Jesus as the Tabernacle (John 1:14)

When it comes to knowing God, having a relationship with Him, we must have a proper explanation of who God is, what He is like, and how He must be approached. God is transcendent and so it follows logically that if man is going to know the truth about Him with any certainty, God must condescend and reveal Himself to man.

There has been no greater revelation of God than when His Son, the eternal second person of the Godhead, became flesh and dwelt among men. Jesus Christ revealed the Father. He explained Him (John 1:18). Through Jesus we have the proper explanation of who God is, what he is like, and how He must be approached.

John 1:14 presents Jesus as the tabernacle, the place where holy God and sinful man could meet in intimate relationship based solely on the initiative and grace of God. The Old Testament tabernacle was the foreshadowing of the coming of the Son of God as a man in order to reveal the Father, redeem sinners, and rule in righteousness.

The tabernacle housed the glory of God because it housed the presence of God. We read that after Moses erected the tabernacle that the glory of God filled it and Moses couldn’t enter it because of the heaviness of the presence of God – “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (Exodus 40:34-35). The same thing happened again when the ark of the covenant was brought into the Temple built by Solomon – “It happened that when the priests came from the holy place [they had set the ark of the covenant in the holy of holies in the Temple (verses 4-8)], the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord” (1 Kings 8:10-11). This glory of God was referred to as the shekinah glory.

So what can we learn from the tabernacle that would be fulfilled in Jesus?

First, the eternal God would become a man – “And the Word became flesh.” Here we see the biblical teaching of the incarnation – a doctrine that is absolutely crucial to our redemption – God became a man in order to live a sinless life and then die a substitutionary death to fulfill His own holy demands so that He could justly save us from His wrath and enable our relationship with Him. God’s wrath against us is removed through our faith in the work of Christ for us and our love for God is generated through our faith in the work of Christ for us. In order to accomplish the work of redemption for us, Christ had to become a man.

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Second, we learn from the tabernacle that God would dwell among men – “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.” The word “dwelt” means “tabernacled or tented.” God became a man and tabernacled among us. He pitched His tent among humanity. The Old Testament tabernacle was where God’s presence was among His people. The tabernacle offered access to God on God’s terms. The tabernacle was the place of sacrifice, the place of cleansing, the place of light, the place of life, the place of intercession, and the place of mercy.

Third, we learn from the tabernacle that the glory of God was revealed there – “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father.” The “we” John referred to was those who received Christ in John 1:12. John was saying, “We, the ones who received Him, saw His glory.”

Glory is from the word “doxan” from which we get the word “doxology.” To see someone’s glory is to see his worth, his honor, his majesty, etc. Those who receive Jesus do so because they see His worth, they see His glory! For instance, after water got sunburned by the glory of Jesus and turned into wine at the wedding in Cana, we read, “This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him” (John 2:11).

The glory of Jesus was not a reflected glory but a radiating glory (Hebrews 1:3). We are created to reflect God’s glory, but Jesus radiates God’s glory – “glory as of the only begotten from the Father.” “Only begotten” means unique, only one of His kind. It does not mean that Christ was created (see Hebrews 1:5). He is God’s only Son. “From the Father” shows that God sent His Son, His only Son whom He loves, to redeem sinners. There is no greater demonstration of love than God sending His only Son whom He loves to live a sinless life and die a sacrificial death to redeem us and restore us.

Fourth, we learn from the tabernacle that God is full of grace and truth – “And the word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Grace is undeserved kindness. While the tabernacle proclaimed that God was full of underserved kindness, Jesus Christ demonstrated it. Truth is absolute rightness. We can say that truth is strict righteousness. Truth is unyielding faithfulness. The tabernacle proclaimed that God was full of truth by proclaiming that access to God had to be on a basis that upheld the righteousness of God and His Law. Jesus Christ demonstrated it.

The kindness of God never nullifies the righteousness of God. Grace and truth are to never be pitted against one another as though one is more important than the other. When God forgives it is only on the basis of the Law upholding work of Christ. Do you see in Jesus that God is full of grace and truth? Do you see the worth of God in the face of Christ?  

The Incarnation: A Crucial Doctrine (John 1:14)

Biblically speaking, what was the purpose of the incarnation? This question is of utmost importance and is not to be trivialized. To misunderstand the purpose of the incarnation is to misunderstand the righteousness of God and the necessity of penal substitution through a pure and sinless sacrifice for the purpose of legal pardon of sinners. When it comes to giving pardons there are only two possibilities: the pardon will either be legal or illegal. In other words the pardon will either uphold the law (legal) or nullify the law (illegal). Of the two kinds of pardons which one do you believe is the kind God gives?

God never gives illegal pardons. God only gives legal pardons. In simple terms, God is righteous and just and will never do anything wrong or unjust. Therefore God cannot and will not illegally pardon. So the question must be asked: “How can God pardon sinners and remain righteous and just in the process?” The right answer to this question will show that the incarnation is a crucial doctrine and that our pardon came at a great cost to God.

