Our help is in the Name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.
Beloved, grace and peace be to you from God our Father, and the Lord
Jesus Christ, through the mighty working of God the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Psalm of praise: 2:1
Prayer
Psalm 84:5
Scripture reading: John 1
Scripture text: Catechism
Sunday 12. John 1:41
He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found
the Messiah” (which means Christ).
We have found the Messiah! This is the Hebrew word for the Greek name
Christ. In English translated as Anointed.
- These people were looking for a Saviour anointed by God to be the
Saviour.
- And they found Him. And they stayed with Him an entire day.
Then they went out to tell others about the Messiah so that they, too,
would know that He was alive!
- Nathaniel was very skeptical about the news at first:
- “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” he asked
- “Come and see,” said Philip. And just look who they found!
- They found the Man who had been anointed by God to become a
human to redeem the chosen on earth.
When John the Baptist first saw Jesus the Holy Spirit of the Lord
enlightened him and he said:
Look,
the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (29)
And again:
I
would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize
with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and
remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ (33)
John speaks of somebody who has been anointed by God – the
Messiah/Christ. God anoints with the Holy Spirit. Therefore it is:
- Somebody imbued with power, love and majesty by God, and then
given to us.
- The Messiah, or Christ, by whom we are called to be accomplished
in faith.
- His purpose on earth was threefold. He himself revealed that the
Father had anointed Him to be our Prophet, Priest and King.
The Prophet preaches the way.
- He teaches the flock of the Lord the way to salvation.
- His mouth speaks of the love and the judgement of the Father.
- He preaches the plan of God.
- He also preaches that the Lord has sent his Anointed to drag from
the hand of the devil those who belong to the Lord.
- We can listen when He teaches us, because He was not born in sin
as we are. He also goes through life without sins. He is the only One
who truly obeys the Father.
- This Prophet came to us to comfort people lost in sin with the
promises that God had made to them. He preaches deliverance from our
grief. He preaches joy of life, and that we shall live in eternal bliss
in the hereafter. He preaches comfort for those who are doubting:
Although it seems that we are losing against sin, He came to conquer
the devil for us.
- For the poor the Lord prophesies happiness, because He also came
to free us all from poverty. He gives us the riches of the kingdom of
God. In this life these are the riches of faith, and in the hereafter,
abundance of everything. He was anointed to give us spiritual riches.
- The Anointed of the Lord also surprised people with his
knowledge. At the age of twelve He reasoned with the wise people of
Jerusalem.
- He is the Prophet with a most powerful ministry. He commanded a
legion of demons to leave the demon-possessed man from Gadarene. And
they trembled with fear. The sick people rejoiced when they were cured.
The wretched sinners praised God because their sins had been forgiven.
Without the ministry of this Prophet of the Lord we are lost.
But Jesus is also Priest.
- The Prophet teaches us the way. The Priest equips people to be
willing and prepared to walk this path.
- Jesus came as the most highly anointed Priest who had to make the
sacrifice of all time. Throughout his life on earth He was working for
our salvation before God.
- The Anointed of God was in fact also sent as Priest to reconcile
us with God.
- We need reconciliation, because we are blind to the omnipotence
of our Creator.
- We are ignorant of the Being and Person of the Triune God.
- We are guilty of betraying Him. We consistently refuse to obey
his commandments.
- In doing this we are making ourselves the enemy of God.
As Priest, Jesus brought about the Lord’s forgiveness for all these
misdeeds.
- He made a sacrifice that effected complete reconciliation.
- He sacrificed Himself.
- And because He experienced torture and the curse of the
crucifixion, and laid down his life, we receive forgiveness of sins.
But that is not all. The work of our High Priest was not completed on
earth. He returned to heaven
- There He stands as our High Priest at the Father’s right hand.
- Every moment our Priest is praying for us to his Father. He prays
so that the Father will give us eternal life. Through Him we also
acquire unlimited grace from the Father.
- The High Priest makes us more than conquerors over sin and evil.
He sees to it that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers nor
powers can separate us from the love of God.
Christ is also the anointed King.
The Prophet preaches the way. The Priest equips us to be willing and
prepared to walk this path.
