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█ INTRODUCTION. The (unknown) author of the Epistle to the Hebrews writes:
“… looking to Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right of the throne of God." [Hebrews12:2MKJV].
The Afrikaans Bible translates this text as, “Die oog gevestig op Jesus …” (“The eye fixed on Jesus …”).
Dutch translation: “Ziende op den oversten Leidsman en Voleinder des geloofs, Jezus ...”. (“Seeing/Looking on Jesus ...”).
Yes, Christians walk by faith and not by sight [2Corinthians5:5], but always bearing in mind that our faith is the visionary eye of the spirit man, and not the over-optimistic delusions of the gambling fool. Blind faith is when a gambler bets his car on his ‘good hand’ during a poker game or his house on the ‘tote favourite’ at a horse-race based on a bogus ‘juicy tip’ from the stables. We, however, may walk by faith, but it is not the blind faith of the hedonist’s unbridled indulgence in pleasure or the atheist’s irrational hope in his/her morbid doctrine of ‘death-after-death’. It is faith predicated on experience, observation, Scripture and the bona fides of Moses and Jesus Christ. It is faith founded on the promises of and a personal relationship with God; driven by the fear of God and the honouring of His Son, Jesus Christ.
Yes, Christians walk by faith and not by sight [2Corinthians5:5], but always bearing in mind that our faith is the visionary eye of the spirit man, and not the over-optimistic delusions of the gambling fool. Blind faith is when a gambler bets his car on his ‘good hand’ during a poker game or his house on the ‘tote favourite’ at a horse-race based on a bogus ‘juicy tip’ from the stables. We, however, may walk by faith, but it is not the blind faith of the hedonist’s unbridled indulgence in pleasure or the atheist’s irrational hope in his/her morbid doctrine of ‘death-after-death’. It is faith predicated on experience, observation, Scripture and the bona fides of Moses and Jesus Christ. It is faith founded on the promises of and a personal relationship with God; driven by the fear of God and the honouring of His Son, Jesus Christ.
█ JESUS CHRIST: THE AUTHOR OF OUR FAITH. Jesus Christ is the ‘Author of our faith’ because He became the Author of eternal salvation to all those who obey Him.
“And being perfected, He became the Author of eternal salvation to all those who obey Him.” [Hebrews5:9MKJV].
To accomplish this, He has had to go through a painful, laborious process:
▶ ‘He endured the cross’. This included an exhaustive interrogation regime comprising appearances before the Jewish Council (‘Sanhedrin’); Herod’s Court and finally, Pontius Pilate. By then He has been brutally physically assaulted, His beard plucked out, the wreath of thorns (‘Ziziphus Spina Christi’, ‘Jujube Tree’) placed on His head in a mockery of Jesus, the ‘King of the Jews’, eventually culminating in the brutal flogging (39 lashes) with the Roman whip, the ‘Cat O’ Nine Tails’.
It is unthinkable how they could have expected Him afterwards to still carry the crossbeam of His cross all the way along the Via Dolorosa to Golgotha’s Hill. How and why was He able to absorb and tolerate such incapacitating punishment? Because, as the Bible says, “ … for the joy that was set before Him …”. [Hebrews12:2].
▶ ‘Despising the Shame’. What shame? The shame of the insults by the snobbish, pontificating members of the Sanhedrin, i.e., ecclesiastics manifestly far inferior to Him intellectually, spiritually and theologically; the shame of a criminal stigma assigned to Him by a motley crowd of religious zealots interspersed with the hordes of riff-raff from Jerusalem’s low-life society in an open court presided over by ‘Palestine Procurator’ Pontius Pilate; the shame of Him as an accomplished carpenter and respected rabbi ’, impaled naked and helpless on a cross for all and sundry (including His mother, Mary, His Aunt Mary, Mary Magdalene, His be-loved disciple John and, of course, the contingent of Roman sentries responsible for the execution, the guarding of the execution site and internment in the grave) to look upon, either in deep sorrow or in glee.
To add further insult to injury, the entire process of arresting, hearing and charging Jesus reeked with inhumane, procedural unfairness: Arrested in the deep hours of the night and early hours of the morning, He was not allowed the right and opportunity to call eyewitnesses to testify in His favour neither allowed the right and opportunity to call legal counsel as if being betrayed by His ‘Treasurer’ (Judas Iscarioth), thrice publicly denounced (by His disciple Peter) and with the rest of the disciples so glaringly conspicuous in their absence, were not enough.
▋The Authority of Jesus Christ. The Bible says:
“… looking to Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right of the throne of God.” [Hebrews12:2MKJV].
So, in the final analysis, Jesus of Nazareth, the lowly carpenter and Nazarene (from Nazareth) and the cynical A.C. Swinburne’s ‘pale Galilean’, son of Joseph and Mary, was finally raised to the right hand of the Throne of God. To the success of Jesus Christ in conquering Rome, Swinburne (1837-1909) morbidly objected:
▶ Jesus Christ sat down at the right of the Throne of God.
Vicisti Galilaee
Julian the Apostate, Hymn to Proserpine (1866)
A.C. Swinburne (1837-1909)
“Thou hast conquered, O pale Galilean; the world has grown grey from thy breath;
We have drunken of things Lethean, and fed on the fulness of death.”
