Jesus the unique God Man

What I find really interesting about the Palm Sunday event, and the text that we're looking

at this morning, of course, is not specifically about the Palm Sunday event, the triumphal

entry into the holy city, but it's a parallel passage, a quite complementary passage, in

fact, because we see in both instances just how fickle the vision of the people can be.

If you recall, as Jesus is entering in his triumphal procession on the donkey, humble

and lowly, greeted by palm branches and the shouts of Hosanna, there is a great reception,

a great party, in fact, the anticipation that the Messiah, perhaps, is coming, and yet it's

not very long into the week that Jesus is betrayed and arrested and tortured and executed.

There appears to be, throughout the pages of the Gospels, in fact, this great dichotomy

of vision, really sort of a polarizing effect that Jesus has on almost everyone that he

encounters.

It's impossible, in fact, to be apathetic or ambivalent about Jesus Christ.

In John chapter 14, Jesus says something really radical, really provocative.

John 14 · chapter mention

He says, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.

Over and over and over again, Jesus, throughout his ministry, is putting himself at the center

of human existence to say, if you want to abound, if you want to live, if you want to live eternally,

you must orient yourself around me.

When Jesus calls himself the way, the truth, and the life, we see that he's not simply speaking

about justification, about salvation.

He is speaking about that, of course.

But he's talking about daily life, the grounds of real human living.

The reason why I, and I suspect you, get distracted from time to time, give in to temptation to sin,

is because we have, in effect, taken our eyes off of Jesus Christ.

We have forgotten, at least momentarily, we've experienced a kind of gospel amnesia in the

moment.

We have forgotten how satisfying and how sufficient and how answering Christ is.

This is true for every sin and every moment when we choose something other than God to

satisfy us, that is actually what we're saying.

We're engaging in a kind of disbelief.

We are saying in the moment, God, you don't satisfy me.

You don't fulfill me.

You don't validate me.

You don't justify me.

This is what will give me peace and joy and happiness.

I think of all the things that I look to to satisfy me when I know it really is only Christ

and his glory that can bring me great and deep and abiding joy.

This is what the Apostle Paul says in Philippians chapter 3.

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus,

my Lord.

For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that

I may gain Christ.

And so I think the biggest problem that Christians face is not that we haven't thought of Christ

alone for salvation, but that we only consider Christ alone every now and again.

Many of us live very compartmentalized lives.

We tend to think of ourselves as existing in these time slots or having multiple roles.

There's our work self and our home self, our family self, our school self, our recreational

self, and then there's our religious self.

And we're accustomed to thinking of Jesus when it's time to think of spiritual or religious

things.

But the Jesus of the New Testament, the Jesus who is the real Jesus, the Son of God incarnate,

doesn't abide in his own assigned time slot.

He is the ruler of all existence.

He is the sovereign Lord of all.

The real Jesus will not stand for being assigned a compartment in our life.

He is the center of the universe.

So again, the problem is not that we don't look to Jesus, but that we don't spend enough

time looking at all of him, which is to say, pondering his glory.

And that's what I want to sort of explore with you this afternoon, what I want to help us

see together this afternoon, really the point of this passage in John chapter 8.

John 8 · chapter mention

And the first thing that we should mention as we look at this exchange, this debate, this

argument, is that it isn't really a personality clash.

You know, sometimes when you hear, you know, some folks explain the difference between the

Pharisees and Jesus or why they continue to have this clash, it's put very superficially

as if the Pharisees are mean and Jesus is nice.

And this is really the, you know, the reason why they're so angry with Jesus is because he's

going around telling everyone to be kind to each other and he's teaching peace and this

really upsets them.

And that really just sort of scratches the surface of the primary disconnect between the

religious rulers and Jesus.

You don't execute somebody who's just teaching everyone to be nice to each other.

That might irritate you, but it wouldn't drive you to want to execute them.

What this is, is not primarily a personality clash.

It is a theological conflict.

It is about belief.

