“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever.”
There are many passages of scripture, whether they be a single sentence in a verse or a paragraph or an entire chapter, which seem to be picked very often for sermons, or to quote in conversation because they stand apart in richness and eloquence and blessing.
The verse of our text today contains one of those much quoted, much preached and much loved truths pertaining to the attributes of our Lord.
The writer to the Hebrews, from chapter one through the whole of this epistle, has placed Jesus Christ center stage, turned on the spot light, and admonished us to ‘consider Him’.
Consider Jesus; better than the prophets, better than the angels, better than Moses, better than the Old Testament economy of ordinances and feasts and sacrifices; and now, near the closing of his letter he says that this One is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever.
He is our great High Priest, ministering in the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle not made with hands; and He is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever.
He is the Captain of our salvation and the Author and Perfecter of faith; and He is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever.
People change, often. Our circumstances change. Sometimes change comes so drastically and suddenly that we, who tend to be creatures of habit and comfort, are devastated.
Pastors and other church leaders move away or pass away; sometimes they prove unfaithful and fall away.
Some family member dies suddenly and sometimes violently.
Severe weather strikes suddenly and destroys homes and communities.
The business we have been in for years fails and leaves us wondering how we will provide for ourselves and our families.
As we grow older we are often dismayed when we realize that things we used to do with ease are now a struggle for us, if we can do them at all.
But Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever. He said, “I will never leave you, nor will I ever forsake you”, and He does not change.
So let’s look closely as this pearl of scripture today, holding it up to the Holy Spirit’s divine light, and asking Him to expose as much of its hidden beauty to us as our finite minds and hearts can stand.
First, let’s look closely at the name that claims immutability. Jesus Christ.
This is not a first and last name, as so many suppose in ignorance, His name is not Jesus Christ, in the way that my name is Clark Tanner.
Jesus is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew name, Joshua. It means “salvation”. It was probably a very common name in the first century Greek world, just as Jesus is today in the Hispanic community.
Extra-biblical writings tell us that the first name of Barabbas, whose place Christ took on the cross, was ‘Jesus’. (An interesting side note here: Barabbas translated, would be ‘son’ {Bar} ‘of the father’ {abbas}. So in truth, no matter what decision Pilate had made that day, “JESUS, SON OF THE FATHER”, was going to hang on the cross. Either the insurrectionist, or Emmanuel (God with us). I’m so very glad that it was the latter that went there and not the former; aren’t you? One could only die for himself; the other died once, for all...and ‘all’ includes me)
Christ, or Christos, is also Greek, meaning the ‘anointed one’. And Jesus was anointed by God to the specific office of Redeemer.
Luke, the beloved physician, quotes Peter in Acts 10:38 as saying to Cornelius and his family and friends, “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God ANOINTED Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good, and healing all who were oppressed by the devil; for God was with Him.”
In Psalm 2:2, David refers several times to the Lord’s Anointed (capital ‘A’); and in Acts 4 Peter and John quote verse six of that Psalm, applying the title to Jesus, saying, “The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against His Christ (or His Anointed One).”
So we would be most accurate in referring to our Lord as ‘Jesus the Christ’. ‘Jesus’ denotes His humanity, and ‘Christ’ His deity.
‘Jesus’ says that He is our salvation, and ‘Christ’ confirms that He was anointed and sent from God the Father for that very purpose.
How much more, understanding these things about His very name, should our hearts be lifted up in rejoicing when the Holy Spirit inspires the writer to assure us; “Jesus Christ (the One anointed to bring salvation) is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever.”
The author of the epistle then goes on to cover the entire scope of eternity in this great word of encouragement.
“Jesus Christ”, he says, “is the same yesterday...”
That phrase falls a little strange on our ears, doesn’t it? How can someone NOT be the same yesterday; that is; if yesterday is gone, then they can’t go back and change what they were then, right?
But it makes all the sense, when we’re referring to the eternal, uncreated Son of God.
Christ did not become something more than He had been when He took on flesh. Nor did He become less than He had been.
Let’s look at a few verses of scripture that shed light on His pre-incarnate state.
John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Now we know that this is referring to Christ by the content of the verses following; including verse 14. You may have read the book of John, or at least the first chapter, many times. But later in your own study, open your bible there and read that chapter carefully again.
