I think I’ve showed you this book before. It is entitled “Encyclopedia of God’s” with the subtitle: “Over 2,500 deities of the world.” Listen to the bios of some of these demonic deities: Chors, Chos-Skyon; Chu Jung. I mention this book, and its 2,500 false gods, to point out that our Saviour has some competition. Not only does He have competition, but I think that publications like this illustrate the fact that He is despised as well as rejected throughout most of the world. The names “Jehovah,” “Yhwh,” “El,” and “Elohim’ have short articles in here. But the names “Christ” and “Jesus” haven’t been deemed divine enough to be included. The three idols which I just gave you, should have had “Christ” between them, but He is not there. Some hideous demonic creations are mentioned in this book, but my blessed Saviour is not.
In the New Age pantheon of gods, there isn’t room for Christ Jesus – “in whom is hid all the fullness of the Godhead.” But here we are, audaciously declaring to all – that the world “must honour the Son, even as they honour God the Father. And he that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.” Calvary Baptist Church is not ashamed to avow: “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of CHRIST, hath not GOD.” Here we are declaring, “He that beleiveth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not Son of God shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth upon him. “God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. “Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto God the Father, but through him.” This is pretty bold talk when the majority of the world not only disagrees, but even hates Christ Jesus.
We who’ve grown-up in the midst Christendom are naive to think there are no other religious alternatives. We are foolish to take for granted the Lord’s unique character. We are sinful not to meditate on, and rejoice in, our Saviour.
It is almost silly for me to say that there has never been anyone quite like Jesus. Skimming through the names in this book, I am prone to laugh at some of these so-called deities. I’d laugh if the whole subject wasn’t so horribly sad. These idol gods may be fiction, but the fact that people have worshiped them is not. There is a sense in which I’m almost relieved that my Saviour is not found in here. “Jesus” shouldn’t be found on the same page as Janus, Jarri, Jayakara and Jok. Jok is a joke compared to Jesus. “Christ” shouldn’t be found on the same page as Cizin, Chiuke and Chu Jung.
In so many ways our Jesus Christ is unique – clearly one-of-a-kind. But that is not all; He wasn’t just a nonconformist. He is singularly laudable – in contrast to multitudes of others and their adherents. But Jesus wasn’t simply an individualist “Individuality” today sinks lower, and lower, and disgustingly lower with each passing generation. Christ is completely the opposite of everything but His Heavenly Father. While incarnate, He was Heaven on earth; holiness incarnate; God in the flesh. “Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, and received up into glory” – I Timothy 3:16.
December 25th is a great day in which to consider the Saviour. While millions are receiving cards reminding them of the birth of the baby, I’d like us to think about Christ. We need to meditate on the Saviour, the Son of God, the Lord of Hosts. Millions of Americans need to see Mary’s baby transformed into the glorious Son of God. On the Mount of Transfiguration these disciples mistakenly interjected their low opinions of Christ, and the holy God struck them to the ground. When they were sufficiently able and bold enough to look up, they saw Christ Jesus in a new light. Christ stands above Moses and the law – as we have seen in Galatians over the past few weeks. He doesn’t need to stand with Elijah and the people of the resurrection either. There is no man worthy to stand on the same pedestal with our Lord Jesus. Unless we see Jesus only – Christ Jesus as absolutely unique – we are not seeing Him at all. If we see only Mary’s son, then we are in trouble. If He is not first-place in our hearts we have heart trouble.
No man, and no event, ever FULFILLED PROPHECY the way Jesus did.
It is no great thing to foretell the birth of the baby. When a young couple get married, it is reasonable to assume that they will some day have a baby. When a lady is big with child, it doesn’t take a prophet of God to predict that she will soon have a child. But beyond being sure that a baby’s coming, there is not too much about which we can be sure. Will these babies have dark hair, or light hair? Will they have blue eyes or brown eyes? Will any baby born today have a dimple in her chin or a birth-mark on his thigh? Will any of them become President of the United States or pastor of one of God’s churches? Despite knowing that a baby is coming, there is a lot about which we can only guess.
But prior to the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, there were an amazing number of facts foretold. For example, Isaiah 7:14 prophesied about the sort of mother that He would have. “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign: behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Make no mistake about that; let no Bible denying scholar steal that away from you. Christ Jesus was born to a young woman who had never intimately known a man. That is a miracle of the highest order. And the fact that it was prophesied and literally fulfilled is something absolutely divine. Furthermore, that prophesy was made hundreds of years before its fulfilment. The Bible prophesied where the Lord Jesus would be born – in the insignificant city of Bethlehem. Micah 5:2 was recorded 750 years before the birth of Christ. “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” But the Bible also says that the Messiah would come out of Egypt, and that he would be from Nazareth as well (Hosea 11:1 and Matthew 2:23). As we know Christ was born in Bethlehem, but how many Americans know He was taken to Egypt, and He returned to take up residence in Nazareth? Isn’t it a coincidence that all three of those prophecies were fulfilled? Not in the slightest. Even the approximate time of the Messiah’s birth was forecast in the Book of Daniel. But it wasn’t seven or eight months before the birth – it was 600 years before.
Those of you with large families know that each child has his own personality. It is amazing that in a family of 5 children each of those kids can be very different from each another. And to predict the character and nature of two children born at Kootenai hospital today is impossible. Christ is the only person ever to have His character thoroughly described years before His birth. Isaiah 42:2 speaks about His self-control. And Isaiah 40:11 speaks about His tenderness. Zechariah said that the Lord Jesus would display exceptional meekness and humility. Jeremiah 23:5-6 prophesied His righteousness. And Psalm 40 spoke about His obedience to His Heavenly Father. Psalm 45:7 prophesied His superiority over others. And Isaiah 42:2 spoke about His aptness to teach. Psalms 78:2 even says that He would even be a lover of parables. The Lord Jesus is the only person ever to receive such an abundance of accurate prophecies. And surely the fulfilment of each of these make Him different.
Even His death is vividly pictured long before it became history. Although the Jews executed by stoning, the prophecies of the Messiah’s death make no sense without crucifixion. His betrayal by Judas is prophesied. That the disciples would forsake Him was prophesied. That He would be mocked by others was clearly foretold. His weakness and thirst was prophesied. That men would gamble for His clothes was prophesied. But it was prophesied that not a bone in His body would be broken. Some of the words of Jesus spoken on the cross were prophesied. Even the fact that He would die vicariously for others was prophesied.
There are 333 prophecies of Christ in the Old Testament, undeniably penned prior to his birth. I’m told that the chance that one man could fulfilled 50 those prophecies would be 1 quadrillion to 1. That’s 10 to the 15th power. But I don’t know how anyone could come up with that number, considering all of the potential possibilities. For example, how many villages in Israel could have been the birthplace of Christ? That quadrillion number is possible if there were only 50 prophesies, but what about 300 or more? Jesus Christ is not in the same universe as the non-entities and non-deities of this book.
Something else which set Him apart from every other deity in this book is –
Jesus Christ is the only one to ever CONQUER the grave.
And since death is a problem we all must face, it is essential that the whole world consider Christ. But what do you picture when you hear the word “conqueror?” You may think that I’m all wet, but I think that “conqueror” is very different from a mere “victor.” A baseball team may win a victory, but it doesn’t conquer its opponent. A labor union may win a victory for its members, but it doesn’t usually conquer the company. To conqueror is to butcher the opponent; to rase the city; to devour the country; it is to destroy.
When it comes to death and the grave, Jesus is both a victor and a conqueror. Death had thought it had another victim the afternoon Jesus died. The body of our Lord was quickly prepared for burial and placed in its borrowed tomb. That first Wednesday night passed without incident, and Satan sighed with relief. The body of Christ lay in the grave Thursday and Thursday night, and Satan grew a huge smile. Then again on Friday and Friday night, he was laughing with glee. There were guards placed on duty outside the tomb, but there was no foul-play or monkey business. By 6:00 on Saturday night, three days and three nights, had passed without incident, just as it had been prophesied. But then sometime during the darkness of what we call Saturday night, the sleeping body of Jesus tore off the chains of death. He not only won a victory over death; He devastated it. Whatever power death had claimed over man, the Lord Jesus picked up and put it in His pocket. There is not a person in the world that can enter the state of death without permission of Jesus Christ. There is not a dead body or dead soul which thinks that it can remain dead, because Christ has promised to raise them all at the last day. Death is a key that hangs at the side of the Saviour. “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore, amen; and have the keys of death and of hell.”
Christ is the only one ever to gain such a devastating victory over death. There have been others – other people not false gods – that have come out of the grave. There have been many. And each of us will do the same. But no one, other than Christ, ever came out by way of His own authority and power. Only Christ has defeated death. And those who love him have nothing to fear in death.
Another thing in Christ Jesus is that he is the END of JUDGMENT FOR SIN.
We are in the midst of a study of this question, because that is the theme of Galatians. It says over and over again – “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness.” If this was a perfect world and you had a perfect heart, you could enjoy peace with God by obeying His law. But this is not a perfect world, and we all have sinful hearts. A sinless creature might enjoy the fellowship of God, walking in the meadow of absolute obedience. But nowhere does the Bible say that obedience to the law of God can MAKE a sinful soul righteous. In fact, the law stands condemning everyone of us – that is the purpose of that law. But “Christ is the end of the law for righteous us to everyone to believeth.”
God gave us His law and said, “Keep this; it is my will; it is my command.” He did this in order to prove that we cannot keep His will. He proved to us all that we are under sin and condemned. James says “Whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point is guilty of all.” No one has ever kept the law of God – save Jesus only.
And since the death of Christ, the Bible tells us that it is a mistake to even try to keep the law in order to gain favor with God. Picture, if you like, yourself standing before God. There in the left hand of the Lord is a copy of his law and evidence of your guilt. And in his right hand is a sword ready to slay you. But just as the sword is raised and you expect to feel it’s sting, between you and God the Father, steps Christ, the Son. He raises one hand toward the sword, and with His other He touches the law. And He says to the Father, “I have kept that law in its entirety and absolutely perfectly. And the sword of thy wrath has already fallen upon me at Calvary. I choose to be a substitute for this undeserving sinner.” The Saviour stands between the law and thousands of such sinners. “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.”
But the question is: Are you trusting the Lord Jesus Christ to deliver you from the wrath of God? Here is the thing which is missing in millions of homes this December 25th – It is not the birth of Mary’s son which we need; it is the death of the Son of God. It is the sacrifice of Christ which delivers sinners from the wrath of God. And there is not a single deity listed in this book which can do that. If you spent three hours reading through this book, you will not find a single saviour mentioned. “There is only one name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” And that name is “the Lord Jesus Christ.” And the editors of this book have sadly omitted that Name. Similarly in millions of Christmas cards, there is no reference to the purpose for Jesus’ incarnation.
How can a person’s sins be expunged, erased and take away? They are not gone with the rusting of time – no matter how much time is given. They are not removed by the smeltering of purgatory, for there is no such a place. The friction of your morality can’t wear down the law of God. The good suddsy waters of baptism can’t do the trick either.
Sin is soluble only in the sacrificial blood of Jesus Christ. Only as many as repent and receive Him as Lord and Savior, to them gives He the power to become the sons of God. At such a time, He stands before the Father and declares that believer redeemed through the purchase of His blood. Christ is the only One who can give you peace with God. And that is because of the work which He did on Calvary, not what took place in the manger.