Authority of Jesus Christ in Heaven and on Earth

"The great authority of Christ"
How many of us think about real purpose of  life? The questions about the purpose and our destiny are in so many of our minds. Most people  are just satisfied in achieving their own  goals  and enjoy only the present time.  Did God have any purpose in creating us if our goal was just to live that short life on earth and then die and be forgotten? Are we all scrod up? The answer is surely no.

 The Bible tells us clearly more  about  much greater things . It talks about our restoration, about the restoration of all things.
The creative purpose of God to redeem the mankind  was in the very beginning.
 It was all planned with wisdom before this present  creation. Jesus as the redeemer was  God's plan and all things came into being through him.
He  is the ultimate  expression of   God and His love for us. His plan was expressed in pieces  and parts in history, as people acted  and in prophecy, as people spoke.  The plan was being expressed  as Abraham set off to sacrifice Isaac, his only son, about which we read in the Old Testament.   In John 3;16 we read that "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him, shall not perish but have everlasting life." Then as Moses lifted up the serpent on the desert Old Testament) - so is the Son of Man  (Jesus) lifted up by God so whoever believes in Him has everlasting life.
We read in  the prophecy in the Isaiah that the Servant of God would be pierced for our transgressions, we read in Psalms about all he faced on the cross. No coincidence,  coming of Jesus was planned by God and He  foretold  him in so many ways throughout  Old Testament scriptures.  God   wasn't to surprise  anybody with  sending the savior as  if  He made up His mind to redeem us from our sin  in the middle of our life' history.   He clearly foretold him to us.   Christ is a real person with a real meaning.  We  can understand this important meaning  in our lives  by studying the scriptures about the  authority given him by God  both  in heaven and on earth.
He said " all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth" Matthew 28;18
"The Father judges no one but has given all judgement to the Son. So that  all many honor  the Son  just  as they  honor the Father who sent him." John5;22-23
"The Father loves the Son, and  has given all things into His hand." John 3;35

In  the above verse  "He has given all judgement to the Son" , we see  that it will be Jesus Christ  who will judge all men and that thereby all men will honor the Son even as they honor the Father.
That is what we saw in Philippians  2;10-11
 "Every knee will bow down  and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord , to the glory of God the Father."
 Jesus Christ the one who was judged, condemned  and executed by men,  raised from the dead  seated at the right hand of God-will be the one to finally judge all men.

.Every person who has ever lived will be judged by him.  But there are 2 different  'finals'. Believers in Christ will be judged for what they have done in the body, but they are not the subject to God's condemnation.
"For we must all appear  before judgement seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad." 2 Cor 5;10
For those who trusted Jesus, the judgement is not for death and condemnation;
"Very truly I tell you, anyone who hears my word  and believes Him who sent me has eternal life, and will not be condemned, he has crossed over from death to life." John 5;24
Those who listen to Him and trusted him, those who are born again are justified.
God didn't sent Jesus to die on the cross just in vain. He offered you and me the way out, to avoid God's wrath.
So all unrepentant people, all who don't want to know him, who rejected Him,they will be subject to God's wrath.
"(...) he who does not believe  the Son  shall not see life  but the wrath of God  abides on him. " John 3;36

John 12;48  " He who rejects  Me, and  does not receive My words, has that which judges him- the word that I have spoken  will judge him  in the last day."

More about Jesus as the judge we read in John 5;27-29;
v.25." I tell you the truth, a time is coming  and has now come  when the dead will hear the voice  of the Son of God and those who hear will live."
                                We see that it is Jesus Christ who will call people  to new  and everlasting life.
v.26." For as the father has life  in himself , so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself."
v.27 " And He has given Him authority  to execute judgement , because He is the Son of Man."

It will be Jesus Christ's voice all people will hear in their graves and it will be Him to decide who is to live  and who is to die;

v.21." For just as the father raises the dead  and gives them life , even so the Son  gives life to whom  He is pleased to give it."
v.28 " Do not be astonished at this, for the hour is coming  when all who are in their graves will hear  His voice."
v.29 " and will come out -those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation."
This is what is commonly known as the resurrections of "the just" and "the unjust". The Bible clearly says that all people who have ever lived will get up  from the dead.

