|
| Home | 2003 |
Two Thrones, Two Lords, Two Saviors, One God
Kenneth Westby
Much of the confusion
concerning claims for Christ's preexistence arises from misunderstanding his
exaltation and glorification following his resurrection.
Since Christ was in
God's plan from the beginning, some have reread his glorified existence into
the eternal past. They fail to see that the greatest work of God in all eternity
was to bring a man, his begotten son, into this world, and after his
sacrificial death to resurrect him to heavenly power and glory over all
creation. The birth of Jesus, his life, death, resurrection and ascension to
heaven took place in real-time human history before the eyes of thousands. His
ascension to his God and Fa1her is what energized the beginning of the Church
of God and made plain The Way to the Kingdom of God. This seminal event in
God's Grand Plan is described by David, Daniel, Paul and Jesus and is
illustrated by examining the claims of the title above.Introduction
Scholars can agree that
not a scrap of the New Testament was written prior to the resurrection of
Jesus. Notes may have been taken and some speculate that a book of "The
Sayings of Jesus" may have begun to be assembled from which the Gospel
writers later would reference. But no Gospels, no epistles, and no Apocalypse
were penned until decades after Jesus was taken up into the clouds. This fact
is not debated.
This point can be
important when confronting the very few scriptures in the NT that seem to
reference the preexistence of a glorified Christ. These scriptures are
misunderstood, leading some to erroneously conclude that in order for Christ
to have lived in the eternal past, he must have been a God. Then the conclusion
follows that he was the God of the Old Testament. Yet, this speculation gives
us two Gods (or three if one regards the Holy Spirit as another God in the
"Godhead"), and seems to:
1) Fly in the face of the
hundreds of clear biblical expressions of one supreme God, admitting no others
beside him. The application to Christ of the title (theos) is
exceedingly rare, fewer than seven out of 1,315 NT uses of theos, and
most of those are hotly disputed among scholars or are simply a question of
interpretation within context;
2) Render the historical
biblical accounts of the genesis of Christ-being born of a young virgin,
etc.-impossible to take at face value. The birth account must be reinterpreted,
with difficulty, to be the morphing of a preexistent God, now called Jesus,
into a man for 33 years before going back to his previous role and duties in
heaven. We are to believe that the eternal, self-existing God of the OT died.
We are asked to believe that Jesus was a man like us who struggled and was
tempted, yet was also God. We are asked to mirror the life and follow the footsteps
of, not the Son of Man/Son of God, but of a God in man's skin.
When our NT authors wrote
of Jesus they always had in view the risen, glorified Christ. How could they
avoid that reality? Jesus was alive and had been exalted to Lord of the
Universe under his Father. The Gospel writers did their best to be historians
as they recounted the life and times of Jesus of Nazareth. But even they on
occasion (especially John) let the present reality of Christ's exalted position
enter the telling of their history.
Paul, however, was not
writing history. He said he no longer viewed Christ after the flesh (2 Cor 5:
16) as most everyone did prior to the resurrection. He was continually mindful
of who Jesus was at that moment and who he is for all eternity. He and the
other apostles gradually wrapped their minds around the fact of Christ's
greatness. He was more than the Anointed One and David's seed, he was now the
Lord of Glory, the King of the Kingdom of God, and seated at Yahweh's right
hand in heaven.
What an emotional and
intellectual upheaval the men and women who actually knew Christ must have
experienced! They talked to, laughed with, walked with, and ate with the One
who is now the Judge of the earth. It must have been both difficult and
exhilarating to realize they had witnessed the zenith of all of God's great
works, the magnalia dei—right before their eyes. They had seen the
fullest expression of God's love for the human family (In 3:16).
As time went by, the
apostles rethought the OT prophecies that spoke of Christ and saw that he was
at the center of the Father's plan before the world was created. They now
perceived that God had planned to have a son and make him ruler of all. The
plan of God was coming clearly into focus, and the resurrection and ascension
of Christ were the keys to unlocking their new understanding. They understood
that when God plans something it is already reality and that it must and will
happen. This is why God can speak of those things that are not yet as though
they have already happened (Rom 4: 17). The many God-given prophetic dreams
and visions of future events are examples of this reality.
