Well, I love teaching systematic theology. I love reading systematic theology. For about 22 years now, I've had an intense interest in systematics. And for a number of years, I think four, if I'm not mistaken, I was able to teach these courses up at the What used to be called the Reno Bible College or Grace Bible College in Reno, now it's actually an affiliate of Multnomah. And since I don't get to do that anymore, since I still wanted to do it, though, I thought, well, God's people need theology. And so we've done the doctrine of God already. We've also done the doctrine of scripture and we've also covered hermeneutics. And tonight we commence our study on Christology. And if you look at the syllabus, you can see what this course is about. We will study the person of Christ and his deity and humanity and his office as mediator, the work of Christ in redemption, the nature and intent of the atonement, propitiation and reconciliation. And so we'll look at the outline in a minute. There are textbooks, and of course, the bummer for me is that I don't get to grade any papers and make people read. That's always the good thing about being able to give grades is that you had some leverage. You have to read these books or else you'll flunk. But anyway, those books that are listed there, those kind of go along with our study. And I also provided for you an extensive bibliography And if you could have those read by next week, that'd be pretty good. These are actually a number of really terrific books, and I'll be referring to them every once in a while. Now, I have a strong conviction, and that conviction is that theology is not to be studied for theology's sake. Theology is not an end in itself, it's a means to an end. And the end, the goal of all theology should be the glory of God and the worship of God. And so my philosophy on teaching theology is that first of all, no matter what the subject matter is, the ultimate goal is to engender love and adoration for the triune God, who is the grand theme of all Christian theology, and to engender love for his holy word, which is the ground for all Christian theology. In other words, we want theology to lead to doxology. We want the study of God, in this case, the study of Christ. We want that to lead to the exaltation of Christ, the enjoyment of Christ, the worship of Christ. The second goal is to instruct in classic Orthodox Christology. That's one of the reasons why I suggest reading For Us and For Our Salvation by Stephen Nichols. That book actually covers the development of the doctrine of Christ in the early church, which is absolutely critical for us. One of the reasons why we recite the Nicene Creed together is because the Nicene fathers and the Constantinople fathers wrestled with this issue biblically. Who is Christ? And it ended up that they're wrestling with the scriptures and really with each other and with error. lead to these creedal statements, which are still relevant and significant for us as a church. And so we will instruct in the classic Orthodox Christology. And then the third goal is to equip the student to think biblically and theologically, enabling them to defend the faith against Christological errors and heresies. One of the things that I'd really love to see happen as a result of going through this is for you to actually get into your mind, for instance, five ways to defend the deity of Christ or to have passages of scripture that are often used by people that might knock on your door on a Saturday morning and be able to actually engage and defend the faith. And that's one of the one of the reasons that we would study the doctrine of Christ is so that we can defend the faith. There's all kinds of errors and there's all kinds of heresies. And we have the mandate to to contend earnestly for the faith once and for all delivered to the saints. And then the fourth goal is to enhance our worship of and obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ as well as our service to our own local congregation. So what we're going to do over the next number of weeks and probably months is we're going to look first at the person of Christ and of course When you think of the person of Christ, you're asking the fundamental question, who is he? And we're going to do the introduction or if you like really fancy systematic words, we're going to do prolegomena tonight. And so you can go home and tell your family we did prolegomena tonight and they'll think that that's pretty neat and then they'll want to come. So then we're going to cover the deity of Christ, Christ's sonship. What does it mean? Jesus is the son of God. The humanity of Christ will cover the incarnation, virgin birth. The kenosis, which is Philippians 2, 5 through 8, the emptying of Christ. What does that mean? And then the probation of Christ, which another way to put it is the temptation of Christ, but it's better, it's more accurate to talk about the probation of Christ and the impeccability of Christ. Was Jesus able to sin? And then we will look at Christ and the creeds, and then we'll cover the work of Christ. And in that, we're going to begin with the threefold office of Christ as prophet, priest and king. We'll look at the obedience of Christ, and then we will look at redemption accomplished. Now, let me just tell you, this is different than redemption applied. Redemption applied is how we experience salvation. That's the study of soteriology. That's later. This is what Christ actually objectively accomplished through his