In the ruler's mind, in the religious leader's mind, it's about orthodoxy and heresy, in fact.

At stake is what is expressed in verse 48.

Is Jesus a demon-possessed Samaritan?

Now, of course, I know you don't believe that Jesus is a demon-possessed Samaritan.

But if we were to put it in our terms and sort of the language of our day, how this sort of

debate or misunderstanding or failure to see the glory of Christ really works out, we might put it this way.

Who is Jesus?

Is he who he says he is?

Or is he something else?

And Jesus himself is saying some incredibly provocative things about himself all over his preaching ministry.

But right here in this theological conflict at which he is the center, he's saying some really provocative, really spectacular, really mind-boggling things.

In verse 49, he says, I honor my father.

In verse 54, he says, my father glorifies me.

Now, if you're one of the religious leaders at this time, you're thinking, hold on just a second, time out.

This has the air of blasphemy to it.

Because this man who isn't yet 50 years old is saying basically, the father that you call God glorifies me.

Why would God the father glorify this man?

Who is this man to claim such kinship, such intimacy, such parity, equality with God the father?

So we have to set aside, if we're to take Jesus at his own words, we have to set aside the option that he's simply a good teacher

that went around telling everyone to be nice to each other.

He is, as C.S. Lewis famously put it in his apologetic, he is either a lying scoundrel, right?

A demonized Samaritan, perhaps.

Or he's crazy, a lunatic.

Or, or, quite possibly, verse 55, he knows the father.

Like, actually knows the father and keeps his word.

And what makes the difference, what makes the difference between seeing Jesus as he truly is,

as the redeeming God-man, and not seeing him as he truly is,

is contingent upon seeing his glory.

My working thesis here, the reason why I draw that particular filter over our understanding of the text,

comes primarily from 2 Corinthians chapter 3, where in verse 18, Paul says,

2 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

it's by beholding the glory of Christ that we are transformed from one degree of glory to another.

So there's something, there's something supernatural, something spiritual,

about seeing the glory of Jesus that makes the difference between seeing Jesus as just a man,

or just a good teacher, or as a liar, or as a lunatic,

and seeing Jesus for who he truly is, for who he revealed himself truly to be.

And this really is a spiritual thing.

Some people look at Jesus all the time, and they don't see anything impressive.

They see the liar Jesus, or the lunatic Jesus, or the just a good teacher Jesus.

But others, others see a glimpse of his glory.

They taste and see, in the revelation of Jesus Christ,

something delicious, spiritually transformative, forever changed.

So if we look carefully at this text, we can see some of this glory here in this exchange.

Jesus is showing it to us, even as he's withholding it from his Jewish accusers.

And what do we see?

How wondrous is the glory of the God-man Jesus?

What is it that Christ's glory alone does?

Well, first of all, Christ alone has glory that reaches into the eternal past.

He has glory alone that reaches into the eternal past.

As the author of Hebrews says in Hebrews chapter 1, verse 1,

Hebrews 1:1

once upon a time, God spoke in a lot of ways through the prophets,

but now, finally, all of these messages, all of these prophecies,

culminate in the final message, the incarnate word, Jesus Christ.

And the entire collection of books that we call the Old Testament

unfold the plan of redemption that sets the stage for the incarnation of the Son of God

who has come to save sinners from death.

Every person, every prophecy, every prescribed ritual,

all of it is pointing to the fulfillment of itself in Christ Jesus.

If you remember, right after his resurrection,

Jesus kind of sidles up along the disciples on the road to Emmaus.

And at first, they don't recognize him.

They're not quite sure who he is.

But he begins to teach and preach to them.

And it says,

He revealed everything about himself from the law and the prophets to them.

Essentially, Jesus is preaching to them a Christ-centered,

expository sermon from the Old Testament.

Or if you prefer, because it's Jesus preaching it,

a expository, self-centered sermon from the Old Testament.

He's telling them about himself.

This is where I was in Genesis and in Exodus and Leviticus and Deuteronomy.

