Laying It All Down part 4

The Gospel is the most vivid angle by which to see the magnificence of God in Christ Jesus.  Today we will position ourselves vertically- that we might see the sovereignty of Jesus concerning Calvary and the days to follow.

Here’s a little snack: Def: “sov·er·eign” [sov-rin, sov-er-in] –to possess power over- to control as a king or monarch.

John’s 10^th Gospel chapter gives us a royal vantage point into heart of God concerning the event of the Gospel.  In one verse we see Christ’s supremacy over, sovereignty of and submission to- the death of the cross and the miracle of the resurrection.  Verse 18 reads, “No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.” 

Authority is a precious thing. Here we learn that Christ’s authority over His life was given to Him by His Father in heaven.  The death and resurrection of Christ were in His control as a gift of sovereignty.  We need to see with great clarity that that this sovereignty wasn’t His to dictate the future, predetermined events of Calvary and the days to follow, but rather to fulfill the love of God for His people without the say of any other.  In other words, the Father’s gift of sovereignty (control) to the Son over His own life was not His to twist or alter the event of the Gospel, (for that event was the will of God for His Son) but rather sovereignty was His that He might fulfill the Father’s will without any help or persuasion of man. 

To say that Jesus’ authority over His life as stated in verse 18 was His that He might consider (and thus reconsider at will) the event of the predetermined Gospel as optional only seem glorious.  However, there is nothing glorious about a dysfunctional Divinity; and the will of God for Christ and Christ’s determined spirit of obedience to that will were anything but dysfunctional; and nothing less than the sovereign act of obedience on the part of the Son.  The Father and the Son were one.  The decree of God and the understanding of Christ concerning that plan were synonymous, not unanimous.  There was no heavenly election held as to who would be the Savior, thus there was no vote taken.  The event of the Gospel was the single-minded plan of the Trinity.

Therefore, when Jesus said, “I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again”, He was not merely speaking of the inability of any other to take His life prematurely or by their own cause.  He was speaking emphatically of the mutual agreement that was held in the understanding of the Father and the Son.  In short, the sovereignty of Christ over His life was His to fulfill, not to consider.

The sovereignty of Christ over His life is the greatest glory of the Gospel.  To know that Christ set His face “like a flint” (Is. 50:7) toward Calvary and that no effort of man could alter that Gospel plan of the Trinity is the greatest joy of the Christ-centered life.

Pastor Mike Carmody