The Jesus Files - 001

By Ronnie Bray

The minimising of the Lord Jesus Christ

Israelites understood that it was a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the Living
God.

Hebrews 10.31: It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. This
insight from the Book of Hebrews merges Old Testament and theology with the
New Testament Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This sense of separation and distance between the Saviour and the Saved contrasts
sharply with the modern trend of turning Jesus into a buddy, whilst knowing him to
be the Son of God, Saviour, Redeemer, and King, but whose emphasis is about
establishing a ‘relationship’ with Jesus Christ in which the distinction between the
Saviour and the Saved is blurred to the point where distinctions dissolve, and saved
and saviour are indistinguishable, bringing an end to reverence.

We must ask whether the Buddy-Buddy relationship is to be sought and whether if

sought it can be realised without disturbing the actual relationship between the
mighty Jehovah and the spirit children of Almighty God.

Most of what we know about God and Jesus Christ we learn from the Scriptures,
but in addition to what has been revealed to others in other times and places, a
channel is mercifully given whereby divine revelation is furnished to earnest pleas
to heaven for further and better understanding.

Yet mankind’s proper relationship to God was spelled out long ago.

Genesis 1:26 ‘Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and
let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock,
over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."’

Psalms 8:3-8

When I consider your heavens,

the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
 which you have set in place,

what is man that you are mindful of him,

the son of man that you care for him?
You made him a little lower than the gods
and crowned him with glory and honour.

You made him ruler over the works of your hands;

you put everything under his feet:
all flocks and herds,
and the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air,
and the fish of the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.

As Moses was about to leave the Children of Israel in the hands of Joshua he called
them before him and delivered a lengthy farewell discourse that forms the Book of
Deuteronomy, or Second Giving of the Law.

The form of this disquisition provides us with a clear illustration of how the
Godhead intends our relationship to be. Moses’ farewell is structured as a
covenant in the manner of Hittite and Assyrian Suzerainty Treaties, in which the
victorious king is the suzerain, and the conquered king and his people are vassals.
In the case of Israel, Jehovah is the Suzerain and the people of Israel are vassals.

Clearly this is not a contract between equals, for without Jehovah the Suzerain, we
vassals are powerless to advance in any endeavour. We are entirely dependent on
Him for everything we have, and everything we will become, and that promise is
inherent in Deuteronomy. Moses begins speaking as God’s oracle by delineating
all that God has done, thus far, for they that were slaves, including their miraculous
deliverance, their wanderings in the desert, the positive identification of the
promised land, and the journey into the promised land that Moses will not make
with them.

By recounting all he had done, Jehovah is reminding Israel, the People of God, of
all he has done for them, and then adds what he expects from them in return, laying
out his terms in the form of and ‘If – then’ covenant. The message is clear,
obedience to the King and his rule is an obligation that, if honoured, brings peace,
blessings, and life.
If the terms of the covenant are not honoured but ignored, then the fruit of such
disobedience is torment, cursings, and death.

The choice whilst stark is the fundamental form of covenant that has always been
made between God and his children. Obey and live, or disobey and die.

Clearly, the agreement does not invite us to rise from our knees, or reduce our
praise, worship, and awe at the Deity whose word formed the universe, and it
specifically affords no leave to consider ourselves other than as grateful servants to
the Lord Jesus Christ.

God the Father has exalted Jesus to his side, and while we hope to be exalted as
God has promised, we are not yet exalted, and so a proper distance reflective of the
unqualified acknowledgement of our respect and dependence is obligatory.

God lives and is the Father of our immortal spirits; Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
God our Lord and Saviour, and although we are promised that in the eternities we
will be like him, and share as joint heirs with Christ, everything that God the
Father has.

But that time is not yet come, and until it does it is essential to maintain proper
respect that is born of our love for him, and to continue to serve and praise him
because of his love for us.