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Part 3 - The Fall and the Restoration
Restoration in Christ: The Lordship of Christ
The Bible states "that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and
believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be
saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the
mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Rom. 10:9-10). Here, two
conditions are presented for salvation: confessing the Lord Jesus and
believing God has raised Him from the dead. "Lord" is not a name for Jesus,
it is His title. It is a title of authority, meaning master. To confess the
Lord Jesus is to acknowledge his supreme authority as a master over oneself.
The exaltation of Christ
The resurrection of Christ and His ascension into Heaven is proof of God the
Father's acceptance of the sinless perfection of Christ. It shows the
standard of righteousness that God will accept. Jesus said of the Holy
Spirit, "And when He has come, He will convict the world . . . of
righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more" (John
16:8,10). Paul the Apostle writes concerning this: "And being found in
appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of
death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted
Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of
Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and
of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:8-11). The
resurrection of Christ and His exaltation by the Father is not only proof of
His righteousness, but of His rightful lordship over all.
The obedience of Christ as a man, to the point of death, is also spoken
of by the writer to the Hebrews: "though He was a Son, yet He learned
obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He
became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him" (Heb. 5:8-9).
Those who confess Jesus as Lord and believe in their heart that God has
raised Him from the dead know Jesus as "the author of eternal salvation."
"For with the heart one believes unto righteousness." Paul writes
that God, "even
when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ
(by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit
together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:5-6). Obedience to
Christ leads one to be joined to Christ, to find life in Him. In this God
considers the believer to have been raised up with Christ and imputes the
righteousness of Christ to the believer. However one cannot believe that one
has entered into new life with Christ without believing from the heart that
Christ has been raised from the dead.
The answer to the fall of man
The obedience of Christ is in contrast to the disobedience that resulted
in the fall of Adam and Eve. When man disobeyed God's command his heart
turned from God and became centered upon himself. Man elevated himself above
God and took God's place. In contrast Christ submitted Himself to God's will
and was obedient to the point of death on the cross. In this God was
glorified through the only man in human history who was perfectly submissive
to His will. In this Jesus has been exalted as head and lord over all. He
has become the "author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him." Jesus is
God's answer to the main cause of the fall of man, the turning away of man's
heart in disobedience.
To come to Christ requires a repentance from putting oneself above God.
To confess Christ as Lord and as the One to whom one must obey is to
renounce that which caused the fall of man. To bow the knee to Jesus is to
willingly come under the authority of God. When Jesus said, "If anyone
desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and
follow Me," this in part is the denial of that part of one's self, the
heart. To come to the cross of Christ is to submit to the obedience of
Christ. This is to account that the rebellious self has died with Christ and
that God's rightful place is the center of one's heart. The submission and
obedience of Christ as a man to God is accounted to those who take their
place in and under Christ by faith.
The authority structure of God
Paul wrote of the exaltation of Jesus by the Father, "And He put all
things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the
church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all" (Eph.
1:22-23). As a mediator, Jesus is head over His people. The authority
structure that God has established is written of by Paul to the Corinthians:
"But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of
woman is man, and the head of Christ is God" (1 Cor. 11:3). The rebellious
nature of man bristles at this, but those who obey Christ find peace from
rebellion against God.
The First Commandment states, "I am the LORD your God who brought you out
of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other
gods before Me" (Deut. 5:6-7). This law of preservation for the redeemed
of Israel finds its fulfillment in Christ, for Paul wrote, "Now when all things are
made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who
put all things under Him, that God may be all in all" (1 Cor. 15:28). It is
through the lordship of Christ that God is all in all and that the first of
the Ten Commandments is fulfilled. The First Commandment is a model of
restoration in Christ and points to one of four essential aspects of a right
relationship with God: submission to Yahweh as the one and only supreme
authority. This authority structure of Yahweh was expressed by Jesus who
said, "No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6).
Four essential elements
It is easy to confess Christ with the mouth and say "Lord, Lord" however
without believing it in one's heart. Jesus Himself said, "These people draw
near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart
is far from Me" (Matt. 15:8). The prophet Jeremiah wrote, "The heart is
deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the
LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to
his ways, According to the fruit of his doings" (Jer. 17:9-10). God searches
and tests the hearts and minds of men, and the test of keeping the First
Commandment is the keeping of the next three of the Ten
Commandments. God being all in all is encompassed by four essential elements
which are modeled by the first four of the Ten Commandments. These are all
fulfilled in Christ, with the first being the lordship of Christ. The
lordship of Christ is the denial of self where the heart of the believer
gives way to God.
God is all in all when one walks in the Spirit which is modeled in the
second of the Ten Commandments. This is the denial of self where one relies
upon the fullness of God instead of one's own possessions and resources.
This is to glory in the living God and His living works instead of glorying in one's own
dead works. It is to allow God's living presence to be all in every situation by abiding in the life of Christ. (See Life in Christ).
To this end Jesus said, "I am the life."
God is all in all when one walks by faith, modeled by the third of the
Ten Commandments. This is the denial of self
where one submits to God's understanding and judgments in all matters, even
when one cannot comprehend a situation. It is to submit to God's plans and
purposes by faith. God is glorified when He is trusted
in and counted upon, the basis for which can be found in His name. (See Faith in Christ).
To this end Jesus said, "I am the truth."
God is all in all when one rests in His finished work of redemption,
modeled by the fourth of the Ten Commandments. This
is the denial of self where one counts oneself unable to accomplish that
which only Christ has done. It is to glory in God's strength that has
accomplished the work of salvation and brings righteousness. (See Rest in Christ).
To this end Jesus said, "I am the way."
To know Yahweh as one's God, and to know no other God, is fulfilled
in and through the lordship of Jesus Christ and obedience to His commands, which
lead the believer to live in Him, have faith in Him, and rest in Him. This
is encapsulated in the claim of Jesus that, "I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6).
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