Jesus: Strong/Weak

	It seems like an obvious understatement to say that Jesus is strong.  We all know that He is strong.  But just how strong is He?  Well, He was strong in heaven before He ever came to earth.
	"In the beginning was the Word," John 1:1-3 notes, "and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being."
	How strong is Jesus in heaven?  He is co-creator of all things.  Nothing came into being apart from Him.
	"In these last days has spoken to us in {His} Son," Hebrews 1:2-3 establishes, "whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.  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."
	How strong is Jesus?  Not only is He co-creator, but He is also the One who upholds all things by the word of His power.  The first chapter of Hebrews goes on to compare Jesus with angels, arriving at the conclusion that Jesus is far above them.  If we can decide how strong an angel is, we know that Jesus is much more powerful.
	"And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it," 1 Chronicles 21:15-16 records, "but as he was about to destroy {it,} the Lord saw and was sorry over the calamity, and said to the destroying angel, 'It is enough; now relax your hand.' And the angel of the Lord was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.  Then David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, with his drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, covered with sackcloth, fell on their faces."
	How strong is an angel?  God sends a single angel to destroy the entire city of Jerusalem.  All it takes is the outstretched hand of the angel and the city is gone.  And Jesus is more powerful than this angel.
	"Then it happened that night that the angel of the Lord went out, and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians," we read in 2 Kings 19:35, "and when men rose early in the morning, behold, all of them were dead." 
	How strong is an angel?  It takes a single angel to destroy a heavily armed force of 185,000.  And Jesus is more powerful than this angel.
	Jesus is powerful in heaven.  He is co-creator.  He upholds all things by the word of His power.  He is more powerful than any angel.  We also find that Jesus is powerful on earth.  He is powerful over nature.
	"And behold, there arose a great storm in the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves," we find in Matthew 8:24-27, "but He Himself was asleep.  And they came to {Him,} and awoke Him, saying, 'Save {us,} Lord; we are perishing!'  And He said to them, 'Why are you timid, you men of little faith?' Then He arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and it became perfectly calm.  And the men marveled, saying, 'What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?'"
	We have all seen the power of nature.  We have witnessed earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, blizzards, hurricanes and wild fires.  It takes a simple command from Jesus to calm a raging storm.
	"But the boat was already many stadia away from the land, battered by the waves," Matthew 14:24-25 states, "for the wind was contrary.  And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea."
	Jesus walks calmly on the water in the midst of the tempest. Jesus demonstrates His power over nature while here on earth.  But there is even more.
	"And when He had said these things," we observe from John 11:43-44, "He cried out with a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come forth.'  He who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings; and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, 'Unbind him, and let him go.'"
	"And taking the child by the hand," we read in Mark 5:41-42, "He said to her, 'Talitha kum!' ( which translated means, "Little girl, I say to you, arise!").  And immediately the girl rose and {began} to walk; for she was twelve years old. And immediately they were completely astounded."
	"And He came up and touched the coffin," Luke 7:14-15 records, "and the bearers came to a halt. And He said, 'Young man, I say to you, arise!'  And the dead man sat up, and began to speak. And {Jesus} gave him back to his mother."
	Not only does Jesus demonstrate His power over nature, but He also exhibits His power over death itself.  Jesus is powerful while here on earth.

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	Jesus is powerful in heaven.  He is co-creator.  He upholds all things by the word of His power.  He is more powerful than any angel.  Jesus is powerful on earth.  He is powerful over nature.  He is powerful over death.  Yet this same Jesus made Himself weak.  He made Himself weak by giving up His heavenly dwelling to inhabit an earthly body.
	"Who, although He existed in the form of God," Paul writes in Philippians 2:6-8, "did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, {and} being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."
	"Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole {Roman} cohort around Him," we find in Matthew 27:27-31.  "And they stripped Him, and put a scarlet robe on Him.  And after weaving a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they kneeled down before Him and mocked Him, saying, 'Hail, King of the Jews!'  And they spat on Him, and took the reed and {began} to beat Him on the head.  And after they had mocked Him, they took His robe off and put His garments on Him, and led Him away to crucify {Him.}"
	"And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up {His} spirit," verse 50 adds.
	Jesus makes Himself weak in order to live among us.  And, as this last verse notes, He makes Himself weak in order to die form us.
	"For you have been called for this purpose," 1 Peter 2:21-24 points out, "since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting {Himself} to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed."
	Jesus is strong.  Yet He makes Himself weak.  He makes Himself weak in life and in death.  He makes Himself weak for those of us who are weak.
	"Do you not know," Paul asks in Romans 6:16, "that when you present yourselves to someone {as} slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?"
	"I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh," Paul continues in verse 19. "For just as you presented your members {as} slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in {further} lawlessness, so now present your members {as} slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification."
	How weak are we?  We are so weak that we are nothing more than slaves.
	"However at that time," Paul points out in Galatians 4:8-9, "when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods.  But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?"
	How weak are we?  We are so weak that we are controlled by things which are worthless.
	"For while we were still helpless," Romans 5:6 informs us, "at the right time Christ died for the ungodly."
	How weak are we?  We are so weak that we are helpless.
	Jesus is strong.  Yet He makes Himself weak so that those of us who are weak might become strong.  Jesus makes Himself weak so that we might be strong here on earth.
	"And what more shall I say?" Hebrews 11:32-35 expresses.  "For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed {acts of} righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.  Women received {back} their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, in order that they might obtain a better resurrection."
	Jesus makes Himself weak so that we might be strong here on earth.  And, more importantly, Jesus makes Himself weak so that we might be strong forever.
	"Who will bring a charge against God's elect?" Paul expresses in Romans 8:33-39.  "God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  Just as it is written, 'For Thy sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.'  But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
	"Behold, I tell you a mystery," Paul reveals in 1 Corinthians 15:51-57, "we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.  For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.  But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, 'Death is swallowed up in victory.  O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting' The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
	Jesus is strong,  Yet He makes Himself weak so that we who are weak might become strong here and forever.  There is one condition, though.  We must recognize our weakness before Jesus can make us strong.
	"On behalf of such a man will I boast," Paul observes in   2 Corinthians 12:5-9, "but on my own behalf I will not boast, except in regard to {my} weaknesses.  For if I do wish to boast I shall not be foolish, for I shall be speaking the truth; but I refrain {from this,} so that no one may credit me with more than he sees {in} me or hears from me.  And because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me-- to keep me from exalting myself!  Concerning this I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me.  And He has said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.' Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me."
	Jesus is strong,  Yet He makes Himself weak so that we who are weak might become strong here and forever.  Let's acknowledge our weakness and rely upon the power of Jesus so that the truth can set us free.

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 Used by permission."