We can be sure His judgement is just as He is always doing God's will;
John 5;30 " I can do nothing  on my own, as I hear I judge, and my judgement is just, because I seek  to do not my own will  but the will of Him who sent me."
Because  Jesus Christ  works in perfect harmony  with his heavenly Father, there will be justice for all.
v.19." Jesus said to them;'Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing  on His own, but only what He sees the Father doing,  for what ever the Father does, the Son does likewise."

"Who do you say I am"?
Jesus of Nazareth put this question  to His followers nearly 2000 years ago, and  the question still hangs in the air, requesting the answer  from every person living now. But is it not just to know who He is in general but who He is for you. Your time on earth, your life now is to accept Him as your Lord and savior.  This the the only way out given by God  to avoid His judgement and not to be condemned but have new life.
It is not the life of limitations but the life of abundance.   " I have come that they may have life,, and that they may have it  more abundantly." John 10;10

" I was found by those who did not seek Me"

 "I was found by those who did not seek Me"
This time I thought it would be good to write down my testimony. How did I came to know the Lord?
It all started about 18 years ago. All my high school I was mainly interested in sport and science that was my favorite thing to do, jogging, javelin throwing and all that fun that had to do with light athletics.  At that time no interest for God, besides knowing that some God exists but I wasn't really thinking about Him. So I did athletics in my free time and I decided I will be PE teacher. Physics seemed to hard to study but doing sport all your life seemed fun. But when it came to applying to the college in that specific area of sport- I wasn't accepted because I did not do  to well  in swimming and gymnastics. I  remember I got C  in that while there were people who got A in all the parts of the exam.  I had to find somebody to blame for that...I wondered why God wouldn't let me do something I really liked. I wasn't happy at all at that time I thought I would  have to wait one more year to apply again to that school, but meanwhile a friend told me about a new German college to which exams were  in September.Then a thought came to me; let's study German for a year - to 'kill' the waiting time-and then I will go back to my sport!
And my journey started. On the first day at the new college  we were  all waiting  to take the German exam.
You would see the nervous students  reading their notes  and a girl  next to me  reading the Bible...! Well, I was reading my notes all stressed up, while that girl completely relaxed reading her book...I asked her
 'Does it help?' Then I heard all the lecture about Jesus. I  though I had never met in my life a person that religious!   All her story didn't seem to be interesting to me- I even thought she was really weird- crazy religious!  Then she shared with me two Bible verses, I have never heard before.
 They completely disturbed my peace!
 "Not everyone who says  to Me;Lord Lord shall  enter the Kingdom of Heaven but he who does the will of my Father in heaven." Matthew 7;21
First of all I realized I might be one of those people since  I had  no clue whether I  was doing the will of the Father in heaven or not.
I  heard the right words  to notice that  a Christian is not about only attending a church once a while.
It is about doing God's will which is believing in the One He sent ( Jesus) and trusting His words. But because  God  seemed  so unknown  to me  at  that time  I thought  that living for Him was good  when  you are old  but not as a student who has completely different things on mind ..'How do you know when you will die?'  I heard the question. Then it will be too late. I  imagined myself  when  God is recalling  that day when I could   hear His words from the Bible  and I was rejecting them, I was rejecting Him and the life!
Then we read the following  verse;"He who rejects Me, and does not receive my words, has that which judges him,the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day." John 12;48
 I realized the words were telling the truth and if God says something it must be true.
How shocking it was for me to hear all these words, that I had to change my life, that Christian is a follower of Christ. It didn't seem  easy  'jumping' into ' following Christ' right away.
 I didn't want to. I had some other dreams  and thinking too much about God didn't seem too comfortable. I thought  God was too distant like  in church, with lots of pictures, statues, you pray but they never speak to you. Because I imagined God like that, I didn't have interest in thinking about Him
What was left it was  struggling with the thoughts 'I have to do God's will  to be saved'
 'Is reading the Bible for 15 minutes a day quite enough"?  I wandered. I was struggling like that  for half of the year, those 2 Bible verses  were following me everywhere.... my mind couldn't get rid of them. The only 'relief ' was giving lessons to the kids when I had to focus on teaching the language, but as soon as the lesson was over, the words from the Bible  came back and  the question' Have you made up your mind?"

