Major Bible Themes
Mike Doyle · Feb 20, 2011
Major Bible Themes (2011), No. 08
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926227438

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

We're going to look at chapter 7. It's interesting, I got a Kindle thing, and I went and downloaded major Bible themes in it, and guess what? It's the old version. So I'm studying both, and I'm thinking, wait a minute, these questions aren't the same. Information doesn't seem to be exactly the same. It's good, because it educates you more. But I noticed with, in looking at By the way, next week, these are the questions in chapter 8 you should be concerned about, 1, 2, 5, 7, and 11. That's kind of where the focus will be. Take a look at this.

Notice that as we're going down, there's one chapter on the Father, there's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 chapters on the Son, and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 chapters on the Holy Spirit. Why do you think it's that way? Why so much focus on, like right now, on all the chapters that are on the Son, only one chapter on the Father, and then after that there's chapters on the Holy Spirit. Why do you think it's that way? It's because they have the exact same attributes. You learn about the Father while you're studying the Son.

That's pretty good, didn't everybody hear that? Yeah. That's a pretty good answer. What else? The Father doesn't reveal Himself directly, He allows the Son to reveal Himself. There you go. A lot of it has to do with the roles of the Son and the Holy Spirit.

What's the primary role of the Son of God? What's He here to do? He's called the Logos of God, the Word of God. What's that mean? He's to reveal God. That's what he's to do. That's his role. And along with that, what's the Holy Spirit's job? To reveal Christ to us. So they're all engaged in what? Knowing them. That's a really cool thing.

So today we're going to talk about the deity of Christ and his eternality. Over the next six or seven chapters, here's kind of what we're going to do, just so you know. Today we're going to talk about his pre-existence. Next week, his incarnation. Then his substitutionary death. Then his ascension and priestly ministry. His coming for his saints and then his coming with his saints. There's a difference. Everybody know that there's a difference in those two? He comes for his saints and then he comes with his saints.

What's the time span between those two? Seven years. Right? So we could be 15 minutes and 7 years away from coming with Christ. Right now. Huh? It would be kind of cool, wouldn't it? We wouldn't have to go to Florida. So that's kind of where we're going to go over the next 6-7 weeks. Now, let's talk about today. What I want to do is look at these verses, so maybe we'll divide them up. Why don't you look up John 1 and 17.5. You have an Old Testament?

Micah 5.2.

Genesis 1.1. Do you have a Bible?

Genesis 1.1.

Colossians 1.16. Now as we talk about these verses, here's the issue. We just mentioned that the reason that the Son of God is referred to as the Logos of God, the Word of God, is to do what?

He is the person of the Trinity that reveals who God is to us, right? So, is it important that we kind of know about Christ? And not only know about Him, but maybe know Him pretty intimately? What's cool about this is that I think these verses show and point out lots of characteristics about who Christ is. And so if you'll see kind of interesting, I think, that especially in Colossians 1, that first chapter of Colossians is just awesome in terms of pointing out attributes of who Christ is himself, which is really kind of neat. So anyway, in John 1, 1, read. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Okay, in the beginning was the Word.

What does that mean? Is that a direct statement about who Christ is? Is Christ and the Word the same person? You okay with that? Well, no. I didn't think you were. Christ is referred to as the Word of God. John 1 says, In the beginning was the Word. Who's he talking about? That's exactly right.

In the beginning, the word was already existing, wasn't he? Wasn't he? Christ was there even though he wasn't born. Yeah. In the beginning was the word. Do you see how the language says, what does the language tell us? That at the beginning, Christ was already there. Was he a man yet? No. But the word, the person, the second person of the Trinity, he was there at the beginning of creation.

What does that tell you? That he existed before creation. Which means he is probably something other than a finite created being. No, no, I'm sorry. I jumped ahead. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was what? So what does that tell you about who the Word is? He's God. He's with God, He's there at the beginning, and He's existing before the beginning, and He's God.

