February 27th, 2008 Jeff
Prophet, Priest + King of the New Covenant
Jesus is the great Prophet who reveals God’s nature, will and ways (Heb. 1:1-4; Deut. 18:18), for He speaks with greater authority than all other revelators of God (Heb. 1:1-4; John 1:18). Jesus initiated God’s New Covenant, sealed in His blood (Luke 22:20), and fulfilled all the covenant promises of God’s dealings with humankind (2 Cor. 1:22; see above). As High Priest over His chosen people He is the one Mediator able to bring humankind to God (1 Tim. 2:5), mediating the best of all covenants based on God’s sure promises (Heb. 8:6). He has sanctified and is making perfect forever His specially chosen people (Heb. 10:14). He is the supreme King of all (Luke 19:38; John 12:15; 1 Tim. 1:17; 6:15; Rev. 17:14), reigning and ruling from the right hand of the Majesty on High, and will coming again to establish His everlasting kingdom here on earth (Luke 11:2; Dan. 2:44; 4:3; 7:14)
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February 26th, 2008 Jeff
Savior, Redeemer, Lord
Jesus Christ came as the great God and Savior of the Old Testament (Isa. 6:1:1-2; Luke 4:18-19; Titus 2:13) and died to bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18). The Good News (Gospel) of Jesus is that in Him believing sinners, and the rest of the created universe outside humanity, are brought back to a right relationship with God and can enjoy Him as the fountain and aim of all pleasures. He has become their everlasting joy, and Lord (Master; Rom. 10:9-13). Jesus is our Savior, making propitiation for our sins, and justifying us to a just and holy God (Romans 3:21-26). He demonstrates God’s perfect, unconditional love (Romans 5:6-8), is the basis of all forgiveness (1 John 1:9), and has come to save and redeem all those He in love foreknew (Romans 8:29-30; Ephesians 1:7; John 3:16).
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February 26th, 2008 Jeff
Death, Burial + Resurrection
I believe that Jesus Christ suffered voluntarily (John 10:18) in fulfillment of God’s redemptive plan (Acts 2:23), that He was crucified under Pontius Pilate (Acts 4:27-28) that He died (John 19:30; 1 Cor. 15:3) was buried (John 19:40-41; 1 Cor. 15:4), and on the third day rose bodily from the dead (Matt. 28:6; 1 Cor. 15:4) to vindicate the saving work of His life and death (Romans 4:25) and to take His place as the invincible, everlasting Lord of glory (Phil. 2:9-11; Acts 17:31). During forty days after His resurrection, He gave many compelling evidences of His bodily resurrection (Acts 1:3; 1 Cor. 15:5-8) and then ascended bodily into heaven (Acts 1:9-11), where He is seated at the right hand of the Father (Luke 22:69; Acts 2:33; 5:31; Col. 3:1).
The resurrection of Jesus affirms His deity (Romans 1:4), proves His victory over death (Acts 2:22-28), gives the Father’s stamp of approval over His sacrificial death (Phil. 2:5-11), and establishes credibility to the Christian faith (1 Cor. 15:12-20). Jesus’ resurrection also declares the sovereignty of Christ (He is Yahweh - the eternally self-existent God - Romans 10:9; 14:9). It is essential to the Gospel (1 Cor. 15:1-8), secures our justification (Romans 4:25; 10:10), is our pathway from the guilt and penalty of sin, and makes the new birth possible (1 Peter 1:3). The resurrection of Jesus allows us to serve God & live for Him in righteousness (Romans 6), for it is our pathway from the power of sin. The resurrection of Jesus assures His redeemed of a future bodily resurrection (Romans 8:11; 1 Cor. 15:20), when one day we shall be like Him (1 John 3:2).
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February 25th, 2008 Jeff
Message + Miracles
Jesus preached and taught with truth and authority unparalleled in human history (Matt. 7:28-29; Mark 1:27). He performed miracles (signs), each revealing His character and being in the course of His divine mission, while demonstrating His divine power and rule over all creation, such as: healing the sick and raising the dead (Matt. 11:4-6), casting out demons (Mark 1:27), calming the wind and waves (Mark 4:39), walking on water (Matt. 14:25), multiplying food (Matt. 14:19-20), and foreknowing all that would take place with His disciples and Himself (John 13:19). He foretold His coming rejection and death by crucifixion (Matt. 16:21ff) in fulfillment of the eternal plan of redemption (Eph. 1:3-14). He is and has done so much more (John 20:30)!
Jesus completed perfectly the earthly mission of God (John 17:4), being the Triune God’s representative to bear witness to His truth and worth (John 17:6). He is the image of the eternal God, the radiance of His beauty and glory (2 Cor. 4:4, 6). He is the exact representation and likeness of God’s nature (Heb. 1:3), and delivers the perfect message of the perfect God; no one is able to extinguish His message and life (John 1:4). He is the Word of God, explaining and communicating God’s message to us (John 1:1-2, 18; Rev. 19:13).
