Calvary Road Baptist Church

“HERETOFORE INCONCEIVABLE”

John 16.28 

I’m going to do something at the outset that is quite different from my standard practice. For the benefit of those who will later listen to an audio recording of this message from God’s Word or read this message after it is uploaded to the Internet, allow me to describe what is about to happen.

One young man will bring out a table and a plastic tub to place on top of the table on the auditorium floor in front of the platform and pulpit. The purpose of the table is to elevate the demonstration so that as many people as possible in the auditorium can see what is happening. The purpose of the plastic tub is to make sure no water falls on our carpet during the demonstration.

The other young man will bring out a small clear drinking glass and a considerably smaller thimble of the type used by seamstresses and tailors. He will also produce a pitcher of water. Once the two young men and I are in place, one will hold the small clear glass, while the other holds, above the small clear glass, the thimble. I will position myself so that as many people as possible can observe me pouring the entire pitcher of water into the thimble. You will doubt that I can accomplish this task.

Before I step down to the auditorium floor to conduct the demonstration, allow me to designate the meanings of the items you will see. The table represents a table. It means nothing in our demonstration and is used entirely for the benefit of convenience. The plastic tub on top of the table represents a plastic tub on top of a table. It is used entirely for the benefit of convenience to keep the auditorium carpet as dry as possible.

Now let us move on to the four items in our demonstration and their meanings. Imagine the small glass representing the entirety of the physical universe God created on the first day, consisting of time, energy–mass, and space. To repeat, for this demonstration, the entire physical universe and the time, energy–mass, and space continuum, will be represented by the small clear glass. I know the representation is a reach, but I am confident in your ability to imagine the glass as I have described it.

The thimble will represent a single human body. I know the relative scale of the thimble to the glass is wildly disproportionate, but I’m asking you to give me a break. Just go with me during this brief demonstration. So, you will have before you the entire physical universe represented by a small glass and one human body represented by a small thimble.

I will end up holding a pitcher full of water. Imagine the pitcher to be absolutely nothing, easy to do since it is clear plastic. It does not exist in this demonstration, except as a tool to help me control the water. Ignore the pitcher. In this demonstration, I will pour all of the water in the pitcher into the tiny thimble held above the small glass. In a moment, when I pour all of the water from the pitcher, notice that all of the water in the picture will flow nicely and neatly into the thimble. Now we will demonstrate what I have described.

Demonstration

Did you notice that everything did not happen exactly as I described that it would? The small clear glass wonderfully represented the expanse of our physical universe. And the smaller thimble wonderfully represented a human body. But something happened when I attempted to pour the water into the thimble.

Most of the water would not fit into the thimble. Most of the water would not fit into the glass. Getting the entire pitcher of water into the thimble was an impossibility. Getting the whole pitcher of water into the glass was also an impossibility.

Getting all of the water from the pitcher into the glass was not just an impossibility. It was an absurdity. Getting all of the water from the pitcher into the thimble was not just a greater impossibility. It was an even more audacious absurdity. And don’t think that you can squeeze water of that volume into the small volume of the glass or the small volume of the thimble.

Water is well-known to be an incompressible fluid. It is not possible to squeeze it into a volume that is less than the volume of the water. To do so would result in the destruction of the thimble and the destruction of the glass.

Yet, in this terrible demonstration, I have sought to illustrate to you the impossibility of the Incarnation of the eternal Son of the living God. I have sought to demonstrate to you the impossibility of God, the Creator of the universe and all that herein is, Who is more immense than this vast universe He has created, stepping into His universe. Yet, He did.

I think God becoming a man, stepping into His creation the way He did, is what philosophers might refer to as an ontological impossibility.[1] Yet the angel Gabriel, when informing the Virgin Mary that this very thing was about to happen, with her being the thimble who would give birth to the thimble who was God manifested in the flesh, said, in Luke 1.37, “For with God nothing shall be impossible.”

Before we turn to my text for today, let us agree to be gentle with each other. I will not insult your intelligence by suggesting that my demonstration with the pitcher of water, the thimble, and the small glass was anything like a reasonable representation of Christ’s Incarnation. My demonstration was conducted solely to press into your memory the imagery of how impossible it is for something bigger to fit into something smaller.

In return, I ask that you grant me the awareness that my demonstration does not do justice to the physical universe, an individual human body, much less the infinite God. Will you grant me that? Additionally, will you fix your mind on something for me?

Are you willing to think about the impossibility of the Son of God, whose immensity is infinite, becoming a man and occupying a body prepared for Him, which began as a single cell in the womb of a young Jewish virgin named Mary?[2] With that in mind, turn to John 16.28, where the Lord Jesus Christ said, 

“I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.” 