And their response, if you remember,

the disciples who are hearing this sermon,

Jesus showing himself, his glory from the pages of the Old Covenant Scriptures,

their response is not simply to say,

Oh, that's really interesting.

You've really unlocked some things that help us mentally.

No, they say,

Our hearts burned within us.

What does that mean?

Well, it's the response of worship.

They have not just heard intellectually the glory of Christ,

but they have seen spiritually the glory of Christ,

and they have been transformed.

They've had their affections stirred for this Jesus.

This is how Jesus puts it here in verse 56.

Your father Abraham, Old Covenant,

your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day.

He saw it and was glad.

This is very similar to another moment in Jesus' ministry,

in the early days of his ministry, in fact,

when he's in the synagogue in Luke chapter 4, if you remember,

Luke 4 · chapter mention

and he's reading from the scroll of Isaiah,

reading the prophecy,

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.

He reads this,

and then he essentially says to the gathered congregation,

All of that is about me.

And the audience reacts very similarly to how this audience reacts in John chapter 8.

John 8 · chapter mention

The reality is that Jesus Christ is not some divine improvisation.

It's not as if God thought that we could work out salvation by our own merit,

just pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps,

that we could eke out some sort of spiritual achievement,

and then embarrassed by our failure to measure up,

and surprised by our inability,

thought,

Oh, I guess I should go ahead and send my son down there to sort things out.

No, the covenant of grace,

begun and finished by Jesus Christ,

was part of his plan all along.

In fact, everywhere Jesus goes,

he's telling people this.

He's not plan B.

He is God's plan A.

He says,

You don't believe me because you don't believe the scriptures.

Here are a few examples.

In Matthew 21, verse 42,

Matthew 21:42

Jesus said to them,

Have you never read in the scriptures

the stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone?

This was the Lord's doing,

and it is marvelous in our eyes.

Matthew 22, 29,

Jesus answered them,

You are wrong,

because you know neither the scriptures

nor the power of God.

Matthew 26, verse 56,

Matthew 26:56

All of this has taken place

that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.

Mark 14, 49,

Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching,

and you didn't seize me,

but let the scriptures be fulfilled.

Or Luke 24, 27,

Beginning with Moses and all the prophets,

he interpreted to them in all the scriptures

the things concerning himself.

Luke 24, 45,

He opened their minds to understand the scriptures.

John 5, 39,

You search the scriptures

because you think that in them you have eternal life,

but it is they that bear witness about me.

The truth of the glory of the God-man Jesus Christ

rests on the rich, thick tapestry

of the God-breathed scriptures.

Even Abraham, Jesus says,

could see it on the horizon.

From the darkness of antiquity,

Abraham sees the dawning light of Jesus Christ,

and his heart thrills with hope.

His heart burned within him.

He saw my day, Jesus said,

and he rejoiced.

But the Bible doesn't just give us a glimpse

into the beginning of time

and the beginning of the covenant.

No, in fact, the glory of Jesus,

the glory of the saving Son of God,

didn't begin in Genesis

any more than it began in Luke chapter 2

Luke 2 · chapter mention

or John chapter 1.

John 1 · chapter mention

It's not just into the historical past

that Christ's glory reaches,

but into eternity past

that his glory reaches.

Before time even began,

the plan of the gospel

was in the heart of God.

How do we know this?

Well, we see that the names

written in the Lamb's book of life,

for instance,

in Revelation chapter 13, verse 8,

Revelation 13:8

were written, it says,

before the foundation of the world.

The truth is this,

for the Christian,

Christ's saving glory

was fixed on you

before there even was a you.

Romans chapter 8, verse 29,

Romans 8:29

Paul puts it this way,

for those whom he foreknew,

he also predestined

to be conformed

to the image of his Son.

I don't know if you've ever

thought about that,

but just the reality,

the biblical reality

that the God who is outside of time,

who created time,

who rules outside of time,

could look forward

into the time

that he will create

and see me,

puny little old me,

weak and deficient

and flawed,

riddled with sin,

and say,

I'm going to put my grace

on that person.