The Gospel of John answers how God can pardon sinners and remain righteous and just in the process. The Old Testament sacrificial system with its tabernacle illustrated that God would provide the only law upholding means of pardon. The innocent would have to die in the place of the guilty for pardon to be extended. The sinner’s death penalty for violating God’s Law had to be paid by an innocent substitute. This is called Penal Substitution, meaning penalty substitution.

Could the death penalty for a man really be paid by an animal? Never! That is why the Bible says, “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4). The sinner’s death penalty for violating God’s Law would have to be paid by an innocent man. Therefore the incarnation of Christ was a necessity for penal substitution and legal pardon. The Gospel of John shows Jesus as the fulfillment of the Tabernacle because He was God in flesh come to live a sinless life, die a sacrificial death, and experience a supernatural resurrection so that God could be both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

This was the primary purpose of the incarnation – to make propitiation (legal pardon) for the sins of the people. It would not and could not be an innocent animal that allowed God to give a legal pardon but only an innocent, sinless man. The uncreated Son of God had to become a man to achieve our legal pardon. John said, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Amazing truth – the Son of God on earth as a man! Even more amazing is the reason He was on the earth as a man – “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29)!

According to God’s Word, God could not have pardoned any other way, “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendents of Abraham. Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted” (Hebrews 2:14-18).

Penal substitution is the only way God can legally pardon. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Therefore the incarnation was necessary for the realization of penal substitution (legal pardon) and that is the primary biblical interpretation for the incarnation. If God could have legally pardoned any other way, surely He would have done it!

Our salvation cost God everything! There has never been and never will be a greater demonstration of love than the truth that God sent His only begotten Son into the world as a man to die as a substitute for sinners (John 3:16; Romans 5:8). The incarnation is a precious doctrine; it is a marvelous doctrine; it is a crucial doctrine. No one can be saved apart from pardon based on faith in Jesus. God does not save any other way – there is no other way.

Exchanged Living (Romans 8:12-14)

The natural man does not have the Spirit. The natural man can be either religious or irreligious. Regardless of whether he is religious or not, the natural man does not have the Spirit. It is the religious natural man for which the Bible has the most negative denunciations and against which the severest of warnings are directed. The religious natural man who claims to be saved and claims to be a servant of God only has a form of godliness but has denied its power (2 Timothy 3:1-5). He does not have the Spirit; he is not saved; he cannot properly interpret Scripture; he cannot and will not subject himself to the Law of God; the requirement of the Law is not fulfilled in him; and he cannot please God (Romans 8:4-8).

The Christian does have the Spirit. The Christian doesn’t have a form of godliness that is devoid of the power of godliness. The Christian has a form of godliness and the force of godliness – the Holy Spirit. Because the Christian has the Spirit he receives the things of the Spirit; he sets his mind on the things of the Spirit; he can properly interpret Scripture; he obeys the Scriptures because he loves Christ; the requirement of the Law is being fulfilled in him; and because he is living by faith and not the flesh he can please God.

The Spirit has the Christian (Romans 8:12-17). Here we are getting to what is the all important and logical conclusion of the matter – not only are we indwelt by the Holy Spirit we are owned by the Spirit. When a Christian stops short of this conclusion he may wrongly believe that he has the Spirit and that the Spirit is under his control or that the Spirit is only there as some form of mystical magic genie to solve our problems when we can’t solve them ourselves. However this is a reversal of true Christianity and the purpose of the Spirit’s indwelling us. We don’t have the Spirit so that we can control Him – we have the Spirit so that He can control us!

Many a person has falsely concluded that Christianity is inviting Jesus into ones life. The fallacy of this kind of thinking is that it turns Christianity into a utilitarian religion where Jesus is “added” to ones life for selfish reasons. Some examples of this would be someone “adds” Jesus to his life so that he can have his best life now, or so that he can have the purpose driven life, or so that he can have a fire insurance policy from hell, and all sorts of other wrong and selfish reasons for “adding Christ to ones life.”

Christianity is not inviting Jesus into ones life. Christianity is “Christ, who is our life!” Christianity is not us holding on to our lives and “adding” Jesus to it. Christianity is dying to our life and having it replaced by His life. “I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.” Christianity is substitution not supplementation; it is replacement not redecoration. Christianity is exchanged living!

The sooner we learn that it is the Spirit who gives life and that the flesh profits nothing (John 6:63) – that the flesh cannot add anything of any value to serving God and pleasing God – the sooner we can learn the lesson of Romans 7 – that there is nothing good in us, that is, in our flesh (Romans 7:18). We cannot and dare not serve God in the flesh.

So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh – (Romans 8:12). We don’t owe the flesh anything. The flesh has only brought trouble into our lives. It does not subject itself to the Law of God, it is hostile to God, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. The one who sows to the flesh will from the flesh reap corruption (Galatians 6:8). Instead we are to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts (Romans 13:14).