Paul, more than the other
NT apostles, wrote of Jesus' position at the center of the Father's heart and
purposes from the very beginning. Paul's projecting backward of the glorified
Son's presence in the Father's plan should not be seen as some mystical
preexistence doctrine he was obliquely introducing. As we shall see from a few
examples, Paul is dedicated to explaining just how great the Christ event was
and how superlatively great Christ now is.
This is the reason the
resurrection of Christ dominated the preaching of the early church. It and
Christ's ascension to heaven launched the Church and began what scholars call
"The Jesus Movement."
Those who lived when
Jesus walked the earth never considered him to be God. Only gradually did his
disciples grasp that he was the promised Messiah. Even that realization did
not require they see him as a God. In Jewish theology the Messiah was never considered
God, but a special one anointed and sent by God. But after God raised Christ
from the dead and exalted him, these witnesses of the historical Jesus now saw
him in a brilliant new light.
They now saw him as Lord
and that they must obey him as they would God himself They realized that he
personifies God's Word, speaks for God, and rules all creation from his throne
next to God's in heaven. It was the work: of God that made Christ so powerful
and glorified. It was his place next to the Father that demands every knee
shall bow.
Is it any wonder why we
see NT writers, on occasion, project Christ's present heavenly position back to
original creation, to his place in God's design before there was a creation?
They make no attempt to overthrow biblical monotheism by such references. They
carefully and continually make distinctions between God the Fa1her and our Lord
Jesus Christ. They never contradict Christ's claim that the Father is God and
is greater than he is. This they knew. And the NT writers never contradict the
OT by calling Jesus God.
It is a mistake to read
his exalted position-given by God at a specific time (though predicted and
planned from the beginning)--back into the ages before he was born to Mary. Had
the church fathers stuck to Paul, the apostles, and the understanding of the
early Jewish believers, instead of trying to understand the glorified Christ
by Greek philosophy and religious notions, we wouldn't have a Trinity doctrine
today.
Had the theologians of
the 2nd to the 4th century not strayed from monotheism, they could have taken
the story of Jesus at face value as written without having to find a mystical,
extra-biblical, explanation for Christ's glory and power.The answer to Christ's
greatness is not to be found in a preexistence story. The simple truth is, and
the biblical record states that, God glorified His Son, God put him on a
throne next to his own, God made him Lord, and God accepted his sacrifice as
mankind's savior.
We shall now focus on the
truth of two Thrones, two Lords, Two Saviors . . . and One God.
Two Thrones
There exists a strong
connection between three Messianic passages from Scripture—a connection that
can shed light on who Jesus was and is, and how he become Lord. This connection
will also clarify Paul's comments in Philippians 2:5-11 concerning Christ's
attitude of humility, which is commonly 1.U1derstood to be His giving up of His
preexistent God-ness to become a mere man. More on this later.
Text #1: Daniel
7:9-14
"As I looked,
thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took His seat. His clothing
was as white as snow; the hair of His head was white like wool. His throne was
flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. A river of fire was flowing,
coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; then
thousand times ten thousand stood before him . . .
". . . In my vision
at night I looked and there before me was one like the son of man, coming in
the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His presence.
He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men
of every language worship him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that
will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed"
(NIV-used throughout).
In the NT's most
frequently quoted passage from Daniel, a God-given vision describes that
greatest event in all history, which we referred to in our introduction.
Scholars recognize this passage as one of the most powerful and specific
Messianic predictions in the Hebrew Bible. Jesus himself regarded Daniel 7:13
as predictive of himself and that the two elements "like a son of
man" and "with the clouds of heaven" combined to constitute a
Messianic title.
Daniel wrote down this
vision hundreds of years before Jesus was born, and it is presented here in the
context of the climax of man's earthly rule. It is the story of the Fifth
Kingdom that follows the four failed empires with their iterations-with special
focus on the fourth kingdom with its boastful beast. The vision describes who
the ruler of that final and forever kingdom will be and how he received that
honor. It graphically pictures the great coronation event that we refer to as
Christ's ascension and glorification.
