Saturday, March 31, 2012

Pondering the Excellencies of Jesus



I've been thinking lately about the wonderful titles and attributes of Jesus and how each of them speaks of how wonderful and valuable and incomparable He is -

1. He is our Savior, the One who rescues us from sin and death by His death and resurrection.

2. He is the Christ, the Anointed One, Messiah, chosen by God and anointed by His Spirit to be our representative and our champion, our great Head.

3. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. He was before all things and He will endure forever as the Head of he New Creation, the New Heaven and Earth.

4. He is our Wonderful Counselor, the One who speaks the truth from His perfect wisdom, the One who always has our best interests in His heart when he advises us.

5. He is the Mighty God, unrivaled in power and might, awesome and majestic, Creator and Sustainer of all things.

6. He is the Everlasting Father. The best earthly fathers sometimes disappoint and all of them eventually pass away, but Jesus is everlasting and perfect.

7. He is the Prince of Peace, the only one who can bring us true peace, because He is the only One who can reconcile us to God and to one another and cleanse our consciences of all guilt.

8. He is Emmanuel, God with Us. In this Title of Christ, we see how he is the fulfillment of God's great desire and plan for the ages, that he would be with His people and His people would be with Him, forever.

9. He is the Chief Cornerstone, the foundation of the church, the anchor for His people, the solid foundation of the family of God.

10. He is the Word of God, the Logos- the great and powerful Word that framed the heavens and that orders all things.

11. He is our Righteousness, the One who makes us acceptable to God, who covers the filth of our sin with His spotless record of a perfect righteous life.

12. He is our Older Brother, the One who rightfully has the inheritance of God, the universe, and who graciously shares it with us.

13. He is King of kings and Lord of lords, the ruler of the kings of the earth and the majestic prince who sits enthroned above all earthly powers.

14. He is the Son of Abraham and the Son of David, the fulfillment of God's Old Testament covenant promises and the embodiment of His faithfulness.

15. He is our Redemption, the One who in Himself has bought us back from our slavery to sin and our imprisonment to despair.

16. He is the Head of His Body, the Church. He alone rules the Church, directs her priorities by His word, receives her worship and empowers her ministry and mission for His kingdom purposes.

17. He is the Lord. When the Bible uses this title, it has two truths in mind: Jesus is YaHWeH, the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is also the master, the ruler over His people - and what a Master we have!

18. He is our Friend. He has befriended us and shown His will and plans to us in His Word. He has established fellowship with us and listens to us when we speak to Him.

19. He is our Master and we are His slaves. He is the Master who willingly submitted Himself to slavery for our redemption and now calls us His slaves, slaves He bought with His won blood, slaves He loves and adopts into His family, and slaves whose only freedom is found in total surrender and service to Him. - More on this theme from Michael Card

20. He is our Bridegroom and we are His bride. He loves us, draws us to Himself, cleanses us and dresses us in a spotless gown. In the end, He will take His bride to Himself and be with us forever.

21. He is the Warrior who fights our battles for us, winning the victory over our enemies and leading us in triumph for eternity.

22. He is the Great Physician, the Healer of our souls and our bodies who will one day heal us so completely that we will never be sick or suffer again.

23. He is our Advocate with the Father, the One who speaks in our defense and whose blood and righteousness secure our acquittal every time.

24. He is the Brightness of His Father's Glory, the One who shines with radiant splendor, the very splendor of God. If we were to see Him, we would fall at His feet like we were dead and beg Him to depart from us, as we would be keenly aware of our sinful unworthiness.

25. He is the Consolation of Israel, the One who brings comfort to God's people, as He brings peace and speaks His peace to our souls.

26.  He is the Desired of All Nations. The nations of the earth, all peoples of the world, long for the deliverance, freedom, peace and healing that He alone can bring. He brings the Gospel of His Kingdom to all nations, excluding none.

27. He is our Eternal Life. It is the power of His unquenchable life that He gives us and which empowers us to live forever. Just as it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him, so death will be forced to relinquish us at His command.

28. He is the Light of the World, the One whose very presence and influence shatters and dispels the darkness of ignorance, sin, despair and death. He shines with a brilliance infinite and eternal and He will be the light of the New Jerusalem, shining forever and banishing all shadow and night.

29. He is our Good Shepherd, who laid down His life for us and who leads us in paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

30. He is I AM, the unchanging, self-sufficient, self-defining, self-sustaining, ever-faithful and unchanging One.

I could go on and on . . . For a more complete list of the titles of Jesus from Scripture, look at this page. As I reflect on these names, each one is so wonderful in itself, and yet the full excellence of Christ is the fact that He Himself fulfills all of these titles and has all of these attributes in Himself.

How impossibly wonderful our Lord and Savior truly is!

~Pastor  Jason A. Van Bemmel~

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