Awful lot in three little phrases. Okay, John 17, 5. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. Oh my goodness. Now here is the word of God who has become a man, who has lived on the earth about 33 and a half years. He's very close to going to the cross and he prays to the Father at this point and he asks the Father, as a man, to do certain things.

And I love that prayer because, you know, we are such doubters about everything. When you read through that prayer, do you think the Father's going to say, well, I'll do six out of seven? How about that nine out of ten? Would that be okay? Every single thing that he says in John 17 in that prayer is an absolute certainty that the Father will do. and has done. So when he says, glorify me with the glory that we had before the world began, what is he saying about himself? He and the Father are one, that he is God, that he has been glorified as the second person of the Trinity. Now, because he set his glory to the side and became a man, he is asking the Father to glorify him as a man. Again it goes to prove that he is eternal and he is the son of God, that he is God.

Micah 5.2 It is for you Bethlehem Ephraath. Ephraath. Ephraath. Isn't that a hard word? Ephraath. It's like you've got clusters. I've come to be among the clans of Judah. From you one will go forth for me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of time. So here's a prophecy about who this person is going to be long before he ever becomes a man. And then he will go forth and we'll look at some other Old Testament verses.

So the verses are designed to demonstrate to the reader that Christ is God and that he's eternal and that he existed from all eternity. Now some of my favorite verses Colossians chapter 1 verse 16 For by him all things were created, both in heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions, or rulers or authorities. All things have been created through him and for him." Okay, now what I would like to do is maybe back up and look at these verses, look at a group of verses. 15 says, he is the image of the invisible God the firstborn of all creation. That's verse 15.

He's the image of the invisible God. What does that mean? Image, the word image there, I think it's a Greek word, icon. What does it mean that he's the image of the invisible God? Isn't that the same word that's used in Genesis where we're created in the image of God? In the Septuagint it would be. What does it mean that he is the image of God? It means that he is the exact representation of who God is.

God is knowable because Jesus Christ is knowable. You would not know God without him. And when you know Christ, you know God perfectly because he is the exact express image of who he is. Okay? And he's the firstborn over all creation. I thought Adam was the first guy. No, because you said in the beginning that God and Christ were already there before anything else happened. Okay, but we're talking about that. We're talking about Christ before he was a man. Here we're talking about the fact that he is a man. Firstborn doesn't mean first on the scene. Firstborn means first in priority, first in authority, first in Give me a better word than that. First in kind. First in kind. Who's the prototype man, Adam or Christ? Christ is. Adam was made in what? The image and likeness of Adam? No, of God, the Lord Jesus. Okay.

And then 16, for by him all things were created. Oh wow, pretty cool. He created all things that are in heaven and on the earth, in the earth. Whether you can see him or not, whether they're thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, he created every one of those. All things were created through him and for him.

Pretty nice. Pretty cool. This Lord Jesus, the logos of God, that's the express image of God, this is who he is. So the next time you doubt whether he's got the mustard to carry out your request, take a look at this. Then it says, and he is before all things and in him all things consist. Not only did he create it, but he holds it all together. And he runs it and it functions perfectly according to his will. Now I know you guys all have free will and you think you can screw up the deal, but you can't. You can't. Right?

And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. Oh, now there's a cool saying. He's the beginning. He's the firstborn from the dead. What does that mean? He existed before all eternity. He was there at the creation. He created. It was created by him and for him.

And not only that, he's the firstborn from among the dead. What does that mean? Well, humans are of sin nature, so they're essentially dead. So he became a human, but he was the firstborn. He wasn't going to die. That's pretty good. No, that's really pretty good.

When he was on the cross, what did the Father do in terms of his identity? He identified Christ, united Christ to the fallen human race. So what kind of a position or relationship did that put him in with the father? Separated. We use the word dead. What's death mean? Separation. Then what happened? He dies, then what happens? He's raised to newness of life, which means he's the firstborn, not only in priority, but also in status. He's the firstborn from among all those dead ones. Yeah, because he's God. Not because he was God. Because he had to take care of sin and put it away and basically gain victory for the entire human race. Let me add one word there.