First notice the setting,
"Thrones (Plural) were set in place. . ." The rest of the scene tells
us there are two thrones—the second one being reserved for the Son of Man soon
to enter God's presence. As is common with apocalyptic literature, events over
time are conflated and various scenes appear and disappear. The first scene is
God on His throne. Then (vs. 11) we are moved back to the scene of the
disturbing and terrifying fourth beast introduced in vs. 7. God deals with this
boastful little horn (Antichrist?). Then the scene quickly returns to the
Ancient of Days being approached by one called the Son of Man.
We are now given insight
into just who is going to be the new king to replace this parade of failed
leaders and kingdoms. When this Son of Man comes through the clouds into the
presence of God he is "given" authority, glory, power, dominion, a
kingdom and made worthy of worship. This Son of Man title is the one Christ
commonly applied to himself.
Following His
resurrection, Christ was spotted by Mary (not His mother), who thought he was a
gardener. When she recognized him as her "Rabbi" she wanted to
embrace him, but Jesus said don't hold on to me for I have not ascended to my
Father (In 20:17). Later, after His ascension he makes the remarkable
pronouncement to His disciples that "all authority in heaven and earth
has been given to me" (Mt 28: 16). The Ancient of Days has given Jesus His
throne in heaven as pictured in the vision to Daniel. There are now two thrones
in heaven—with Christ seated at His Father's right hand.
Two Lords
Near the close of his
ministry, Christ challenged the Pharisees to identify the Messiah. "What
do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" They answered, "The
son of David"
Jesus then asked them,
"How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him 'Lord'? For
he says, 'The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I put your
enemies under your feet. If then David calls him 'Lord,' how can he be his
son?" (Mt 22:41-46)
Text #2: Psalm 110:1
Jesus' quote of Psalm
110, in the context of his questions, left His adversaries speechless. Jesus
wasn't playing games to flummox Pharisees; he was making a point central to His
identity. This Psalm of David that Jesus quoted is the most quoted Psalm in the
NT for the simple reason that it clearly describes the Messiah in terms of
"Lord." Jesus declared that David spoke these profound, prescient
words "by the Spirit."
Clearly, there are two
different Lords in view. One is Yahweh, the first LORD (Heb adonai) who
says to David's Lord (Heb adoni), the Messiah, "Sit at my right
hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." David's
"Lord" must be a greater authority than David, King of Israel, else
David would not honor him as his Lord. This "Lord" of David would be
asked to sit at Yahweh's right hand. Here again is the scene of Daniel's
vision, this time given hundreds of years in advance of Daniel's birth.
This event, Christ
installation at the Father's right hand, is the seminal event of history. It
represents Christ's coronation as King of Kings. This is what occurred at
Christ's ascension, and because of it all mankind has a Savior, "the man
Christ Jesus" (1 Tim 2:5). Jesus' exaltation to His own throne and being
given the title "Lord" is the fulfillment of his Father's plan
conceived from the foundation of the world.
Jesus' title of Lord is
not a title meaning he is God. It is a title given him by God, one that confers
to him Lordship over all creation. He of course derives this Lordship from His
Lord God. Both the glorified Christ and the Father can be correctly referred to
as "Lord": Lord God, the Father, and Lord Jesus Christ. Paul uses the
title Lord (Gk. Kyrios) interchangeably in his letters, sometimes
referring to the One God, other times referring to Christ. David acknowledged
two Lords, so did Paul. One is God, the other is the Christ. (See Rom 4:8;
9:28-29; 10: 16; 11:3, 34; 1 Cor 3:20; 10:26 for samples of Paul using Kyrios
in reference to Yahweh.) Paul is always careful to make distinctions
between the two Lords and never asserts that Jesus is God.
Paul writes that there
"is but one God, the Father . . . and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ.
. . “(1 Cor 8:6). He also confesses his prayer to the Ephesians in these words,
"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father,
may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him
better" (Eph 1 :7).
