Today we’re going to talk about “Beholding The Glory Of Christ In Scripture”. And here’s where we’re going to go. We’re going to go to the Old Testament, believe it or not. So if you want to look on your phone, turn to Exodus chapter three. Exodus chapter three. And as you’re turning there, I do want to preface today by reading two verses from Jeremiah. Jeremiah 9:23-24 says this, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom., let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches. But let him who boasts boast in thi,s that he understands and knows me (that he understands and knows me).” And so, that is our goal today. You believe the proper study of the child of God is simply this: God. God. He is the proper study for us who belong to him. We’re called to know what kind of God is we are called to understand His perfections, His will. We are to understand how He has revealed Himself, how He has created, how He sustains the world, how He has redeemed the world. And this knowledge comes, of course, through the revelation of Jesus Christ.
So Exodus 3:1-6, chapter three, the story is going to be a bit familiar, because I know many of you have either seen the 10 Commandments movie or a recent animation of this Exodus chapter three. “Now, Moses was keeping the flock of his father in law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God, and the angel of the Lord appeared to him, and a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, ‘I will turn aside to see this great sight. Why the bush is not burned.’ And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see God called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses, Moses,’ and he said, ‘Here I am’. Then he said, ‘Do not come near. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.’ And he said, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.’ And Moses hid his face. He was afraid to look at God. So remember, we are, what are we doing? We’re seeking to understand and know God.
But having said that, I would do want to make an observation, and it’s worth putting on the screen. And it is this,
Observation: All too often people are blind to Christ!
People are blind to Christ. Now obviously we know that if a person is not saved, they are obviously blind to Christ. And there are believers, way too many, who simply are blind to Christ.
How so? In the Old Testament. Look at how Jesus tells us to read the Old Testament. Luke, 24:27 “And beginning with Moses and all the prophets he (Jesus) interpreted to them in all the Scriptures, the things concerning (who?) himself (in the scriptures).” Here at the time, Jesus was instructing His disciples is what we would call the Old Testament. It’s not you. I know I hate to burst your bubble. The scriptures are not about you. They’re not about your works. They’re not about pithy statements of wisdom. The Scriptures are about Jesus Himself. Notice Luke, 24:44 just a bit later, “Jesus said to them, ‘These are the words that I spoke to you while I was still with you (again this has been on repeat) that everything written about me, (everything written about Me, where?) in the Old Testament and the Law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be (what?) fulfilled.” Everything in the Old Testament is fulfilled in who? Jesus Christ, not you, not me. But in Jesus Christ. He also in John 5:39-40 five, when He was going head to head with the religious leaders of that day, He said this, “You search the Scriptures (in other words, you examine the Scriptures. You’re looking closely at the scriptures, and you’re doing it wrong) because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is they that bear witness about (who?) about me.” It is possible right here, to search the Scriptures and do it wrong. This is what Jesus is calling out in the religious leaders. And we see this in so much of what is called Christianity today, which is actually Christless, is they’re reading the scriptures, but they’re reading it wrong. And He concludes that statement in verse 40 by saying this, “Yet you refuse to come to me that you might have life.” Because Christ is the end of the Scripture. It all points to Him. He fulfills it. It is about Him. What’s our part? Repent and believe, but we can’t do that. We refuse to do that unless God does something inside of us.
And so a few bullet points.
Beholding Christ in O.T.
-Types (people, places, ceremonies, events)
-Promises
-Prophesies
-….
