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 - Jesus proves how to do it
Without Jesus people would say it can't be done, and they might be right. How can we possibly endure the tedium and tragedy of this life, the frustration and the anger, as well as the joy if we aren't relying upon the right thing? This is what Jesus did in His humanity on earth, showed us exactly how and what to do in every situation we face.
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, the full lesson from Jeremy Thomas.
Speaker 2:Here's a hint of what's to come. We have been in what I consider to be the second greatest discussion ever in church history over the last 200 years, and that's just the discussion of what is this all about? How do all the themes of the Bible come together in one story? What does the whole plan of God look like?
Speaker 1:We all remember famous test pilots like Chuck Yeager, who successfully broke the sound barrier on a jet airplane for the first time, but we forget all the test pilots that went before him who attempted the same feat and failed. What were they doing? They had an idea that something could be done and they were testing it out to find out if it was possible. With a hope and intent of succeeding. These brave souls testing airplanes, helicopters, spaceships put their life at risk so that the rest of humanity could benefit from it. Well, we have a test pilot in the spiritual realm the Lord Jesus Christ. He went before us, jesus Christ. He went before us living as a man, relying upon his Father, to show us that living the Christian life by faith could be done. He is the ultimate test pilot Proving that living by faith, living in strength of God, not by our own might, not in our own understanding could be done. Today we look at how that should impact us in a glorious, positive, inspiring way.
Speaker 2:Implications of the hypostatic union. We'll look at several passages today. What I kind of want to do is back up a little bit. There's so much when you get into the doctrinal ramifications of the birth of the king, because you're talking about the most unique person who ever came into the world. So obviously it's a little bit complicated. But you get into the doctrines of the hypostatic union, which may be a phrase or doctrine you've never heard of, which may be a phrase or doctrine you've never heard of. So there's a lot there. There's also the Trinity, which I'm sure you've heard of, and most Sundays we sing the doxology which includes reference to the doctrine of the Trinity. So that'll be coming. We'll start that really get into that next week. Both of these are doctrinal ramifications of the birth of the king. So let's review a little bit. Just look back at what we've already covered.
Speaker 2:As far as background for Trinity and hypostatic union, there's really four major areas, first of which is the three streams in the Old Testament that converge or come together in the person of Messiah or Christ, who is God and man. One of these streams is this concept that, throughout the Old Testament, god wants to dwell with man. Now this concept is there in the garden when he creates Adam and Eve and he dwells with them in the garden what might even be considered something like a garden temple, since there's one way in you know, one entrance on the east, and God would walk with them daily inside the garden and then when there's sin right, then they are cast out of this garden temple toward the east, which was always the direction that the temple and tabernacle later was positioned as the direction that went away from God, who was in the most holy place as Shekinah glory. So if you went east you were going away from God, and to go west was to come into the entrance of the tabernacle or temple. It was to go toward God. Entrance of the tabernacle or temple it was to go toward God. So it was very clear there that while God wanted to dwell with them, they were unable to dwell in close communion with him because of their sin. But God made a promise right that the seed of the woman would overwhelm or conquer the seed of the serpent. And so there is set up in history this plan for God to dwell with man again In the Old Testament.
Speaker 2:The tabernacle and the temple later are a sacrificial system that are showing Israel and us in hindsight, that the way back to dwelling with God is through sacrifice. And the seed promise of the Messiah sets up the idea that he himself would be the sacrifice. And the seed promise of the Messiah sets up the idea that he himself would be the sacrifice. And so that's all pointing to the New Testament. God dwelled with Israel in the Old Testament in temple or tabernacle, the physical temple or tabernacle For the church. The church is a spiritual temple and he indwells us right, and this is how he meets the world through us, whereas in the Old Testament he met the world in Jerusalem through the temple system. But all of this is heading toward a time when he returns the Lord Jesus Christ and he dwells with man in the kingdom and then in the new heavens and new earth, both God, the Father and the Son, will dwell with man forever. So this is a major theme of the Bible and it is the Immanuel theme, because that name in Isaiah 7.14, a virgin shall be with child and she shall have a son and he shall be called Immanuel. That is the theme of God with us, which is what Immanuel means. So God wants to dwell with us and that is a giant theme in the Bible.
