unique christ

7/28/2019 Unique Christ

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THE UNIQUE CHRISTESSAYS AND POEMS

Domenic Marbaniang


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Domenic Marbaniang, 2013

Cover Painting:Sermon on the Mountby Carl Heinrich

Bloch (18341890)


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THE CASE FOR THE REAL JESUS

1. To those who know it well who the Real Jesus IS in a

personal way, the challenges regarding who the Real JesusWAS (with regard to historical challenges posed by anti-

Christian missiologists) is not a challenge at all. I havepointed the issue elsewhere in my philosophical discussion onthe epistemology (root issues in the knowledge) of divine

reality. Christianity doesnt move from Reason to Faith; it is

Rational Faith. Also, faith is the foundation of reason itself.For a more academic treatment of the issue, I would refer thereader to my bookEpistemics of Divine Reality. But, Id justlike to leave a quote here by an Indian evangelist Sadhu

Sundar Singh (1889-1929?) who was a very aggressive anti-Christian before his conversion to Christ through a vision of

Jesus Himself. His life is an inspiration for any Indian youthwho wishes to live and die for Christ alone. In his words, Ido not believe in Jesus Christ because I have read about Him

in the BibleI saw Him and experienced Him and knowHim in my daily experience. Not because I read the

Gospels, but because of Him of whom I read in the Gospels,have I become what I am. Already before my conversion Iloved His teaching; it is beautiful. But my doubts were not

swept away until I became aware that Christ was alive. (Cf.The Gospel of Sadhu Sundar Singh, pp.155,156. Original

Book, PDF Text). When somebody asked Billy Graham how

he knew God exists, he didnt need to quote some dryontological argument; he simply replied, I know He exists

because I talked with Him this morning.

2. Often times the excuses against Jesus come from a mindthat is blinded by sin. If the oppositions come out ofignorance, they can be shocked by facts and brought to aturning point. However, if they originate in a willful rejection,


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they may be silenced but not convinced. Its like the fool whocloses his eyes and says, There is no God. Sin distorts

perception of and response towards truth. Denial takes manyforms; some of which include disregarding evidences,

distorting facts, and discriminating in favor of that which theheart wills to believe. Demosthenes said it well, We believewhatever we want to believe. I dont think Lee Strobelsarguments could help someone who is not open to the truthand is someone who willingly wants to not listen to the truth.

Lees book can strengthen the faith of believers and help the

agnostic seeker; but, a willful opponent might only bechallenged to look for better reasons against all this. Jesus

said, Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find outwhether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on

my own. (Jn.7:17). The Jews knew the historical Jesus butrefused to accept Him as the Messiah because they had

willfully shut themselves against Him.

Academic studies have an important role to play in the various

avenues of Christian ministry. But, when it comes to being awitness, Jesus has just one requirement: But you will receive

power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be

my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, andto the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8). Paul testified to theCorinthians, My message and my preaching were not withwise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the

Spirits power, so that your faith might not rest on human

wisdom, but on Gods power. (1Cor.2:4,5). However, that isnot reason to not equip oneself with the wisdom of faith that

we see in books like Strobels The Case for the Real Jesus. Iwould heartily recommend the reading of the book.


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HOW CAN JESUS BE GOD AND MAN AT

THE SAME TIME?

In the Incarnation, Christ partook of human nature, so that

through Him we might become partakers of the divine natureand experience the glorious liberty of the children of God(Heb.2:14; Rom.8:15-17,21,23). Paul mentions that Jesus was

made in the likeness of men (Phil.2:7) and John records that

He was made flesh (Jn.1:14), both using the same Greek wordginomai for made, asserting the realness of His humanity.This doesnt imply that there was any change in His divinity.That could never be; for, God is beyond changeHe is

immutable. But, since the children are partakers of flesh andblood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that

through death He might destroy him that had the power ofdeath, that is, the devil (Heb.2:14-15; cf. Col.1:13).

1. The Virgin Birth of Jesus speaks of His divinity. He wasnot created by the union of a man and a woman; He could not

be created because He is the Eternal One; He pre-exists. Heincarnated as a human by being born of a woman through the

power of the Holy Spirit. His divinity, thus, is eternal; his

humanity, permanent.

2. No man can be God; because man by nature is a created

being, but God by nature is uncreated and eternal, the Sourceof all life. But God can partake of human nature and still be

God, because His divinity is necessary and eternal and humannature is contingent upon, and not beyond, Him.

