Sunday School | We Were Made to Be Kings and Priests (Last Lesson on Anthropology)

Introduction

Well, not well, if all goes according to plan, this will be our final week on anthropology. But you never know, very often I'll have one week planned and it turns into a couple of weeks because you guys jibber jabber and it just stretches it out. All right, final thoughts on humanity. The doctrine of man, the doctrine of the God, made us in his image, male and female, who we are, okay?

We walk through all kinds of different things that I wanted you to kind of see, what it means to be made in the image of God, where we are both image bearers or tragically fallen, but we're redeemable. We were made in his image, which set up the possibility that we would be redeemable. If he hadn't made us in his image, he could not have been made like us so that we could be made like him, all of that.

The Final Theme of Humanity

Here's the final kind of cap that I want to put on—I think the doctrine of man. One thing I'd like you to understand, and it looks more to our future, but we're going to get into the future by really understanding the past, okay? So if you go back and look at what we talked about—that we are, the fact that we're made in God's image—do you remember the four Rs with the bonus fifth? What were the four that I gave you of what it means that we're made in his image? You remember this part?

Rank, rule, relate, reflect, and what was the surprise bonus?

Really cool.

Wait, what did you say?

Really cool.

I thought I said ridicule, first, I'm like, well I don't think it was that, yeah, that we are really cool, that we are redeemable, that God made us in this image so that he could be made in ours, okay?

I want to pick one of those and then add a super surprise double extra bonus, okay? And I want to talk about the fact that when he made us in the essence of what we are, we are not just rulers, right? Kings, but we are also priests, right? And in this, in the double combination of our roles as kings and priests, we are essentially representatives of him, okay?

Our rulership, we rule as his representative and the same way he makes the sun to govern the day and the moon to govern the night. The sun and the moon are, in some sense, vice-roys of his ultimate over leadership. He bequests to us authority. We are representatives of him.

But then also as priests, we are his representatives. A priest necessarily stands between God and others. So as a priest, we represent God to people and as priests, we represent people to God, okay?

So this rank rule, relate, reflect, redeem, but there's also representation that I think will give us the final picture of all this, okay?

Humanity as Kings and Priests

Now, when Adam was placed in the garden and Eve was placed there with him, we've talked about this already under the rubric of rulership. But Adam was king. Adam was meant to be king, then he loses the kingdom, right? The Satan usurps the throne and everything goes all super sideways. We've kind of talked about that.

But it is also the case that Adam in that garden was a priest, okay? That this is a little bit more complicated than I'm going to fully develop today. We might, I don't know, maybe we'll get to it at some other point.

But the garden was the original. In fact, I'm going to talk about this in John 2 in a couple of weeks in a service. So maybe I'll save some of the thoughts for that.

But the garden was a temple, okay? It is the first temple. In fact, when you look at the subsequent temples that will come, the tabernacle that gets built and Solomon's temple and all these temples, the temples are reenactments. They are architecture, their decoration reflects the garden of Eden.

For the garden was the place where God dwelt with man and that's what a temple is, okay? If you ever wondered, why did Solomon's temple get decorated with pomegranates and palm trees? It's because it was an echo of the garden. And Adam in that garden, yeah, in that garden, in that temple was priest. So human beings were initially created to be kings and priests.

Now, I would say, as we see this language, I'm using the language of king rather than queen. But biblically, as this case develops, men and women are ultimately included in this, okay? We'll see all that maybe a little bit more as it plays out.

So we are as representatives. Human beings, what are we? We are the rulers of creation, rule over it, subdue everything, and we are his priests. We are the ones that represent him to others and represent others to him.

Can you live with that? All right, I want to trace that theme through the scriptures somewhat quickly. I want to give you a quick survey through this and show you how that theme gets developed. And then I will be content and say, we've done enough anthropology and we can move on. You ready?

Biblical Development of the Kings and Priests Theme

Psalm eight, turn your Bibles there. Turn in your Bibles to Psalm eight. Okay, you might be familiar, as you're going to Psalm eight, I'm just gonna remind you of Genesis one.

For God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and over every living creature that moves along the ground.

If I wanted to fill that out even more, I could read you everything in Genesis one, where God makes all these different things. You know that Genesis one is the creation account, okay? Load all that into your mind and in particular this creation mandate.