Paul immediately recounts
that seminal event David described, Daniel saw in vision, and Christ himself
predicted:
"His incomparable
great power for us who believe . . . his mighty strength which he exerted in
Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at His right hand in the
heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and
every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one
to come. And God placed all things under His feet and appointed him to be head
over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of him who
fills everything in every way" (Eph 1: 19-23).
Two Lords, One God,
Two Saviors
We have seen that the
title Lord that can be applied to either God or Christ, since each is a Lord to
us. Likewise, the title Savior is one that Father and Son share. Paul expresses
the saving action of both God and Christ in 1 Tim 2:2,
"This is good and
pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to the
knowledge of the troth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and
men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men-the
testimony given in its proper time."
Clearly, the father is
the Savior of all mankind and is called Savior throughout the OT and NT-five
times in Paul's Pastorals. But, as Paul testifies, it is Jesus' self-sacrifice
and the Father's acceptance of His sacrifice that entitles Jesus to also be
called Savior. In the same paragraph Paul can speak of:
"God who has saved
us. . ." and of the grace "revealed through the appearing of our
Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel" (2 Tim 1 :9-10). Peter segregates
"God" from "Jesus," in his Second General Epistle's opening
greetings: "Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of
God and of Jesus our Lord" (vs. 2). In verse 1 he mentions both
"God" and the "Savior Jesus Christ." In Jude's concluding
doxology he writes:
"To him who is able
to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence
without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty,
power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and
forevermore! Amen" (Jude 24-25).
This apostle, believed to
be a brother of Jesus, acknowledges that God saves through the life and
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. Jesus was made a Savior by his Father, just as he
was made Lord over all. It was his life that became a sweet savor to God. It is
his blood that the Father honors. The birth, life, death and resurrection to
glory of God's Son is the greatest display of the Father's love and of the
Son's love for us.
The Christ event is so
central to God's eternal plan that John’s heavenly vision speaks of Jesus as
"the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world" (Rev 13:8).
He wasn't actually slain then, as he wasn't actually invited to God's throne in
the days of David or Daniel, but it was promised to happen—and God's promises
never fail. Speaking of David, Paul states:
"From this
man's descendants God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus as he
promised."
God the Savior
made good his promise by providing salvation through his Son, the Savior Jesus.
Two Thrones, Two Lords, Two Saviors....
One God
Text #3: Philippians
2:1-11
We now
make full circle and come to the "difficu1f passage in Philippians the second
chapter. The context is Paul's homily for humility: "look not on your own
interests, but also to the interests of others"
(vs. 4).
To add authority and clarity to his exhortation, he references the attitude of
Christ.
"Your
attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
"Who
being in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be
grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant being
made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man he humbled
himself and became obedient to death—even the death on a cross!
"Therefore
God exalted him to the highest place and gave him a name that is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth
and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father" (vs. 5-11).
This rich
passage incorporates both the man Jesus and the resurrected and glorified
Christ. It honors the Father when we honor his son as Lord and Savior. While
some translations are clearer than others, what is obvious is Paul's
presentation of both Christ's pre-exaltation life and his post-exa1tation
glory. Paul does not call Jesus God. In fact, Paul tells us it is God who
exalted Jesus. And if Jesus refused to "grasp as being equal with God, plainly
he is someone different from God.
Being in
nature like God or in God's image as some translations render morphe theou,
is a clear reference to the words of God in Gen 1 where man (Adam) was made
in God's image (likeness). Elsewhere Paul makes it clear that Christ comes in
the role of the Second Adam (1 Cor. 15:45) not bringing sin into the world, but
ridding the world of sin and its curse. As Second Adam, Christ is the true and
spiritual image or form of Almighty God.
In typical
Jewish teaching style, Paul continues the comparison to the Adam allusion by
stating the contrast in their attitudes. Adam (and Eve), at the serpent's
urging, took action to "be like God" (equal to God) by getting the
knowledge of good and evil. Adam wanted to grasp at that forbidden fruit. There
was another fruit God wanted him to seek and grasp at located at the center of
Eden—The Tree of Life. Adam couldn't wait for God's plan to unfold He wasn't
content to wait for his fatherly Maker to exalt him. He committed the first
sin and set the wrong pattern for mankind to follow. He was impatient and
selfish—just what Paul was advising the Philippians not to be.
