Theology Matters

Baptist Catechism - Lesson 19 - Questions 35, 36, 37, and 38

Lesson 19: Questions 35, 36, 37, and 38 In our last lesson we considered how the Holy Spirit applies the redemption purchased by Christ. We saw that we are made partakers of Christ’s redemption by the effectual application of it to us by His Holy Spirit (Q32), that the Spirit applies redemption by working faith in us and uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling (Q33), and that effectual calling is the Spirit’s work of convincing, enlightening, renewing, persuading, and enabling sinners to embrace Christ freely offered in the gospel (Q34). Now we look at what benefits belong to those who have been effectually called. Question 35: What benefits belong to believers? 17. What benefits do they that are effectually called partake of in this life? 1. They that are effectually called do in this life partake of justification, adoption, sanctification, and the several benefits which in this life do either accompany or flow from them. This question is a doorway into the riches of salvation. Once the Spirit has effectually called us, worked faith in us, and united us to Christ, we receive justification, adoption, sanctification, and the benefits that accompany or flow from them. Notice the phrase “in this life”. The catechism will later speak of the benefits believers receive at death and at the resurrection, but here it teaches that salvation is not only future. We are not yet glorified, but already, in Christ, we are justified, adopted, and sanctified. Romans 8:29-30 gives us the golden chain of God’s saving purpose: For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. Paul does not treat predestination, calling, justification, and glorification as uncertain possibilities. Those whom God predestines, He effectually calls. Those whom He calls, He justifies. The call reaches its saving end because it is the call of God’s grace and power. Ephesians 1:5 says that God “predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will”. Adoption is not an afterthought. It belongs to God’s eternal purpose in Christ. God did not merely intend to pardon criminals while keeping them at a distance. He purposed to receive pardoned sinners as sons. Then 1 Corinthians 1:30 gathers the whole matter into Christ Himself: “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption”. Every saving benefit comes to us in Christ. We do not receive justification over here, adoption over there, and sanctification somewhere else, as isolated gifts detached from the Savior. We receive Christ, and in Christ we receive all His benefits. That is why Question 35 belongs immediately after effectual calling, in which the Spirit unites us to Christ, in Whom we partake of what belongs to Him as our Mediator: righteousness in justification, sonship in adoption, and renewal in sanctification. The benefits flow from union with Christ and only from union with Christ. This should keep us from shrinking salvation. Salvation is not only forgiveness, nor only moral transformation, nor only a changed identity. The catechism is more balanced and more biblical: the effectually called receive justification, adoption, sanctification, and all accompanying blessings. So Question 35 gives us the map. The next questions begin to unfold the territory. What is justification? What is adoption? What is sanctification? We need all three. Guilty sinners need pardon and righteousness. Orphans need to be received as sons. Corrupt sinners need to be renewed in holiness. Christ gives to His people the whole salvation that they need.Question 36: What is justification? 17. What is justification? 1. Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone. Justification is one of the central doctrines of the Christian faith. If we misunderstand justification, we will misunderstand the gospel. The catechism defines it carefully. It is “an act of God’s free grace”. That means justification is not a process by which we slowly become acceptable to God. It is God’s act as Judge, declaring the sinner righteous in His sight on account of Christ. …for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. (Romans 3:23-25, ESV) Justification is free to us, but it is not cheap. It is by grace as a gift, but it comes through redemption in Christ Jesus and through His propitiating blood. God justifies sinners without compromising His justice, because Christ has satisfied divine justice. The catechism says that in justification God “pardoneth all our sins”. Romans 4:6-8 says, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” Justification includes real pardon. The believer’s sins are not ignored, minimized, or excused. They are forgiven because Christ bore them. But justification is more than pardon. The catechism also says God “accepteth us as righteous in his sight”. That matters because forgiveness alone would not answer the whole problem. We do not merely need our sins removed. We need a righteous standing before God. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:18-21, ESV) So in justification, our sins are not counted against us, and Christ’s righteousness is counted to us. That is why the catechism says this happens “only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us”. Romans 5:17-19 contrasts Adam and Christ. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. The catechism’s word “imputed” is essential. It means counted or reckoned. Justification is not God pretending we are righteous, nor waiting until we become righteous enough in ourselves. It is God counting Christ’s righteousness to us, crediting His representative obedience to believers.Finally, the catechism says this righteousness is “received by faith alone”. …yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. (Galatians 2:16, ESV) Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:8-11, ESV, emphasis added) Faith does not earn justification. Faith receives Christ. It is an empty hand, not a price paid. The ground of justification is Christ’s righteousness. The instrument is faith alone. This should humble and steady us. If you are justified, you are not more justified on your best day and less justified on your worst day. Your standing rests on Christ, not on the shifting quality of your obedience. That does not make obedience unimportant. It makes obedience grateful rather than desperate. The justified sinner obeys not to create peace with God, but because peace has already been made through Christ. Question 37: What is adoption? 