Every believer and every parish go through struggle – sometimes a very
hard struggle.
- The devil seizes every force and every opportunity to fight the
faithful, and also uses them to sow strife and destruction.
- The hatred of hell is even in the church.
We also experience it in our lives:
- We are frequently faced with temptations – each more inviting
than the last.
- One so much more promising than the other. We often feel that the
honesty of a believer becomes a stumbling block for him/her.
Non-believers regard our faith as most absurd.
- In the whole world people fail to appreciate the glory of God.
- Some people find faith and worship to be tedious.
- For others it is simply an emotional experience.
- All the promises of Jesus Christ are made out to be empty – mere
fabrication.
But that is exactly the reason why we need this Anointed King so much.
You and I would not be able to continue to walk this path if Someone
with very great Spiritual power did not keep us going. We would
collapse.
Our King Jesus Christ carries us through the temptations.
- He gives meaning to everything the world presents to us as being
small and empty.
- He teaches us that the devil still exists, but only because of
the patience of God, and that God’s patience is going to come to an end
at some time or other and, with that, the continued existence of Satan.
Our King had to go through immense difficulties before He received his
kingdom from the hand of his Father.
- A manger was the cradle to honour his birth.
- A wooden cross kept Him upright and supported Him during his
death struggle.
- An empty stone grave witnessed how He rose from the dead, and how
an angel from God removed the rock from the opening.
But, the angels rejoiced when He rose, and also when He ascended into
heaven.
- Now He is preparing everything for our arrival in his kingdom.
- There his reign is so firmly established that nothing nor any
power can snatch us from his hand.
But He also preaches that He separates people.
- The atoning sacrifice of the Anointed of God was for those the
Father had given Him.
- His death was not only to assure the chosen of sinlessness.
- His death also confirmed his power to destroy the devil.
- His enemies will meet his wrath.
You faithful, Philip and Nathaniel found the Anointed. Today, you must
also hear Him preach in/through ?? the Spirit, while He strengthens
your soul. He confirms all his promises to you. His Spirit prophesises
in your heart that you are part of God’s kingdom, and that you must see
to it that his kingdom come.
Let’s read together Catechism Sunday 12:
31. Q. Why is He called Christ,
that is, Anointed?
A. Because He has been ordained
by God the Father, and anointed with the Holy Spirit,[1] to be our
chief Prophet and Teacher,[2] who has fully revealed to us the secret
counsel and will of God concerning our redemption;[3] our only High
Priest,[4] who by the one sacrifice of His body has redeemed us,[5] and
who continually intercedes for us before the Father;[6] and our eternal
King,[7] who governs us by His Word and Spirit, and who defends and
preserves us in the redemption obtained for us.[8]
[1] Ps. 45:7 (Heb. 1:9); Is. 61:1 (Luke 4:18; Luke 3:21, 22. [2] Deut.
18:15 (Acts 3:22). [3] John 1:18; 15:15. [4] Ps. 110:4 (Heb. 7:17). [5]
Heb. 9:12; 10:11-14. [6] Rom. 8:34; Heb. 9:24; I John 2:1. [7] Zach.
9:9 (Matt. 21:5); Luke 1:33. [8] Matt. 28:18-20; John 10:28; Rev.
12:10, 11.
32. Q. Why are you called a
Christian?
A. Because I am a member of
Christ by faith[1] and thus share in His anointing,[2] so that I may as
prophet confess His Name,[3] as priest present myself a living
sacrifice of thankfulness to Him,[4] and as king fight with a free and
good conscience against sin and the devil in this life,[5] and
Thereafter reign with Him eternally over all creatures.[6]
[1] I Cor. 12:12-27. [2] Joel 2:28 (Acts 2:17); I John 2:27. [3] Matt.
10:32; Rom 10:9, 10; Heb. 13:15. [4] Rom. 12:1; I Pet. 2:5, 9. [5] Gal.
5:16, 17; Eph. 6:11; I Tim. 1:18, 19. [6] Matt. 25:34; II Tim. 2:12.
Amen.
Closing prayer
Closing hymn: Psalm 32:1
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the
fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen
Dr MJ du Plessis
Gereformeerde Kerk Bellville
Date: 7 September 2003