Christ,
however, did not rebel at his limitations and human flesh. He accepted God's
gift of life and grew up to perfectly mirror the very nature and spiritual
character of his Father. Sometime early in his life, he came to comprehend his
calling and discover himself in the Hebrew Scriptures. At age 12 he could tell
his parents, "Don't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" meaning
the Temple. He pored over the prophecies, considered the miracles surrounding
his birth, and as Luke writes, "Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in
favor with God and men" (Lk2:52).
We are not
told when he came to fully understood that he was the only begotten son of Yahweh.
Probably at an early age, long before he began his ministry at age 30. At that
time he would have known that David's Lord of Psalm 110 was he. He would have
known that Daniel's vision pictures him being given a throne of power and authority
over all creation. He knew that the angels were subject to him. He knew that he
could ask anything of the Father and it would be his. Yet there was no
selfishness in him.
Jesus
suppressed his fleshly pulls to yield to God's greater will. Even when facing
the horrors of a torturous death and not wanting to go through with it, he
humbled himself and said "not my will but yours be done." When
confronted by the arrogant military powers of Rome, he acknowledged he could
call down armies of heavenly angelic warriors and prevent a hand being laid on
him. But he didn't call. He didn't grasp to be exalted. He waited faithfully
and patiently for his Father's time. He did not claim his rights and honors
before the time. He humbled himself as a servant, as a lamb to the slaughter.
Jesus lived the principle
he taught his disciples (and teaches us): "For everyone who exalts himself
(like Adam did) will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be
exalted" (Lk 14:11; 18:14).
This is the meaning of
Philippians 2:1-11. Humility to God's will, "to act justly and to love
mercy and to walk humbly with our God" is "what the Lord requires of
you" (Micah 6:8). This is the example Christ set for us. Did God exalt him?
Did he rise from the dead, ascend to heaven, and receive a throne of glory?
Yes, all that and more.
Scholars believe verses
6-11 form an early Christian hymn that Paul used to illustrate Christ's example
of humility and exaltation by God. Many creedal statements were put into hymns
and sung by believers in the early church.
Jesus served, worshipped,
imitated and prayed to the "One True God." He was faithful to his
calling and he calls us to be true to ours. He who is now enthroned beside God
in heaven, as Lord and Savior, invites us to follow him into his Father's
Kingdom.
Conclusion
Christ's life, death, resurrection
and exaltation to heaven brought the Gospel of the Kingdom to the world with
unparalleled power. God had revealed through his mighty works that there are
now Two Thrones, Two Lords, Two Saviors—but only One God and Father of all. NT
writers realized Jesus fulfilled Daniel's vision in their lifetime. It was
almost beyond belief that the man they knew, loved and followed had become the
Lord of Glory. And to realize this was the Father's plan from the beginning
served to roll back the darkness and give them the full and magnificent picture
of God's Grand Plan. Is it any wonder that they from time to time discuss Jesus
as being eternal in God's plan?
Just imagine the
disciples' reaction to that scene of the Jesus they knew being brought into the
fiery presence of the Ancient of Days. It was forever itself burned into their
minds.
As righteous Steven was
being executed by a spiritually blinded Saul (Paul), God graciously gave him a
vision into heaven-to behold the sight above all sights—the scene Daniel saw.
Steven exclaimed:
"Look! I see heaven
open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God" (Acts 7:56)
Kenneth Westby@ 2003
Association for Christian Development P.O. Box 4748, Federal Way, WA 98063
Kenneth Westby is founder
and director of the Association for Christian Development, host of the weekly
Virtual Church telephone network and editor of The New Millennium journal
and www.godward.org Web site. Contact him at P.O. Box 4748, Federal Way, Wash.
98063, or
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
.
| Home | 2003 | Top of Page |
|