Speaker 2:The second point under these streams that are converging in this person is that God will be king on the earth. Today we had Psalm 100 read. Some of the Psalm 90s are enthronement psalms. In other words, they're talking of the time in history when God will be enthroned on earth and rule. So there's a theme in the Old Testament that God will ultimately reign on the earth as a king. So that's another stream of revelation in the Old Testament that converges in the God-man right, in the person of Christ, the Messiah, who was the seed. And the last stream that we looked at that will converge in Christ is that there will be a man who will rule on the earth as king, and that's David's royal seed. It's David. God made a covenant with David and David's house and from his house there would come one who would be an offspring of David, and of course this invokes the concept of the virgin birth right, because this descendant would be a true human and yet, of course, without sin. So you have these three streams and you can see how these streams are converging in one person who is God and man, and that one person is the Lord Jesus Christ right. So this is background for Trinity, because if the Messiah is God and then the Father is God, then you're already talking about multiple persons in the one God, because the Bible is very explicit there's only one God. So this is paving the way for Trinity. It's also paving the way for hypostatic union, because the second person, the Son, the Messiah, he's both God and man. And that's the discussion of the hypostatic union that we've really been working with and we're going to talk a little bit about today and its implications.
Speaker 2:Another line of background for Trinity and hypostatic union is the Christ for Yahweh name substitutions. I'm just going to remind you of a few. There were several more that we looked at. But remember, in the New Testament the Christ poured forth the Spirit in Acts 2. But the New Testament Christ poured forth the Spirit in Acts 2. But the Old Testament predicted Yahweh would pour forth the Spirit in Joel 2. So what would that mean if Christ now does what Yahweh was predicted to do, other than Christ is Yahweh.
Speaker 2:Yahweh meaning this is the name of God.
Speaker 2:The name of God, the name of God. It's a consonantal. Hebrew is a consonantal language, so it only has consonants. That would really bother us, but that's the way it is, and so that's why I don't have any vowels. I just put what's called the tetragrammaton tetra for four, so Y-H-W-H, or some people say Y-H-V-H, but anyway you get the idea.
Speaker 2:These are the consonants in the Hebrew language that are the name of God, and he declared this name, for example, to Moses. When he sheltered him, moses said show me yourself. And he said you see me, you're going to die. I mean, in all my glory, you cannot be in the presence of God. So he shelters him in the rock and he proclaims his name in Exodus 34, 6.
Speaker 2:And you can read characteristics of his name Yahweh. Okay, so that's who God is, but that's who Christ is because Christ did what Yahweh. So that's who God is, but that's who Christ is because Christ did what Yahweh was predicted to do. So it's showing that he's God. You couldn't be any clearer. Another one, for example, is Christ ascended to heaven. We know that Acts 1, verse 10 and 11. But the Old Testament predicted Yahweh would ascend to heaven. So doesn't that mean Christ is Yahweh, since Christ fulfilled what Yahweh said he would do? So these are Christ for Yahweh name substitutions the Old Testament or Christ or New Testament. Christ is the creator of all things. Apart from him, nothing came into existence which has come into existence, so he is the creator. But the Old Testament said Yahweh is the creator. So again, doesn't that mean Christ is Yahweh in some sense? So we have to deal with these. And so this is background for Trinity, More than one person in the Trinity and who God is.
Speaker 2:Other proofs were Christ for Yahweh function substitution. In other words, christ does things that only Yahweh can do. Here's a couple I gave many others. Christ forgives sins. Remember in the New Testament he forgave someone of their sins. And they were reasoning in their hearts who is this, this blasphemer? You know? And Jesus says I know what you're reasoning in your heart. Why do you say you know? Why are you reasoning in this way?
Speaker 2:But if Christ is forgiving sins, where the Old Testament teaches that only Yahweh can forgive sins, doesn't that make Christ Yahweh? Or doesn't that at least mean that he's claiming to be Yahweh? See, so that's an evidence from his functions. And also, christ is omniscient. He displays this in the new testament. You know, I saw you under the fig tree. Why are you reasoning this in your hearts? I mean, how does he know what they're thinking. How does he know where thomas is? How does he, how does he know these things that are beyond human perception? The old testament says it's only yahweh who's omniscient. But doesn't this mean then that Christ taking on the functions of Yahweh indicates that in fact he is Yahweh? And so these are evidences again, and a setup for the Trinity.
Speaker 2:These all make sense, right? I mean, there's a lot of ways to show the deity of Christ. That's what I'm trying to show you. It's not just. I got a verse John 1.1, and it seems to show to me that Jesus is God or something. No, it's much more than that. It's much more Christ for Yahweh name substitutions, christ for Yahweh function substitutions. And then, of course, we have just these are just deity of Christ passages. I have the wrong title there. That should not say Christ for Yahweh functions, it should say deity of Christ passages. These just examples.
