Scripture Reading: Eph. 3:8
Ⅰ
Christ is the eternal and only begotten Son of God, the second of the Divine Trinity—John 1:1-2, 18; Matt. 28:19.
Ⅱ
He is self-existing, ever-existing, and coinhering with the Father and the Spirit in eternity.
Ⅲ
He is, with the Father and the Spirit, the only God—John 1:1; Rom. 9:5; Heb. 1:8.
Ⅳ
He is the Creator (v. 10), and all things were created through Him (John 1:3; Col. 1:16a), cohere in Him (v. 17), and will be an inheritance unto Him as the Heir (v. 16b; Heb. 1:2; Rom. 11:34-36).
Ⅴ
In time He became a man through His incarnation, a God-man having both divinity and humanity as His nature—John 1:1, 14; Heb. 2:14.
Ⅵ
He is the Firstborn of all creation—Col. 1:15b.
Ⅶ
He is the effulgence of God's glory and the impress of God's substance—Heb. 1:3a.
Ⅷ
He is the embodiment of God—Col. 2:9.
Ⅸ
He is the image of the invisible God—1:15a.
Ⅹ
He lived in His humanity on the earth to express God for thirty-three and a half years—He is God manifested in the flesh—1 Tim. 3:16.
Ⅺ
He is the faithful Witness of God—Rev. 1:5.
Ⅻ
He is the tabernacle of God as God's movable dwelling place among men— John 1:14.
XIII
He is the temple of God as God's established dwelling place on earth—2:19-21.
XIV
He is the light of the world—8:12.
XV
He died an all-inclusive death through which He crucified Satan—the old serpent (3:14; Heb. 2:14)—sin (Rom. 8:3; John 1:29), the world (12:31), the fallen man with his flesh (Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20), the old creation (represented by the old fallen man), and the law with its ordinances (Rom. 10:4; Col. 2:14; Eph. 2:15) for the accomplishment of God's eternal redemption (Heb. 9:12) and released His divine life from the shell of His humanity to be dispensed into His believers (John 12:24; 3:15).
XVI
He resurrected from among the dead (Matt. 28:6-7; 1 Cor. 15:45b), and through His resurrection He in His humanity was designated to be the firstborn Son of God (Rom. 1:4; 8:29; Acts 13:33), became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b), and regenerated with His resurrection life all the people chosen by God before the foundation of the world (1 Pet. 1:2-3; Eph. 1:4).
XVII
He ascended to the heavens, and in His ascension He was crowned and enthroned to be:
A
The Lord of all men and all things to rule over the whole universe—Acts 10:36.
B
Christ—the Anointed of God—to accomplish God's economy—2:36.
C
The Ruler of the kings of the earth (Rev. 1:5) to arrange the situations of the world and the environment of God's chosen people so that they may be saved by Him as the Savior who will be received by all His believers as their everything—Acts 5:31.
D
The Head of the church to take care of the church as His Body—Eph. 1:22-23; 5:29-30.
E
The Paraclete in heaven before God to take care of all the cases and needs of His members (1 John 2:1) and the One who is realized by His Spirit as the Paraclete in His members (John 14:16-20).
F
The heavenly Minister to minister heaven into His believers to make them the heavenly citizens—Heb. 8:2; Phil. 3:20.
G
The great High Priest in the heavens to take care of His believers' needs, intercede for them, and save them to the uttermost—Heb. 4:14-15; 7:25-27.
H
The Mediator of the new covenant, bequeathed by Him to His believers through His death, to execute it—8:6; 9:15.
I
The surety of the better covenant to be its guarantee—7:22.
XVIII
He is the Shepherd of God's flock, the door for them to come out of Judaism, and the pasture for them to feed on—John 10:11, 14, 16, 9.
XIX
He is the resurrection, the life, the way, and the reality—11:25; 14:6.
XX
He is the Bridegroom who has the bride—3:29a.
XXI
He is the power of God and the wisdom to His believers from God: righteousness, sanctification, and redemption—1 Cor. 1:24, 30.
XXII
He is the Passover for the believers to pass through God's judgment—5:7.
XXIII
He is the spiritual food and the spiritual rock flowing with the living water for God's people—10:3-4; John 6:35; 4:10, 14.
XXIV
He is the Body (1 Cor. 12:12) and all the members of the Body—the new man (Col. 3:10-11).
XXV
He is the firstfruits, the second man, and the last Adam—1 Cor. 15:20, 23, 47, 45.
XXVI
He is the Firstborn from the dead to be the Head of the Body—Col. 1:18.
XXVII
He is God's allotted portion to the saints—v. 12.
XXVIII
He is the body (the reality) of all the positive things to God's people—2:16-17.
XXIX
He is the life of His believers and the One whom they live and magnify—3:4; Phil. 1:20-21.
XXX
He is the Lamb accomplishing God's redemption and the Lion fighting for God's kingdom—Rev. 5:5-6.
XXXI
He is the opener of the seals of the secrets of this age—v. 5.
XXXII
He is the believers' hope of glory—Col. 1:27.
XXXIII
He is the morning star who will appear to His overcomers before His coming back to the earth—Rev. 2:28.
XXXIV
He is the Sun of righteousness with healing in His wings to appear to the world— Mal. 4:2.
XXXV
His riches dispensed into His saints are unsearchable—Eph. 3:8.
XXXVI
He is the Savior coming back to:
A
Transfigure His believers—Phil. 3:21.
B
Judge His believers to discern who among them should be rewarded with the kingdom and its enjoyment as a reward for one thousand years and who among them should be disciplined in the kingdom age, thus missing the kingdom as a reward— 2 Cor. 5:10.
C
Marry His overcomers as His bride in the millennial age—Rev. 19:7.
D
Defeat Antichrist and his armies—vv. 19-21.
E
Be received by the remnant of the Jews—Zech. 12:10; Rom. 11:26.
F
Judge the nations—the living people (Acts 10:42)—on His throne of glory (Matt. 25:31).
XXXVII
He will be the King to rule over the earth with His overcomers—Rev. 20:4, 6.
XXXVIII
He will judge all the dead people (Acts 10:42) at His great white throne (Rev. 20:11-12).
XXXIX
In the New Jerusalem (21:1—22:5) He will be:
A
The Husband of God's redeemed people as His wife in eternity—21:2.
B
The temple with God—v. 22.
C
The lamp with God as the light in Him—v. 23.
D
The Lamb-God on the throne to rule over the new heaven and new earth—22:1.
E
The tree of life nourishing the entire New Jerusalem—v. 2.