The Bible tells us that Christ partook of human nature byemptying Himself (kenosis) and making Himself of no

reputation. In other words, His partaking of our human nature


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was not necessary, but voluntary. That is why His self-givingon the Cross is known to us as the ultimate Sacrifice.

But, doesnt it involve a self-contradiction of terms likesaying that a square can be a circle and a square at the same

time?

Answer 1:

A contradiction can be defined in the terms A=not-A; anon-contradiction, in the terms Anot-A.

The statements Jesus is fully God and Jesus is fully mandont involve such a contradiction, i.e, they dont say Jesus isfully God, and Jesus is not fully God at the same time.

Christian theology doesnt claim to say that Jesus is not Godwhen it says Jesus is Man; likewise, it doesnt clam to say that

Jesus is not man when it says that Jesus is God.

Answer 2:

The divinity of Christ is eternal and immutable; therefore, in

the Incarnation He was fully God. He was not created; He pre-existed. He was not born out of a man-woman relationship;

but, was born of a Virgin; because He incarnated, He didnt

come into beingthere was not when He didnt exist.

In the Incarnation, God partook of human nature; He could dothat because He created the world and so the world belongedto Him and He sustained it. The world didnt cut off from

Him in a way that God and creation were unrelated to eachother. The world had not become a wholly other to God.

The world was not closed out to God, as if it were an infiniteand absolute entity by itself. The fact was that the world was


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contingent on Him. The world couldnt restrict His power. Infact, it was He who held it by the word of His power (Heb

1:3). The world is not eternal; it is temporal; therefore, it isimpossible for the world (including man) to become God.

That would be a contradiction of terms. However, the SecondPerson of the Divine Trinity did become man, because Hiscreation was not beyond His reach. The temporal exists withinthe eternal; and the finite within the infinite (not vice versa).In Him we live and move and have our being. (Acts 17 :28).

This is not pantheism or panentheism. It doesnt say the world

contains God as its soul or the world is God; but, that theworld is contingent upon God, therefore not beyond His

reach. Miracles are possible, Divine intervention is possible(the universe is not closed) and the Incarnation is the greatest

example of Gods intervention in human history.


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THE HUMANITY AND DIVINITY OF CHRIST

IN BEGINNING to write this article, I dare to add anotherstring to a theme in the exposition of which, wroteMuggeridge, literally billions of words, oceans of paint,

acres of canvas, mountains of stone and marble, have beenexpended, not to mention, in recent times, miles of film

[Jesus Rediscovered]. But, it is a theme well deserved. Saintsand sinners, critics and divines, princes and subjects, all have

marveled at the magnificence of this event called theIncarnation of the Son of God, in which divinity united withhumanity. It baffles human imagination to think that God

would condescend to the state of a human. The Bible calls itthe mystery of godliness (1Tim.3:16). Sacred in its very

essence, it is the story of the love of the King of the Universe,a story so sacred that the colonnades of Romance tremble indisbelief.

That glorious Form, that Light unsufferable,And that far-beaming blaze of Majesty,

Wherewith he wont at Heavns high council-table,To sit the midst of Trinal Unity,He laid aside, and here with us to be,Forsook the courts of everlasting day,And chose with us a darksome house of mortal clay.

[John Milton, On the Morning of Christs Nativity]

To the Apostle John it defined the essence and foundations ofChristian ethics: In this the love of God was manifestedtoward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into theworld, that we might live through Him Beloved, if God so


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loved us, we also ought to love one another (1Jn 4:9, 11).For, if one but looks at human society and where we have

faltered and then, at the Divine Community (the Trinity) andsee how it stands, one wouldnt fail to perceive the

brokenness of our kind that He came to heal with the love thatbinds heaven: that they all may be one, as You, Father, are inMe, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us. that thelove with which You loved Me may be in them, and I inthem (Jn. 17:21, 26). And, He did that when He stepped into

the skin of man, when the glory of infinite resplendence got

wrapped into the frail flesh of a babe, and immortalityencased itself in a mortal frame. Once and for all, the divine

and human elements united, inseparably, yet without anyadmixture in the birth of the Son of Man.

Now, this truth is so sublime that history has bred severalmisconceptions, as well, in an attempt to fathom it. The

misunderstandings must be cleared before we can proceed onto grasp what significance the manifestation of God in flesh

has for us.