You often hear us that we say you must see Christ in Scripture, that Scripture is all about Christ. Well, how is it all about Christ? It is because every bit of Scripture either points directly to Christ or points to our need for Christ, either pointing directly to Christ, our need for Christ. And here are some categories. And this is not exhaustive, but there are types in the Old Testament. In other words, these are real people, real places, ceremonies, events. These are historic that the ultimate meaning is found only in Jesus Christ. They’re pointing forward to Jesus. There are promises, and those promises are what? Yes. And who? You? No. They’re Yes. In Christ. The prophecies all must be fulfilled. Fulfilled in who? Christ. There’s one final kind of bullet point, and that is this, when we are looking for Christ, also look for His very presence. I know what you’re thinking, well, hold on, Jesus came in the New Testament, right? Hmm, let’s look at scriptures to make sure we understand what they’re telling us about who Jesus is and what He’s done. And so when we were looking for the presence of Jesus, obviously what we’re looking for is Him revealing Himself and thus revealing the Father. Now Jesus Himself is the agent of judgment. He’s the agent of redemption, He’s the agent of providence. He’s also the agent of creation. Notice, Colossians 1:16, “For by him (who’s the Him? that’s Jesus) all things were created in heaven and earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers authorities, all things were created through Him and for him.” For Him, let’s seek to understand and know Him.
Now, this is a silly illustration, but that’s the only illustrations I got. So let’s say we were able to time travel, and we were to time travel before the world began, and you walked into, if you will, God’s house, and on the dining room table would be the blueprints for the universe. I get it. They would be big, right? There’d be a lot of them. Think of all the millions of solar systems, of galaxies, who or what would be the main point of creation? Would it be you? Brad sat in the front row. Would it be all about Brad? What about Adam? Surely it’s all about Adam. No, it’s about the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world. It is about the last Adam that is the purpose. He is the goal. He is the end. So obviously scripture is going to point to Him.
So knowing that information, I want us to go back through the Exodus three and just do it a bit slowly, knowing that we’re either looking for Christ or we’re looking for our need for Christ, Exodus 3:2, verse two of Exodus three, “And the angel of the Lord appeared.” “The angel of the Lord appeared.” And so our first question is right here, is, who is this? “The angel of the Lord appeared.” And so, there is some type of an appearance. And where is it? It’s in a specific location, in a bush on a mountain. “And Moses looked behold, the bush was not burning, yet it was not consumed.” Now, what we need to know about this word that’s translated “angel” is that it could also be translated “messenger”. The word in Hebrew can mean both. So in other words, when you see this word in Hebrew, It either means human messengers or non human messengers. And when you’re looking at the non human messengers, if you will, some of them are created. It’s very obvious that’s who we know as angels. Oftentimes, when you hear the term “angel”, you think, oh, yeah, those created spiritual beings. But there are times here where a non human, non created messenger is being referenced, the angel of the Lord. Exodus 3:4-6, Verse four is “And when the Lord saw, (notice the angel of the Lord is called Yahweh, Yahweh) saw that he turned aside to see this.” Angel of the Lord is also called God. “God called to Moses out of the bush, ‘Moses and Moses’. And he said, ‘Here I am.'” Notice again. He this Lord, this God, this Angel of the Lord, is visible in some respect. And He talks, it is an audible voice. Verse five. “Then he (that’s the angel of the Lord), said, ‘Do not come near. Take your sandals off of your feet for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.'” Who can call it “holy” except God Himself? I get it. You have a friend. You go up to him today, and as you approach your friend to shake his hand, he says this,”Nope, stop. Go no further the place you’re standing on is holy ground.” Now, you being polite, might take your shoe off, and then what are you going to do with your shoe? You’re going to whack on one side of the head. No one gets to say that, except who? God. This is God, and is in that moment is Moses boasting about his riches, his wisdom, his power? No, no, he’s humbling himself and worshiping. Verse six, “And he said (again, this is the angel of the Lord) ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob,'” In other words, the God of the patriarchs, Angel of the Covenant elsewhere. “And Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look at (who?) God.” This is. In fact, the Angel of the Lord. Moses is not boasting at that moment, and this is just a sided bonus, all of these false teachers and preachers out there who say this, “I’ve seen God.” They’re liars. They are liars. Why? Right, then, they’re boasting in themselves. Moses is not boasting in himself. Why? He’s afraid. He is afraid. Why? Because he’s looking at God. Now we’ll clarify what that means in a moment. But he is looking at God.