cross work. And we're going to look at the cross and the power of Satan, the resurrection and ascension. Then we'll study the atonement as penal substitution and then the intent of the atonement for whom Christ died. Now, it kind of struck me last night. I was I was at borders with Alex and Alex eagerly went with me so that he could avoid helping clean the kitchen. And so, which is probably why I went to Borders, too. But anyway, we were over in the in the theology section or whatever they call that. And Alex asks me this question. He says, Dad, how do we know that some guy just didn't sit down and write the Bible? And I started thinking in light of some questions that I've had recently that what we should probably do on Sunday nights, as soon as John is done covering the rise of David, which is in a few weeks, is we're going to take a number of Sunday nights before we resume the book of Acts, and we're going to go over, is Christianity credible? We're going to look at two main issues upon which Christianity stands or falls. And the first is the reliability of the New Testament. And I'll tell you why when we get there, why we're going to look at the New Testament, not the whole Bible. And then, of course, the veracity of the resurrection. Those two things are the things upon which our faith stands or falls. Aren't those the two questions that people ask you about when you are actually engaging them in conversation? How do you know Jesus was raised from the dead? The Bible says so. How do you know the Bible's true? And so we're going to look at that. That's related to the study of Christology, but it has more to do with apologetics. And so that's what we will take up in a few weeks. Let's turn to Matthew, chapter 16. Matthew, chapter 16. In verse 13, we read these words now. When Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he was asking his disciples, who do people say that the Son of Man is? The Son of Man is Jesus' most common self-designation. He refers to himself as Son of Man far and above any other title. And they said some say John the Baptist and others, Elijah. But still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets, and we could look at why they said all those things, those were the prevailing opinions. Remember, Herod thought that Jesus was John the Baptist raised from the dead. Herod probably shared that opinion and won many converts among Herodians. Others say Elijah. As the people saw Jesus' miracles, what prophet performed miracles that were of similar kind to the ones Jesus performed? Logical conclusion. Still others, Jeremiah. Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet. No doubt it was Jesus preaching at the temple. and his similarities to Jeremiah that may have caused them to think that way, or one of the prophets. But he said to them, but who do you say that I am? Now, it's that question right there, who do you say that I am? It is that question that makes the study of Christology Extremely relevant to each and every one of us, because the fact is, is that all of us here, whether you've been raised in the church, whether you come from a pagan background, doesn't make any difference. That question is posed to each and every one of us. Who do you say Christ is? That is the most fundamental, the most basic question when it comes to the Christian faith, and it is Christology that actually answers that question from the whole counsel of God. Now, it's interesting. Lee Strobel, in his book, The Case for the Real Jesus, talks about a poll that Newsweek did around Christmas 2006. And the question was basically, who do you think Jesus is? Just listen to some of these answers. These are all these are all web web responses. Quote, We don't know many historical facts concerning Jesus, but apparently he was a rabbi who was an example of compassion. Since then, he's been exploited by Christians, particularly Americans. Next, Jesus is real in the sense that he exists for those who want him to exist. By today's standards, Jesus was a liberal. Jesus was one of a thousand Jews murdered by the Romans for threatening Roman rule. Jesus is my personal higher power. He helps me stay sober one day at a time. Jesus was every man, capital E. Jesus was every man. His name could well have been Morris. Too bad he was in male form this time around. Better luck next time. I believe Jesus is the son of God and I believe I'm the son of God. Even strict Christians consider Jesus the son of God only in a symbolic way. Jesus was an enlightened being. Jesus is the son of God who was born, died and rose from the dead to save us from our sins. He lives today and will come to earth again. It's not even obvious that Jesus was a historical figure. If he was, the legends around him, a son of God who was born of a virgin, worked miracles, rose from the dead, were common stories in the ancient Near East. The myths about Jesus aren't even original. Jesus is about as real as Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy or King Arthur. I thought King Arthur was real, I don't know. Jesus was a man who was nailed to a tree for saying how great it would be for people to be nice for a change. So who was Jesus, a highly moral person like Mother Teresa? No less, but no more. Jesus was an apocalyptic preacher who thought God would intervene to save Israel from Roman rule and himself from death. And God didn't do either. Jesus died disappointed. And that's that. Anything more is fantasy. By the way, you know, who made that view famous? Was the famous