Knowing the one who is beyond knowledge

Why do we need so many titles to explain Jesus? The NT uses more than 100 titles for Him. Why? Is it because in Jesus are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3)? Is it because in Jesus resides all the fullness of Deity in bodily form (Colossians 2:9)? Understanding just the love of Christ, its width and length; height and depth, is to try to grasp something that is ultimately beyond knowledge (Ephesians 3:18-19). Can His love be known and experienced? Yes. But its fullness cannot be grasped!

On this Christmas day, take time to worshipfully reflect on the complexity of the one called Jesus. His description is accessible, personal and yet infinite. He is all we need and more.  

Begin with these words from Hebrews 1:1-3: 

“1 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”

Advocate (1 John 2:1)
Almighty (Rev. 1:8; Mt. 28:1
Alpha and Omega (Rev. 1:8; 22:13)
Amen (Rev. 3:14)
Apostle (Heb. 3:1)
Atoning Sacrifice for our Sins (1 John 2:2)
Author of Life (Acts 3:15)
Author and finisher of our Faith (Heb. 12:2)
Author of Salvation (Heb. 2:10)
Beginning and End (Rev. 22:13)
Bread of God (John 6:33)
Bread of Life (John 6:35; 6:4
Bridegroom (Mt. 9:15)
Capstone (Acts 4:11; 1 Pet. 2:7)
Chief Cornerstone (Eph. 2:20)
Chief Shepherd (1 Pet. 5:4)
Christ (1 John 2:22)
Deliverer (Rom. 11:26)
Eternal Life (1 John 1:2; 5:20)
Everlasting Father (Isa. 9:6)                                                                                                                            Faithful and True (Rev. 19:11)
Faithful Witness (Rev. 1:5)
Faithful and True Witness (Rev. 3:14)
First and Last (Rev. 1:17; 2:8; 22:13)
Firstborn From the Dead (Rev. 1:5)
Firstborn over all creation (Col. 1:15)
Gate (John 10:9)
God (John 1:1, 14; 20:28; Heb. 1:8; Rom. 9:5)
Good Shepherd (John 10:11,14)                                                                                                                       Great God (Titus 2:13)
Great Shepherd (Heb. 13:20)
Great High Priest (Heb. 4:14)
Head of the Church (Eph. 1:22; 4:15; 5:23)
Heir of all things (Heb. 1:2)
High Priest (Heb. 2:17; 3:1)
Holy and True (Rev. 3:7)
Holy One (Acts 3:14)
Hope (1 Tim. 1:1)
Hope of Glory (Col. 1:27)
Horn of Salvation (Luke 1:69)
I Am (John 8:5
Image of God (2 Cor. 4:4)
Immanuel (Mt. 1:23)
Judge of the living and the dead (Acts 10:42)
King of Israel (John 1:49)
King of the Jews (Mt. 27:11)
King of kings (Rev. 19:16)
King of the Ages (Rev. 15:3)
Lamb (Rev. 13:
Lamb of God (John 1:29)
Lamb Without Blemish (1 Pet. 1:19)
Last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45)
Life (John 14:6; Col. 3:4)
Light of the World (John 8:12)
Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Rev. 5:5)
Living One (Rev. 1:1
Living Stone (1 Pet. 2:4)
Lord (2 Pet. 2:20)
Lord of All (Acts 10:36)
Lord of Glory (1 Cor. 2:
Lord of lords (Rev. 19:16)
Man from Heaven (1 Cor. 15:4
Mediator of a New Covenant (Heb. 9:15)
Mighty God (Isa. 9:6)
Morning Star (Rev. 22:16)
Offspring of David (Rev. 22:16)
Only Begotten Son of God (John 1:18; 1 John 4:9)
Our Great God and Savior (Titus 2:13)
Our Holiness (1 Cor. 1:30)
Our Husband (2 Cor. 11:2)
Our Protection (2 Thess. 3:3)
Our Redemption (1 Cor. 1:30)
Our Righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30)
Our Sacrificed Passover Lamb (1 Cor. 5:7)
Power of God (1 Cor. 1:24)
Precious Cornerstone (1 Pet. 2:6)
Prince of peace (Isa. 9:6)                                                                                                                            Prophet (Acts 3:22)
Rabbi (Mt. 26:25)
Resurrection and Life (John 11:25)
Righteous Branch (Jer. 23:5)
Righteous One (Acts 7:52; 1 John 2:1)
Rock (1 Cor. 10:4)
Root of David (Rev. 5:5; 22:16)
Ruler of God’s Creation (Rev. 3:14)
Ruler of the Kings of the Earth (Rev. 1:5)
Savior (Eph. 5:23; Titus 1:4; 3:6; 2 Pet. 2:20)
Son of David (Luke 18:39)
Son of God (John 1:49; Heb. 4:14)
Son of Man (Mt. 8:20)
Son of the Most High God (Luke 1:32)
Source of Eternal Salvation for all who obey him (Heb. 5:9)
The One Mediator (1 Tim. 2:5)
The Stone the builders rejected (Acts 4:11)
True Bread (John 6:32)
True Light (John 1:9)
True Vine (John 15:1)
Truth (John 1:14; 14:6)
Way (John 14:6)
Wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:24)
Word (John 1:1)
Word of God (Rev. 19:13)