These words were spoken shortly before the Lord Jesus Christ’s high priestly intercessory prayer of John chapter 17, and shortly before our Lord’s season of prayer that took place in the Garden of Gethsemane, and also shortly before His betrayal by Judas Iscariot to the soldiers who took Him into custody. The next morning, He was crucified. Three days later, He rose from the dead.

With this statement, the Lord Jesus Christ set forth the entirety of His saving activity in four concise phrases, with two of the phrases referring to what He had already done and two of the phrases referring to what He was about to do.

Consider them with me, 

First, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST DECLARED HIS GENERATION 

“I came forth from the Father” 

Notice how this phrase is connected to the final phrase of the previous verse. Verse 27 ends, 

“and have believed that I came out from God.” 

Verse 27 is the Lord’s acknowledgment that His disciples believed that He came from God, that God sent Him. The verse before us is the Lord Jesus Christ’s assertion that what those eleven men believed to be true was, in fact, true.

Without getting into the weeds of theological speculation, let me make mention of three confirmations that arise from this phrase in connection with the final phrase of verse 27:

First, we have confirmation that God, as He was understood by those eleven Jewish men, the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who spoke to Moses from the burning bush, is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And as Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of the living God, so the First Person of the Triune Godhead is Christ’s heavenly Father.

Next, the Lord Jesus Christ, who those men believed “came out from God,” and confirmed their belief by stating to them that He “came forth from the Father,” truly was sent by God the Father. He was dispatched. No wonder He is referred to in Hebrews 3.1 as “the apostle of our profession,” with the Greek word apostle meaning delegate, envoy, messenger.[3] The Lord Jesus Christ “came out from God,” “came forth from the Father,” because He was sent on a mission by God the Father. As He spoke to those men on their way to the Garden of Gethsemane that night so long ago, the goal of Christ’s mission was coming to a climax.

Third, make no mistake about the eternity of the Lord Jesus Christ or the nature of His essence being identical with the essence of God the Father. Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Jesus Christ came forth from God the Father. He and the Father are one in essence, yet somehow distinct as to personality. In no other way could He come out from God, come forth from the Father. Of interest to me, and without me pretending to understand what He meant by it, is that the Lord distinguished to His men a distinction between coming forth from the Father and what He stated in the second phrase. 

Next, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST DECLARED HIS INCARNATION 

“and am come into the world” 

This phrase is what I had in mind when the two young men and I constructed the visual demonstration at the beginning of my message. How does one characterize the infinitely more immense than the expanse of our universe God stepping into His creation (the glass), assuming human flesh at its conception as a single cell in the womb of a virgin (the thimble)? How does Deity of infinite magnitude and pristine holiness take up residence in a comparatively small universe without obliterating it? How does Deity of infinite magnitude and pristine holiness take up residence in the minute body of a young virgin, in the womb of that young virgin, much less in the single-cell egg that would grow into the Baby who would be delivered in Bethlehem?

What is the Incarnation that this phrase refers to? Lewis Sperry Chafer writes, 

“Because of the immeasurable truths involved, the incarnation – whereby a member of the Godhead is entering permanently into the human family and becoming part of it – proves one of the seven greatest events in the history of the universe, as follows: (1) creation of angels, (2) creation of material things including all life on earth, (3) the incarnation, (4) death of the Incarnate One, (5) His resurrection, (6) His coming again to reign on the earth, and (7) His reign on the earth forever and ever.”[4] 

Henry Clarence Thiessen writes, 

“The Scriptures teach that the pre-existent Christ became man. “The Word became flesh” (John 1:14); when the fullness of the time had come, God “sent forth his son, born of a woman” (Gal. 4.4; cf. Rom. 8.3); “who, existing in the form of God … emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:6, 7); “since then the children are sharers in flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same” (Heb. 2:14). The historical account of this fact we have in the birth narratives in Matthew (chs. 1, 2) and Luke (chs. 1, 2).”[5] 

Here is a third explanation of the Incarnation referred to by this phrase: 

“Fundamentally, incarnation is a theological assertion that in Jesus the eternal Word of God appeared in human form (Jn 1). Many theologians picture the incarnation as the voluntary and humble act of the second person of the Trinity, God the Son, taking upon himself full humanity and living a truly human life. The orthodox doctrine of the incarnation asserts that in taking humanity upon himself, Christ did not experience a loss of his divine nature in any way but continued to be fully God.”[6] 

The phrase “and am come into the world” seems to be straightforward enough until you ask the questions the conscientious Bible student always asks, Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?