I'm going to make that man

a beloved son of mine.

I can barely get over that.

God even knows the sins

I've yet to commit,

the ones that I don't even know

I'm going to commit.

He sees all of that

and still says,

I dedicate myself to him.

And if you've repented

of your sin

and put your faith

in Jesus Christ,

he says that about you as well.

But it gets much deeper,

in fact,

the wondrous glory

of the God-man

reaches into the past,

but also,

secondly,

Christ alone has glory

that reaches

into the eternal present,

into the eternal present.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 15,

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

in the first few verses

of that chapter,

Paul is essentially

just giving kind of

the outline

of the gospel message.

He gives the simple

summation

of the good news.

He says,

Jesus Christ died

in accordance

with the scriptures.

He rose again

in accordance

with the scriptures.

He mentions Christ's ascension

and the witnesses

to that event.

And he says

that this message

is the most important thing

that you could know.

This message

is of first importance.

But then he says

something really radical.

And in fact,

if you're reading too quickly,

you would just sort of

gloss right over it.

This news,

he said,

about the gospel,

this news about Jesus Christ,

what he has done

in history,

he says,

you received it,

right?

So,

in some way,

shape,

or form,

you assented,

you believed

in the gospel,

you had a conversion

experience of some kind,

that might look different

depending on your context

or the circumstances.

Perhaps you prayed

a prayer with someone,

someone led you

through a gospel tract,

you responded

to an invitation

at a church service

or something like that,

but you received it,

right?

So we kind of

all understand that.

But then he says,

you didn't just

receive it past tense,

but you're also

standing in it

present tense.

Isn't that interesting?

The glory of Jesus Christ

didn't just capture

your soul

at some point

in your personal history,

it is at this very moment

sustaining you.

Paul puts it in Galatians

like this,

having begun by the Spirit,

do you continue

in the flesh?

And the answer is no.

Having begun by the Spirit,

you continue,

you stand

in the Spirit.

Jesus Christ is

millisecond

by millisecond

upholding your salvation

by the word

of his power.

Here is the

spectacular,

mind-blowing thing

that Jesus says

to his accusers

in verse 58.

Jesus said to them,

truly, truly,

I say to you,

before Abraham was,

I am.

Now,

the first thing

that we notice

about this verse

is this.

Jesus is

very clearly

appropriating

or assigning

to himself

the divine name,

Yahweh,

I am.

And unless we think

that's somewhat

of an interpretive

improvisation

that we're just

kind of making that up,

notice how the crowd

reacts to him

making this statement.

They know

he's assigning

the divine name

to himself,

which is why

they pick up rocks

to murder him,

because they think

he's committing blasphemy.

He's claiming

to be God.

This is one

of Christ's

more astounding

I am statements,

if only because

it's somewhat

of a standalone.

There's no

addition to it,

right?

So in other places

he says things like,

I am the door,

or I am the vine,

or I am the way.

Here he's simply saying,

I am.

It's very similar

to the moment

in Mark chapter 6,

Mark 6 · chapter mention

if you recall,

where the disciples

are on that

storm-tossed boat,

and Jesus comes

walking on the water.

And he says to them,

don't be afraid,

it is I.

And the Greek

phrase there

that's translated

it is I

is the equivalent

of the Hebrew

I am.

So it's not simply

that the disciples

are scared in the boat

and Jesus walks up

and says,

don't be nervous guys,

it's just me.

Essentially what he's saying

is,

don't be afraid,

I'm God,

I control all of this.

Jesus says,

before Abraham existed

in the past,

I am right now.

I don't know about you,

but this hurts my brain.

Before Abraham was in the past,

I presently am.

It's messing with our sense

of the space-time universe.

Just let it settle in

for a second.

Jesus Christ,

not yet 50 years old here,

is claiming

to be outside of time.

To be eternal,

to be eternally now.

