October 13

“We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens” (Hebrews 8:1).

The terrible thing that has happened is that many Christians today seem to think that they can take the things of God on the one hand, and yet live their lives as they wish, on the other. Perhaps they might give up obnoxious social habits, such as smoking or drinking or swearing but, in all other respects, they remain the same as they were beforehand, with a bit of window dressing. They remain unaffected by the death of Christ in their own lives.

Christians must understand this Jesus Christ with Whom they are dealing; they still relate to Him as the gospel reveals Him when He lived in this world; sweet, lovely, kind, full of mercy, grace and truth; a brother of man. But one of the purposes of His human manifestation was to show us how we should live; He left behind the example of the life that man was made to live and we too, are called to live as He lived in this world.

But He is no longer Jesus the Son of Man; He is Christ Jesus, the Lord of Glory, seated upon the throne and to Him has been given all authority, glory and an everlasting kingdom that all nations, races and people should serve Him (Daniel 7:14). He is no longer the “One Who Was”, the Son of Man, but the “One Who Is”, the second person of the Godhead, seated upon the throne of grace, having taken up once more the majesty and power and glory of the Almighty God which He had laid aside for the duration of His earthly sojourn.

When He first came, He read, in the synagogue, from Isaiah’s Messianic prophecy, thus announcing His task at that time in the following terms;

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to proclaim the favourable year of the Lord…….” (Luke 4:18-19). Then He closed the book mid-verse.

During His life on earth, Jesus did all that was written in this portion of the scripture; but He is not doing that now. That “favourable year of the Lord” is over; it ushered in the grace of God and showed us how we are meant to live. As a result, our faith is no longer based upon external religious observations; now our faith rests on the Holy Spirit purifying us in the inward man, the one who is seen only by God. Christ demonstrated the life that we should live and the Holy Spirit has been sent to help us live it, if we consent and submit.

But in this dispensation the task of Jesus is that of God the Son, no longer the son of man, as He moves on to the next passage of Isaiah’s prophecy; “to proclaim the day of vengeance of our God” (Isaiah 61:2).

Jesus Christ is now no longer the ideal human person, the man as God meant man to be; He is Christ Jesus, the great judge of all the world, the representative of the Godhead, the One with whom we have to do (Hebrews 4:13). This is the “One Who Is”, not that “One Who Was”, who has gone and will not come back; it is Christ the judge, the “One Who Will Be”, who is coming and who will return to demand accountability from all those called by His name.

We Christians must see Christ in a different light, not as He was but as He truly is; God, King, Judge, Lord of Glory!