This became  a really heavy burden on my heart; how much is it enough to be a Christian? What is His will every day? How can I be sure I am saved? How much of reading  the Bible is enough to be called a Christian? Then I spontaneously prayed to God simply saying that I was tired of that burden that  I didn't know what His will was  but I wanted to do it and that  and that I wanted Him to be my Lord!
That was very unusual because after that simple prayer at home I started to have peace in my heart that I haven't had for a long time. Such a relief as if somebody took of a big load of something from my heart. It seemed to me like Somebody there above heard me!
I started testing myself, even saying that I was not interested in reading ' boring Bible' didn't take away my peace. Then I realized I actually have an interest to read it. As I read that day I came across these words; John 14;27 " Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."  Wow, that's exactly as if I was reading about myself; I just experienced  that peace! I  knew  the Bible is true, the words are telling the truth! God is real!
I felt like being born again, seeing everything in a new light, God didn't seem distant and unknown any more. My heart wasn't accusing me .Each time I read the Bible  it was confirming everything what I experienced. Jesus said;" You search the scriptures, for in them you think  you have eternal life; and these are they that testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me  that you may have life." John 5;39-40
So it was the same with me, reading  the Bible without coming to God didn't mean anything, I thought that  just by reading I would be a real believer  but  that wasn't giving me any peace until I prayed.  I decided to come to God like the above verse says. That is when God responded and I knew  I was saved. My favorite verse became John 5;24 " Most assuredly I say to you , he who hears my word and  and believes in Him who sent Me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgement, but has passed from death into life."  We have forgiveness of sin in Jesus, that's why by trusting Him we can have peace in our heart.
Now it is hard to imagine living without God.  "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." John 10;10 That is what it means to live with God and have Him as your Lord. Second you have promise that you have eternal life. " I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live." John 11;25
The Bible is full of so many great promises but if we don't have any access to them  or we decide to ignore them,we  choose to live a hopeless life. As it is said;" Man shall not live  by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."
I finished my German college, I didn't care too much about coming back to sport, my interests changed and I went to the Bible school in Hungary  for 2 years. I remember my friends saying' I would find no job if I didn't finish my German degree( because I went to the Bible school) and then after I finished my Bible school - the job 'called me' offering the  job  as a teacher in one of the private language schools. So  meanwhile I  also finished my last 2 years of German to get my final degree. My worries weren't needed, God was in control;
 " Seek first the Kingdom of God, and all the things shall be added unto you." I 'experience' it all the time.

