Midweek Advent Service III [On the personal union of the two natures in Christ] (20-Dec-2017)

This sermon was preached at St Matthew's Lutheran Church, Maryborough, 5.30pm.

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

After six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. (Matthew 17:1-2)

Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Tonight we’re finishing our series of three midweek services about Jesus. The first week, we were particularly looking at the fact that Jesus is true God, his divinity, or his divine nature, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Last week, we were looking at Jesus’ humanity, or his human nature. Today, we’re going to talk about the fact that Christ is one person, and how his divinity and humanity are united in one person.

Let’s read again the summary of this in Luther’s Small Catechism: I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord. The first week, we were looking at the fact that Jesus is true God, begotten of the Father from eternity. Last week, we focused on the fact that Jesus is true man, born of the Virgin Mary. But this week, we’re looking at the fact that Jesus is my Lord, or the fact that there are not two people who are called Jesus, but one person who is called Jesus, who is both man and God.

Often when people look at children, they often make comments about how they have their father’s blue eyes, or their mother’s red hair. It’s amazing when a mother and a father have a child how the child looks like both of them, and yet is not a copy of either of them. I once heard a story about a child who said, “I’ve got my dad’s face, my mum’s hair, but I have my own teeth!” When an individual child is born, there are not two children, but only one child, who has both their mother and the father’s features. In a similar way, Jesus has a very special, particular Father. He has God the Father as his true Father. And he also has a particular mother, the Virgin Mary. He has the Virgin Mary as his true mother. Jesus’ divinity, or his divine nature, comes from his Father. Jesus’ humanity, or his human nature, comes from his mother. But how many people are there called Jesus? Is there a human Jesus and a divine Jesus? No – there is only one Jesus. Luther says in the Catechism:  I believe that Jesus Christ, true God…and true man…is my Lord. Not my Lords, but my Lord.

Now, it’s a wonderful mystery when we think about who Jesus is, and just how it works that someone should be true man and true God. He’s the only person who is like it! And so, it’s important that we talk about it in the right way. For example, Jesus is not some kind of God-and-man salad. There’s not bits of God and man all chopped up in him all over the place. It’s not like his feet are human and his brain is God. It’s not as if he has a human heart, but his eyes are from God. That’s not right. Also, it’s not like he’s some kind of God-and-man sandwich, like two pieces of bread stuck together, that you can just pull apart. Also, he’s not like some kind of God-and-man mixture, like if someone mixed flour and water together to make something new, like wallpaper-paste. Wallpaper paste isn’t flour and it isn’t water—it’s a mixture of both.

One of the most helpful ways in which Christians throughout the centuries have traditionally spoken about how Christ is both true God and man in one person is the picture of iron which has been put in the fire. Just imagine the old days in Maryborough or some other place in Australia where you had blacksmiths. They had to put pieces of iron into a red-hot fire, and then when they pulled it out, what did they get? They got iron which glowed red hot from the fire. Now let’s say you want to brand a cow. If you poke it with a metal rod, it would just jump. If you just got a blowtorch and blew fire at it, you would end up with roast beef. But if you want to brand a cow, you have to put the iron in the fire, so that the iron pokes and burns at the same time, and it burns in exactly the right place where you poke the iron. Or let’s take something from your everyday household kitchen: Maybe you need to cut some butter, but you forgot to pull it out of the fridge. The butter is too hard to cut with a knife. But if you put the butter in the oven or the microwave, it would go all sloppy or runny. What you need to do is turn the stove on and heat up your knife, so that the knife gets hot. Then the knife will cut and melt at the same time.

Now, let’s compare this to Jesus. We might say that Jesus’ human nature is like the iron, and his divine nature is like the fire. Just as iron is put in the fire and becomes red hot, and makes the iron burn, so also Jesus is like fiery iron. Right from the moment of his conception, he is both man and God in one person, just like iron and fire are united together. Everything that Jesus does is a human act and an act of God, so that when Jesus touches a person and heals a person, who touched them? Was it God, or man? It was both, just like a fiery iron burns in the exact spot where it touches.

In Isaiah chapter 6, we also have the picture of a fiery coal, which touches Isaiah’s lips. We read about how he saw a wonderful vision of the Lord and the angels and we read: And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” Can you see here what the flaming coal does? Isaiah confesses that he is a man of unclean lips, and the angel touches him with a burning coal. God wants to purify him with fire, but also he wants to touch him right on the place where Isaiah confessed his sin: his lips. So the angel touches Isaiah with a burning coal. The coal goes right to the spot, and the fire burns and purifies at the same time. Jesus humanity is a bit like the coal, and his divinity is like the fire. But Jesus is one person, who touches people with his human hands, and heals them with all the power of God at the same time.

We see a wonderful picture of this in the Transfiguration. When Jesus took Peter, James and John on the mountain, what do we read? It says that Jesus was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. Do you see how Jesus body shines with the light of God? He is still a human like us, and has a human face like us, and is wearing normal human clothes. But the fact that Jesus is true God means that his face and clothes shine with divine light. This gives us a wonderful picture of how Jesus is both true God and true man in one person.

Now, let’s just compare Jesus for a moment with us. We Christians also say that God dwells and lives in us. Peter says that we are partakers of his divine nature. But also at the same time, as St Paul says in Romans 7, we say that sin dwells in us. In us we have a daily struggle between the new person at work in us, and our old person which is at work in us. But things are different with Jesus, because he has no sin dwelling in him. Every thought, word and action that he does is the thoughts, words and actions of God.

St Paul says on one hand that it is not I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Also at the same time, he says: I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. On one hand, we have Christ living in us, and sin dwelling in us. We struggle with sin and Christ forgives our sin, and works in us despite our sin. But with Jesus, all of his actions are one: they are 100% God’s works. Everything that this iron touches, the fire also burns.

