| Topic: |
Religions > Bible |
| User: |
"Peter G. Chase" |
| Date: |
28 Jan 2007 11:00:51 PM |
| Object: |
DN Exalting Christ 1/29/2007 |
DRAWING NEAR
January 29
Exalting Christ
God "seated [Christ] at His right hand in the heavenly places"
(Eph. 1:20).
Christ occupies the highest place of power, prominence,
authority, and honor.
To exalt someone is to elevate that person in status, dignity, power,
and honor. As God, Jesus possesses all power and authority, and is
deserving of all honor and glory. But when He was on earth most
people refused to give Him the glory He deserves. Instead they mocked
and eventually murdered Him.
Just prior to His death, Jesus prayed to the Father, "Glorify Thou Me
together with Thyself, Father, with the glory which I had with Thee
before the world was" (John 17:5). The Father answered that prayer by
giving Him an exalted name and an exalted position.
Paul wrote, "God highly exalted [Christ], and bestowed on Him the
name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on the earth, and under
the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:9-11).
Hebrews 1:3 adds that when Christ had made purification of sins, He
sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Old Testament
priests didn't sit down while on duty because their work was never
finished. Repeated sacrifices were necessary because of the priest's
own sins and the sins of the people. Christ, on the other hand, made
one all-sufficient sacrifice, then sat down. His atoning work was
completed.
The "right hand" of God is a metaphor for the highest place of power,
prominence, authority, and honor. From that exalted position Christ
reigns as the sovereign Lord of the universe.
There's one aspect of Christ's exaltation that we as believers can
participate in right now. David said, "O magnify the Lord with me,
and let us exalt His name together" (Ps. 34:3). Psalm 99:5 adds,
"Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at His footstool." Praise and
worship the Lord. Be generous in praising Him today, for He is
worthy!
Suggestions for Prayer:
Read Psalm 34 and exalt the Lord for all the benefits He demonstrates
on behalf of His people.
For Further Study:
Read Colossians 3:1-4
1. Describe your position in Christ (vv. 1, 3).
2. What should be the focus of your life (v. 2)?
3. When ultimately will God vindicate your faith in Christ (v. 4)?
4. What must you do to be exalted by God (see James 4:10; 1 Peter
5:6)?
Drawing Near, Copyright 1993 John F. MacArthur, Jr.
All rights reserved. Used by permission.
http://www.gty.org
~~~
Psalm 34 (NKJV)
1 I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually
be in my mouth.
2 My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; The humble shall hear of
it and be glad.
3 Oh, magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together.
4 I sought the LORD, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my
fears.
5 They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces were not
ashamed.
6 This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him, And saved him out
of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, And
delivers them.
8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who
trusts in Him!
9 Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints! There is no want to those who
fear Him.
10 The young lions lack and suffer hunger; But those who seek the
LORD shall not lack any good thing.
11 Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of
the LORD.
12 Who is the man who desires life, And loves many days, that he may
see good?
13 Keep your tongue from evil, And your lips from speaking deceit.
14 Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, And His ears are open
to their cry.
16 The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, To cut off the
remembrance of them from the earth.
17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, And delivers them out
of all their troubles.
18 The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such
as have a contrite spirit.
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the LORD delivers
him out of them all.
20 He guards all his bones; Not one of them is broken.
21 Evil shall slay the wicked, And those who hate the righteous
shall be condemned.
22 The LORD redeems the soul of His servants, And none of those who
trust in Him shall be condemned.
Colossians 3:1-4
1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are
above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear
with Him in glory.
James 4:10
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
1 Peter 5:6
Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may
exalt you in due time
These devotions are posted with permission from John MacArthur's
first (1993) devotional work, _Drawing Near_, and they are also sent
out daily for free to several folks via e-mail.
In addition, John's second (1997) devotional, _Strength for Today_,
is also available free via e-mail only. _Strength for Today_ follows
the same format as what you have seen here from _Drawing Near_, but
with different monthly themes.
If you would like to receive daily devotions via e-mail from either
of these series, just let me know (via e-mail), and I will gladly add
you to the list(s) of your choice.
You can hear John MacArthur daily via the Internet by visiting:
http://www2.oneplace.com/Ministries/Grace_to_You/
and
http://www.gty.org.uk/
You may email John MacArthur in care of Grace to You at:
letters@gty.org
NOTE for those of you reading via newsgroups: If you wish to reach
me, please contact me via e-mail for quickest results.
In Christ,
Peter
Peter G. Chase :: Columbus, Ohio, USA
pchase1@wideopenwest.com
STOP! Who do you think Jesus is?
http://www.gty.org/Gospel
http://www.gty.org/
http://www.nwbible.org/
To forgive is to set a prisoner free, and to discover that the prisoner was you. -Alistair Begg
.
|
|
| User: "Bill M" |
|
| Title: Re: DN Exalting Christ 1/29/2007 |
29 Jan 2007 10:06:28 AM |
|
|
"Peter G. Chase" <pchase1@wideopenwest.com> wrote in message
news:0rvqr2tioueuqrcc72mp2a7uio4o44manf@4ax.com...
