CHRISTMAS: 7 POSITIONS OF CHRIST
The Eternal Gift of God
John 1:1-13 +
Today, we continue to unwrap our first Christmas present.
JESUS—whether the baby in the manger or the man on the cross—he is the same God… totally revealed and absolutely expressed in the same person. However, he is viewed from different angles by different disciples, but they’re all facets of the same precious stone—the rock of ages.
Matthew sees Jesus as the Messiah—the Christ—of the Jews, the long promised savior through the bloodline of David. This is the Jewish perspective!
Mark concentrates on the service or life of the savior. This is the Roman perspective—just do it!
Luke presents Jesus as the son of man emphasizing his humanity or the grace of the perfect savior. This is the Greek perspective.
Matthew and Mark emphasize the miracles of Christ, Luke, the parables or the teaching.
John, on the other hand, is the post-graduate course in Christology—everything you ever wanted to know about Jesus Christ.
He does not mention parables and only uses the miracles that help to build a total image—a complete revelation—of the deity of Jesus as the Christ.
On the surface, it appears to be the simplest of the Gospels, but it is, by far, the most profound.
It is the Gospel for believers, not so much for the lost, but for the babes in Christ.
It’s the Gospel to help us out of the manger—to wean us off of the milk of the Word and to give us a full-course understanding of the real meat—the real Christmas!
Jesus the Living Word:
John 1:1-5: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The Word was with God in the beginning.
3 All things were created by him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.
4 In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind.
5 And the light shines on in the darkness, but the darkness has not mastered it.
These 5 verses present us with the summit of divine revelation. It lifts us to the epitome of human thought and the rarified peak of Divine Revelation!
If anything can get the baby out of the manger, these verses will.
John starts in the first of 7 positions that God the Son occupies throughout scripture.
1. The first is: The preincarnate Christ—Jesus as he was “in the beginning,” literally, in eternity past… before creation… before time began.
Jesus Christ was already there.
He did not become…
He was not created…
He never had a beginning.
He “was with God” in eternity past. (John 17:5).
The word “was” means to have continuous existence, without beginning or origin.
Psalm 90:2 “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God”.
Galatians 4:4-6 “But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons…”
Jesus is both voice and the face of the Father—the total revelation.
3 All things were created by him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.
Colossians 1:17 He himself is before all things and all things are held together in him.
2. Second position: The Word!
How was John, a Jew, going to present Christ so that a Gentile could understand?
In the “Logos”—the Word—John found common ground.
Both Greek and Jew understood it.
To the Jews, a word was more than a mere sound.
It was something active and existing.
It was power—the power
• To express something ..
• To do something. This is seen in the many Old Testament references where The Word of God was seen as...
The creative power of God—the power that made the world and gave light and life to every man (Genesis 1:3, 6, 11; Psalm 33:6; Psalm 107:20; Isaiah 55:11).
The Gentiles or Greeks saw the Word more philosophically.
They saw that things were not chaotic, but orderly.
The Greeks said that behind the world was a mind, a reason, a power that made and kept things in their proper place.
This creative and sustaining mind, this supreme reason, this unlimited power was said to be the Word.
More importantly, the Word was the power by which
We come into contact with God and
Express our knowledge and trust to God.
John grabbed hold of this common idea of the Jews and Gentiles.
In expressing Christ this way, John tells us 3 things:
1. God has given us much more than mere words in the Holy Scriptures.
As The Word, Jesus Christ was the picture, the fullness of God—the expression, the pattern, the very image of what God wants us to know.
2. Jesus Christ is the Mind—the reason, the power—that both made and keeps things in their proper order, and
3. Jesus Christ is the life and enlightenment of the world.
John 8:12… "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."
Jesus is the Light of Men:
1:9-13 The true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was created by him, but the world did not recognize him.
11 He came to what was his own, but his own people did not receive him.
12 But to all who have received him—those who believe in his name—he has given the right to become God’s children
13—children not born by human parents or by human desire or a husband’s decision, but by God.
The world is in spiritual darkness, in sin and ignorance!