Sanders, Fred (2010) Swinburne vs. The Pale Galilean. The Scriptorium Daily. Online. https://scriptoriumdaily.com/swinburne-vs-the-pale-galilean/
▶ Jesus Christ sat down at the right of the Throne of God.
“… and sat down at the right of the throne of God.”
[Hebrews12:2bMKJV]
▶ All Authority is given to Jesus Christ in Heaven and in earth.
“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority is given to Me in Heaven and in earth. Therefore go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things, whatever I commanded you. And, behold, I am with you all the days until the end of the world. Amen.”
[Matthew28:18-20MKJV].
▶ Jesus Christ was the Architect & Projects Engineer appointed by God the Create the Worlds.
“God, who at many times and in many ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds, who being the shining splendor of His glory, and the express image of His essence, and upholding all things by the word of His power, through Himself cleansing of our sins, He sat down on the right of the Majesty on high.”
[Hebrews1:1-3MKJV].
▶ Jesus Christ the Alpha & Omega for the free Water of Life. The Bible says:
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, the First and the Last. Blessed are they who do His command-ments, that their authority will be over the Tree of Life, and they may enter in by the gates into the city. I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify these things to you over the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright and Morning Star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come! And let the one hearing say, Come! And let the one who is thirsty come. And he willing, let him take of the Water of Life freely.”
[Revelation22:13-17MKJV].
▶ Jesus Christ is Coming Back.
“Behold, He comes with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, and those who pierced Him will see Him, and all the kindreds of the earth will wail because of Him. Even so, Amen. I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, says the Lord, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
[Revelation1:7-8MKJV].
▋PROMISES TO OVERCOMERS FROM JESUS CHRIST. Promises as published by the beloved disciple John in exile on the Isle of Patmos after having seen Jesus Christ in a glorious vision:
“And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the seven lampstands I saw One like the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the feet, and tied around the breast with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow. And His eyes were like a flame of fire. And His feet were like burnished brass having been fired in a furnace. And His voice was like the sound of many waters.”
[Revelation1:12-15MKJV].
▶ Promise #1.
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.”
[Revelation-2:7MKJV].
▶ Promise #2.
”He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.”
[Revelation2:11MKJV].
▶ Promise #3.
”To him who overcomes I will give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give to him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knows except he who receives it.”
[Revelation-2:17b].
▶ Promise #4.
”And he who overcomes and keeps My works to the end, to him I will give power over the nations. And he will rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of a potter they will be broken to pieces, even as I received from My Father. And I will give him the Morning Star. .”
[Revelation2:26-27MKJV].
▶ Promise #5.
”The one who overcomes, this one will be clothed in white clothing. And I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.”
[Revelation3:5MKJV].
▶ Promise #6.
”Him who overcomes I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will go out no more. And I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of Heaven from My God, and My new name.“
[Revelation3:12MKJV].
▶ Promise #7.
”To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame and have sat down with My Father in His throne.”
[Revelation3:21MKJV].
▋JESUS CHRIST TO RETURN IN POWER AND GLORY.
“And I saw Heaven opened. And behold, a white horse! And He sitting on him was called Faithful and True. And in righteousness He judges and makes war. And His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head many crowns. And He had a name written, one that no one knew except Himself. And He had been clothed in a garment dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in Heaven followed Him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, so that with it He should strike the nations. And He will shepherd them with a rod of iron. And He treads the winepress of the wine of the anger and of the wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His garment, and on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.”
[Revelation19:11-16MKJV].
▋GOD’S PROMISE OF A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH.
“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. And the sea no longer is. And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of Heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her Husband. And I heard a great voice out of Heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away all tears from their eyes. And there will be no more death, nor mourning, nor crying out, nor will there be any more pain; for the first things passed away. And He sitting on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said to me, Write, for these words are true and faithful.”
[Revelation21:1-5MKJV].
▋JESUS CHRIST TO ANNOUNCE HIS NEW NAME. ”
Him who overcomes I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will go out no more. And I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of Heaven from My God, and My new name.“
[Revelation3:12MKJV].
▋JESUS CHRIST (THE SON) TO HAND THE CONQUERED KINGDOM TO THE FATHER.
“If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now Christ has risen from the dead, and has become the first-fruit of those who slept. For since death is through man, the resurrection of the dead also is through a Man. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first-fruit, and afterward they who are Christ's at His coming; then is the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He makes to cease all rule and all authority and power.” [1Corinthians15:19-24MKJV].
▋THE BEATITUDES OF JESUS CHRIST.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit! For theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are they that mourn! For they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek! For they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness! For they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful! For they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart! For they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers! For they shall be called the sons of God. Blessed are they who have been persecuted for righteousness sake! For theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for your reward in Heaven is great. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
[Revelation5:3-12MKJV].
▋HEAVEN’S WONDERFUL ‘BOOK OF REMEMBRANCE’.
“Then those fearing Jehovah spoke together, each man to his neighbor. And Jehovah listened and heard. And a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who feared Jehovah, and for those esteeming His name. And they shall be Mine, says Jehovah of Hosts, for the day that I will make up My treasure. And I will pity them as a man has pity on his son who serves him. Then you shall again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God, and him who does not serve Him.”
[Malachi3:16-18MKJV].
IS YOUR NAME WRITTEN IN GOD'S BOOK OF REMEMBRANCE?
