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    The Supremacy of Christ
    The Supremacy of Christ
    The Supremacy of Christ
    Ebook96 pages1 hour

    The Supremacy of Christ

    By Brian Johnston

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    About this ebook

    In this devotional yet highly instructive book, Brian Johnston shares the most exalted theme that can engage our minds in any Bible study – a heart-warming profile of Jesus compiled from John's Gospel, Philippians, Colossians, Hebrews and Revelation. Enjoy viewing Him as the creator Christ, the eternal Christ, the sacrificed Christ, the worshipped Christ, the prophesied Christ and, finally, as the victorious Christ. Each chapter ends with questions that are ideal for personal or group study. 

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHayes Press
    Release dateNov 15, 2018
    ISBN9781386507970
    The Supremacy of Christ
    Author

    Brian Johnston

    Born and educated in Scotland, Brian worked as a government scientist until God called him into full-time Christian ministry on behalf of the Churches of God (www.churchesofgod.info). His voice has been heard on Search For Truth radio broadcasts for over 30 years (visit www.searchfortruth.podbean.com) during which time he has been an itinerant Bible teacher throughout the UK and Canada. His evangelical and missionary work outside the UK is primarily in Belgium and The Philippines. He is married to Rosemary, with a son and daughter.

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      Book preview

      The Supremacy of Christ - Brian Johnston

      CHAPTER ONE: THE SPEAKING CHRIST

      When the apostle John , by the Spirit, used the title ‘Word’ (Greek: Logos) he was using a term familiar to the Greek mind of his day. The Greeks used it to express the principle, or rationale, which they understood to be behind the creation of the universe. What came as a revelation from God through John’s writing was the identification of this abstract creation principle with a person, God the Son. That this is a title of the Lord Jesus is quite clear from verse 14 of John chapter 1: ‘The Word became flesh’. God the Son became flesh in order to reveal the eternal God to us.

      With that in mind, we might still ask ourselves: ‘Why this particular title?’ We think of how we ourselves use words in order to communicate with each other. We reveal what’s in our mind by our words. The eternal God has expressed his mind in the one who is the Word. In Jesus, the Word, God has fully revealed his character and perfectly declared his will. What can we learn about God's Son from the opening verses of John's Gospel, where he’s introduced to us as the Word? What sort of person is he? Seven points have been noted (by J.I. Packer).

      1. He was ‘in the beginning’ (v.1). This reminds us of the opening words of the Bible, which take us back to the time of the creation. In other words, the first thing we learn here about the Word is his pre-existence. He didn’t ‘become’, nor was he ‘made’, as is said of other things in the following verses. What this shows is his eternity, and it’s confirmed by so many other Bible texts. ‘He is before all (created) things’, according to Colossians 1:17. This echoes the prophecy of Micah that the one who was to be born in Bethlehem - the Word become flesh - would be one whose ‘goings forth are from of old, from everlasting’ (Micah 5:2). Yes, the Word is the eternal Word.

      2. He was ‘with God’ (v.1, literally ‘towards God’). The word (Greek: pros) translated here as 'with' conveys the idea of communion between distinct persons. It indicates personal companionship and the enjoyment of fellowship together. This teaches us about the personality of the Word, as someone capable of complete fellowship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. In other words, the Word is the personal Word.

      3. He ‘was God’ (v.1). That’s really plain, but this statement has been made the centre of controversy by false teachers. We may be absolutely clear that to insert the indefinite article (an ‘a’ – as in ‘he was a god’) is completely wrong grammatically. There’s no question on which side the qualified experts are, as witness the rules of Greek grammar that even a novice can read – and find this very example discussed. Therefore, as it stands, it gives crystal clear testimony to the deity of the Word. In any case, this truth is very clear from many other Bible texts; two from Matthew will serve as our examples. In Matthew 3:1-6, we see how John the Baptist fulfils the prophecy of Isaiah 40:3 – which talked about preparing the way for the Lord, and the Baptist relates that to his very own work preparing the way for the Lord Jesus, which means Jesus is the very one whom Isaiah called God. Matthew then takes up another of Isaiah’s great prophecies in describing the birth of the Lord Jesus in terms of Isaiah’s predicting of the virgin-born Immanuel (Isaiah 1:22-23), whose name means ‘God with us.’

      Many among the cults profess difficulty with the truth of the Trinity. And while it’s absolutely true that the term ‘trinity’ isn’t found in the Bible, its truth certainly is. As Luke records the announcement to Mary by Gabriel concerning the birth of the Lord, we’ve clear reference made to the deity of the one who is to be born, and to the fact of the trinity. In the first chapter of Luke, the child to be born is declared to be ‘the Son of the Most High’ or the ‘Son of God’. It’s prophesied that the conception would be a work of the ‘Holy Spirit’ (v.35) and that the ‘Lord God’ would give the child the throne of David (v.32).

      There are references to three distinct persons there at one moment in time as we view it, and all with the same nature, existing as one God. In the first chapter of John’s Gospel, John the Baptist publicly witnesses to the Lord Jesus as being the Lamb of God (v.29) and the Son of God (v.34); so the Lord is presented in that first chapter as the Word, the Lamb, and the Son. This Word is without doubt the divine Word.

      4. ‘All things were made by Him’ (v.3). Here we find the Word creating. Paul begins his letter to the Colossians with the same truth: ‘For in Him were all things created...all things have been created through Him, and unto Him’ (Colossians 1:16). Nothing could be clearer than this, and it must be our final answer to the atheistic evolutionist.

      5. ‘In Him was life’ (v.4). And now we find the Word animating. He’s the source of all life, whether natural or spiritual. Paul’s words to the Athenians (Acts 17:25,28) certainly apply to him: ‘He Himself gives to all life’, and ‘in Him we live’. Whereas, regarding spiritual life: ‘this life is in His Son’ (1 John 5:11).

      6. ‘And the life was the light of men’ (v.4). That is, here’s the Word now revealing and enlightening. He’s the true light that lights everyone (v.9). All, without excuse, should have a certain consciousness of God.

      7. ‘And the Word became flesh’ (v.14). This is the truth of the incarnation, of how this eternal, personal, divine Word, the Creator, Animator and Revealer of all, came into his creation.

      In Philippians, Paul writes of the Lord emptying himself and ‘being made in the likeness of men’ (Philippians 2:7). We read with wonder from Genesis 1:26 how God said, ‘Let us make man in Our image, after Our likeness’; yet here we have the infinitely greater miracle of one who is God but now in man's likeness. In eternity, as the Son of God, he emptied himself; in time, as the Son of Man, he humbled himself. The giving of himself was something that began in eternity, before he even came to earth to be born.

      There are two points that we need to be clear about. First, that it wasn’t of his deity that the Lord emptied himself in becoming flesh. We’ve already made reference to the fact that he was ‘God with us’, and the Bible repeatedly declares that the one whom the Father sent into the world was ‘the Son’ (e.g. 1 John 4:14). He was ‘the Son’ before, and after, his birth at Bethlehem. Secondly, we must affirm that he became truly human. The Gospels faithfully record for us the reality of

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