JESUS CHRIST IS LORD

JESUS CHRIST IS LORD

Alan L. Barrow


OUR papers, our magazines and our television programmes are all telling us about the 'Jesus cult'. In a general, secular sense it seems that something of a legend is developing, so that Jesus is included with other heroes of the past, Hereward the Wake, Robin Hood, King Arthur, whose stories are turned into serials and films. They are regarded as men who did good and right things in the past, and so their stories are suitable for serials, providing material that nobody really believes but what is pleasant enough and not likely to do anybody any harm.

In Luke 24 we read of two disciples who came across a Third, who knew nothing about local events. 'Are you the only one', they said to Him, 'who has not heard of Jesus of Nazareth?' To them, of course, He was a hero figure. They had lived with Him and knew quite a bit about Him, but it seems that they shared something in common with those who look back to legends of the past, that now it was all over. Jesus of Nazareth had been a prophet, but now He was dead and the episode was finished. It is helpful to notice what they had to say about Him, "A prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people." This was the verdict they gave on the one who now seemed lost to them, and their priorities are interesting. Notice: 'deed' first and 'word' after. I think that I would have said, 'word and deed' for words come first. It is easier to say what we are going to do than to do it. They were impressed with the actual deeds of Jesus. They had seen Him confronted by death, and they had seen Him triumph over it. They had seen Him face disease, difficulty, trials, testings and in each one of these situations they realised that He was "mighty in deed". The deeds were first because they were apparent and they were what counted. And yet, it was not only the deeds, but the words too. He had something to say to people. By His words He was able to make people feel that they could share in His experiences and in the power which He had. His words were consistent with His deeds, and were a source of comfort and strength.

They saw, too, that both His deeds and His words were before God first of all, and then before men ... "Before God and all the people." As they lived closely to Him they realised that, as far as He was concerned, the first thing was to walk before God. It is necessary to live before God if we are going to live consistently before men, because at times we shall find ourselves in situations where there will be no men present, no men affecting us, and we will be tempted to lower our standards. It is, of course, comparatively easy to live before men, to work hard and to be cheerful with fellow workers or fellow Christians at our side. It is not so easy to be conscientious and doing the right thing when there is nobody to watch or to know, and that is the time when we are tested as to whether we are living before God or just for others to see. The Bible has some interesting things to say about people who lived before God even with no one else to observe them. David, looking after the family sheep, was not prepared to let the wild animals destroy them, but was prepared to do something about it and fight these beasts, even though nobody watched. Eventually he had his great moment before men when he fought and killed Goliath, but first of all he had learned to live before God. To him, of course, it was supremely important in any case that he should do the thing which God wanted him to do, but it was by doing it in God's sight first that he was prepared to play his part before men. Gideon too, in his threshing of the wheat, was hidden in his work and had nobody there to see him, but he was doing what he felt the situation needed, as before God. Later he, too, had his moment, with [14/15] one of the most spectacular victories on record, so that the public saw what God had known all the time.


WELL, it was about 'Jesus of Nazareth' that the men on the road to Emmaus were thinking and talking. He had lived such a tremendous life, but now He had died and would soon become a legend. The title was not a particularly imposing one but if we consider the twenty odd times in which it is used in the Bible we may discover a spiritually important truth. We find it being used by the crowds and by unbelieving individuals, by unclean spirits, by those who went to arrest the Lord in the garden and on the superscription above His cross. The girl who interrogated Peter used it, saying that she had seen him with Jesus of Nazareth which, of course, he denied. One false witness at the trial of Stephen accused him of making certain claims for 'Jesus of Nazareth'; and, as we have seen, the two despairing men on the Emmaus road referred to the Lord in this way. So far, we are chiefly impressed by the poor quality of those concerned, though we must now consider two occasions on which the apostle Peter made use of this title.

The first was in his preaching on the day of Pentecost. We read, in Matthew 16:16, that Peter was the man to whom Christ had entrusted the keys of the kingdom, and we are impressed to find that the occasion was when Peter first realised that Christ was the Son of the living God. He did not then say 'Jesus of Nazareth', like everybody else, for the Father had revealed to him that Christ was the one who had been anointed by God for the particular purpose of redeeming the human race. This realization that he was not just dealing with Jesus of Nazareth whom they thought they knew, but with the anointed of God, was so significant that it brought to him the privilege of having the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

This leaves no room for the popular idea of Peter standing and opening heaven's door, since he would not need keys for such a purpose but be available inside to open it. No, the keys were entrusted to him so that he could open the kingdom to others, and he could only do this when he had realised that Jesus of Nazareth was much more than the one who lived a good life in Galilee and was in fact the Son of the living God. When you have such a revelation of the Lord Jesus, then you are in a position to open the door to others.