Christ- the One in charge

“Christ- the One in charge”
As` we study the Bible we  read that Jesus Christ is the subject of  this book  from Genesis 3;15 to Revelation 22;21
This Jesus of Nazareth has been the object of more speculation than any other person in the history of man. The name of Jesus Christ  springs spontaneously  from the lips of all kind of people, from the priest to the any upset person that is using His name to curse. “Even when Jesus is rejected as an object of faith, he is chosen as an object of derision.”
Why it is like that?
The battle is truly spiritual – it is about discovering or suppressing  His true identity. The battle with high stakes for mankind. Finding His true identity allows us to come to Him and trust Him and acknowledge Him as our Lord, which results in being saved from God’s judgement. Having  His false identity  -will keep us away from Him and His word  and  from trusting Him  It will keep us away from receiving His forgiveness and the truth that we can be saved.  ” Most assuredly I say to you , he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me, has everlasting life, and shall  not come  into judgement , but has passed from death into life.”
It is a great promise but by many  Jesus is  still  under appreciated. A  man that died on the cross and that is the end of the story. No power no meaning for your life.  But He is much more than this. We will find out in this study- what the Bible says  He is  and what does it mean to know His true  identity. How much do we know Him and realize all the greatness? Are you able to see Him for whom he is? Let your knowledge about Jesus Christ not limit itself only  to His earthly life. We should  also be aware  of  His glorious exaltation by God and the authority over all things  that Father gave Him.
Let’s have a  quick Bible’s overlook;
Jesus Christ as the One in charge over everything;
“Jesus came and spoke to them; All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” Matthew 28;18
The Bible says that  Father  put Jesus in charge over everything. That means all what the Father would be doing, Jesus is in charge doing.
He gave Him authority  as a judge;
 John 5;22 ” For the Father judges no one but committed all  judgement to the Son.”  v.27 “  And has given Him authority to execute judgement also because He is the Son of Man.”
The only mediator to God, the way of communication with God; ultimate representative of God;
Hebrews 1;1-2a “God spoke at various times  and  in various ways to the fathers  by the prophets, has in the last days spoken to us by His Son.”
People wish they would see God, but it is not about seeing how He looks like, the same way it is not enough to know somebody by seeing only his/her picture.  God wants us to  know His character, His heart and nature, and that nature was manifested  all in His Son. God’s heart and will was manifested  in his Son’s life in everything  that He  said  and did.  He was saying and doing what God himself would be saying or doing, that way ( when one of his disciples said; ‘show us the Father’) Jesus  could say; ‘ Whoever has seen me, has seen the Father.” John 14;9
He could also say the following;
” The Father who dwells in Me does His works”  John 14;10
” All that the Father has is mine”   John 12;45
” Most assuredly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself , but what He sees the Father doing,  for whatever He does, the Son also does in likewise.” John 5;19
He has the authority to be honored as the Father;  John 5;23
” That all should honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son, does not honor the Father.”
The One who has the power to raise the dead ones; John 5; 21
“For as the Father raises the dead  and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.”
v.28  ” (…) for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves  will hear His voice.”
John 6.44 “No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
John 6;47″  Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in Me, has everlasting life.”
The only way to God:  John 6;45
“It is written in the prophets ‘ And they shall all be taught by God’ . Therefore everyone who has heard  and learned from the Father, comes to Me.”
John 14;6 ” I am the way, the true and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Me.”
The One with the authority to forgive  sin;  Luke 5;24
“But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins, He said to the man who was paralyzed ; ‘ I say to you , arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”
The One as the image of the invisible God; Colossians 1;15
Hebrews 1;3a ” The Son is reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint  of God’s very  being and He sustains all things by his powerful word.”
Exalted above all name;
Philippians 2;9  “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name  which is above every name.”
Authority to be worshiped  ” That at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of those in heaven and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,and that every tongue should confess  that Jesus Christ is  Lord to the glory of God the Father.”  
Heir of all things, all things created through Him and for Him;
(..) whom He has appointed as heir of all things, through whom  also He made the worlds.” Hebrews 1;2
“For by Him all things were created  that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones  or dominions or principalities  or powers.
All things were created through Him  and for Him.” Colossians1;16   
Jesus wanted people to find His true identity by coming to God. He wasn’t yelling  out; Do you know who I am? I am a Son of God! This was not the way to know Him.  To truly know Him always depended on coming to God, so that God Himself would reveal Jesus  to us.
One time Jesus asked His disciples; “And who do  believe I am?” and Peter  said ” You are the Son of the living God.”  Not only was it a correct answer but Jesus also said that it  is the Father in heaven  who revealed it to Peter.”
And who  is Jesus   for you?
And if you think that people can use His name as a curse and keep rejecting Him and get away with it; the Bible has the answer to that.
John 12;48 ” He who rejects Me, and does nor receive my words, has that which judges him, the word that I have spoken  will judge him in the last day.”
You can choose to serve the great Lord and have everlasting life in Him.  The battle is spiritual, you can win it- by accepting  Jesus as your Lord and Savior! He doesn’t have to be an unknown historical hero but your real mighty Lord.