Christ’s Equality With God
John 10:30
Preached by Pastor Tony Miano
Pico Canyon Community Church
December 17, 2000
Introduction: We are getting closer and closer to Christmas. I hope that all of you have your shopping done. I hope all of you have your houses sufficiently decorated. I hope that all of you have sent out your Christmas cards in a timely fashion. I hope all of you have filtered this nasty flu bug through your house by now, and that all of you are well.
Next Sunday is Christmas Eve and we have a special service planned for you. We’re going to . . . well, you’ll just have to come and see. I can tell you this about next Sunday. We’re going to study and consider why God had to become a Man. We’re going to look at why God had to come down in such humility.
In preparing for next week, I thought we should deviate from our study in James and take a look at the one issue that differentiates biblical Christianity from every other religion, every other theological scheme. The one question to ask a person of any faith to help determine whether or not they truly are followers of Jesus Christ is simple. “Who do you say Jesus Christ is?”
I understand that many believers, whether new Christians or old, have a certain level of apprehension about sharing their faith with others, or defending their faith to others. Our ability, as Christians, to effectively answer this fundamental question, will greatly enhance our ability to share and defend our faith.
When sharing our faith with others, not only do we have to be able to articulate what we believe, but it is also important to have a clear understanding of what the person with whom you are sharing believes. Having this understanding will help to direct your prayers for and your conversation with unbelievers.
This morning you are going to hear what other faiths say about Jesus Christ, either directly or indirectly. You are going to hear what some of the other faiths say about Jesus Christ by the way they talk about themselves and other biblical characters. You may be here this morning and have the mindset that most religions that proclaim the name of Jesus are, for the most part, the same. So some of what you will hear this morning may be difficult for some of you—maybe even hard to believe.
I’ll be quoting leaders of some of the other religions, as well as known leaders within Christianity who come very close, or flat out deny, the deity of Christ. Let me also say that I am going to let the words of some of these other leaders speak for themselves. I don’t want the heart of today’s message to focus on the false assumptions others make about whom Jesus Christ is. We will spend most of our time focusing on who Jesus Christ says He is.
Let’s pray.
Turn in your Bibles to the gospel of John, chapter 10. Jesus makes one very definitive statement in verse 30. “I and the Father are one.”
This morning we’re going to look at Jesus Christ’s equality with God. We are going to look at Jesus’ own words on the subject in John 10:30. We’re going to look at Jesus’ equality with God in nature, His equality with God in power, and His equality with God in authority.
But first, let’s look at the background and setting for the verse. The place is the Temple of Jerusalem during the time of year when the Jewish people celebrated the Feast of Dedication. This celebration was also called the Feast of Lights, or what is today commonly known as Hanukkah.
Jesus was walking in the area of the temple known as Solomon’s Porch. This portico surrounded the Court of the Gentiles. Interestingly, this would later be a popular gathering place for Christians after Christ’s resurrection. It’s the same place where Peter would one day heal a lame man. That story is chronicled in Acts 3.
The Jews surrounded Jesus and wanted a straight answer to their most pressing question. In verse 24 of Chapter 10, we read, “The Jews therefore gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, ‘How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.’”
With the patience that only God can have for fallen man, Jesus explained to them that He has answered their question. The reason they do not understand, the reason they cannot believe, is because they are not His sheep. Jesus finished His discourse with the profound and definitive words we find in verse 30. “I and the Father are one.”
When I decided to preach on this verse, I went into my room, closed the door, and spread out all of my Bibles. I thought that in order to get the most out of the text, and to make sure that I looked at the verse in its proper context, I would parallel the different versions of the verse. Each version said the same thing, “I and the Father are one.”
I realized that the power of the verse was in the words themselves. God’s Word, as it always does, stands on its own. God’s word, as it always is, is completely sufficient. John 10:30 is a good case in point. The Jews wanted the straight scoop. They wanted Jesus to answer them plainly. Christ, while answering the skeptics plainly, answered them with some of His most powerful words. “I and the Father are one.”
Defining What Jesus Said:
Look at the Jews response in verse 31. “The Jews took up stones again to stone Him.” The Jews response, which by now had become typical, was to try to kill Jesus for what they perceived to be a blasphemous statement. Notice that the word “again” is used in this verse. This is the third time, according to John’s account, that the Jews picked up stones against Jesus. The Jews knew exactly what Jesus meant by what He said. He was claiming, rather, He was announcing that He and God the Father were equals.