   

Fighting for the symbols of Christmas

One year during the Christmas season, the impending deadline for my monthly column for the Sunday News of Lancaster, Pennsylvania drew near but I struggled with a writer’s block. Help came from an unexpected source. I was working out at the fitness center one morning and grunted about my dilemma to a fellow beside me. He kindly offered ideas for my column. Although Jewish, my friend had a high degree of respect for the right of Christians to celebrate Christmas. Yet he suggested that we (Christians) need to move beyond the debate about the symbols of Christmas to the realities they represent. He simply felt that too much emphasis is placed on fighting over the symbols when the energy would be better invested in the meaning of them. He had a point. He also lifted my writer’s block. 

It is easy to lose sight of the deeper significance of the symbols of your faith when defending your right to publicly display them. Consider the manger scene. Displaying the manger on public property has been hotly debated. Originally, the manger scene was a humble and obscure event. It would surprise some to learn that the early Church did not celebrate the nativity scene as practiced in many protestant churches today. Some Church fathers were adamantly opposed to the notion of celebrating Christ’s birthday. They felt it trivialized the significance of the person of Jesus. This is not to say that the early Church did not focus on the meaning of the birth of Christ. Church councils labored intensely over Jesus nature as the God-man. The technical term used for the amazing event of the birth of Jesus is incarnation. The word simply means “in flesh” and refers to the fact that God took upon himself our humanity (see: Hebrews 2:14).    

The babe of the manger was born only because he was sent by God the Father to fulfill a mission for human beings. Although the physical life of Jesus began in the womb of the Virgin Mary, we should not forget his pre-existence to his miraculous conception. Jesus spoke repeatedly about his pre-existence. The Old and New Testaments testify consistently to Jesus being from eternity before he entered time. One has written that, “The life of Jesus is bracketed by two impossibilities: a virgin’s womb and an empty tomb. Jesus entered our world through a door marked ‘no entrance’ and left through a door marked ‘no exit’” (Peter Larson).   

Jesus was not merely a man in whom God uniquely revealed himself, he was God become man. In the hymn, we sing, “Veiled in flesh the God-head see!” “Hail the incarnate deity!” Scripture refers to Jesus as “all the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9). The apostle Paul, a devout Jew, wrote of Jesus, “He who had always been God by nature, did not cling to his prerogatives as God’s equal, but stripped himself of all privileges by consenting to be a slave by nature and being born as a mortal man. And having become man, he humbled himself by living a life of utter obedience, even to the point of dying…” ( Philippians 2:6-7).  

“If Jesus had been no more than a very remarkable godly man,” wrote John Stott, “the difficulties in believing what the New Testament tells us about his life and work would be truly mountainous. But if Jesus was the same person as the eternal word, the Father’s agent in creation, “through whom he also made the worlds” (Hebrews 1:2), it is no wonder if fresh acts of creative power marked his coming into the world, and his life in it, and his exit from it. It is not strange that he, the author of life, should rise from the dead. If he was truly God the Son, it is much more startling that he should die than that he should rise again. And if the immortal Son of God did really submit to taste death, it is not strange that such a death should have saving significance for a doomed race.”