missionary and philanthropist Albert Schweitzer. Honestly, I don't care about Jesus, who or what he was, is or isn't doesn't affect me. There's no separation or distinction between where God leaves off and where we begin. We're all one. We're all divine, just like Jesus. Jesus was a man we should pity more than revile or worship. He suffered from what contemporary psychologists now know as delusions of grandeur, bipolar disorder and probably acute schizophrenia. Jesus is a fairy tale for grownups. Unfortunately, he's a fairy tale that leads people to bomb clinics, despise women, denigrate reason and embrace greed. Any behavior can be justified when you have Jesus as your eternal get out of jail free card. It was Jesus, he was an apocalyptic prophet who bet wrong and died as a result. He should be ignored, not celebrated. In Greg Allison's book, Jesusology, he has a very similar thing and he has one that that Strobel misses. Jesus was a great prophet of Allah. Though not the son of God, and he prophesied about Muhammad, the final and greatest prophet of Allah. Now, the reason Christology is important is because it answers the question, who do you say that I am? And it answers it not from our own hearts. You can't do theology, you can't do truth that way. Well, the way I feel about it is that Jesus is or isn't. In the final analysis, that's not a source of authority at all. How we feel about it is no source of authority. The question, who do you say he is? has to be answered by the whole counsel of God, biblical revelation from Genesis to Revelation. Now, this whole issue, who do you say that I am, ended up being an incredibly crucial issue, even by the end of the first century, so that John, the apostle, has to say, if anyone does not confess that Jesus Christ has come from God, if anyone does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. He's not of God. If anybody does not receive the teaching of the doctrine of Christ, do not receive him. And so even in the first century, there were people that were going around saying all kinds of things about Jesus that simply weren't true. And here's how Peter answers the question. You are the Christ, you're the Messiah, you are the son of the living God. And then Jesus says something to Peter that's absolutely marvelous. A plus, Peter. But flesh and blood did not reveal this to you. Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. Ultimately, to be able to answer the question, who do you say he is? You need God the Father to reveal it to you in the word of God. So as we study Christology, let me define it for you quickly. Christology is a subset of systematic theology that explores both the person and the work of Christ. And remember, the task of systematic theology is not to go to the Bible and impose on the Bible what you want it to say. The task of systematic theology is you start with a question. And then you go to the Bible, the entirety of the Bible, for the answer. And the way that you answer it is by going through the data, that is scripture, and categorizing or systematizing what the Bible says or how the Bible answers that question. So Christology is a subset of systematic theology, starts with the question, what does the Bible say about the person and work of Christ? And the methodology for systematics should be obvious, and that is we go to the scriptures. We go to the passages of God's word that deal with the question that we're asking. And so we go to it and we we do good, solid exegesis. We do good, solid biblical theology. We collect our data and then we have, in a sense, the doctrine, the teaching of Christ in this case. If you take a college class on What used to be called, when I was in college, Western Civilization, they now call it something else. What do they call it now? I heard it was like Western Traditions now. Sometimes you can hear something that goes like this because, of course, Christianity has an enormous amount to do with Western Civilization. In fact, Even though historians and sociologists don't want to admit it, Christianity is what made Western civilization. But you'll hear something like this from your community college prof or your state university prof, and that is, well, you know, the Jesus of history is different than the Christ of faith. They think that sounds very clever. And so the idea, of course, is that you've got this historical person, Jesus, You've got this other person that's the object of faith, and somehow they're separated. They're different. And that's just old, antiquated liberalism from the late 1800s and early 1900s, that you could really separate the two. But as we come to Christology, we would say wholeheartedly that all of the relevant data about Christ is found in the scriptures of both Old and New Testaments, right? And it is the sufficient scriptures which actually give us all of the Christological teaching that's necessary for faith and life. The Bible is not going to tell us absolutely everything that we may be curious about regarding the person of Christ or the work of Christ. But the Bible will tell us absolutely everything you need to know about the person and work of Christ that is necessary for faith and life. God doesn't leave anything out. And so, you know, this means is the next time you go to borders and you're over in that section and you see a book called The Lost Books of the Bible. Take it over to the cooking section and turn it around and stick it behind. a cookbook because there are no lost books of the Bible. There