He's the first born man from the dead ones. That make sense? Of a brand new creation. There was a couple that were raised from the dead before. But what did they get raised to? Same old dance, same old separated creation, right? I've probably told this joke too many times, but if I'm Lazarus and I get raised from the dead, I'm not happy about that. I've got to do this dying all over again. So he's the first born into a new creation on which there will never be any death.

When Art Lauther went home to be with the Lord, he didn't come alive at that point, he came alive when he believed on the person and work of Christ and he just entered into the fullness of the new creation. Pretty cool, huh? That's why it says believers don't ever die, they just go to sleep, because they've been raised in Christ. that in all things he may have the preeminence, in the new creation in eternity he's the preeminent figure.

He is the head of the body of the church, I already read that, for it pleased the father, back to the father, that in him all fullness should dwell. What does that mean? We're talking about Christ as a man. That in him, it pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell. Fullness of what? Of God. So what you have here now is that you have this person who is the Lagos of God, who was the Word of God in the beginning. The fullness of God is in him a human being.

That's a really important point, because sitting on the throne of God in the heavens now is not an angel, not a spiritual creature, it's a man, a human being. And this man is everything that we just read. Everything that we just read. He created, he did it for himself and by himself. He has the fullness of God resting in him. All things consist through him.

This is the person of the Trinity that every believer has to deal with. And I don't mean it in the sense that you have to deal with him. What I mean in the sense is that, wow, this is the one. This is the one we get to know. This is Christ himself. Okay? Let's see. Anyway, Colossians 1 I think is just an awesome place. The first two chapters of Colossians, if you want to read about the personality and the person of Christ, that's a good place to look at it. He has a priority in Genesis.

Have we gone through Genesis 1.1? Did we read that?

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Who did that? Who did it? You think all three of them did it? Who was the one who did it? It was the Father's will that it be done. Who carried out his will? Christ. Sure. He's the one who did it. Did he pre-exist creation? Yeah, you said so earlier. Well, I don't say so. It's what the word says. Okay, let's look at Genesis. Let's go over here. Genesis 16, 7. Genesis 18. We don't have to read all those verses. And Genesis 22.

Now what we're going to talk about now is, was he around? Was he hanging around the earth and showing up before he was born in Bethlehem? I'm watching the tube the other night, I think it was the History Channel or something, and they're talking about, they've got all of these pseudo-theologians on. We're talking about angels showing up and talking to guys like Abraham and talking about Judaism. These guys don't have a clue. I'm wondering if they're all doctors of some kind, but I wondered if they ever read the Bible. I mean, it's awful what they were...

Anyway. Yes, sir. Before you proceed, I want to chase a little rabbit. Please. Paul says at one point, that whether it be a true gospel or a false gospel, that it's all good because it brings forward the deity of Christ. That's not exactly what he said. He says, may they be accursed.

One's in Philippians and one's in Galatians. What he says in Galatians, in the first chapter, that if anybody preach any other gospel than what I preach, let him be accursed. And he says, I don't care if it's me, Paul, or an angel, or whoever it is, if they're going to preach or say anything other than what I've already preached to you, let them be accursed. It's Galatians chapter 1, verse 9, as we have said before, so now say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. Okay, now the second part, where's that second part where you're talking about?

Philippians. All right, Philippians what? 1, 16 I believe. Okay, let's see. Okay, 15 says some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife and some also from goodwill. The former preached Christ from selfish ambition, but sincerely supposing to add affliction to my chains, but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is priest, and in this I rejoice, yea, and will rejoice." Is there any compromise of the gospel in those verses? Could be. Not according to what it says.

See the point is that the true gospel was being preached. It was the motive of the guy preaching it that was the problem. Oh so the real gospel in both cases. Okay so most of the ministers will go to hell because they preached the wrong thing. No they'll get a spanking but they'll go to hell. Sure.