Speaker 2:John 20, 28, when Thomas you know, thomas wasn't there when he appeared first to the 12th or 11th, but he was well, it would have been the 10. Actually Judas wasn't there, so he appeared to the 10th. He wasn't there, but then he was there later at another occasion. Thomas said oh, I can't believe unless I see for myself, right. And in this passage he appears and then he says Thomas, come and see that it is I, put your hand in my side, look at the scar and believe that I am he. And he says my lord and my god.
Speaker 2:And christ didn't say no, no, no way, I'm just a creature just like you. I'm a man just like you. You know, only worship god. He didn't say anything like that, whereas you know, uh, peter, when he's bowed down before, and paul in acts 14 when he's bowed down before, or when john in the 14, when he's bowed down before, or when John in the book of Revelation bows down before the angel, all of these who are being bowed down to they say no, no, no, no, don't bow down to me, I'm just a creature. You don't worship a creature, you only worship God. But Jesus didn't say that he allowed himself to be worshiped and referred to as God by Thomas, and so this is an indication of his true deity. Herod in Acts, chapter 12, he receives worship as God and God strikes him with worms and he dies. So it's not a very good thing to accept worship as if you're God, if you're not really God. And yet Jesus accepted worship, which indicates that he's God.
Speaker 2:Titus 2.13 uses the Granville Sharpe rule waiting for the blessed hope and appearing of our great God and Savior, jesus Christ, our great God and Savior. Jesus Christ is our great God, he's also our Savior, and that is a construction in the Greek which there's over 200 uses in the New Testament, all of which indicate that the two nouns that modify the one object are pointing to the same object, and it fulfills that rule. So nobody's ever been able to defeat that argument as far as Greek grammar is concerned, since it was discovered by Granville Sharp a couple hundred years ago. So very interesting. Hebrews 1.8, which quotes the Old Testament and refers to him as my God. So lots of passages, other passages about the deity of Christ these are just a sampling to show that he is in fact Yahweh.
Speaker 2:Now, all these things were being discussed in the early church and because people come up with various views and ideas about Christ and they all started with various presuppositions, I've taken you through all that. You're like I don't want to do that anymore. That was just taxing on my brain. Historianism, monophysitism, all the dynamic, monarchism, all this stuff. So okay, so I'm moving past that. Okay, I won't be bringing that up, but I did want to show once more. I just want you to look at these creeds, because what these creeds are showing is the development and understanding about Christ.
Speaker 2:Because, as they would make a creed say, the Apostles' Creed, the one here, the short one at the top they stated the truths real quick. I mean, it's just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. See, I believe in God, our Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, crucified, died, buried. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. You see how? That is what happened.
Speaker 2:After that, people started to interpret these statements differently than they were intended. So they had to come out with another creed called the Nicene Creed. And so, whereas the Apostles' Creed was just a statement of truths, the Nicene Creed was combative. It was combating other interpretations of the Apostles' Creed. This will almost never end, by the way, this reinterpretation of statements.
Speaker 2:You make a statement. Let me just give you one that's very obvious. Today that happens. How are we saved? By grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone?
Speaker 2:The number of ways this has been interpreted is crazy. So, for example, if we're saved by grace alone, through faith alone, then there's a group called Lordship Salvation that says well, yeah, it's faith alone that saves, but the faith that saves is never alone. It's always got to be accompanied by works, and if you don't have the works, you didn't have the right kind of faith to begin with. So that's their interpretation of faith alone. Take, for example, another one that's related to this concept of faith alone is the idea, also of lordship salvation, that faith is a gift of god. If it's not a gift of god, it's a work, and works negate grace and so it's got to be grace alone, through faith alone. They say so faith must be a gift of God, because if it's not, then we are adding a work and works contradict grace. Hold on the Bible says that faith is not a work, romans 4. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. With Abraham, it says Abraham didn't work but believed in him. Who justifies the ungodly. So faith isn't a work. But because this theology interprets faith as a work, well, they've distorted the concept of what is meant by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. So I just point this out, because that's what was happening in the early church. This will continue to happen.
Speaker 2:When statements are made that are just boom, boom, boom, like the Apostles' Creed, it's inevitable that humans are going to come along and interpret this in different ways. This is why, when we have conversations with people and let's just say this, let's say you're having a conversation with a Roman Catholic and you say to the Roman Catholic, do you believe in Christ? They're all going to say what? Yes? And you think, oh well, we're all on the same page here. You haven't even scratched the surface of that statement. You have to find out what they mean by that statement.
