Finding Jesus in the Bible…So We Can Follow Him in Life
Bible Reading Plans
- Plan One: New Testament Only
- Plan Two: New Testament + Psalms
- Plan Three: New Testament + History
- Plan Four: The Entire Bible – Year 1 of 3, Year 2 of 3, Year 3 of 3
Don’t know which plan? Go to A Christ-Centered Bible Reading Plan: Quick Start.
Extras
Verse of the Day, Audio Capsule, and Video Minute
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Christ Is God
Chapter 27 – From Angel of the Lord…to Lord!
We must not let the two thousand years that separate us from the resurrection of Christ dull our minds to the magnitude of the promotion He received! Of course, I’m talking about His promotion from having been the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament to being the actual Lord in the New Testament once His crucifixion and resurrection were made history.
What makes this promotion even more dramatic is that before the promotion, Jesus had given up his role and privileges as the angel of the Lord in order to become flesh – that is, one of us. Therefore, he wasn’t promoted from angel of the Lord to Lord as much as He was promoted from human being – even a dead and discredited human being – to the Lord of all that belonged to God!
The magnitude of this promotion was not lost on the apostles. Let it not be lost on us either!
On the 50th day after Jesus’ resurrection, the gospel was first preached publicly on the temple grounds in Jerusalem. The apostle Peter had the honor that day. He declared Jesus not only to have been made the Messiah, but to have been made the Lord! All this was in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. After announcing the key facts, Jesus concluded with this statement:
Acts 2:36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ–this Jesus whom you crucified.”
The aspect we want to notice here is that this is a “duel” declaration. All the Jews expected Messiah to be a king on earth. What they didn’t expect was Messiah to be Lord in heaven. Therefore, to hear Peter says that Jesus was the Messiah was one thing; to hear him say that Jesus was Lord as well was beyond all expectation.
In the previous chapter, you saw how the name of “the Lord” was “bestowed on” Jesus according to Paul in Philippians 2:9. In his letter to the Hebrews, Paul makes the same point, only using the word “inherited” instead.
Hebrews 1:1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,
Hebrews 1:2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.
Hebrews 1:3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Hebrews 1:4 having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.
Hebrews 1:5 For to which of the angels did He ever say,
“YOU ARE MY SON,
TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU”?…
In Hebrews 1:5, Paul was quoting Psalm 2:7.
Psalm 2:7 “I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD:
He said to Me, ‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
While preaching in a synagogue during his first missionary journey, Paul made mention that this promise of Psalm 2:7 was fulfilled in the very act of Jesus’ resurrection.
Acts 13:32 “And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers,
Acts 13:33 that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ‘YOU ARE MY SON; TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU.’
Let’s make sure we’ve got that. The “day” spoken of in the promise of Psalm 2:7 – “YOU ARE MY SON; TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU” – was the day Jesus was born from the dead. The day He was born again! He was the firstborn from the dead.
In the opening to his letter to the believers in Rome, Paul makes the same point: that God “spoke” when He raised Jesus from the dead. That is, He declared Jesus to be “the Son of God with power.” Actions can speak louder tha words! We could even say that what is described in Romans 1:4 was God’s non-verbal but emphatic “amen” to what He’d said in Psalm 2:7.
Romans 1:1 Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,
Romans 1:2 which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures,
Romans 1:3 concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh,
Romans 1:4 who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead,
Because of all the Old Testament prophecies of Messiah, the Jews had great hope in him. But as great as that hope was, the news that their Messiah would reign not just as a king on earth, but as the Lord in heaven, sent their hopes through the stratosphere.
The resurrection of Jesus was the greatest miracle since creation itself. But what gives it meaning are the Scriptures that prophesied and explained it. And those prophecies spoke not just of His resurrection, but also the resurrection of everyone who dies!
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