With us, we begin our lives separated from God. St Paul says that we are by nature children of wrath. Sometime later in our life, we are baptised and become Christians and children of God and are converted. But with Jesus, he never needed to convert—right from the very first moment that his human body existed in the womb of the Virgin Mary, right from when he was the tiniest group of embryonic cells, he was always true God. The human body of Jesus didn’t become God sometime later, for example, at his baptism, or earlier, when he was born. The Virgin Mary had the one Jesus, true man and true God, in her womb.

So let’s come back to this picture of Jesus as being like fiery iron, and let’s think about a few examples about how this works. What this means is that there are certain things that make people human. On the other hand, there are certain things that make God God. But with Jesus, we believe that this man is God. Also, we believe that even though he is God that he is man. God is man, and man is God. This is an amazing thing. No other human being is God. And the Father and the Holy Spirit are not man. Only both come together in Jesus. This is so important, because in the bible, we see people worship Jesus. In the book of Acts, we read about an event where Paul and Barnabas turn up in a town called Lystra. And what happens? The people begin to worship them. And we read that Paul and Barnabas tear their clothes, and say: Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you. Jesus is also a man, but when the people worship him, there is no problem. Because the same Jesus who was nailed to a cross is called My Lord and my God by Thomas. There’s no problem. This man is God, and so he should be worshipped.

Now let me read a few very interesting passages. In 1 Corinthians 2:8, Paul says that the rules of this age crucified who? He says they crucified the Lord of glory. Now calling Jesus “the Lord of glory” is really a way of calling him God. But when Jesus died, did God die? Was the Lord of glory crucified? Or was it just Jesus the man who was crucified? But you see, who is the Lord of glory? The Lord of glory is this man Jesus Christ. Who is your Lord and your God? This man. And so they didn’t just crucify any old man, they crucified a man who was also true God. And so St Paul says: They crucified the Lord of glory. It was our God they nailed to the cross. Remember the iron and the fire—Jesus is both true man and true God.

Another passage is early on in the book of Acts where Peter and John get in trouble for healing a man, and they say that the people killed the Author of life. When they call Jesus the “Author of life”, they are saying that he created the world, that he was truly God. And so because Jesus was both true God and true man, Peter said that the Author of life was killed. Peter is not confused here—he understands that this was not just anyone who was killed, but the Author of life who became a human being who was killed.

Later on in the book of Acts, in chapter 20, St Paul says that God obtained the church with his own blood. Paul’s not talking about God the Father or the Holy Spirit because they have never had any blood. Even before Jesus was conceived in Mary’s womb, he didn’t have any blood either. To have a blood is a human thing—God doesn’t have blood. But you see, Jesus is both true man and true God in one person. And so, Jesus’ blood is the blood of God. The blood of Jesus, is like iron on fire, or it is like liquid metal that is red with fire. Jesus didn’t bring his blood from heaven with him—he got it from his mother’s womb. But because Jesus is not just human but also God, St Paul calls his human blood “God’s blood.” Isn’t this an amazing thing?

Now, let’s go through the Apostle’s Creed, and ask the question: Who was it here? Was it Jesus the man, or Jesus who is God? It says: he was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Who was conceived? Man or God? Both. He was born of the Virgin Mary. Man or God? Both. He suffered under Pontius Pilate. Who suffered? Man or God? Both. He was crucified, dead and buried. Man or God? Both. He descended into hell. Man or God? Both. On the third day, he rose again from the dead. Who rose? Man or God? Both. He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty, from thence he will come to judge the living and the dead. Who ascended? Who sits at God’s right hand? Who will come to judge? Man or God? Both. The answer is always both, because there is only one Jesus who is your Saviour, your Redeemer, your Mediator, your Advocate. There is only one Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. But this Jesus is both man and God. He is always like the iron and fire working together. The fire never switches off, so that the iron goes cold, and never burns up the iron so that he is just like a naked flame. The two are always together. He is always both true God and true man.

What this also means is that because he is true God, Jesus human body is given particularly special gifts and qualities. Jesus’ human body does supernatural things and things that human bodies wouldn’t normally do. We read before that at the transfiguration, Jesus’ face and body and clothes shone with divine light. When Paul was travelling on the road to Damascus, Jesus came and met him. We read a light shone around him, and this light was so bright that Paul couldn’t see anything for three days. But it was Jesus who spoke to him, saying: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

In John 6, Jesus teaches the people: I am the bread of life. And he says: The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. Normally, nobody’s flesh gives life to anything. But Jesus’ flesh is empowered and glorified and transfigured by the fact that he is also true God, and so his flesh gives life. His flesh is God’s flesh. When his flesh touches someone, it is God who touches them.

This is also very important when we talk about the Lord’s Supper, because Jesus says: This is my body. This is my blood. Many people don’t believe that Jesus can give his body and blood in the Lord’s Supper, because people think that it’s impossible that human flesh and human blood can actually be in many different churches all around the world at the same time. But Jesus’ body and blood is not the body and blood of simply just anyone. Jesus is also true God, and so the fact that Jesus is also true God means that he can enable his body and blood to be in places and to do things that everyone else’s body and blood can’t be and can’t do. Remember this is the same body that walked on water. This is the same body that walked through closed doors to visit the disciples on Easter Sunday night. But at the end of the day, we can explain things all we want: the reality is, that if Jesus is God, and he says: This is my body and blood, he can cause his body and blood to be wherever he wants it to be and to do whatever he wants it to do, just because he said it. That’s the power of his word, and his word created the world.

So as we prepare for Christmas in a few years, and as Advent draws to a close, let’s thank our Jesus for entering into the world as one of us, and for living a life among sinners like us. And even though Jesus died for us as our Saviour, and is our human brother, he also made the most powerful sacrifice that could be sacrificed, because he is also true God. And so at the end of your life and at the end of the world when you meet your Saviour, a real human being just like you, and you see the wounds in his hands and feet, you can say together with Thomas: You are my Lord and my God! Amen.