Speaker 2:For example, I was sitting there with my wife the other day, I don't know. She was thumbing through something and I saw it, or I was thumbing through it, she saw it, I don't know one way or the other and it said it said John 3.16, pray the rosary. And I'm like what in the world? How in the world does the rosary relate to John 3.16? John 3.16, for God so loved the world right that he gave His unique Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. It's just a statement of you know, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean God gave Him to us. What does this have to do with saying a prayer? There's nothing about prayer in there. There's definitely nothing about the rosary and there's definitely nothing about Mary. You know, it's just believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. But you wonder, like what is going on? How does the rosary relate to John 3.16? It doesn't seem to have any relationship, but someone obviously thought that it did.
Speaker 2:So this means that what we have to keep doing is we have to keep clarifying, adding explanation for what we mean by statements, and that's what happened at Nicaea. They're having to correct all the distortions of the interpretations of the Apostles' Creed. So they add you know everything in yellow here. So we believe in one God Father, almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible. They had to add that because of the angels, because certain people started thinking well, the angels helped God create. So you know well, we got to shut that down. And in one, lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, that is, eons, light of light, and then his very God, of very God, because there are certain, are certain people saying well, he's the first creation of god, or god bestowed godhood, uh, godhead, godhood on him. So you know things like that. So they had to clarify and add more all the way till it got.
Speaker 2:They kept doing it, they kept doing it, they kept interpreting these statements differently and so finally, at chalcedon in 451 notice, this was over a 400 year discussion okay, mainly about the person of christ of 400 and it's the. It is the greatest discussion the church has ever had. I actually believe we're in the second greatest discussion right now, but this is the first greatest discussion the church ever had. It took 400 years. We have been in what I consider to be the second greatest discussion ever in church history over the last 200 years, and that's just the discussion of what is this all about? How do all the themes of the bible come together in one story? What does the whole plan of god look like? I think we are in that discussion and um it? Well, actually there were people discussing this in the 1600s, so maybe it's already a, you know, four to five hundred year old discussion and I think we're getting close.
Speaker 2:But there have been some, once again, false presuppositions in the way it's to be done. So, for example, in the 1600s, here was the presupposition for trying to figure out the whole Bible. Are you ready? What is the one concept that unifies the whole Bible? This was the question. So that's the presupposition, and the answer for Coxias and others was covenant, covenant. So everything got viewed from Adam forward through the lens of the concept of covenant and that created what I would consider a false system of theology that is taught in so many churches. It's just unbelievable.
Speaker 2:The question is is that presupposition right? Are we supposed to find a unifying theme? Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe not. Even if it's true that we should, did we choose the right one when we chose covenant? Or is there a theme, a unifying theme, that is more prominent and bigger than the concept of covenant?
Speaker 2:Because, by the way, covenant is not mentioned until the Noahic covenant. So how would covenant cover the ideas prior to the flood, you know, since it's not even mentioned prior to Noah, after the flood? So it may not cover everything. I don't think it does at all. I think it's a big theme, but I don't think it is able to bring everything together. So, you know, other people have chosen other unifying concepts to try to build a theology. So I think this is the discussion we're having right now in church history and it's the problem that I'm working on personally in my courses that I teach, especially one of the courses, but hopefully sometime in my life we'll be able to put something out there and hopefully it reflects Scripture. I've got eight major ideas in Scripture that are not rivaled by any other ideas in Scripture as far as breadth, and I want to try to bring all those together under one of the concepts that relates to all eight. I think it can be done, but I'm still in process. But that's what's happening in the early church. They're just trying to articulate who is Jesus Christ Now.
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, undiminished 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. 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. Okay, and that's why he accepted worship.
Speaker 2:And I believe that 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?
Speaker 2:If he's not, can there be a substitutionary death by nature? 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 atoned for sin, using it in the Old Testament sense. It temporarily atoned for sin. Right On the Day of Atonement, leviticus 16,.
Speaker 2: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, puts the blood on the altar, which is the 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, the very next moment, but the next year they would go in and atone. In other words, it was just a temporary measure. That's why you always had to have an annual sacrifice With the coming of Messiah.
Speaker 2:It's not the blood of bulls and goats, 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. Could 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?
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 gonna be someone like an angel that sits over in judgment. It's not gonna be the Father, who never came down here and dwelt among us. It's not gonna 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 in the Bible. God is the one who set up this principle by sending his son as a true human.
Speaker 2:So we could do this with every one of these, but the point is that the early church, in the 4th or 5th 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 the 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, and 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 unto 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? 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. He was local in his humanity. But these two aren't two separate people, they're one person.