So what I want to do now is pull some excerpts from what we just read, and I’m putting them together. I’m not misusing the scripture here, but I’m trying to help us identify who the angel of the Lord is.
Excerpts from Exodus 3:2;4-6
“The angel of the Lord appeared… (So it this text explicitly says who this is. It’s the angel of the Lord appeared. And this angel of the Lord is who? It’s actually the Lord) … When the LORD saw that he turned aside … God called to him (And so the angel of the Lord is called Yahweh, and He’s called God) from the midst of the bush and said …. the place on which you are standing is holy ground … (Why? Because He is God) … I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham …”
How can this be? How can there be a messenger from the Lord and be the Lord Himself? That’s quite the quandary.
Next slide. And so a few things about,
The Angel/Messenger of the LORD
- Angel reflects office, not nature
- Visible appearance, audible voice
- From Yahweh, thus distinct
- Called God, Yahweh (nature)
- Authority & attributes of Deity
- Speaks as Diety
- Received worship
Number one is Angel here, in this context, in Exodus three is talking about a particular office, not His nature. Two, obviously, there’s a visible appearance. There’s audible voice. This is utterly unique. Notice it is a messenger of the Lord. In other words, He’s from Yahweh, thus He is distinct from the Lord, and He’s called God. He’s actually called Yahweh, which means He has the same nature as God. He speaks with authority, He has the attributes of deity, and He receives worship. Who in the world could this be? We know who it is. It is none other than Jesus Christ. He the pre incarnate one here at this moment, right? Because in the New Testament, we see that Jesus takes within Himself a human nature, two natures in one person, but He hasn’t done that yet. This is why we only see the Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament. This is none other than Jesus, and this is the contrast that brings clarity, because Christ and Christ alone represents and makes known the essential glory of the invisible God. He makes known His attributes. He makes known His will. This is what is happening in that bush on a mountain.
1 Timothy 6:16, helps us to understand this because it says. “(This) Who (and this who is actually God, the Father) who alone has immortality, who dwells (where?), in unapproachable light.” Do you think Moses, in that sinful state, frail state, could go up to heaven and say, “God, here I am.” Not a chance. And who are you to think you could do the same? “Unapproachable light whom no one has ever seen or can see.” Is that an exaggeration? Is that hyperbole? No, when you understand the holiness of God, you would understand, yep. Not right now, not in this current state, there’s no way I could see Him. “To him be glory and eternal dominion, amen.” But God, even though He is in unapproachable light, has sent a go between. And here we see the go between, between He and Moses and that go between is Jesus. He is the Angel of the Lord. He is able to communicate and manifest Himself in such a way that Moses could comprehend and not die.
Luke 10:22, “All things have been (given or) handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” You see that this is the case. The Father is revealing Himself. But how does He do so? Only through the Son. That is true in the New Testament. It is true in the Old Testament, John Calvin says this, “The only way therefore by which in ancient times, holy men knew God was by beholding Him in the Son. God never manifested Himself to men by any other means than His Son. That is His only wisdom, truth and life from this foundation, Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses drew all the heavenly doctrine.” The men of old. How did they know God? They knew Him through Jesus Christ.
