‘Christ is…
… light to enlighten the soul,
… wisdom to counsel the soul,
… power to support the soul,
… goodness to supply the soul,
… mercy to pardon the soul,
… beauty to delight the soul,
… glory to ravish the soul,
… fullness to fill the soul.’ (Thomas Brooks)
It is one of my foundational beliefs that in Christ, we find everything that we need for life. He is our wisdom from God, our righteousness, holiness and redemption (1 Cor 1:30), as we have been exploring in our Bible studies. He is our sufficiency, our portion, our all in all. Few of us seem to grasp this truth, however, for we become fond of add-ons to the gospel: ‘Jesus-and…’ For the Galatians, it was ‘Jesus-and-circumcision.’ For the Corinthians, it was ‘Jesus-and-wisdom.‘ Others wanted to chase after power or signs or wonders. Very few of us seem to understand the truth that the ‘abundant life’ promised by Jesus (John 10:10) actually is found in Him alone.
In this quotation from Thomas Brooks, we are given a glimpse into some of the riches we find as we gaze on Christ and abide in Him. (John 15:4)
Jesus is the light of the world. (John 8:12, John 1:5) His light can banish all darkness and illuminate our minds and souls. He gives us ‘enough light for the next step, enough light for the way ahead.’ (‘Enough Light,’ Worship Central.)
Jesus is the wisdom of God personified. (1 Cor 1:30) He gives us advice and counsel, showing us not only the way to live but the right paths to walk (see Ps 119:29-32). He gives us the Holy Spirit to be our Counsellor and Guide. (John 16:13-14)
Jesus is our power source, the One who not only tells us what to do or how to do it, but who also supplies the power to live as He has commanded us. Often we focus on the Holy Spirit as the source of power (see Acts 1:8), but since there is indivisible unity in the Godhead, it is unwise to ‘separate’ God out into ‘component parts.’ All power and authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus (Matt 28:16) and the One who freely laid down His life for us also had the power to take it up again. The same power that rolled the stone away lives in us to strengthen us in weakness and to support our souls.
Jesus is the good Shepherd. (John 10:11) His goodness, that inviolable benevolence which will never harm us, acts as a purifier for us and gives us the pure spring from which we can drink daily.
Jesus is mercy personified, offering forgiveness and purification to all who sin. (1 John 1:8-9) His mercy means the punishment that should rightfully be ours has been taken by Him. There is nothing to fear: ‘I paid the price, so have no fear: there’s nothing but mercy here.’ (‘Come Back Home’, Kutless)
Jesus is beautiful. Though once we could see no beauty in Him and though His face was married (Is 53:2), now in Him we see only the love and acceptance of the Godhead (John 1:18) Song of Songs 5:10-16 gives us a description of Christ’s beauty: ‘he is altogether lovely.’ We are delighted as we gaze on Him.
Jesus is glorious. Every vision of the glorified Lord (seen by Isaiah, Daniel and John, to name but three) focuses on glory, on the sheer majesty and dazzling brilliance of our Lord. We are filled with awe and wonder and immense delight and reverential fear as we see the glory of the Lord.
Jesus is fullness. He fills everything in every way (Eph 1:23) and when we grasp His fullness, we are satisfied.