A Kingdom of Priests (5)

 

Are we learning to see as God sees? In our last post we considered 1 Corinthians 1:1 – 9 in the light of 2 Corinthians 5:16, “Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer.” Are we learning to see as God sees, which is seeing based on the glorious and perfect work and Person of Jesus Christ? (Consider Christ’s glorious work of salvation as set forth in 2 Cor. 5:14 – 21, it is this context which allows Paul to write 5:16 – do we believe this passage?)

 

Let’s consider an example of how Jesus Christ sees us.

 

“I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.” (John 17:6 – 8).

 

“O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:25 – 26).

 

Jesus is praying these words on the night of His betrayal, shortly after this prayer He will be arrested and taken before the religious leaders, then they will send Him to Pilate for execution. In these verses He is talking to the Father about His apostles (note 17:20 where Jesus includes all of us in His prayer). What can we learn about these men?

 

To begin with, let’s acknowledge the exception to the Twelve in 17:12, one of them is “the son of perdition.” What can we learn about the Eleven?

 

In 17:6 we see that the Father gave these men to Jesus; they were taken by the Father out of the world system, they belonged to the Father and He gave them to Jesus. How does Jesus describe these men?

 

“They have kept Your word…they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You.” They received the words which Jesus gave them and “truly understood” and Jesus came from the Father and “they believed that You sent Me.”

 

Then in 17:25 Jesus says that while the world has not known the Father, that these men have known Him and have “known that You sent Me.”

 

Based on these words of Jesus in His prayer to the Father, what do we see about these men? How does Jesus describe them? How might you describe them in your own words?

 

Consider 17:10, “…and I have been glorified in them.”

 

Jesus’ portrayal of the Eleven is that of men who are keeping the Word of God, understanding that Jesus came from the Father, and having the insight that the Father is giving Jesus what Jesus is giving to them. This is hardly a picture of immature, frightened, and cowering men. Yet, what will shortly happen? Jesus will be arrested and the Eleven will scatter. Not only does Jesus know this as He prays, He has told the Eleven that this is what will occur.

 

“Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.” (John 16:32).

 

Knowing that they are going to leave Him, to abandon Him to the mob, how can Jesus say the things about the apostles that He says in His prayer to the Father? How can Jesus describe the Eleven as men who have kept the Word of God and who have insight into the relationship of Jesus Christ and the Father? Is Jesus wrong? Is His prayer wishful thinking? Is Jesus playing a positive – thinking game? Is this the way you would have expected Jesus to describe the Eleven?

 

In 1 Corinthians 1:1 – 9 we see Paul describing the Corinthian Christians in a way that we probably would not have done; in John 17 we see Jesus describing the Apostles in a manner that, once again, we likely would not have considered. How can these descriptions be accurate? How can they be true?

 

Let’s recall 2 Cor. 4:18, “…we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

 

Looking at the things that are unseen means, among other things, that we begin to see the eternal counsels of God and the perfect work of Jesus Christ. This in turn means that we learn to see others and ourselves not as we appear to be with the natural eye and mind but rather according to the Word of God and the Holy Spirit – we learn to “see” according to what God has said and not according to what we think on our own.

 

Jesus “saw” the Eleven quite differently than we see the Eleven on the night of His betrayal, this is most remarkable in the context of their impending flight and subsequent fear in the Upper Room with the doors shut (John 20:19). Whose thinking and understanding are amiss? Is it Jesus or us?

 

Considering the above, is it all that strange that God calls His People a holy priesthood? Why do we think it strange that we are called “saints” throughout the New Testament? After all, this is not about us, it is about Jesus Christ, His Father, and the Holy Spirit. Why cannot we embrace the true meaning of justification? Not only are our sins forgiven, but God sees us as having never sinned, and as having always kept the Law of God. If we cannot live in the eternal reality of justification, if we insist on being mired in sin  management and thinking, how can we ever embrace Romans 6?

 

Perhaps we ought to rethink just who Paul is addressing in Romans 6:1 - 2, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?”? Considering the context of these words, it may very well be that Paul is addressing well – meaning Christians who are convinced that considering themselves “to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:11) is impossible.

 

We are called into unbroken union with the Trinity, as we abide in the Vine, our Lord Jesus Christ. As Reformed pastor Andrew Murray wrote:

 

“Dear souls, little do they know that the abiding in Christ is meant only for the weak and is so beautifully suited to their feebleness. It does not demand the doing of some great thing or that we first lead a holy and devoted life. No, it is simply weakness entrusting itself to a Mighty One to be kept – the unfaithful one casting self on One who is altogether trustworthy and true. Abiding in Him is not a work that we have to do as the condition of enjoying His salvation, but a consenting to let Him do all for us, in us, and through us. It is a work He does for us: the fruit and power of His redeeming love. Our part is simply to yield, to trust, and to wait for what He has engaged to perform.” Abide in Christ, Andrew Murray, Whitaker House, 1979 (updated edition) page 28.

 

We are a holy priesthood because Jesus Christ has made us such in Him, this is not about us, it is all about Jesus. Having established this, will we respond in obedience to His call in our lives…as individuals, as families, as marriages, as congregations, as His Church?