Clearing Misunderstandings

1. Christs Humanity is not at the Expense of His Divinity,nor Vice Versa.To many of us this is, by fact of the matter,

the truth. But, there are some cults, for instance, the

Christadelphians, who deny the divinity of Christ and claimthat Christs life began in the womb of Mary. There areothers, meanwhile, like the modern day Jehovah Witnesses forinstance, who think that Jesus life began a long time before

His incarnation (a position similar to the one held by a bishopcalled Arius, whose heresy was condemned at the Council of

Nicaea in AD 325). The Bible, however, very specificallyteaches us that Christs life is without any beginning or end


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(Heb.7:3). He is eternal, and therefore is called the Son ofGod. Alexander of Constantinople (ca. 244-337) was right

when he said that the Fatherhood of the Father is eternal,likewise the Sonship of the Son is eternal as well; therefore,

Christ has eternally been the Son of God.

There have been others, besides, like the Adoptionists, for

instance, who taught that Jesus was adopted at His baptismand thence became the Son of God. The Docetists taught that

the humanity of Jesus was a mere illusion and theMonophysitists believed that Christ had only one nature, Hishumanity being swallowed up by His divinity. Of the

Monophysist group, the Eutychianists believed that thehumanity and divinity of Christ were fused to produce asingle nature. Contrary to all these heretical views, the Bibleclearly reveals Christ as fully human and fully divine; both thedivine and human natures being united in His person without

any confusion or mixture of any kind (Col.2:9).

2. Misunderstandings in Islam.There is anothermisunderstanding, especially among our Muslim friends, thatwe teach Jesus to be the Son of God in the sense that He was

conceived by Mary through some kind of union with God.That would be incorrect from the Biblical point of view as

well. For, the Scripture clearly states that the conception ofJesus in Marys womb was by the overshadowing of the HolySpirit (Lk.1:35). Jesus was not produced. He incarnated.

Various ancient mythologies falsely talk of their gods comingand cohabiting with women to produce semi-divine offspring.

Such myths are both false and unbiblical. The Incarnation wasnot so. For, in it the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, Godthe Son Himself, took on the form of man (Phil.2:6,7). Jesus

was not a third element produced from the fusion of the divineand the human. There was no mixture of natures. He was fully

God and fully man. The Incarnation did not make Christ theSon of God. He was eternally the Son of God. In the


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Incarnation, He assumed human nature and became the Son ofMan. Through the Virgin Mary He became the Seed of the

woman that would finally crush the head of Satan (Gen.3:15;Gal.4:4).

3. Essential Differences between Christs Incarnation andthe Avataras.The four main differences between the avatara

and the Incarnation relate to the nature, duration, mission, andinstances of the two concepts. In its nature, the mythological

avatara is not completely the form that it assumes; but in theIncarnation, Christ became fully human; not merely inappearance but in essence and reality. Also, the duration of

the avatara is limited, after which it returns to its originalform; however, in the Incarnation Christ became permanentlyhuman; He continues to be the Son of Man, our High Priest inheaven and the Glorious King who will one day return toreign from Davids throne. Next, the mission of the avatara is

conceived to be the destruction of evil forces or personalities;on the contrary, the mission of the Son of Man was to seek

and save them that were losta propitiatory mission thatmeant His ultimate sacrifice on the Cross. Finally, the avatarais said to repeat for at least ten instances to put an end to evil.

But, the Incarnation of Christ was once for all. It was final.There cannot and need not be a second Incarnation; for Healready is Man forever and He has finished His propitiatorymission on earth (Heb.9:26,28; 10:10-14).

God in Flesh for Us

Apart from the facts that we have noted regarding the

Incarnation as being real (not mere appearance), complete(not partial), permanent, propitiatory, and final, there are some

important truths that the Bible wishes us to know.


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1. The Logos of Fellowship. As the Incarnate Word (Logos),Christ stands as the Reason and Logic of our acceptance into

the family of God. In the Incarnation, Christ partook of humannature, so that through Him we might become partakers of the

divine nature and experience the glorious liberty of thechildren of God (Heb.2:14; Rom.8:15-17,21,23). Paulmentions that Jesus was made in the likeness of men(Phil.2:7) and John records that He was made flesh (Jn.1:14),

both using the same Greek word ginomai for made,

asserting the realness of His humanity. This doesnt imply

that there was any change in His divinity. That could neverbe; for, God is beyond changeHe is immutable. But, since

the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He alsoHimself likewise took part of the same; that through death He

might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, thedevil (Heb.2:14-15; cf. Col.1:13).