We are not to coddle the flesh we are to crucify the flesh! “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24). And since that monumental moment when we first died to self and crucified the flesh through identification with Christ our substitute we don’t revert back to believing that our old self is capable of being reformed and being able to serve and please God. No! Instead we die daily and set aside the old self with its evil practices and put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him.

We have no obligation to the flesh – we have no obligation to the old self – we are not to live according to the flesh. We are to no longer be guided by our sinful and selfish desires.

For if you are living according to the flesh, you must die (Romans 8:13). Here we understand that those who are living by the flesh and not by faith are going to face eternal death. We know this because everyone whether saved or not is going to die a physical death except for the saved that are alive at the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. So this death that is warned against in this verse is eternal death and judgment that will happen to those who although they may claim to be saved and claim to be serving God have not crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. They are not living by faith; they are not being guided by the Word of God but instead are leaning on their own understanding and attempting to do the will of God the way that seems best to them. They have not been saved and they must die!

But if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live (Romans 8:13). Here we understand that those who are putting to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit are never going to face eternal death and destruction. Christians do and will face physical death but never eternal death. In these verses we are seeing the differences between living in the flesh and living by faith – between being self-led and Spirit-led. Those who are self-led do not have the Spirit no matter how loudly they proclaim that they do. Genuine Christians do have the Spirit but more than that – the Spirit has genuine Christians. The Spirit of God uses the Word of God to control and guide the Christian. The Christian does not lean on his own understanding but trusts God with all his heart. Yielding to the Spirit’s control means that the deeds of the body are being put to death.

For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God (Romans 8:14). And all who are not being led by the Spirit of God, these are not the sons of God!

Exalted Living (Romans 8:9-11)

Romans 8:5-8 tells us of those who operate in the flesh – in their own strength and wisdom – rather than by faith – in the strength and wisdom of the Holy Spirit. Those who operate in the flesh are “trying” to live the Christian life; trying to please God in their own power through their own ingenuity. It cannot be done! The requirement of the Law is not being fulfilled in those who walk according to the flesh, whether they are religious or irreligious (Romans 8:4). It is impossible because the flesh does not and cannot subject itself to the Law of God (Romans 8:7) and therefore the flesh cannot please God (Romans 8:8).

Since the flesh does not have the power to obey God and please God, then the Christian life cannot be lived by inspiration but only by incarnation. The Christian life can only be lived by the indwelling Christ through the indwelling Holy Spirit. The flesh may wrongly believe that it has the ability to obey and please God, but it doesn’t! Christianity is not a reformed life but a replaced life. “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20).

Those in the flesh can only live by inspiration in their own power and are certain to fail in their attempts to obey God and please God. It is impossible that they can succeed – if they could then Christ died needlessly! Those in the flesh are excluded from being able to fulfill the requirement of the law and from being able to please God – they are excluded from exalted living. Only those in the Spirit can live the exalted life and that life is lived by faith and not in the power of the flesh. Those in whom the Spirit of God dwells and who by faith are guided by the Word of God will experience three aspects of the exalted life.

The extraordinary life - Romans 8:9 – those in the Spirit; in whom the Spirit of God dwells are able to live the exalted life because Jesus is able to live His life in and through them. Those in the Spirit live the exalted life because they are in the process of living the extraordinary life (Galatians 2:20). Anyone who is not living the extraordinary life cannot live the exalted life and does not belong to Christ.

The exchanged life - Romans 8:10 – here we see that the essence of Christianity is the exchanged life – “If Christ is in you”. Colossians 3:3-4 gives us a clearer understanding of this verse showing that the essence of Christianity is the exchanged life – “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”

Galatians 2:20 also gives more clarity to this verse so that we can understand what is meant by “though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.” “Though the body is dead because of sin” corresponds to “It is no longer I who live.” “Yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness” corresponds to “But Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” The essence of Christianity is the exchanged life. It is the replaced life and not the reformed life. Don’t forget that Jesus warned of the extreme dangers of having a reformed life but not a replaced life (Matthew 12:43-45).

The expectant life - Romans 8:11 – to get clarity and understanding about this verse we go back to Colossians 3:3-4 – “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” The Christian is sealed by the Holy Spirit who was given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1:14). Our resurrection from the dead is guaranteed by the indwelling Holy Spirit.

We don’t have the power in and of ourselves to live the Christian life and neither do we have the power to raise ourselves from the dead. The Christian life is by faith from start to finish! The Christian life is by incarnation – “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27) and not by inspiration.

