There is One Lord

THERE IS ONE LORD

 

Eph.4: ⁴ There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;

⁵ One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
⁶ One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

If a person said they believed in polka dotted dragons, would you call that a legitimate faith? Why not? It is because they believe in something that does not exist. And so it is with spiritual faith. There is only one God, and He is not defined by what men believe. He was and is and always will be just Who He is.

The prevailing spirit within the church and across the world at large is one that has millions turning away from Christ. Even those who have professed His name and preached His message are not only softening, but many are preaching and teaching a different message altogether. It is a tale of sadness and woe, especially considering what the Christ has done for us all. I mean spiritual treason is not only the most dastardly sin of all, but it is heartbreaking as well. And to hear ordained men stand and speak lies about our wonderful Lord grieves the Spirit and should grieve our hearts as well.

But even in the midst of our grief we must stand tall and humble and continually proclaim our love and loyalty for Christ publicly and privately to His face. There is only one faith and only one Lord. This has always been the bedrock of truth and regardless of how wicked men attempt to manipulate it and expand its exclusive parameters let them all be liars and let God alone be true. This end time reality in which we live is seeing demonic activity flourish. But do not fear, God has triumphed in spite of what our eyes and ears try and tell us. The glorious end to an inglorious history is culminating for all who believe. And on that day it will be clear that it is God’s victory He shares with us and not ours. And all we who have tasted of His redemption can testify of His power and grace and love will be made partakers of His eternal kingdom.

And at the very heart of this faith is Jesus and the mystery of His sufferings. Please do not attempt to modernize those wounds with metaphorical applications about earthly self images or even overcoming personal troubles. People of all stripes have glowing reports of personal triumphs in the face of adverse circumstances which they accomplished without Jesus. Oh but these sufferings are much greater and much deeper than those. This is the open spectacle of God Himself suffering for the sins of the world. Even that description is a profound mystery, for not only are we incapable of comprehending God’s sufferings, but we are completely incapable of knowing the full weight of our sin. In fact, we seem completely incapable of fully understanding the meaning of sin itself except for a few antiseptic doctrinal definitions.

But within the mystery of the Incarnation came the mystery of divine suffering. Oh my, how can human lips provide any understanding worth its profound truth? God Himself hangs on those Roman planks, bloody beyond recognition and tortured even before He arrived at Golgotha, and now He writhes in agony. Many men have tasted the agony of human torture and pain, but this event captures infinitely more than that. This man, this God, is feeling, experiencing, and enduring the pain and punishment for sin. That is a profound mystery in and of itself.

Men know what bodily pain feels like. But who can tell us what pain feels like when it comes as a substitute, a punishment for sin, and more specifically, for the sin of others. I mean what can that feel like? Surely in the midst of human sufferings in the flesh the Lamb experienced the agony of spiritual pain as well. And let us ask ourselves this question: Just how much pain would a sinner have to endure in an eternal hell separated from God? Of course it is inconceivable and past knowing. So what kind of pain would Christ have endured to take on our entire punishment, and all in six hours? You see, how can we even pretend to know such sacred sufferings?

But even though our minds know the doctrinal specifics of the cross, we must never allow our hearts to remain aloof from the spiritual and emotional effects that must change our entire beings. We have too much dry eyed Christianity which presents a doctrinal thesis rather than broken hearts as proof of our love for our Redeemer. And instead of being compelled to enter into the fellowship of those sufferings we seem to gloss over them in favor of all sorts of earthly endeavors and battles. How can we complain about our circumstances when we have seen His blood and heard His groans and felt His pain? How can we dare suggest we do not deserve any persecution or derision or mocking when we have been to His cross and seen what He endured for us? And when we have been bathed in the mystery of His redemptive blood that gushed from those lacerations, how can we consider ourselves anything more than His humble and undeserving servants?

All the gospel narratives and all the specific events and all the word pictures culminate in one Lord and one faith. And herein lies the insidious plan that seeks to complicate the truth and appeal to the intellect and philosophical creativity of man. Instead of a pure and simple and yet utterly profound faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, man has constructed a new and more relevant faith which makes man the lord and Jesus his servant. In essence, God exists to aid in the happiness of man. But hidden from view by that lie is the eternal truth that man’s happiness can only truly be found in humble servanthood and worship of Jesus who is Lord. So instead of being served, we become servants, and in that can be found eternal happiness.

There is only one faith, and there is only one Lord. And in the Lord Jesus alone can be found eternal life and eternal happiness. And it is no coincidence that all who believe in Him will spend eternity with Him. Because even with all the heavenly accoutrements He alone is life. Heaven is no spiritual hotel which provides luxuries to all who come there. Heaven is His dwelling place and in His presence there is life everlasting. Yes, there is one Lord and everything centers around and through and in Him. Believe on Him and release the grave clothes of your own understanding and you will find a freedom which will never end.

There will come a day, and perhaps much sooner than anyone knows, when all creation will bow before Him and openly acknowledge that Jesus is Lord. And on that same day all who denied Him before will be cast away, while all who embraced Him will be ushered into an eternal reality about which the human mind has never dreamed.