Jesus is All

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

         Isaac Watts, pub. 1707 (public domain)

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This is one of my very favorite hymns; it is so beautiful and rich and deep. I love the lyrics, and (especially) the third stanza creates such an image of contrast. "Did e'er such love and sorrow meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown?" Not only love and sorrow met on the cross that day in space and time, but so much more was epitomized by the cross--glorious hope (for believers) and despairing hopelessness (for unbelievers); truth and deception; good and evil; life and death.

Surveying the cross: While in the physical realm, our earthly eyes perceive strong men taking the life of a young man, stripping him of power, subjecting him to horrific suffering, in the spirit--in reality--we see Jesus, fully God and fully man, giving himself a once-for-all sacrifice, a ransom for sinful humankind. Everything that happened to Jesus had a spiritual context, so while we read about his physical life in the gospels, we see how he strives to make us understand and see the corresponding spiritual life and world. 

Perhaps one of the reasons people have a difficult time sometimes receiving Christ and embracing the Christian faith is because of the seeming contradictions in the scriptures (slavery and liberty, the law and grace, justice and mercy, conquerors and slaves, God's sovereignty and human will etc.). Ravi Zacharias says we need to think about those seeming contradictions in terms of contrarieties that are actually complementary.A dictionary definition of complementary is "completing" or "combining in such a way as to enhance or emphasize each other's qualities."

Is it really so strange that Christ, in the flesh and in the spirit, would embody and manifest all aspects of being (except sin, since He could not sin)? In Revelation, Jesus asserts three times He is the Alpha and the Omega:

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God,
“who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” 
                                                               Revelation 1:8

He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water
without cost from the spring of the water of life.  
                                                                Revelation 21:6

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,
the Beginning and the End. 
                                                                 Revelation 22:13

Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet (like A and Z for us). Not only is Jesus saying He is the beginning and the end, but also, since the alphabet represents all of meaning--language is how we think, reason, communicate--Jesus is saying He is, embodies all meaning. Jesus is all.

Ravi Zacharias has quoted this passage from a sermon by James S. Stewart, who was ranked as one of the best preachers of the 20th Century. I found the entire sermon posted here: http://www.todayandthatday.com/2008/08/james-s-stewart-behold-man.html     (worth reading). Stewart beautifully describes the mysterious personality of Jesus.

When I speak of the mystery of a personality, I am thinking of the startling coalescence of contrarieties that you find in Jesus. He was the meekest and lowliest of all the sons of men: yet He said that He would come on the clouds of heaven in the glory of God. He was so austere that evil spirits and demons cried out in terror at His coming: yet He was so genial and winsome and approachable that the children loved to play with Him, and the little ones nestled in His arms; and His company in the innocent gaiety of a village wedding was like the sunshine. No one was ever half so kind or compassionate to sinners: yet no one ever spoke such red-hot, scorching words about sin. He would not break the bruised reed, and His whole life was love: yet on one occasion He demanded of the Pharisees how they expected to escape the damnation of hell. He was a dreamer of dreams and a seer of visions: yet for sheer stark naked realism He has all our self-styled “realists” beaten. He was the servant of all, washing the disciples’ feet : yet masterfully He strode into the Temple, and the hucksters and traders fell over one another in their mad rush to get away from the fire they saw blazing in His eyes. He saved others: yet at the last, Himself He would not save. There is nothing in history like the union of contrasts that confronts you in the Gospels. The mystery of Jesus is the mystery of a personality.  (from his book of sermons entitled The Strong Man)

When we embrace Christ, we embrace and acknowledge the mystery of Christ. We embrace truth and hope and life and a worldview that infiltrates everything we are and do. And we do so while knowing we cannot explain or understand everything.

"My richest gain I count but loss"  When we view the cross with spiritual eyes (a God-given gift), everything in this life pales ("the things of earth grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace"). The phrase "a God-given gift" does not really belong in parentheses; no one can be convinced by mere words or emotions that Jesus is Lord. And even though the scriptures are reasonable, reason alone cannot lead us to the truth of Christ. Only God can open our eyes to see Jesus. It strikes me that the Bible--God's Word--is like a mystery--so much revealed, but so much hidden. There are secrets that belong to the Lord:

Deuteronomy 29:29 . . .

The secret things belong to the Lord our God,
       but the things revealed
   belong to us and to our children forever,
        that we may follow all the words of this law."

 The day will come when "the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9). In I Corinthians 13:12, Paul looks forward to that day:

  For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror;
     then we shall see face to face.
Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, 
   even as I am fully known.

Praise God that He does reveal so much of Himself:

Through His Word:

from Psalm 19 . . .

The law of the Lord is perfect,
    refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,
    making wise the simple.
⁸ The precepts of the Lord are right,
    giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are radiant,
    giving light to the eyes.
⁹ The fear of the Lord is pure,
    enduring forever.
The decrees of the Lord are firm,
    and all of them are righteous.
¹⁰ They are more precious than gold than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,than honey from the honeycomb.

from Isaiah 55 . . .

As the rain and the snow
    come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
    without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
¹¹ so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
    It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Through His Creation:

           from Romans 1 . . .

¹⁹ . . . since what may be known about God is plain to them, 
           because God has made it plain to them.
²⁰ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—
          his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, 
      being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. 
                                                                                                            (Romans 1)

And this beautiful passage from Psalm 19 . . .

The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
² Day after day they pour forth speech;
    night after night they reveal knowledge.
³ They have no speech, they use no words;
    no sound is heard from them.
⁴ Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world.

And most of all, God reveals Himself through His Son Jesus, the Word, who "became flesh and made his dwelling among us. . . . who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. . . . No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known" (from John 1).

Jesus said, "If you have seen me you have seen the Father." (John 14:9)

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." (Luke 21:33)

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Praise God!