are heretical books that didn't make it into the Bible, but they're not lost and they aren't in the Bible. Of course, with the Da Vinci Code and the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas and all of this nonsense, all of a sudden, people begin to think, oh, look, we found all this interesting information about Jesus as a little boy and Jesus, the untold story. I mean, it's the National Enquirer version of Christianity. And the fact is, is that these 66 books right here are thoroughly sufficient for everything we need to know about Jesus Christ. All right, let's actually start now. Why is Christology, the study of Christ, so central to everything that we do? Well, first of all, Jesus is the very center of biblical revelation. Turn over to Luke chapter 24. Luke 24. You remember what happens in this text. The resurrection has already happened. And you have these two disciples and they are not among the disciples who have actually seen Jesus at this point. And so they are dejected because their Messiah is dead. They're a little confused because some hysterical women said that They had seen him alive. But they've waited around and nothing's happened. And so they make their way back. And they're heading to Emmaus. And in the course of this journey, somebody joins and that would have been fairly common in those days, it was dangerous to travel by yourself or in small groups, and so to have somebody join your Your little caravan would be a good thing. And so this person joins them and in verse back up a little bit here. Verse 14, they were talking with each other about all these things which had taken place while they were talking and discussing Jesus himself approach and began traveling with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. And he said to them, what are these words that you're exchanging with one another as you are walking? And they stood still looking sad. And so here this traveler asked them a question. What are you guys talking about? And all of a sudden, the reality of having to explain it to somebody else makes them stop in their tracks and they're overcome with sadness. If you've ever experienced grief, you'll know this very experience. You may be perfectly fine up to that point, but then when somebody says, how are you doing or what happened, all of a sudden it becomes really hard to get it out again. And in the course of this, they're looking sad. Verse 18, one of them named Cleopas answered and said to him, Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem unaware of the things which have happened here in these days? And you can get something out of Cleopas's response. And there's there's a little bit of indignation, isn't there? Are you kidding me? What do you mean what's happened? You must be the only person in Jerusalem that doesn't know what's happened. And Jesus, in verse 19, said what things? And they said to him, the things about Jesus, the Nazarene, who was a prophet, mighty indeed, and word and the sight of God and all the people and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to the sentence of death and crucified him. No doubt a big gulp in their throat, as they said, and crucified him. But we were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened. But also some women among us amazed us. When they were there, when they were at the tomb early in the morning, did not find the body. They came saying that they had seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it exactly as the women also had said. But him, they did not see. All of our hopes and dreams have been dashed. We don't know what's happened to him. We loved him, we put our hope in him, we followed him. Now he's dead. Verse 25, he said to them, Oh, foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary for the Christ, the Messiah, to suffer these things and to enter into his glory? And now all the one all of a sudden, the one who was plain ignorant is the one who now says your problem is that you're foolish and you're slow of heart. Look at what the prophet said. It was necessary for him to suffer and to die and then enter into his glory. And don't you know that those two disciples must have been standing there with their mouths gaping open at this stranger who at one minute before had said what things and now all of a sudden he is now explaining to them something that they had been blinded to. Here's the verse, then beginning with Moses. Which means he begins with what book? Genesis, and with all the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning himself in notice the last three words, all the scriptures. Now, the reason that Christology is so absolutely important is because Jesus himself says All of the Bible is about me. Now, I mean, this is a pretty bold claim, right? I mean, this is this is a huge claim, but he starts and he shows them starting with Moses. By the way, when you say if you were a Jew and you said Moses and the prophets, guess what you just said? You just said the whole Old Testament. I don't know how long this Bible study took, but I will tell you what I hope their DVDs in heaven. Because I want to see it and hear it. All right. And so he tells them and then look at this. This is absolutely wonderful. Later on. Verse 44. Now, he said to them, this is after he appears to the rest of the disciples, these are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. And thus he then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. And he said to them, thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day