Phil 2:6,7 “...who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped (or clung to), but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.”
Do not be misled by a casual surface reading of those words, ‘equality’ and ‘emptied’. As I said, He did not become less than what He was by becoming flesh. Christ incarnate was fully man while being fully God. Paul said, “In Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form (Col 2:9)
When Jesus became flesh, He did not ‘give up His glory’, as I have heard said. HE TEMPORARILY LAY ASIDE THE INDEPENDENT EXERCISE OF HIS OWN DIVINE ATTRIBUTES, becoming entirely dependent on the Father. This is what Paul meant in Philippians 2 when he said that Jesus took the form of a bond-servant and became obedient. But He was never less than God-incarnate; never less than the fullness of Deity in bodily form.
To the Colossians (1:16,17) Paul said, “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”
In His great High Priestly prayer, recorded in John 17, Jesus Himself said, “And now, glorify Thou Me together with Thyself, Father, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.”
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday. He is the eternal Word of God, Who from eternity past has been the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature.
And again our hearts can rejoice when we think that from the ages of eternity past, He who exists at once from eternity to eternity, knew us intimately. He knew every sin we would ever commit; every foolish thought; every ungodly word we would speak. He looked down from the vast corridors of Heaven, before ever speaking even the light into existence, and could see clearly the blackness of our rebellion and the full depths of the chasm of our fall, and knowing all, determined to temporarily lay aside the independent exercise of His own divine attributes, take on the form of a servant, become obedient to the point of death (even death on a cross), and as we’re told in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, was made to ‘become sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him’.
Yes, rejoice Christian, when you and this entire universe were nothing but a plan in the mind of God, His love toward you was the same that it is now and ever shall be.
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today...”
Can we really understand what is meant by saying that He is the same ‘today’, unless we are clear on what ‘today’ means to God?
God is the God of the ever-present, eternal, ‘today’. He exists in all of eternity at once with no reference to time, and for Him all of time is today. By His Spirit he exhorts, “Today, while you hear His voice, harden not your hearts...” and He tells us that “Today is the day of salvation, now is the acceptable time”
Friend, as long as you have breath in your body and blood coursing through your veins, it is ‘TODAY’.
Whatever the records say of your past, whatever you know of yourself this moment, salvation is available ‘TODAY’, through repentance (that is turning from sin and self) and placing simple faith in the shed blood of Christ and His resurrection from the dead. But heed the warning unbeliever, or doubter, or seeker, or whatever label you give yourself; there is no air to breathe in the coffin, no blood flowing once the funeral director fills your veins with his juice. You do not know that day or that hour when ‘TODAY’ will be over for you, and eternity is a very long time to regret such a brief moment of defiance as this short life. Come to Him in His time, on His terms; TODAY, WHILE IT IS STILL CALLED ‘TODAY’. For TODAY is the day of salvation.
Now be aware of the fact that it was almost two thousand years ago that the writer penned the words “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today...” For the writer it was today, then. But is it ‘today’ for us now; and does this claim stand true on the threshold of the year 2009?
Yes indeed it does!
Then why do we so often treat our Savior and our relationship to Him, as though He is a departed hero to emulate, or a loved one whose memory is cherished while his death certificate lies yellowing in a cedar box on the closet shelf?
The writer to the Hebrews was thinking of One Who stood in a small craft on the Sea of Galilee and commanded the storm and the waves to cease. He was thinking of One Whose touch cleansed the leper instantly, Whose spittle created eyes in the hollow sockets of a man born blind.
Of One Who, while treading the hot dusty roads of Palestine said things like, “If you have seen Me you have seen the Father” and “I and the Father are one”. He is thinking of a Man, who while in the form of a man could make Himself invisible to an angry mob, and Who, by saying, “I AM HE”, caused a large entourage of Jews, Roman Soldiers and Temple Guards carrying swords and ropes and torches to fall backwards to the ground.
So I ask you today, believer, to whom do you pray? When you or a loved one lay on the sick bed, or your finances are in dire straits, or your heart aches with grief or fear or uncertainty for your future, and you fall to your knees in your room, are you praying to the One Who TODAY is the same as He was then?
When you ask Him to heal, do you ask a Jesus of your own limited faith, who may or may not want to heal, or who is confounded by your so-called ‘incurable’ ills?
