Feast of the Resurrection: 2016
Hail the resurrection, Thou
Christ the Vine [Lutheran: Missouri Synod]
Reformation Covenant Church (video/audio) [CREC: Reformed/Presbyterian]
Immovable Foundation Church [Russian Language]
Household of Faith Community Church: North Plains (Gregg Harris)
I listened carefully to all that was said about the Resurrection from these Pulpits and found a remarkable consistency on two counts.
- The focus was on the Substitutionary Atonement Christ accomplished in His spiritual death as He was punished for all the sins of all the past and future Elect humans. Appropriation of this propitiation for guilt and imputed righteousness was strongly emphasized as being “by faith”. 1 Cor 15’s definition of the Gospel was reviewed as essential to what we must believe. There was a good and healthy focus on who Jesus is, but not so much on how the resurrection affects our station in the world because of our inclusion in Him (other than justification).
- The other half of the Gospel was ignored. Anything related to the civil-government aspect of Christ’s kingdom, His raising above any other prophet, priest, legislator, judge, or president/king/emperor in His ethical sovereignty and almighty power to execute sentence according to His pleasure. His supreme ownership which relegates all mortals to stewardship under Him was not mentioned.
It got me to thinking of the idea that I have heard referenced: totus Christus. Sometimes we need to think of the Head and The Members as one.
There are two passages that come to mind on this. Daniel 7 and Revelation 5. Son of Man in one, and The Lamb in the other, are viewed in an aspect separate from “the one sitting on the throne”. There is no question that God as Father is on the throne, but would He be there in a visible way (No man has seen Him at any time)? And is not Jesus also on the throne as the Triune God, even though in both passages above it does make sense as coronation ceremony of Jesus attaining His throne, perhaps “at the right hand” of the Primary Almighty God/Father Throne above all? But as Pastor/Bible Teacher Extraordinaire James Jordan also referenced here in Daniel 7, as I recall, Son of Man could also be picturing Christ-with-His-Ekklesia. This idea is tacitly supported by the 3x insistence in the following verses:
And behold, with the clouds of heaven
One like a Son of Man was coming,
And He came up to the Ancient of Days
And was presented before Him.
14 “And to Him was given dominion,
Glory and [k]a kingdom,
That all the peoples, nations and men of every [l]language
Might serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
Which will not pass away;
And His kingdom is one
Which will not be destroyed.
What if the “His” is Totus Christus?
18 But the [p]saints of the Highest One will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, [q]for all ages to come.’
22 until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was [v]passed in favor of the [w]saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the [x]saints took possession of the kingdom.
27 Then the [ag]sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the[ah]saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.’
See how it says the kingdom is, “given to the people of the saints”, and in the same breath says, “His kingdom”, “serve..obey Him”. Presumably those in the Church, throughout Christ’s earthly reign, will be pointing to Christ, calling both unbeliever and fellow-believer to obey and honor Him both for who He is, as well as the abundant promised earthly/temporal blessings for doing so – and not to insisting that God has delegated some concept of arbitrary authority to sinful mortals, now, and abandoned further opinion on men’s actions, but in the future is only obligated to bless or curse or punish those earthly mortals He has abrogated authority to – so you must get punished to the degree that you are not obeying their arbitrary notions (Like divine right of kings).
I’m thinking these should be thought of as the same. Men will know it is Christ’s kingdom, and that He, from His real, human body in heaven, will be implementing functional rule over the nations of the world – when those believers, baptized into His Trinitarian name, are being obedient to Him themselves, by all they know of the Word of God enScriptured, and are teaching and influencing others to do the same without being ashamed of explicit reference to the Name of Jesus, and being diligent to act “in His name” however that might apply in any given circumstance.
Then when you think of our inclusion into Christ through His death, burial, and resurrection, and ascension – there is a little more excitement. Sure, God-The-Son always was judge, lawgiver, and king of Israel and all the other nations. (See theme underlined in Psalms 94-100, for instance, 1 Sam 8/12). It never could be otherwise. Taking on flesh, becoming fully human from conception to physical death, did not change any of that. Coming into Total Ownership rights over all creation as a Person fully human by virtue of gift/inheritance-from-His-Father, and by Paying for it, by exchange/paying/giving in exchange for It (especially the Elect) everything it was possible to give; and by virtue of Him overcoming His enemy in a fair fight (binding the strong man, and plundering his house) – All of that really can add nothing more to the maximum ownership rights of His creating all things by His Word as the Triune God.
It makes you wonder if one of the huge things that is different, now, after the resurrection and ascension – is not that the Divine Person Jesus/God-the-Son is any different now, in terms of right-to-rule and exercise that maximum ownership – but that what is different is that now, WE, as incorporated into Him, own all things as co-owners, co-landlords, and co-rulers. Think ambassador, but imperial ambassador. We are not the emperor, but we represent the emperor, if we are good men and true.
We may stand in the midst of a society somewhere along the spectrum of those who rage against the Lord and His Christ, and seek to cast His cords from us, and yet, as good ambassadors, we seek to persuade them as we would rebels in any puny and powerless rebellious nation – that all classes of men, rulers, middle-class, and servants -- will be rewarded or punished by the Emperor and by those men to whom it has been delegated to serve throughout that empire.
