We also know the purpose and place of man through Him,

because Jesus Christ is also the Son of Man. In fact this is

how He referred to Himself. He is Alpha and Omega, the

Creator Who came to redeem His creation. He is Immanuel,

God With Us. He is Lord of the universe, the hope of freedom

for mankind, Wonderful Counselor Everlasting Father the

Prince of Peace. The Father has given Him all authority and power

in heaven and on earth.

When we understand Jesus Christ as God and Man, we see the purpose

and high position of humanity:

“He is the sole expression of the glory of God and He is the perfect imprint

and very image of God’s nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and

propelling the universe by His mighty word of power. When He had by offering

Himself accomplished our cleansing our cleansing of sins and riddance of guilt,

He sat down at the right hand of the divine majesty on high,

He Himself became as much superior to angels as the glorious Name which He

has inherited is different from and more excellent than theirs.

For to which of the angels did God ever say, You are My Son, today I have

begotten You? And again, I will be to Him a Father, and He will be to Me a Son?

Moreover, when He brings the firstborn Son again into the habitable world, He

says, Let all the angels of God worship Him.

Referring to the angels He says, Who makes His angels winds and His ministering

servants flames of fire;

But as to the Son, He says to Him, Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the

scepter of Your Kingdom is a scepter of absolute righteousness.

You have loved righteousness and You have hated lawlessness. Therefore God,

Your God has anointed You with the oil of exultant joy and gladness above and

beyond Your companions.

And, You, Lord, did lay the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the

heavens are the works of Your hands.”

(Hebrews 1.3-10).

Here we see the tremendous honor and heritage Jesus Christ has bestowed

on humanity by becoming one of us:

“For it was not to angels that God subjected the habitable world of the future,

of which we are speaking.

It has been solemnly and earnestly said in a certain place, What is man that

You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You graciously and helpfully

care for and visit and look after him?

For some little time You have ranked him lower than the angels; You have

crowned him with glory and honor and set him over the works of Your hands,

For You have put everything in subjection under his feet. Now in putting

everything in subjection to man, He left nothing outside of man’s control.

But at present we do not yet see all things subjected to man.

But we are able to see Jesus,Who was ranked  lower than the angels for a

little while, crowned with glory and honor because of His having suffered

death, in order that by the grace of God to us sinners He might experience

death for every individual person.

For it was an act worthy of God and fitting to the divine nature that He,

for Whose sake and by Whom all things many sons into glory, should

make the Pioneer of their salvation perfect (should bring to maturity the

human experience necessary to be perfectly equipped for His office as

High Priest) through suffering.

For both He Who makes men holy and those who are sanctified all have one

Father. For this reason He is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters;

For He says, I will declare Your (the Father’s) name to My brethren; in the

midst of the worshipping congregation I will sing hymns of praise to You.

And again He says, My trust and assured reliance and confident hope shall be

fixed in Him. And yet again, Here I am. I and the children whom God has

given Me.

Since, therefore, these children share in flesh and blood, He in a similar manner

partook of the same nature, that by going through death He might make of no

effect him who had the power of death- that is the devil-

And also that He might deliver and completely set free all those who through the

fear of death were held in bondage throughout the whole course of their lives.

For, as we all know Christ did not take hold of angels (the fallen angels, to give

them a helping hand), but He did take hold of (the fallen) descendants of Abraham

(to reach out to them a helping hand).

So it is evident that it was essential that He be made like His brethren in every

respect, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful High Priest in the

things related to God, to make atonement for the people’s sins.

For because He Himself has suffered in being tempted, He is able to run to the cry

of those who are being tempted.”

(Hebrews 2.5-18)

HALLELUJAH! THANK YOU LORD JESUS FOREVERMORE!

The knowledge of the One True God totally

depends on God’s self revelation.

In every other field of study we depend

on our effort, exploration and education.

Our only source of correct information

about God is His Word Who became flesh

as Jesus Christ full of grace and truth, the

Unique Son of the Father, the Eternal I AM,

the way, the truth and the life.

THE LIFE

” The life was manifested and we have seen

and bear witness and declare to you that

eternal life which was with the Father and

was manifested to us.” ( I. John 1.2).

THE WAY

He is the way and the truth. There is no

other way to access the Father and He

is the truth of God’s revelation full of glory.

THE TRUTH

Here is what Karl Barth says in Church Dogmatics:

” As a man among men He is a human Thou, and as

such distinct from all mere things. Now as a Thou,

man is not merely an existential determination of

the I, but the sum of  all the objective reality of

the world”.

This is another way of saying that He is The Truth.

GOD BECAME A MAN IN JESUS CHRIST

Again continuing from where we left, Karl Barth says:

” And in Jesus Christ God becomes and is man, the

fellow- man of all men. As God He is not merely one

of many such fellow-men, nor is He merely the idea

of fellow-humanity. We are speaking of  ” the Father’s Son,

by nature God.” He became and is man, the fellow-man of

all men; and therefore Thou, not merely in a simple, but in

a supremely objective reality, the human Thou, which as

such is also directly the Thou of the one eternal God.”

SINCE GOD IS WITH US (IMMANUEL)

THE WHOLE HUMAN SITUATION CHANGES

The fact that we just saw here changes the scope,

prospect and context of what it means to be human.

Again, Karl Barth continues:

” The fact is rather that God Himself, in His deep mercy

has taken upon Himself to exist also in human being

and essence in His Son, and therefore to become and be

a man, and therefore this incomparable Thou.

