Pleasing Meditations

For Adoration of Christ April 2024, I want to think about four major things the Apostles’ Creed confesses to be true about the Lord Jesus Christ. This ancient Creed, common to all Christian denominations, gives us glorious doctrine intended to fuel our worship. May Christ be exalted!

“… I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, …”

Before we think about what Jesus did, let alone what He will do, the Creed makes us tread on the holy ground of thinking about what Jesus is and who He is.

As Christians, this one we confess that we believe in parallel with “God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth” is Jesus. That name, literally means “the LORD is salvation.” The LORD saves. That is what His name proclaims, and that is why God names Him as He does. Jesus is to have this name “for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Jesus will save, and in Jesus saving, the LORD God is saving, because Jesus is God.

As these few, seemingly simple opening words confess, Jesus is much more than a mere man. He is the eternal, living God in the flesh. He is God incarnate, a truth borne out in that Jesus is the Christ, Jesus is the Only Son of God, and Jesus is our Lord.

Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed One of God (Psalm 2:2; Isaiah 61:1-3) and He is the Messiah (John 1:41; John 4:25). Those three terms — “Messiah” from Hebrew, “Christ” from Greek, “Anointed One” in English translation — all refer to the same reality. Jesus was specially set apart by God for the mission of salvation.

Jesus is also “His only Son,” the only begotten Son of God the Father (Psalm 2:7-12; John 3:16). As Christians, we take great comfort in the doctrine of Adoption, knowing that we are sons and daughters of God. But our adopted sonship in Christ is only meaningful because Christ is the Son. There is no Son of the Father like the eternal Son of God, second person of the Trinity, eternally begotten of the Father before all worlds. In other words, as God’s only Son, Jesus is no ordinary man.

Yet, let us never forget, let alone neglect to cherish, that Jesus is the beloved Son of God (Luke 3:22; Luke 9:35; Luke 20:13). God is love (1 John 4:7-11) and the Trinitarian Love of Father for Son and Spirit, and Son for Father and Spirit, and Spirit for Father and Son, is shown forth for us in the Beloved Son of God, Jesus Christ. This Jesus is His beloved Son, with Whom He is well pleased (Luke 3:22).

And Jesus is our Lord (Romans 10:9; Philippians 2:11). Jesus is our master and commander, our leader and our king. But, especially with the piety of the Jews in mind, calling Jesus “Lord” is a monumental confession. It goes far beyond just saying that ‘He is greater than me’ or even ‘I take my orders from Him.’ (Though both of those are certainly true!) In the Greek common to the first century A.D., “Lord” was the Jew’s ways of making sure never to take God’s name in vain. Written out reverently, the God who reveals His name is LORD. To call Jesus “Lord” is to call Him God, to give him the same name as the God who revealed Himself to Israel in ages past (Exodus 3:13-16; Exodus 34:6-7). Jesus is LORD.

And as Christians, He is not just “Lord” generically. It isn’t enough to claim true doctrine about Him. Unless you confess Him as “our Lord,” you have no benefit from Him. Christians must profess and possess Him personally. He must be “my Lord and my God” (John 20:28-29).

Moreover, as “our Lord” we know that we have greater commonality, community, and unity with others who personally possess faith in Him than we do with anyone else. Jesus is my Lord, and Jesus is our Lord; Jesus saved me, and Jesus saves for Himself a people for His own possession ( 1 Peter 2:9). We confess Him together.

Even in these simple, common terms we use to confess the basic identity of Jesus, we find the profound theology of His incarnation interwoven. At each point we could pause and unpack more and more and more of the precious truth that has been revealed to us in Holy Scripture.

At bare minimum, it is this simply profound truth which we confess as clearly revealed in the Word:

Jesus is the God-Man.

And this is holy, holy, holy ground we tread upon.

Let’s meditate then upon the well-worn paths of those that have come before us, the scripturally sound doctrine of the early Fathers and countless generations of the Church before us as found distilled in the words of the Westminster Confession of Faith and then the Westminster Shorter Catechism, both from the 17th Century:

Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) Chapter VIII, “Of Christ the Mediator”, paragraph II — “The Son of God, the second person in the Trinity, being very and eternal God, of one substance, and equal with the Father, did, when the fullness of time was come, take upon Him man’s nature (John 1:1, 14; 1 John 5:20; Philippians 2:6; Galatians 4:4), with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin (Hebrews 2:14, 16-17; 4:15); being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, of her substance (Luke 1:27, 31, 35; Galatians 4:4). So that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures, the Godhead and the manhood, were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion (Luke 1:35; Colossians 2:9; Romans 9:5; 1 Peter 3:18; 1 Timothy 3:16). Which person is very God and very man, yet one Christ, the only mediator between God and man (Romans 1:3; Romans 1:4; 1 Timothy 2:5).”

Westminster Shorter Catechism (WSC) — “Question 21: “Who is the Redeemer of God’s elect? Answer: The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 2:5), who, being the eternal Son of God, became man (John 1:14), and so was, and continueth to be, God and man in two distinct natures, and one person (Romans 9:5), for ever (Hebrews 7:24).”

Holy ground indeed!

Jesus is the eternal Son of God, evermore in human flesh, two distinct natures, one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion. This Jesus we confess, we believe on, and we worship is worthy of our time and attention.

Holy ground is a dangerous place to offer up strange fire like the heretics did in ages past. Innovation and speculation, along with analogy and over-simplification, are dangerous. But holy ground is the right place to bow before God , in wonder and adoration, marveling at the mystery of Christ (Colossians 1:26; 1 Timothy 3:16).

Let us then adore Christ!

A hymn for the Adoration of the Incarnate Christ: