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13 In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14 to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen. ~ 1 Timothy 6:13-16
We return to the Apostle Paul's instructions to Timothy on how to be a man of God. Nothing helps us to flee sin, to follow the Lord and to fight the good fight more than a closer walk with the Lord Jesus. Our problem is we want to see Him with our eyes, but in order to get this deeper glimpse of Him we must learn to look for Him with our hearts. This is what faith is, the ability to see God with our hearts.
In v.13 we read, "In the sight of God, who gives life to everything."
We find ourselves often arriving at the corner of beaten, dejected, and defeated at the same time. Good thing that the God of the Bible is the giver of life. We all have experienced the infusion of new strength, new purpose and new courage from God when we have turned to Him in prayer in the moments of pressure. Why does it require amped up pressure for us to seek Him more diligently? We must learn to live in the sight of God or avail ourselves to Him in the good times, as well as the bad. We do this by seeking Him daily by being in His word daily and by being in prayer or conversation with God as much as we can. This will amp up His presence in our lives and we will see the world anew.
The remainder of v.13 reads, "and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you."
When we remember the good confession of the Lord Jesus as He stood before Pontius Pilate, we gain a perspective that causes us to conclude that God has everything in His sovereign control and we have no need to be discouraged. In sight of Christ's good confession, we gain an endurance which enables us to persevere according to God's calling on our lives. It is at this point that the Lord God provides an infusion of life into our mortal existence, and then we recognize the Lord Jesus is always at the center of all that God does. The Lord Jesus was the Word who spoke all things into existence. The Lord Jesus speaks life into our mortal lives more than we know. As our awareness of Him heightens, the more we will recognize Him and His way of thinking and living.
By the way, Christ's good confession was His silence. While He didn't defend Himself, He was defending us. He didn't resist the will of God, He embraced it so that He could embrace us.
In Colossians 2 we read, "16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together."
It is He who is holding us together, so we need not fear. He is like laminin in the human body, the rebar in a sturdy foundation.
Stanford University is the site of a linear accelerator, a two-mile long atom smasher. It is a great lever with which scientists try to pry the lid off the secrets of matter and discover what is in the miniature world of the atom, the neutron, and the proton. Linear Accelerator scientists have discovered a complexity they never dreamed of, and they have found particles that they cannot even invent enough names for. But one thing they are consistently discovering is that there is some strange force that holds everything together. They call it the cosmic glue that holds things together. This force has a name and it is the Lord Jesus Christ.
In v.14-15 the Apostle Paul charges Timothy "to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords."
Christ's confession produces a continual genuine confession of the gospel in the life of the yielded man of God. Although the Lord Jesus was put to death, He is coming again as the Lord of life. The One who was here in weakness is coming again in great strength and He will exercise His sovereignty over all at that point. When we keep our eyes on Him, we will not be daunted by the distractions that this life throws at us.
The Greek word translated “appearing” in v.14 gives us our English word epiphany, which means “a glorious manifestation.” In Paul’s day, the word was used in the myths to describe the appearing of a god, especially to deliver someone from trouble. Paul used it of the first coming of Jesus Christ (2 Tim. 1:10) and of His return (2 Tim. 4:1,8).
The commands to flee from sin that hinders the gospel from being heard and believed, to pursue the Lord will all of your soul, and to fight the good fight of the faith as mentioned in v.11-12 take on a whole new focus with this fresh infusion of life from God. We live in a volatile world and we are tempted to be overly concerned about what may happen. The believer in Christ has no reason to worry for God has all things in His control.
In v.16 we read, "who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen."
To be “immortal” is to “not be subject to death.” Man is subject to death, but God is not. Only God has immortality as an essential and inherent part of His being. Since God is not subject to death, He is Life and the Giver of life. He is incorruptible and not subject to decay or change. In this world, we are in mortal bodies, but when the Lord Jesus Christ returns, we shall share His immortality.
For God to "live in unapproachable light" means there is no one remotely like the Lord Jesus Christ. No one can draw near to His light apart from the provision He has made through His finished work on the cross. The great message of the gospel is that the invisible God became visible in a Man. No wonder the Apostle Paul ends this section with worship: "To him be honor and might forever. Amen."
In Isaiah 42:16 we read, “I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.” The question which must be asked at this point is: Are we blind enough to this world to see beyond to this great God whom we serve?
