A Glimpse of the Christ: Glimpses of God's Grace

By Richard J. "Dick" Hill

The extreme value of what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished while on earth is based on His true identity. He asked His disciples the piercing question: Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? His identity continues to be questioned today. The non-Christian community and church members alike struggle to know. Either Jesus Christ is God revealed in human flesh or He is not! This is the very issue that divides the entire human race. Evil powers continue to mount a steady assault upon the character of Christ. To disgrace His character is to destroy the effect of His work on the cross.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Feb 18, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512729740

Richard J. "Dick" Hill

Dr. Richard J. “Dick” Hill has five decades of experience in Christian ministry. He is the founder and director of Glimpses of Grace Ministries and a retired pastor. Other published books he has authored include A Glimpse of the Christ, A Glimpse of the Christian, A Glimpse of the Chosen, A Glimpse of the Coming King, A Glimpse of Galatians, and A Glimpse of Romans. He received a ThM degree from Dallas Theological Seminary and a ThD from Louisiana Baptist Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Linda, have three children and nine grandchildren. They reside in Kosciusko, Mississippi.

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Copyright © 2016 Richard J. Dick Hill.

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Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-2973-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-2975-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-2974-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016901977

WestBow Press rev. date: 2/10/2016

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1   A Glimpse of God’s Visit to Earth

Chapter 2   A Glimpse of the Deity of Jesus Christ

Chapter 3   A Glimpse of Jesus Christ’s Credentials

Chapter 4   A Glimpse of Jesus Christ as Prophet

Chapter 5   A Glimpse of Jesus Christ As Priest

Chapter 6   A Glimpse of Jesus Christ As King

Chapter 7   A Glimpse of Jesus Christ As the I Am

Chapter 8   A Glimpse of the Virgin Birth

Chapter 9   A Glimpse of Cain and Abel’s Sacrifices

Chapter 10   A Glimpse of Abraham’s Sacrifice

Chapter 11   A Glimpse of Redemption

Chapter 12   A Glimpse of Redemption

Chapter 13   A Glimpse of the Curse of the Law

Chapter 14   A Glimpse of the Cross of Jesus Christ

Chapter 15   A Glimpse of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ

Chapter 16   A Glimpse of Propitiation

Chapter 17   A Glimpse of Justification

Chapter 18   A Glimpse of the Resurrection

Chapter 19   A Glimpse of Abraham’s Faith

Chapter 20   A Glimpse of Saving Faith

Endnotes

Introduction

Jesus Christ is the most important person in this entire universe. He is the only way to heaven, the source of all truth, and the only way to forever life (John 14:6). A true knowledge of His identity is the bedrock foundation for both the church and the gospel. Therefore, knowledge of Christ’s identity is not optional for believers.

In a conversation between Jesus Christ and His followers, Jesus asked His disciples this most crucial question: Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?

The disciples answered that some believed that He was John the Baptist, some Elijah, and that others believed He was Jeremiah or one of the prophets (Matthew 16:13–14). Impressive! It is obvious that some had a very high opinion of Jesus Christ, but a high opinion is not what Jesus was looking for. One must know who He really is.

Jesus then turned to His followers and asked them the same question: Who do you say that I am?

Peter answered, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:15–16). Peter identified Jesus with the New Testament word Christ. Christ is not a personal name for the Savior but points to His real identity. It is His title. He is Jesus the Christ, the Hebrew Messiah, the anointed One. Peter clarified exactly what He meant. He said, You are the Son of the living God.

This was the answer Jesus was looking for. He said, Peter you are blessed indeed! But note why! Jesus continued, Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven (Matthew 16:17). Flesh and blood is used to contrast the natural (human) from the supernatural (God). Peter was honored because God the Father revealed Christ’s true identity to him. He did not learn the true nature of Christ from any human resource. He did not sift through all of the information available on Jesus Christ and come to this conclusion. He received the truth because God was pleased to open Peter’s mind to it.

God’s absolute sovereignty clearly shines through. God must reveal the identity of His Son to us as well or we will never know Him. Our Lord’s response to Peter is crucial.

And I also say to you that you are Peter and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18)

Jesus did not use the personal pronoun you, as in upon you, Peter, I will build My church. He said it like this: You are Peter and upon the truth [rock] of my identity that you have been shown by my Father, I will build My church.

Also notice our Lord’s use of the adjective this, which is not used for a person but a thing. This points to Peter’s confession of the Lord’s true identity as the Christ, the Son of the living God. The bottom line is that the true identity of Jesus Christ is the bedrock truth upon which the church is being built.

