THE POWER OF CHRIST

Matt. 28:18

Morning Meditation 8/2/17

"And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth."

These are some of the last words Jesus spoke to His disciples on earth before His ascension. These words prepare the disciples for the great commission. Matthew 28:19-20, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

He told them what to do: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Then after their confession and obedience in baptism He said, "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." Then He makes the promise which comes out of the statement in verse 18, "and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

The One who gave the commission is with us to furnish us all the power He possesses to do the job He has given us, and that is all power in heaven and in earth.

We will follow this outline in this meditation: Christ is, Christ can, Christ has, Christ will, and Christ does.

CHRIST IS

Isaiah 41:10, "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."

1. The LORD was concerned with the faith and boldness of His people. So to bolster their faith He says, "Fear thou not;" Then He gives the reason that Israel should not be afraid: "for I am with thee." That should take away Israel's fear. Now you have to understand that Israel was not a fighting people. They were a slave people in Egypt. They came out without horses. Horses and chariots were one of the main things used in ancient warfare.

Deuteronomy 17:16 says, "But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way."

Deuteronomy 20:1 says, "When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt."

The Lord didn't want His people to win their battles with the means of the world. I believe this is a type of the Lord saying, "Do not fight the Lord's battle in the strength of the flesh. Trust me and I will fight for you."

2. The Lord wanted His people to be self disciplined based on the promise of His presence. The Lord said, "be not dismayed." This means, "to look in dismay, gaze about in anxiety." One might say that the Lord is giving them an art of warfare. It is true, if you go against an enemy and he sees that you are afraid of him, the battle goes in his favor automatically. Have you ever seen two boxers meet in the middle of the ring before the fight begins and they stand nose to nose and try to stare one another down. If they can make the other dread meeting him, he has taken some of the fight out of the opponent.

This was not the Lord's purpose in saying, "be not dismayed." What God wanted is for Israel to measure the opponents by their God. If they did this there would be courage instead of fear as they entered into battle. With this attitude they could go into the battle against a well armed and trained army with nothing but a sling shot with five smooth stones, and have the courage that David had when he went against Goliath.

3. Here is God's promise: "I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." Jesus told the disciples, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth . . . and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."

Our Lord's living presence is our strength and consolation.

CHRIST CAN

Hebrews 2:14, "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;"

Jesus God's only begotten Son had to become a man with a human body to die. He could not experience death as we do as God. God is eternal and death is helpless to affect God in any way. Death in this passage is personified. It is pictured here as you would look at a person. So Jesus as God incarnate in the flesh went up against death by dying and in doing so destroyed it, and all that is associated with death, i.e., the principalities and powers.

Colossians 2:15, "And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it."

Paul says the Jesus on the cross "spoiled principalities and powers" and adds that "he made a shew of the openly, triumphing over them in it." John Gill says, "triumphing over them in it; which some understand of the cross, as if where and by what he got the victory, there he triumphed; the cross, where his enemies thought to make a show of him, expose him to public scorn and contempt, and to triumph over him, was as it were the triumphant chariot, in which he triumphed over all the powers of hell, when he had conquered them by it: but the words may be rendered "in himself", as they are and the sense be, that as he by himself got the victory, his own arm brought salvation to him, so he alone shared the glory and honour of the triumph: or it may be rendered "in him", and the whole in this and the preceding verse be applied to God the Father, who, as in Col 2:12,13; is said to raise Christ from the dead, to quicken sinners dead in sins, and to forgive all their trespasses; so he may be said to blot out the handwriting of ordinances, and to spoil principalities and powers, expose them to public view and shame, and triumph over them, "in him", in and by his Son Jesus Christ: the whole is an allusion to the victories, spoils, and triumphs, of the Roman emperors, who when they had obtained a victory, a triumph was decreed for them by the senate; in which the emperor was drawn in an open chariot, and the captives being stripped of their armour, and their hands tied behind them, were led before him and exposed to public view and disgrace; while he was shouted and applauded through the city of Rome, and had all the marks of honour and respect given him: now all that is said in the preceding verses show how complete the saints are in and by Christ; and stand in no need of the philosophy of the Gentiles, or the ceremonies of the Jews; nor have anything to fear from their enemies, sin, Satan, and the law, for sin is pardoned, the law is abolished, and Satan conquered."

CHRIST HAS

Luke 10:19, "Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you."

Christ has the power (authority) to give to us what is said in this verse. While I believe the "sign gifts" were not to last past the completion of the Bible, I do believe that Jesus can still answer any prayer He chooses. He is able to anoint any believer to do anything that is necessary for the spreading of the gospel and for his personal protection. He has that power. He does not always give that power and it has nothing to do with our lack of faith. It can be His sovereign will which we do not understand and will have to wait for the explanation unto His glorious coming.

CHRIST WILL

1 John 5:4-5, "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?"

Christ not only is, can, has, but He will!!! He says, "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world . . ." The word "overcometh" translates, "nikao" and means, "to conquer, to carry off the victory, come off victorious over all His foes, when one is arraigned or goes to law, to win the case, maintain one's cause." This verb is a present active indicative. The present tense means that Jesus has at the continuous (the present tense in the Greek is continuous action in the present) present the victory over all our enemies. This means we have at the present time the victory that overcometh the world.. Our part is simple faith in Him. Do you believe? Do you believe that He obtained victory by Himself and our part is simply to believe?

Hebrews 1:3, "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;"

CHRIST DOES

Faith makes His promise a present and continuous reality. Out text asks, "Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?"

This chapter in First John began this way: 1 John 5:1, "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him."

Christ is, can, has, will, and does. Praise His name!!! He is waiting for the unsaved to believe the gospel and for the Saints to believe He has all power in heaven and in earth with which to furnish them to do His work.

May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.

In Christ

Bro. White