And then here, Psalm eight, Psalm eight verse one.

Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. You have set your glory in the heavens. Through the praise of children and infants, you have established a stronghold against your enemies to silence the foe and the avenger. Listen to this part, this is gonna feel very Genesis one-ish. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them? Of human beings that you care for them?

You made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them, that's King language, with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands. That is a direct line to Genesis one, 26, 28.

You made them rulers over the works of your hands. You put everything under their feet, all flocks and herds and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim along the paths of the seas.

Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the year. Okay, I don't have to convince you, I hope that Psalm eight is full of Genesis one language. He's echoing back to the fact that you made humans to be rulers over all of creation. That's our job.

I might not have to persuade you that something has gone horribly awry with that, okay? But Psalm eight is a reflection on the original intention that human beings, men and women, would be granted authority over creation. Good enough, okay.

That takes care of the, oh, that's one touch on the king. Do you guys remember, I've said this several times so some of you might have this in your brain. What is the New Testament's favorite Old Testament passage? What chapter in the Old is quoted by far more than any other in the New? Emily knows, she's trying to remember. Do you guys know what it is?

Hands down.

Hands down, it dominates. It is the New Testament's favorite chapter. Anybody, anybody, anybody? Okay, write this down, it's Psalm 110, okay? Psalm 110, go to Psalm 110, and I want you to hear.

The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

So we've got human beings are meant to be kings and priests. Very quickly, we lose the kingdom. It's usurped, it's stolen, and we're no longer in charge and everything's gone awry. The priesthood, Adam is kicked out of the garden. He's kicked out of his temple. And then it turns out that everybody's really bad at being king—that's supposed to be a king. Everybody's really bad at being a priest—that's supposed to be a priest.

And so God kind of comes up with this plan, okay, everybody's bad at being both. Nobody's good at being both simultaneously. Everybody's bad at being each. Nobody's good at both simultaneously. And so he divides it up. There will be a line of kings, and for Israel at least, those are the descendants of Judah. There'll be a line of priests, those are the descendants of Levi. And we have essentially a separation of powers. But there was a promise that when the Messiah came, he would reunite these two.

One person would be so great that he would not only be a glorious king and a competent king and a righteous king, but he would be so great that he would be qualified to be priest. And he would be both of these simultaneously, okay? That singular, glistening jewel of a concept is expressed vividly in Psalm 110. And that is why the New Testament loves Psalm 110 because this original hope of a royal priest that would actually be able to do the job kind of is made vivid there in Psalm 110. How are you doing? You with me so far? This is still an anthropology class. It doesn't seem like it, but it is. So just stay with me. Psalm 110, the Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

The Lord will extend to your mighty scepter from Zion saying rule in the midst of your enemies, your troops will be willing on the day of battle, a raid and a holy splendor. Your young men will come to you like do from the morning's womb.

What office is being described there?

King.

Who holds the scepter?

King.

Who rules the troops?

King.

Who rules in the first place, okay? And it is Jesus, but it's ultimately, before we get to Jesus' Catherine, it's the king, right? Psalm 110 is a picture of a king, but to that same person, to the one who holds the scepter, to the king is also said this.

The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.

The Lord is at your right hand. He will crush kings on the day of his wrath. He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth. He will drink from a brook along the way and so he will lift his head high.

This image of Psalm 110, it's gonna show up probably 25 times in the New Testament. We're gonna quote parts of that. Jesus quotes it, Paul quotes it. Whoever the heck wrote Hebrews quotes it like 15 times. It is an enormously significant concept. That one day, the whole idea of a king and a priest being conjoined in one man will come to pass again. How are you doing? You with me so far? Okay.

Then, that idea is gonna show up a handful of other times as we walk through the Old Testament and we're seeing this dream that once upon a time, we were kings and priests. Right now, everything's a train wreck. But someday, someone will come who'll be qualified to do both again. Okay, so far so good. Zechariah, I'll give you one more example of where this shows up.

Zechariah and the Coming Messiah

What is Zechariah chapter six? Okay, do you guys remember? Give me a, we studied Zechariah maybe a year ago? I don't know, remember doing this? Does anybody ever remember anything I say?