He became one of us so that we, through Him, might becomeHis forever. Therefore, all that have received Him have

received the right to be called the children of God (Jn.1:12).He partook of human nature, so that we might have the rightto partake of the divine nature (2Pet.1:4; Rev.2:7) by

becoming partakers of that one Bread who came for oursalvation (1Cor. 10:17; Jn.6:51), who through His deathoffered Himself for us an eternal peace offering so that we can

be accepted into His divine fellowship by partaking of His

Body (Jn. 6:51, 54-56; Matt.26:26; Deut.27:7; Lev.7:15).

Unlike the sacrifices of the Old Testament, the Sacrifice ofJesus needs no repetition, for He lives forever, as the Reason

of our acceptability. The Lamb that was slain lives (Rev.5:6).Those who partake of Him will never hunger again; He is the

Bread of Life. Now, the promise of a blessed resurrection anda glorious eternity remains for all those who have acceptedHim; because, through death He has abolished death and has


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brought life and immortality to light through His Gospel(1Cor.15:44,52,53; Heb.4:1; 2Tim.1:10).

2. The Logos of New Creation. Also, in the Incarnation,Christ did not just become a man; He became the Last Adamand the Second Man. He put an end to the old and began thenew. Therefore, He says Behold, I make all things new

(Rev.21:5). He bore the earthly image, so that we might bearHis heavenly one (1Cor. 15:49, 45,47).

Both the titles, Last Adam and Second Man refer to His

role as the Seed of the woman. His heel was truly bruisedwhen on the Cross He bled and died for the sins of sinfulAdamic race. He took upon Him the guilt of the old world and

met death face to face. The Seed fell to the ground; sin wasdestroyed (Rom.8:3)the world was wrapped in silence anddarkness. Then, He arose. The Seed sprouted and He arose as

a New Man, the Second Man, and the Beginner of a new racethat was born not of the will of flesh, but was born of God.

Natural did the Seed die, but Spiritual did He arise; for theSeed was not merely Adamic, the Seed was the Eternal Son ofGod. Death could not vanquish Him, nor could the grave hold

Him forever; for, He offered Himself once for all by theEternal Spirit (Heb.9:14), dealing an irreparable death-blow to

death itself. What mortal could qualify for such a sacrifice?For man must first pay for his own transgressions and burn forit eternally in the angry flames of hell, before he could do it

for others; and, even if he were to suffer for other men,besides, the punishment would only be everlasting, with no

hope of a resurrection. But, the Eternal One took uponHimself our eternal punishment and infinitely suffered it intime. Thus, by death He defeated the devil that had power

over death; He crushed the head of the serpent and brought tonaught the kingdom of darkness. By His resurrection, He

obtained for us justification, redemption, adoption, andnewness of life, so that we are now accepted before the Father


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in the Beloved. As the Second Man, He became the author ofour faith and salvation, the Head of the Body which is His

Church. (See Gen.3:15; Heb.2:14,15; 1Cor.15:20-23, 44-49,55; Jn.12:24; 1:12-13; Eph.2:15; Rom.4:25; 8:3-4,10-11; 6:3-

10; Heb.5:9; 12:2; Eph.1:4,22; Col.1:18).

The prophets of the Old Testament looked forward with

anticipation to this day; but, God has given us the grace to beborn in the Sunrise of His Love. We live in Anno Domini, the

Year of our Lord. Lets live our days for Christ our King!


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THE ETERNAL PRIESTHOOD OF JESUS

The significance of Christs Incarnation is paramount to anunderstanding of the possibility and effectualness of prayer.His eternal and mediatory priesthood is the ultimate

foundation of prayer. Therefore, the New Testamentprescribes all prayer to be done in the Name of Jesus Christ

(Jn.14:13,14; 16:23,24,26). The essence of this truth iscaptured in the declaration of Christ Himself: I am the way,the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except

through Me (Jn.14:6). This understanding is important sincethe statement is trans-temporal, it applies to both Pre-Fall and