Midweek Advent Service II [Humanity of Christ] (13-Dec-2017)

This sermon was preached at St Matthew's Lutheran Church, Maryborough, 5.15pm.

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus says: See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have. (Luke 24:39)

Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Tonight we’re following on from where we left off last week, and continuing our series of three midweek services about Jesus. Last week, we were particularly looking at the fact that Jesus is true God, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Tonight we’re going to be looking at Jesus’ humanity, or we might say, his human nature. Next, we’re going to talk about the fact that Christ is one person, and how his divinity and humanity are united in one person.

Let’s read the summary of this in Luther’s Small Catechism: I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord. Last week we were looking at the fact that Jesus is true God, begotten of the Father from eternity. And so this week, we’re going to focus on the fact that Jesus is true man, born of the Virgin Mary.

Last week, we were looking at a verse in the book of Hebrews, chapter 1, which spoke of Jesus as truly God. It says that Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. Now what we believe as Christians is that this Son of God, who existed right from the beginning of time—in fact, before that: who existed from eternity—took on human flesh, and a human body, and human nature. He took on something that he didn’t have before, and joined himself to it. One of the most well-known passages that we have about this is where it says in the first chapter of John: The Word became flesh. This action where the Son of God took on human nature is what we call the incarnation. The word incarnation means taking on flesh. This is what we mean when we say in the Creed on Sundays that he was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man.

In Hebrews, chapter 2, we also read a couple of other things about this. It says: Since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things. It says that human beings, like you and me, share in flesh and blood. And Jesus partook of the same things. Jesus partook of something that he had never partaken of before—he shared in flesh and blood. Also, it says in Hebrew 2:16, that it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. That word “helps” can also mean that “he took on their nature”. We might say that Jesus did not take on the nature of the angels, but he took on the offspring of Abraham. And so, these verses clearly state that on one hand, Jesus took on flesh and blood, partook of these things, and shared these things, and did not become an angel.

Another passage from the book of Hebrews which tells us about Jesus’ human nature is in chapter 4:15, where it says: We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. This little verse has all kinds of wonderful things in it, but I’d like to focus on one part of it, where is says that Jesus is one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. What this means is that when the Son of God took on a human nature, he took on everything about us. But there was one thing he didn’t take on and that was sin. But then even though Jesus was not a sinner, he lived with the full effects of sin, and suffered the punishment for sin, and atoned and died for sin. And so, last week we were talking about how Jesus is just like God the Father. This week, we are talking about how Jesus is just like us.

For the rest of our sermon tonight, we’re going to look at all kinds of different aspects of what it means to be a human being, and how Jesus took on all these things in becoming a man.

The first thing we’re going to look at is that fact that Jesus had a family tree. Every human being on this earth has a family, and we all have parents and ancestors. Jesus, as a true human being, also had a family and a family tree. In fact, if you open up the beginning of the New Testament, at Matthew chapter 1, this is the first thing we are confronted with: Jesus’ family tree. We read: The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Jesus’ family tree is traced all the way back to David, and all the way back even to Abraham. In Luke, Jesus’ family tree is traced all the way back to Adam. So, like all humans, Jesus is a descendant of Adam. When Adam and Eve fell into sin, God says to the serpent: I will put enmity between and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. There is a wonderful prophecy here of Jesus that says that the woman’s offspring will crush the devil’s head—and this is exactly what Jesus did when he died for the sin of the world. But it is important to remember that Jesus is Eve’s offspring, and so is a true human being just like everyone else.

But also, Jesus is called a descendant of Abraham, and a descended of David. There are many passages where Jesus is called the son of David, and David’s offspring. We could look at many passages about this, but let’s leave it here, that Jesus like all members of the human race has a family and a family tree.

Now, Jesus also became a human being in such a way that he took on every stage of life that everyone goes through, until his death. So Jesus did not simply enter the world at age 30 when he was baptised. Instead, he entered his mother’s womb at his conception, and took on human life as a tiniest little human embryo. He grew in his mother’s womb, just like every child, until the time of his birth, and he was born as a normal baby. He grew from being a baby and into a toddler and into a young child and became a teenager and a young man and reached adulthood. This is a wonderful thing to think about, because we can see that in all these stages of life, that Jesus went through exactly what we have gone through.

So right from the beginning of his human life on this earth, Jesus is called that which is conceived in [Mary]. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and had God the Father as his true Father. But Jesus was also conceived in the Virgin Mary’s womb, and took his flesh from her flesh, and had Mary as his true mother. When the angel Gabriel went to Mary, he said: You will conceive in your womb. We learn here as well that conception is part of what it means to be human. Some people today in wanting to justify the practice of abortion say that a child is not really a child until it’s at a certain stage: until it’s heart beats, or until it looks like a baby, or until it can feel. But we know here that when Jesus was conceived, this was the beginning of his incarnation, and the beginning of his human life. This was where he entered in the world. And so, just as we were conceived in our mother’s womb, so also Jesus became like us, and was conceived in his mother’s womb. The only difference with Jesus is that he had no human father and that his mother was a virgin.

Like all of us, Jesus was not only conceived but he was also born. The angel Gabriel said to Mary: You will… bear a son. And like every baby, when he was born he was given a name: You shall call his name Jesus. In Luke 2, we read: And while they were [in Bethlehem], the time came for [Mary] to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

Later, we also read that Jesus was a boy. We read about him going into the temple and talking with the teachers there and asking them questions. And we read: Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and man. We can see here, that Jesus grew, like all human children. He grew in wisdom, but he also grew in stature. He grew taller—he was a real young growing lad, just like every other young growing lad in this world. And of course, we read about him mostly when he was an adult.

