Monday Reverb – 01November2021

Being truly human, Jesus entered fully into our fallen situation and overcame it from within.   By his pure obedience of faith in his Father, he lived in unbroken unity with God, even to the point of accepting a violent death.   As sinners at war with grace, this is precisely the kind of life we fail to live.   When we accept him and what he has done for us by faith, Jesus, by his Holy Spirit, removes the alienation our disobedience causes, clothes us with his perfect righteousness, and restores us to the right relationship with God that he worked out in his humanity and earthly life.

3.8 How can Jesus be both truly God and truly human?  

• Mark 1:27  And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him.   
• Mark 4:41   And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?   
• Matthew 28:18  And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.   
• Luke 22:44  And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.   
• John 1:1-5  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² The same was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴ In him was life; and the life was the light of men. ⁵ And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.   
• John 1:14   And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.   
• Job 5:9which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number: 

The mystery of Jesus Christ’s divine-human unity surpasses our understanding; only faith given to us by the Holy Spirit enables us to affirm it.  When the Bible depicts Jesus as someone with divine power, status and authority, it presupposes his humanity.  When the Bible depicts Jesus as someone with human weakness, neediness and mortality, it presupposes his deity.  Though we cannot understand how this could be, we can trust that the God who made heaven and earth and fashioned humanity according to his image revealed in his Son, is free to become God incarnate and thus to be God with us in this wonderful, awe-inspiring way.

3.9 Was the covenant that God made with Abraham everlasting?  

• Jeremiah 31:3The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
• 2 Samuel 23:5 Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.   
• Romans 11:29   For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.   

Yes.  The covenant, made first with Abraham, was extended to Israel, then expanded, confirmed and fulfilled in the coming of Jesus.   By faith in Jesus, Gentiles were welcomed into the covenant with God, thus confirming the promise that through Israel, God’s blessing would come to all peoples.  Although for the most part Israel has not yet accepted Jesus as the Messiah, the God who has reached out to unbelieving Gentiles will not fail to show mercy to Israel as his people in an everlasting covenant.

3.10 How did God use Israel to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus?  

When God extended the covenant to Israel, God said they would be his people and he would be their salvation.  He also promised that through them all the peoples of the earth would be blessed.   Therefore, no matter how often Israel turned away from God, God still cared for them and acted on their behalf.   God sent them prophets to declare God’s Word, priests to lead them in worship and to make sacrifice for the people’s sins, and kings to rule justly in the fear of God, upholding the poor and needy, and defending the people from their enemies.

3.11 Why was the title “Christ” applied to Jesus?  

“Christ” means “anointed one.”   Israel’s prophets, priests and kings were anointed … and their offices culminated in Jesus.   By fulfilling the offices of prophet, priest and king, Jesus transformed them.   In doing so he fulfilled Israel’s election for the sake of the world.

3.12 How did Jesus Christ fulfill the office of prophet?  

• Acts 3:20    and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: 
• Acts 3:22   For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.   
• John 1:18  No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.   
• Ephesians 3:17   that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love 
• Hebrews 1:1-2God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, ² hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 

Jesus was God’s Word to a dying and sinful world; he embodied the love he proclaimed.   His life, death and resurrection became the great “yes” that continues to be spoken despite how often we have said “no” to God.   When we receive this Word by faith, Christ enters our hearts that he may dwell in us forever, and we in him.

3.13 How did Jesus Christ fulfill the office of priest?  

• Hebrews 4:14   Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.   
• John 1:29   The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.   
• Hebrews 2:17   Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.   
• Ephesians 1:7   in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;  

As the lamb of God who took away the sin of the world, Jesus was both our priest and sacrifice.    Confronted by our hopelessness in sin and death, he interceded by offering himself in order to reconcile us to God.   Jesus now mediates all the things of God to us and our responses back to God.   He even mediates and leads in our worship.

https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/jesus-the-royal-priest/

3.14 How did Jesus Christ fulfill the office of king?  

• John 19:19    And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. 
• Philippians 2:5-8Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: ⁶ who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: ⁷ but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: ⁸ and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.   
• 1 Corinthians 1:25  Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.   
• John 12:32   And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.   