Post-exilic.

Post-exilic, Dorian. That's probably the single most important thing you could have said, so thank you. What does that mean? When you say it's post-exilic, people who think, what a nerd. What did that mean?

They came back from Babylon.

Yes. (audience chattering) Okay, they come back, okay, so do you guys remember this?

Here's a quick, your very brief primer on Old Testament history. God creates the world. He draws out of that world a particular people, Abraham. He creates this nation. He calls them to himself. They are just a mess and they're rebellious and he sends them into captivity. For 400 years, they're captive under Egypt. They come out of that and even though they've been freed, they're still rebellious, so they've been 40 years around, running around, waiting for everybody to die, so their children can take the land and it gives them this new land.

And they live in this new land. We're finally, the people of God are free and the people of God can live upright, righteous lives, but again, they don't. They have three kings over a unified kingdom. It's Saul and David and Solomon, right? After Solomon, the kingdom splits. Do you remember the two guys that split the nation? Remember their names?

Jeroboam and Rehoboam.

Okay, so now we have two nations. We have Israel, which is the top half and Judah, which is the southern, they ignore them 10 and then the southern two and they exist. Let's see, that's about 1,000, so it's like, I don't know, whatever that is, 300 years. They exist as separate nations, is that right?

Yeah, that's about right.

Okay, and then in 722, 722 BC, we're getting late in the game, a great judgment comes. God sends the Assyrians. These are like bad dudes. This is the people that Jonah had spoken to in Nineveh. This is bad, bad, bad people. And they obliterate the 10 northern tribes. Like, they're dead, still, they're gone. They just get wiped out, eradicated, interspersed, and they're gone.

And the southern half, Judah, they think that they got away with it. They got judged, Israel, but he doesn't judge them. And about 140 years later, the judgment falls on them. And in 586 BC, it's an incredibly important date. 586 BC, Judah is wiped out by Babylon. Although it's different, because we're the Assyrians, essentially executed Israel and wiped out those 10 tribes forever. For Babylon, they brought them into captivity. They killed a lot of people, but they remained an intact group.

And they're gonna spend 70 years, 70 years, that these guys are gonna be in isolation out of their promised land, suffering under judgment. And for 70 years, they're gonna suffer. And at the end of that 70 years, they get to go home. When they go home, there's two great leaders. Nehemiah, who does what? Rebuilds the wall. And then you could say Ezra, you might say Zorobabel, does what? What is it? Rebuild the temple. So now they come in and they're gonna rebuild the temple.

And we have this little stretch of time before the Old Testament closes, where Israel or Judah really is reconstituted as a people living in the land. Okay?

Now, that middle thing right there, that 586 BC, when the Babylonians come in and they obliterate the Southern tribe, after having already, after the Assyrians have already killed the Northern tribes, that is what Dorian is referring to as the exile, okay? That event, that's the moment right there that we date all of the Old Testament prophets around. There are three kinds of prophets, Dorian. What are they?

I'm not wearing prophets.

Well, but regarding the exile, well, you started this, so I'm gonna, you get to the finish. Do you know what I'm talking about? (indistinct chatter)

Yeah, basically before, during, and after.

Okay, good. Most of the prophets, they're writing before the exile and they're like, it's coming, knock it off, it's coming, I'm serious, we're getting closer. As Dave would have said this morning, the ax is at the root of the tree, like judgment is coming. Then there's just a couple, a handful, they're right during the exile and they're like, wow.

This is terrible, right? And then there's a few, just a couple, who write and say, well, that was horrible. I wonder what happens next. Zechariah is one of these guys. He's incredibly important because it's all happened. And now the looming question in their mind is, is it over? Are we done? Are we gone? Remember this, we studied Zechariah. And therefore, Zechariah is not only pre-exilic, but do you remember what the sweetest and the best thing about Zechariah is?

It's messy.

It's incredibly messy. In fact, Zechariah has more messianic content than any other book in the New Testament given its size because the message of Zechariah is it's not too late, it's not over, he's still coming. You still have a chance to repent. He's not done with you, but the question is, when he comes, will you see him? Will you recognize him? Will you know him?