Can you imagine someone in the flesh getting inspired to raise himself from the dead? No – because he doesn’t have that capability! Neither does the man in the flesh have the capability of living the exalted life – it can only come by the exchanged life which is a result of true and saving faith in Jesus Christ. No one who wants to keep control of his own life has understood the gospel or responded properly to Jesus Christ. If Christ isn’t your Lord – if the government of your life doesn’t rest on His shoulders – then there has not been an exchanged life and neither can there be an experience of the exalted life which only comes by faith in the Son of God.
We can’t live the God-pleasing life; He never said we could; He can and He always said He would. We don’t have to try – we have to trust – hallelujah! Christians have the Spirit and can therefore live the exchanged life which will translate into the exalted life. The Christian will be sanctified because he no longer lives for himself but for Him who died on his behalf

Imputation

After having established the truth of justification by faith, the apostle moved into his discussion on the blessings of that justification: that we have peace with God; access to God; we exult in the hope of the glory of God; we have assurance of God’s love for us; we have assurance of final salvation; and we exult in God Himself through Jesus Christ our Lord.

But what we may not realize and may not have stopped to consider is how can the sinless life, sacrificial death, and supernatural resurrection of one Man bring about justification for as many as have faith in Him. It may seem that under penal-substitution one Man could only die for and save one man. Why isn’t there a one for one ratio in salvation with each sinner needing his or her own savior who couldn’t be anyone else’s savior? How is it that Jesus can be the Savior of innumerable souls and not just the Savior of one individual?

Actually the answer to that question is of utmost importance and is what the apostle Paul was establishing in Romans 5:12-21 – the basis of justification through imputation. The basis of our justification through one Man is imputation through headship.

The first man, Adam, was given headship over the human race. All men descend from him. Even Eve had Adam as her origin. This means that Adam was created first; that Adam by virtue of the created order was the head of the race; and therefore Adam was the federal representative for all men. This made Adam responsible for all men and that whatever Adam became all men would become by the very law of nature in procreation – each will reproduce “after its kind.”

The fall of man into sin changed man’s nature to that of a sinner and therefore all men born into the world through the agency of a human father are born with a sin nature. In the fall of man it was Eve who sinned first and then Adam. However, we read that sin and death entered through Adam and not Eve because Adam was the head of the race and responsible for it.

So the consequences of the fall into sin was that death spread to all men because all sinned in and with Adam and all receive a sin nature from Adam who is our representative head. All who have an earthly father have a sin nature because of the imputation of the guilt of one man – Adam. This is the reason for the virgin conception of Christ. God bypassed the necessary imputation of the sin nature of Adam to Christ by Christ not having an earthly father. Although Mary had a sin nature and was a sinner, the woman is not the head of the race and the sin nature is not imputed because of her but because of the man. Therefore, because of the virgin conception of Christ, He was not born with a sin nature.

To understand this better let’s consider he angels. The angels don’t procreate. Their full number was created when God created the angels and there aren’t any being born and there aren’t any more being made. So no – you’ll never be an angel! The angels do not have a federal head or representative – when Satan fell he didn’t cause the fall of all the angels and his sin was not imputed to any other angel. The other angels that fell, fell on their own and each fell from a pure and perfect state into sin. Since there was no imputation of sin from one head angel neither can there be the imputation of righteousness from one savior for angels – if they were to be saved each would have to have a different savior – and that is not going to happen!

It is on the basis of federal headship that not only can one man be responsible for the fall and sin nature of all men but that one Man can also be responsible for the salvation and rescue of innumerable souls and not just a one to one ratio. The last Adam, Jesus Christ was born of a virgin so that the sin nature of Adam was not imputed to Him. He lived a sinless life in perfect obedience to God which qualified Him to lay down His life in one full and final act of obedience – His obedience to the point of death, even death on a cross, as a substitute or sacrifice because of our transgressions. Our sin was imputed to Him so that He could pay our debt. The Lord Jesus experienced a supernatural resurrection because of His innocence and because the death that He died was not His own but for others. It is on this basis and this basis alone that His righteousness can be imputed to those who have faith in Him – He was raised for our justification.

As the last Adam, Christ is the federal head of the redeemed race and all who are in Christ will be made alive! This is how one Man can save so many!

The Purpose of the Incarnation...The Real Purpose of Christmas

This is a repost of The Purpose of the Incarnation which I first posted on July 10, 2008. I felt the necessity to repost this at this time being we are in the Christmas season and particulary because of the trivialization, misinterpretation, and misrepresentation by many in our day concerning the true purpose of Christmas. Many in our day are reducing the love of God as found in His sending of His only Son to some form of "warm fuzzies" and are minimizing the purpose of our Lord taking on flesh and blood in order to live a perfect life by faith and then to die in the place of sinners in order for God to justly save sinners. So here it is:

Biblically speaking, what was the purpose of the incarnation? This question is of utmost importance and is not to be trivialized. To misunderstand the purpose of the incarnation is to misunderstand the righteousness of God and the necessity of penal substitution through a pure and sinless sacrifice for the purpose of God legally declaring the unjust, just, while God remains just. In simple terms (not trivial), God is just (right) and always will be and He will not violate who He is. Therefore God cannot and will not arbitrarily declare an unjust creature, just, without there being an actual legal transaction securing both the justness of God and the justness of the unjust. There has to be an imputation of the justness of a just substitute to the unjust or else God will not declare him or her to be so.