Or do you pray to the One Who said to the leper, “I will, be clean”...The One Who laid a hand on the dead son of Nain’s widow and gave him back to her?
When you ask Him for an answer to your debts, do you ask with hat in hand, as though going to a mild acquaintance as a last resort and hoping to find a spark of mercy there? Or do you ask of one who sent Peter to catch a fish, telling him in advance that there would be a coin in that fish that would pay their taxes...the One Who said, “And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive”?
One does not ask audience with a King, then insult him by implying that he has no grace or mercy to grant a petition; or insinuate that the King is too poor to be of assistance. Do that with an earthly king, and prison or a rolling head may be in your future.
So why treat the heavenly King, Owner of the universe in such a timid and insulting way? He could have made planets of gold! Galaxies of silver! And are you afraid to ask him for paltry penance? Go to him in confidence that He will do as He has said, and out of His abundant riches, meet your every need and more. HE IS THE LORD OF TODAY!
Are you praying to a God who sits uncaring on His throne and cares not for your grief or fear? Do you say to yourself, “Oh, but He cannot fully understand; the Almighty God does not suffer loss and there is no one to cause Him doubt; How can He understand?” If you do, then let me give you both comfort and exhortation my friend, “...we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.”
Read the gospels, my friend, pay close attention to the Jesus who preached in Galilee and healed outside the Jerusalem temple. Listen to the Jesus who taught His disciples on the grassy hillside and on a boat not far from the shore. Hear Him call from the shores of a fruitless sea, “Friends, throw your net on the other side of the boat”, then see Him lovingly reinstate a traitorous Peter. Visualize the sad compassion in His eyes as He tells Thomas, “Reach here your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand, and put it into My side; and be not unbelieving, but believing.”
You serve the same Jesus, brother and sister. He is the same today, and today He says to you as to Thomas, “...Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed”.
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever.”
If we can begin to get an inkling what it means that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, then how could we possibly fail to realize and live in believing faith that He is the same forever?
This is the one who through His Holy Spirit and through the writers of scripture has said of Himself:
“For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed” (Mal 3:6)
and
“The counsel of the Lord stands forever. The plans of His heart from generation to generation”. (Ps 33:11)
and
“Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” (Jas 1:17)
and
“But Thou are the same, and Thy years will not come to an end.”
and
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Just as He did not change when he took on flesh, and did not change when He raised in glory from the dark tomb, and did not change when He blessed his apostles and was received by a cloud into Heaven to sit at the Father’s right hand, so He will not be a different Jesus Christ, who comes on a white horse, to judge and wage war; His eyes a flame of fire and many diadems on His head, and clothed with a robe dipped in blood and on his thigh written, “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS”!
Is it not the Lord of Today, who said, “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again, and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”?
Yes, He is; and He is the One who in John’s vision declared from His glorious throne, “Yes, I am coming quickly.”
Before the sacrifices and the feast days, before the Law was given on Sinai, before God made the garden and instructed Adam not to eat of that one tree; before the worlds were hung in space, before light was spoken into existence, Jesus Christ was the same as He was when He said, “I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE, ANYONE WHO BELIEVES IN ME, THOUGH HE DIES, YET SHALL HE LIVE...” and He was the same as He will be when He returns for His own and to set up His kingdom on the earth; and He was the same as He will be when He creates a new heaven and a new earth; and He was the same as He will be in the eons of eternity as we rule and reign with Him.
In light of these things, believers, we should give more earnest heed to the exhortation of Hebrews 13:7...
“Remember those who led you, who spoke the Word of God to you, and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.”
What was the result of their conduct? That is recorded for us in this same letter, chapter 6 verses 11 & 12...
“And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, that you may not be sluggish, BUT IMITATORS OF THOSE WHO THROUGH FAITH AND PATIENCE INHERIT THE PROMISES.”
Be faithful, Christian; continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the same as He was yesterday, when He determined to carry your cross to Golgotha’s crest. He is the same today, having completed the work of redemption and having entered the Holiest of All with His own blood, offered through the eternal Spirit, to cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God; and it will be this same Jesus who will grant all who overcome by faith, to sit down with Him on His throne.
He does not change, His provision does not change, His promises do not change...
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, yes and forever".
