Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy approaches Bible teaching with a passion for getting the basic doctrines explained so that the individual can understand them and then apply them to circumstances in their life. These basic and important lessons are nestled in a framework of history and progression of revelation from the Bible so the whole of Scripture can be applied to your physical and spiritual life.
Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
NT Framework - Localized Everywhere
True Humanity. True God. One location yet everywhere. Quantum physics, as complex as it is, is childs play compared to the complexity of who Jesus Christ really is.
More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com
This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).
Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner.
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and our series on the New Testament Framework. Today a smaller, bite-sized piece from the larger lesson. We hope you enjoy it.
Speaker 2:Out of the Chalcedonian Creed. It got summarized this way, and so here's the statement the hypostatic union. This is a summary of everything that was said for almost 500 years. Jesus Christ is first, unmanished deity united with. Second, true humanity in one person. Third, without confusion. Fourth, or separation. Fifth, forever. Sixth. Okay, so that's saying six major things, which is why I have six points here, and I'm just going to develop a couple of them to show why they're so important, because we've already discussed them.
Speaker 2:He's undiminished deity. What do we mean undiminished? Well, he's 100% deity. There's no diminishment of his deity relative to the Father. They are co-equal.
Speaker 2:Now, if he's not, if he's not equal to God, if he is not himself God, then if we worship Jesus, aren't we worshiping an idol? Are we supposed to worship idols? No, do you worship Jesus? Yes? Well then, I hope Jesus is God, because if he's not, you're an idolater. See, this is a fundamental idea of why he has to be an undiminished deity, and he himself accepted worship. Right? So, like CS Lewis said, he's either a liar, he's not really God, he's a lunatic, he's absolutely crazy claiming to be God, or he is Lord, and that's why he accepted worship. And I believe. The third is, of course, the accurate assessment. So, also, if he's not God, if he's not really God, if he's not an undiminished deity, then when you know Jesus, do you know God? No, you know a creature named Jesus, but you don't know God. See, if Jesus isn't God, you don't know who God really is, you just know another creature. See, this is why it is so fundamental, as you can see very clearly, that he actually be undiminished deity. And these were the discussions that they were having in the early church, and these are the types of questions that led them to conclude he must be undiminished deity, he must be 100% God. Another one he also must be 100% human, true humanity, right? If he's not, can there be a substitutionary death by nature?
Speaker 2:Substitution is one dying on your behalf as another human. I mean the blood of bulls and goats that temporarily okay, I'm going to say atone for sin, using it in the Old Testament sense. It temporarily atoned for sin. Right, on the day of atonement, leviticus 16, they had the annual offering for Israel. Right, the high priest goes in, puts the blood on the altar, which is the covering of the ark of the covenant. Right, and what did that do for Israel? It atoned for their sin for the last year and then they started dirtying the slate up again. Okay, at the very next moment. But the next year they would go in and atone okay. In other words, it was just, but it was a temporary measure. That's why you always had to have an annual sacrifice.
Speaker 2:With the coming of Messiah, it's not the blood of bulls and goats, right? It's a substitutionary blood atonement by a true human. If he's not a true human, then how can he be a substitutionary atonement for humans? An angel can't die for us. Can an angel die for us? Would that work? No, angels aren't valid substitutes for humans, so it had to be one who was a true human.
Speaker 2:Another point under true humanity. See, if he's not true humanity, then do we have a sympathetic high priest Hebrews 4, which says he's been tempted in all things as we, and he can sympathize with our weaknesses because of this and therefore he's become our great high priest. We don't have a great high priest if he was never a human, if he didn't come down here and go through all the types of things that we go through, all the types of temptations that we go through. If he didn't go through those things, he has no idea what you went through, and that means he doesn't identify with you if he's not a true human. So the early church had these same exact arguments I'm bringing up here. They had these discussions and they said no, wait a minute, he's got to be a true human because we've got to have a substitutionary death. If we don't have that, we don't have any salvation. And if he's not, then well, we have no sympathetic high priest. He doesn't know what we're going through, and then how can he judge us if he doesn't know what we're going through?
Speaker 2:Yet all judgment has been relegated to the Son right. Why the Son and not the Spirit? Why the Son and not the Father? Because the Son is the one who came down here and took on true humanity. So we have a peer judge.
Speaker 2:Okay for the human race. It's not going to be someone like an angel that sits over in judgment. It's not going to be the Father, who never came down here and dwelt among us. It's not going to be the spirit of God that sits in judgment. It's going to be the son, because the son took to himself true humanity. He came down here with us, he walked through this world and he endured the temptations and the sufferings that you and I face. So he can be a sympathetic high priest and he can serve as a judge, because he is our peer In a court. If you have a jury over there, they're all humans like you. They do that on purpose, right? Because these are people who know your weaknesses, because they have the same people and have the same weaknesses. So you have a peer judge, and it's the same way.
Speaker 2:In the Bible, god is the one who set up this principle by sending his son as a true human. So we could do this with every one of these, but the point is that the early church, in the fourth or fifth century, came up with this statement of the six basic ideas surrounding the person of Christ that he's undiminished deity, he's 100% God, he's united with true humanity, he's 100% humanity. He's not two people, he's just one person. And these two natures, the divine nature and the human nature, are not confused. They're not mixed together, right, but they are kept separate. They're just like I call touching. They're together in one person, but not mixed. In other words, divine attributes aren't mixed in with human attributes. He has divine attributes and he has human attributes, but they don't mix, and this is forever. This is a striking point.
Speaker 2:When you see the Lord Jesus Christ, you're going to see Him in His resurrection body Now. At the same time, he's omnipresent and in your mind right now you're going. Wait a minute, because His true humanity, in a resurrection body, is located at a point, let's just say in space. But does that mean he's not omnipresent in his divine nature? No, it doesn't mean that of course he is. What did he even say in the great commission? Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them all that I command you and lo, I am with you even into the end of the day. How can he possibly be with us if his human body, his resurrection body, is seated at the right hand of the Father in the third heaven?
Speaker 2:Because this is a statement in Matthew 24, 21 of his divinity, his divine nature, which is omnipresent and has never ceased to be omnipresent, even when he was on earth, okay, walking around as a young boy, as a teenager, as a mid-20s, as a 30-year-old man in his ministry. He was, during all that time, omnipresent in his divinity, while he was local in his humanity. But these two aren't two separate people, they're one person. You say, well, that's really hard to understand. Yeah, quantum physics does not get close to trying to contemplate the person of Christ. Quantum physics may be interesting and it's a very difficult subject, but it's not as difficult as this. Nobody can mire the depths of this. They never, ever will.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas. If you would like to see the visuals that went along with today's sermon, you can find those on Rumble and on YouTube under Spokane Bible Church. That is where Jeremy is the pastor and teacher. We hope you found today's lesson productive and useful in growing closer to God and walking more obediently with Him. If you found this podcast to be useful and helpful, then please consider rating us in your favorite podcast app, and until next time, we hope you have a blessed and wonderful day.