Therefore the incarnation was a necessity for penal substitution, for atonement! This was the primary purpose of the incarnation – to make propitiation for the sins of the people. I will establish this biblically but first I want to look at a few examples of misinterpreting and trivializing the incarnation.

Probably the most famous (should be infamous) for his misinterpretation of the incarnation and atonement would be Charles Finney. Concerning Christ and the atonement Finney said, “He can not plead as our Advocate that He has paid our debt, in such a sense that He can demand our discharge on the ground of justice. He has not paid our debt in such a sense that we do not still owe it. He has not atoned for our sins in such a sense that we might not still be justly punished for them. Indeed, such a thing is impossible and absurd. One being can not suffer for another in such a sense as to remove the guilt of that other. He may suffer for another's guilt in such a sense that it will be safe to forgive the sinner, for whom the suffering has been endured; but the suffering of the substitute can never, in the least degree, diminish the intrinsic guilt of the criminal. Our Advocate may urge that He has borne such suffering for us to honor the law that we had dishonored, that now it is safe to extend mercy to us; but He never can demand our discharge on the ground that we do not deserve to be punished. The fact of our intrinsic guilt remains, and must forever remain; and our forgiveness is just as much an act of sovereign mercy, as if Christ had never died for us” (Charles Finney, Christ Our Advocate, VI. What His plea in behalf of sinners is, Number 7).

So according to Finney man could have been forgiven based on the mercy of God alone and apart from the incarnation – “Our forgiveness is just as much an act of sovereign mercy, as if Christ had never died for us.”

Since Anselm (1033-1109) most of the Church has understood Christ's death in forensic, i.e., legal categories. In Cur Deus Homo, Anselm argued that God having willed to redeem us, he could so in no other way than by the incarnation.

Not so, however, for the Pelagians. In their scheme, it has been considered unjust for Christ to have suffered vicariously for sinners. How can one righteous person suffer for others, especially the unrighteous? This was Pelagius' argument and has been followed in more Modern times by Hugo Grotius (1583-1645) and Charles Grandison Finney (1792-1875).

Hugo Grotius was the major proponent of the governmental theory of the atonement. He trained as a lawyer rather than a clergyman. Following closely in his footsteps in the nineteenth century was another lawyer and proponent of the governmental theory of atonement, Charles Finney. According to the governmental theory of atonement, the purpose of Christ’s death was not to satisfy the demands of God’s just nature so that He might be able to do what He otherwise could not have done, namely, forgive sins. The governmental theory of atonement separates the person of God from the government of God so that sin is not a violation of God’s person but of His laws. However the two cannot be separated and to violate God’s laws is to violate God’s nature, His person.

Another example of misinterpreting and trivializing the incarnation is seen in writings of many in the postmodern movements of our day. Such as Ron Martoia in his book Morph. Seeking to justify being like the world to win the world (cultural relevance), the incarnation is grossly misinterpreted by Martoia as God’s desire to be culturally relevant. He says, “The quintessential example of genius intersection is, of course, the incarnation: God’s presence, voice, and message piercing and penetrating 1C culture. As we simply observe the potency of the incarnation, several things come to mind. God sent Jesus as a person. God could have sent the message packaged any number of ways. He didn’t choose a CD player to herald the good news, a Web page that automatically pops up every time someone logs on, or an MP3 download into our ear canal. The fact that he sent a person bespeaks God’s desire to be relevant, understandable, approachable, and relational (Ron Martoia, Morph, Group Publishing, 2003, pg. 17).

Could God have redeemed any other way? According to Martoia, “God could have sent the message packaged any number of ways.”

Did God send Jesus for the purpose of cultural relevance? According to Martoia, “The fact that he sent a person bespeaks God’s desire to be relevant, understandable, approachable, and relational.”

But according to God’s Word God could not have redeemed any other way, “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendents of Abraham. Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted” (Hebrews 2:14-18).

Penal substitution is the only way God can forgive and remain just. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Therefore the incarnation was necessary for the realization of penal substitution and that is the primary biblical interpretation for the incarnation. If God could have redeemed any other way, surely He would have done it! But because there was no other way – what a demonstration of the love of God in penal substitution – “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Content of a Minister's Message

Every minister ought to have credentials that verify that his ministry is not of man but of God. As the apostle Paul told the Galatians, “Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead)” (Galatians 1:1). The credentials that ought to be in every minister’s life are not to be some ordination certificate or letters of commendation or the number of referrals he can list on his resume. The credentials of a minister’s mission are to be that he is a bond-servant of Christ Jesus; that he has been called, authorized, and sent by God; and that he has given his life over to the gospel of God.

Paul, after introducing himself and setting forth the credentials for a minister’s mission, gave the content of the minister’s message. Not only should the minister of the Lord Jesus Christ not be sent from men nor through the agency of man, his message also should not be in the wisdom of man nor should it have its origin in man. The minister must speak God’s gospel and not some man-centered, self-help, human-needs approach gospel which alters the content of the message and corrupts the Word of God.