Speaker 2:You say, well, that's really hard to understand. Yeah, quantum physics does not, does not get close to trying to contemplate the person of christ. Quantum physics may be interesting, but it and it's very difficult subject, but it's not as difficult as this. Nobody can mire the depths of this. They never, ever will. Okay, so, when we can make statements about it, what we're trying to do is make accurate statements about it and our mind can think about those statements, but we're never going to, you know, totally understand them, because God is infinite and as God and man. This is too much for us to wrap our finite minds around. So you go through all these and you see who he is.
Speaker 2:Now this introduces us to some of the implications of the hypostatic union, which we'll spend the rest of the time on. The first implication of the hypostatic union, that is, that Jesus Christ is undiminished deity, united with true humanity in one person, without confusion or separation, forever. Right. Here are the implications. First of all, creator-creature distinction will forever remain intact. It will never, ever be breached. By the way, only all pagan religions violate the creator-creature distinction. Even Mormonism violates the creator-creature distinction. If you're a Mormon in that story that they tell what is your ultimate destiny, you will become a god and you, with your wife, your goddess, or actually goddesses, will repopulate another planet. That's a violation of the creator-creature distinction because the creature becomes the creator of a new planetary system. They talk about these degrees of moving up toward the celestial heaven. All this is the path toward godhood. So mormonism, fundamentally at the base of their story, violates the creator creature distinction. But even in the hypostatic union, the creator creature distinction is never violated. He is creator and he is creature in one person, without confusion, okay, without separation? Okay, forever. Even in him, in Christ, there's no confusion of the creator and creature. Okay? So what does this mean then?
Speaker 2:We're going to go to Isaiah, chapter 40. Isaiah, chapter 40. If you ever are struggling with life, you're having a difficult day. I am now going to tell you where you can turn in your Bible when you don't know where to turn. First of all, don't just do this. What has God got for me? You may be surprised. I have a pain in my loins, oh, in my loins. Oh, oops. Isaiah, chapter 40. You can go to the isaiah 40s, because these passages are written in the time of isaiah, obviously to israel, when they were suffering, okay, and so these are the types of passages you want to turn to, because they point you back to God.
Speaker 2:Why am I bringing this up? In Christ? Okay, christ hypostatic union. He's creator and creature in one person. How did he live his life? Okay, in his true humanity. Well, he didn't borrow his deity and just solve all his problems by saying I'm God and I can deal with this and I'm going to use my deity. He had to live it in his true humanity, which means that what you're going to see with Christ is him constantly depending on the Holy Spirit in his earthly life to overcome the temptations and the sufferings that he faced. He's constantly depending on the Holy Spirit, so he becomes the test pilot for the Christian way of life.
Speaker 2:The question does it really work? You know a lot of us would say I tried it, it doesn't work for me. So Christianity is wrong Because Jesus Christ, in his true humanity, depended constantly on the Holy Spirit and successfully did it. So you can't say the Christian life doesn't work because there's already a test case in history that it did work. So if it doesn't work for you, it's only because you're not consistently following it. And the thing is with him, is he consistently followed it? So how would he do that? Well, the Word of God. He's going to have to take in the Word of God in his humanity and learn to depend on God. So here's Isaiah 40, 21.
Speaker 2:Let's give an example going through this, see how many attributes of God you see as we go through this. Do you not know, says the Lord. Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood?
Speaker 2:From the foundations of the earth, it is he who sits above the circle of the earth and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. That's so encouraging. I saw a grasshopper yesterday. It was brown, it was about that long and it was dead. You're a grasshopper. Compared to him, I mean, we're just a grasshopper, the one who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. I mean, who set up the heavens? Who put the planets, the solar systems, the stars, all that in their respective positions at creation? What attribute of God? Omnipotence, right, I mean we're talking power that is unparalleled by any other concept we have of energy. It doesn't matter if it's volcanoes, hurricanes, worldwide floods. We have nothing compared to this. This is power like unparalleled, verse 23. He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. Scarcely have they been planted, scarcely have they been sown, scarcely has their, their stock taken root in the earth, but he merely blows on them and they wither. Is he blowing on?
Speaker 2:America right now, not yet. He's just kind of barely even letting any breath out, you know. But he could reduce us to nothing in a moment just by breathing on us, and the storm carries them away like stubble. To whom, then, will you liken me? That I would be his equal? See, that's the creator-creature distinction, right? That's the most fundamental truth in the Bible. Who will you liken God? To? Who will you compare? You can't compare him to anybody. Who is the greatest ruler in the world? Who ruled more territory than anybody in the ancient world? Alexander the Great. Can we compare Alexander the Great to God? No, I mean, it's not a comparison. He's saying I am totally qualitatively different from anybody else. You can't liken me to anybody else.