It's like if you run into one of those charlatans on TV who preach the gospel, but his whole motive is to line his pockets. Motives aren't right. Preaching the gospel, you can't criticize them if the gospel is clear. The problem today is that whatever their motive is, they aren't preaching the gospel. It's like, did they spend six bucks and buy a Bible? I mean, I don't get it. I don't either. Okay, Genesis 16, 7. Did we already read that? Go for it.

And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Asher. And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, Whence camest thou, and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress, Sarah. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself unto her hand. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. OK. Now this is along the story of Hagar. Who's Hagar's son? Oh boy, Ishmael, right?

And what happened to them? They got kicked out of the camp. How come? Why did Abraham boot them out of there? Sarah wasn't happy? Stirring trouble. What does Ishmael represent? What else? Man. Man, the flesh. And so when the son of promise shows up, who's Isaac, then the son of the flesh has to go. But look what God does. And who is this angel that shows up and talks to her? It is. Yeah. It's Christ. Now, you know, I'm a little upset about Christ in this passage.

Because if he hadn't have made so many herbs we wouldn't have all the problems we have now. And he blessed them exceedingly and look where they are now. But why did he bless them to begin with if he knows the future before it happens? Why did he say there will be great nations from you? You want the great answer? He did it to glorify himself.

You know? all these guys that are prophets, I wonder what they're thinking now that there's so much uproar in the Arab nations. It's kind of interesting what's going on. But they're taking over the world, they're everywhere. They're in Europe, they're in China, they're everywhere. I know. Even the Democrats in Wisconsin.

So the point is, the pre-existence of Christ, here he is in the Old Testament, functioning, referred to as an angel and carrying out the will of God and showing up and talking to Hagar and making some promises to her, telling her he's going to do some things. He's going to bless her and bless her offspring, make a great nation out of her son. Now, Genesis 18, read one or two or three verses and kind of get the story. Genesis 18 I read verse 1 or 2 or 3 so we get the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Namre while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day when he lifted up his eyes and looked behold three men were standing opposite him and when he saw them he ran from their tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth.

Okay, that's enough. Oh, bowed himself. Bowed or bowed? Bowed. So who is this person that shows up? Christ again. Yeah, it is. It's pre-incarnate Christ. So he can appear to be described as angels, but he wasn't just an angel, because angels don't have bodies. He looks and acts and functions like a human being.

So who were the other two? Were they just angels, or were they... It was Leroy and Jim. I don't know who the other two were. They just happened to be standing there. Yeah, they just happened to be hanging out. Yeah, I don't know who they were. They're not identified.

And just to give you a little insight into that, in ancient times it was really, we talked about this on Wednesday night, it was really dangerous to travel. And if you were, you looked down the road and you saw travelers coming, you would run down to them and invite them into your house because it was safe. And that's what he was doing. But as soon as he got up to them, he knew who they were, and so he bows to them.

So the point is that Christ is pre-incarnate, pre-existing before he becomes a man and that's those verses, if you read all the way to 33, it demonstrates that he is. Genesis 22, 11. The angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. So he said, here I am.

And he said, do not lay your hand on the land or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." And Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram clad in blood, and depicted by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.

Okay. Who is this guy? Who is it? Yeah, sure it is. It wouldn't be the Father, we've already discussed why it wouldn't be, and it wouldn't be the Holy Spirit, we haven't discussed that, but we will when we get to the Holy Spirit. It has to be Christ, the pre-incarnate Christ. That's a soundtrack. Yeah, it sounds like Christ. I must be making a mistake, the Lord is here. Music, music. Why couldn't it be an angel? Why couldn't it be an angel? Or it couldn't be an angel.

When you read the verses, is there authority there? And the authority is not given over to anybody else? Like when a true angel shows up, he will usually demonstrate that he's here to do something by the authority of somebody else. But in this case, there isn't. Great. He says, I know you fear God since you have not loved your son, your only son. So angels don't deliver their own messages. That's exactly right. The very term angel means messenger.

