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.
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.
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.
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,
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,
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,
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.
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,
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,
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
or John chapter 1.
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
verse 9,
for in him
the whole fullness
of deity
dwells bodily.
Hebrews chapter 13,
verse 8,
Jesus Christ
is the same yesterday
and today
and forever.
Or John chapter 8,
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,
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,
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,
Paul puts it this way,
we are hidden
with Christ
in God.
Or in John chapter 11,
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
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.
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,
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.