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February 21st, 2008 Jeff
I believe that in the fullness of time (Gal. 4:4) God sent forth His eternal Son as Jesus the Savior (Christ/Messiah; John 3:16-18; Matt. 16:16) conceived by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:34-35), born of the virgin Mary (Matt. 1:23). When the eternal Son became flesh (incarnate; John 1:14) He took on a fully human nature (Heb. 2:14-17), such that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures - divine and human - were inseparably joined together in one Person.[n2] Jesus who is the Christ was and is truly God (John 1:1) and truly man (Phil. 2:5-8), yet one Christ and the only Mediator between God and man (1 Tim. 2:5). The reason He took on the second nature was for us and for our salvation.
I believe that Jesus Christ lived without sin (1 Pet. 1:19; 2:22-23), though He endured the common limitations and temptations of human life (Heb. 4:15), while veiling some of His divine attributes (Phil. 2:6-8).
[n2] The
Hypostatic Union, as derived from Scripture at the Council of Chalcedon, AD 451.
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February 20th, 2008 Jeff
God’s Center + Aim of all Scripture + History
I believe that in Jesus all of God’s promises are completed (2 Cor. 1:22). He is the sum and substance of all that is right and true and good, and the great One spoken of in all the Scriptures (Luke 24:44-49). Jesus’ life was governed by His Father’s providence with a view to completing all Old Testament covenants and prophecies concerning the One who was to come (Luke 24:25-26), such as the Seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15: Rom. 16:20), the Prophet like Moses (Deut. 18:18: Acts 3:20-23), the Priest after the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110:4; Heb. 5:5-6), the Son of David (Isaiah 9:7; Matt. 1:1; 22:42), and the Suffering Servant (Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Mark 10:45), et al. He was foreordained and appointed by God in His definite plan to die as a substitutionary atonement for sin (Acts 2:23). All things exist through Him, by Him and for Him (Col. 1:16). In Him and under His authority all things shall be restored to their rightful order (Eph. 1:10).
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February 19th, 2008 Jeff
I’ll be unfolding my doctrinal statement on Jesus Christ over the next few days.
—
I believe Jesus the Christ is Savior and Lord.
Pre-existence + Deity
Jesus Christ is fully God and always has been. He is the Creator of all things (John 1:3; Col. 1:15-17; Heb. 1:3), having never been made, for He has no beginning and will never have an end (Heb. 13:8; Rev. 1:8). He is one Person within the eternal Trinity known to us as Father, Son and Spirit. Jesus, the Son, is co-eternal, co-equal in nature in the Triune Godhead, being is the same essence of the Father and Spirit, being of one substance with each [n1]. He is unique in His role to enter human existence and reveal the Triune God to creation (John 1:18).
n1: Argument articulated by Athanasius as derived theologically from Scripture and approved at the Council of Nicea, AD 325.
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February 13th, 2008 Jeff
Love
God is love. He shows more love than all other beings, for His very nature is love (1 John 4:8). His explicit love was manifest to us in Jesus, God incarnate as a Man to demonstrate this eternal love (1 John 4:9; John 3:16). God’s love does not preclude Him from judgment and punishment on the wicked unbelieving world (John 3:16-19). The love of God is the basis for God’s great acts in history (Psalm 136). Our response to God’s unconditional love is best shown in reflecting His love towards others (John 13:35; 1 John 4:16). He stirs our affections, the very core of our being, to be enabled and desirous of loving Him and others. We love God by enjoying Him more than all else.
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February 13th, 2008 Jeff
Merciful, Gracious and showing Loving-kindness
In His mercy God displays loving-kindness & long-suffering, holding back from giving us what we truly deserve. God has always dealt with mankind in mercy – not punishing us as we deserve. (Lamentations 3:22). Yet His grace goes beyond this, lavishing love and gifts upon those He freely loves (Eph. 1:4-7; 2:8-10; Heb. 4:16).
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February 12th, 2008 Jeff
Good
The goodness of God is the attribute of His character that disposes Him to be kind, loving, benevolent, and full of good will toward men (Deut. 33:18-19). God is the definition of all that is good (Psalm 119:68). By His nature He is inclined to bestow blessedness and He takes holy pleasure in the happiness of His people. If God is not good, then justice and wrath, love and mercy cannot exist. All the blessings of life (and eternal life) come to us due to God’s goodness. Goodness is that attribute of God that causes me to know He will always do good towards me, His child (Nahum 1:7 (see 1:2-3,6 related to His just wrath)).
Just
God is the just Judge of all people (Psalm 50:6; Acts 10:42). His goodness and righteousness bounds Him to be just (Psalm 97:2). Since God cannot and does not violate His nature, He must judge righteously (Psalm 96:10). His justice will not allow sin to go unpunished (Isaiah 13:11; 2 Peter 2:9). Being just, God is a God of wrath Nahum 1:2-3, 6. Yet His wrath is wholly unlike human anger: it is pure, warranted, personal, and can be satisfied in a perfect eternal sacrifice, namely the propitiation provided in and by Jesus the Christ.
God’s wrath is pure (
Joshua 7:19); warranted/deserved (
Romans 1:21); personal (
Romans 1:18ff), and has been propitiated in Jesus (
Romans 3:21-26).
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