For some, it may be easy to just think of Jesus as a man. However, He was also divine. This devotion looks at Jesus as king, master, and priest along with some others.
Nuggets
- God did send Jesus to the earth to accomplish the plan of salvation.
- Jesus is the authority in our lives.
- When we imitate Jesus, we are brought up to His level.
- Jesus’ payment for our sins reconciles us to God and restored our relationships with Him.
- Jesus became the captain of our salvation through His suffering on the cross.
- Once we change our addresses after He comes to take us home, Jesus will announce His wedding to His church.
We began in the last devotion looking at attributes of Jesus. We looked at those that impact our physical selves. In this devotion, we are going to look at those that prove Jesus’ divine nature.
King
“God will bring this about in his own time. He is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords” (I Tim. 6: 15 CSB)
- Sovereign: ruler of all there is
- King: person who reigns over his subjects
- Lord: person who wields power wisely
If we read First Timothy 6: 13-16, it is kind of confusing Who Paul is actually talking about — God or Jesus. (Well, this is Paul we are talking about!)
It is talking about Jesus’ return (I Tim. 6: 14). But it also says no one has ever seen Him (I Tim. 6: 16). So, it looks like a toss up as to Whom Paul is really talking about here.
Wilkinson weighed in with his opinion. He wrote, “Jesus is a King in His own eternal and essential right. He is the Creator of all things; He is the Preserver of all things; He is the sovereign Lord and Proprietor of ell (sic) things. But, then, He is a King in another sense, and it is to that, that allusion is here made.”
I think it is wrapped up in the Trinity thing. The Three are one, but they are still Three. So, if God is King, They all are.
But God did send Jesus to the earth to accomplish the plan of salvation. God gave Jesus power as King. He gave Him rule over all things (Ps. 8: 6; I Cor. 15: 27; Eph. 1: 22).
Yes, Jesus rules over everything — even us. “For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him” (Jn. 17: 2 NIV). For now, Jesus has set up His kingdom in disciples’ hearts.
Being a King and a Ruler, Jesus has to be a lot of different things. At times, He has to be the Provider. He has promised all these things to us.
Sometimes, Jesus has to be the Judge. He has to correct us when we sin.
But do you read that as I do? “For you granted him authority over all people …” (Jn. 17: 2 NIV). Yes, I know in the end, all will bow to Him (Isa. 45: 23; Rom. 14: 11).
“For you granted him authority …” (Jn. 17: 2 NIV) is past tense and mean He has the authority now — regardless of ABCD status. It doesn’t make worldview people blessed, but it does mean they are accountable to Him.
As well as King, Jesus is Master.
Master
“Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am” (Jn. 13: 13 KJV)
I thought it was interesting that the newer translations do not use master. They use teacher. To me, that totally changes the meaning, but it doesn’t to Scriptures.
The Holman Bible Dictionary defines master in this way. “Scripture uses master in two basic senses: (1) one in authority and (2) teacher” (Holman Bible Dictionary)
Well, Jesus was Master and Teacher to the disciples. He was also Friend to them.
We just can’t forget that Jesus is the authority in our lives. He is Creator of the universe. We talked about the waves responding to Him because they remembered His voice.
We shouldn’t bring Jesus down to our level. We need to keep giving Him the reverence He deserves.
Head
“And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church” (Eph. 1: 22 NIV)
Jesus is not only Master of creation, but He is also the Head of the church. We just talked about how everything is placed under His feet. This term extends the expression of His power and authority.
This verse adds one reason why. “… appointed him to be head over everything for the church” (Eph. 1: 22 NIV emphasis added). There is that little word for.
Flavel noted that everything was placed under Jesus’ authority for the benefit of the church. He wrote, “It is for the Church, i.e., for the advantage, comfort, and salvation of that; chosen remnant He died for.” It is to increase the security of salvation.
But look at it this way, and this is something I got from Harrison. The church is to imitate Jesus. So, we are to be holy and righteous. We are to be “… the realization of the highest Divine idea or thought respecting this world” (Harrison).
When we imitate Jesus, we are brought up to His level. He and God have been planning since before the world was created to redeem the church in this way so our relationships would be restored when we ABCD.
Since we are imitating Jesus, that strengthens our connection with Him. Part of the reason we can be close to Him is because He has already been close to us. He took on our nature, was born as we are, and lived as we do. He has suffered along side of us.
High Priest
“So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin” (Heb. 4: 14-15 NLT)
The High Priest wasn’t just any priest. This was the head honcho in charge of the Temple. While priests served as High Priest because it was a hereditary office, there was more expected from him in terms of holiness.