He doesn't need

a DeLorean or a TARDIS

or a Narnian wardrobe

to do it.

This is what I find

so wonderfully confounding

about the incarnation.

The Son of God

becomes fully man,

right?

That's the true Christian,

the orthodox view

of the incarnation,

that Jesus Christ

is fully God

and fully man

simultaneously.

He's not sometimes God

and sometimes man.

He's not a man

who just is somewhat anointed,

has the air of divinity

about him.

He's not God

who gives the appearance

or the illusion

of being a man.

He is 100% God,

100% man.

And if this is true,

if this is true,

it makes sense

of the entire testimony

of the Scriptures.

Paul in Colossians 2,

Colossians 2:9

verse 9,

for in him

the whole fullness

of deity

dwells bodily.

Hebrews chapter 13,

Hebrews 13:8

verse 8,

Jesus Christ

is the same yesterday

and today

and forever.

Or John chapter 8,

John 8:58

verse 58,

before Abraham was,

I am.

Here's just one implication

of this.

I don't know if you ever

have thought about this.

I know we're entering

the Easter season,

Easter week,

but look forward

to the Christmas season

and picture little baby Jesus,

right?

Cute, adorable,

little baby Jesus.

Put him in the manger

with the swaddling clothes.

If Jesus is fully God,

then the baby Jesus

who was wrapped

in swaddling clothes,

lying in a manger,

was also omnipresent

Lord of the universe.

Because omnipresence,

the ability to be everywhere,

to be everywhere,

to see everything,

is one of God's

impassable attributes.

Meaning,

it's one of the

qualities of God

or the

characteristics of God

that cannot change.

So God cannot

not be omnipresent.

So for Jesus Christ

to be fully God,

really fully God,

must mean

that he was omnipresent.

You might say,

well,

I mean,

didn't Jesus

disregard his deity

as something

to be grasped?

That's what Paul says

in Philippians chapter 2,

Philippians 2:5–8

verses 5 through 8.

But I think

what Paul is getting at

is not that Jesus

didn't hold

or maintain

the fullness

of his divinity,

but that he did not

exploit it

or leverage it.

In other words,

at any point,

the temptation

for Jesus

could have been,

I don't want to experience

this kind of suffering,

I don't want to experience

this kind of hurt,

I don't want to experience

this part of humanity,

therefore I'm going to

slip into God mode

and exploit my deity

so that I don't have

to experience that.

And what Paul is saying

is he was fully God,

he was never not God,

but he didn't leverage

his divinity

against the experience

of humanity.

He didn't pull

the divine parachute,

in other words.

So what we see

in the wonder

of the God-man,

in the wonder

of the incarnation

is in essence

not a reduction

of the Trinity

or reduction

of the divinity

of the Son of God,

but an extension.

It's as if the Son of God

bent over from heaven

and stooped low

to become one of us,

to embrace us.

If we're going to deny

that Jesus was simultaneously

incarnate and omnipresent,

in fact,

we have to adopt

a lesser incarnation

on one side

or a lesser deity

on the other.

Here is something

extremely marvelous.

In Calvin's estimation,

John Calvin,

he says,

God's incarnation

in Christ

was not an exit

from heaven

so much as a descent,

a stooping,

in other words.

So the incarnation

was a humbling

of God's Son,

but not a lessening

of Him.

The God-man

was simultaneously

incarnate

and omnipresent,

there in time

and space

as the Son

of a carpenter,

but also upholding

the universe

as the Son of God

before Abraham was,

I am.

And this is why

this is good news,

by the way,

because it may just say

this is just like

a theological head trip.

What difference

does this make?

Why should we even

think about this?

It's really complex.

It's in the afternoon,

you're tired,

it's hot.

Why even think about this?

Well, here's why

it's important,

or at least why

I think this is important.

Because it's not just

the sinful past

that you've been

forgiven of,

and it's not just

the future paradise

that you look forward to,

it is the very present

moment

that believers

in Jesus

are spiritually

united

to the Son of God.