Post-Fall situations alike. There was never that Christ was notthe way. He did not become the way. He eternally exists asthe way, the truth, and the lifethe eternal I am, immutable

and absolute. Through Him were the worlds created, and forHim (Col.1:15). All things begin in Him and return to Him,

who is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End(Rev.1:11), in Him will the worlds merge and consummate(Eph.1:10)the segregate, aggregating into eternal damnationand infernal death.[21] This exclusivity will explain why

prayers by any person or group throughout history (past,

present, future), irrespective of creed or culture, are eitheranswered or rejected: the criterion is whether the prayerresponds in answer to the work of the Spirit of Christ or not.Everything else is fleshly and transgressional. The prayer inspirit and in truth can only be such as responds to the Spirit of

grace (which is of ChristJn.1:17; Heb.10:29) striving with,testifying to, and drawing one to the Father; for the Spirit also

intercedes for us (Gen.6:3; 1Pet.3:18-20; Jn.12:32; 17:8-10;1Cor.12:3; Heb.3:7; 4:2; 1Cor.10:4; 1Pet.1:11; Rom.8:26).That was the reason why Cains sacrifice was rejected while

Abels was accepted. Cains was notpatterned after the law offaith of the revelation of the Spirit of Christ (Heb.11:4;Gen.4:7). John says that Cains works were evil while his


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brothers were righteous (1Jn.3:12), which means that it wasnot the works in themselves but the disposition of faith by

which they were performed that established them as righteousor evilAbel was, therefore, justified and declared righteous

(Heb.11:4)all this connects with the Biblical aphorisms inJames: the prayer of faith shall save the sick and theeffectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much(Jas.5:15,16). Christ alone is the eternal source and end of allsaving faith; for He alone is the essential revelation of God

He is the way, the truth, and the life (Heb.12:2; Rev.22:12-

14,17-20).

In the Incarnation and Passion of Christ the chasm betweenthe eternal and the temporal qualities of being or existence isinfinitely and immutably bridged[22] forever. However, itmust be understood that the two were never polesnever

polarized. The eternal quality has no rival pole and so is itself

not a pole: it spans infinity. The eternal, in fact, contains thetemporal in the sense of the Cretan aphorism In Him we live,

and move, and have our being (Acts 17:28), meaning that theboth are not two distinctly equivalent and individual ends;only the eternal is self-contained, temporality is contained in

and relative to it, though infinitely distinct from it: this infinitedistinctive constitutes the chasm we talked about. They aredifferent, but they are not polesthis is the difference. Thedualism is not dialectical (as in Taoism or Process

philosophy); for that would circumscribe each and eternity

would be an impossible category. The dualism is onlyrelative, as between the necessary and the contingent. The

world is contingent upon God. In the Incarnation, then,eternality and temporality are bridged in the sense that the

contingent world is embraced in the being of Christ, the Sonof God, in an essential connectionHe became Man; yet thenature of the contingent and the nature of the absolute areunmixed in His person. This, says the writer of Hebrews,


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qualifies Christ for His everlasting and immutable priesthood.Now, there are two everlasting orders of Biblical priesthood

established by God; the first is Melchizedekian (Ps.110:4;Gen.14:18, 20; Heb.5:6; 6:20; 7:21), established by divine

oath, and the second is Aaronic (Exod.40:15; Num.25:13),established by divine covenant. The Melchizedekian order isgeneral and eternal, whereas the Aaronic order is national andtemporal; the Melchizedekian order has no origins in time norgeographical or cultural specifications while Aaronic

priesthood had such. Some understand Melchizedek to be a

Christophany of the Old Testament. This is a plausibleconjecture seeing that only one High Priest is ever mentioned

in that order and the Hebrew word dibrah for order used inPsalm 110:4 may also mean word, as indicated by John

Gill, or be taken asdabar, meaning word (without the laterscribal additions of vowels), as a Messianic Jewish pastor had

once indicated, interpreting the text to say Upon My word, OMelchizedek, You are a priest forever in the eternalestablishment (notice it affirms You are, not You shall

be)thus, showing that the Melchizedek addressed here isChrist Himself.[23] Also, if the order is established by God

rather than being merely recognized by Him as such, then thehistory of the establishment could only first be seen in Psalm110:4, which was spoken with regard to Christ in eternity.