17. What is adoption? 1. Adoption is an act of God’s free grace, whereby we are received into the number and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God. If justification brings us into the courtroom, adoption brings us into the household. God not only pardons and accepts us as righteous in Christ; He receives us as children. Adoption, like justification, is “an act of God’s free grace”. It is not earned by our worthiness, but granted freely in Christ. 1 John 3:1 says, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” John does not present adoption as a small thing. He calls us to behold it. “See what kind of love”. That is the language of wonder. The holy God does not merely acquit guilty sinners. He calls them His children. The catechism says that in adoption we are “received into the number” of the sons of God. Adoption brings us into a family, not a private spiritual arrangement between isolated individuals and God. We belong with all those who call upon the same Father through the same Son by the same Spirit. John 1:12 says, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God”. This right does not come by nature. We are not children of God simply because we are creatures. We become children of God by grace, through receiving Christ and believing in His name. Adoption is a privilege given in union with the Son. Romans 8:14-17 opens this further. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. Adoption changes how we approach God. We do not come as slaves terrified of rejection, but as children taught by the Spirit to cry, “Abba! Father!” The catechism also says we have “a right to all the privileges of the sons of God”. Romans 8:17 says, “and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ”. That is almost too much to take in. The adopted are heirs. We share, by grace, in the inheritance of Christ. Not because we are naturally worthy, but because God has united us to His Son and received us in Him. This doctrine has deep pastoral sweetness. Many Christians know how to think of God as Judge, and it is right that we do. But believers must also learn to think of God as Father. Not indulgent, not soft toward sin, not like fallen earthly fathers, but holy, loving, wise, and faithful. Adoption means you are not merely tolerated in the house. You are received. This should also shape how we live. If God is our Father, then we should not live like spiritual orphans. We should not be driven by fear, envy, or the need to prove ourselves. We should live as children: trusting the Father’s care, receiving the Father’s discipline, bearing the family likeness (this is sanctification; see the next question), and loving the brothers and sisters He has given us. Question 38: What is sanctification? 17. What is sanctification? 1. Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness. Sanctification is closely related to justification and adoption, but it must be distinguished from them. Justification and adoption are acts of God’s free grace; sanctification is “the work of God’s free grace”. In justification, God declares us righteous in Christ. In adoption, God receives us as sons through Christ. In sanctification, God progressively renews us in holiness according to Christ’s image. In 2 Thessalonians 2:13, Paul says, “But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.” Sanctification is not optional. It belongs to salvation. The same Spirit Who calls us and unites us to Christ also sanctifies us. Grace changes the sinner. The catechism says sanctification renews us “in the whole man after the image of God”. Ephesians 4:23-24 says we are “to be renewed in the spirit of [our] minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” Sanctification is not superficial behavior management. It reaches the whole person: mind, will, affections, speech, habits, desires, physical body, and conduct. This renewal is “after the likeness of God”. Sin ruins us; grace restores us. The goal of sanctification is not mere respectability, discipline, or religious appearance, but likeness to God in true righteousness and holiness. God is making His children resemble their Father. The catechism then says we are enabled “more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness”. Romans 6:4 says, “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Union with Christ means union with His death and resurrection. His people are brought into a new life. Romans 6:6 adds, “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.” Sin is no longer our master. Believers still battle sin, even painfully, but they are no longer its slaves. Christ has broken sin’s reigning power. Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” That verse is precious in relation to sanctification. The fight against sin does not begin under condemnation. It begins in Christ, free from condemnation. We do not pursue holiness in order to become justified. We pursue holiness because we are justified, adopted, and united to Christ. This protects us from two errors. First, we must not confuse sanctification with justification. We grow in holiness, but it is not the ground of our acceptance with God. Christ is. Second, we must not separate sanctification from justification. God sanctifies whom He justifies. Grace pardons and renews. Again, God makes His children resemble Him. The phrase “more and more” is also pastorally wise. Sanctification is real, but ordinarily progressive. Christians should expect growth, not instant perfection. We should not excuse sin, but neither should we despair because the battle continues. The same God Who pardoned and received us also renews us after His image and enables us to fight sin and walk in new obedience. Conclusion Questions 35 through 38 show us the richness of the salvation given to those who are effectually called. The Spirit does not unite us to Christ and leave us empty-handed. * Question 35 teaches that in this life, believers partake of justification, adoption, sanctification, and the benefits that accompany or flow from them. * Question 36 teaches that in justification God pardons all our sins and accepts us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone. * Question 37 teaches that in adoption God receives us into the number and gives us a right to all the privileges of His children. * Question 38 teaches that in sanctification God renews us in the whole man after His image and enables us more and more to die unto sin and live unto righteousness. Taken together, these benefits answer our need beautifully. As guilty sinners, we need justification. As alienated orphans, we need adoption. As corrupted sinners, we need sanctification. Christ supplies all three. There is no deficiency in His salvation. So take this lesson with you this week in two ways. * FIRST, let it shape what you believe. If you are in Christ, God has: * Justified you, accepting you as righteous * Adopted you as His child * Begun the work of sanctification to renew you in holiness. Do not reduce salvation to one benefit only. Receive the fullness of what God gives in Christ. * SECOND, let that corrected belief change what you do. * In guilt, rest in justification. * In fear, remember your adoption. * In the fight against sin, depend on sanctifying grace. Do not obey in order to become accepted. Obey because in Christ you already are accepted, loved, and being renewed. You are justified in Christ. You are adopted through Christ. You are being sanctified by the Spirit of Christ. And all of it is God’s free grace.

17. maj 2026 - 50 min

Baptist Catechism - Lesson 17 - Questions 30 and 31

Lesson 17: Questions 30 and 31 In our last lesson we considered how Christ executes the offices of Prophet, Priest, and King for His people. As Prophet, He reveals to us, by His Word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation (Q27). As Priest, He offers Himself once for all and ever lives to intercede (Q28). As King, He subdues us to Himself, rules and defends us, and restrains and conquers all His and our enemies (Q29). Now the catechism turns from the offices to the two estates in which He executes them: His humiliation and His exaltation. Question 30: What was Christ’s humiliation? 17. Wherein did Christ’s humiliation consist? 1. Christ’s humiliation consisted in his being born, and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross; in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time. This question asks us to consider the depth of Christ’s descent. The eternal Son of God did not merely appear among us in glory, nor did He come as a heavenly visitor untouched by our condition. He humbled Himself. He entered our world, our weakness, our misery, our law-obligation, our suffering, our death, and our grave. His humiliation is the path by which the Lord of glory stooped to save His people. The catechism begins by saying that Christ’s humiliation consisted “in his being born, and that in a low condition”. Luke 2:7 says, “And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger”. That is astonishing. The One through Whom all things were made was laid in a feeding trough. The eternal Son did not enter the world surrounded by earthly splendor. He was born without riches, in obscurity and weakness. That low condition matters. Christ did not merely become man in some abstract sense. He took the form of a servant. He came down into the ordinary hardships of human life. He was not born in Caesar’s palace, but in Bethlehem. He was not laid on a royal bed, but in a manger. From the beginning, His humiliation was visible. The King came humble and lowly. The catechism then says He was “made under the law”. Galatians 4:4 says, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law”. That phrase is full of gospel. Christ did not come as One exempt from obedience. He placed Himself under the very Law His people had broken. He was born under its commands, under its obligations, and under its curse-bearing demands as the Surety of His people. This means Christ’s obedience was not decorative. He did not merely show us what righteousness looks like from a distance. He obeyed in our nature, in our place, under God’s Law. Where Adam disobeyed, Christ obeyed. Where Israel failed, Christ succeeded. Where we sin every day, Christ obeyed perfectly before the Father. His humiliation includes not only what He suffered, but the entire life of obedience He lived from His birth in Bethlehem to His death on the cross. The catechism also says that Christ underwent “the miseries of this life”. Hebrews 12:2-3 tells us to “[look] to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame…. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself”. Christ knew the weariness of a fallen world. He knew hunger, sorrow, hatred, loneliness, temptation, opposition, misunderstanding, and grief. He was not insulated from misery. Isaiah 53:2-3 gives us this portrait plainly: “he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” That is not sentimental language. It tells us that the promised Servant would be familiar with sorrow. He would not merely observe grief from heaven. He would know it by experience. This should comfort suffering Christians. Our Savior is not distant from our afflictions. He knows what it is to live in this groaning world. He knows what it is to be despised, misunderstood, opposed, and sorrowful. Yet His suffering was never meaningless, never faithless, never sinful. He endured the miseries of this life in perfect trust, love, and obedience. But the catechism goes deeper still. Christ’s humiliation consisted in undergoing “the wrath of God”. Here we come to holy ground. Luke 22:44 says, “And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” In Gethsemane, Christ was not merely nervous about physical pain. He was facing the cup the Father had given Him. He was facing judgment, wrath, and curse in the place of His people. The agony of Gethsemane is the agony of the obedient Son willingly receiving the cup appointed by the Father for the salvation of His elect. Matthew 27:46 brings us to the cry of the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” We should speak carefully here. Christ is citing Psalm 22, a psalm that moves from suffering to vindication, from anguish to victory, from the mockery of enemies to the praise of God among the congregation. This cry is not confusion, unbelief, or a rupture within the Trinity. The Father did not turn His face away from the Son. The Son did not cease to trust the Father. The Spirit did not cease to uphold the incarnate Christ in His obedience. Yet the Son, as Mediator, truly bore the judgment due to His people. He endured the wrath of God against sin, not as a private person separated from the Father’s love, but as the willing Surety of His people, offering Himself in perfect obedience. He stood where guilty sinners deserved to stand, bearing the curse so that we might receive blessing. This is why the cross cannot be reduced to moral example, political martyrdom, or inspiring sacrifice. It is substitution. Christ bore wrath. He satisfied divine justice. He gave Himself for sinners under the judgment of God. If we soften this, we lose the heart of the gospel. The catechism then says He suffered “the cursed death of the cross”. Philippians 2:8 says, “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” The cross was not only painful. It was humiliating and cursed. Christ did not die an honorable death in the eyes of men. He was publicly exposed, mocked, condemned, and crucified. And yet, in that cursed death, our blessing was secured. The obedient One went all the way. He did not stop short of the finish line, short of death, or short of the cross. The Son of God humbled Himself to the lowest place so that guilty sinners might be lifted up in Him. The catechism also includes His burial. 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 says that “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures”. His burial matters because it confirms the reality of His death. Christ did not faint. He did not appear to die. He truly died, and His body was laid in the tomb. Finally, the catechism says He continued “under the power of death for a time.” Matthew 12:40 says, “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Acts 2:24 says, “God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.” Peter then cites Psalm 16, including the promise, “For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption” (Acts 2:27), and explains that David “foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ” (Acts 2:31). So Christ truly came under death’s power, but only for a time. Death held Him truly, but not finally. The grave received Him, but could not keep Him. His humiliation went all the way down to burial and the state of death, but death could not claim Him as its rightful prisoner. He had no sin of His own. He bore ours by appointment and covenant mercy. So in His humiliation Christ went down into our need, entered the depths of our misery, and humbled Himself for us and for our salvation. Note the past tense for all discussions of Christ’s humiliation. It happened, but is over.Question 31: What is Christ’s exaltation? 17. Wherein consisteth Christ’s exaltation? 1. Christ’s exaltation consisteth in his rising again from the dead on the third day, in ascending up into heaven, in sitting at the right hand of God the Father, and in coming to judge the world at the last day. Question 30 takes us down into the depths of Christ’s humiliation. Question 31 lifts our eyes to the glory of His exaltation. The same Christ Who humbled Himself has been raised, ascended, enthroned, and appointed Judge of all. His humiliation was not defeat. His suffering was not failure. His death was not the end. The Father vindicated the Son; the crucified Redeemer now lives and reigns. The catechism begins with His resurrection: “in his rising again from the dead on the third day”. 1 Corinthians 15:4 says that “he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures”. The resurrection is not an appendix to the gospel. It is central to it. The Christ Who died for our sins was raised. The One Who entered death came out of death victorious. This matters because the resurrection is God’s public declaration that Christ’s work was accepted. If Christ had remained in the grave, we would have no gospel. A dead redeemer cannot save. But Christ is not dead. He has been raised. Death did not conquer Him. Sin did not have the final word. The curse did not consume Him. The grave did not keep Him. The resurrection also means that Christ’s people have a living Savior. We do not merely remember a heroic teacher from the past. We belong to the risen Lord. He is alive now. His prophetic word still addresses His church. His priesthood continues. His kingship is active. The resurrection means that all His saving work is living, effectual, and secure. The catechism then says that Christ’s exaltation consists “in ascending up into heaven”. The catechism cites Mark 16:19, but I am choosing to cite Acts 1:9 instead: “And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.” We should not pass over the ascension too quickly. It is