The pivotal word in this verse is “one.” The Greek word used for “one” in this verse is not that which means simply, “one person.” Rather, its use here means “one substance.” Here we have one of the great doctrinal truths of the Christian faith revealed. In these few simple yet powerful words, Jesus is proclaiming that He is not only one person, the God-man, which in and of itself would turn the intellectual Jewish head. He is also “one” with the Father in essence and substance.
In this one definitive statement, Jesus asserts His equality with God in nature, His equality with God in power, and His equality with God in Authority. The Jews, knowing that there is only one God, yet ignorant to the fact that He was standing before them, wanted to kill this Man who was claiming divine equality with God. Before we take a closer look at the three parts of Christ’s equality with the Father, let’s look at what others have said more recently regarding the Son of the Trinity and His deity.
Other Views Regarding the Deity of Christ:
The Jews were not the last people group to hurl stones at Jesus Christ for His assertion of deity. In a figurative sense, there are several groups today who continue to hurl stones at Christ the Lord in their theology that denounces His deity. Some of the stones are even being hurled from those who claim to be part of the body of Christ.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses, for example, deny the doctrine of the Trinity. Contrary to Scripture, they assert that Jesus was a created being. Contrary to Scripture, they claim that Jesus is inferior to God. Jesus, in His own words, refutes their beliefs when He says in Revelation 1:8, “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’”
Isaiah 44:6 tells us this, “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts: ‘I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me.’” Jesus Christ was not created. He was with God from the beginning—” . . .there is no God besides Me.” This should make it abundantly clear that there is one God. It is equally clear that the Father and the Son are one. They always have been. They are today. They always will be!
The Mormons have some interesting, yet skewed, points of view on the subject. On page 15, of the Mormon work, “Gospel Through The Ages,” it reads, “We believe the eternal son Jesus is the literal spirit-brother of Lucifer, a creation.”
On page 345 in the book, “Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith.” It reads, “We believe that God has always been God. God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted-man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens!!! . . . We have imagined that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea and take away the veil, so that you may see.”
The only veil is the one that covers the eyes of people who deny the eternal existence of God and deny the deity of Jesus Christ.
The Roman Catholic Church minimizes the deity of Christ in its teaching. Let me make it very clear. I do not look at the Roman Catholic Church as the enemy, but as a mission field. I grew up in the Roman Catholic Church and I would love to share those experiences with anyone who might be interested.
I must admit that I struggled a great deal as I prepared this portion of my message. The prevailing wisdom in some church growth circles is not to say anything from the pulpit that may offend people from other faiths, or the seeker—the unbeliever. I also struggled with the thought of my sermon becoming little more than a commentary on other faiths. My goal on Sunday morning is first and foremost to teach the Word of God.
I also believe, as your pastor, that I have an obligation to make you aware of what others believe outside the doors of the clubhouse. Why is that so important? It’s critically important for this reason. If, because of our ignorance to what others believe, we make the assumption that if other faiths speak the name of Jesus in their services, or in their doctrine, they are believers who are assured of their place in heaven, we will not pray for them to come to a genuine faith in Jesus Christ. We will not pray for them to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and to trust in Him alone for their salvation.
If we allow our ignorance of what other faiths believe, or if our outreach is dictated by our desire not to ruffle any feathers or judge anyone, it will cause us to miss an opportunity to share the truth of the gospel with a mission field that certain parts of the body of Christ would have us believe need not be evangelized. My heart literally breaks for people, millions of people around the world, who believe that their church or their religion will get them to heaven. My heart breaks for the millions of people who will one day stand before the Lord anxiously and excitedly waiting to enter into His kingdom, only to be tragically turned away as the Lord says, “I never knew you. Depart from Me.”
What makes the work of evangelizing other faiths even more difficult is a growing trend within evangelical Christianity to ignore our differences in doctrine with other faiths, particularly with the Catholic Church, in order to foster an ecumenical fellowship. My answer to those who support this movement is that if we ignore our doctrinal differences, if we set aside our differences in areas of essential Christine doctrine, we are not showing our love for other faiths, including the catholic people.