John 1:1 and John 1:18. Now I know this is a little bit unique. John one, one through 18 is actually a prolog. And what I’ve done is I’ve taken the first verse and the last verse and put them on one slide. And there’s a reason why, because I want you to see the bookends here, “In the beginning was the Word (who is the Word? That’s Jesus, He’s the Word), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” And so if I were to label these points, I would label this one, Jesus is the Word, point A. Notice He is with God. I would label that point B, point B and and the fact that the word is with God indicates what? He’s actually distinct from God. And here we would understand that is the Father. He’s distinct from the Father, and the Word was God. He is, in fact, divine. That is point C of this first verse. Now notice verse 18, “No one has ever seen God.” We just read that. Who’s God here? That’s God the Father. No one has ever seen it. There is no exceptions. The only God. Notice the only God. What does that mean? That is, in fact, Jesus. He is God who is at the Father’s hand. He’s distinct. He is distinct. He has made Him known. How has He made Him known? Because He, in fact, is the Word. Do you see the structure there? Jesus is the Word. He is the voice of God. He is the revelation God the Father, wanted to reveal Himself to the world. And so what did He do? He sent His messenger. Who is that messenger? None other than Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the one who reveals God in the New Testament, obviously, in the Old Testament, obviously. This is our God. And the Holy Spirit is one who superintends this revelation so that it’s written down by human beings, so that we ourselves can read it in Christ alone. In Christ alone, do we have a clear understanding of who God is, His perfections and His will and His work.
Going back to our text, Exodus 3:7-8, three, verse seven, “Then the LORD said, ‘I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings.'” Okay, not a quick trick question, who is speaking? Yahweh? Who is? Jesus. Jesus is speaking. He is revealing God. How is He revealing Him? And notice, “I have surely seen.” God sees. Notice God hears. He is omniscient. Notice He is also merciful. He has loving kindness. He is loving kindness. How? Because He has a people, a group of people He has made a covenant with. Now, when I say that Jesus sees, hears and cares, that’s not going to raise any kind of red flags, right? We’ve seen the false commercials. If “Jesus Gets Us”, those are the things they advocate. But notice this, because of their taskmasters. Jesus is also a Jesus of judgment. Judgment. Think about the plagues that hit Egypt. Think about the army that died in the Red Sea. Oh, that’s a Jesus a lot of people are uncomfortable with. Therefore they don’t let that part of Jesus, if you will, shine forth. They only let that part of Jesus, which they kind of like, Are you kidding me? This is scriptures revealing to us who He is. Notice the next verse, “And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians. I.” Who is speaking here? The Angel of the Lord, who is Yahweh, who is God, who is, in fact, the second person of the Godhead. This is Jesus talking. Notice what He says He will do. “I have come down to (what?) deliver them.” “To deliver them.” You’re not going to see that any movies. Why? Yeah, this world loves to hide Jesus Christ in His full glory. Jesus comes to deliver the Israelites from Egypt and then take them to the Promised Land. Notice all of these ites here. Again this is salvation through judgment. He is delivering the Israelites, but He’s doing it through judgment. He judges Egypt and He judges the nations that are in the Promised Land.
So so if I were to summarize, right, if you were to say that God manifested Himself in the bush and spoke to Moses, that’s actually a true statement. Okay, that’s a true statement. It’s not true to say this God the Father Himself personally manifested Himself in the bush and spoke. That’s not true. Now it is true to say that God the Father manifested Himself and spoke through the Son. That is the contrast that brings the clarity. Remember, what are we to do? We are to understand and know God. When God distinguishes among the members of the Godhead, should you stand above them and say, “Yeah, don’t do that, God.” No, we fall on our knees, take off our shoes and say, “You are God. I will give You glory.” Why? Because You have revealed Yourself. This is God the Son who comes down to rescue the Israelites. Now some of you, this is the first time you’ve ever heard that. If you’ve been around here for a while, you’ve heard it, and even now, it’s hard to comprehend, is it not? Why? Because of the poison air of Christless Christianity that is around us.
But in case you have any doubts, I’m going to call a famous person. His name is Jude. He wrote a letter, and it’s in the Bible, and this is what Jude 5 says. “Now I want to remind you.” Why remind? Because they already knew it. “Although you once fully knew it that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward, destroyed those who did not believe.” This is Jesus. This is Jesus. He is the one. You don’t see it in the movies. You don’t see it in the animation. You actually don’t hear it in a lot of Sunday school lessons well over here and many adults who want to go in and listen, that’s great, just kidding. But I can guarantee you, our Children’s ministry is doing this. They’re retelling Old Testament stories, making sure Jesus receives the glory that is due His name. He’s the one who rescued.