and that repentance for forgiveness of sins will be proclaimed in his name to all the nations, beginning with Jerusalem. And then he commissions them as witnesses. Now, notice again, he says everything law of Moses, prophets, Psalms must be fulfilled and they're written about me. And then he opens their minds. Now, remember what happens. with the two disciples. He's explaining these things to them. He goes to them, break bread, and in the breaking of the bread, their eyes are then opened and then they realize that it's Jesus. And then Jesus departs. And you know what they say? Did not our hearts burn within us as he explained to us the scriptures? There's a number of important things. One, Jesus himself says that the whole Bible is about him. Second, it requires having the mind open to be able to see him. Jesus would say in John chapter five to the scribes and the Pharisees. You search the scriptures. Because in them, you think you have eternal life. But it is these which speak of me. And if you had believed Moses, you would believe me, for Moses spoke concerning me." Jesus is very straightforward, very unambiguous that it is the whole of Scripture that speaks of him. And so from Genesis to Revelation, Jesus is the centerpiece of that revelation. When you think about the triunity of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we believe wholeheartedly in the Trinity, right? And we believe that there's one God who eternally exists in three persons who are co-equal and co-powerful coexisting Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, right? But yet, it is the incarnation of the second person of the Godhead that is the revelation to us of the Godhead. For instance, of Jesus, it could be said in John 1, verse 18, no man has seen God at any time. The only begotten God has explained or exegeted Him. And so, although we are wholeheartedly Trinitarian and you view the Bible in a Trinitarian way, in the lens of one God in three persons, it is Jesus Christ in whom the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form. Colossians 2.9. Jesus could say what in John 14, 9. Remember Philip, a little confused. Show us the father. It's enough for us. It's all we want. I think about it, it's pretty audacious. OK, we've been with you three years, seen all these incredible miracles, heard all this great teaching, but you know what would be just enough? Show us the father and that's enough. And then Jesus says, Philip, how long do I have to be with you? Don't you know when you've seen me, you have seen the Father? Why? Because it is the Son who has exegeted the fullness of the Godhead. You can look at many other scriptures. The Apostle Paul seems to indicate in Colossians 1 and 2 Corinthians 4 that it is Jesus who is the visible, the image. Visible image. of the invisible God. Think of Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 3. He is the exact representation of his nature. He is the imprint, the exact imprint of his essence. And so, think about it for a second. If you were a Buddhist. Buddha could be dead. And you could still have Buddhism. You know that, don't you? Because Buddhism is is a philosophy of life. It's not contingent upon the resurrection of its founder. He just taught the principles. Someone else could have done it and been fine. Even in Islam, even though Muhammad is held to be the prophet, Muhammad himself was the messenger. He wasn't the revelation. It is only in Christianity that you have in a person the revelation of God. That's more than just saying that Jesus was a prophet. It's more than saying that he was just the messenger. He is the eternal logos. He is the message. He is the revelation from God. And so take Jesus out of the equation and you don't have anything. And that's the Bible's repeated message is that Jesus is the center of this revelation because he is the revelation. From Genesis to the Apocalypse, it is the revelation of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is the exact representation of the Father and the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form. Now, when we talk about all scriptures about Christ or about the Gospel, we normally think of a few key texts, key Old Testament texts, right? Like what? Christ, gospel, Old Testament. Isaiah 53, right? Any other Old Testament texts come to mind? Explicit Christ, gospel kind of passages. Genesis. What? Genesis 315, the first gospel promise. OK, so you got a promise. You've got a prophecy. Isaiah 53. You have some Psalms, right? Psalm 22. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? As important and crucial as those texts are, when we say that all of Scripture is about Jesus Christ, we're saying more than that there are just selected texts that may prophesy or predict the coming of Jesus. Those passages are precious and magnificent and glorious, but we're actually saying that there's more to Moses, the Psalms and the prophets spoke about me. There's more to that than just Genesis 315, Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53. What we're saying is that the whole panorama of Old Testament revelation refers to Christ and to the gospel in one way or another, to one degree or another, through one avenue or another. It is filling in the big picture of Jesus Christ and the gospel. Now, how do we know that? Well, because the New Testament is constantly doing what? The New Testament is constantly pointing us back to the Old Testament as the revelation of Jesus Christ. Read the book of Acts, read the sermons in Acts, read the epistles, listen to the apostles. And what do they continually do? It's not as if they're just making this stuff up. They're saying we're eyewitnesses to the fulfillment of everything that had been promised in the Old Testament. And the embodiment of that fulfillment is in a person, Jesus Christ. And so. Paul, speaking about the Old Testament, as many as are the promises of God, Old Testament promises, in Christ they are all yes and amen. 2 Corinthians 1.20. You want to see something fascinating, look over at 1 Peter. 