Speaker 2:He says lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars. There it is again, this omnipotence, the one who leads forth their host by number. He calls them all by what Name? How many stars are there? I've read that there's 16 billion galaxies. That's not including all the stars in the galaxies, and that's just the ones we might know of. He has a name for every one of them.
Speaker 2:What attribute? Omniscience. He knows everything. He has a name for every single one of them. I can't even keep up with all your names sometimes. And he's keeping up with all the names of all the stars. I mean, are you kidding me? Because of the greatness of his might and the strength of his power, not one of them is missing.
Speaker 2:What attribute? Very clear Omnipotence, all-powerful. Why do you say, o Jacob? Why do you assert, o Israel, that my way is hidden from the Lord and the justice due me escapes the notice of my God? They're saying oh well, you know, god doesn't know what's going on in my life. Do you ever feel that way? You act like God doesn't know what's going on or something in your life, like he doesn't care, or something like that. Oh, he knows what's going on, he knows he's omniscient. Do you not know verse 28,? Here's a whole lot of them. Have you not heard?
Speaker 2:The everlasting God. What characteristic of God? Eternality, right, the eternality, the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth. He does not become weary or tired. What attribute he doesn't get tired.
Speaker 2:Omnipotence, again. He's always brimful of energy. Tired, omnipotence, again, he's always brimful of energy. He never gets tired. I'm like oh, that's not like me. I get tired, but he never gets tired. His understanding is inscrutable.
Speaker 2:Again, what attribute? Yeah, he can penetrate everything. He has penetration, penetrational knowledge of everything. We're wondering if there's quarks or whatever leptons and all this kind of thing. He knows all that. He knows everything that can possibly be known. He gives strength to the weary. Now, here it's applicable. Right, you get tired? Well, it helps His omnipotence.
Speaker 2:Do you think the Lord Jesus Christ ever got weary? It says he did. What did he have to do when he was weary? He had to turn to his Father to give him strength. Isaiah 40, 29. You think he didn't have to use the attributes of God? No, the Lord Jesus Christ used the attributes of God every single day of his life, because he's the test pilot for what it looks like to live the Christian life. He is showing us, as in his human nature, that the Christian life can be lived successfully. And he didn't get to cheat. You say well, it's easier for him. No, the moment you said that, you've cut yourself off from the one who said no, I'm showing you the way, I'm showing you how it can be done. He's meditating on Isaiah 40, 29. Verse 29 continues To him who lacks might and he increases power, though youths grow weary and tired and vigorous young men stumble badly and of course, chariots of Fire quotes some of this right. Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired. They will walk and not become weary. See the Lord. Jesus Christ had to go to passages like this and dwell on the attributes of God. That's how he got through the sufferings and temptations that you and I also go through. He's the test pilot. Luke, chapter 4, let's go there.
Speaker 2:Luke, chapter four. This is the temptations. They mirror the same three avenues of temptation that were with eve, okay. In the garden, okay. Appealing to the lusts of the. You know the various lusts, the three lusts the lusts of pride of life, the boastful pride of life, and so forth.
Speaker 2:Luke, chapter 4, jesus full of. What does it say? How does it introduce the temptations? Jesus full of the Holy Spirit. Why does he need to be full of the Holy Spirit? Because he has to depend upon the Holy Spirit to live the Christian life in his creature aspect of his person. So, jesus full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan. He was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness for 40 days. I like to say the Spirit took him right into the heart of the temptations, didn't he? The Spirit didn't tempt him, but he took him into the position or place where he would be tempted For 40 days. He was being tempted by the devil. Most people think there's only just you know, three temptations. Oh, no, no, no, no, he was tempted for 40 days.
Speaker 2:All we read about are the three that came after the 40 days, after he became hungry. It says he ate nothing during these days and when they had ended, he became hungry. Well, yeah. And the devil said to him so this is an opportune moment, right, that's the point of the 40 days becoming hungry. It's an opportune moment. And the devil said to him if you're the son of God, tell this stone to become bread, okay. Son of God must be a statement of deity, right, because humans can't tell stones to become bread. So son of God is a description of deity. Son of man is a description of humanity, okay. So if you're a son of God, tell this stone to become bread.
Speaker 2:What's he tempting him to do? What's he trying to tempt him to do? Use his deity, okay, cheat. You can't do this, you can't cheat. So guess what? He's not going to cheat either. Okay, he's not going to cheat either. He's not going to just start using his creator. He's going to stay as the creature, depending upon the Holy Spirit, right and use the word of God. And so that's what he does, because the spirit and the word of God go together. And here it is. And Jesus answered. It is written See, where did he go? To the Bible. To the Bible. How are you going to defeat temptations? By going to the Scripture. Okay, this is how the Spirit leads. And it says man shall not live on bread alone.