In order to truly love the catholic people, we are obligated to speak to them the truth, the truth of the gospel, the truth of God’s Word, in love. The object is not to simply win an argument. The object is not to put down people of other faiths. The object is to lead as many people as possible into a true and genuine relationship with Jesus Christ that looks to Him alone for salvation.
What you are about to hear is not my opinion about what the Roman Catholic Church says. What you are about to hear are some of the beliefs of the Catholic Church, in their own words.
There is a movement afoot within the Catholic Church to exalt Mary to the position of co-redeemer. Now granted, not everyone in the Catholic Church agrees with this doctrinal position. The idea of exalting Mary to the position of co-redeemer is to say that sinners are redeemed through Jesus and Mary, not Jesus alone. In fact, there are some Roman Catholic Churches that have gone as far as to display statues of crosses that have Jesus hanging on one side and Mary hanging on the other.
Roman Catholics believe that no blessing is bestowed upon man unless it first passes through Mary. Pope Leo XIII, the Pope from 1878-1903, had this to say:
“Every grace granted to men has three successive steps: By God it is communicated to Christ, from Christ it passes to the Virgin, and from the Virgin it descends to us.”
The same Pope also said this prayer. “O Virgin most holy, none abounds in the knowledge of God except through thee; none, O Mother of God, obtains salvation except through thee, none receives a gift from the throne of mercy except through thee.” Some of you may think that the Catholic Church must think differently now. After all, Pope Leo XIII was the Pope a hundred years ago.
Well, the updated “Catechism of the Catholic Church,” published in 1992, has this to say about Mary’s position:
“By asking Mary to pray for us, we acknowledge ourselves to be poor sinners and we address ourselves to the “Mother of Mercy,” the All-Holy One. We give ourselves over to her now, in the Today of our lives. And our trust broadens further, already at the present moment, to surrender “the hour of our death” wholly to her care. May she be there as she was at her son’s death on the cross. May she welcome us as our mother at the hour of our passing to lead us to her son, Jesus in paradise.”
If we are to believe as the Roman Catholics do, Christ alone does not save us. Rather, Christ and Mary save us. Roman Catholics look to Mary as the “All-Holy One.” Only the triune God can be called All-Holy. Mary is not part of that Trinity.
The Vatican Information Service, the Catholic Church’s own news bureau, quoted the Pope, as recently as December 6, as saying the following. “ . . . The just of the earth, even those who do not know Christ and His Church (emphasis mine), but who under the influence of grace seek God with a sincere heart, are, then, called to build the Kingdom of God, collaborating with the Lord, who is its first and supreme architect” (Vatican Information Service, press release, 12/06/00).
The Pope’s assertion that people who deny the deity of Christ and refuse to submit to Him as Lord and Savior will be called by God to build His kingdom is simply untrue.
In order to be as balanced as possible in our look at what others say about Jesus Christ, integrity dictates that we look at what is being said within evangelical Christian circles. Some of the most blasphemous proclamations that deny the deity of Christ are coming from those claiming to be born again believers within the body of Christ. Listen to what Kenneth Copeland, a very popular television evangelist, has to say regarding who God is and what Christ did for us:
“You don’t have a God in you. You are one!” (“The Force of Love”, tape 02-0028, 1987)
“It wasn’t the physical death on the cross that paid the price for sin, anybody could do that.”
On the subject of what happened to Jesus from the time of His death to the resurrection:
“[Jesus] accepted the sin nature of Satan in His own Spirit...”
“He [Jesus] is suffering all that there is to suffer. There is no suffering left apart from Him. His emaciated, poured out, little, wormy spirit is down in the bottom of that thing [hell]. And the Devil thinks he’s got Him destroyed.”
Contrary to this nonsense, our Redeemer, our Blessed Savior, went to the cross an unblemished and spotless Lamb. II Corinthians 5:21 is often quoted, or should I say misquoted, by those who hold to this view that Christ became a sinner on the cross. The verse reads, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
John MacArthur has given one of the best responses I have found to this errant theology. He wrote, “God the Father...treated Christ as if He were a sinner though He was not, and had Him die as a substitute to pay the penalty for the sins of those who believe in Him. On the cross, He did not become a sinner (as some suggest), but remained as holy as ever.”
“He was treated as if He were guilty of all the sins ever committed by all who would ever believe, though He committed none. The wrath of God was exhausted on Him and the just requirement of God’s law met for those for whom He died.”
