The Glory and Majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ

Today we are marking the beginning of the Epiphany Season.  This past Thursday, January 6^th, was the beginning of Epiphany.  In my lifetime the theme of the Epiphany season has been mission work.  We all know important mission work is.  There is no greater work than bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who do not yet know it.  But, mission work, in and by itself, is not necessarily good.  What I mean is that there are plenty of very zealous missionaries who go from door to door, such as Jehovah Witnesses, that work very hard at making converts to what they believe.  But, what they teach is false and if they persuade someone to believe what they teach, that person will surely be lost.  While they use the Bible as their “Sheep’s clothing,” to cover up their false teachings, they don’t even believe that Jesus is true God.  They are like the false teachers of Jesus’ day that he condemned for their zealous mission work.

If our mission work is truly going to be God pleasing, it will have to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ—this is the real message revealed to us during the Epiphany season. This is the time between Christmas and Lent.  Since ancient times the Church has clearly proclaimed Jesus Christ who was born in Bethlehem, lived a perfect life and then died on the cross to offer that perfect life as payment for the sins of the world.  His work redeemed us from the power of the devil, the curse of sin, and the punishment of eternal hell.  This is the main thought in Psalm 45.  Therefore may the Holy Spirit guide us as we meditate on

The Glory and Majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ

Our Conquering King

Psalm 45 was written a long time before Jesus was born.  Listen: “¹ My heart is bubbling over with a beautiful theme. I am reciting my works for the King. My tongue is the pen of a rapid writer.” Who is this King? How do we know the author of this Psalm was talking about Jesus, or King David, or King Solomon?  Listen to the 2^nd verse: “² You are the most beautiful of the sons of Adam.”  This already points to the fact that he is more than just an ordinary man.  If this was all he said about this King the promised Messiah, the Christ, the proof would be very weak.  The Psalmist goes on, “⁶ Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.”  Now the truth becomes clear for there is no earthly king who has a kingdom that last forever.  No emperor of Rome, no king of England, no president of the United States—even the kingdoms of David and Solomon only lasted for 40 years.  This is a long way from “forever and ever.”  In fact, when God promised David a son who would rule forever David asked, “You have also spoken about the house of your servant for a long time into the future. Is this the law for the man, Lord God?” (2 Samuel 7:19).  It is just a fact of history that no king has reigned for a very long time.

Yet, the Psalmist is inspired to build his case even more. Listen: “⁶ Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.”  This King is called, “God.”  There is little argument that God rules all things.  But, how do we know that the Psalmist is referring to Jesus Christ as this King?  The Psalmist further identifies who this King is: “Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy more than any of your companions.”  This King is God who is anointed by God.  Our minds move quickly to the gospel account for today when we see Jesus baptized in the Jordan River.  There we see Jesus anointed by the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove.  You heard the testimony of Peter from Acts: “³⁸ God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power” (Acts 10:38). 

Scripture has given us the witness we need to learn that Jesus is the Chosen One, the Anointed King whose Glory and Majesty is spoken of in Psalm 45.  This declaration about Jesus as a mighty conquering king is vital for us if we are to have a correct understanding of who Jesus is and the work he carried out for us.  If we are to be comforted and sustained during our times of difficulty, when our lives are falling apart, when relationships are on the rocks, when the devil wants to tempt us to think we don’t need Christ, the world gives so many excuses to pay little attention to Christ, and our own sinful flesh tried to makes us into our little god, then we need to be reminded over and over that our lives are sustained and comforted by knowing Jesus Christ is the King over all things.  Our faith in him receives the Glorious and Majestic blessings our Conquering King has won for us.  This becomes so important in our lives when Jesus does not look like our King.  For the next 4 months we will travel with Jesus from Bethlehem, through his life, his suffering and death and the devil wants us to doubt Jesus is our Majestic King.  Those are the times to look even more closely at our Glorious and Majestic Jesus to see him

Defeating Our Enemies

The Psalmist talks about Jesus in this way: “² You are the most beautiful of the sons of Adam.  Grace is poured out on your lips.”  Compare this to Isaiah who wrote, “² He grew up before him like a tender shoot and like a root from dry ground. He had no attractiveness and no majesty. When we saw him, nothing about his appearance made us desire him” (Is 53:2).  Knowing the life of Jesus, with whom would you most likely agree?  Majesty or no majesty? The Psalmist or Isaiah?  What beauty is there in Jesus of Nazareth when you see him whipped and beaten by the soldiers?  When you see him nailed to a cross?   You know that only those who really know who Jesus is can ever see any beauty in his suffering.  When we see him hanging on the cross and saying, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt 27:46), can you and I say, “² You are the most beautiful of the sons of Adam.  Grace is poured out on your lips.” 

