Saturday, January 17, 2015
BEEKE QUOTE
Joel Beeke writes in an excerpt from "A Salutation from the Throne of Heaven"; If Christ is unchangeable as the Son of God, we may
submit our lives to Him (Job 23:13–14), set our hopes on
His promises (Ps. 33:11), and commit our plans to Him
(Prov. 19:21), while expecting eternal blessings from Him
(Heb. 6:17–18), believing that He will always work for our
good (James 1:16–18). How futile, then, it is to challenge
Him, His Word, His people, or Christianity itself (1 Sam.
15:29; Num. 23:19; Heb. 1:10–12, 2:1) when we may live by
the immutability of the Lord who is and was and is to come.
Christ is also almighty and omnipotent over history.
In our English Bible, Christ describes Himself as
“the Almighty” by using the Greek word pantokrator,
meaning “ruler of all” and in the Old Testament by
using El Shaddai—“God Almighty.” As El Shaddai and
Pantokrator, Christ wields the very might of God to bring
all things into subjection to Himself as God’s anointed
king and “governor among the nations” (Ps. 22:28).
Christ is Lord and Master of history, never its slave or
pawn. Whatever powers oppose Him, Christ will prevail.
This claim is central to Revelation. Though the power of
Christ is contested, He masters all the powers of creation,
puts His enemies to flight, conquers the world, establishes
His kingdom, condemns the wicked, and brings His loved
ones safely home to God.