We now turn our attention to the content of the minister’s message – the gospel of God (Romans 1:2-4).

The promise of the gospel – its origin (1:2)

The gospel is God’s gospel; it doesn’t originate with man and it isn’t an afterthought with God. The gospel is eternal and therefore has as its origin God. God promised His gospel before He ever created the world and then communicated that promise beforehand through His prophets. As Martin Luther put it, “This proves that God’s counsel of salvation was foreordained in detail before it was carried into effect. So all glory for this doctrine must be ascribed to God and none to our merits and efforts; for before we ever existed, it was already ordained” (Commentary on Romans, page 34).

When writing to Titus concerning the origin of the gospel, its eternality, and that God communicated the promise of the gospel beforehand through His prophets, Paul wrote, “In the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago [literally before times eternal], but at the proper time manifested, even His word, in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior” (Titus 1:2-3).

Since the gospel has as its origin God, since it is eternal, and since it has been promised beforehand through God’s prophets, then doesn’t it make sense that the gospel is not to be tampered with? That is why Paul told Titus, “In the proclamation [of the gospel] with which I was entrusted.” No one has the right to alter the content of God’s gospel and if they do they can expect the certain and terrifying prospect of eternal damnation (Galatians 1:8).

The salvation of the sinner and the existence of the Christian religion owes its existence neither to blind chance nor to fate, but to the divine predetermined counsel, according to which it had to be fulfilled. This means that those who are open-theists are in extreme error and know not either God or His Word.

Open-theism takes on many forms but in essence it says that God doesn’t know everything. Its reasoning would say that God cannot determine the future so when God’s plan "A" fails then God must resort to plan "B". God doesn’t have a plan "B"! God hasn’t changed His plans nor made a revision to His strategy. God promised His gospel beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures.

The gospel did not originate with Paul and it does not originate with any other man and therefore the gospel we preach had better be the gospel that is found in the holy Scriptures. The Old Testament prophesied the gospel and it was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

The Person of the gospel – its Object (1:3-4) – the Lord Jesus Christ

Concerning His Son (1:3a). The gospel isn’t about you and it isn’t about me; the gospel is about Jesus Christ the Son of God. The word gospel is euangelion and it means "good news". There is no good news about us; only bad news. But there is good news about the Son of God and that good news is for us and not about us.

The humanity of God’s Son (1:3b)
His incarnation – Mary was a descendant of David
His inheritance – David’s throne – Joseph was a descendant of David
His innocence – he took on flesh and blood but never sinned

The divinity of God’s Son (1:4)
Made known publicly through the resurrection from the dead (1:4a)
Demonstrated as totally holy and without sin through the Holy Spirit (1:4b)
Exalted as Lord (1:4c)

This is good news indeed! As man, Jesus lived a perfect life of obedience through faith, facing all the sufferings of humanity, being tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin, laid down His life as a sacrifice for sinners, and became for all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation. As God, Jesus is worthy of worship and loving and loyal obedience.

This gospel is the only way that God can forgive sinners while He remains just and the only way that He can redeem men without causing them to become idolaters by worshiping someone who is not God.

A Good Soldier of Christ Jesus...Ordination Service for Johnny Johnson

Being ordained into the gospel ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ is both a great privilege and great responsibility. It is a great privilege in that the Lord Himself is the one who chooses and calls according to His own purpose and grace. It is a great responsibility in that the Lord requires certain character qualifications for a man to be considered eligible to hold the office of pastor or elder and the Lord Himself will hold each teacher of God’s holy Word to a higher standard of judgment.

I pity the man who has run to obtain this office but hasn’t been either called by God or sent by God. I also pity the man who thinks that being a pastor will be easy and that professed believers will automatically love him. Being a pastor entails many serious responsibilities. The pastor must feed God’s people, lead God’s people, discipline God’s people, and guard God’s people. The pastor is to be a good soldier of Christ Jesus especially as it pertains to his responsibilities of guarding the faith and guarding the flock, both of which require warring against the enemies of God’s people.

First and Second Timothy and Titus are pastoral letters. In other words they are God’s divinely inspired accounts of what He expects of pastors and therefore what His church is to expect of their pastors. In 2 Timothy 2:1-7 we see seven aspects of how God expects the pastor to be a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

A good soldier of Christ Jesus is to be strong in grace (1) – “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” Johnny, you are to be strengthened inwardly in order to accomplish the ministry that the Lord has called you to. He is not calling you to be popular but to be His spokesman and you will find your strength to do that in His grace. The ministry is no place for cowards who operate under the fear of man rather than the fear of God. You will be called on by the Lord to speak His truth no matter the consequences. God labors with you through His grace and His grace is sufficient. If everyone else deserts you He will stand with you and strengthen you. The ability to study, understand, and teach the Word of God is a gift of God’s grace. “Able to teach” is one of God’s requirements for the pastor (1Timothy 3:2) and in order to teach you must be able to learn and to be able to learn you must study God’s Word. It is through studying the Word of God that you learn the great doctrines of grace and guard against teaching and preaching some form of perversion of God’s grace. Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