God Himself is in the world, earthly, conceivable and

visible, as He is this man. We have to do with God

Himself as we have to do with this man.

God Himself speaks when this man speaks in human

speech. God Himself acts and suffers when this man

speaks and suffers as a man. God Himself triumphs

when this One triumphs as a man. The human speaking

and acting and suffering and triumphing of this one man

directly concerns us all, and His history is our history

of salvation which changes the whole human situation,

just because God Himself is its human subject in His Son,

just because God Himself has assumed and made His own

our human nature and kind in His Son, just because God

Himself came into this world in His Son, and as one of us

” a guest this world of us He trod.” ”

THE HOLY SPIRIT COMES

As Karl Barth continues:

“And as  and because the Holy Spirit is the coming of

Jesus Christ Himself, and His witness this disclosure

to men concerning themselves, He and His witness are

in fact the self revelation of Jesus Christ and as such

the basis of the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

We have to realize that God’s own revealedness for us

is God’s own person and God’s own work.

All the comfort, all the power, all the truth of this

revealedness depends upon the fact that it is with God

that we are dealing.

All our understanding of this revealedness depends upon

the fact that we identify it with God Himself, ruling out all

other possibilities but God’s possibility. We have therefore to

realize that as the recipient of revelation man is brought

under God’s judgement. It is only because of this that he is

brought under God’s promise. It is only because of this that

God meets him as the One who intercedes for him,  who

undertakes and directs his cause, who does not quench his

own ability and will and accomplishment but subordinates

it to His own, since man must always be subordinated to God,

if God’s glory is to triumph and man is to be helped.”

HUMAN FREEDOM VS DIVINE FREEDOM

Again continuing from above:

” We are to understand, therefore, that for God to be

revealed involves the dislodging of man from the

estimation of his own freedom, and his enrichment with

the freedom of the children of God. This negation, the

negation of man through God’s eternal grace and mercy, is

only the obverse of his position as a child of God, as a member

of the covenant between God and man. But this obviously means

that the negation of man cannot be put into effect any more than

his position as a child of God except through God’s own action.

Thus God’s possibility triumphs over the very imprisonment

in which we are involved, where we only fulfill our own

possibilities and only believe in our own possibilities.

The self-enclosed uniqueness of  man, who only has and

knows his own freedom, is overarched and enclosed and

finally relativized through the uniqueness of God and His

freedom in which He is resolved to have fellowship with this

man and once and for all to be his Lord.”

HALLELUJAH! THANK YOU LORD JESUS!

Also to enlighten all men

and explain to them the

plan behind the mystery

kept hidden through the

ages and concealed until

now in God who created

all things by Christ Jesus.

The purpose is that through

the church the complex,

wisdom of God  with infinite,

many layered variety

and innumerable aspects

might now be revealed to

the angelic rulers and

authorities (principalities

and powers) in the heavenly

sphere.

(Ephesians 3.9 and 10).

POINTS FOR PRAISE

AND MEDITATION

1) The infinite riches of Christ

is proclaimed through the

announcement of the Gospel.

2) This is done in order to

enlighten humanity regarding

God’s plan of salvation.

3) This plan was kept secret

though multiple ages in the

mind of God who created

everything by Christ Jesus.

4) The  reason for this is to

show principalities and

powers in the heavenly sphere

the extent of God’s complex

wisdom which is full of infinite

variety, intricacy and innumerable

aspects.

5) Although we are able to grasp it

at a very elementary level we know

this involves us, we are included and

an integral factor in His unfolding

plan. This verse gives us a glimpse

of the future universe in yet

untold,unimaginable splendor,

incredibly beautiful in scope.

The concepts and vocabulary

of Creation2.0 are yet to be

articulated and comprehended.

The human mind in its current

developmental stage is incapable

of conceptualizing Creation2.0

because this reality can be perceived

only through the Holy Spirit.

HALLELUJAH! THANK YOU
LORD JESUS FOREVERMORE!

according to the gift of God’s free grace

which was bestowed on me by the exercise

of His power.

To me, though I am the very least of all the

saints, this grace was granted and graciously

entrusted, to proclaim to the Gentiles the

unlimited riches of Christ (unending, boundless,

fathomless, incalculable wealth which no human

could have discovered.

(Ephesians 3.7 and 8).

POINTS FOR PRAISE

1) The unlimited riches of Christ has

been revealed in the Gospel, the Best

News Ever.

2) This declaration to the world is made

possible by God’s power.

3) The unending, boundless, fathomless,

incalculable, inexhaustible wealth of Christ

could only be discovered and disclosed

by the announcement of the Gospel.

HALLELUJAH! THANK YOU JESUS

FOREVERMORE!

of unity and harmony. He has made

us both Jew and Gentile one body,

and has broken down, destroyed, abolished

the hostile dividing wall between us.

By abolishing in His own crucified flesh

the enmity caused by the Law with its decrees

and ordinances (which he annuled), that He

from the two might create in himself one

new human (one new quality of humanity out

of the two), so making peace.

(Ephesians 2.14 and 15).

POINTS FOR PRAISE AND MEDITATION

1) Jesus Christ is our peace.

He is the way, the truth and the life.

He is our wisdom. He is the resurrection

and the life. He is also our peace.

2) The wall of separation that existed

under the old covenant no longer

exists under the new covenant.

The barrier is no longer there.

Belief in Jesus Christ allows entering into

the covenant made possible by His

blood. This covenant is made with better,

much greater and everlasting promises.

HALLELUJAH! PRAISE THE LORD JESUS!