Scripturally, the eternal priesthood belongs to Christ alone,which is neither continued nor taken from anyone but is

exclusively His eternally; therefore, He is also called the

Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Rev.13:8),and in light of this can be understood all those prophetic

scriptures that signify the sufferings of Christ, even as it issaid regarding the prophets, the Spirit of Christ who was in

them was indicating when He testified beforehand thesufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow(1Pet.1:11): all this pointing to the fact of how eternity and

temporality are summed up in the core of Christs incarnate


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being; therefore, His one offering annuls infinitecondemnation once for all, and the effects of His atonement

apply trans-historically to both the Old and the NewTestament believers alike. This explains also why and how

prayers in the general order (apart from the Law) are acceptedbefore God without any demand of sacrifice for sins, becausethe Way is eternally rent open in the sacrifice of His flesh,

being available to all who approach God in brokenness andfaith. The historical manifestation of Christ in flesh,

consequently, constitutes the mystery of Gods will regarding

manwhich is, godliness (1Pet.1:20; 1Tim.3:16). To sum thisup, the eternal priesthood of Christ is the foundation of the

possibility and expectancy of prayer. It is only in Him(relation), by Him (foundation), through Him (mediation), and

for Him (intention) that all prayer has any meaning; we areonly accepted in Him (Eph.1:6; Heb.10:19,20). This is the

mystery of eternal godliness.


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HOW CAN ONE MAN DIE FOR THE SINS OF

THE WHOLE WORLD?The Scandal of Particularity questions how one Man could beGod and also be the Savior of the whole world. There are two

pictures in the Bible that answer this:

1. Surety.Jesus Christ is made the surety of the New

Covenant by which participants in the Covenant share in theblessings of the Covenant (Hebrews 7:22). Now, a surety is

someone who provides a warrant or guarantee for another. If Iwish to borrow Rs.5000/- from a creditor, and he doesnt trustme, he would ask for a guarantor or surety, who answers tohim and is willing to pay in case I am not able to pay theamount back. Similarly, when we were weak and without

strength, and in a state when we could not repay our debts,Christ paid the penalty of our sins.

2. Priest. A Priest is a legally appointed Mediator whorepresents man before God; as such, Christ, appointed after

the order of Melchizedek as a Priest forever, provides a bettersacrifice than the blood of animals that the priests after theAaronic order presented for centuries before Him. Their

sacrifices couldnt have efficacy since they had to makeatonement for their own sins first, then for the sins of the

people. In addition, the blood of temporal animals cannotadequately atone for the sins of mankind, because human

sinfulness has eternal repercussions. Through the offering ofHis Body, the High Priest, Jesus Christ, opens up a way for us

before God. We now have access to the Father. His

appointment was official and His sacrifice without blemish;therefore, it was fully acceptable and satisfactory in the sightof God, and we also in Him.


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3. Son of God and Heir of All Things.Since all things werecreated through Him and for Him, and He is before all things,

and in Him all things consist (Colossians 1:16-17), He aloneheld the prime responsibility for the salvation of all things.

They belonged to Him; so, only He had the right to redeemthem.

4. Sacrifice through the Eternal Spirit.Since He is God,only He by His infinite virtue could bridge the infinite chasm

that sin created between God and man. His sacrifice throughthe Eternal Spirit made eternal and permanent atonement formankind (Hebrews 9:14) and a way was open to the Holy of

Holies through His flesh so that all who believe in Him couldreceive the promise of eternal inheritance (Hebrews 9:15;10:20). No animal or man could repay the infinite penalty ofhuman sin; but, the Son of God by His divine and endless

power, by which He also overcame death and rose to life has

eternally atoned for and permanently blotted out all sins ofmankind, so that those who believe in Him should not perish

but have eternal life.


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ESTRANGEMENT AND BELONGEDNESS IN

THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE OF GOD

He was in the world, and the world was made through Him,and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, andHis own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him,

to them He gave the right to become children of God, to thosewho believe in His name (John 1:10-12)

The sense of belonging is an amazing epistemic qualityamong humans. The animal world is not without it: the lioness

with her cubs, the elephant with her calves, and the eagle withher eaglets portray a picture of attachment that are the subject

of many a story, movie, and a documentary novel. But, inhumans the sense is qualitatively different. It is epistemic andexistential. Martin Buber talked of its occurrence in two

worlds of relationships: the I-It (related to the world of utility)and the I-Thou (related to the world of relational bonds).

Where the sense of I-Thou doesnt exist, dehumanizationoccurs. Estrangement is a horrific aftermath of a loss of theThou in the I-Thou world of epistemic and existential

sensibility. Added to that, this is also the world where values(both aesthetic and moral) are a reality beyond any

materialistic, scientific recognition. The sense is spiritual. Theworld is spiritual. Therefore, loneliness, boredom, emptiness,

and rootlessness are not causes but symptoms of disturbancein the world of I-Thou. Their persistence will result in thehuman person seeking escapism in some alternate I-It world

(sensations (drugs, sex, alcohol, etc) or anti-sensation (sleep,suicide).