Speaker 2:Okay, second temptation he led him up. He showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. I don't know how he did that, but he did that. And the devil said to him I will give you all this domain and its glory, for it has been handed over to me. And it was handed over to him by Adam in the garden, when he ate and sinned right. So Satan is now the ruler of this world, the prince of the power of the air and all the kings of the world. And so he's offering all the kingdoms of the world and all its glory. He says I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if you worship before me, it shall all be yours. So Satan wants to be worshiped as God, right? And how does Jesus respond? He says he didn't say I'm God. He could have, but he didn't do that. He's going to function in his humanity and he does what he always does, which he quotes. What Scripture it is written you shall worship the Lord, your God, and serve him. Only so he defeats temptation number two. And he led him to Jerusalem. He had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple and he said to him if you're the son of god, throw yourself down from here, for it's written he will command his angels concerning you to guard you.
Speaker 2:So now, who's quoting the scripture? Satan? You think satan doesn't know the bible? Oh, satan knows the bible. He probably knows the words better than anyone in the room. So he quotes Scripture, but what he does is he misinterprets it. He's using it wrongly. Does anybody ever do that? Oh no, of course people do that. Of course people misuse the Bible, just like Satan misuses the Bible. And he quoted another passage that says and on their hands they will bear you up so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. And Jesus answered and said this what did he use? Scripture, scripture.
Speaker 2:Jesus Christ had to learn Scripture in his humanity so he could use it to live the Christian life by means of the Spirit, applying the Word of God to the situations at hand. And he showed us as the test pilot that, oh yes, you can live the Christian life. But here's the deal, and this is the main point the creator-creature distinction forever remains intact. It will never, ever be brief. Here's the thing when you go to heaven, you will not be God. Here's the thing you will not know everything there is to know about God. You will still have to learn Forever. There will never, ever, be a day in your entire life where you're not learning something new about God.
Speaker 2:You know, people have this concept of heaven that we go up there and we're like I don't know little angels who sit on clouds and strum harps or something like that. I mean, can anybody say boring? The only people I think that wouldn't think it's boring are harpists, you know, or maybe a celloist who's like, okay, I'll play the harp, but this is not at all by any means what heaven is going to be like. Heaven is going to be amazing because we're going to be learning things about God every single day. You know the times when light bulbs go on and you think a new thought about God that you never thought about before, that kind of excites you. You're like ooh, and you kind of want to tell someone Because it's so amazing. That will happen every single day and it will happen all the time. And you know what? You will never, ever, get to the end of Him Ever, because you're never going to become the creator. You will always be a creature, a resurrected creature, yes, but a creature.
Speaker 2:Philippians 4, 6 and 7. This is one of the promises that we like to turn to when we're struggling, when we have a difficult, a difficulty. So let's look at this one. Philippians 4, verses 6 and 7. You think the Lord Jesus Christ didn't have to go through types of things like this? Sure, he did. Philippians wasn't written, but he's applying these same principles from elsewhere in His Christian life, so to speak.
Speaker 2:Philippians 4, 6. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything. By prayer and supplication, let your requests be made known to God. Here's the thing. Do you ever get anxious? What is this verse saying?
Speaker 2:What's interesting about the New Testament is it never says don't do this, don't do this, don't do this and don't do that, and don't do that and don't do that and don't do these things, don't do this, don't do this and don't do that, and don't do that and don't do that and don't do these things, and you'll be godly. It's never like that. Go read Ephesians 4, 17 to 32 today. Here's what it'll say, just like here it says be anxious for nothing. Yeah, don't do that. Instead, do this, replace this with this.
Speaker 2:In this case, replace anxiety, which is undue worry or concern. There is validity to concern, but undue worry or concern. Replace that with prayer. It's not. Don't worry about it, just don't worry about it. You can't not just worry about it. All you can do is think about that. It's driving you absolutely crazy. It's going to rot in your mind. So what he's saying is instead of worry, replace that with prayer. And the New Testament is consistent in this Let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but that which is for the building up of others to the edification. So, instead of saying something bad to tear someone down, you say something good to build someone up. You replace tearing down with building up, and the bible is like this throughout in the new testament. Okay, so rejoice, I'm sorry.