But, the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
Light, like God, is expressed in 3 distinct ways:
In God, we have the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
In light, we have:
1. Actinic, that which is neither seen or felt—like the FATHER
2. Luminiferous, that which is both seen and felt—like the SON, and
3. Calorific, that which is felt but not seen—like the HOLY SPIRIT.
Christ is the true Light—both seen and felt, and
Light dispels darkness, but… (v.9).
He was rejected by those who should have known, however,(v.10-11).
Those who could see the light gratefully received him. (v.12-13).
Note two glorious truths.
1. The true Light was Jesus Christ.
What does this mean?
It means Jesus Christ is moral truth, saving truth, working truth, living truth—a truth to know and to do.
Christ alone is the true Light.
Light is clear and pure: it is clean and good.
So was Christ (Eph. 5:8).
Light reveals: it opens up the truth of an area, a whole new world and life.
So does Christ (John 14:6).
Light exposes and strips away darkness.
So does Christ (John 3:19-20).
Light routs the chaos.
So does Christ (Genesis 1:2-3).
Light warns of dangers in our path.
So does Christ.
It keeps us from tripping, stumbling, falling, and injuring ourselves even losing our life. So does Christ.
John 8:31-32"Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and (the result is) ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”.
2. The secret to knowing the TRUTH is to
Believe, and to
Continue in the WORD, and then the truth will make you FREE.
The truth of Jesus Christ is diametrically opposed to sham and hypocrisy. It permits no compromise with evil.
Hosea 6:3"Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth”.
3. The 3rd Position of Christ: his death.
Romans 6:5 Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised as he was.
Paul told the Corinthians…
1 Cor. 1:2 For I decided to concentrate only on Jesus Christ and his death on the cross.
The primary purpose in God taking on flesh—coming to that manger in Bethlehem—was to die on the cross to take away the sins of the world. WHY?
Eph. 2:16… that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.
In our carols, we sing of peace on earth and goodwill toward men.
It was his death—not his birth—that makes that peace possible.
For the first 400 years, the church didn’t even celebrate his birth.
But every week, on the Lord’s Day, it celebrated his resurrection—celebrating his victory over sin and death.
And that brings us to position number 4.
4. The 4th position of Christ: his resurrection.
John 11:25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.
1 Pet 3:21 And this is a picture of baptism, which now saves you by the power of Jesus Christ’s resurrection. Baptism is not a removal of dirt from your body; it is an appeal to God from a clean conscience.
This introduces the 5th position of Christ:
5. His Ascension
Acts 1:9 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
1 Pet. 3:22 Now Christ has gone to heaven. He is seated in the place of honor next to God, and all the angels and authorities and powers are bowing before him.
6. The 6th position: His Return
Acts 1:11 who also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven."
His resurrection gives us the promise of his return.
For true believers, we know, we will rise to meet him in the air.
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
After the first 7 years, Jesus—with us in tow—will return to reign for 1000 years. Satan and all the fallen angels will be bound throughout this time as Christ provides a perfect administration.
Rev. 20:7 Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison
8 and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.
And when the evil army surrounds the Lord’s Capitol, Jesus finally has had enough and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.
Finally, Jesus exercises his judgeship:
Everyone who has ever lived and who have ignored the Gospel or rejected Jesus as their Christ is judged according to their works—their self-righteousness. And Isaiah told us 2700 years ago that God sees our righteousness as “filthy rags.”
14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
Now comes the 7th position of our Lord:
7. His eternal reign
Rev. 21:1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.
Isaiah tells us that this earth was created as a perfect environment for man. However, sin entered and changed it into a place of rebellion and alienation from God.
The first coming of Christ—our Christmas and Easter—defeated sin.
His second coming will bring in a the new creation.
In the meantime, our job is to share the Good News of Jesus as our Christ and let the politicians—the world order—worry about the quality of the old life.
The new heaven and earth God will have no place for the problems created by the rebellion of mankind.
Our first Christmas present—Jesus as our Christ—gave us all that God is.
The last Christmas present that we will ever open will be the new heaven and new earth.
Redemption will be complete,
For all who have accepted Jesus as their Christ, and
For the entire universe.
That’s how big Christmas really is!
And it’s all ours by faith: Simply believing.
