Immeasurable…

“And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of his nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.  When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high”… Hebrews 1:3

My husband is currently preaching through Hebrews; what a deep, rich, beautifully rhetorical book whose theme is wrapped around the finality of Christ.  In one of the sermons, it was pointed out that Jesus is the immeasurable Christ.  Immeasurable. That means we really can never get our heads completely wrapped around how big God truly is.  As part of the Trinity, He is present at creation, He is the hope of the Old Testament, and He is the incarnation of God Himself through Jesus, in the New Testament.  He is not a man who became God; He is God, who chose to become a man in the form of Jesus Christ. He is the One who formed the universe out of nothing and upholds all things by the word of His power.  He is immeasurable.

In The Chronicles of Narnia, Lucy is quoted as saying:

“Aslan, Aslan. Dear Aslan,” sobbed Lucy. “At last.”
    The great beast rolled over on his side so that Lucy fell, half sitting and half lying between his front paws. He bent forward and just touched her nose with his tongue. His warm breath came all round her. She gazed up into the large wise face.
    “‘Welcome, child,” he said.
    “AsIan,” said Lucy, “you’re bigger.”
    “That is because you are older, little one,” answered he.
    “Not because you are?”
    “I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.”  (1)

I find this so true in my own life — the more I grow in Christ, the bigger He becomes. The more I know Him, the more I want to know.  The more I learn, the more I realize I need to learn.  The closer I walk beside Him, the closer I desire to walk.  The more I trust Him, the more He proves Himself trustworthy.  The more I yield to Him, the more freedom and joy He gives.  The more I acknowledge His place of authority, the bigger He becomes in my life.  Every time I trust Him more… He gets bigger.  He is the immeasurable Christ.

Jesus does not sit at the right hand of the Father because He is tired and weak.  He sits at the right hand to represent power.  The scripture says when He had made purification of sins, He sat down.  Jesus’ crucifixion and sacrifice is our purification of sin.  His sacrifice is sufficient — there is no more need for purification of sin — Jesus is it.  When He sat down, it symbolized it is finished. “Tetelestai.”

“Tetelestai” doesn’t translate simply, we have to make a phrase out of it – “It is finished.” But still some of its power is lost in the translation. In the Greek it implies that something has come to an end, it has been completed, perfected, accomplished in the full and that something has consequences that will endure on and on.

“Tetelestai.” The most powerful single word of all of Jesus ministry. It was also his last word. It was the word that turned this apparent tragedy into a scene of Victory that shook the earth, split rocks, changed history, raised saints from the dead and tore away the temple curtain that kept people out of the Holy of Holies.

“Tetelestai” the most powerful word in history. Even more powerful than the words of creation in Genesis chapter 1 where God spoke and the universe came into existence. This word could not simply be spoken. The son of God had to die to speak it. (2)

It is done.  It is perfected. It is complete, final, superior, and sufficient.

Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father today, and He is the immeasurable Christ.  I want to continue to go deeper in my walk with this amazingly immeasurable God who continues to grow bigger in my life. I look forward to experiencing more of His majesty in the deep and rich truths of Hebrews.

1) C.S. Lewis, Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia The Chronicles of Narnia (1951, this edition Harper Collins, 1994) 141.

2) http://www.opensourcetheology.net/node/1332   Posted 3 October, 2007 – 14:59 by peter wilkinson