1 Peter. Verse 10. Peter says, as to this salvation, salvation, he's been talking about the salvation that's already ours, the salvation that is to be revealed as to the salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries seeking to know what person or time the spirit of Christ within them was indicating as he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preach the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. Now, if you follow the flow of thought in First Peter 1, 10 to 12, you realize that Peter is saying something absolutely profound. And that is that the Old Testament prophets prophesied. As they prophesied, they had an insatiable curiosity to search into what God had revealed to them to understand what kind or what person and what time the Christ was going to appear. What he was like when he was going to appear. So God's revealing these things to the prophets. The prophets are insatiably curious about what's going on. They want to know more about the Messiah. They want to know more about when he is going to come. And yet. It is the very spirit of Christ in them. That is causing them to prophesy about Christ. So when the prophets preached, guess who was preaching through them? Christ himself. Peter says this stuff is so unfathomable that even angels want to look into it and inquire and want to know. So Peter says that even as the Old Testament prophets were prophesying, it was the Spirit of Christ that was speaking through them, and they wanted to know more. As the human instrument, they wanted to know more, but they were filled with the very Spirit of Christ. And so, in many portions, in many ways, God has spoken to the fathers through the prophets, but in these last days, He has spoken in His Son. And so Jesus is the full revelation of the Father. And so how does the Old Testament actually reveal Christ to us? There are a number of ways, and you already know many of these. Here's one that's going to be a little different from things we've looked at before. Protology and eschatology. Not proctology, protology, right? Protology. Eschatology would be what? Last things, protology would be first things. In the Bible, you have the unfolding of first things and last things. But in the unfolding of the first things that you see the last things. Ever consider that? And in fact, at the revelation of the last things, The first things come right back around. Just as an example, Revelation 21 and 22, what do you have? You have a tree, you have a garden, you have a city, you have a river. The first things have now become the last things. If you keep in mind that the Bible is the unfolding of first things and last things, Then you also keep in mind that every time the Bible starts to unfold something for us, it's pointing towards something bigger. So just as an example, take Adam. In the book of Genesis, there was a second Adam. You know who that was? It was Noah. How do you know that? Well, because Noah was actually given the same commission as Adam. So there's little hints. So Adam is the what? The head of the human race. He's the federal head of the human race, right? And of course, it's Adam's sin that brings his posterity into a state of sin and misery. Just take those two things. In the first thing, Adam, federal head, sin plunges all in Adam into death, there's going to come what Paul calls the eschatos Adam, the last Adam. He too will be the head of the human race, and he too will commit an act that will not lead to sin and death, but forgiveness and life. And so all throughout the scripture, there is this there is this sense of first things and last things. So for Moses, is Moses the first great prophet of Israel? And the answer is yes. Moses stands at the fountainhead of all prophetic revelation for Israel. And yet, what does Moses say in Deuteronomy chapter 18? God will raise up a prophet. Just like me. And so you've got the first thing, the prophetic fountainhead, Moses, and you'll have another prophet that will be raised up who will be greater than Moses. You have heard it said. You shall not. But I say to you. Where do we read those words? Sermon on the Mount. Jesus isn't booting Moses, but he's certainly saying something greater than Moses is here. And so everything in Scripture is linked together. And so when Alex asked his question last night at Borders, I sat down and I said, well, if you understand protology and eschatology, you can really get a grasp on this thing. Alex says, all right, that's enough. I got it. But what I said was, no, it wasn't written by one man over 40 different authors spanning a period of 1500 years. But here's the amazing thing. It is not 40 different messages. It's one message, all beautifully, intricately linked together in such a way that it could not possibly be the fabrication of human imagination. So all these threads come right back around and they all, in one way or another, reveal Christ to us. There, of course, is the