What are these holy and trustworthy things? They are all the aspects of what Christ is. According to the New Testament, Christ is life, light, grace, righteousness, holiness, sanctification, and justification. He is also the bread of life and the living water. Furthermore, the holy and trustworthy things include all the aspects of Christ unveiled in 1 Corinthians: power, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, glory, the depths of God, the unique foundation of God’s building, the Passover, the unleavened bread, the spiritual food, the spiritual drink, the spiritual rock, the Head, the Body, the firstfruit, the second Man, and the last Adam. We see many more aspects of Christ in the Gospel of John, such as the Shepherd and the pasture. Oh, how much Christ is to us as the holy and trustworthy things! As the resurrected One, He is the firstborn Son, the Savior, and all the holy and trustworthy things.
In the Old Testament the holy and faithful things are regarded as mercies. Isaiah 55:3 speaks of “the sure mercies of David.” Second Chronicles 6:42 mentions “the mercies of David,” the Lord’s servant, and Psalm 89:1 says, “I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever.” Do you know what mercy is? Mercy implies both love and grace, but it reaches further than love. Where love and grace cannot reach, mercy can reach. All the holy and faithful things are Christ Himself as mercies to us. Life is a mercy, and light is also a mercy. Likewise, righteousness, holiness, justification, and sanctification are mercies. In chapter ten of the Gospel of John we have the door, the pasture, and the Shepherd, all of which are mercies. Try to count all the aspects of these mercies. If you took the time to count them, you would have a long list of mercies.
A husband’s love for his wife and the wife’s submission to her husband are Christ as mercies to us. If, in Christ, I love my wife, this surely is a mercy. My love for her is Christ Himself as a mercy to me. In a similar way, if a sister, in Christ, submits to her husband, that also is a mercy. Her submission is Christ Himself as a mercy to her.
I can testify that my speaking the word of God year after year is certainly a mercy. What a mercy that I can speak the word inexhaustibly. In the past I spent a few months every year in the Philippines ministering the word. An elderly sister, who was my hostess, was greatly surprised that I always had something new to say. She thought that after some years I would have nothing further to minister. One day after a conference meeting, she said, “I thought that by now you would be exhausted and have nothing to say. But your ministry is even fresher and richer now than before. Where do you get all these things to speak?” If I were asked this question today, I would say that my speaking the word is Christ as a mercy to me. This is not a matter of my ability or gift. It is altogether a matter of mercy.
Not only is it a mercy for me to speak the word of God, but even the dear Savior is my speaking. My speaking is Christ, and to me this speaking Christ is a mercy. I do not have an advanced degree, and my speaking is not eloquent. Nevertheless, this speaking is full of Christ. This is wholly due to Christ being a mercy to me in speaking the word of God.
We all need to see that the resurrected Christ is the firstborn Son of God, the Savior, and holy and faithful things of David. All genuine Christians know that Christ is the only begotten Son of God, and some may realize that He is the firstborn Son of God. But have you ever heard that the resurrected Christ is all the holy and trustworthy things as mercies given to us by God as an all-inclusive gift? We may have never heard of this, but this was the Christ preached by Paul in Acts 13. I am very happy to see that Paul, in his gospel message, not only preached Christ from the Old Testament, but also preached the resurrected Christ as the holy and trustworthy things. Actually, what Paul proclaimed here in his preaching of the gospel requires all the Epistles written by him for its definition. Therefore, if you want to see more concerning Christ as the holy and trustworthy things, you need to study the fourteen Epistles of Paul.
In his preaching Paul set up an excellent pattern for us to follow in our gospel preaching today. Like Paul, we need to preach Christ in a rich and uplifted way.
In 13:35 through 37 Paul continues, “Wherefore He says also in another psalm, You will not allow Your Holy One to see corruption. For David indeed, when he had served his own generation by the counsel of God, fell asleep and was buried with his fathers and saw corruption; but He whom God raised did not see corruption.” The word “served” in verse 36 indicates that David’s reigning as a king was a service to his generation by the counsel of God. Literally, the Greek word translated “buried” means “added to.” As in Acts 13:30, Paul again in verse 37 emphasizes the fact that God raised up the Man Jesus.