Speaker 2:Verse four be anxious for nothing, and everything about prayer and supplication and thanksgiving. Let your request be made known to god. Now. The result of doing this okay, you're praying now, right, instead of worrying. It says the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. What is this talking about? The peace of God which surpasses all comprehension. How can this result take place? How can the peace of God come over you overwhelm you. So you're not, because how can the peace of God come over you overwhelm you Because when you're anxious, you're not at peace. You're in turmoil, chaos, frustration, stress. So how can you get the peace of God? If you look carefully at this verse, it's a peace which surpasses all comprehension. The one who surpasses all comprehension is the creator. It's himself, it comes the creator, it's himself, it comes from him, it's infinite. This is talking actually about God himself, his attributes, the incomprehensible God himself. That's how this works.
Speaker 2:Now, what if you don't know who he is? If you don't know, you know his attributes, like he's sovereign In this case. Why are you worried? If he's sovereign, why are you worried? Why? Because you're worried that he doesn't care about you. But wait a minute, don't you know that he's love? But wait a minute, don't you know that he's love? Yeah, but you've forgotten, see, because you're worried and you think that he's out to get you or he doesn't care about you.
Speaker 2:But what More promises? 1 Peter, 5, 6, and 7. Humble yourselves before him, right, casting your cares on him. Because what? Because he cares for you. This is coming out of his love. Okay, so he cares for you. This is coming out of his love. Okay, so he does love you.
Speaker 2:So why are you worried? Again? Because if you knew he was sovereign and you knew he loved you, and you knew his omnipotence is all-powerful, he can give you peace, he can accomplish this. Why are you worried, see? And now you're taking it to him. When you do take it to him in prayer, then your mind gets oriented right toward who he is, his characteristics, his attributes, and that's what brings the peace. So this isn't just like some mystical peace that just happens. The point is that you're dwelling on him because you're going to him in prayer. You're going to him in prayer, and when you're going to him in prayer, who are you saying is in control Him? Prayer, and when you're going to him in prayer, who are you saying is in control him? When we don't go to him in prayer, who are we saying is in control me? It is as simple as that. And we guess what?
Speaker 2:All day long, we're going back and forth a lot of time. We're over here just thinking I have to solve this, I have to solve this, and everything you try fails. And you try this and it fails. You try this and it fails. You try this and it fails. You've gone this and it fails. You try this and it fails. You've gone through all the solutions and then finally, you do what? Okay, I guess I'll go to God Instead of. The first thing out of the box is just go to God, right? So all this time we spent worrying which is poor for your health, by the way. Okay, it's stressful, brings gray hair, whatever else. Okay, it's not good for you to worry and be stressed out and frustrated. Well, all because we didn't go over to him in prayer.
Speaker 2:And so do you think the Lord, jesus Christ, had to constantly do this? Just go to the Lord in prayer. How many times do you see him praying? Yes, jesus Christ as creator and creature in one person. Yet that distinction remained intact in him and he constantly went over to the Lord in prayer, so he didn't become anxious.
Speaker 2:Second point, and we'll finish here the creator. Well, we should probably just stop here, but this is such a good one, I just want to just say it and then we'll come back and finish it. The creator can never meet us more fully than in the person of Jesus Christ. If you meet an angel, you're not going to know more about God than what you would know if you knew Jesus Christ. All the greatest religious teachers Confucius, joseph Smith, muhammad, supposed great religious teachers not one of them could tell you who God is. Jesus Christ is the closest you can ever get to knowing the Creator Himself. John 1.18, right, john 1.18. I love this one. Also, john 10, is it 14,? 9 through 11?
Speaker 2:If you've seen me, you've seen who the Father. If you've seen me, you've seen who the father. If you've seen me, you've seen the father. That meant you were meeting the father fully in the person of jesus christ. That's what it meant. So how could you, how could you access the creator more fully than that? You couldn't. John 118.
Speaker 2:No one has seen god at any time, the only begotten God who's in the bosom of the Father. He has exegeted him. That's the word there exegeomai, exegete. Jesus Christ is the exegesis of the Father. What's exegesis? Exegesis is drawing out, ex out to lead out, okay. So what is Jesus Christ, in his humanity, doing down here on earth, as God meant? He's drawing out who God is in front of the world.
Speaker 2:This is why it was so serious what Israel did when they rejected him, because who were they looking at? God? And they who proclaimed to know God were rejecting him. They didn't even recognize him, paul says in Acts 13. They didn't recognize God, the Jews. It's unbelievable. In the Hebrews 1 passage, where he says that he is the exact representation of his nature, jesus Christ is the exact representation of God, the Father's nature. If that's not a deity of Christ's passage, I don't know what is. He's not a close representation, he is the exact representation of God. So you can never, ever meet the Creator more fully in any other religious, guru religion itself than you can in the person of Jesus Christ. I mean, this is it? There's really nothing else.
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.