It was stated in the Holman Bible Dictionary that “This meant he had to avoid defilement by contact with the dead, even in the case of his own parents and was forbidden to show any outward sign of mourning. He could not leave the sanctuary precincts. Such legislation identified the high priest as one totally dedicated to the Lord, always ritually pure and ready to serve the Lord.”
But look at what Hughes reminded us what was expected of our High Priest.
- “Every high priest is a man chosen to represent other people in their dealings with God. He presents their gifts to God and offers sacrifices for their sins” (Heb. 5: 1 NLT emphasis added).
- Jesus is the Substitute Who bore our punishment.
- He was the Sacrifice!
- “He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he is also clothed with weakness” (Heb. 5: 2 CSB emphasis added).
- Jesus told us He did not come to condemn but to save (Jn. 3: 17).
- Those who are “… ignorant and are going astray …” (Heb. 5: 2 CSB) are those who have not ABCD. They are ignorant because they do not have knowledge — in this case, knowledge of Him.
- What it refers to when it says “… clothed with weakness” (Heb. 5: 2 CSB) is that Jesus became 100% man. He came in a body that could die.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
- “And no one can become a high priest simply because he wants such an honor. He must be called by God for this work, just as Aaron was” (Heb. 5: 4 NLT).
- We talked in the previous devotion that God chose Jesus to fulfill the plan of salvation (Eph. 1: 9).
Enter Jesus. He is our High Priest because of His greatness and goodness. His payment for our sins reconciles us to God and restored our relationships with Him.
More than just our great High Priest, Jesus is the Son of God. Gabriel explained to Mary how that was going to come to be. “The angel replied to her: ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God’” (Lk. 1: 35 CSB).
Take it a step further. Jesus is God. I know. Start talking Trinity, and our eyes cross. For most of us, we are just going to have to take it on faith and choose that we don’t have to fully understand that.
But look at it this way. Here is Jesus/God/High Priest who “… understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin” (Heb. 4: 15 NLT).
Here is Jesus as God Who has been through the same testing so that we have. And He remained faithful to God.
I see you jumping up and down saying Jesus never had to shelter in place. Or had to deal with the internet. Or a bunch of other things we say are unique to our society today.
That isn’t what it says. It says testings.
- When put into a situation of temptation, was He/are we going to obey God’s laws and commandments?
- Was He/Are we going to submit our lives fully to God?
We could go on.
It is not important how we are tested. It is very important how we pass the test.
Look at it this way. My Work Sister said, when she was constructing a test, she had four or five different scenarios to ask the same question. She would pick one to include on the test.
What she was testing was whether the future health professional/student knew the concept enough to apply it in specific situations. The situation may change, even though the concept stayed the same.
I think that is what we are talking here. God wants to deal with our character, not just our actions. It isn’t just about doing the do’s and not doing the don’ts. It is about the change in us to be more like Him.
So, I see the testings being unique to us. I will be tested on pride in a different way from you because we are different people at different points on our walk of faith. But the testing will still be on pride.
Jesus is the Priest to Whom we can go to ask forgiveness.
Captain
“For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings” (Heb. 2: 10 KJV)
This was a new one for me — captain of our salvation. But I do these for me to learn, so let’s learn together.
Jesus would have been familiar with the term captain because He lived within the Roman Empire. He would see the captain as a leader. By being captain, He was in charge of other people.
Hutchison reminded us that “as the Captain of salvation, He purchased salvation for His people, and overcame their spiritual enemies.”
Jesus became the captain of our salvation through His suffering on the cross. That was because He was made perfect. We’ve talked about being made perfect before.
Being a military term, we can see a Jesus being our captain as we encounter spiritual warfare. Luckily, we know how the wars end up — with Jesus’ victory.
That is not the only way Jesus leads us. He leads by example.
Bridegroom
“Let us be glad, rejoice, and give him glory, because the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has prepared herself” (Rev. 19: 7 CSB)
On the whole other end of the spectrum, Jesus is also called the Bridegroom. Once we change our addresses after He comes to take us home, Jesus will announce His wedding to His church.
I am going to be totally transparent here. This is something I know next to nothing about. So, I am going to do more research and revisit it another day.
We have one more attribute to discuss, but that will have to be in the next devotion. We will look at Jesus as the Shepherd.
Father God. For Jesus, who is King of kings and Lord of lords, to come down to earth to die for us is mind boggling. That He — and You — would love us so much He would do that is hard for us to understand. But we have faith that His sacrifice paid the penalty for our sins to restore our relationship with You. Thank You. Amen.
What do you think?
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I love that Jesus Christ was King and High priest yet He can sympathize with our weaknesses and help us through them. Glory be to Him! He is worthy of praise!
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