Jesus Christ did not set aside the fullness of His deity or the sinlessness of His perfect, divine nature, to go three rounds with the devil. Christ has always been equal to God in nature, power, and authority. He has never given up His deity. He will reign with the Father, as one, forever!
I hope our look at what others have said has opened your eyes. More importantly, I hope it spurs you to action—to reach the lost with the truth about Jesus Christ. If you walk away from what you’ve just heard feeling poorly or negatively about the people of other faiths, then you’ve missed the point entirely. An understanding of what others believe should burden us to reach them with the truth of God’s Word.
Christ’s Equality With God In Nature:
We know why the Jews wanted to kill Jesus. We have seen how even today millions of people pick up stones against Christ and deny His deity. As I stated earlier, when Christ said, “I and the Father are one,” He was asserting His equality with the Father in nature, power, and authority.
Let’s take a closer look at Jesus Christ’s equality with God in nature. Let’s look at Philippians 2:5-7. The passage reads, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.”
Paul asserts that Christ “existed in the form of God.” One Bible translation says “in very nature God” instead of “form of God.” Norman Geisler, in his great apologetic book, “When Critics Ask,” had this to say. “Jesus did not cease being God while on earth. Rather, in addition to being God, He also became man. His incarnation was not the subtraction of deity, but the addition of humanity.”
Jesus “did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped.” With Christmas fast approaching, and with our thoughts turning to the incredible and miraculous birth of Jesus, we need to understand that when Jesus took the form of humankind, He was not vacating His equality with God in nature.
What Jesus did in order to make available the incredible gift of salvation to those who believe is this. He set aside His “status and privilege that was His in heaven,” (Grudem, p. 551) for a time, to humbly come down and fulfill God’s divine plan for our redemption.
Colossians 1:15-16 is a popular passage with Jehovah’s Witnesses when they try to attack Christ’s equality with God in nature. A proper rendering of the text will not only disprove their theory, but will also prove Christ’s deity.
Let’s look at those verses. “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.”
Verse 15 tells us that Jesus “is the image of the invisible God.” The Greek word for “image” is eikon, from which we also get the English word “icon.” The word expresses two ideas. “One is likeness. Christ is the image of God in the sense that He is the exact likeness of God, like the image on a coin or the reflection in a mirror” (Vaughan, EBC, vol. 11, p. 180).
This idea of likeness is beautifully expressed in Hebrews 1:3. The verse says, “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”
The writer of Hebrews did not mince words here. A more specific statement regarding Jesus Christ’s equality with the Father in nature I don’t believe can be made. What could be more specific than “...the exact representation of His nature.” Jesus is like the impression left on a coin from a die-cast stamp. He is the exact representation of the Father.
Now, we may think of the analogy of the stamp on the coin and think of Jesus as merely a carbon copy of the Father. But that idea falls woefully short of the mark. You see—if you think of a carbon copy, what does it look like. Is it the exact representation of the original? No. A carbon copy never looks like the original. It is often a different color or shade of ink, and it is never as clear and as crisp as the original. As God’s exact representation, Jesus is equal to God in every way.
The second idea expressed in the word “image” is “manifestation.” In John 1:18 we read, “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” The very nature and being of God is perfectly manifested, perfectly revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. God came down in the form of man in order to explain Himself to the world.
The second half of verse fifteen tells us that Jesus is the “first-born of all creation.” This may lead one to believe that Christ was created. However, “first-born” as it is used in this text is a reference to rank and not chronological order. The first-born in both the Jewish and Greek cultures referred to the ranking son who was slated to receive the father’s inheritance. It didn’t matter if he was born first.
Also, all we have to do is read further into verse 16 to clear up this apparent reference to Christ being created. In verse 16 we read, “For by Him all things were created...” Christ cannot be a created being if He is the Creator of all things. What Paul is saying in this passage is that Christ is the “first-born” in the sense that the inheritance of all of creation is His and His alone.
Furthermore, Colossians 2:9 gives us an even more definitive response to the misapplied use of 1:15 to attack Christ’s deity. Colossians 2:9 says, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.”
In writing to the Colossians, Paul addressed some of the false teaching that the Christians in Colossae were being subjected to. There were those within the church that believed there were multitudes of spirit beings that served as mediators between God and man. Theses same teachers included Jesus Christ as just another one of those spirit beings.
