Word of God incarnate
Revelation
TheWork of Jesus Christ
''Final Sacrifice"
The glory of Jesus Christ
shines more clearly
when we see Him in His
proper relation
to the Old Testament.
He has a magnificent relation
to
all that was written.
It is not surprising that this is the case, because
He is called
the
Word of God
incarnate
(John 1:14).
Would not the
Word of God incarnate
be the
sum and consummation
of the
Word of God
written?
Consider these summary statements and the texts that support them.
All the Scriptures bear
witness to Christ
Moses wrote about Christ
(John 5:39, 46).
All the Scriptures are about
Jesus Christ,
even where there is no explicit
prediction.
That is, there is a fullness
of implication in
all Scripture that
points to Christ
and is satisfied
only when He has come
and
DONE
HIS WORK!
“The meaning of all the Scriptures
is unlocked by the
death and
resurrection of Jesus”
(see Luke 24:27).
Jesus came to
fulfill
ALL
that was written
in the
Law and the Prophets
All of it was pointing to Him
even where it was not explicitly
prophetic.
He accomplished
what the law required
(Matt. 5:17–18).
All the promises of God
in the Old Testament
are
fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
That is,
when you have Christ,
sooner or later
you will have
both
Christ Himself
and all else that
God
promised through Christ
(2 Cor. 1:20).
The law was
kept
perfectly by Christ.
And all its penalties against God’s sinful people were
poured out on Christ.
Therefore, the Law is manifestly
not the path to righteousness,
Christ is.
The ultimate goal of the Law is that
we would look to Christ,
not law-keeping, for our
righteousness
(Rom. 10:4).
Therefore with the coming of Christ
virtually
everything has
changed:
1. The blood sacrifices ceased because
Christ fulfilled all
that they were pointing toward.
He was the
final,
unrepeatable
sacrifice for sins.
Hebrews 9:12:
“He entered
once for all
into the holy places,
not by means of the blood of goats and calves
but by means of his own blood,
thus
securing
an
eternal redemption.”
The priesthood that
stood between
worshipper and God
has ceased.
Hebrews 7:23–24: “The former priests were many in number,
because they were prevented by death from continuing in office,
but he holds his priesthood permanently,
because he continues forever.”
The physical temple has ceased to be the
geographic center of worship.
Now Christ Himself is the center of worship.
He is the “place,” the “tent,” and the “temple”
where we
meet God.
“Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me,
the hour is coming
when neither
on this
mountain
nor
in Jerusalem
will you worship the Father. . . .
But the hour is coming,
and is
now here,
when the true worshipers will worship the Father in
spirit and truth.’”
John 2:19–21:
“‘Destroy this temple, and in
three days I will raise it up.’ …
He was speaking
about the
temple of his body.”
The establishment
of civil law on the basis of an ethnically
rooted people,
who are ruled directly by God,
has ceased.
The people of God are no longer a
unified political body,
an ethnic group, or a nation-state,
but are exiles and sojourners
among all ethnic groups and
all states.
Therefore, God’s will for states is
not
taken directly from the Old Testament
theocratic order,
but should now be reestablished
from place to place and from
time to time
you see?
by means that correspond to
God’s sovereign rule over all peoples,
and that correspond to the fact that
genuine obedience, rooted as it is in
faith in Christ,
cannot be "coerced by law."
The state is therefore grounded in God,
but not expressive of God’s immediate rule.
Romans 13:1:
"Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.
For there is no
authority except from God,
in
THE WORD of GOD
and those that
exist have been instituted by God.”
John 18:36:
"My kingdom is not of
this world.
If my kingdom were of this world,
my servants would have been fighting.”
Let us worship
the
wonder
of
Christ,
who unleashed these massive changes in the world.