When the Father wields the rod of correction and Biblical instruction plus the inheritance and stewardship of earthly goods, he is participating in the rule of the empire.
When the priest/pastor wields the keys of inclusion in the Supper, or excommunication, he is participating in the rule of the empire.
When the civil officer, of whatever level: from king and general to policeman and soldier -- wields the sword that takes life or threatens life-taking as a backup for required restitution or lex talionis, he is participating in the rule of the empire.
Family, Church, State. Not Church over State. Not State over Church. But all under Christ as head, as civil sovereign/king, as highest priest/pastor, and as Everlasting Father. Was not the government to be upon His shoulder and He to be Prince of Cessation-of-War? Was He not the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, and the everlasting Father?
7 If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.”
8 Philip *said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”9 Jesus *said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves.
This is part of the excitement of Church History -- when we see how Christ-through-His-saints have influenced and ruled in history. When they have best heralded His identity and nature, and observed and taught all the Word of God, we see the peace, freedom, and economic growth that everyone says they want. We see high standards of living representing by greater distance between wages and the cost of food, clothes, and housing. When there are embarrassing decades where the Church has promoted rebellion or ignorance of God’s law Word – then we see the society insisting on destroying itself by murdering its children, stealing from each other instead of producing more, punishing the innocent and rewarding the guilty, and teaching the holy to pollute themselves.
Sometimes we joke about it.
In Soviet Amerika, you restitute the thieves with free food and housing.
In Soviet Amerika, the bank charges you interest when you loan them your money.
So how do we obey Charles Wesley’s call in his great hymn? Hail the Resurrection, Thou! ? So recognize you are an Imperial Ambassador to demonstrate to and advise the culture around you of the blessings and cursings that are a sure reality in this empire. You are not the emperor, but you are not less valuable than any other imperial ambassador either. You may not have the same rank as some other ambassador, but your unique station where you are placed to herald the crown rights of our Emperor, Christ, is just as rewarding and satisfying as anything could be tailored for you as any station could be.
Properly understood, the Resurrection will produce in us those same twin, extreme emotions experience by those who first ran from the rolled-away stone:
Terror and great joy.
April 1, 2016
Left out a couple things.
Think of the basics: Life, Freedom, Property.
God created man and gave him life. He has to be able to exercise his freedom to move and act and provide for himself and his family. Babies die without provision. In his freedom and providing for himself and others he has to have stewardship of property before God who gives it: Food, clothes, tools, houses, lands, means-of-production. These are basic.
But Men also have this powerful bent to take away the life, freedom and property of their neighbors near and far.
Think about it, in the Resurrection, Jesus rose above any possible future difficulty about losing any of these.
You can’t take away the life of someone who has permanently been dead and is now everlastingly alive.
You can’t take away the freedom of someone who moves and disappears and reappears at will – who is solid to touch, yet can instantly go through walls and appear anywhere in the universe He wants to. Not even His Disciples can be held in jail if God wants them preaching in the temple.
You can’t take away the property of Someone who has been given all things by His Father as His everlasting inheritance, who has overcome, in fair fight, the strongest other person in the universe who had usurped control of the earth from the first human, Adam, and who has paid down the highest possible price and purchased everything there is to own.
Who’s able to deny his 4x ownership?
Then think of the 3 Covenantal Institutions:
Family: Family disciplines with the rod and perpetuates stewardship of property. What is the Institution of Family able to do against The Father who declares He loves this Son above all, is well-pleased with Him and has given all things into His hand?
Church: Religious assemblages/priests have the responsibility to instruct, to purify by sacrifice, and excommunicate, and to serve as courts-of-appeal. Who is going to instruct the Word of God who always faithful spoke the words of His Father? Who has anything to offer the One who has fulfilled all sacrifice, priesthood, temple images from the past? Who is going to excommunicate and adjucate for the One who will Judge the Living and the Dead?
Civil Government – can only punish criminals by taking away their life, freedom, or property. We have already noted how rising above all this has put our Lord Jesus Christ out of reach of any challenge to His rights in these 3 aspects of what we call human life, or personal life itself – human or not. If the policemen/soldiers they sent out to arrest Him before His glorification “fell backward to the ground”, or returned saying, “never a man spoke like this man”, or lost sight of Him during the arrest attempt – whatever could they hope to now inflict on His resurrected body?
One more discovery, sort of a take-off on learning that Caesars, during Rome’s dominance of civilization, embraced the titles of “highest priest”, savior, lord(owner), and after they died – “divine”…..
Learned that once a month or so, the empire would have an imperial holiday to celebrate Caesar’s person and work. It was called the lord’s day.
So then these Christians come along and tramp all over the top of that by insisting on a weekly Lord’s Day celebration. Who is this lord you guys are talking about who is not our Caesar?
Ah, this is the Lord that owns far more than Caesar can hope to defend with all his legions. This is the Lord who is beyond reach of any taking of life, liberty, or property that Caesar and his army and police can accomplish. This is the Lord who is the only one who can define what is Caesar’s and what is God’s. This is the true High Priest who has propitiated the only true God for the Sin of Man. This is the only name under heaven, given among men, who truly saves. There is salvation in no other.
Aren’t you glad Christianity is not political? Think of the changes it would make if it was!