Although these false teachers would readily admit that Jesus’ origin was from the heavenly realm. They would stop short of acknowledging His full and complete deity. They looked at Jesus as, “only one aspect of the divine nature and in himself was not sufficient for all the needs of men” (Vaughan, Expositor’s Bible Commentary, vol. 11, p. 186).
It’s good for us to recognize the similarities between the false teachings Paul had to deal with and the false teachings in today’s religious systems. It was relevant for Paul to address the issues. It is equally relevant for us to talk about them and not shy away from them because of the possible discomfort the topics can bring.
There is no doubt that Paul is referring to Jesus Christ in this verse. “The fullness of Deity” means that Christ is God in His divine nature and in every attribute. Paul also reaffirms that Christ, who took on the bodily form of man, never relinquished His equality with God in nature, in the process.
Paul uses the Greek word, pleroma, which is translated in Colossians 2:9, as well as in 1:19, as “fullness.” Paul was very fond of this word, using it in over seventy chapters of his New Testament writing.
Paul uses the word, to very specifically assert that Jesus lacked nothing pertaining to deity. In using the word “fullness” along with “of deity,” Paul is saying that Jesus did not merely possess some of the attributes of God, but that Jesus Christ is the very essence of God.
Christ was not created in the likeness of God, as man was. He is God’s exact representation, His equal. Christ was with the Father in the beginning. He was present in every respect when God spoke life into existence—not as an onlooker, not as an ambassador or emissary, but as God having the very nature of the Creator.
Equality With God In Power:
Now, let’s look at Jesus’ equality with God in power. We’ll start by looking at John 5:21. “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.”
Jesus is once again talking to the Jews. And, like in our text for today, the Jews were seeking to kill Him for what He was saying about His relationship with the Father. Jesus, in no uncertain terms, is asserting that the power over life itself is in His hands. Just like the Father, with complete equality, Christ is to be honored as the giver of life. Christ not only has the power to raise the dead, but also to choose who will live. There is no resurrection from the dead, no salvation, apart from Jesus Christ, who is equal to, who is one with, God the Father in essence and substance.
We also see Jesus assert His equality with God in power, Mark 14:62. “And Jesus said, ‘I am; and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”
The setting here is that Jesus is before the high priest, shortly after His arrest. The high priest has just asked Jesus if He is the Christ. Here is another awesome example of how Christ, although human in every way but for sin, was at the same time God.
We must never lose sight of the fact that God elected to save those He has chosen by allowing the Son, His Son, to set aside His glory and become a man. But when Jesus set aside His glory, He did not set aside His equality with the Father in power. Jesus told the high priest plainly that He would soon be “sitting at the right hand of power.”
Peter, James, and John were blessed with the opportunity to see a glimpse of Christ’s equality with God in power, the very Glory of God, at the transfiguration. What the high priest could not see, what Christ would not allow him to see, these three men witnessed. Matthew 17:2 says, “And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.” Jesus Christ does not reflect or refract God’s glory. He is the very radiance of that glory. Only God can radiate God’s glory. Hence, Jesus is God.
Again, the fact that Jesus set aside His glory, for a time, so that He could endure total humiliation and pay the price for the sins of those who would believe, does not detract from His perfect deity. Christ showed His awesome power, a power equal to the Father’s, by His perfect, spotless sacrifice.
Equality With God In Authority:
Finally, let’s look at Jesus Christ’s equality with God in authority. This time we will be looking at John 5:22, 23. “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.”
In verse 22, Jesus tells the Jews that His equality with the Father is such that all, not some, all judgment has been given to Him. Jesus tells the Jews that God the Father need not judge because the Father has given Him the authority to do so.
One commentator wrote, “The reason why the Father has entrusted all judgment to the Son is now disclosed: it is so that all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father . . . This goes far beyond making Jesus a mere ambassador who acts in the name of the monarch who sent him” (Carson, p. 254).
Many people that I know, people that I care about, if they were to die today, believing that they were able to honor God without honoring Jesus Christ, His Son, would perish with that belief. My heart is grieved by the fact that those who dishonor the Father by rejecting the Son will, for all eternity, be separated from God.
If a person will not accept Christ’s authority as God, and bow their knee and submit to that authority, they will not be saved. That is not the gospel according to Tony. It’s the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Matthew 28:18 says, “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.’” By this time the Father had glorified the Son. All authority over all of creation has been given to Jesus, the Son of God. The sovereignty of God is manifested through Christ’s equality in authority with the Father. If you say that God is sovereign you must say that Christ is Lord.
