No Other Power

Jesus Christ is the absolute Power of God. He is the Power that creates, sustains and destroys. There is no other power like Him. It is for this reason that men are able to believe in the gospel proclaimed. He is able to persuade them to believe and provide all things necessary for them to become God’s children. It is not the men and women proclaiming the gospel, but Christ who powerfully works in them that brings souls to God. His wisdom and Spirit empower them. It is imperative that churches fully understand Jesus, the Power of God. To know of Him as one born in the flesh, suffered, died and rose again is only half the knowledge about Him. To have fully known Him is to have grasped the absolute Power.

God did not intend to have sons without Jesus. The absolute Power became necessary for the absolute sons. Jesus is the only One able to explain God to men. Hence, God created everything through Him and every created thing had its beginning and end in Him. God determined this even before the earth was void and without form. Christians are familiar with Jesus as the Son of God. Yet, their familiarity with the power of the Son is tardy. They know Him as the Son who was raised from the dead by God. But, they do not know Him as the Power of God. When death itself could not hold Him, imagine the kind of power He is. “And one of the elders said to me, ‘Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals’” (Rev. 5:5). The symbolism used to describe Jesus itself reveals the vision God had for Him. It describes the work God appointed for Him. That He overcame indicates there was a need for someone to overcome to fulfill the work of God. And, Jesus was that One who overcame. He overcame the very thing that no man or angel is able. For who has the power to defeat death except Jesus who holds the authority over life and death? Hence, when He was put through every suffering and eventually the greatest one i.e. death, He still lives. This manifests Him as the absolute Power of God.

Had there been none present to open the book and its seven seals, there would not be salvation for men; sin would go unpunished and death would have the ultimate victory. But, now victory belongs to Jesus, and not only to Him, but to all those who have grasped the Power of God. Therefore, the sting of death, which is suffering in the flesh, has no perpetual power or authority over the sons of God. They undoubtedly overcome, because of the One who opened the seals. As He opened the seals, He laid out to His brethren the course of God’s action. How important is this course to the believing is understood from the weeping of John the apostle. If the book remains closed, there will not be the course of action that brings eternal life; believers’ belief in God becomes vain. For this reason alone Jesus, the absolute Power of God, became all the more pertinent for the sons of God. The fact that the opening of the seals began the work of God is proof of Christ working for the kingdom of God. This is confidence to the believing; the source for eternal life.

When there were none worthy before God to take hold of the book, Jesus proved He was worthy. He fulfilled the covenant God made to men i.e. that He would be their God forever. He purchased with His own blood a Kingdom for God. It is not for any reason that the Spirit at one place said that a covenant is valid only when the one who made it dies. Therefore, God who made the covenant had to die for it. Now, the covenant of God is not like that of men. It is unchangeable and forth coming. It is by faith and through the Spirit. It is the promise of God that appears from His word. Through it the works of Christ is revealed from faith to faith. By it God guides His sons. For once God makes a covenant with man it becomes to him the source of His guidance. This is the calling of God through the gospel. And, by the gospel He continues to make covenants with men. They cannot be nullified, but produce perfect and everlasting results.

Jesus performed works that He might lead men to obtain the everlasting covenant from God. But, they did not receive Him. And He said, “If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses will not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath?” (John 7:23). They preferred the Law to Christ. They did not regard Him as the Power of God. They who kept the Law for the wellness of man did not regard the works of Christ as that which leads them to the eternal covenant with God. They did not have the sense of understanding God, His promises and His prophecies. Jesus did not perform works to entertain men, but to build them up in the calling of God through the gospel. As many as believed Him were ensured the covenant of God. And, when He opened the book and broke the seals before God, the elders and the angels, He gave the guarantee to continue to perform works for men. Hence, all who believe are able to obtain by faith the covenant of God. For this very purpose He appoints men in various ministries that through them He fulfills the work of God. What God has planned He is able to perform.

The churches must understand that Jesus performs works by the covenant. This is for their spiritual well being. His works will keep them in God’s call. Those who were angry at Jesus did not desire Him. They rejected all His works. This meant that they rejected their very own Law and the Prophets, the very things they claimed to have received from God. They became odious to God. Make no mistake many churches are in their footsteps. They are denying the very Word they claim to have in their possession. But, the summing up of the gospel is Jesus the absolute Power of God to those who believe. “But Paul said, ‘I am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city; and I beg you, allow me to speak to the people’” (Acts 21:39). Paul did not have to go to such length. He was not afraid of them. Neither was he intending to seek an alternative to escape them. On the contrary, he was very keen being filled with the zeal of God to explain to them the Jesus that built him up in the call of God.

Paul used many occasions in his life to persuade men to believe in Jesus, because he believed and perceived Him as the absolute Power of God. He was convinced that this Christ is the Messiah prophesied in the Law and the Prophets. He arrived at this conclusion not through man or the work of man, but through the works of Jesus in and for him. What more, Paul used this Jesus that worked in him to persuade men toward God. He did not fail or more exactly, Jesus did not fail him. It is a must we realize that the word is written for our understanding of Him who is fulfilling the will of God. And therefore, we are being saved, kept in the covenant of God and led from faith to faith. Surely, there was a time when we were thrilled by the work of Jesus for our salvation. But, to imitate Christ for as long as we live happens only by realizing that Jesus still works to fulfill the will of God. His working for God is a result of His works for us. The yield is unfathomable. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3).

How important is it for Christians to know that God is blessed (well spoken of) when they are filled with the spiritual blessings in Christ! It is lack of this wisdom that many still do not seek Jesus to interfere in their lives. But, His works lead us to God’s blessings. They build us for glorifying God in the world. If we have not known this, we are most to be pitied. Unless we are built by Jesus, we cannot receive the blessings that speak well of God; and Jesus, the Power of God, never worked in and for us. If we refute His works, we curse God. But, to have received spiritual blessings signifies our reach in faith toward God. God blesses the believing that they stand strong in His covenant. They that heard Paul received the heavenly blessings, because they claimed Jesus. God did not fail them. So, let us also imitate them for a similar result. “For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own” (Heb. 11:14).

There are many that deny the works of Christ for the believing. Their loss is far too great to recover. But, you brethren, allow Christ to work richly in you and own God’s blessings. For our confidence sake God has revealed this word concerning Jesus. “And swore by Him who lives forever and ever, WHO CREATED HEAVEN AND THE THINGS IN IT, AND THE EARTH AND THE THINGS IN IT, AND THE SEA AND THE THINGS IN IT, that there will be delay no longer” (Rev. 10:6). Because He lives forever and ever, He proved Himself as the absolute Power of God. There is none like Him. When all things are of Him, imagine the kind of Power He is. And, He is able to work in and for you. Let your joy be untold!

So, you are to heed the voice of Jesus. “And He said to them, ‘when you pray, say: Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come’” (Luke 11:2). Do not be perplexed. Jesus’ intent is that believers may know God in power, but not in words. To praise God and seek His kingdom is pleading Him for His power to dwell in you. His power is Jesus. He holds all things of God. He will live in you performing works in and for you. He builds you up in the call of God. He holds God’s covenant in you for spiritual blessings. Then, you grasped the absolute Power.

Posted in 2011, Archives.