Christ, the Wisdom of God

1. Christ, the Wisdom of God Text: Proverbs 8:22-36 Series: Truth, Judgment and Eternity

2. Conception of Christ • Have you noticed that everybody seems to have a different concept of who Christ is? • If you ask 10 people in the street who Jesus Christ is,you’ll get 10 different responses. • Most of these people will begin their answer with “I think...” • The problem we have today is most people think up what they want to believe about Christ, it is not based on circumstantial evidence, historical facts, nor what Christ or His prophets and apostles said about Him. • Most of the time it is based on pure imagination and speculation.

3. Conception of Christ • But when it comes to finding out who Christ is, there is no greater authority on the subject than the Bible. • There is no other book on the planet that has an accurate and authoritative description of Jesus Christ than the Bible. • When it comes to where I go to get insight into Jesus Christ, I will turn to the Bible every time and believe what it has to say rather than be swayed by any of these wild and imaginative fairy tales which men create daily about Him. • If you desire the truth about Jesus Christ then you turn to the source, you don’t turn to imaginations of men.

4. Christ the Wisdom of God • 1 Corinthians 1:24 “but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christthe power of God and the wisdom of God.” (NASB) • This title given to Christ as being the ‘Wisdom of God’ is a clear allusion to our text of Proverbs 8:22-36 • Jesus Christ is the Wisdom of God, He is that part of God which rightly applies knowledge with good judgment. • Jesus as the Wisdom of God is revealed in both John 1 and Colossians 1:15-20

5. The Word (Wisdom) becomes Flesh • In the Bible translation called “God’s Word”, it translates Colossians 1:16 as “Let Christ's word with all its wisdom and richness live in you.” • Christ’s ‘Word’ is Wisdom. • John 1:1-5 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” • John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

6. Who Jesus is... • Colossians 1:15-20 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.” (NASB)

7. prōtótokos • Colossians 1:15 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. • The term ‘firstborn’ is misleading and causes many to interpret this as meaning that Jesus is a creation as it says that He is the firstborn of all creation. • However the word which many bibles translate as firstborn is the Greek Word prōtótokoswhich means "first, pre-eminent” or “first in time” (Mt 1:25; Lk 2:7); It specifically refers to Christ as the first to experience glorification, i.e. at His resurrection (see Heb 12:23; Rev 1:5). For this (and countless other reasons) Jesus is "preeminent”– the unequivocal Sovereign over all creation (Col 1:16). He is the first among others (who follow) – as with the preeminent, glorified Christ, the eternal Logos who possesses self-existent life (Jn 5:26). • Notice, none of these definitions speak of firstborn.

8. Before Anything Was Created • Proverbs 8:22 "The LORD possessed me at the beginning of His work, Before His deeds of old.” • Solomon, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, penned the most insightful passage about the Pre-Existent One, who the New Testament has revealed to be Jesus Christ. • Wherever in eternity an Eternal God had His beginning, that was when the Christ was begotten. • Before anything was created, before matter, before the heavens or angels were created, before space and time, Jesus was begotten by the Father.

9. Appointed from Eternity • Proverbs 8:23 "I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began.” • It is essential to understand that Christ was not created, He was brought forth from God the Father and is God, He is as much God the Father as the Father is, yet is His own person, just as the Holy Spirit is His own person. • The True God of the Universe is a Relationship of 3 persons. • If you really think about it, it makes perfect sense, if God existed alone in the Universe, then how would He even know that He exists? • Christ and the Holy Spirit confirmed the Father’s existence, therefore the Trinity is interdependent of each other.

10. Before All Things • Proverbs 8:24-26 “When there were no oceans, I was given birth, when there were no springs abounding with water; before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was given birth, before he made the earth or its fields or any of the dust of the world. • Before anything came to be, before creation itself, Christ was begotten of God. • Christ reveals Himself through the Words of Solomon as the pre-existent One, the maker of both Heaven and Earth.

11. He Was There • Proverbs 8:27-29 I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep, when he established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep, when he gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep his command, and when he marked out the foundations of the earth. • Jesus is clearly telling us that He was with God during the Creating of all that is. • He was there, at the Father’s side, marveling at the birth of the Universe and all that is in it.

12. God Came to Earth • This is the amazing thing about Jesus Christ, is that God came to earth. • However He did not come to rule, He came to reveal Himself and to die for the sins of men, so that our sins could be atoned for. • God took the salvation of men into His own hands, because no one in heaven or earth was able to atone for men, because no one was pure enough as a sacrifice for sins.

13. Rejoicing in His Presence • Proverbs 8:30-31 Then I was the craftsman at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind. • Not only was He rejoicing in the presence of God and at the wonder of all that He created, but He delighted in the creation of mankind who was made in their image. • Could you imagine what an astounding achievement it was for God to create everything in the universe, and the joy that it must have given God to see life abound in the universe?

14. Life in Christ • Proverbs 8:32-36 “Now then, my sons, listen to me; blessed are those who keep my ways. Listen to my instruction and be wise; do not ignore it. Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway. For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord. But whoever fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death.” • If we go through a whole life on this planet, and do not find Christ, we harm ourselves: if we never discover the reality of God and deny His existence and reject His sacrifice for our sins, we condemn ourselves. • John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”