So, ok, let's see. So, direct statements of the Son of God in his pre-existence. We already looked at John 1, One and two, these are direct statements in the New Testament about who Christ is. That He, the Word was in the beginning, the Word was with God, the Word was God, He was in the beginning with God. You know, I think every Christian can quote those verses, but do you know that what they're saying to you is that Christ in the beginning, when's the beginning?

What's the beginning He's talking about here? No? It's the beginning of creation. See? The point is that when things got created, he was already there. What did he do before creation? Shot pool, play ping pong. No, what the Father, Son and Holy Spirit did in eternity past, before they created, is that they loved each other and they received love and they just fellowship. That's what they did. And they were perfectly satisfied with themselves. Perfectly satisfied. So why would they create? Why would they do it? Because he wanted people to give him glory. Yeah, kind of.

But he knew we were rotten, so why would he do it? He didn't create us rotten, though. But he knew ahead of time what we were going to be doing. Yeah, he did. Why would he do it then? Why would he create you and me with this thing called will, or Adam with a will? To display the ultimate glory and salvation. Sure.

If you're God, and I know we all think we are sometimes, and we were going to create, and we were going to demonstrate our personhood to a creature that we created who could respond in kind. that as God you could love them and they'd love you back. And they'd be kind of like you in that they would have determination. They could will things. Or I could do a whole creation like angels or a whole creation of creatures that just did what I told them to do.

If you're going to love somebody, you have to decide to do that. You see, you have to make a decision, which means you have to exercise your will. So God decides on a continuing basis to love the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Well, he wanted creatures to engage in that love, receiving and reciprocating willfully.

But that, there's a big risk there. Yeah, look what happened to Noah. Yeah, I know. So did he, why didn't he blow it up and start over? I think one of the bigger lessons I had is Sure. Don't you think it's interesting that even though he gives free will to a man and he puts that man in charge, Adam, he makes him a representative man and whatever Adam's going to do is going to accrue to all of his offspring, all the way down to us. Adam sins and he falls, but it doesn't stop God and it doesn't change his plan.

As a matter of fact, his plan was always to have creatures who were elevated above the creation of Adam to be in Christ for all eternity. But in order for that to happen, what's Christ going to have to do? He has to become a man. He has to identify with the creation.

That's why even current events are all within his control. Because we have this material mind that thinks sequentially, we can't conceive that God has all knowledge in play right now. There's no past, there's no future, it's all now. So all now is happening all right now to him. We don't think like that and so it's difficult for us to understand it.

How could he create creatures with free wills in a time-space reality and yet give them the freedom to make choices, yet they're going to make choices according to his will? Because no human being and no angel ever created by God really did anything to subvert God's will. Did they? Did they? Our free will is only a choice of two things.

Either to believe him or reject him. That's right. That's what it comes down to. Yeah, most people reject him. Most people do. And so now, through the incarnation of Christ, which we'll talk about next week, he has not only resolved the sin issue, but elevated it way beyond anything that was originally disclosed in the Old Testament. See? Because to create man in his own image and likeness, are Christians created in God's image and likeness? Yeah. No, they're not. He said he created us in his likeness. Yeah, and then Adam fell. How much of the likeness was left over? None. Zero zippo. So now, because we're in Christ, does that take us back to the image and likeness stage of Adam? No, no, we're way beyond that. Now we're in Christ, we're exactly like him.

Not kind of neat, huh? also may be in us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me, I have given to them, that they may be one just as We are one. I am them, You and Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me and love them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire also that You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. of that fellowship, exactly the same, that perfect unity. Yeah, and what's interesting about this, well let's talk a little bit, what does it mean, like here, the glory which I had with you before the world was, what's glory mean? Before the world was, Christ had glory with the Father. What does that mean?

The Son attributes of who they are. Yeah. The Father, Son and the Holy Spirit are God themselves and they manifest the glory to and from each one of them which is radiating out to them their attributes. Okay, now, what are some of their attributes? Okay, what else?