Notice Exodus 3:10-12, Verse 10, “Come I will send you to Pharaoh. I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring out my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” Now, verses one through nine, it was Jesus revealing Himself and revealing what He’s going to do. Here comes the imperative, if you will. Here comes the commissioning. He says this, “I will send Moses to Pharaoh.” Now, who typically gets the glory out of the Israelites being rescued out of Egypt? Moses sure gets a lot of attention. He’s a man. He’s a man. Yes, he did his part, but who was doing the work? Jesus Christ. He is the one who’s doing the work He did, work through creaturely means. And here is Moses. This is the indicative, verses one through nine, and now we’re moving into the imperative. And listen. What have we been learning in Romans six? That that you must first stop and listen to to the indicative. In other words, God telling us this is the way things are. This is reality. And once we grasp that, then from the inside out, we obey. Verse 11, “Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children out of Egypt?’ Yeah, there’s no boasting there. That might be the right question. It’s a good question. Verse 12, “But he said, (that’s Jesus speaking.) ‘I will be with you, and this shall be a sign for you that I have sent you when you brought the people out of Egypt. You shall serve God on this mountain.'” I love that He gives them a sign. But the sign’s not till later. You still have to obey. Moses, you still have to obey. He’s got all the revelation of Jesus in the bush speaking to him. Now “I will be with you.” Here’s what David said later. David said this Psalm 23:1, “The Lord is my shepherd.” You see, Moses was to shepherd the people, but who is the real Shepherd? Jesus. Now these words are used to comfort many people, but David, when he’s speaking, the Lord is my shepherd. Guess who the Lord is? Jesus answers us, John 10:11, “I am the good shepherd.” This is us allowing scripture to teach us. How do I behold the glory of Christ? Let scripture tell you. And when you see the glory of Jesus, you are seeing the glory of the Father.
Verse 13, back in Exodus three, “Then Moses said to God, ‘If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you. And they asked, what is his name? What shall I say to them?’ God said to Moses (again, this is Jesus speaking) ‘I AM WHO I AM.”” “I am.'” and I know that tends to be kind of sometimes out of reach of people. It’s like, “Yeah, I’m expecting something more spectacular.” Oh, this is spectacular. This is me being excited. If you don’t know I am, it’s a verb, first person I Am, I exist. I’ve always existed. I continue to exist. This is a pronoun who what exists? God, through Jesus, Christ, is revealing Himself. He’s revealing Himself that He is the self existent one. He is eternal. He is other than He is sovereign. He is immutable. How else are we going to understand a God who is like that? And God condescends to communicate to us here on that mountain who He is. “And he said (again, this is Jesus) say this to the people of Israel, I am, (verse 14. If we can go back to verse 14) I am, I am what this I am.'” Here is, again, a verb. He says, “I am” very unusual, and it’s a shortened version of this. “I am who I am.” Verse 15, “God also said to Moses, ‘Say this to the people of Israel, the LORD.'” Now, when you see all capital letters in your English translation, that is, they’re translating the word “Yahweh”. And Yahweh has a root the same as the verb I am. So notice here I am who I am, shortened to “I am” proper name, then would be Yahweh. This is Jesus revealing who God is, “The God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you. This is my Name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations”. Now notice what Jesus is, just to make sure we understand who this is, John 8:58, He says this in relationship to Abraham. “Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, Before Abraham was I AM.'” Now, if it was proper English, and I know some of you teach grammar, He would say “I was”, but that’s not His point. His point here is saying, I’m the pre Existent One. This, this is in Greek, and now it’s two words in Greek, but it’s the same two words that a Greek translation of the Hebrew text would you use. I am. I am the pre Existent One. I am immutable. I am transcendent. I am the being of beings. Jesus is. I am. John 8:28, again a few verses earlier, “Jesus said to them, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am.'” Now I realize it says, “I am he” that is not in the text, by the way, the word “he”, the pronoun is not in the text. What does He say? “I am”. He’s declaring His identity “I am” from what I am, who I am. Notice “I do nothing on my own authority, but speak, as the Father has taught me.” Here is the Christ, the God man. The Father gives the words to who? The Word who then delivers it to us. Oh, our God is an awesome God.
