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WHAT A SAVIOR! #8
IS HE THE GREAT PRETENDER?
It was a dark, heart-shattering Friday afternoon, and
two desperate men were walking the confusing maze of hallways of a 13-story
Texas hospital. They were looking for someone in particular, and finally
Mac Kilduff spotted him. Mr. Johnson had his back to the two approaching
men, and the big Texan was surrounded by busy people: aides, attendants,
assistants. Doctors and nurses were all around; it was a tense and anxious
time. Kilduff walked up to that big man in the dark suit and cleared his
throat. “Uh . . . Mr. President . . .”
And the room just froze. Nobody had ever used that expression before to
address Lyndon Baines Johnson. Johnson was the VICE President, wasn’t
he? Didn’t he always fly on Air Force Two, not One? Didn’t he reside on
Admiral’s Hill, not at the White House? Didn’t he occupy the #2 spot,
not #1?
But no. Minutes earlier Dr. George Burkley had checked the patient’s pulse,
and then with tragic finality announced to those in Parkland Memorial
Hospital’s Trauma Room #1: “The President is dead.” John F. Kennedy, white
male, age 46, patient #24740, had died of a “GSW” – a gunshot wound, delivered
at Dealey Plaza. And really, the moment the last sparks of life had ebbed
away for America’s 35th President, Johnson had immediately become the
leader of the free world. Swearing-in or no swearing-in, he was the constitutional
holder of the Oval Office, the nuclear football, the launch codes, the
Executive Branch, the White House, everything. Secret Service agents,
upon hearing the shots fired at the motorcade, immediately knew to switch
their protective attentions from “Lancer” – the slain President – to “Volunteer,”
the U.S.’s new leader. And so assistant press secretary Mac Kilduff used
that brand new expression, directed at Lyndon Baines Johnson: “Uh . .
. Mr. President . . .”
As William Manchester tells it in his shattering book, The Death of a
President, Johnson turned around and stared at Kilduff “like he [was]
Donald Duck.” “Mr. President”? Him? But as of 1:00 p.m., Central Standard
Time, November 22, 1963, that was the right title. Johnson was “Mr. President”
because constitutionally he WAS the President. The title and the position
went with each other.
We’re doing some studying together about another young Leader who had
people come up to Him sometimes and give Him very high and lofty titles.
“Son of God.” “Son of Man.” “You are the Christ, the Son of the living
God,” Peter once said to this sandal-wearing Galilean he admired so much.
So a lot of people surrounding Jesus were calling Him “Mr. President.”
But does someone being called that make it so?
All through history – and the recent Mel Gibson film about Jesus has made
it happen yet again – there has been a fairly reverential group of dissenters
who put their objection this way: “Jesus was a wonderful man. He was an
amazing philosopher. God certainly sent this world a message through his
words. He had a self-sacrificing spirit. What happened at Calvary was
a tragedy beyond our understanding. But don’t tell me that he’s God. That
goes too far.” Friend, I’ve had people sit across from me at the supper
table and say that almost word for word. Good man, great teacher, gentle
spirit . . . but not God.
And yet what that ignores is this: something like 70 times in the Old
Testament, and about 170 more times in the New, people gave Jesus these
“Mr. President”-type titles. Over and over. “Son of God.” “Only begotten
Son.” “King of glory.” “King of kings.” And here’s the point: Jesus allowed
this to happen. He accepted these titles that others were giving Him.
Now, here in an election year, I’m sure there have been exciting campaign
moments out there on the trail where an over-enthusiastic PR guy at the
mike has cried out to the crowd: “Ladies and gentlemen, the President
of the United States!” Meaning: “We HOPE this guy MAY be the next President
of the United States.” Hope. Maybe. Someday. Wait ‘till November and see.
But if somebody’s not the President now, then any John Kerry with a brain
will immediately hold up a hand, flash the crowd a smile and say, “Folks,
let’s not jump the gun. Let’s not get presumptuous.” But Jesus Christ
had people give Him these God names all the time. And He accepted them.
We’ve gotten some great resource material from a book in the vaults of
my own Adventist Church. And in a section entitled “Biblical Basis for
Belief in [the] Deity of Christ,” these good writers give us a whole mountain
of examples. And listen – these are special names that ONLY apply to Deity.