Our Lord’s identity as the Christ is also one of the three parts of the gospel of God’s grace. Paul’s presentation of the gospel to the church at Corinth verifies this fact.

Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15:1–4)

Paul began with, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel. The reader assumes that what is about to come from Paul’s pen next will be the gospel. The word gospel means good news.

Before getting to the specifics of the gospel, Paul quickly reminded his readers that the gospel that he was about to give them was the very one he had preached to them and the very one they had received and upon which they stood. And most importantly, it was this gospel by which they were saved (verse 2a).

Paul then added a qualification: If you hold fast that word which I preached to you. He may have said it like this: If we are all thinking about the same truth. And then he added, Unless of course, you believed in vain (verse 2b). This is always a possibility. Many people think they know what the gospel is, but some may not. Paul realized that some of his readers might have an empty faith with no real saving power.

Paul continued by saying that he was just a delivery boy. He was just conveying a message. He began then to briefly explain the facts of the gospel.

That Christ is the very first part of the gospel. Again, the name Christ means the Anointed One, the Messiah. The name teaches us that God has become man. Christ is equal with man in every way with the exception of sin. Christ was born of a virgin and therefore missed the stain of Adam’s corruption. He entered this world through the womb of a human mother. Though He was tempted in all points like we are, He never sinned (Hebrews 4:15). He was perfectly human. He grew older and became tired, hungry, and thirsty. When He took in calories, He gained weight; when He lost calories, He lost weight. He felt emotion and pain like every other human. The Lord Jesus was God come down to man in perfect flesh.

Christ is at the same time the Son of God and equal with God in every way. He is eternal, all-powerful, and the creator of all things. During His earthly ministry, He demonstrated power over nature, angels, disease, demons, and death. Both of these characteristics miraculously come together in the name Christ.

Christ in His perfect humanity died for our sin. His deity did not die. The worth of His shed blood on the cross is determined by the identity of the one who died there. Was all of our sin paid for in full on the cross of Calvary? Yes! How do we know? Because the one who died there is the God-man. The cross work of Christ forever satisfied the Father’s demand against man’s sin. Why? Because the One who died there was the God-man.

The Christ then rose again bodily from the dead, his deity and humanity coming together as one. His identity, His substitutionary death, and His bodily resurrection from the dead are all essential to the gospel. That is why Peter’s response to our Lord’s question was so very important. You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. He got it right! And so must we.

CHAPTER 1

A Glimpse of God’s Visit to Earth

The world has attempted to portray Jesus Christ as a good man, a timeless revolutionary, a holy prophet, a great teacher, a saint, or even a god. But He is more—so much more!

On July 20, 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong did something no one had ever done before. He walked on the moon. People around the world watched and listened as he slowly climbed down the ladder and stepped onto the lunar surface. He looked up and saw the earth far above him and spoke these now familiar words: That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

A little over two thousand years ago, something much more amazing took place. Though it did not gain much publicity, it was an event that makes the landing on the moon pale in significance. God touched down on planet Earth in human flesh.

God had determined that the only payment for man’s sin would be death (Genesis 2:16–17; Romans 6:23). He also determined that He would pay that sin debt Himself (1 Peter 1:18–20). However, there was a major problem. God is eternal life, and eternal life cannot die (Psalms 90:2; 1 Timothy 1:17).

To carry out His plan, God became a man. The mighty God temporarily veiled His deity, humiliated Himself, and came into the world as a human being. Think of that for a moment. That is the ultimate transformation, the ultimate humiliation!

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. (Philippians 2:5–8)

God’s visit to the earth was predicted thousands of years before it actually happened. How He would come, who He would be, and where, when, and why He would come were all documented in detail. This was done so we would recognize that only God could have predicted His own coming and then fulfilled it exactly as He said.

How?

An early glimpse of how God would make His unusual entrance into this world is found in Genesis 3:15: And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel. This was written some four thousand years before the birth of Christ.

God said that the woman would bear a child that would be her seed. This is humanly impossible. A woman would have a child without the contribution of a man? It would take a miracle. The virgin birth was that miracle.

Thousands of years before it was to happen, God told us that He was going to come to this planet through a virgin birth. He would come in a way that only He could, clearly revealing His power and purpose. This did not seem possible, but God makes the impossible possible (Matthew 19:26).

• God created the first man without the aid of a woman; He formed Adam from the dust of the earth (Genesis 2:7).

• He created the first woman with the aid of a man; Eve was created from one of Adam’s ribs (Genesis 2:21–22).

• He created Jesus Christ without the aid of a man; He was born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14).

• He created you and me with the aid of both a man and a woman, human parents.¹

You name it,