Jesus was introduced by John the Baptist at the Jordan River. He had come down to be baptized by John. At that time, Jesus had not entered His public ministry and was relatively unknown. At first John tried to prevent Jesus from being baptized by him, because he recognized that Jesus was the Messiah. Jesus said He must be baptized for it was necessary for Him to fulfill all righteousness.
As soon as Jesus came up out of the water, two marvelous things happened.
First, the Spirit of God descended upon Jesus like a dove and came and rested upon Him.
Isaiah 11:2 NIV84 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord—
Matthew 3:17 Then suddenly a voice came out of heaven and said, “This is My beloved Son. I take delight and am well pleased with Him.”
Consider, Jesus Christ the Son of God.
For us to understand and appreciate what God has done, we must see Jesus for all that He is.
We have been called into the fellowship of the Son of God.
Colossians 1:15-19 NKJV He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell.
Throughout this text, one word demonstrates the wonder, power and majestic glory that dwelt in Him.
This word “all” encompasses everything. It puts everything around it every time.
- You cannot add to ALL.
- It comprehends the whole universe and everything in heaven and on earth.
- He is the head over all things and He is before all things.
- All things are through Him and all things are for Him and by Him.
- He not only created all things, He holds all things together.
- Everything finds consistence and substance in Him.
- All of the fullness of the nature of God dwells in Him.
John 1:14 NKJV And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Think about that phrase, “We beheld His glory.”
Hebrews 1:2 AMP [But] in the last of these days He has spoken to us in [the person of a] Son, Whom He appointed Heir and lawful Owner of all things, also by and through Whom He created the worlds and the reaches of space and the ages of time [He made, produced, built, operated, and arranged them in order].
We are identified with Christ.
Hebrews 1:3 AMP He is the sole expression of the glory of God, and He is the perfect imprint and very image of [God’s] nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty word of power. When He had by offering Himself accomplished our cleansing of sins and riddance of guilt, He sat down at the right hand of the divine Majesty on high.
We are identified with Christ.
Colossians 1:17 AMP “He Himself existed before all things, and in Him all things consist (cohere, are held together).”
As we consider Jesus, we must see Him as He is in all of His glory, majesty and power.
In eternity past while in the glories of heaven, He was appointed the Heir of all things.
- He is the rightful Heir of all things.
- He is the destined Lord of the universe.
- He is God’s heir.
- He holds the title deed to all things.
When Jesus came into the world, He not only knew that He was God’s Son, He knew that He was the appointed heir of all things.
We must not miss the significance of this. In observing His humiliation and death, we should not miss the fact that Jesus is the Son of God. Even in His death the creation recognized His person, power, authority, and ownership.
You can see this in the events on Golgotha.
The Lord was hanging on the cross. The sun should be at its strongest, but, there is darkness over the face of the earth until the 9th hour. The NIV says: “the sun stopped shinning.”
What has happened?
Then the scripture says, “There was a great earthquake.”
Matthew 27:51-52 NCV Then the curtain in the Temple was torn into two pieces, from the top to the bottom. Also, the earth shook and rocks broke apart. The graves opened, and many of God’s people who had died were raised from the dead.
The earth shook and rumbled. Rocks could not hold together.
What has happened?
The One who holds all things together is on the cross.
He was hanging there, dead on the cross. The rightful heir of all things has been put out of His heritage. He owned it and they did not give Him honor or room.
If you put Jesus Christ out, sooner or later your life will go to pieces.
The only thing that holds our lives together is our union with Jesus Christ.
Without Christ Jesus, everything falls apart.
Nothing fits together without Christ. The sun said, “I have no more purpose for shining.” The earth said, “There is no purpose in my holding together.” That is the why the centurion said, “Truly, this was the Son of God.” That Roman centurion recognized that: “In Him all things hold together.”
- We have been identified with Christ on the cross.
- We have been called to fellowship with His suffering and His victory.
- We are identified with the One who holds all things together.
We are not just looking at His history, this is His eternally exalted position of power and great majesty.
When He had finished, God raised Him to the position of the “exceeding greatness” of God’s power. God placed Jesus Christ our Lord above all things. The power that God gave Jesus Christ exceeds all other powers. His power is greater than the power of death and the grave. His power is greater than the principalities and powers of the devil and of hell. It is greater than the power of the evil and sin. His power is exceedingly above all other powers.
When God the Father raised Jesus, He set Him at His Own right hand.
He has been raised far above all principality, power, rule, and authority. God the Father has “given Him a Name which is above every name.”
This is the message of God’s great mercy, grace and love.
We have been identified with Jesus Christ and have been called into His fellowship.
1 Corinthians 1:9 NKJV God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
We have been “called into the fellowship of Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Every word here is full and rich with eternal meaning, power, liberty and life! This is His eternally powerful and exalted position. This is the position of Jesus Christ. He is the One destined Lord.
He is the very cohesiveness, consistence, and integration of all things.
Everything is held together by Him. Everything has balance and substance by Him. In the end, He will gather together all things unto Himself.
Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the Anointed of the Father.
He is the One that is longed for, looked for, and hoped for. In Him is all fullness and completeness. In Him is all glory, and all power.
In Him is all…
We need to see the greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
His greatness is beyond human explanation. The universe cannot contain Him. He is above all, through all, and in all.
1 Corinthians 1:9 NKJV God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
- In everything that God has planned for His Son, we have been identified with Him.
- In everything that Jesus came to do, we have been identified with Him.
- In His victory over sin, Satan, and death, we have been identified with Him.
- In His glory that shall be for eternity, we are identified with Him.
God has brought us up out of condemnation and destruction to fellowship with Him.
We have not come into some small, light, frivolous thing.
This fellowship with Christ is not some cheap, small or easy thing.
- Our identity and fellowship with Him embraces the universe and heaven itself.
- Our identity and fellowship with Christ embraces the heart and wisdom of God.
- Our identity and fellowship with Christ involves our eternal home and blessedness in the presence of His holy angels.
God has done an amazing work of grace, mercy and love when He identified us with His Son, Jesus Christ.
Our smallness does not diminish His greatness. We must somehow come to understand what God has done when He identified us with His Son. We must see the victory that He has gained for us when He identified with our sorrow, grief and sin. We must see the power to conquer our greatest enemies and difficulties through His substitutionary sacrifice.
We have been “crucified with Christ, but now Christ lives in us.” (Galatians 2:20) All of our weaknesses and failures have been laid upon Him. We were buried with Christ and have been made alive with Christ.
He became as we were, so that we might become as He is.
- He was made sin, so that we could be made righteous in Him, (2 Corinthians 5:21).
- He was made weak so that we could be made strong.
- He came down into death and the grave so that He could take us to heaven and glory.
- He bore stripes on His back so we may be healed and redeemed.
- Our redemption is made complete because Christ Jesus identified with us and has brought us into His fellowship.
Isaiah 53:5 NKJV But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
Isaiah 53:6 NKJV All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
To help us remember His identification with us, on the night in which Jesus was betrayed He took the cup and a piece of bread and told us to remember Him.
Jesus was showing how He was offering His body and blood for our salvation.
He was being broken and offered up as a sacrifice for our sin, weakness, sorrow and suffering.
1 Corinthians 11:23 NKJV For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread;
1 Corinthians 11:24 NKJV and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
1 Corinthians 11:25 NKJV In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
