GRACE FOR TODAY Radio Message #393

ALL THINGS ARE IN THE HANDS OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

Pastor Don Fortner

Grace Baptist Church of Danville

2734 Old Stanford Road

Danville, Kentucky 40422-9438

All things are in the hands of Christ. May God be pleased to enable you to see this today! ALL THINGS HAVE BEEN PUT INTO THE HANDS AND UNDER THE FEET OF OUR MOST GLORIOUS CHRIST, THE GOD-MAN, AS OUR MEDIATOR. This is what the Holy Spirit tells us in Hebrews 2:8-9. "Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man." John 3:35 says virtually the same thing. "The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand."

These statements must be understood. They speak not of our Savior in his absolute divinity, but in his office capacity as the God-man, our Mediator. All things have always been in his hands and under his feet as God. He who is God the Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity, is the Creator and Sustainer of all things. As such he is the Owner, Ruler, and Disposer of all things. Consequently, as God, nothing could be put in his hands and under his feet. God the Son is in every sense one with and equal with God the Father. That is exactly what John tells us in 1 John 5:7.

All things have been put into Christ’s hands and under his feet for him to rule over and dispose of for the salvation of his people, as the God-man, our Mediator. Listen to our Savior’s words in John 17:2. "Thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him."

In Romans 14:9 we read, "For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living."

By virtue of his obedience to the Father in his great work of redemption, the Lord Jesus Christ took his seat as a man, as Immanuel, as God in human flesh, upon the throne of heaven, exactly as the prophets said he would. He sat down in glory because his work was finished, according to the will and purpose of the triune God. In Hebrews 10:5-14, we are given the Holy Spirit’s interpretation of David’s prophecy in Psalm 40. Listen carefully to the language of Holy Scripture. Because it was not possible for sin to be put away in any other way, Christ came to die for chosen sinners, according to the will of God. Having redeemed those whom he came to redeem, having obtained eternal redemption for us with his own blood, our Mediator sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.

"Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."

The opening verses of the Book of Hebrews state the same thing. Listen to the Scriptures in Hebrews 1:1-9 "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 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; Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows."

Rejoice in this child of God. ALL THINGS ARE IN THE HANDS OF HIM WHO DIED TO SAVE US! AMEN.