one of the great events of Christ’s exaltation. The risen Christ did not merely come back from the dead and remain on earth. He ascended to the Father. The ascension tells us that Christ’s earthly humiliation is finished. The days of weakness, rejection, suffering, and visible lowliness are over. He has gone into heaven as the victorious God-man. Our nature is now represented in glory. The Son Who took a true body and a reasonable soul (Q25) did not lay aside His humanity when He ascended. He remains God and man in one person forever, and as the incarnate Mediator He has entered heaven for us. Our Redeemer is not absent in the sense of being inactive or far away in indifference. He is ascended in triumph. He is present with His church by His Word and Spirit, and He represents His people in heaven. We have a Man in glory. We have a Brother at the Father’s right hand. We have a Redeemer Who has gone ahead of us. The catechism then says that Christ’s exaltation consists “in sitting at the right hand of God the Father”. Ephesians 1:20 says that God “raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places”. This is royal language. Christ is not waiting to become King. He is enthroned. He sits at the right hand of the Father, the place of highest honor, authority, and rule. This does not mean the Son was ever less than divine. According to His divine nature, He always possessed all glory, majesty, and authority. But as the incarnate Mediator, having accomplished redemption, He is exalted. The One Who humbled Himself is now openly enthroned. The One men mocked as king now reigns as King indeed. This is why Christians should not speak as though history is out of control. We do not yet see every enemy finally subdued, but we do see Jesus crowned with glory and honor. He rules now. His kingdom is not fragile. His enemies are not equal rivals. The nations will rage, the church will suffer, and believers will feel weak, but Christ sits at the right hand of God. His rule also comforts us because the seated Christ is our Priest-King. He reigns and intercedes. He now lives in glory. His sitting does not mean idleness. It means His sacrificial work is complete, His authority is established, and His saving ministry continues from heaven. Finally, the catechism says that Christ’s exaltation consists “in coming to judge the world at the last day”. Acts 1:11 says, “This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” The ascended Christ will return. His exaltation is not only past and present; it also has a future public display. The One Who went up will come again. Acts 17:31 says that God “has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” The risen Christ is the appointed Judge. The Man Who was judged by men will judge all men. The One condemned unjustly will judge righteously. This is both sobering and comforting. It is sobering because no one will escape His judgment. History is moving toward a fixed day. Nothing will successfully oppose Christ. Every person will answer to Him. But it is also comforting because the Judge is righteous. The world is full of injustice, confusion, cruelty, and hidden evil. Many wrongs are never made right in this life. Many faithful saints suffer quietly. Many wicked men appear to prosper. But Christ will judge the world in righteousness. Nothing will be hidden. Nothing will be crooked. Nothing will be overlooked. No sin goes unpunished. For believers, the coming judgment should not produce terror as it does for those outside Christ. Our Judge is our Redeemer. The One Who will come to judge the living and the dead is the same One Who bore wrath for His people, rose for their justification, ascended for their good, and reigns for their preservation. We do not await a stranger. We await Christ. Christ was not merely humble, but is also exalted. He descended for our salvation, and He has been raised in glory. He lives, reigns, intercedes, and will come again. Conclusion Questions 30 and 31 belong together. If we separate them, we will distort the work of Christ. Question 30 teaches us the depth of His humiliation. Question 31 teaches us the height of His exaltation. He went down into lowliness, obedience, misery, wrath, the cross, burial, and death. He rose, ascended, sat down at the Father’s right hand, and will come again to judge the world. Taken together, these questions show us the whole movement of Christ’s saving work. He humbled Himself because He was merciful. He is exalted because His suffering work was finished, accepted, and victorious. So take this lesson with you this week in two ways: * FIRST, let it shape what you believe: Christ’s humiliation was real, necessary, and saving. He truly entered our condition. He obeyed under the law, suffered the miseries of this life, bore the wrath of God, died the cursed death of the cross, was buried, and remained under death for a time. Do not think lightly of what your salvation cost. And believe that Christ’s exaltation is real, present, and certain. He has risen from the dead. He has ascended into heaven. He sits at the right hand of God the Father. He will come again to judge the world in righteousness. Do not live as though Christ were still in the grave or absent from the throne. * SECOND, let that corrected belief change what you do. In your guilt, look to the crucified Christ for atonement. In your weakness, look to the risen Christ for strength. In your doubt, look to the ascended Christ for certainty. In your fear, look to the reigning Christ for stability. In the face of injustice, suffering, and death, look to the returning Christ for justice. Humble yourself under the One Who humbled Himself for you. Lift up your head because the humbled Christ is now exalted. And live in obedience to God’s Law this week as one whose Savior has gone down into death, come up in victory, and now reigns until every enemy is placed beneath His feet.

3. maj 2026 - 45 min