Volumes can be written on this topic. But, lets focus on theverse before us today. When John talks about the Word (God


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the Son) being in the world, the word world comprehendsboth the physical and the human. The human, in fact, is

responsible for how the world treats God. The human is theworld. Now, it was through the Son that the world was

brought into existencethe world that belongs to humans,since it was given to them. But, humanity fell into thecorruption of sin and the bondage of death (and with it theentire creation was made subject to bondage).

Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into theworld, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, forthat all have sinned:

Rom 8:20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not

willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the samein hope

Rom 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth andtravaileth in pain together until now.

Death, in essence, was not merely physical. It was spiritual,epistemic, existential, aesthetic, and ethical. Sin broughtestrangement from God (the ultimate Thou in the relationalset). Yet, the umbilical cord was not snapped, or else manwould have sunk into diabolical hellishness. We see strands oflove and belongedness and a deep quest for God in the hearts

of men. Distortions only occur where the I-Thou world hasbeen fully erased. The Scripture records that God didnt leave

humans alone; His spirit kept striving with them, and throughprophets and holy men of God in every tribe, He

communicated to them an anticipation of liberation that wassoon to come:


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Rom 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waitethfor the manifestation of the sons of God.

Rom 8:21 Because the creature itself also shall be deliveredfrom the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of thechildren of God.

The reason why the Son of God came to the world was

because the world was made through Himit ultimately

belonged to Him. It was lost; yet, it was His. He was willingto leave alone the 99 in order to seek this one that was lost.But the world did not recognize Him, His own didnt receiveHim. There are sharp, acute, and yet distinct pictures here.

The pictures are sharper in prose than any poetry can portray.

The world is not the world as a whole and yet it is the world

as a whole. Not everybody failed to recognize Him, and noteverybody rejected Him; and, yet in the moment of the

Sacrifice, that was what happened. The world as a whole wasrepresented by the leaders (both religious and political) who

put to death the Son of God. The depth of estrangement andcontortion was manifest in the kind of death administered: thedeath of the Cross. It was the world that failed to recognizeHimthe world that belonged to Him. Yet, the real story is

not that the world rejected Him; the real story is that He waswilling to let the world reject Him. Divine self-emptying,

divine servanthood, and divine crucifixion are powerfulthemes that shock the philosophy of religion. Nietzsche called

the greatest of all sins to be the murder of God (deicide).There was nothing more sinful than that. On the reverse, thegreatest of all righteousness fulfilled was in the self-giving of

the Son of God. This self-giving brought an end to the history


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of hostility between man and God. It cancelled all debts. Manhad committed the greatest of all crimes, and God had

allowed it to be done to Him in the ultimate divine sacrifice.The Cross was where Justice and Love met vis--vis. It was

where man affirmed his estrangement and God affirmed Hisbelongedness. It was where God accepted man as he was. Theone act of righteousness by the Son of God nullified foreverthe writ of accusation against all humanity. The veil was tornaway; the entrance is paved, now the ball is in our court. He

has accepted us. Do we receive Him or choose to remain

estranged?

Therefore, as many as received Him, to them He gave theright to become children of God, to those who believe in Hisname.


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THE UNIQUE CHRISTI

The Song of the Lamb

I hear many voices say I am the Shepherd, come to me!But, I know theyre all just thieves, my Shepherd they cant

be.The voice of my Shepherd is soft and gentle,The voice of my Shepherd is kind and meek.

His steps I know when Hes close by the lintel,

Hes the Door of my pen, the rest are thieves.My Shepherd leads me on mountains and valleys,

My Shepherd leads me to pastures green.My Shepherd is my one and only

In whose arms Id always want to lean.The wolf had pounced one day from the thickets,

The hirelings all fled fearing for their lives;My Shepherd ran twards me to save me,

He fought the wolf counting not His life.My Shepherd loves me, and I am wordless!My Shepherd calls me, and I know His voice!


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II

The Song of the Clay

Through Him and for Him,

To Him and from Him,My Maker, My End:

I was there on the ground,Alienated, isolated, blasted by the wind all around;

Up to myself,

Stranded, corroded, drifted into earths sinking ground.

He took me,Gently,

He lifted me,Softly,

He cleansed me,Patiently,

He placed me on the rock.He took me to His Potters Wheel,And whirled me round and round.

Oh, the whirling, I would have fainted,Were it not for His gentle hands around me!

Oh, the turnings, I wouldve been thrown off,Were it not for His guiding hands that ground me!