Jesus was the Lord who took the form of a servant; perfecting royal power in temporal weakness.   With no sword but the sword of righteousness, and no power but the power of God’s holy love, Christ defeated sin, evil and death by reigning from the cross.  He continues to reign at God’s right hand.   He is Lord over all authorities and powers whether earthly or heavenly, natural or human, private or political.

https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/gospel-kingdom/

3.15 What does the Creed affirm in saying that Jesus “was crucified under Pontius Pilate”?  

• Luke 18:32   For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on:   
• Isaiah 53:3  He is despised and rejected of men;  a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief:  and we hid as it were our faces from him;  he was despised, and we esteemed him not.   
• Psalm 9:9    The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.   
• Luke 1:52   He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.
• 2 Corinthians 5:21   For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.   
• 2 Timothy 4:8   henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.  

First, that Jesus was rejected and abused by the religious and secular rulers of his day.   His lordship was a threat to all evil powers and authorities since his righteousness exposed their injustice.  Jesus’ death at the hands of these authorities provided a display that exposed the guilt of all humanity in all times and places.

Second, and even more importantly, though innocent, Jesus submitted to condemnation by an earthly judge so that through him we, though guilty, might be acquitted before our just heavenly Judge.

3.16 What does the Creed affirm in saying that Jesus “suffered death and was buried”?  

• Matthew 26:38-39  Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. ³⁹ And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.   
• Isaiah 53:5   But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities:  the chastisement of our peace was upon him;  and with his stripes we are healed.   
• Galatians 3:13   Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:   
• Hebrews 2:9   But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.     
• 2 Corinthians 5:19   to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.  

That Jesus died, just like we do, showing that there is no sorrow he has not known, no grief he has not borne, and no price he was unwilling to pay to reconcile us to God.   Jesus’ real death (confirmed by his burial) shows that he has taken on the ultimate consequence of sin, which is death.   Rather than shrinking back, he endured death in order to overcome it.   There is nothing we go through, not even death, that Jesus cannot redeem.

3.17 Why did Jesus have to suffer as he did?  

• Psalm 51:4    Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight:  that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.   
• Romans 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.   
• Romans 8:3-4  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: ⁴ that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.   
• 1 Corinthians 1:18  For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.   
• 1 Corinthians 5:8  therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.   
• Colossians 1:20  and, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. 
• James 2:13  For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.   
• Hebrews 12:2   looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.   

Because … grace is more abundant … and sin more serious, than we suppose.   However cruelly we may treat one another, all sin is primarily against God.   God condemns sin, yet never judges apart from grace.

In giving Jesus to die for us, God took the burden of our sin into himself, where he judged it and removed it once and for all.   The cross in all its severity reveals an abyss of sin endured and swallowed up by the suffering of divine love.   Undoing sin and its consequences involves great cost to God — the price Jesus paid to make all things right, a price he willingly paid “for the joy that was set before him.”

3.18 What does the Creed affirm in saying about Jesus that “on the third day he rose again”?  

• Acts 2:24  whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.   
• 1 Corinthians 15:3-4   For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; ⁴ and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:   
• Luke 24:36-40   And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. ³⁷ But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. ³⁸ And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?  ³⁹ Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. ⁴⁰ And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet.   
• John 20:15-18   Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. ¹⁶ Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. ¹⁷ Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. ¹⁸ Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.   
• 1 Corinthians 15:5-8   and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: ⁶ after that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. ⁷ After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. ⁸ And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.   
• John 20:27   Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.   

That our Lord could not be held by evil and the power of death. Through his life, death and resurrection, Jesus overcame all evil and its ultimate consequence, renewing and restoring human nature to reach God’s intended purposes for all human beings. Jesus rose triumphant from the grave in a new, exalted kind of human life. In showing his followers the scars on his hands, feet and side, the one who was crucified revealed himself to them as the living Lord and Savior of the world.