Exodus 3:17, “And I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of Canaanites, Hittites, the Amorites.” Notice it is Jesus who is promising to do what to personally bring them up. Now, I know we just kind of went through a verse similar to that, and I know it’s kind of shock value. In order to double down on this, I want us to look at Jude 5 again, just in case you missed it the first time. Notice, “I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt afterward, destroyed those who did not believe.” The I Am. who is the I Am? Rescued a people out of Egypt. The I Am, who is the I Am, who then took within Himself the human nature died upon a cross. Who are we to boast? Who are we to boast? Should we not fall down and say, “Oh, God, you are such an awesome God, Jesus, I glorify You for Your work. You and you alone delivered us. You did.” We saw a type of it in the Old Testament that was real deliverance, pointing to the spiritual deliverance that He would accomplish on the cross. Everything points to Christ or our need for Christ, and how does it demonstrate our need for Christ? Guess who needs rescuing? I know some of you still think you got it all together. Here’s my assessment, you don’t. You don’t. You have sinned against the Holy God. You are under the wrath of God, and unless He raises you from the dead, such that you repent and believe in Him, you will remain there. You are completely dependent upon God to rescue you. How does he rescue you? In the person of His Son. Ephesians 1:6, “And him (who’s that? Jesus Christ) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace.” Who are you to boast that you are rich? Jesus is rich. Who are you to boast in your wisdom? Jesus is the wisdom of God. Who are you to boast in your power? Jesus is the power of God. We see that fully demonstrated at the cross. That’s why Paul says, I’m not going to boast about anything except this in Christ and Him crucified.
Hebrews 1:3 speaking of Jesus, “He is the radiance of the glory of God, (radiance of the glory of God) and the exact imprint of his nature.” Well, how could that even be? Because He is God, He has the same nature, “And he upholds the universe by the Word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” He is distinct from the Father, and He is of the same nature of the Father, and He’s revealing the Father. Without Christ, understand, we would remain in utter darkness. He is the light. We can only know God through Jesus Christ. John 5:23, picking up in the middle of a sentence, Jesus is speaking, and he says this, “‘Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.'” Oh, there are people and there are false religions that say this, “You can approach God all on your own. Do this. Do that. Read this. Read that.” They are liars. Why? Because you must only. You can only approach God through the Son. He’s the one, and so this is why we honor the Son. This is why we sing praises to Jesus. He’s the one who’s rescued us. But by praising him, we’re honoring Him, and in doing so, we’re honoring the Father who sent the Son. They are one and distinct. John 14:9. “Jesus said to them (in response to a question by Philip, who said, ‘Show us the Father”, ‘Have I been with you so long and you still do not know me. Philip, Whoever has seen me, has seen the Father.'” There’s the principle, see the Son, see the Father. Now, how do we see the Son? We see Him by faith, as we read about Him in Scripture, the Spirit Himself, making sure we understand, yep, that’s the Son. That’s who He is. That’s what He’s done. To see the Son is to see the Father who dwells in unapproachable light. Jesus is the messenger, and He’s the message
2 Corinthians 4:6, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Let’s trace this out. Notice God is the one who says, “Let light shine.” He did so at creation, right? We know that He created through Jesus, “let light shine”. That is referencing what we’ve been talking about the past few weeks in Romans six. This is God doing a work inside of us. He’s the one who regenerates us. He’s the one who raises our spirit from the dead so that now we can walk in newness of life. This is the new creation, something new within us. Once Christ was blind to us, now we can see. And what has He shown us? He has shown us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. He’s showing us the glory of God. But notice, in the face of Jesus Christ, only in Jesus Christ are you going to see the glory of God in the context of Second Corinthians three and four is this that it’s all in the context of Scripture. This is not you going out to your back patio and imagining Jesus. That’s for the kooks. Here’s what you do if you want to see Jesus, read the Word. The Word is him. Read scriptures, and you read all of it, cover to cover. Why? Because it’s all about Him. That’s how you behold the glory of God. How? By looking at Jesus Christ in Scripture, as I said before, the proper study of the children of God is, in fact, God. That’s who we study. The redeemed saint has every reason in the world to do what? To sit down and read the Word why? Because He’s looking for Jesus Christ. He’s beholding the glory of Jesus Christ. And by beholding the glory of Jesus Christ, He’s beholding the glory of God.