All-knowing, all-seeing, all-present. Yeah, all-knowing, omnipresent, and they radiate that to each other. Now, what John 17, oops, John 17, verse 5 is saying is that Christ was saying to the Father, this glory that I had with you before the world began, It says, what does it say about Christ? He existed before the world began.

Okay? Now he wants it back, or he wants it manifested in what respect? What respect? As a man. See? He didn't have it as a man until the cross. but in John 17 before the cross he asked the father to glorify him as a man with the exact same glory that they had and he had before the world began so the thing is is that Jesus Christ today as a man in the heavenlies manifests the glory of God fully as God human being he's a hundred percent God and he's a hundred percent man not 50-50. I thought that this quotation down here from Kenneth Weiss was, In the beginning the Word was existing, and the Word was in fellowship with God the Father, and the Word was as to His essence absolute deity. The Word was in the beginning in fellowship with God the Father.

And in John 17.5, he says, And now glorify me, Father, beside yourself with the glory which I was constantly having with you before the universe existed. Kind of cool the way he describes it. Direct statements. We've looked at Genesis 1. Did we look at Genesis 26?

Let's look at Genesis 1.26, Craig.

And then you can look at John 1.3.

And we've done Colossians 1.16. I don't want to overburden Courtney, so I'll look it up. Yeah, I know. It might be too much for Kind of cool.

If God said, and we found out in Colossians that God, the Lord Jesus Christ created and he created with the purpose of let's make man in our image. It would seem to me he was existing when he said that. Before man was created, right? Okay, so an Elohim here means that is a plural term of God which means all three persons of the Godhead were engaged in creation. And by the way, are all three persons of the God engaged in your spiritual growth? Yeah. Is Elohim involved in your spiritual growth? Sure they are. All three of them.

Okay, John 1.3. He created everything there is. Nothing exists. That's kind of cool. So he created everything, everything came into being by him. Did he exist before creation? Sure he did. Is he an eternal being? Yeah, he'd have to be.

Colossians 1.16 which we've already read. We'll read it again.

For by him all things were created that are in heaven, that are on the earth, visible and invisible, Whether they're thrones or dominions. What are thrones and dominions? Powers to be here on earth. Powers to be here on the earth. Principalities and powers, what are those? Powers that exist in the spiritual world. Who's in charge? People that are in charge?

Well, and not only here, but in the spiritual world too. All things were created through him and for him. Do you get the sense that this Lord Jesus Christ that we have to do with has the whole deck of cards? He's got them all, doesn't he? Every single one of them.

So, why is it that we would have a tendency to think that, well, maybe he can't do what I'm asking him to do. Well, he can do it, but he may not want to. Or why don't I have confidence in him in terms of, wow, who am I dealing with here? If you grew up like I grew up as a Catholic, they put such emphasis on the Virgin Mary to talk to her to talk to him.

You see that? Because a Jewish mom always had the year of the sun. That's exactly the thinking. That's exactly the thinking. And why create this whole battery of saints? Because Jesus is busy, you know? And I've got a saint for every little incident in my life. I'll just go talk to them and now they're in heaven. They can work it out. She said, how about turning the water into wine? And he says to her, what have I got to do with you?

That's true. In the Jewish economy, mom always had the ear of the son. So if you're a good Catholic, who are you going to talk to? Mom! You're not going direct to the man himself. But see, in Christianity, that was a great discovery for me. I didn't need an intermediary. Right. And Mary's, how have you mentioned her? Never. Twice, I think. Okay. Boy, we finished on time. We talked about all of those? Wow.

Let's close. Dear Father, how we thank you for your word and the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ that we have, that we do deal with on a daily basis, or put it in another way, that he deals with us on a daily basis is in fact the eternal son of God and that he is and has the glory of God yourself. We can trust him and we can rely on him. Father, we thank you and pray in his precious name. Amen.