“The Case for Christ: - Kingdom God/Table/Witness”

Peter, in witnessing to Cornelius of Christ, made reference to the table Jesus spread before His disciples the day He appeared to them at the Sea of Galilee.

He used it as one of the proofs of seeing and being with Christ after His resurrection. 

This evening, I would like to consider with you this ‘table’ of the risen Christ.

                  ************

Isaiah spoke of the time when a table was set. It was combined with placing a watchman who, by direct command from the Lord, was to ‘declare what he seeth’. 

It was a ‘table of witness’ designed to counter a surprise attack from the enemy.

Likewise - the table Jesus spread was a ‘table of witness’ for the disciples on their journey in the days ahead. 

They will need this witness to meet enemy attacks against the truth of Christ’s resurrection.

They could point back to this time at the Sea of Galilee and positively say: 

‘We are witnesses of everything He[Jesus] did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed Him by hanging Him on a tree, but God raised Him from the dead and caused Him to be seen. 

He[Christ] was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses Whom God had already chosen - by us who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead.’ 

                  ************

Of any who had lived with Him, the disciples knew Jesus best.

They heard Him speak ‘as never a man did’.

They could testify of His many good and gracious deeds.

They could testify of the cruelty and the agony He endured in His death.

And, now, they could testify that - although He died - He was resurrected from the dead, reappeared before them, and did miraculous things in their sight.

They could also testify that He definitely was not a ghost for He ate and drank with them, too! 

They may have found certain things hard to explain and understand at times and these appearances were no exceptions!

But - Christ’s resurrection could not be denied!

They knew it was He Who was Lord, both before His death and now, after His resurrection. 

It was the same Person in the character of Jesus, the Christ! 

John made that known when he said: ‘It is the Lord!’

And, thus, they did not hesitate to proclaim themselves as witnesses of His glorification when He showed Himself to them. 

                  ************

The Old Testament rule was still in effect: ‘In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.’ 

‘We are witnesses of everything...’, they boldly said.

He was not a figment of their imaginations!

His bones were not buried somewhere in a dark grave!

He was not an historical personage recorded in the annals of history!

As in any court of law, these men could stand as witnesses of the fact of the resurrected Jesus, the Christ.

And they did give their witness of this before the Jewish court.

It was Peter, their spokesman, who made the case at the Sanhedrin Council.

He presented the central issues of the death of Jesus, His resurrection by God His Father, and His present place as Savior in the heavenlies with God.

There, he once again rehearsed these issues by saying, ‘The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. 

Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.

And we are His witnesses of these things...’!

And the records testify that the court could not, nor did not, declare their witness as false about the issues!

The verdict was announced through Gamaliel, the highly-respected Doctor of Law at the time of the hearing.

When he addressed the court, everyone paid close attention.

He was so respected that it was said of him after he died: [Quote] ‘Since Rabban Gamaliel, the elder, died, there has been no more reverence for the law; and purity and abstinence died out at the same time.’ [Unquote] 

In other words, he was a judge whose word was ‘yea, and amen’!

And he told the court: ‘...if this counsel or work be of men, it will come to naught.

If it be of God, you cannot overthrow it. You might even be found opposing God!’ (Acts 5:38-39)

That is, history would be the judge of whether something is of God or whether it is not.

And, yes! Gamaliel was right: ‘If it be of God, you can never stop it!’ 

The truth of Christ and His resurrection has not been overthrown all these centuries. And - what is more, it will stand forever!
   
Yes - in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established! 

                  ************

And, yet, in spite of these two strong witnesses, the truth of Who Christ is and what He did is still not universally accepted!

That is the argument of many today. This is the reason given for not accepting Jesus as the Christ, God’s Son. 

‘It is not a religion that is universally accepted,’ the objectors  say.

But this attitude is certainly not new, nor will it ever change in the general population.

There were those in the days of Moses who ‘...sinned yet more against Him[God] by provoking the Most High and they tempted God in their heart...’.

Yes - ‘...they spoke against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?...can He give bread also?...can He provide flesh...? 

Therefore, the Lord heard this, and was wroth;...fire was kindled...anger arose...because they believed not in God, and trusted not in His salvation.’ (Ps 78:17-22)

Many still cannot believe the word and work of the Most High God in the giving of His Son for the world’s salvation.

The problem is - Christ is confused with a system of religion. 

A person is not a system.

It is Christ Who makes Christianity. 

And Christianity is the unfolding of His Person, His character, His atoning work. 

So - yes - it is true: the Person of Christ is the truth that is not universally accepted! 