And so what that means is, actually, in your life, yeah, you’re welcome. A goodly portion of your life should be doing what? Reading scripture. I get it right now. You may be convicted like, “Yeah, I did. I read it last week.” Okay, okay, okay, you realize here at the end of the service, someone’s going to come up. His name is Matt. He’s going to say this. “Now it’s your turn.” Your turn to do what? Read the scriptures. Why? You get to behold the glory of Jesus Christ. Oh, what a joy. Oh, what life to behold the glory of Christ. Oh, what wonder and awe. Do not deprive yourself of that. I get it. Cowboys are going to be starting on TV, and it’s going to be hard for you. Don’t give in if you’re going to watch the Cowboys read the Word before and after and during halftime, because otherwise you’ll be sinning. But what an incomprehensible blessing that you and I get to behold the glory of God. You can’t make this up. It is incomprehensible, and yet we know it to be true, and one day when we’re resurrected with a new body, oh yeah, there’ll be a sight unparalleled then. But that does not minimize the joy, the wonder and awe of being able to behold Jesus Christ in the Word of God.
Jeremiah 9:23-24, “Thus says Lord, ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom. (Who’s the wisdom of God? Jesus.) Let not the mighty man boast in his might. (Who’s the power of God? Jesus.) Let not the rich man boast in his riches. (Ephesians 3:8 says the unsearchable riches of Christ).” If you’re boasting in your wisdom, might or riches, repent. Repent. There really is only two options. You’re glorifying in yourself. You’re boasting in yourself, or you’re boasting in Jesus Christ. Notice verse 24, “But let him who boasts boast in this that he understands and knows me.” “That he understands and knows me.” That’s not some vague notion of a god, that’s not some higher being somewhere up there, that’s not some mysterious supreme being. This is God revealed in three persons. This is definite knowledge about a definite God. Beholding the glory of Christ in the Old Testament. “I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice and righteousness.” Again, He’s revealing His perfections. “For in these I delight.” We get to know the type of God He is, three persons, each fully divine, one essence, one God. But believers, we must seek, diligently, seek Christ’s glory in scriptures. On this we will live and die. Will we not? To seek Christ in scriptures. This is us as a church. What are we to do? We are to study scriptures so that we can announce who Jesus is and what He’s done. And let me encourage you to do this. Put your name there. For me, but “Let (Jeff) boast and boast in this that (Jeff) understands and knows me.” Put your name there, personalize it, because I know we as a church, here’s what we’re doing. “But let Sherman Bible Church, who boasts, boast in this that (Sherman Bible Church) understands and knows me.” Give credit to where credit is due. Give credit to where credit is due. Jesus reveals the Father to us. Jesus has redeemed us. Let him who boasts boast in this that we know and understand Him.
KEYWORDS
Gospel, Boast, Jesus Christ, Old Testament, Exodus 3, Angel, Messenger, Yahweh, Angel Of The Lord, Moses, Yahweh, I AM, Revelation, Scripture, Providence, Redemption, Judgment, Creation, God’s Glory, Holy, Prophecies, Covenant, Type, Pre Incarnate, Messenger Of The Lord, Lord, Shepherd, Word, Bible Church, Texas
SPEAKER
Jeff Wideman