A good soldier of Christ Jesus is to be sound in doctrine (2) – “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” Paul had delivered the sound doctrine with which he was entrusted to Timothy and expected Timothy to guard and deliver sound doctrine to others who would be trustworthy in delivering it on to others. It is our responsibility to guard the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints and then invest it as a trust in the lives of others who will do the same with others. It is important as a pastor that you get what you preach from the Word of God and not from the ideas and philosophies of men. You are not to attempt to be relevant by speaking as from the world – this is a primary mark of the many false prophets – but you are to preach the Word because it is relevant to every generation in every culture and it is sufficient – it is enough! Be sound in doctrine!

A good soldier of Christ Jesus is to be shameless in suffering (3) – “Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” Ours is a day of upside down theology. The false gospel of health, wealth, and prosperity has been so incorporated into modern theology until the man of God who suffers for the sake of righteousness is considered an ungodly heretic and ungodly heretics who are popular, powerful, rich, and highly influential are well spoken of. You will not be popular if you are God’s spokesman but you will be persecuted for it. However, you will find yourself in good company when this happens. This happened to the prophets, to the apostles, and even to our Lord Jesus Christ. Now you see why you are to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. As you are sound in doctrine you will be persecuted and spoken evil of for the sake of righteousness but the Lord’s grace will allow you to be shameless in suffering. Paul told Timothy, “Do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God.” Be shameless in suffering!

A good soldier of Christ Jesus is to be separated in service (4a) – “No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life….” Johnny, the Lord is calling you into active service as His soldier. The worries of the world are not to be your concern but the war of the Lord is to be. You must not get distracted by that which is really insignificant. The Lord hasn’t called you to fight the world’s global giants and He hasn’t called you to be the prince of P.E.A.C.E. Curing AIDS or solving world hunger or educating the poor or any other socialist activity is not your calling. Men can receive these benefits and still die and go to hell without Christ as their King. Your calling is to stand against the schemes of the devil and battle against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. You are to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints and destroy speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. Only the truth of the gospel is significant for it alone is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes. Leave the other stuff to men like Rick Warren – you preach the gospel and do not be entangled in the affairs of everyday life. Be separated in service!

A good soldier of Christ Jesus is to be singular in devotion (4b) – “…so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.” You are to please the Lord and not yourself or anyone else. What does it matter if you please yourself or everyone else and the Lord is not pleased? The Lord deserves your honor, your affection, and your obedience for all He has done for you. His own courage and singular devotion on the battlefield is unparalleled. He stayed the course and went before you to win your freedom and eternal life. Just as Jesus was singularly devoted to His Father’s will so you are to be singularly devoted to the will of Jesus Christ. Your greatest desire should be to hear your King say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” And He will if you always seek to please Him and Him alone. Every time you preach you are to remember whose presence you are in and for whom you speak. Paul told Timothy, “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word” (2 Timothy 4:1-2). Wanting to please the Lord Jesus Christ will set you free from worrying about what others think of your or the message. Be singular in devotion!

A good soldier of Christ Jesus is to be sensitive to the rules (5) – “Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.” Regardless of what popular men may say you are not to discover the purpose of God and then strategize how to fulfill it. You do not have either the ability or the luxury of leaning on your own understanding when it comes to doing the will of God. The will of God has to be done the way of God or else you have violated the rules. The false prophets are marked by attempting to do God’s will their way instead of His way. Jesus will say to them on that day, “Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness,” because they do not do the will of His Father who is in heaven. In Matthew 7 it is as clear as day that the false prophets attempted to do ministry in the name of the Lord Jesus but they were not sensitive to the rules. Rather, they leaned on their own understanding and took shortcuts. There are no shortcuts to doing the will of God. Shortcuts are not according to the rules. Even the Lord Jesus said that He did nothing on His own initiative – and you are not to do it either. God’s word is sufficient and He will show you His ways so that you can accomplish His will. Be sensitive to the rules!

A good soldier of Christ Jesus is to be steadfast in labor (6) – “The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops.” The word “hard-working” comes from a Greek word that means to toil intensely, to sweat and strain to the point of exhaustion. Let no man deceive you – the ministry isn’t a playground it is a battleground. The farmer knows that farming isn’t a playground but it is a battleground. A farmer has to work and he has to stay hard at it. If you leave a field to itself it will produce mostly weeds. If you leave the church unattended it will produce weeds that will eventually overtake the wheat. Without being steadfast in labor there will be no harvest of righteousness. Just like the farmer you must be patient, continually working and weeding, waiting for the harvest. The spiritual growth of the people of God takes time and hard-work. We live in a day of instant everything. Men want instant rewards without the hard-work. Do the hard-work – you will receive the reward – not only of seeing God’s children grow in grace but also of hearing the Lord say, “Well done!” Be steadfast in labor!

“Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything” (7).

The Purpose of the Incarnation

Biblically speaking, what was the purpose of the incarnation? This question is of utmost importance and is not to be trivialized. To misunderstand the purpose of the incarnation is to misunderstand the righteousness of God and the necessity of penal substitution through a pure and sinless sacrifice for the purpose of God legally declaring the unjust, just, while God remains just. In simple terms (not trivial), God is just (right) and always will be and He will not violate who He is. Therefore God cannot and will not arbitrarily declare an unjust creature, just, without there being an actual legal transaction securing both the justness of God and the justness of the unjust. There has to be an imputation of the justness of a just substitute to the unjust or else God will not declare him or her to be so.

Therefore the incarnation was a necessity for penal substitution, for atonement! This was the primary purpose of the incarnation – to make propitiation for the sins of the people. I will establish this biblically but first I want to look at a few examples of misinterpreting and trivializing the incarnation.

Probably the most famous (should be infamous) for his misinterpretation of the incarnation and atonement would be Charles Finney. Concerning Christ and the atonement Finney said, “He can not plead as our Advocate that He has paid our debt, in such a sense that He can demand our discharge on the ground of justice. He has not paid our debt in such a sense that we do not still owe it. He has not atoned for our sins in such a sense that we might not still be justly punished for them. Indeed, such a thing is impossible and absurd. One being can not suffer for another in such a sense as to remove the guilt of that other. He may suffer for another's guilt in such a sense that it will be safe to forgive the sinner, for whom the suffering has been endured; but the suffering of the substitute can never, in the least degree, diminish the intrinsic guilt of the criminal. Our Advocate may urge that He has borne such suffering for us to honor the law that we had dishonored, that now it is safe to extend mercy to us; but He never can demand our discharge on the ground that we do not deserve to be punished. The fact of our intrinsic guilt remains, and must forever remain; and our forgiveness is just as much an act of sovereign mercy, as if Christ had never died for us” (Charles Finney, Christ Our Advocate, VI. What His plea in behalf of sinners is, Number 7).

So according to Finney man could have been forgiven based on the mercy of God alone and apart from the incarnation – “Our forgiveness is just as much an act of sovereign mercy, as if Christ had never died for us.”

Since Anselm (1033-1109) most of the Church has understood Christ's death in forensic, i.e., legal categories. In Cur Deus Homo, Anselm argued that God having willed to redeem us, he could so in no other way than by the incarnation.

Not so, however, for the Pelagians. In their scheme, it has been considered unjust for Christ to have suffered vicariously for sinners. How can one righteous person suffer for others, especially the unrighteous? This was Pelagius' argument and has been followed in more Modern times by Hugo Grotius (1583-1645) and Charles Grandison Finney (1792-1875).

Hugo Grotius was the major proponent of the governmental theory of the atonement. He trained as a lawyer rather than a clergyman. Following closely in his footsteps in the nineteenth century was another lawyer and proponent of the governmental theory of atonement, Charles Finney. According to the governmental theory of atonement, the purpose of Christ’s death was not to satisfy the demands of God’s just nature so that He might be able to do what He otherwise could not have done, namely, forgive sins. The governmental theory of atonement separates the person of God from the government of God so that sin is not a violation of God’s person but of His laws. However the two cannot be separated and to violate God’s laws is to violate God’s nature, His person.

Another example of misinterpreting and trivializing the incarnation is seen in writings of many in the postmodern movements of our day. Such as Ron Martoia in his book Morph. Seeking to justify being like the world to win the world (cultural relevance), the incarnation is grossly misinterpreted by Martoia as God’s desire to be culturally relevant. He says, “The quintessential example of genius intersection is, of course, the incarnation: God’s presence, voice, and message piercing and penetrating 1C culture. As we simply observe the potency of the incarnation, several things come to mind. God sent Jesus as a person. God could have sent the message packaged any number of ways. He didn’t choose a CD player to herald the good news, a Web page that automatically pops up every time someone logs on, or an MP3 download into our ear canal. The fact that he sent a person bespeaks God’s desire to be relevant, understandable, approachable, and relational (Ron Martoia, Morph, Group Publishing, 2003, pg. 17).

Could God have redeemed any other way? According to Martoia, “God could have sent the message packaged any number of ways.”

Did God send Jesus for the purpose of cultural relevance? According to Martoia, “The fact that he sent a person bespeaks God’s desire to be relevant, understandable, approachable, and relational.”

But according to God’s Word God could not have redeemed any other way, “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendents of Abraham. Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted” (Hebrews 2:14-18).

Penal substitution is the only way God can forgive and remain just. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Therefore the incarnation was necessary for the realization of penal substitution and that is the primary biblical interpretation for the incarnation. If God could have redeemed any other way, surely He would have done it! But because there was no other way – what a demonstration of the love of God in penal substitution – “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).