May 30th, 2023
by Gerald Hawk
by Gerald Hawk
The person we know as the Jesus, the Savior of mankind, is not just any person. In Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9)!! He is very God of very God. That means that all that the Father is in His very nature, essence or substance, so Jesus is the very same without distinction, difference or diminution. We find this truth expressed in Philippians 2:6, where the Word of God clearly declares Christ Jesus’ equality with the God the Father when it says, “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God”. The glory (perfections) of the Father were revealed by the Son of God in His coming into this world as a man (John 1:14 “beheld His glory”; Hebrews 1:3 “brightness of His glory”). No man hath seen the Father, but through the Word that made his home among men, and left an indelible impression of all that the Father truly is upon the world without contradistinction; the Word that was with God, and that was God (John 1:18; 1:1).
Furthermore, you will recall Jesus’ conversation with Philip in John 14:7-9, when Jesus authoritatively states, “he that hath seen me, has seen the Father”. In fact, to give credence to the unity that He shares with the Father, Jesus directly asks, “Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?” (John 14:10a), and with earnestness admonishes His disciples, “Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me:” (John 14:11a). Then, this unity is most clearly and succinctly stated in John 10:30 with Jesus’ words, “I and my Father are one.” There is no denying that Jesus was forthrightly defending His claim to deity without a hint of reservation.
In addition, those of the Jewish religious leaders understood and resented the fact of His audacious, and to them blasphemous, claims of making Himself equal with the Father (John 5:18). Nevertheless, in John 8:58, Jesus made the boldest of statements to His eternal and divine nature that drove His critics over the edge. It was His assuming for Himself the title and very name of Jehovah in hearkening back to the LORD’S encounter with Moses in Exodus 3:14 that made their blood boil. Consider the words of our Lord Jesus in John 8:58–59 and the rulers livid response, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. 59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.”
The God-man, Jesus, always elicits a response. What is yours?
Furthermore, you will recall Jesus’ conversation with Philip in John 14:7-9, when Jesus authoritatively states, “he that hath seen me, has seen the Father”. In fact, to give credence to the unity that He shares with the Father, Jesus directly asks, “Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?” (John 14:10a), and with earnestness admonishes His disciples, “Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me:” (John 14:11a). Then, this unity is most clearly and succinctly stated in John 10:30 with Jesus’ words, “I and my Father are one.” There is no denying that Jesus was forthrightly defending His claim to deity without a hint of reservation.
In addition, those of the Jewish religious leaders understood and resented the fact of His audacious, and to them blasphemous, claims of making Himself equal with the Father (John 5:18). Nevertheless, in John 8:58, Jesus made the boldest of statements to His eternal and divine nature that drove His critics over the edge. It was His assuming for Himself the title and very name of Jehovah in hearkening back to the LORD’S encounter with Moses in Exodus 3:14 that made their blood boil. Consider the words of our Lord Jesus in John 8:58–59 and the rulers livid response, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. 59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.”
The God-man, Jesus, always elicits a response. What is yours?
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