3.19 What does the Creed affirm in saying that Christ “ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father” and that he will “come again in glory”?  

• Acts 1:6-11  When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? ⁷ And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. ⁸ But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.  ⁹ And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. ¹⁰ And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; ¹¹ which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.   
• Colossians 3:1   If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.   
• 1 Timothy 2:5  For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;   
• Hebrews 7:25  Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.  

Forty days after his bodily resurrection, Jesus was taken up bodily and visibly into heaven to be with the Father. He did not leave his human nature behind, but remains fully human, though now glorified. One with us and with the Father, Jesus is the one mediator between human beings and God.   As one of us, he continues his intercessions on our behalf. Though now visibly hidden from us, Jesus is not cut off from us in the remote past, nor is he in a place from which he cannot reach us.   Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus is present to us by grace. From heaven he reigns with the authority of the Father, protecting us, guiding us, and interceding for us until he returns visibly and bodily to earth in glory. We now live between the times of his first and second advents, awaiting his
return.

3.20 What does the Creed mean when it says that Jesus, when he returns in glory, will “judge the living and the dead”?  

• John 5:22   For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:   
• 2 Corinthians 5:10   For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.   
• Romans 14:10-11  But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. ¹¹ For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.  

Scripture teaches that all humans will stand in the general resurrection before the judgment seat of Christ.   The Judge before whom they will stand is the one who submitted to God’s judgment for our sake.   By him our sin is identified and judged as evil, and in him it is condemned to obliteration so that we can be separated from our sin and be saved in him from evil’s ultimate destruction. That is the grace of God’s judgment in Jesus Christ.

3.21 What will be the results of such a judgment?  

• Philippians 2:10-11 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Standing personally before the One who is their Lord and Savior, everyone will give an answer as to whether they will bow to him willingly and enter the kingdom of God prepared for them, or unwillingly bow and refuse to enter and exist under his gracious lordship forever.  Thus, there will be a final separation of all those who repent and acknowledge their sin and their need for grace to deliver them from sin and be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, and those who refuse to repent and receive God’s grace.

3.22 What will be the spiritual condition of those who refuse to acknowledge their need for forgiveness, refuse to repent and confess their sin, and despise God’s grace for them in Jesus
Christ?  

• Matthew 12:32  And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.   
• Hebrews 2:3  how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;   
• Hebrews 4:1-2   Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. ² For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.   
• Hebrews 6:3-6  And this will we do, if God permit. ⁴ For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, ⁵ and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, ⁶ if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.   
• Hebrews 10:36-39  For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. ³⁷ For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. ³⁸ Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. ³⁹ But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.   

All those who refuse will have rejected God’s righteous and merciful judgment in Christ, and the separation of themselves from their sin that is available in Christ. They will have come to the place of knowingly and deliberately blaspheming or repudiating the Spirit who draws them and extends to them forgiveness of sin and reconciliation with God accomplished for them by Jesus according to the Father’s will.  Clinging to their sin in pride, they will condemn God and justify themselves against God, charging God with being evil.

3.23 What will be the ultimate consequences for those who self-righteously repudiate and despise God and all his benefits in Jesus Christ?   

• 2 Corinthians 5:10   For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.   
• Ecclesiastes 12:14  For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.   
• Acts 17:31  because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.   
• Romans 8:38-39  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, ³⁹ nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
• 1 John 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.   
• 1 Corinthians 3:12-15Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; ¹³ every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. ¹⁴ If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. ¹⁵ If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.   
• Acts 10:42   And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.  

Repudiating God’s grace to deliver them from evil, bound to their sin, they will experience the ultimate condemnation of evil.  They will experience this condemnation, not so much because of their sins, but because of their refusal to repent and the rejection of the grace extended to them through the merciful judgment executed upon sin for them in Jesus Christ.