Are you ready for such a scene as this?  Are you ready to follow Jesus and watch people mock him, ridicule him, despise him and work so hard to kill him?  That is why this season of Epiphany makes such a big difference.   We need to have a very clear picture of his Glory and Majesty so that when it comes to his defeat of our enemies, when we walk through the season of Lent, we know exactly who this Glorious and Majestic King is!  He is the Christ who came to Defeat Our Enemies!  To the eyes of people without faith it will look like he is being defeated by his enemies, is helpless to defend himself, but is indeed fulfilling the mission given to him by his Father in heaven.  During Epiphany we might be impressed when we see his miracles, but at the end of the Epiphany season we will see Jesus take his disciples up a mountain about six months before his suffering and death.  These are the same disciples who would be with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.  On this mountain Jesus is transformed before their eyes and shining in all his glory and majesty.  But, did the disciples remember this when they saw Jesus arrested, suffering and buried in a tomb?  No!  Even the majestic glory of Jesus they witnessed with their own eyes to prepare them for the day when they saw him in his state of great humiliation, they forgot that Jesus was doing all of this work to Defeat Our Enemies.

Yes, we are blessed to have the holy Scriptures to strengthen our faith in Glory and Majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ, but will we remember this when we look around our world today?  There are plenty of times when we are tempted to think that our Conquering King is not in control.  There will be natural disasters, health issues, family arguments, marriage challenges, temptations to abuse substances used by the devil to cause doubt and fear in our minds just like the disciples and wonder: Is the Conquering Christ really defeating our enemies?   Is Jesus in control when the Church is not growing as fast as we would like to see it grow?  Is the Conquering Christ really defeating our enemies?  Even in the church there are many people who do not honor Jesus Christ as he should be honored by coming to worship and praise him because they’re too tired, or too busy, or just plain lazy.   Is the Conquering Christ really defeating our enemies?  In our world we see Christian being persecuted in heathen nations who appear to be getting stronger and stronger—Is the Conquering Christ really defeating our enemies?  If you haven’t said it, you’ve probably heard someone else say, “Why does God let such wicked people who lie and kill become mighty in the world?”  We can confess that Jesus Christ is our Conquering hero who defeats our enemies, but does saying it make it so?

First, remember the horrible affects of sin we see in our world today is no different than it was in Jesus’ day.  The greatest rulers then were emperors of Rome.  The Roman governor in Judea, Pontius Pilate, sentenced Jesus to be crucified.  The leaders of the church were vehemently opposed to Jesus and tried to stone him and ended up putting Jesus on trial for calling himself the Son of God.  In spite of all these attacks and apparent failures of Jesus Christ, we believe and confess that when Jesus died on the cross, he was still our Glorious and Majestic Conqueror who Defeated All our Enemies.  Are we naïve?  No!  We are confident in what God’s Holy Word says happened.

Not if we say it, but if God says it, then, yes, it is so.  Listen:

“Therefore God has blessed you forever.  ³ Strap your sword on your thigh, you mighty warrior, in your splendor and your majesty.  ⁴ In your majesty advance successfully. Ride forward in the cause of truth, humility, and righteousness. Let your right hand teach you awesome deeds. ⁵ Your arrows are sharpened. Let peoples fall beneath you. Your arrows are in the heart of the king’s enemies. ⁶ Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of justice. ⁷ You love righteousness and hate wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy more than any of your companions.” 

Psalm 45:2b-7

What the Psalmist prophesies is what St Paul gives witness to in his letter to the Romans:

“³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers, neither things present nor things to come, nor powerful forces, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:37-39

Why?  Because our Glorious and Majestic Lord Jesus Christ Has Defeated All Our Enemies!