Bible's whole storyline. And the Bible's whole storyline is making a preparation for us. I mean, even think of something as depressing as the book of Judges. It's still part of the Bible's storyline. It's still creating anticipation and expectation for an ultimate deliverer. And what is that doing? It is pushing us forward to the consummation or the fulfillment of that very expectation. And so the Bible storyline reveals Christ. You can't help but to, you know, you read the story of David and, of course, all of a sudden it's David's greater son in the Davidic promise of 2 Samuel 7. And you read it and you say, OK, well, I can see how this part would apply to Solomon, especially the part about sinning. But boy, ruling forever on his father's throne. How's that work? And then you get to these low times in Israel's history and the judgment of God has fallen. And in the midst of the judgment, there comes this repetitive hope. And the hope goes like this, even though you're getting stomped by the Assyrians and it's part of God's plan. Unto us, a child will be born unto us, a son will be given and he will sit on the throne of his father, David, and of the increase of his kingdom, it will know no end and he will rule forever and ever. And his name will be wonderful counselor, El Gabor, mighty God, father of eternity. And so everywhere you go, it's this it's this constant marvelous theme of of judgment, but salvation. And the salvation is the hope of Israel. And the hope of Israel is found not in political freedom. It's found in a person. He's going to be from that. He's going to be an Israelite. He's going to be a son of Abraham. He's going to be the son. He's going to be from the tribe of Judah. He's going to be from David's line. And you go right down the line and all of a sudden you realize that the ultimate expectation of all of the Old Testament finds its fulfillment in a person. The Alma. Virgin. will bear a son, and you will call his name Immanuel, which means God is with us. Why call a virgin-born son Immanuel? Because he is God with us. And so the whole Old Testament is moving in this direction through a thousand different ways. You have prophetic predictions. You have covenantal promises. You have pre-incarnate appearances. Jesus appears in the Old Testament all over the place. Now, when we get to Hebrews chapter 7, we're going to look at Melchizedek. I don't think that was a pre-incarnate Christ, but I do think that he obviously was a type of Christ. All throughout the Old Testament, persons, institutions, events, feasts, you name it, all of it points to Jesus one way or another. Jesus appears as the angel of the Lord over and over again. He's typologically foreshadowed in Adam. He's typologically foreshadowed in Isaac. Read Hebrews 11. Abraham gets Isaac back, as it were, from the dead as a type. Think about Joshua, the one who, by the way, that was Jesus' name, Yeshua, Joshua, Yahweh saves, Israel itself, the judges, David, events, Passover, exodus, institutions, the tabernacle, temple, Offerings, feasts, prophets, priests, kings, all of it are adumbrations of one who is to come, who is to be the perfect fulfillment of all of those things that are taking place in Israel. There is something that is supposed to be woefully and painfully anticlimactic every time something good happens to Israel. Where does God live first? Lives in the tabernacle. Right? It's temporary housing. And then he moves to the permanent housing, which is the temple, the house of God. The temple is destroyed. 586 BC, temple destroyed. And so you can't destroy God's house. But Nebuchadnezzar did destroy God's house. And so what's one of the promises? of the post-exilic prophets, God's going to rebuild the temple. And in fact, how is that rebuilt temple pictured in the prophets as more glorious or less glorious than Solomon's temple? More glorious. But what happens when the second temple or Zerubbabel's temple is built? Is it more glorious than Solomon's temple or less glorious? It's less glorious. And in fact, the ones that remembered Solomon's temple stood there and wept. This is a cracker box compared to Solomon's temple, why the why the anticlimactic development of the very house of God, because the word became flesh and tabernacled among us. It had to be anticlimactic. It had to it had to instill in their hearts. There has to be something more. And so Jesus becomes enfleshed, he becomes incarnate and he becomes the tabernacle of God. And then he says in the very same book, by the way, John chapter two, verse 19, you destroy this temple and I'll rebuild it in three days. Temple rebuild. Wow. And the most glorious manifestation of God dwelling among men isn't the tabernacle with sea cow skins and all of that. And it isn't the temple made with these humongous stones. It is the body of Jesus. And so all of it is being tied together. And there's this constant heightening of expectation that God is going to do something. The Apostle Paul could even say, the Israelites were baptized in the baptism of Moses. They were made to drink the spiritual drink and eat the spiritual food. The rock followed them in the wilderness. The rock was Christ. You're like, Paul, what are you talking about? What Paul sees in the rock, in Israel's wilderness experience, multifaceted, don't have time to go into all of it now, that rock was life. That rock was the source of life. That was the rock which was struck and brought forth water in the wilderness. And Paul says, you read the wilderness