And the answer is, for the nation of Israel, they won't. Not mostly, not mostly, okay? But to those people, and we're finally getting, you're like, what are we talking about again? We're talking about kings and priests. To those people at those times that might have a memory that God is gonna walk with him, that might even have a more distant memory, weren't we made to be kings and priests in the first place? To that long, lost dream.

Finally, get to your point. Zechariah says this, in Zechariah 6.12, tell him, this is what the Lord Almighty says. Here's the man whose name is the branch.

Whenever you see branch in the Old Testament, it's a messianic title. Shows up over and over again in Isaiah. It's a very common messianic term, and he will branch out from his place, and he'll build the temple of the Lord.

Now listen, here it comes.

It is he who will build the temple of the Lord, and he will be clothed with majesty, and will sit and rule on his throne, and he will be a priest on his throne, and there will be harmony between the two—the two being the kingship and the priesthood.

So just like Psalm 110 is saying, it's gonna get better, it'll happen finally. There will be a royal priesthood. Zechariah is saying he will be priest on his throne, and we're beginning to see, you might. If you're reading, if you're following this whole story, you might begin to see God's original intention is that we would unify these two. We would be kings and priests, but we're terrible at it. And so instead his plan is to send someone else to become one of us and to do what we could never do.

Christ, the Fulfillment of Kingship and Priesthood

And having done that, maybe there will be hope for us. How you doing? Follow me? Okay, so will the Messiah be king? Yes, will the Messiah be priest? Yes, then, here's what ends up happening. Come to the New Testament, and we're gonna see this come together.

Do you know what book of the Bible quotes Psalm 8 and reflects on it? Have you ever come across that? Psalm 8, where is it?

Forgive word, is this it in John?

It's not John, but that's the lovely guest. Who is it? Not Matthew, and it's not a gospel. So don't say Mark or Luke. Do you know who does it?

Hebrew.

It is Hebrews, it's Hebrews chapter two. Listen about Hebrews chapter two is going to say, okay? It's bringing all this, Hebrews, by the way, if you've never really dug into Hebrews, Hebrews is exceptional. What do you think, Brynne's favorite book, okay? We spent like a year studying it at fees, pretty much to satisfy Brynne, but it was time we'll spent, okay?

Hebrews 2:5.

It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come about which we are speaking. What he's saying is that the world to come will not be ruled by angels. It's gonna be ruled by somebody else.

Verse six.

There is a place where someone has testified. What's great about that is the author of Hebrews forgot where this was, right? Did you ever forget the Bible verse? You're like, I don't know, it's somewhere in the Psalms.

It's Psalm eight, he's quoting Psalm eight. There is a place where someone has testified, and here's Psalm eight.

What is mankind that you are mindful of them? A son of man that you care for him. You made them a little lower than the angels. You crowned them with glory and honor and put everything under their feet.

Straight up, direct citation of Psalm eight. But then it comments on it. Now without looking, do you know what he's gonna say? What is the author of Hebrews two gonna say about the promise of Psalm eight? Just give me a guess. What do you think that his point might be?

Don't look, you cheaters, like you're all looking down.

( audience laughs)

Do you know what his point is? His point is quite simply, nah, nah, nah. You said, you said that we would rule over at the creation. Look around. Does it look like we are? Have all things been subdued? Is there, never mind righteous rule. Are we really, who's, is anybody in charge of this? And the answer is no.

So he looks at this, and he says, what is mankind that you're mindful of? And the son of man you care for him. You made him a little lower than angels. You crowned him with glory and honor. You put everything under their feet. And here's his comment in putting everything under them.

God left nothing that is not subject to them. Yet at present, we do not see everything subject to them.

Real quick side note here, the Bible makes a lot of promises that turn out to not be true for a minute. You're allowed to wrestle with this. Psalm eight, or Hebrews two, is interrogating Psalm eight and saying, I don't buy it, I don't see it. What do you mean, right? The Bible does this repeatedly with its own words because we do it repeatedly with his own words.

