6 is obviously not an example of Christ's limited knowledge.) "When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do."

 

Christ is OMNIPOTENT

         John 5:19b "....The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise."

         Phil. 3:20-21 "For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself."

         Rev. 1:8 with 22:12-13 for identification "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."
"And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last."

Examples: Luke 4:39 "And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose and ministered unto them."

         Matt. 8:26-27 "And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. But the men marveled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!"

         Mark 5:12-13 "And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea."

         Luke 7:14-15 "And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother."

         John 2:19-22 "Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said."

 

Problem: How explain Mark 6:5? These men in Nazareth were without the desire to know the will of God and thereby do it, therefore their central motive of life was wrong. Instead of wanting to do the will of God, they wanted to please themselves. Consequently they were blinded in their outlook, and therefore were unbelieving.
 Finally, then, what was the effect of their unbelief? Here we face at once the mystery, marvel, wonder, and solemnity of the whole meditation. "He could there do no mighty work." That is the paralysis of omnipotence. Why could He do no mighty work there? Because God was excluded from the central desire and motive of life and as a result the men were degraded, when the light of His wisdom and His works flashed upon them, they loved the darkness, and hurried back into it, refusing the light, and so God was shut out anew. "He could there do no mighty work."

 Christ is PERFECT - recall meaning of "perfect"

        Col. 1:19 ASV "For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell;"

        Col. 2:9-10 "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:"

 Christ is INFINITE

         John 10:28 "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand."

         Eph. 3:8 "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;"

         Col. 2:3 "In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

Christ is INCOMPREHENSIBLE

         Matt. 11:27 "All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him."
         Eph. 3:18 "May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height."
         Eph. 3:19 "And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God."
Problem- How then can we "know" Christ? (John 17:3) "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."

The mission of the Christ was that of bringing men to such knowledge of God as should constrain them to the attitude of worship, and give them age-abiding life.