Now there are also a couple of interesting passages that I’d like to mention. Firstly, let’s read Philippians chapter 2:7, where it says that Jesus took the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being in human form, he humbled himself… Also, in Romans 8:3, it says that God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. In these passages, it says that Jesus was in the form of a servant, that he was in human form. And that he was born in the likeness of men, in the likeness of sinful flesh. Now sometimes when we hear the words “form” or “likeness”, we might think: Maybe Jesus wasn’t really a true human being, but he just had the appearance of one, or he just looked like one. Maybe he was just had human form or likeness, but that he wasn’t really a true man. Now, this is not what the bible means when it uses these words. When it says that Jesus had human form, and human likeness, it means that he was a truly human. Let’s have a look at a couple more passages which back this up.

It’s very important that we realise that Jesus was a true man, and not some kind of spirit that looked like a man. Sometimes people have visions or apparitions and they are so real, that they think it looks like someone is standing before them. There are a couple of places in the bible, where the disciples had to learn that Jesus was not a spirit or a ghost, but a true man with real flesh and blood. One of these instances was when Jesus walked on the water. We read in Matthew 14 that the disciples were in a boat and there was a storm. We read: In the fourth watch of the night [Jesus] came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. Do you see here that the disciples thought they could see a ghost, or maybe we would say a spirit, or an apparition, or a vision. Many people who take hallucinogenic drugs or who practice Eastern forms of meditation sometimes go into their minds and think that they can see real spiritual beings. Now let’s see what Jesus has to say about this. We read: But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” The disciples say: It is a ghost, but Jesus contradicts them and says: It is I. It’s me! I’m not a ghost.

Also, after Jesus’ resurrection, it was also important for Jesus to demonstrate that he was really him, and that it was his true human body that was standing before them. There are many false preachers in the world today who believe that Jesus didn’t actually rise from the dead. If he didn’t rise from the dead, then they can only worship his ghost. Instead of worshipping the living Son of God who sends the living Holy Spirit, they are worshipping a dead Jesus with a dead spirit. They turn the church of the living God, into a religion of the dead, or a kind of séance. So when Jesus rose from the dead, Thomas wanted to be absolutely sure that it was him, and said: Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe. And then what happened? Jesus came to Thomas and said: Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe. This was real—Jesus showed to Thomas his real human body, with the real wounds and scars still there. Jesus wanted to demonstrate to him that he was a real man, and not a spirit or a ghost.

But also, we read in Luke, after Jesus rose from the dead that they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a…what? A spirit. Now let’s look at how Jesus contradicts this idea. We read: And [Jesus] said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?” Jesus says that to think that I am a spirit and not a real man is doubt. Then he says: See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. This is as if to say: If you touch me, you will see that your hand won’t pass through me like air. Jesus says: For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have. And as if that weren’t enough, Jesus wants to show them further that he is a true human being, and not a spirit. We read: And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marvelling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They have him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them. The fact that Jesus eats a piece of fish shows to the disciples that he is not a spirit, but a true man.

So we can see that Jesus had real flesh, real bones, real wounds, real scars, and ate real food. Also, just like all of us, Jesus really got tired, and slept, and woke up again! We read in Mark chapter 4, where the disciples were in the boat and Jesus calmed the storm. It says: A great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But [Jesus] was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. Yes, even Jesus need to take a nap, just like all of us!

Now, we’ve talked a lot about the physical aspects to being a human being. But humans are created by God not just as a body, but we also have a soul. Did Jesus have a human soul? Let’s look at a few passages. In John 12, we read about after Jesus had rode into Jerusalem on a donkey on Palm Sunday where he is talking to his disciples and says: Now is my soul troubled. Jesus speaks here about his own soul. Later on, we read where Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray and we read that he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” This is a wonderful passage, where Jesus talks about his soul again. I remember studying this passage once, and on the following Sunday, a man came to me at the church door and said: “Pastor, I’ve been feeling really depressed.” And I said to him, “Just like Jesus, hey?” And he said, “What?” And I quoted to him where Jesus says: “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.” He went away quite encouraged, because he realised that Jesus had been through something similar to what he had been through.

But also, we read when Lazarus had died and he went out to the tomb, we see another reference to his soul, where it says: When Jesus saw [Mary] weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. Even we read that he shared in their grief and their emotions, where it says: Jesus wept. These two verses are the shortest verse in the whole bible, but what a wonderful way in which it shows the depth of Jesus’ human nature. So we read in these passages, which are about sorrow and trouble and grief, that Jesus had a true human soul.

What about his will? Did Jesus have a human will? In John 5:30, we read that Jesus says: I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. Also, once again in the Garden of Gethsemane, we read where Jesus was praying and he says: My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. You can see here from the fact that Jesus submits himself to his Father’s will, means that he also has a true human will, just like us.

We could go on, and talk about all the passages about Jesus’ suffering, which shows how he experienced true pain, and truly suffered. He received real whippings which had the normal effect on him that it would have on us, real beatings, real nails were nails were nailed through his real hands, a real spear was shoved into his real side. The most important thing we believe here is that he shed real blood. Let’s leave it here for now, but we there are so many other passages we could look at that demonstrate that Jesus is true man.

Let’s ask the question though—what difference does it make? So what that Jesus is true man? Well, we are humans, and when Jesus became a true man, he became just like. He is a perfect mediator between God and man, because he has entered into the depths of human existence. He is our brother, and he is just like us. He is flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone. He is our Redeemer, and he has delivered us with the price of his own blood, and his own death. And what a wonderful thing it is to know that we have a high priest, and a helper, and a Saviour, who is not unable to sympathise with us in our weakness, but who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. What a wonderful comfort this is for sinful human beings like us! What a wonderful thing that Jesus entered into this world and took on our human flesh, our human sufferings, our human problems, our human sorrows and griefs, and died for all of it! Amen.

Dear Jesus, we thank you for taking on human flesh, for partaking of flesh and blood, and for being made in the likeness of human flesh. Amen.

Advent II B [Mark 1:1-8] (10-Dec-2017)

This sermon was preached at St Matthew's Lutheran Church, Maryborough, 8.15am (lay-reading), and Grace Lutheran Church, Childers, 9am.