Probably none is more contested than Psalm one, which simply says, good guys, one of the bad guys lose. And for the rest of the scriptures, the Bible keeps quoting Psalm one saying, time out here, right? What are you talking about? Read Psalm one, and then read Psalm 37. Read Psalm one, and then read Psalm 73. Read Psalm one, and then read Jeremiah 15 over, and over, and over. The Bible will cite itself and be like, this one's hard to believe. And whenever it does, whenever it presents to something, we're like, yeah, but literally no. The answer is always the same. Do you know what the answer is to those wrestlings about the apparent falseness of biblical promises? It's literally always the same, wait.

We live in the, we live in the now and the now.

That's exactly right. The answer is always wait. And so back to Hebrews two. There's disappointment that Genesis one isn't true, that Psalm eight isn't true, but look at verse nine. Because in Christ, it is becoming true. It has already begun to be true.

Verse nine, but we do see Jesus.

Okay, so maybe kind of connect it. Yet at present, we do not see everything subject to them, but we do see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, by the way, we've said this before, Jesus became king. Remember our Christology? He became king. He was crowned with glory.

Why was he crowned with glory? Why was he exalted to the highest place? Because he went to the lowest place, right? He was crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God, he might taste death for everyone.

Okay, Hebrews two is affirming the kingship of Christ. The human beings lost the kingdom, but Jesus regained it. He became the rightful heir to the world, the ruler of the cosmos through his death. Good enough. He's not talking about his priesthood here because Psalm eight is not talking about his priesthood, he's just talking about his kingship.

But basically, the rest of Hebrews is talking about his priesthood. Hebrews five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, the massive movement of Hebrews is arguing, not just that the Christ is priest, but that he is a better priest. Do you remember some of the things that are better in Hebrews about the priesthood of Christ?

He stays forever.

He's a priest forever, that's Psalm 110.

He did it all he wants. Only one, you didn't have to go in.

That's exactly right, Catherine. Priests day after day after day, they're constantly killing blood, sheep and goats, but the blood of sheep and goats, bulls, sheep, however it says it, can't take away sin. He's a priest forever, he eggs one sacrifice, what are we missing, Bryn, do you remember?

Better, what do you say better?

Yeah, well, what's better about his priesthood?

Do you remember?

Very good.

Okay, it covers for everybody, excellent. What else?

He didn't have to cover songs.

Yeah, he goes under a better sanctuary, offering better blood. Yeah, he opens a way through his body, which is the curtain, in every conceivable way. He is a better king, he is a better priest, he is all of these things together. Okay, how are we doing? So far so good. So, we're meant to be kings and priests, it goes off the rails almost immediately.

God divides it up, okay, you guys be kings, you guys be priests, nobody's very good. If anybody tries to be both, every once in a while, somebody will try to be both, do you remember the kings of Israel who thought, hey, I'm a king, how hard can it be to be a priest? Who does it?

Uzziah does.

Uzziah does it, Saul does it, what happens every time they do it?

This is bad, bad, bad, Uzziah.

What happens to him? That perceived why, because he was a king who presumed to be a priest. Saul decides to start offering sacrifices and he loses the kingdom. It is a massive no-no. It was the plan, but you were terrible at it, so stop it, somebody will come, and when he comes, he will be priests on a throne, he will be the royal priesthood.

Finally, Jesus shows up, he is king, he is priest, and it seems like maybe there's hope. And here's the thing, what was meant to be true for all of us, for humanity, and ceased to be true for all of us, has become true for one of us because Jesus is a real human being. It's not just that God is doing it and setting us aside, he has become one of us to be what we were supposed to be but could not be.

The Future Reign of Humanity

But here's the thing, this is not a class on Christology, this is a class on anthropology. And so at this point in the game, we've only gotten to the point where there is one human being, who is king and who is priest. But the day is coming, that what was true of him will be true for all of us. And your understanding of what does it mean to be a human being has to encompass not just our present, but our future.

So here's where the story is gonna end, go to John, I'm sorry, go to Revelation chapter one. Look at Revelation one, verse four. As John speaks to the seven churches in the province of Asia, he begins to, this is gonna be this progressive revelation through Revelation, as we see more of this coming to pass, grace and peace to you, from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

Now listen to this, this is such a great little, I don't know, script here, to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and has made us to be a kingdom and priests, to serve his God and Father, to him be glory and power forever and ever, amen.