That Christ's glory

reaches into

the eternal now

means that we

who are united

to Him

are never in danger

of being separated

from Him.

We get to enjoy

blessed union

with Christ.

Ephesians chapter 2,

Ephesians 2:6

verse 6,

Paul writes,

He has raised us

up with Him

and seated us

with Him

in the heavenly places.

We are inextricable

from Christ.

In Colossians chapter 3,

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

Paul puts it this way,

we are hidden

with Christ

in God.

Or in John chapter 11,

John 11 · chapter mention

just three chapters

after our focus text here,

Jesus says,

I am the resurrection

and the life.

Whoever believes in me,

though he die,

yet shall he live.

Where does he get off

saying this?

If you don't see Jesus

for who He truly is,

hearing things like this

would make you angry.

This is why the rulers

are constantly upset

with Him

and aggravated with Him.

This is why they're driven

by envy to murder Him.

And yet for those of us

who have seen

the glory of Christ

in a saving way,

even if in a small way,

but a saving way,

this means that

having been united

to Christ,

who is eternally God,

you are as secure

as Christ is.

Now how secure

do you think Christ is?

The wondrous glory

of the omnipotent,

omniscient,

omnipresent God-man

reaches us,

sustains us

in the eternal present.

But thirdly,

and finally,

Christ's glory,

I'm sorry,

Christ alone

has glory

that reaches

into the eternal future.

Christ alone

has glory

that reaches

into the eternal future.

This is where Paul goes,

by the way,

in 1 Corinthians 15,

in those early verses,

when he says,

you received,

past tense,

the word,

the gospel,

you stand,

present tense,

in the word,

the gospel,

and then he also says

something that's even

more spectacular.

He says,

you are being saved

by this word

of the gospel.

This is how Jesus

puts it here

in verse 51.

Truly, truly,

I say to you,

if anyone keeps

my word,

he will never

see death.

This is like

the moment

when Jesus

looks into

the tear-stained face

of Martha,

weeping over

the loss of her

brother Lazarus.

And Jesus himself

is weeping,

the text tells us.

And I imagine

he's just sort of

gently put his hands

on her shoulders

and he's looking

into her face

with abundant,

eternal compassion,

and he comforts

her in a way

that no other man

could ever comfort her.

He says,

I am the resurrection

and the life.

Whoever believes

in me,

though he die,

yet shall he live.

And everyone

who lives

and believes in me

shall never die.

and then as if

to drive the point

home,

to make it personal,

he looks her

straight in the eye

and says,

do you believe this?

This is the question

before you this afternoon.

This is the question

before all of us.

This is the question

before us every morning

when we get out of bed.

Are we going to live

our life as if

Jesus Christ

is the God-man,

as if he really is

the resurrection

and the life,

as if to be

united to him

means that

even if we die,

we will live?

And in fact,

to believe in him

means that we'll

never die?

We must be out of our minds

to think something like that.

Or perhaps,

perhaps we've seen

something different

that other people

haven't seen.

maybe our eyes

have been opened

in a way that

other people's eyes

haven't been opened.

Maybe we've seen

the glory of Jesus Christ.

And we know

he's not an ordinary man.

And we know

he's not just a good teacher.

And we know

he's not a liar.

And we know

he's not a demon-possessed

Samaritan.

We know he is

who he says he is,

the Son of God.

For God so loved

the world

that he gave

his only Son

that whoever believes

in him

will not perish

but have everlasting life.

And the only alternative,

of course,

is everlasting death,

which is no alternative

at all.

To take or leave Jesus,

to be ambivalent

about Jesus

is to be against him.

He says this himself.

If you are not for me,

you are against me.

And these people,

these leaders,

they're against him.

Verse 59,

they picked up stones

to throw at him.

They wanted to kill him.

They tried to kill him.

But Jesus hid himself

and went out

of the temple.

Now there's something

fascinating here

about verse 59.

And I don't know

if you see

what I see.