Are you sure?   Stick with me during the season of Epiphany and we’ll watch our Lord and Savior calm the seas and we’ll know he is the King of all Nature.  We will witness him feeding the 5,000 and we’ll know he is the King of Creation.  We’ll watch him raise the dead, and we’ll know he is the Lord of Life and Death.   We’ll watch him tell the soldiers that he is Jesus and they will fall to the ground and we’ll know Jesus has far greater power than any army.   But, are you sure?  Because soldiers nailed him to the cross!  We know Jesus with one word could have destroyed all his enemies, but Jesus allowed them to kill him because this was the way our Glorious and Majestic Jesus defeated the greatest enemy of all—the devil!  For the devil would have taken all of mankind into hell if our Glorious and Majestic Lord Jesus Christ had not paid the penalty for all our sins.  Are you sure?  Yes, I am sure that I can point at the cross (which looks like a big loss) and proclaim to you with all confidence—everything is going to be okay because of our Glorious and Majestic Lord Jesus Christ Has Defeated All Our Enemies.

So, are you ready to enjoy the Season of Epiphany?  Do you realize why this is a great time of the year to mediate on who Jesus is and see the proof from the pages of Scripture?  There are so many places in the Bible that point our Jesus to be our Glorious and Majestic Conquering King.  We see it in the Jordan River when baptized by John the Baptist and being anointed by the Holy Spirit.  Speaking of which, do you know why Jesus was seeking a sinner’s baptism?  It was even difficult for John to understand: “¹⁴ But John tried to stop him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?”  ¹⁵ But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, because it is proper for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John let him” (Matt 3).  In Jesus’ answer is the heart and soul of the Epiphany season. Jesus gives us his answer in two parts:  First, Jesus shows his control of the situation by getting to the point, “Let it be so now.”  That’s a nice way of saying, “Oh, yes you are!” and puts John in his place and could have repeated some words John had recently told the crowds, “But the one who comes after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals” (Matt 3).  Yes, the one who asks John for baptism is still in charge.  Secondly, Jesus says, “it is proper for us to fulfill all righteousness.”  Righteousness is how God deals with sinners.  His righteousness not only condemns and punishes sinners, but it also delivers and saves.  That’s what the Psalmist said, “⁴ In your majesty advance successfully. Ride forward in the cause of truth, humility, and righteousness.”  Jesus had already worked SOME righteousness since the time of his birth until the day of his baptism—living a perfect life (active obedience).  But, now Jesus declares to fulfill ALL righteousness!  He would now make atonement for the sins of the whole world (passive obedience).  Here at the bank of the Jordan River our Glorious and Majestic King was entering the Battle Field To Defeat Our Enemies.  He would do so by passively allowing his life to be sacrificed for the sins of the whole world.  This was not the beginning of Jesus’ mission, but at his baptism was the transition from the active righteousness (perfect obedience to the law) to the passive Obedience (the journey to make the perfect sacrifice for our sins)—yes, to fulfill ALL righteousness.

Therefore, today marks the beginning of the Epiphany Season—the time really get to know Jesus!  Epiphany means, “Manifestation” or “Showing Forth.”  Through the words of Psalm 45 you have seen exactly who this Epiphany King is.  You can leave here today knowing and believing that Jesus Christ is your Glorious, Majestic and conquering King who has Defeated all your Enemies.  That doesn’t mean when you leave here you will enter into a world that agree with you.  Actually, for the most part, the kingdoms of this world are all against you.  But, leave here with God’s promise: while sports teams will come and go, TV shows will come and go, yes, the kingdoms of this world will come and go, but the kingdom of our Glorious, Majestic and Conquering King will last forever and ever.  For all those out there who don’t know Jesus and are his enemies, there is no real hope….. that is unless you tell them about our Glorious, Majestic Conquering King who defeat our enemies of Sin, Satan and eternal death.  God made you a member of his eternal kingdom in your baptism.  Therefore, God grant that Jesus remain the King in your heart and life forever.  Amen!