story, there's Christ. And so, Christology is important because Jesus himself is the very center of the entirety of God's revelation. Another reason Christology is important is because Christ is the consummative goal of redemptive history. And in fact, the apostle says in Ephesians chapter one. It's a tough text, difficult text, but plain enough. Ephesians one. Verse nine, he made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his kind intention, which is which is pretty poor. which he purposed in him, that is in Christ, with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. What Paul is saying in this text is that Jesus is not only the center of God's plan, Jesus is the consummation of God's plan. In fact, what God is doing is God is moving things to the consummation, that is to the fullness of the times, so that there will be a summing up of all things in heaven and on earth in Jesus Christ. Paul could say in first Corinthians 15, something similar. Notice First Corinthians 15, verse 25. Paul, speaking of Jesus, says, For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. For he has put all things in subjection under his feet, but when he says all things are put in subjection, it is evident that he is expected that he is expected to put all things in subjection to him. When all things are subjected to him, then the son himself also will be subjected to the one who subjected all things to him so that God may be all in all. And so Paul's eschatology in this in this passage basically says this right now, Jesus is ruling and reigning. And in fact, he will reign until he's put all of his enemies under his feet. His rule will be victorious and triumphant. And the last enemy that will be abolished will be death. And then once once everything that Jesus was sent into the world is accomplished. Then Jesus hands over. the kingdom to the father as his completed mission. So that God will be all in all. And so everything that we read about in scripture. Regarding the person and the work of Jesus Christ. Finds its ultimate fulfillment in what Jesus will do in the end. And so he's not only the center of the revelation of God, he is actually the consummation, the goal of God's purpose and plan. And so we could say it like this. All pre-incarnate history, that is, B.C., pointed forward to the coming of Christ and to his kingdom. And then the incarnation, the cross, the resurrection, ascension and sending of the spirit inaugurate the kingdom of God, thus the A.D., anno domini, year of our Lord. And the second coming of our Lord Jesus will bring about the ultimate renovation of the cosmos. In fact, the consummation of Christ and his kingdom then will be the great and final goal of all things. J.I. Packer says, Why do Christians facing the chaos of an overcrowded world in which technological titans are spiritual pygmies, and mass starvation seems the only alternative to nuclear holocaust, why do they cling to the hope of a cosmic triumph of divine justice and power? Ultimately, it is because they believe that God's risen Son reigns, really, if hiddenly, over all things, and is pledged to return in glory to judge and renew the world which he, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, first created. The other reason Christology is central is because it's Jesus Christ who is the explicit object of our faith, our love and our obedience. Are you to love God? The answer is yes. Are you to trust God? The answer is yes. Are you to love the Holy Spirit, trust the Holy Spirit? You don't find any explicit. Words like that in Scripture, but it certainly is true. But who is it who is actually the explicit object of the Christian's faith? Who is it who is the explicit object of our worship, our love and our obedience? It is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Apostle Paul saved the Philippian jailer's life and he said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? And Paul responds. He doesn't say, believe on God and you'll be saved, you and your household. He says, believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. When the writer to the Hebrews gets to that great chapter after the chapter of faith in chapter 12, he says, fixing our eyes not on just God. But fixing our eyes on Jesus. the author and perfecter of faith. It is faith in Christ, it is obedience to Christ that is the explicit expression of New Testament Christianity. And so Christology is central to all Christian theology because Christ is central in the revelation of God's redemptive history, the goal of redemptive history, and he is the object of faith, love and obedience. And so, even though the Bible is fully, robustly Trinitarian, it is Christocentrically Trinitarian. And so, who do men say that I am? Jesus is God's promised Messiah. Thus, He is the Christ. He is the unique Son who has become flesh. He is the Son of the living God. He is the only way to the Father, period. He is our only hope. And so I can't really think of anything better to occupy our time on Wednesdays than studying the person and work of Jesus Christ. Amen. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your son. We thank you for the revelation of your son. And Father, we ask that through this our own hearts would be enlarged and that we would love the Lord Jesus more and more. Father, we pray even that the hymn we sang tonight, My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine. We pray, Father, that that would become increased reality for us, for the glory of Your name. Amen.