Proverbs 30:5 Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.

The excellency of Christ in its fullness, cannot be described by any human resource because a finite mind can only find words within its realm of understanding. Therefore explaining the excellence of an infinite Christ is outside of our ability to fully demonstrate the perfection of Christ’s holiness and divinity. However, this should not stop us from asking the Holy Spirit for revelation knowledge to receive within our capability the understanding of who Christ is and be able to do our best to describe His divine excellency.

The fullness of Christ will only be known when we stand before Him in eternity. Perhaps we can get a glimpse of the eye-opening awe of Christ with this example. When the Queen of Sheba declared her amazement of Solomon’s wisdom, it was after she had ditched her preconceived ideas because of the things she had heard. 2Chron. 9:5 She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. 6 I didn’t believe what was said until I arrived here and saw it with my own eyes. In fact, I had not heard the half of your great wisdom! It is far beyond what I was told. When we meet our Saviour Jesus on that glorious day, our words will be,  “I had not heard a trillionth of what was told.”

Prov. 30:5 Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. This proverb says that every word of God is pure. Well, Jesus is the Word, and He is pure. John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word was God! Everything that exists was made by Him. John 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. The miracle for our hearts to understand is that this Word became flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. John 1:14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son. There is so much to take in, but there it is, Christ the perfect and excellent one, chose to come and live among His created beings.

Man’s downfall is when we treat Jesus like one of the boys and compare Him to ourselves and the standard of forthrightness that is exhibited in our world. When we do this, we no longer have the ability to be awestruck by what is presented as who Jesus is. Yes, we all have that cinematic picture of Him healing the sick, casting out devils, and for the grand finale—raising the dead while looking beatific and in a constant state of meditation. This portrayal of Jesus Christ is our interpretation of what we think God in the flesh would act like. This self-created image gets in the way of who He truly is. He is God in the flesh. Col. 2:9 For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. How can this eternal mystery be accurately explained to a society that thinks God is an old man floating above them somewhere?

When Jesus was confronting the Sadducees who were supposed to have a basic understanding of God, the Lord said plainly what the problem was and the same problem exists today. Matt. 22:29 Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. The lesson that Jesus was trying to explain was that knowing the Word of God and understanding God’s power is the first key to being in a position to hear God and having our hearts open to a relationship with Him.

The religious leaders of the day had studied the law of God their whole lives, only to demonstrate that they understood very little of God’s love and holiness.  Jesus, who was the excellency of God was walking amongst them in the flesh, and they had no insight as to who Jesus was even though they were waiting for the Messiah to arrive. Mark 8:18 You have eyes—can’t you see? You have ears—can’t you hear?’ Don’t you remember anything at all? The religious rulers who continually searched the prophetic laws, could not see the incarnate prophecy fulfilled in front of them.

How do we overcome that same spirit manifesting today that stumped the Pharisees? Many are like the Sadducees and the Herodians, who seemed to have a form of Godliness but were not able to see Jesus the Lord. We tend to be floundering in religiosity. 2Tim. 3:5 Having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. How do we break through that religious spirit and grasp the power of God’s eternal life at work within us? The Apostle Paul who wrote much of the New Testament was wrestling with the same issue and found himself wanting to know the depth of Christ’s excellency and the power of His resurrection. Phil. 3:10a I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. It seems this is the prayer we need to pour out of our hearts to break through the spirit of complacency. Oh, that I might know Him!

Thank God there is grace through our Lord Jesus who keeps us from falling into complete stupefaction and reprobation. As we walk and do our best to know the excellency of Christ, we can be assured that God has us in the palm of His hand. Until we are living with the Lord in eternity, grasping how perfect Jesus is will be a constant pursuit. In the meantime, God will keep us in the covenant He gave us through Christ. Jude 1:24 Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. It’s all Jesus and all grace. That is all we have.