Now, you could read that and be like, wait, what are you saying? We made us to be priests, that's relatively clear, but you've also made us to be a kingdom. Now, a kingdom has a king, but a kingdom also has subjects, so maybe we're priests under the subject to the king, that could be what he means. But it's not, because he's gonna say it again, and the second time he says it, it's gonna be more unavoidable. Flip up to Revelation five, six.

This is long, I'm gonna give you the full version of it, because I want you to capture the majesty of this moment.

John looks and he sees a lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, king language again, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders, the lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent out into all the earth, and he went and he took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne, and when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb.

Each one had a harp, and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God's people, and they sang a new song, saying, you are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation, and once again, the rule of Christ is predicated on his cross. He became king because he went to the lowest place, but look what else he does in verse 10.

You have made them, who's them? Who is, what's the antecedent of them in verse 10?

Saints.

Yes, it's the people that you purchased in verse nine, from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, same language from Revelation 1, but what's the next line?

They will reign.

They will reign on the earth. The day is coming finally, finally, the promise of Genesis 1. That's restated in Psalm 8. That is, mourned in Hebrews two, will finally be true. That God's original intention, that we would be kings and priests, will come to pass. And then the book closes. The whole canon closes with an affirmation of the exact same thing.

The Conclusion: The Reign with Christ

Look at how the story ends. Go to Revelation 22, final chapter of the Bible. If you've never seen this before, it would be maybe interesting for you to read the first three chapters of Genesis and the last three chapters of Revelation. The number of corresponding points between the first three and the last three is, I mean, it's just replete with connections. And what Revelation is saying is, all the bad stuff comes untrue and all the promises will be kept.

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city.

By the way, the entire Trinity is pictured there. You see the Father, you see the Son. Where is the Spirit? He is the river consistently, right? There's a stream of water that is the Spirit. That's its own whole story. Maybe we'll do that someday.

You see the river of the water of life, clear as crystal flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing 12 crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. I mean, you're hearing all this, this is all Genesis language, right? The tree of life. The curse is all coming out of this first three chapters of Genesis, right, and other places too. Ezekiel 47 is where we see this river that comes from the temple. John is just bringing together essentially like every great promise made throughout the Old Testament of what God intends to do, will do, means to do, is doing, right? All of it is coming to its climactic conclusion here.

No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And once again, and they will reign forever and ever.

We are they. And your sense of what does it mean to be human has got to encompass not just what God intended to do, but what he's determined to do and what the day is coming, he will have done. We will be, humans are his kings and his priests and we will reign together, finally, at the end of this world and then forever and ever in the new, we will be reigning with Christ.

He is given to us. I've heard this framed in two different ways. One, that he's given to us this dignity to be what he made us to be in the first place. And I think that is at a base level true. But Jonathan Edwards says that the reason that he will do this is because if he didn't, there would remain a gap between us and our exalted king. And since Christ is king and he wants there to be intimacy and fellowship with us, he promotes us that we might be with him and nothing in between.

Isn't that mind boggling? The condescension of Christ, not only to become like us in our sin and brokenness, but to make us like him in his majesty and exaltation so that we would remain connected to him with a closeness that is described as that between a husband and a wife, a head and a body, a vine and a branch. Your humanity, your anthropology is necessarily intrinsically linked to your Christology because he is the perfect human being and what he is, he invites us to be.

Conclusion

Amen?

Amen.

Is that enough to provoke worship and awe and gratitude? And if not, what in the world are you looking for? That's all I got. I'm going to pray for us and we're done.

Lord, what is man that you are mindful of him? What is mankind that you care for us? Lord, you made us a little lower than the angels and then you crowned us with glory and honor and when we were entirely incapable of being what you made us to be, you became one of us, died in our place, ascended as king, and then you have seated us with you in the heavenly places so that we might reign with you forever. The whole thing is so completely absurd, so beyond anything that we would ever dream up or could imagine, and I pray for those of us that are hearing this right now, it might flood into our hearts in our own lowliness and degradation and sin and suffering to fill us with hope that the day is coming when all your promises will come true.

In the meantime, let us love you and honor you, for you are majestic and good in every way we could ever possibly imagine. We love you. Amen.

Alright, we'll see you soon.