The One-Faceted Christ
Through the years, we have lamented the fact that so many of those in the religious world never see the true Christ. Their theologies, formed in keeping with human wisdom and that which man wants to hear results in their seeing a one-faceted Christ. And that one-faceted Christ is not the Christ presented to us in the Bible! The religious world has been presented with a Christ who requires faith, but who does not require obedience in any other particular. They see a Christ sent from the Father with the purpose of saving, but whose gospel is really not essential to man's salvation. And they see a Christ who is to be remembered as men partake of elements standing for His blood and His body, but a Christ whose body - the church - has not one thing to do with salvation. They see one who IS the Christ, but whose WORDS can be ignored, played with, abused and mishandled at man's pleasure. They see a Christ who is wholly love, wholly tolerant, wholly giving, and never see a Christ who has wrath, who brings retribution and who brings condemnation!
Sadly, the ideas existing among the religious people of the world often become ideas in the church of the Lord. Many in the church of our time see the Christ of compassion (Mark 1:41), but they do not see the Christ who said, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" (Matthew 23). They see the Christ who commissioned Paul, and provided revelation to him (Galatians 1:12), but they do not see the Christ who moved Paul to demand discipline for the wrongdoer (1 Corinthians 5). They see the Christ who is PRINCE OF PEACE (Isaiah 9:6), but they do not see the Christ who is also the LION OF JUDAH (Revelation 5:5). Then, when such exists in the church of the Lord, it means that members of the church have no better, and no more Scriptural, view of the Christ than do those of sectarianism. And no wonder that some in the church are so comfortable with denominational terminology, denominational theology, denominational views, and then will declare the Jesus' church is a denomination like all the rest!
The Prince of Peace made it clear that He was bringing a sword into the world (Matthew 10:34), and that it would be evident in many a household (vs. 35, 36). Whereas the selfish desires of men are such that they wish to see a Christ who comes saying, "Love, Love," and blessing everyone in all conditions in which He finds them; the correct picture is that of Christ who did love all men, and through that love gave Himself for all men, but also the Christ who through love offers man the way of redemption with certain assurances given of condemnation if man spurns the offer!
So, the Prince of Peace is also the Lion of Judah! The complete, and the Scriptural, picture of Christ is to see both facets. Since we in the church of the Lord are to partake of Him, and have our values established exactly as He is, it is not surprising that the church also has those two aspects: compassion and condemnation. The body of the Lord is authorized to make known the manifold wisdom of God (Ephesians 3:10), and thus to declare the love, mercy and compassion of the Lord, both in the message and in those virtues in the lives of the members. Indeed that is so! But the other side is there as well. The very same message speaking the love and mercy, speaks of condemnation and damnation for the one persisting in sin! The body of the Lord stands in full assurance of the blessings and mercies of the Lord, but also holds the sword - the Word of God - in hand (Ephesians 6:17). Declaring the fullness of God's love, walks hand in hand with, also declaring the condemnation of God upon those who do evil. David of old teaches us a good lesson here, in that he declared the precepts of God to be right and beneficial, and in holding that ground he also had to say, "Therefore I hate every false way!" (Psalms 119:104, 128).
Those in the religious world, and in the church
who are exposed to only the one facet of the nature and makeup of God and His
Son, really have not been given the true and Biblical picture of the Christ! He
is not a one-faceted Being. He blesses and He condemns. His message contains
both blessings and condemnations. His body, the church, proclaims that same
message, and if she does so loyally, she proclaims both the blessings and the
condemnations!
By: Bill Jackson, Christian Worker, 2/88