Something important to remember is the fact that the authority expressly talked about in Matthew 28 was not given to Christ as a result of His crucifixion. It was not something He received after His death. It was not something He received while He was on earth.
He has always had the authority of God because He and the Father are one. Throughout the Scriptures we can read about Jesus asserting the authority of God. For instance, in the first part of Matthew 11:28 Jesus says, All things have been handed over to Me by My Father.”
There are several way that Jesus expressed His divine authority. Jesus Christ expressed His divine authority through His omnipotence. Jesus turned water into wine. He stilled the raging seas. He multiplied the fish and the loaves. He healed the sick. He is capable to do these things because He has the authority to do so.
Jesus Christ expressed His divine authority through His omniscience. Jesus knows all things. He knows those who truly believe and those who pay Him lip service. He knows the thoughts of every man. He is capable to do these things because He has the authority to do so.
Jesus Christ expressed His divine authority through His omnipresence. Jesus told His disciples at the end of the great commission that He would be with them always, even to the end of the age (Matt. 28:20). He has promised in His Word that He is present whenever two or more believers gather in His name. He is capable to do these things because He has the authority to do so.
Jesus Christ’s authority is probably best expressed in the lives of believers through His sovereignty. He, and He alone, has the authority to forgive the sins of men. No one else shares this equality with God. There is no priest or pastor; there is no church or religion that to whom God has granted this authority. Jesus is capable to do this because He alone has the authority to do so.
Conclusion:
We’ve looked at a lot of different verses this morning. Some say the Bible is full of contradictions. Funny - whenever I ask a skeptic to show me one, they change the subject. The contradictions are in sinful man’s beliefs about who Christ is.
You cannot say that God is sovereign, is all-powerful, if you relegate Jesus Christ to little more than a good teacher or a great historical figure. Why? Because Jesus Christ and the Father are one!
We will all stand before the Lord, one day. Some will be surprised to see Jesus, because they lived a life believing he was nothing more than a man. Some will stand before Him wrongly thinking they are His equals, believing they, too, are gods. Others, will stand before Him and wonder why their good deeds were not a ticket into heaven. Again, sadly, they will hear Christ say, “...I never knew you. Depart from Me.”
But for the infinite grace and mercy of God, Jude would have found himself standing before the Lord facing the same fate as those I just mentioned. Jude was the brother of James, who became a great leader of the Christian Church in Jerusalem. Jude and James were the half-brothers of Jesus. Jude had denied that Jesus was the Christ (Matt. 13:55, Mk. 6:3, and Jn. 7:5).
After Christ’s ascension into heaven, which Jude probably witnessed, Jude went to the upper room in Jerusalem with his mother and the apostles. Acts 1:14 tells us that Jude, along with the others, “...continued with one accord in prayer and supplication.” Jude was, no doubt, a new believer. He had come to realize that his half-brother, whom he had earlier rejected, was the Messiah.
Jude affirms that Christ is one with the Father in his epistle. Listen carefully to verse four and five. “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the Land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe.”
Jude, in verse 4, speaks about the condemnation to come for those who deny, as he once did, that Jesus Christ is Master and Lord. Jude follows this denunciation of false teachers with a sober reminder in verse 5 of what God did to those He saved from Egypt, but did not believe.
If we simply look at what Jude said, we might miss his assertion that Jesus Christ is equal with the Father. But if we look at the words he used, I think it will become clear. When Jude refers to Jesus as Lord in verse 4, the Greek word used is “kurios.” When he speaks of God the Father in verse 5, he uses the word “kurios.” Jude knew what we should all leave here knowing, today. Jude knew that Jesus and the Father are one.
Before you leave this morning, ask yourself who Jesus Christ is to you? Do you think of a good teacher who was just a man? Or do you think of the sacrifice of God in the flesh that day on the cross? Do you think of the shed blood of a martyr, a messenger from God? Or do you realize that Jesus is the perfect and spotless Lamb of God who allowed His blood to be poured out for the forgiveness of sins and the salvation of those who believe?
There is One God in three persons - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The only One who can save you from your sins, the only risen Lord, the only One worthy of our worship, is Jesus Christ. And He and the Father are one.