Who? This is Jesus Christ. But who is Jesus Christ? He is the eternal Son of the living God. He is the Second Person of the Triune Godhead. He is the Creator and Sustainer of all things. That is Who is speaking here and Who He is speaking about. That should perk us up a bit, don’t you think?

What? What is being referred to in this phrase is an ontological impossibility. It is physically impossible for the Son of God, Who is more in every way than the universe He created, to step into the universe He created. The Incarnation violates every law of physics. This is not something that any reasonable or rational being can conceive of as being true, was it done by anyone other than God. Did the Lord Jesus Christ violate the laws of nature when He took upon Himself human nature to be born in Bethlehem? It would be more appropriate to state that the Lawgiver suspended the laws of nature, or overruled the laws of nature, or did something differently than is usual when He did what He did. And He can do that whenever He chooses.

When? We do not know the precise day when this great miracle of Incarnation took place. However, we can be confident that this miraculous Incarnation did not occur on the day that we memorialize it as Christmas. After all, Mary’s delivery and Christ’s birth were in every way normal and routine. What was marvelous, and what was miraculous, was His conception nine months earlier, when the Holy Spirit of God overshadowed the virgin whose name was Mary.

Where? As to the geographical location of this great miracle, it almost certainly took place in Nazareth. As to the physiological location of this great miracle, it took place inside the body of a virgin named Mary, in her womb. For nine months, her womb was the dwelling place of the God-Man.

Why? Why did the Lord Jesus Christ become a man? Why did He leave heaven’s glory, the very throne room of heaven, to assume sinless humanity? That is the next main point of this message. So far, the Lord Jesus Christ has commented to His men concerning what He has already done. The next two phrases, the second half of the verse, is His declaration of what He is going to do.

Finally, we ask How? I don’t pretend to know how. But when you know who, you do not always need to know how. 

Third, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST DECLARED HIS CRUCIFIXION 

“again, I leave the world” 

Perhaps reminding these men what He had earlier said to them in the Upper Room when He told them, we read in John 13.33, 

“Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you.” 

Ponder this about the Lord Jesus Christ the next time you create a quiet time of Bible reading, prayer, meditation, reflection, and contemplation of the things of God and the Savior: 

Circling back to the question of why He died on the cross of Calvary, can we do any better than the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 53? Let me read that chapter, and then conclude this point with First Peter 3.18, to underline the why of Christ’s crucifixion as the death He chose to leave this world: 

1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?

2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. 

First Peter 3.18 provides a wonderful summation: 

“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.” 

Yes, He left the world. But, O, how He left the world. And by rising from the dead in a glorified body, He did not reenter this world. From His death on the cross, He has been otherworldly. 

Finally, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST DECLARED HIS ASCENSION AND ENTHRONEMENT 

“and go to the Father.” 

Just as the Lord Jesus Christ declared His intention to leave the world, which would be accomplished employing His crucifixion, so the Lord Jesus Christ announced His intention to return to the Father. However, between the Lord Jesus Christ's crucifixion and His return to the Father, there is this matter of His resurrection from the dead. Where is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to be found in the second half of verse 28? Did the Lord Jesus Christ have the resurrection in mind as part of His comment, “again, I leave the world?” Or is it to be included as part of what He meant when He said, “and go to the Father”? Honestly, I do not know how to answer that question. There can be no doubt that the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is one of the most significant power imaginable displays. It is also the absolute proof that the Lord Jesus Christ’s offering for our sins was both acceptable and accepted by God the Father.

Perhaps the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead should be recognized as integral to His death by crucifixion since it was not possible that death should hold Him. However, it is also unimaginable to think of Him returning to His Father in heaven apart from His humanity being glorified via the resurrection.

What can be said is that, following His resurrection at the precise time that He had predicted, the Lord Jesus Christ seems to have ascended to heaven several times, with His final ascension recorded in Acts 1.9-10: 

9  And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel. 

We cannot say with any precision how many times the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to heaven for one reason or another before ascending a final time to be enthroned at His Father’s right hand. One might suppose that the Lord Jesus Christ was somewhere following His resurrection. But where? We are not told where He might have been when He was not visible to His followers. Could He have ascended to heaven, to return to earth temporarily to make appearances to His followers? Perhaps. That said, I think it unlikely that He ascended to heaven prior to His first recorded post-resurrection appearance, where He said to Mary Magdalene, 

“Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.”[11] 

Why not touch Him? Perhaps He had not yet ascended to heaven to offer the propitiatory sacrifice of His blood. This would fit the pattern of not touching Aaronic priests under the Mosaic system after the sacrifice had been slain and before the blood had been sprinkled on the altar.