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. I have baptised you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.

Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Our reading today speaks about John the Baptist and his ministry. And this comes to us from the very first chapter of the Gospel of Mark. Mark writes: The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The word “gospel” means “good news”. And particularly in ancient times, when there were various wars going on, the people of a particular city would have been waiting for some kind of messenger to come galloping on his horse down the road to the city gates to tell the people some news: either good news, or bad news. Bad news would be: “the enemy is coming”, “the king is dead”. But good news would be: “they did it!” “We won!” And all the people would shout, “Hooray!” And then they would prepare to get ready for a wonderful celebration for when their king and the army would return, and have music and dancing and food and celebrating!

In our world today, we are faced with a lot of bad news. There are tremendous things happening around the world: wars, famines, refugees. All these things are bad news. Our parliament this week has approved the marriage of two people of the same sex. This is bad news. Sex and gender are things which God has created in each one of us and are his gift, and taking the distinction of gender out of marriage is a serious thing. People in our country in the last year have wanted even to stop children giving Christian cards at Christmas, shops are discouraged from having nativity scenes, Christian Christmas carols are heard less and less on the radio and TV and in shops. This is bad news. But if we go and look back in the days of the Old Testament, we will see there many generations of kings, where God’s own people worshipped idols, golden calves, burned their own children as offerings to evil spirits, conjured up the dead, performed witchcraft, and all kinds of other crazy things. At one time things were so dark that Elijah the prophet despaired, thinking he was the only believer left in the world. Many Christians are feeling like that more and more today.

There are so many passages in the prophets—whether it be Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel—where everything looks like all is lost. But God promises to remain faithful—he will always keep a faithful church on earth that holds to his word. You see, when all around us is nothing but sin and shame, we need to realise that the only people who will be part of the church are sinners. God will convert people just as he did to you, and change their hearts, and turn them back to himself. In Isaiah chapter 9 we read that it is not the people who already walk in light that see the great light, but the prophet says: The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. And later the prophet says: For to us a child is born, to us a son is given. We must remember as we prepare for Christmas that it is precisely to a sinful world with no hope from itself that Jesus our Saviour and our King comes. He comes to no other world than a sinful one, he shines his light on no other world than a dark one, and he brings his joy to no other world than a sad one. And so the angel came at Christmas and said: Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour who is Christ the Lord.

And so also in our reading today, we read about the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. So how did this gospel begin? How did the good news begin?

Mark begins by quoting from two of the prophets. The first quote comes from Malachi: Behold I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way. The second quote comes from Isaiah: The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’ Mark applies these two passages to John the Baptist, so that we understand very clearly that the messenger that God sends is John, and the voice of one crying in the wilderness is also John. John is like the messenger who comes into the city after the battle on horseback, and says: “We’ve won! We did it!” He prepares the way for the king to come in so that the people will celebrate when he arrives. He’s like the MC at a wedding, who gets everyone to stand up, charge their glasses, and prepares them to welcome to bridal couple.

So John is a messenger, and a voice. It is so important for pastors when they preach to believe that it is not their ministry, or their word that they are to speak, but that it is God’s ministry, the ministry of Jesus, and it is his word that they speak. Jesus says to his disciples when he sent them out: The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me. And so John the Baptist is the voice of one crying the wilderness. John is the simply the voice, but it is not him who crying in the wilderness, but God who cries out in the wilderness using John’s voice.

Both of the prophets, Malachi and Isaiah, say that this messenger, this voice— John—is sent to do one thing: Malachi says that he will prepare your way. Isaiah says: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Do you hear this word “prepare”? Can you imagine if an army had won a battle, and the war was ended, but nobody knew about it in advance? Can you imagine if at the end of World War II if all the Australian troops simply came home and marched through the streets without anyone knowing about it? There would be no ticket parade, no celebration, nothing! They needed a man on the radio—a voice!—who says: “The war has ended!” And so he “prepares the way” for the troops!

And so, John also prepares the way for Jesus, so that when he comes, people are expecting him and they recognise him. And so, let’s read about what John was actually doing to prepare people. We read: John appeared, baptising in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptised by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.

Some of you have told me about your travels out to Queensland’s “wild west”, and some of you might have visited the Royal Flying Doctor’s Service out at Longreach. Earlier this year, I visited the Royal Flying Doctor’s museum in Dubbo. And we watched a video there about all these “bushwackers” in the outback, and how they looked after their health. One man had cut a skin cancer off his own arm with a knife! The interviewer said: “Aren’t there germs on that?” And the man replied, “No, not at all! I once saw a couple of germs on my knife, but not anymore!”

Now, in some sense, this is the kind of person that John the Baptist is. He’s like one of those bushwackers from the outback! There is John, dressed in camel’s hair, a belt made out of home-made leather, and what was his food? Locusts and wild honey. When we think of locusts, we normally think of them as a pest. I’ve never been in a locust plague, but in the book of Exodus, we read that locusts were one of the plagues that God sent over Egypt. The crops would have been completely destroyed. A man once visited me in Victoria, a week after he had been driving through a locust plague. You can imagine the front of this car was just full of splatter!

And yet, in the book of Leviticus, God gave certain foods to the Jewish people as clean, and forbade them from eating certain other foods. You might know that Jewish people even today don’t eat pork. When it came to insects, there were also some that God forbade, and some that God allowed. In Leviticus 11, it says: You may eat… the locust of any kind, the bald locust of any kind, the cricket of any kind, and the grasshopper of any kind. But all other winged insects that have four feet are detestable to you. Honey was also made by bugs, by bees! And so you can see how John survived in the desert right at the bottom of the food-chain, wonderfully trusting in God’s own hand to provide for him, relying on locusts for food, and bees for honey.

Now, what’s amazing about John is that God sends him (of all people!)—not a respectable, educated man from the city, but a bushwacker from the outback, the kind that has to cut his own skin cancers off with a knife! And so, we learn a powerful message here: When God sends a man to preach, we should take no notice of the man, but of the Word he preaches. Because it is God’s word that saves us, not the preacher. If the preacher offends us because of something about him we don’t like, then we need to be careful that we’re not cutting off from ourselves God’s word.

And so, what was John doing? First of all, he was baptising. But he wasn’t doing it without explaining it, and he wasn’t doing it in silence. The same goes for us in the church: when we baptise a person, it never happens in silence. But it always happens together with God’s word. So when we actually baptise a person, the pastor says: I baptise you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. We use God’s word, and the exact words that Jesus told us to use. But also, we teach people about what baptism does and what it means for us, that baptism works the forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare. Jesus said: Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them, but not only baptising, but also teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And so this is also what John was doing. He was preaching the word of God. It says, he was preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And we see that a wonderful series of mass conversions comes about because of this. Now, today people often think that the Holy Spirit can be manipulated and almost fooled into having revivals and mass conversions. And in our country, mass conversions like this rarely happen. In Africa, or in Asia, we might read about many stories of mass conversions. At the time of Luther, we read about how many, many people turned from the superstitious practices of the middle ages and started listening to the bible and heard the Gospel. One thing though that those people had that many people in our country don’t have is a conviction that the bible is God’s word. John the Baptist could have preached anything from the whole Old Testament Scriptures, because it says that he was preaching repentance for forgiveness of sins. The whole bible can be broken down into these two teachings: repentance and forgiveness, law and Gospel. And so it’s so important for us today to confess clearly that, as St Paul says: All Scripture is God-breathed, or inspired by God. That the writers of the bible were moved by the Holy Spirit, that the Word of God is truth, that the Scripture cannot be broken, as Jesus says. Proverbs 30 says: Every word of God proves true. Our congregation’s constitution says: We believe and accept without reservation the holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as a whole and in all their parts, as the divinely inspired, written and inerrant word of God, and as the only infallible source and norm for all matters of faith, doctrine, and life. The reason why it’s so important to hold to this is because when we hear or read something that we don’t agree with, and that shows us our sin, if we don’t believe that this is God’s pure, clear word, then we will always harden our stubborn hearts, and we won’t change our minds and repent when God calls us to, because God’s Word is the only way that he calls us to repentance. There is never a time at any stage of our life when God does not say to us: You need to change, your life is not as it should be, it must be different from what it is now! Until our last breath, we will never be free from sin. And so, this is how John prepares the way for the Lord: he preaches God’s law, and his strict judgment against sin. We don’t prepare ourselves for the Lord through our own works, but the Holy Spirit himself prepares us by convicting us of our sin through his Word. Hebrews 4 says: The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword…and no creature is hidden from its sight. And if we don’t believe that the Scripture is God’s perfect word, we will never know our sin, we can never be prepared, and never be ready for Jesus. Who needs a Saviour, when we don’t know what we are being saved from?

But also, when we’re crushed and burdened by the conviction of our sin, even more in those times we need to trust that the bible is God’s word, because the Word of God is the only means by which God applies to us his forgiveness. There is not one single sin that Jesus has not atoned for and died for and sacrificed himself for you for. Jesus is our Lord and our God, our perfect and faithful and trustworthy Saviour.

And so we read how the people went to John the Baptist confessing their sins. It is a daily task of us Christians to confess our sins to Jesus, just as he teaches us to pray: Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.

But also, John’s baptism is not just to call people to repentance, but it is for the forgiveness of sins. This is the same as our baptism. And why can John say that it is for forgiveness? Because he points to Jesus, and he says: Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. John himself does not give forgiveness, but he points to Jesus who gives forgiveness. He says: After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptised you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.

And so, the same goes for us. Pastors baptise people with water, but because of God’s powerful and inspired word, we trust that Jesus is also here baptising people not just with water, but also with the Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost, Peter said: Repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for what?... for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive what?... you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Here we can see that the baptism which is performed with water and the word by human hands in the church is the means by which Jesus the Lord of heaven and earth sends us his Holy Spirit. And so, what a wonderful privilege and a gift it is to continually hear the voice of the Holy Spirit in the word of God, through the preaching of repentance and forgiveness, through law and Gospel, to strengthen and ground us in faith until our dying breath.

Jesus is mightier than John, because John is nothing but a voice. John is the messenger, but Jesus is the king who has won the battle and the victory belongs to him! And so Jesus, our Lord and our God, comes into our city and shares with us the spoils of war: he has won the forgiveness of sins, he is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and he is the one who sends and baptises [you] with the Holy Spirit. And that is good news, that is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the best news that could ever be spoken. Amen.

Dear Jesus, we thank you for the wonderful gift of your Word, the knowledge of our sin, your word of forgiveness, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Midweek Advent Service I [Divinity of Christ] (6-Dec-2017)

This sermon was preached at St Matthew's Lutheran Church, Maryborough, 5.30pm.

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus says: I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. (Revelation 22:13)

Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Tonight we’re following a custom that is more common in America than in Australia of having a midweek Advent service. We often have midweek Lent services and Lent is a wonderful time to focus on the Lord’s suffering and death leading up to Good Friday and Easter, but as we prepare for Christmas, Advent is a wonderful opportunity to focus on who Jesus is, and how he as the Son of God took on human flesh and became a man.

In Luther’s Small Catechism, we have a really wonderful summary of this teaching, which you may have learnt in Sunday School or Confirmation. Luther writes: I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord. This evening we’re going to focus on the fact that Jesus is true God, begotten of the Father from eternity. Next week, we’re going to focus on the fact that Jesus is true man, born of the Virgin Mary. And the third week we’re going to focus on the fact that Jesus is my Lord, and how there are not two people called Jesus, but that he is both true man and true God in one person.