Thus, for most, Christianity is branded just as ‘another religion’! 

                 ************   

However - even though He is not universally accepted, where He is proclaimed, He speaks a ‘universal language’! 

Now - not all can understand Greek! Few, if any, can understand all of the many, many languages flooding the earth today.  

But all can understand Jesus - at least, those who want to understand Him!

How is He so universally understood?

When His compassion reached out to the blind, and He touched their eyes to give sight, He was understood.

When He reached forth His hand to heal the lame, the sick, the crippled, He was understood.

When He chased the moneychangers out of the temple with the declaration of ‘This is My Father’s house. You have made it a den of thieves!’, He was clearly understood!

When He was on the Cross and asked God to forgive His enemies, ‘for they know not what they do’, there was no interpreter needed to explain His meaning!

After His resurrection, when He said ‘Come and dine’, the disciples knew what He was saying!

And even now, when He invites men to His table and says, ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come into him, and will dine and feast with him, and he[will dine and feast] with Me’, He can be understood!

And when He says, ‘Come...you who are thirsty, come. Let everyone who wishes, come, and take the water of life: it is My free gift’, He can be understood!

That is right!

Whether one is rich or poor, whether one is learned or unlearned, whether one is successful in life or unsuccessful, Jesus can be understood in every man’s heart! 

His language is in terms every man can understand, for it is the language of divine love that heals every aching void man can possibly have.

And none can misunderstand that!

                   **********

And, not only is His language universal, His law is also universal.

God said of His own people: ‘...[they] shall be filled at My table...’ with an invincibility that gives them a strong witness. 

They can, and do, follow Him and His law.

But, He also went on to say, ‘And I will set My glory among the heathen, and all...shall see My judgment that I have executed, and My hand that I have laid upon them.’
(Ezek 39:20-22)

In His universal law, it is His ‘glory that has been set among the heathen’.

For - it is far more than just wise counsel, good sense, and smart advice.

In our troubled times today, it is understood at once that it is Christ’s overriding Lordship that is ‘set’ among us.

His Lordship opposes every evil of this world. 

It crushes all corruption!

Men have tried over and over again to gain world power through their various perversions!

But their wickedness is short-lived.

Whether it is cruelty, hypocrisy, selfishness, pride, terrorism, fraud, or whatever - there is no place for these corruptions in Christ’s law of life!

His universal law rules those things as ‘out of order’!

Yes - Christ may be denied and rejected but it does not change the basic fact of His Lordship over all!

‘...Because He[God] hath appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man[Christ] Whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men in that He[God] hath raised Him[Christ] from the dead.’ (Acts 17:31) 

                   ************ 

Yes - Christ’s universal language, His universal law, the witness of the court, the witnesses of men are all part of His ‘table of witness.’

But - do you know that none of these are proofs that the world will readily accept?

Every one of these witnesses is argued!

But there is one witness that cannot stand against any arguments.

It is the ‘centerpiece’ of the table around which everything else is set! 

It is the divine witness, the witness that is greatest of all witnesses! 

It is the witness of God! It is His witness that gives the assurance to all men that He raised His Son from the dead!

‘...when we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which He hath testified of His Son.’ (1 Jn 5:9)

All religions have a ‘god’ who supposedly equates with the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

To argue with these ‘gods’ is repugnant - unheard of!

So - how can the world argue with our God! 

His witness is divine witness!

And none can testify of what our God has testified!

It is our God Who gave His Son. It is our God Who testified of His Son by the resurrection. It is our God’s life in His Son. (1 Jn 5:9-11)   

Argue with Him about that - if you will!

If, then, this God, Father of Christ, declared He raised His own Son from the dead, does it not hold true that these other witnesses of Christ are speaking divine truth with a testimony that is to be heeded? 

                    ************

So these men here at the Galilee scene witnessed of Christ after His resurrection. 

They saw Him. They ate and drank with Him. They spoke with Him. They were witnesses of Him and of His resurrected life! 

But, even above that, they could stand on the greater witness of God Who ‘hath given assurance unto all men in that He raised His Son from the dead.’ 

Yes - this is the table Jesus prepared at the Sea of Galilee - this ‘table of witness’.

It stands before every one of us.

It stands before the world.

And it is open to all who will but eat and drink with Him at the table Christ has spread before us all! 

                    ************

I will close for tonight. 

Oh - I pray - we thank God each day for this assurance He has given us in Christ!

May His Life increase within each one of us as a true witness of His resurrected Life!

May the Lord grant each of us a week in which His abundant grace and mercy is freely received within each of our hearts!

Amen! Let us pray!