Soon after that, however, He allowed women to take hold of His feet.[12] Eight days later, of course, the risen Savior challenged Thomas to thrust his hand into the wound made by the Roman’s spear in His side, John 20.27. That would suggest the glorified Lord ascended to heaven at least twice.

What is of most significance is that our Lord was seen by Mary Magdalene,[13] then by other women,[14] then by two witnesses on the road to Emmaus,[15] and then there is the Apostle Paul’s summary account in First Corinthians 15.5-8: 

5  And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:

6  After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.

7  After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.

8  And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. 

Once the Lord ascended to take His place at the Father’s right hand,[16] He has remained so enthroned until the time of the Rapture and resurrection of the Church Age saints,[17] followed by His Second Coming.[18] It should be noted that Acts 7.56 indicates Stephen, the first Christian martyr, reported that he beheld “the Son of man standing on the right hand of God” just before he was stoned to death. Then there are Paul’s accounts of seeing a vision of Christ on the road to Damascus.[19] Was Paul, while traveling to Damascus, given a vision of Christ from heaven? Where are we to understand the Lord being on that occasion? 

We cannot answer every question that might be raised by the implications of our text. What we can be sure of is the Lord Jesus Christ’s summation of His redemptive activities stated in John 16.28.

The verse very neatly falls into four parts, four phrases. Two of the phrases are declarations by the Lord Jesus Christ of what He has done, with the first phrase declaring what He has done with respect to the Father, and the second phrase saying what He has done concerning the world, His Incarnation. What a staggering accomplishment that was. What an incredible demonstration of God’s power.

The second half of the verse is Christ’s declaration to His faithful followers what He was going to do. The third phrase, His declaration was about leaving the world, which He would do the very next day, with the grisly brutality of the Roman execution that culminated in His death on the cross. The fourth phrase, declaring that He would return to the Father, encompasses both Christ’s final ascension to heaven and His enthronement at the Father’s right hand.

Spend some time mulling this verse over in your head. What incomprehensible demonstrations of power must be wielded, especially for accomplishing the second, third, and final phrases. There is no way a mortal human being can get his mind around such things as the Lord Jesus Christ stated in this single verse.

Are you sure you want to remain an adversary of the Lord Jesus Christ? Can you conceive of what He has mentioned to His men in a most matter-of-fact manner?

You have never before in your life given thought to more than a few of the many things mentioned in this message. You have never before reflected on your opposition to a Savior who has demonstrated His power to achieve ontologically impossible things. He suspends the laws of nature to accomplish what He has purposed to do.

Yet you, who are not very much capable of accomplishing even the possible, are willing to continue your opposition to One who has demonstrated His power to do the impossible? And to what end has He demonstrated such power? To the end of saving you from your sins. He came to die. To come to die, He had to become a man. He then had to die a sinner’s death. He then rose from the dead and returned to where He came from.

What He is doing now from His throne in heaven is saving sinners who trust Him. And He will continue saving sinners who trust Him until the appointed time to take His Own to heaven. Then He will come again. He is coming again. Before it is too late, you need to trust Him.

__________

[1] Stanley J. Grenz, David Guretzki & Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), page 80.

[2] Hebrews 10.5

[3] Bauer, Danker, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, (Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2000), page 122.

[4] Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology, Vol. VII, (Dallas, TX: Dallas Seminary Press, 1948), page 194.

[5] Henry Clarence Thiesen, Introductory Lectures In Systematic Theology, (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1949), page 289.

[6] Stanley J. Grenz, David Guretzki & Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), page 65.

[7] Micah 5.2

[8] Genesis 12.2-3; 17.1, 5-7; 22.18

[9] Isaiah 7.14

[10] Matthew 12.40

[11] John 20.17

[12] Matthew 28.9

[13] John 20.11-18

[14] Matthew 28.9-10

[15] Luke 24.13-32

[16] Psalm 16.11; 110.1; Matthew 26.64; Mark 12.36; 14.62; 16.19; Luke 20.42; 22.69; John 3.13; 13.1; 14.2-4; Acts 1.9-11; 2.33, 34-35; 7.56; Romans 8.34; Ephesians 1.20; 6.9; Colossians 3.1; Second Thessalonians 1.7; Hebrews 1.3, 13; 8.1; 9.24; 10.12-13; 12.2; 1 Peter 3.22; Revelation 19.11

[17] 1 Thessalonians 4.13-18

[18] Revelation 19.11-21

[19] Acts 9.3-6; 22.6-10; 26.13-18

Would you like to contact Dr. Waldrip about this sermon? Please contact him by clicking on the link below. Please do not change the subject within your email message. Thank you.

Pastor@CalvaryRoadBaptist.Church