Actually, it’s very appropriate that we should be talking about this matter today, because the sixth of December is often called St Nicholas’s Day. In the Netherlands, where my family came from originally, St Nicholas’s Day is a time where people give each other presents instead of at Christmas, and there are big celebrations. In Dutch, they call him Sinter Klaas, which is a short form of “Nikolaas”, which is where Santa Claus comes from. But St Nicholas was a real person in history, and he was actually a bishop in a place called Myra, in modern-day Turkey, at a time when the biggest question in the church was whether Jesus was true God or not. In the year 325, a special gathering of the church was called together at a place called Nicaea to make a confession of faith on this issue, which was called the “Council of Nicaea”. The “Nicene Creed” which we say on Sundays was basically put together at that council. St Nicholas was there on that occasion, and was one of those who confessed that Jesus was true God.

This teaching or doctrine that Jesus is true God is the most important teaching of Christianity. In fact, we could even say that the belief that Jesus is God is Christianity. Unfortunately today, there are two very active groups who don’t believe this at all, the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons. These two groups often go around door-knocking and they do a lot of damage in messing with people’s minds on this. The Seventh Day Adventists also seem to have two views: some people in the Seventh Day Adventists do believe that Jesus is God, but there are some who don’t. But even in our own churches, people can sometimes fall into the trap of thinking that Jesus was nothing more than a Spirit-filled man. So it’s important that we make sure that we discuss this doctrine in the church regularly to make sure that we know what we believe.

Christians believe that there is one God, who is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We believe that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and yet there are not three Gods but one God. They are three-in-one, and one-in-three. We call the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit the three persons. This means that the Father is not the same person as the Son and the Holy Spirit, and the Son is not the same person as the Father and the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not the same person as the Father and the Son. And yet, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit—all three are true God, and yet we don’t worship three gods—we worship the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as one God in perfect unity.

Now in the Nicene Creed, we say that Jesus is of one substance with the Father. Now I’m going to explain two words here: first of all, the word substance, and then the word person. We say that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are the same substance, but are three persons. Now what does this mean? First of all, when we say “person” we don’t mean “human bodies”: The Father and the Holy Spirit have never had a human body. Sometimes when people hear the word “person” they think it means a “human being”. In John 4:24, Jesus says: God is spirit. God is a spiritual being, and has a spiritual nature. Now in philosophy, a long time ago, if someone wanted to refer to a “species”, like a horse, or a dog, they would call it their substance or nature or form. So if I had a two dogs called Max and Rover, we would say they have the same substance, the same nature, the same form, because they are both dogs. But if I want to refer to a particular dog, then I would call it an individual, or a person. So even though the dogs Max and Rover are both dogs, they are individual dogs, they are different persons. Peter and Paul both have the same the substance, they are both human beings, and they are both men, but they are different persons, they are two individuals.

So we would also say that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit have the same substance, they are all God. But they are separate persons. However, with the dogs, Max and Rover, they are always going to be two separate dogs. But the three persons of the Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all true God, and they live in communion and in unity with each other in such an incredibly mysterious way, that there are not three Gods, but that the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit are one God, completely inseparable from each other, and interpenetrating one another. They are not simply one in mind, or purpose, or character, but they are one in being, in essence, in substance, in nature. For example, Jesus says: I am in the Father, and the Father is in me. (People, or horses, or dogs could never talk like this about each other). So we worship one God in three persons, and three persons in one God.

So the Son of God we call the second person of the Trinity. And he is different from the Father and the Holy Spirit, because he is the only one of the three persons who became a man and took on human flesh. So the Father and Holy Spirit are divine in their nature, but the Son is both divine and human. He has two natures, but he is one person. There are not two “Jesuses”: there is only one Jesus.

So the first big question is this: In the first verse of the bible, we read: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. We have two things there. God on the one hand who is the Creator, and on the other hand, we have his creation, the heavens and the earth. Which side of the fence does Jesus and the Holy Spirit belong? Are they God who created, or did God create them? The answer is that in the beginning the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit together as one God created the heavens and the earth.

Now, the next big question is this: is this written in the bible? The word “Trinity” and some other words are not in the bible, but these are words that Christians have used to describe what the bible teaches. First of all, we’re going to look at the different ways the bible speaks about Jesus, and his relationship to his Father. Secondly, we’re going to look at different passages where Jesus is actually called God.

The first passage we’re going to look at is from John chapter 1, where it says: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Now, when John says “the Word” here, he’s not simply talking about “words” or “the ability to talk” or “language”. He’s talking in a mysterious way about a person. He says that the Word was God. All through this chapter, the Word keeps on being referred to not as a thing, but as a person who is alive and does things. It says: The Word became flesh—and what did he do?—he dwelt among us. This is talking about how the Son of God entered into the world, took on human flesh, and lived a life among us. We’re talking about Jesus, the Son of God, here. But notice that right back in the first verse, it says that the Word was God. So this is a very clear passage where Jesus Christ is called the Word, that he existed without a human body before he became a human baby. And not only did he exist before this, but he was with God, equal to God, and was God together with the Father, right from before the creation of the world. Think back to Genesis one, when the world was created. How did God do it? He spoke the word, and it was done. He said: Let there be light, and there was light. And so there’s a wonderful way, in which this Word, was not simply words, but a person, and even the Son of God himself. This is how the bible speaks about it.

The second passage we’re going to look at is from Colossians 1:15-16, where it says: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Here Jesus is called the image of the invisible God. This means that in an wonderful way, Jesus is a reflection of his Father, but not one that came afterwards, but that has always existed. Now afterwards it says that Jesus was the firstborn of all creation, and some people have taken this to mean that Jesus was the first thing that God created. But that’s not how the text explains it: It says: For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Jesus was not something that was created, he was the one who created all things together with the Father. Now, when the first people were created, it says: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him. But the Son of God was the image of God in a much deeper way. Jesus explains this when he says in John 14:9, Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. So Adam and Eve were created in the image of God as God’s creatures. But Jesus is in the image of his Father, being equal to him, and one God together with him. There has never been a time when the Son has not reflected his Father’s image.