His fingers shaped gently my hollow inside,

Pushing, molding, forcing, with love,While His other hand kept caressing me outside,

Stroking, holding, smoothing, with patience.

I swirled here and I swirled there,Yet, was still in His handsthey were always there!

He formed my lips, and smoothened my face,Then He stopped the wheelbut, wasnt yet through with

graceHe took me off, and placed me in the sun.

He left me!

I was so afraid.


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The hot winds beat and burnt my face.Then, He came and took me,

I felt solace in His shade.But, then He placed me in a fiery furnace.

He left me again!The flames engulfed me

And drained me of my moisture;They beat on me with fury,

But, I retained my composure

For, I knew Hed come back,

Though I couldnt see Him anywhere around,The One who picked me wouldnt abandon me on the ground.

So, He came, Yes, He cameWhen the fire had run out of rage;

He came, He picked me;And I saw a smile on His face.

He took me in and poured into me His Water,I was so amazed

I could hold Water for use in this sturdy shape.

I looked at my Maker, and now I knewThat only He deserved all the praise!

My lips pour out:Through Him and for Him,

To Him and from Him,

My Maker, My End.


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III

The Song of the Disciple

His eyes glistened with innocence, with mercy, and with love;

They sparkled with the fire of Gods truth from above.His lips uttered oracles that pierced us to the core;

They kindled our desire to listen to Him all the more.His words were not concocted by human will;

Neither were they hosted by some sugary quill.

His thoughts were not such as would have pleased a man;

Yet, they were such that even a child would understand.He fed us when we were hungry,

He clothed us in our shame,He loved us though unworthy

We were of His name.He called us to learn by being with Him,

Our lives were changed by just watching Him.His breast was ones pillow,

His hand, ones rescue at sea;

His fingers, when they wrote on the ground,Tore veils from eyes and caused the blind to see.

He chose not the highest places,He taught us to seek of such none;

He was the meekest and the lowliest,

And by His humility has all worlds won.He gave us no degrees or titles dear to men;

He cleansed our hearts and showed us whats real

When He stooped to our feet with a bowl and a towel.Those who live by the sword will perish with it, He said;

And, with that He put an end to the politics of power andviolence.

And yet, it was not over;We deserted Him in His weakness as into cruel hands He fell,

We covered our eyes in fear as He bore our agony of hell;

Yet, when He rose in His power vanquishing pain and death,


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He never once mentioned our desertion of Him and how wefled.

He came to us in our weakness and strengthened our hearts;He came to bind us together when we were falling apart.

Is there such union of meekness and power anywhere?None except in the One who is both the Lion and the Lamb.

To this only True Teacher I dedicate this song,The song of the disciple who still for the Master does long.


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THE MURDER OF GOD (DEICIDE) AND THE

SALVATION OF MANWhen you first hid behind the trees of Eden,

When you first had that sense of shame,

Didnt you just wish God werent out around?And when He asked, didnt Him you finally blame?When a brother lifted his hand against his brother

And slew him hatefully in an outrage untamed,Didnt he just wish God werent out around?

And when He asked, didnt he mock both guilt and shame? Thus, through thought and word and action,

Man bred gods of infinite names,And in all that he wished God were just obliterated,

So that he could have to Gods throne his claim.

Why be agonized by subservience to the OneWhen one can decide whats good and whats evil?

Why be traumatized by the fear of the One

When one can switch sides to the kingdom of the devil?Then, morality could be settled in some selfish game

And immorality disguised in some mystic holy name.

Then He came, God Himself clad in human flesh;He came to His own and they knew not His name;

And, though amidst them He spoke and worked wonders,

They betrayed and rejected Him to open shame

Yet, on that Cross of pain and revulsionGod drank mans cup of poisonous hate;He allowed man to do away with Him,

And in so doing He had mankind embraced.

There on that Cross did Love have the victoryOver selfish sin and prideful shame;

There did God allow the greatest of all crimesAnd cover it with His own boundless grace:The Judge allowed Himself to be executed


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By the hands of sinful men;Thereby, He put an end to all condemnation

And cancelled all writ against our nameThen, He rose again:

Now, let those who wish God to have remained murderedRemain forever removed from His power and reign;

But, as many as have repented and to Him surrenderedTo them He has given power to be called by His name.

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for

the sheep. (John 10:11)Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life

that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay itdown of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have

power to take it again. This command I have received fromMy Father. (John 10:17-18)

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