Firm Foundation: Part 9

Jesus Christ:  God’s Only Son, Our Lord...

Let's look a little closer at our belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, our Lord. God the Father is known to us through His Son. In Matthew 11:27 Jesus says,

“All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

In other words the Father and Son are uniquely inseparable. To know the Father is to know Him as He is revealed to us through the Son.

The Son does the Father’s will:  

“Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work” (John 4:34).  

“ Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me” (John 10:25).

We believe the Son is equal to the Father as seen in John 5:18:

“This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.”

When Peter proclaims, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16), Jesus affirms his conviction and promises that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church that holds to this doctrine.

“Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 16:16-17)

Paul, being inspired by the Holy Spirit, tells us that there are three things about Jesus that we affirm when we declare our belief in and loyalty to Jesus Christ:

He is Son, Christ, and Lord.

“God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:9)

Philippians 2:9-11 teaches us that one day all worldly powers and authorities will speak the name of Jesus and will confess Jesus Christ as Lord:  

“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

To confess Jesus Christ as Lord means to acknowledge Him as the one who shares the identity of Israel’s God … YHWH (Yahweh). Jesus is revealed as the one who bears that name. To confess Jesus as Lord is to set him above all other loyalties. It is to make a universal claim. If Jesus truly shares the identity of YHWH, then He is the hidden truth of creation, of history, and of every human life.

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:15-17)

We confess Him as OUR Lord only because we recognize Him as THE Lord.

Proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord is not to be taken lightly. It’s a declaration that connects us to the Most High through His Son, Jesus Christ. This is why revering the name of Jesus is so important, why understanding His relationship to the Father is critical and why our confession must be reflected in the transformation taking place in our lives through the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2).

The Name of Jesus:  how PRECIOUS, how HOLY, how POWERFUL is His name!

The name above all names. The name of Jesus Christ the King!