Four Faces -- The Person and Nature of Jesus Christ

The following was presented on Saturday evening at the Monroe Prison...

When I became a Christian, in my early twenties, I still lived at home, and I got heavily involved in prayer, and Bible study and going to church, you know, stuff like that, and my mom was concerned for me. She said to me, "Keith, don't be so heavenly minded, that you're no earthly good."

So I don't want you guys to accuse me of not being practical, so I'm going to start off with some practical, down-to-earth things you can do to save yourself some pain. Here's some sound advice, some "tried and true" words of wisdom that you can follow to improve your life. Okay?

Alright, here goes, you ready, don't wash your face with Clorox, no-no, that would be bad. Don't shave with a Ginsu knife... doesn't work very well. Don't stop a chainsaw with your face... that'll leave a mark. Don't try to cool off a hot iron with your tongue... Ouch. All of these are bad, bad ideas.

Now for some good ideas, brush your teeth, don't forget to floss. Eat right, exercise, get enough sleep, pay your taxes... you can't outrun the IRS. So it took me all of, what, ten seconds to give you this practical down-to-earth advice. Now, that we got the earthly things out of the way, lets take some time and talk about heavenly things.

Originally, I wanted to talk to you guys about Hebrews 10:23-25. It was my intention to "provoke you to love and good works." I wanted to exhort you guys to serve God and serve others. You know what another word for exhort is, don't you, "NAG". Beside the fact that I'm not a very good Nag, I became convinced that it wasn't my responsibility or job to do that. I believe the LORD re-directed me to a different topic. I really feel we all need grow in our love and knowledge of Jesus Christ. We need more of Him in our lives, so let's to talk about Him. We'll talk about who he is, what he's done for us. It's my intent to encourage you guys to draw nearer to Him since he's the source of life and love and righteousness. I need this too, so I'll be preaching to myself as well.

Very early in my Christian life, I worked with a Catholic Christian lady. As we were driving in her truck one day, we were talking about Jesus. I asked her, if someone were to ask you who is Jesus to you, what would you tell them? She said, I would say he is my best friend.

So, I want to tell you about my best friend. Turn to Ezekiel chapter 1. This may seem like a strange part of the Bible to look at to find out about Jesus, but I hope you'll find this very appropriate and relevant to knowing Jesus Christ. Ezekiel 1 shows us a picturesque scene of Living Creatures and the Glory of the LORD. Ezekiel has a vision into heaven.

Ezekiel 1:4-14, says, I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north, an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was that of a man, but each of them had four faces and four wings. Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze. Under their wings on their four sides they had the hands of a man. All four of them had faces and wings, and their wings touched one another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved.

Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a man, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle. Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out upward; each had two wings, one touching the wing of another creature on either side, and two wings covering its body. Each one went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they went. The appearance of the living creatures was like burning coals of fire or like torches. Fire moved back and forth among the creatures; it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it. The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning.

This almost sounds like it could be the scene out of some fantasy movie. Like the Chronicles of Narnia or the Lord of the Rings or something. This guy is for real though. This is an actual scene out of heaven. I want to focus in on this creature, because he exists for a specific purpose. We also see this same guy show up in Revelation 4:6-7.

I love picturesque scenes with brilliant colors and sounds. Music and art reach deep within us and cause an emotional response. You can look at a picture with bright colors and it screams out at you. Take for instance a bright red Ferrari going down the street, it screams, GIVE ME A TICKET!

This creature, I guess you could call him an angel of some sort, has two purposes in life. First, he is meant to give glory to God. Secondly, his four faces graphically illustrate four aspects Christ's nature. I want to spend a moment on each of these aspects of Christ's person and nature. I'm going to take a scene out of the scripture for each of these four aspects of the nature and person of Jesus Christ.

THE FACE OF A MAN
First, there is the face of a man. Jesus was a man. I doubt anyone here would dispute that. Let's look at Luke chapter 4 for a scene that shows Jesus in all of his humanity.

Luke 4:1-13 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."

Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone.'"

The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours."

Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'"

The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here. For it is written: " 'He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"

Jesus answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

How does this story do anything for us? How can it help you and me? Well, it shows our Jesus being tempted, that's a good start. So he was tempted. He was tempted just like you and me. Jesus was and is a man. He is completely human, through and through. And because of that, the way he handled it, is the way we should handle it. Don't let it handle us. He's showing us, how we can deal with temptation. He resists it and he depends on Scripture. How often, when you or I are tempted do we resist and depend on scripture? It seems like it should be easy. We may not have a treasury of scripture memorized for any given situation, but at the very least we can rely on scriptural principles and pray. You remember the LORD's prayer, "Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil."

The humanity of Jesus is actually a very important teaching. He was just like you and me, except without sin. He never had sin, he didn't side-step sin with some tap-dance, he was from all eternity the completely holy Son of God. He became flesh and was born of the Virgin Mary. He had red blood running through his veins. He has emotions, thoughts, feelings all human. I thought it would be interesting to lookup the words "Human Being" and see what they meant.

Human, being
Human means "lowly, of the earth". Here is the God of the universe, the heavenly LORD, who took on the estate of a lowly, earth-bound man.

"Being" means "conscious or aware of ones existence". You know, you and I are different from the animals; They don't go look in a mirror to check themselves out to see how they look. They don't check their breath, or anything like that, but we care about ourselves. But that isn't the highest plane on which to live our life. Rather than "Self consiousness", the highest goal of living is to constantly live with "God Consciousness". Where we live for God, and put Him first, you know "Thy will be done..." and in so doing, we even put others ahead of ourselves. You won't be able to put others first in your own fleshly nature. We're born with a selfish nature. You don't have to teach babies to be selfish. They go wah, wah, wah, and scream at the slightest hint of hunger or any discomfort. We don't have to learn to be selfish, it comes natural. So, you won't be able to change that tendency by yourself. It'll have to be a cooperative effort. All you can do is allow God to change you on the inside. All you can do is let yourself be ruled and conquered by God the Holy Spirit. Jesus, himself did the same thing. Christ Jesus only succeeded because He depended on the Holy Spirit moment by moment.

When we get to heaven, we're going to see a man; the Man Christ Jesus on the throne of God. He's going to display the scars of his crucifixion for all of eternity. In Revelation, John says he saw "the Lamb as it had been slain, in the midst of the throne."

THE FACE OF A LION
The lion is the "King of the Cats". We're not talking the Cowardly Lion here, this is Jesus who is called the "Lion of the Tribe of Judah" in Revelation 5:5. You may have seen that bumper sticker, "Jesus is coming again, and He's mad this time." You don't want to mess around with a lion. This designation of a Lion coming from the tribe of Judah goes all the way back to the book of Genesis where Jacob (A.K.A. Israel) was giving his blessing to his sons, he called his third son Judah a "lion's whelp."

Jesus came to earth to assume the title of "King of the Jews", and partially, it was for that claim that he was crucified. Let's look at Matthew 21 for the scene where Jesus presented Himself as King of the Jews.

Mathew 21:1-9 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away."

This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
"Say to the Daughter of Zion, 'See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.' "

The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
"Hosanna to the Son of David!"
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Hosanna in the highest!"

So, Jesus is a gentle king to those who call out to him "Hosanna" or Save Me, and I mean RIGHT NOW! That's what Hosanna means, is Save Now. If you haven't already, call out to him in the quietness of your own heart and ask Him to save you now, because Today is the day of salvation. He won't push his way into your life. You have to ask him to come in.

THE FACE OF AN OX
An Ox is a beast of burden. They can be yoked up, two of them together and they can be used to plow a field, or rip out stumps. Then afterward, in the evening you can butcher them and barbque them and have them for dinner. I say that jokingly, but its true. They can do real work, and at the end of the day, they can be sustenance; you know... food. So, an Ox is a servant animal. They may not be the most glamorous animal around, but when you have a heavy-duty job that needs to be done, they can "Git'r Done" for you.

The primary work that Jesus, "The Servant" did for us was to stand-in for us, and take the punishment that we deserved. On the cross he died in our place, so that we wouldn't have to.

Mark chapter 15:34 says, "And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachtani?", which means My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? To me, these words of Christ on the cross show the great lenght that He went for us. He was forsaken by God, so that we wouldn't have to be.