On that first Whitsun, when the Holy Spirit came and demonstrated that God was with them in such a way that people gathered to see what was happening and heard men speaking and worshipping God in their own different languages, then it was obvious that heaven had come down to them and God was at work. Clearly, then, somebody had to explain to them what was going on and how they could have a share in it, which was why Peter preached his important sermon. After giving passages from the Old Testament, he said, "Ye men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God unto you by mighty works and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, even as ye yourselves know ...", going on to say that they had crucified Him but God had raised Him up. So he began with the phrase, 'Jesus of Nazareth', saying, in effect, 'You all knew Jesus of Nazareth; well, there is something much more to Him than that, for He is the Son of God, crucified by you but raised from the dead by the Father'. In this way he flung wide open the door of the kingdom of heaven and did it so effectively that about three thousand people gladly entered in -- three thousand people who had seen the difference between the Jesus of Nazareth whom men had known and Jesus, the Son of the living God who was risen from the dead.

THOSE who received Peter's message at first were all Jews. Like the rest of us, Peter took some time to understand how great God is, and until he came to this realization he did not understand that there was a place for non-Jews in the kingdom, or if he knew it mentally he could not reconcile himself to its practical implications. In due course, however, God prepared him by a vision and then sent him down to the house of Cornelius to talk about what God had been doing. So he went down to a situation which in many ways was similar to what he had faced in Jerusalem, though with certain differences. Without any miracles to help him, he began to explain the way of God to them and as he started, he again used the phrase 'Jesus of Nazareth', telling how "God anointed him with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him" (Acts 10:38). He went on to tell them how the Lord had been slain, hung on a tree, adding "Him God raised up the third day".

While Peter was speaking in this way, there was a repetition of the miracle which had happened [15/16] at Pentecost. The whole company spoke with tongues, so that God could make it quite clear to the early church that this blessing which had been enjoyed at Pentecost was not just for Jews, but for all men. Later on, when Peter was put on the spot about what he had been doing, he was able to say, 'Well, God did it. That surely was quite evident. It had nothing to do with me. I merely said that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God risen from the dead, and then it all began to happen. It was God working in their hearts as they received my message'.

So it was that the keys were used for the second time, and the door was opened. In both cases there was a similar sequence. It was announced that Jesus had risen from the dead, this was believed, those concerned spoke with tongues and were baptized as a sign of their repentance and faith acceptance of the message. All this happened because they realised that the one concerned was not just Jesus of Nazareth, but was something much more than that, Christ the Son of the living God.

The further reference is most significant, for it tells us how the Lord Himself used the phrase. Talking about his conversion, Paul reported, "And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest" (Acts 22:8). This might be supposed to indicate that I am wrong in suggesting that Spirit-filled Christians do not use the title 'Jesus of Nazareth', but this will prove my point if we consider the circumstances. Saul had been travelling to persecute the followers of the Lord Jesus, and he had been stopped in his tracks, being blinded by a light from heaven. He had been thrown from his horse, and was lying blinded and bruised, halted in his purpose. It was then that he enquired who this majestic Being was, and was given the answer, "I am Jesus of Nazareth". The point is that when you realise that you are not dealing with a person who just moved around doing good deeds, when you discover that Christ is all-powerful and all-important, when you have been stopped in your tracks and brought low, then you are in a position to understand who Jesus of Nazareth is. He is not somebody whom you can look at as more or less on your level, not even a good example who is the best that the human race has ever produced. When you know He is indeed the risen Christ, then it may be safe and reasonable to know that this Lord of glory is also Jesus of Nazareth.

The Emmaus disciples said "This was a prophet", but He is much more than that; He is the living, powerful Son of God who watches over our lives as He did in the case of Saul of Tarsus, prepared to stop us and bring us low before Him for our own good as well as for His glory. Such a fall will be painful to us, humbling our pride and making us realise how displeasing to God is the way we are taking, so that we can appreciate that this is not just the Jesus who is an example the Jesus of legend about whom we can sing, but the only one capable of saving us from our sins and bringing us to God. When Peter did a miracle "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth" he was asked to give an explanation, and his Spirit-filled answer was "In none other is there salvation: for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). How important it must be, then, to keep continually in view the great difference between a human idea of Jesus of Nazareth and a true realisation that this one is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

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