My friend from the fitness center made a good point. We must not lose sight of the great meaning of the symbols of Christmas in our effort to defend the freedom to display those symbols. But we also cannot afford to contemplate those symbols from a distance. Their meaning is too urgent. How will you respond to the Christ of Christmas? Will you reject him as a lunatic? Denounce him as a liar? Or, worship him as God and Savior? There are no other options.   

Steven W. Cornell 

Senior pastor 

Millersville Bible Church 

Millersville, PA. 17551                        

A great gift for Christmas

Have you felt the Christmas rush yet? Notice how stop signs become yield signs and how “wait here” appears to mean “cut in front of others”? Good parking spots are also hard to find. Two times already I’ve missed nice parking spots as people pulled in quickly and parked over the lines. Why do they think they get two spots? Perhaps they’re just in too much of a hurry to notice. But I’ve noticed the increased use of four way flashers. The “fire lane only” spots fill up regularly as people stop for “quick” purchases. And the stores (at least for this man who hates shopping) are too congested.  

I am not trying to play the Grinch but season cheer is easily lost in the madness. I do enjoy Christmas but I worry that we fill it with too much stressful running about. One of the traditions I especially enjoy happens at the close of our Christmas Eve service when we light our candles and quietly sing Silent Night. The peace, at least for that moment, is captivating. It’s a wonderful gift. 

As we give and receive gifts this season, let’s remember the great value of the gift of peace. So much in our world threatens peace. Peace is crowded out by busyness and the mad rush of the season. But this disturbance is mild compared to the threat of war. I can’t imagine what it’s like to live in a war torn society but many live with this experience every day. Some of our bravest young men and women will celebrate Christmas in the midst of war. As they defend freedom and fight against terrorists, we must prayerfully remember and gratefully honor them.   

Against all odds, peace is a good word for the season. When the Old Testament prophet predicted the coming of Jesus, the messiah, he referred to him as the “prince of peace” and wrote, “of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end” (Isaiah 9:6-7). After Jesus’ birth, “…a great company of the heavenly host appeared…praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests’” (Luke 2:13-14).  

Writing in a context of war, one poet found it hard to believe the Christmas message of peace on earth. In the midst of the American Civil war and upon news of his son being wounded in battle, in 1864, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote the song, “I heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” Those faced with war can identify with Longfellow’s words:  

“I heard the bells on Christmas day Their old familiar carols play, And wild and sweet the words repeat Of peace on earth, good will to men.  

And in despair I bowed my head ‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said, ‘For hate is strong and mocks the song Of peace on earth, good will to men.’” 

Someone cynically commented that peace is that glorious moment in history when everyone stops to reload. Sadly, humans are known for war more than peace. Maintaining peace is costly. Safety and security are continuously threatened by evil. Extended times of peace are exceptional to humanity rather than normal. What does all of this tell us about our need for a savior and a prince of peace?  

On one occasion, Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). The peace Jesus gives is peace with God (See: Romans 5:1). But he also offers us a way for God’s peace to conquer our anxiety (See: Philippians 4:6-7). The same prophetic scripture that predicted Jesus’ arrival and crucifixion, reports that one day he will rule all on a kingdom on earth characterized by peace. Only his government will bring peace. Longfellow embraced this hope when he added to his despair the following words:  

“Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: ‘God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; The wrong shall fail, the right prevail With peace on earth, good will to men.’” 

Before Jesus comes to rule, he invites all people to receive him as Savior and through him to find forgiveness and peace with God. He then calls his followers to be peacemakers (See: Matthew 5:9). God’s great gift of peace is available to all people if they simply ask for it. This is a needed word for a stressful season and the greatest gift to be received.  

Steve Cornell

Senior pastor

Millersville Bible Church

58 West Frederick Street

Millersville, Pennsylvania 17551       

A Christmas Dance!

We got SNOW today! I am getting too old for this stuff! Well to cheer those who are snow bound and those who just need a good laugh, my wife and I have practiced a Christmas dance for you. As you’ll see, I had a little trouble keeping up.  

Click and enjoy! Merry Christmas! J  

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1179972193