Average men and women just NEVER used these words any other way, and certainly
did not allow them to be used ON themselves. You only have to go over
to Acts chapter 14, where a crowd of people in the city of Lystra were
so swept away with the miracles and preaching of Paul and Barnabas that
they began worshiping them. “Mr. President, Mr. President,” they shrieked,
getting down on their knees. Actually, they cried out:
“The gods have come down to us in human form!”
They decided Barnabas was Zeus and Paul, Hermes. They
were ready to offer up sacrifices to them, build temples in their honor,
the whole nine yards. And these two human men, who were NOT deity, immediately
hoisted the STOP sign. “No way no way no way,” they protested. “Stop it
right now! This is wrong ‘cause WE ARE JUST MEN!” So Paul and Barnabas
were not willing to have anybody say “Mr. President” to them . . . but
Jesus openly accepted and even basked in these divine names.
Psalm 24 has a prophetic prediction about the triumphant Messiah King
ascending to heaven after the Crucifixion and Resurrection. Listen to
this:
“Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lifted up,
ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this
King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.”
Isaiah 9 has the whole litany, borrowed gloriously
by George Handel for his Messiah, and every single one of these names
is applied directly to Jesus of Nazareth:
“Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting
Father, The Prince of Peace.”
And in the New Testament, it’s just constant. Here’s
the list from those Bible scholars I just mentioned:
“‘God,’ ‘God with us,’ ‘the great God,’ ‘God blessed
for ever,’ ‘Son of God’ (40 times), ‘only begotten Son,’ ‘the first and
the last,’ ‘Alpha and Omega,’ ‘the beginning and the end,’ ‘Holy One,’
‘Lord,’ ‘Lord of all,’ ‘Lord of glory,’ ‘King of glory,’ . . . ‘Word of
God,’ ‘Word,’ ‘Emmanuel’” – which means “God with us” – “‘mediator,’ and
‘King of kings, and Lord of lords.’”
Do you remember a film entitled Catch Me If You Can
where a young Leonardo DiCaprio pretended to be a schoolteacher, then
an airline pilot, then a lawyer, a doctor, etc.? And innocent people called
him “Captain” and “Doctor” and some other very nice names, not realizing
they were in the presence of an fraudulent faker. You might grudgingly
acknowledge someone’s cunning if they pulled off something like that,
or you might think they’re both diabolical and demented at the same time.
But I’ll tell you this: you would never admire a person who was always
saying they were something they weren’t, or allowing others to talk that
way in their presence.
Many Christian writers have grappled with this reality; probably the most
cogent statement along these lines was by C. S. Lewis, himself a former
atheist. He points out that Jesus either has to be what He said – the
Son of God – or He was a combination of madman and chronic liar. There
was no middle ground. Jesus simply could not be “a good teacher,” “an
insightful rabbi.” That middle position was simply impossible because
Jesus had proclaimed Himself – and allowed others to proclaim Him – to
be God.
In their book, Ready With an Answer, John Ankerberg and John Weldon quote
from the 19th-century French apostolic priest, Leon de Grandmaison. He
sums it up well with these words:
“Either Jesus was and knew what He was, what He proclaimed
Himself to be, or else He was a pitiable visionary.” Dorothy Day seconds
that opinion: “Christ is God or He is the world’s greatest liar and imposter.”
Well, friend, if you’re with us in this radio adventure,
chances are good you’ve already accepted these ground rules. We believe
the words of the Bible; we believe the claims of Jesus Christ. But what
a difference it makes in our lives when we fully embrace these 240 names
for our Savior and Friend, Jesus. Other religions have gods made of wood
and stone; there are entire belief systems built around the admittedly
good and poetic teachings of visionary men and women. But what do we have
here? We have Jesus, who is in all good ways – a King. A Prince of Peace
who has every kind of good power and authority. A tender Friend and Shepherd
who is also going to serve as our Judge – you talk about THAT being good
news! I believe it completely transforms our lives and our outlooks and
our world philosophies when we come to accept and celebrate the reality
that Jesus Christ is more than the great communicator of the Sermon on
the Mount and the Lord’s Prayer. He is our wonderful God! Our living Lord
who is vibrantly with us and in us on this very day – June 23, 2004.
What a glorious thing it will be one day soon to cry out in joy: “Jesus!
King of kings, Lord of lords. My Lord and my God.” And have Him graciously
say: “Yes. That’s Me.”
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