The next passage we’re going to look at is from Hebrews chapter 1, where we have two wonderful descriptions of Christ’s divinity. It says that through [the Son] God created the world. And then it says about the Son that He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. Firstly, it says that Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God. This word “radiance” can also mean “brightness”. The picture is that the Father continually shines his wonderful light, and the brightness of this light is the Son of God himself. There are many passages which speak about Jesus as the light. In the Nicene Creed we say that Jesus is God of God, Light of Light. There has never been a time in the whole of eternity when God’s light has not been shining forth, and so there has never been a time when the Son has not been his radiance or that brightness.

Then also in Hebrews in that same verse, it says that he is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, or of his “person”. It says that Jesus is an “exact imprint”. The word there means an engraving, or a stamp, like a coin. But with a coin with a picture of the queen on it, we have simply an imprint of her picture on metal. The queen herself is not made of silver or gold. But in Hebrews it says that the Son of God is the exact imprint of his nature. We might say that he is a bit like a photocopy, but not a bad photocopy, but an exact copy. And it’s not as if the Son of God was created at some time, otherwise he would only be like God, and not an exact imprint of his nature. To be an exact imprint of his nature means that the Son has always existed together with the Father. There was never a time when the Son didn’t exist.

Finally, the bible says that Jesus is the Son of God, and this also shows that Jesus is true God. Just as my children are humans like me, so also God’s Son is true God like Him. Some people say that Jesus is not God, but that he is only God’s Son. We are also sons and daughters of God, but we are adopted by God. We could also say we are God’s children because he created us. But also, the bible speaks about Jesus in a different way to us. Jesus is not just God’s Son, but his only Son. Jesus is the only Son of the Father. God so loved the world, that he gave not just any son, but his only Son. In Romans 8, Jesus is called God’s own son (v. 32). God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all. And so in the Gospel of John, we read that the Jews understood exactly what Jesus saying, and we read: This is why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him because…he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

So we can see that Jesus is the Word, the Image of God, the Radiance of the Father’s glory, the exact imprint of his nature, and his only Son. There’s one last thing that we haven’t talked about, and that is, that there is a difference between the Father and the Son, and that is simply that the Father is the Father, and the Son is the Son! And so we say that the Son was begotten by the Father. Now what does “begotten” mean? It’s simply another way of saying that he was his Father. The old way of speaking was that women bore children, and fathers begat children. You might know the old translation of Matthew 1, where it says: Abraham begat Isaac, Isaac begat Jacob, and so on. This simply means that they were their fathers. But the difference is that earthly fathers beget children in time, but God the Father begat his Son from eternity. The Father and the Son have always existed together, but they also have a certain relationship with each other, they are not simply like two friends with no distinction. And at the same time Jesus is equal to God. Philippians chapter two says this when it says that Jesus was in the form of God, and that he had equality with God.

                                                                                                                   

Now, the second group of things we’re going to look at is that Jesus is called God in a number of places. For example, in John 1:1, which we read before it says that the Word was God. In John 20:28, after Jesus rose from the dead, we read about how Jesus invited Thomas to put his finger in his hands and his hand in his side to prove to him that it was really him risen from the dead. And what did Thomas say to him? We read: Thomas answered him: My Lord and my God! In the letter to Titus, St Paul calls Jesus our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. Also, in Matthew’s Gospel, when the angel went to Joseph in a dream, Jesus is called Immanuel, which means God with us.

Also, in the Old Testament, God didn’t just have people call him God, but he gave them his personal name. God gave this name to Moses in the burning bush. This name in Hebrew is spelt YHWH. Nobody quite knows how it should be pronounced anymore, because the Jewish people never spoke it outside of the temple, for fear of blaspheming God’s name. Often today we say: Yahweh, or some people used to say Jehovah. In our English bibles, whenever we come across this name of God, it has the word “LORD” in capital letters. Now there are so many passages which speak of Jesus as LORD. St Paul says: Nobody can say Jesus Christ is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. And also in Philippians it says: Every tongue will confess that JESUS CHRIST IS LORD to the glory of God the Father. But there is one very clear passage about this. In Isaiah 6, we read about where Isaiah the prophet has a wonderful vision. And he says that he saw the Lord, and also the angels sing to him: Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts. And Isaiah says: My eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. Now when it says the LORD of hosts, the word “Lord” is spelt with capital letters, meaning this is Yahweh, God’s personal name. In John 12, it is speaking about Jesus, and says: Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. Whose glory did he see? He’s talking about Jesus. It’s Jesus’ glory. But what did it say in the prophet Isaiah? It said that he saw the LORD, that he saw Yahweh. So we can see from this passage that it is not just the Father who is Yahweh, but the Son.

Now, we could go through many other passage about this, and there are plenty of other passages, but I wanted to show you the main ones. But before we finish, let’s ask the question, what difference does it make that Jesus is God or not? It makes an eternal difference, because our sin is great, and sinners like us need the strongest possible comfort in the face of death. We need not just human help, but we need God’s help. We don’t just need all the help we can get, but we need the most perfect help from God’s own throne itself that we can get! Because Jesus is God, he is a perfect mediator between God and us, because he is just like us in his humanity and he is equal to God. Because Jesus is true God, he is a perfect Redeemer, he helps us perfectly, he prays for us perfectly, he is a perfect Saviour. Redemption belongs to him, eternal help belongs to him, and life and salvation belong to him, and we know that he will make no mistakes, like we human beings so often do. I’m going to finish with words from an old theologian called Johann Gerhard: “Our salvation has been set in His hands more firmly and more securely than the heavens and the earth that those hands created. We have been written down in those hands from eternity, and from them no one can snatch us or our salvation.” Amen.

Dear Jesus, you are our Lord and our God! You are the Word of God, the image of God, the brightness of the Father’s glory, the exact imprint of his nature, and God’s only-begotten Son. Have mercy on us and save us according to your promise. Amen.