Jesus is Lord. The earliest and most succinct words of confession. They echo Thomas’ declaration upon seeing the risen Jesus, “My Lord and my God” (John 20′:28) and Peter’s stunning confession “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16) To say “Jesus is Lord” is an exclusive statement. There can be no other. All other powers, authorities, rulers, and nations are secondary to the authority and lordship of Jesus.
Over these past few weeks following Easter, we have been looking at the implications of the resurrection of Jesus. Our guide has been the writings of Dr. Stephen Seamands, and his book, Give Them Christ: Preaching His Incarnation, Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension and Return. We have explored many topics.
Jesus’ resurrection gives us confidence that the promises of God are true. He is wholly trustworthy and reliable. Even in the darkest of times, we know that righteous has and will be vindicated. God always gets the last word.
The resurrection of Jesus gives us hope that all is being and will be made new. For God so loved all of creation that he gave his son that all of creation might be saved.
The resurrection of Jesus means to be a Christ is to be one who has been saved from the penalty of sin, set free for the power of sin and who lives a life of holiness following the example given to us by Jesus. Our personal salvation is a charge to live a life worthy of the good news of Jesus.
Finally, this week we witness the resurrection of Jesus manifesting the Lordship of Jesus to the world. When we say Jesus is Lord we declare God’s unconditional and absolute claim.
First, Lord (Kurios) indicates the ‘unconditional claim of God in the face of the whole universe.’ Such a claim . . . includes cosmic lordship. As the one through whom all things were made (Jn 1:3; Col 1:16) and are held together (Col 1:17), he has absolute power over all created things. Furthermore, it includes moral lordship over the conscience of every human being. He has the right to place moral demands on us. It also includes community lordship. He is the King of Israel (Jn 1:49) and the head of the church (Col 1:18) and exercises divine lordship over the community of believers. Lordship, therefore, extends over every sphere of creation, every knee and tongue, every height and depth. No cosmic, societal, communal or personal space stands outside it. He is Lord of all, period. Consequently, . . . ‘There is not one square inch of the entire creation about which Jesus Christ does not cry out, ‘This is mine! This belongs to me!’ Second, lordship signifies . . . God’s absolute claim on us. He is Lord in all things and in every situation. Thate means there can be no other lords. He will tolerate no rivals. (Seamands 111)
The implications of Jesus’ absolute and unconditional claim of lordship upon all of creation cannot begin to be understated. In our debate and disagreements, we often seek to demonstrate that Jesus is on our side. To do so is to make Jesus submit to our intellect. In what ways might we instead invert our lives to be in total submission to him?
Jesus is Lord.
Blessings,
Stephen
Citations:
Seamands, Stephen A. Give them Christ: preaching his incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and return. IVP Books, 2012.