DRAWING NEAR
January 29
Exalting Christ
God "seated [Christ] at His right hand in the heavenly places"
(Eph. 1:20).
Christ occupies the highest place of power, prominence,
authority, and honor.
To exalt someone is to elevate that person in status, dignity, power,
and honor. As God, Jesus possesses all power and authority, and is
deserving of all honor and glory. But when He was on earth most
people refused to give Him the glory He deserves. Instead they mocked
and eventually murdered Him.
Just prior to His death, Jesus prayed to the Father, "Glorify Thou Me
together with Thyself, Father, with the glory which I had with Thee
before the world was" (John 17:5). The Father answered that prayer by
giving Him an exalted name and an exalted position.
The Jesus story is totally implausible. It is not supported by any solid
objective verifiable evidence. Should we believe in a god for whom there is
NO solid objective evidence? The evidence available is quite the contrary.
It is totally implausible! This Jesus belief is based purely on faith in
totally implausible stories, not factual objective verifiable evidence of
any kind.
The Bibles were written recopied and modified by hundreds of men of unknown
veracity and honesty over a time span of several thousands years. There are
NO ORIGINALS IN EXISTENCE. What ever the originals were have rotted and
disappeared thousands of years ago. We don't know what the originals said.
The Bibles are nothing more than a mixture of myths, fables, contradictions
and impossible tales. There are 18 different versions alone of the English
Bible interpretations.
According to the Bibles, God supposedly created the heavens, the earth and
everything in it in six days. Adam, the original man was created during this
time from 'DUST'. His mate, Eve was created from one of Adam's RIBS.
According to the Bibles this all powerful omnipotent God supposedly created
this huge complex Universe in six days!
This God supposedly came to earth over 2,000 years ago as a man named Jesus
to save mankind from the sins that God himself created and to preach his
wishes and commands. Archeological evidence indicates 'modern' man has
existed approximately 100,000 years. Why did god wait all those years to
come to earth to preach his word and pay for man's sins (which he himself
created!)?
This all powerful creator of this huge Universe supposedly came to Earth as
a baby in a cold manger, in the middle of winter and was born of a virgin
called Mary. Why would he choose to be born in such an ingenuous way?
Arrogant humans had to make up a myth
about a god arriving from the womb of another human.
If Jesus was supposedly born of a Virgin Mary and she was the wife of
Joseph, why was she still a virgin? Why did the women need to be married to
a mortal in order to give birth to a god? And why couldn't this all powerful
god creator just come to earth in what ever form he chose to create? He
supposedly created the Universe and everything in it!
If he could create Adam instantly from dust and Eve from a rib, why did he
use this slow tortuous means to create himself as a god man on earth???
He supposedly grew up as a normal child and worked as a carpenter as an
adult. There are no details in the Bibles about his younger years. After
about THIRTY YEARS, he supposedly announced to the local inhabitants that
he was Jesus the God savior from heaven to tell them God's wishes and
commands.
There are no significant records of Jesus', (the Christ) actual existence in
the non religious documents of the era. Depending upon which Bible story you
choose, it is claimed he preached his doctrines for less than one, two or
three years. In any case, why put himself on earth for some thirty
inconsequential years and only use a few of these years to preach his
doctrines? And then not use his omnipotent power to preach to the WHOLE
world instead of just a miniscule part of the world around Jerusalem?
Jesus was baptized. In Christianity, baptism is the sacrament of
regeneration and initiation into the Christian church. According to a theme
of St. Paul the Apostle, baptism is death to a former life and the emergence
of a new person, signified by the conferring of a new name; it is the total
annulment of the sins of one's past, from which one emerges a totally
innocent person. Then why would a 'God Jesus' need to be baptized?
His sermons and teachings only reached a miniscule part of the world
population at that time because he did not speak via the equivalent of
International Radio or TV. IF he was an ALL powerful creator of the world,
he certainly would have the ability to speak to ALL of mankind by means at
least as effective as man. Why did this all powerful god creator wait
100,000 years to come and preach to only a very small segment of the world,
for a very short period of time, (depending on which Bible you choose) and
then leave us without ANY solid objective verifiable evidence of his
existence, his wishes and commands? Why did he not preserve his teachings in
some permanent form for all of mankind in the future? The Bibles were
supposedly written by 56 or more authors of unknown veracity over a period
of thousands of years. There are NO - NADA originals of any of the Bibles in
existence. The originals have all rotted and disappeared thousands of years
ago. They are all hand copies of copies etc. of unknown actual origin and
veracity.
Why would any omnipotent God, creator of this huge complex Universe, provide
his message in such a sloppy, inaccurate, unreliable, questionable and
confusing manor???
Why did he not use his great omnipotent powers to preach to the WHOLE world
from his Heaven, instead of just preaching to an insignificant portion of
the world?? Why did he leave most of mankind totally in the dark?
He supposedly distributed his word via hand copied documents called the
Bibles. Yet NONE of the Bibles were written during his 'claimed' time on
earth. The original Bibles were written and hand recopied more than 1500
years before the invention of the printing press. There is no evidence that
Jesus ever wrote a word. NO ORIGINAL copies of ANY of the Bibles exist. Why
did he not preserve them? The Bibles now in existence are hand copies of
copies etc. of unknown and doubtful veracity. They are largely myths,
fables, hearsay and contradictory and implausible tales. The four books of
the New Testament were written and copied somewhere between 60 and 200 years
AFTER Jesus' supposed existence. None of the authors could have known him
directly. They are all third person fictional narratives of unknown
veracity. Why would a real god, creator of this huge Universe, not arrange
for the creation of clear, authentic, contemporary and permanent copies of
his word?
During his brief adulthood, preaching his word, he is 'claimed' to have
restored site to a few of the blind, restored mobility to a few of the
crippled and restored health to a few of the sick. Why was he so niggardly
about helping the poor, the disabled and the sick? Is this the likely
conduct of an all loving God creator?
After the brief period of time he preached, it only reached a very small
part of the world's population. He did not avail himself of any
communication means as effective as Radio, TV, Telephone or the Internet. He
then allowed himself to be painfully and brutally crucified on a cross
between two criminals to pay for man's sins (which he created). If he died
on the cross to save mankind, why was mankind no better off after this
supposed crucifixion than before? Was all this blood and gore for nothing?!
The Roman courts were models of order and fairness. A man was not condemned
without a trial; he was not handed to the executioner before being found
guilty. And yet we are asked to believe that an innocent man was brought
before a Roman court, where Pontius Pilate was Judge; that no charge of
wrongdoing having been brought against him, the Judge declared that he found
him innocent; but the mob shouted, "Crucify him; crucify him!" and to please
the rabble, Pilate commanded that the man whom he had found innocent, should
be delivered to the executioners to be crucified! Also, real criminals were
crucified by being 'tied' to the cross - not nailed! What was the purpose of
all this blood and gore? Why should any REAL god need to suffer for man's
sins??? (which god created)
Why was his life and crucifixion not in any of the numerous historical
documents of the time??? Why is this only in church documents?
If Jesus performed the wonderful miracles the New Testament describes, why
did the people want him crucified? Is it not amazing that a civilized people
would demand that a kind and loving man who went about doing good works, who
preached forgiveness, cleansed the leprous, and raised the dead - that they
could not be appeased until they had brutally crucified the noblest
benefactor of mankind? This makes NO sense at all!
If he could create the Universe and every thing in it, (including sin) why
did he not just forgive man's sins, directly from his heaven, without all
this blood and gore? Three days after he died he supposedly rose from the
dead and returned to his heaven. Why did he wait uncomfortably in a crypt
for three days after his death and internment to return to his magnificent
heaven? Why did he wait 30 years!? How can an immortal god die? Jesus did
not die for our sins. People are still praying to him in his supposed
heaven!
What was the logic and purpose of this gruesome and painful killing? Only a
miniscule part of the world's population at the time would be aware of this
claimed sacrifice.
Billions of people today are still not knowledgeable believers of this
highly implausible story. Why did he not preserve a video tape, DVD or other
permanent record of this historic episode? If man is capable of these
devices certainly a god creator should be equally or more proficient.
Why did he not leave any 'authenticated' documents accurately substantiating
his appearance? Why has he failed to communicate further for over 2,000
years?
He supposedly went through this torture and humiliating death to pay for
mans sins which he himself created! Why did he not just wave his wand and
forgive mans sins and skip all the ridiculous blood and gore??? Why did he
create sin in the first place? This should be no problem for a god that
created Adam from dust and Eve from Adam's rib, and this immense Universe.
Why do people supposedly still have the same sins that he died for?
Why does he encourage or permit Christians to drink his blood and eat his
flesh? Isn't this a pagan ritual?
Why does he continue to allow thousands of greedy self serving men to
deliver his word to his flock in such a vague, inconsistent, contradictory,
and ineffectual manner? There are hundreds of different Christian sects and
beliefs. There are thousands of different religious and god beliefs and
practices. Why does he allow this gross confusion? Why does he not
communicate clearly and DIRECTLY to his entire flock that he is the real god
and all the others are fakes? It would be more responsible and more
effective to eliminate this gross confusion?
If he is the real god, why does he even permit the belief and propagation of
thousands of false gods and false religions?
The Christ tale is obviously not factual but pure myth and legend.
The objective evidence is that God did not create man but quite the
contrary; that man created Gods!
.
|
|
|
|
|
Related Articles |
|
|