How about you guys... Have you ever felt forsaken? Maybe you feel forsaken right now. If you feel forsaken, if you feel left out, if you feel like you're missing something because you're locked up in here. Please realize that you aren't alone. God loves and cares about you and He wants to be closer to you than any other person. Please know that God wants to be bonded with you, right beside you, watching over you, moving in you, hovering over you, protecting you, guiding you, I mean what else can I say? He loves you guys, and so do I. He cares about you, and so do I. Avail yourself of His presence. You surely can't bother him by coming to him through prayer. He want's you to be a son, a favorite son.

Let me illustrate about prayer, really quickly, we're almost done. I was at work the other day, and it was about 4:45 in the afternoon. I got a call from my son who was at home. On the surface, that isn't really a big deal. I have a decent relationship with my kids and I talk to them all the time, but I don't normally get a call from them at work. What was unique about this particular day from any other, was that my wife, who would normally have been at home, taking care of my sons, was at work. After 20 years of our marriage, and staying home, and being a homemaker, she's gone back to work. So, she was at work, and my son, my 15 year old son, was hungry and was wondering when I was coming home to fix dinner for him. Don't get me wrong, I was glad to hear from him, it was just a little out of the ordinary.

How about you and God? Would it be out of the ordinary for God to hear from you? Are you spiritually hungry? Are there needs in your life? Don't let any time go by before you call on God in prayer, and seek Him for all your needs. Don't just call on Him asking him for things. He doesn't mind you asking Him for things, but go deeper. We can share everything with him; all of our experiences and our plans, our joys, and our sorrows, our victories and our failures. He wants to hear anything and everything from us.

THE FACE OF AN EAGLE
Eagles are amazing birds. They're huge. The fly higher and can see further than any other bird. They are predators. They're called "raptors" because they can swoop down on their prey, maybe its a fish or something, and snatch it right out of the river. I happened to see a documentary on raptors recently, and it is amazing at how high they can fly and spot their prey; and the tremendous speed that they can dive down and grab their prey.

For all these reasons, the eagle has always been a symbol for deity, or divinity; you know God.

So Jesus was and is a Man. He's also King of the Universe. At the very same time, he was and is a Servant to all mankind. And lastly, Jesus Christ is God. He's the God-Man. He is 100% man, and at the very same time, he's 100% God. I know, that adds up to 200%. Therein lies the mystery. A lot of people and other religions don't accept this. But this is what the Bible teaches.

I like to go to John chapter 8 to show the deity of Jesus Christ.
John 8:56-58 Jesus was telling the Pharisees who he was and where he came from. The Pharisees were basically being very disrespectful to him and telling him that they rejected His claim to being the Messiah from heaven.
Jesus responds and says, "Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad." The Pharisees come back was, "You are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham!", Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I AM!" At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.

They knew what he was saying. He was claiming to be the eternal. They wanted to stone him because he was making himself out to be God. The reference that Jesus is making relates back to Exodus, where God told Moses to go set his people free from Egypt. Moses said, if the people ask me, what is the name of this God who sent you?, what shall I tell them your name is? God said, tell them, "I AM THAT I AM" has sent you.

Jesus has all the qualities and characteristics of God. Our God is all knowing. Jesus demonstrated knowing things of which he didn't have direct knowlege. The Bible say's he knew what was in the heart of men. He knew everything about you before he chose you. He loves you in spite of what you've done and there's nothing you could do to make him not love you. So just glory and revel in the love of God and that will change your life.
Our God is all powerful. Jesus demonstrated power over diseases, storms, people, demons, even death. There's nothing to hard for him. Whatever you're going through, he is strong enough to be able to help you. He may not change your situation, but he can and will help you through it.

Our God is omni-present (everywhere at the same time.) The Bible says the heaven of heavens can't contain God, but somehow he localized himself in the Man Jesus Christ. There's nowhere you can go to get away from him. You can't hide from him, so you may as well be open and honest and transparent with him. You will find freedom when you are completely open and honest with him.

Our God is completely Holy and Righteous and awesome. He's completely separate from sin. That's why He has the power to be able to cleanse us from our sin. That cleansing power should lead us to a life of holiness; where we wholly devote ourselves to following Him.

So that's our LORD and my friend, Jesus Christ... Man, King, Servant and God. I hope something I've said will help you in some way. It's all about Jesus guys.

God bless you guys and thanks for listening.