And it's something

that I have missed

for a very long time.

If you're reading quickly,

again,

it's maybe something

that you could just

gloss over.

He's revealed the truth

about himself

and they reject him.

They want to kill him.

But Jesus hid himself

and went out of the temple.

What does it mean

he hid himself?

What do you think

he did,

like literally,

physically did

in that moment?

How did he,

like was there a pillar there

and he like jumped

behind it to hide?

Did he pull

the kind of classic,

look over there guys.

And when they turn

their backs,

you know,

they're distracted,

he kind of ran away.

What does it mean

he hid himself?

What does it mean?

Well, I mean,

this is just speculation.

This is just imagination.

It doesn't say literally

what's there.

So we just have to kind of

go by implication.

But it's within the realm

of possibility

if he is who he says he is.

It could be

a miraculous obscuring.

In some way,

supernaturally,

spiritually,

he hid himself.

They couldn't see him.

Earlier,

I referenced the incident

in Luke chapter 4

Luke 4 · chapter mention

where Jesus is preaching

and the crowd

at first is loving it.

I mean,

they really like

when Jesus teaches

because he's really dynamic

and he's really compelling.

They say he preaches

as one with authority.

He has a lot of power.

But then when he says,

all of the stuff I just read,

that's about me,

they turn on him

in an instant.

And they do what this crowd does.

They try to kill him.

And if you recall,

they try to push him

off a cliff.

They like kind of carry him out

to push him off the edge

of a cliff

to murder him.

And in that instance,

do you remember

what Jesus does?

He walks right through him.

How do you think

he did that?

I mean,

like did he fight him off?

It doesn't say he did that.

How is it possible

that the crowd

would be around him

violently trying

to murder him

and he just passed

right through them

as if to say,

this is not how this happens.

This isn't going

to happen today.

And he just peacefully

with authority

passes right through them.

Perhaps it was

a supernatural thing.

Perhaps this is

a supernatural thing.

He's obscuring himself.

But whatever's happening here,

whether he truly

hid himself behind something,

if it's like physically

he's getting away from them,

or he veiled himself

in some supernatural way,

the point is really heartbreaking.

Either way you slice it.

The point is this.

They can't see him.

They can't see him.

Which is the worst thing

that can happen to you.

The worst thing

that can ever happen

to anybody

is to be closed off

to the glory of Christ.

The worst thing

that can ever happen to you

is to reject Jesus

and have his glory

hidden from you.

The glory of the God-man

is our only hope.

hope.

I pray that you have

the eyes to see.

Christians,

here's the eternal reality.

if Jesus is who he says he is,

and if you have put your faith

in him,

he has you covered

past,

present,

and future.

And one day,

when the rapidly coming future

crashes into the eternal now,

when the glory of Christ,

as Habakkuk chapter 2 says,

Habakkuk 2 · chapter mention

covers the earth

like the waters cover the seas,

you will stand blameless

before his presence

in great joy.

Not because of you,

but because of him.

And you will see,

as if for the first time,

that you are clothed

in the glory of Christ.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father,

we ask for the eyes to see.

for some,

in a fresh and newer way,

to have our eyes

opened a bit wider

to how wonderful,

how lovely,

how saving

your son Christ Jesus is.

Father, perhaps,

for some,

for the very first time,

that the scales,

as it were,

would fall from

their eyes.

and they would behold

the glory of your son

for the first time.

Heavenly Father,

your church believes in you

and we ask that you would

help our unbelief.

Help us to press

the gospel

into the corner

of every room

of our heart.

That we would worship you

more vibrantly,

more faithfully,

with our hearts aflame

with affection

for your son.

We ask for the grace

to see your son

as he is.

So we ask for your

Holy Spirit, Father,

to be stirring

our hearts and souls,

revealing a vision

of your son,

crucified,

risen,

ascended,

ruling over heaven

and earth.

And we pray all these

things in the name

of your son,

the precious name

of Christ Jesus.

Amen.