God The Son
Sermons, List 6, by David E. Beneze
Text: 1 Timothy 2:5-6 (NKJV)5”For there is one God and one Mediator
between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6who gave Himself a
ransom for all, to be testified in due time.”
Introduction
Do you know who Jesus of Nazareth is?” This is not a
trick question. Many Christians don’t seem to understand that Jesus’ identity
as a man stems from His origin in the Godhead. Jesus is God and Jesus is man. That should be plain to everyone who reads
the Bible carefully. If it isn’t plain
to you, read the Bible again with that possibility in mind. Perhaps you should
begin with John 1:1. et me repeat: Jesus Christ is God, just as He said on more
than one occasion. Any confession that stops short of proclaiming His deity is,
at best, incomplete.
Theophany
Do you know what a theophany is? Theologians use that term to describe
pre-incarnation appearances of Christ. Jesus must have referred to an epiphany
when He told the Jews: “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw
it and was glad.” (John
8:56). When those same Jews
reminded Jesus that He was less than fifty years old, He told them, “Most assuredly, I
say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” (John 8:58). He could say that because He existed as the second
person of the godhead, and as the primary agent in creation, long before
Abraham’s time. Jesus was the LORD who visited Abraham on the plains of Mamre (Genesis
17) and renewed the Abrahamic covenant
with Isaac at Gerar. (Genesis 26:1-5).
Both appearances were theophany’s. Jesus was the “Man” who wrestled with Jacob before changing his name to Israel. (Genesis
32:22-32). He was the “I AM” who spoke with
Moses at the burning bush. (Genesis 3:1-14). And He was the “Captain of the LORD’S Army”
who appeared to Joshua before the battle of Jericho. (Joshua
5:13-15).
The God Man
Jesus Christ is also man. As man He is God incarnate, or God in human
form. God projected Himself into the human race, becoming the baby Jesus. The
prophets foretold it; our Lord lived it out in time. J. B. Phillips
translation put it like this: “He came into the world – the world he had
created – and the world failed to recognize him. He came into his own creation,
and his people would not accept him. Yet wherever men did accept him he gave
them power to become sons of God. These were men who truly believed in him, and
their birth depended not on the course of nature nor on any impulse or plan of
man, but on God.” (John 1:10-13). Jesus did this
incredible thing (God becoming man) to give us opportunity to avoid the penalty
our sins have earned. As John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son, that who ever believed in Him should not perish but have
everlasting life.”
God is not willing for anyone to
“perish.” (2nd
Peter 3:9). He wants us to dwell with Him eternally. As a
man, Jesus would be the “daysman”
to mediate between God and other men. (Job 9:33, KJV). Col.
1:19-20 says it like this in J. B. Phillips Translation: “It was in Him that the full nature of
God chose to live, and through him God planned to reconcile in his own person,
as it were, every thing on earth and everything in Heaven by virtue of the
sacrifice of the cross.”
God inhabits
Christ
The Apostle Paul called Jesus “the
image of God,” saying: “But even
if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds
the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the
gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.” (2 Corinthians
4:4). Don’t let the word
“image” throw you. Jesus Christ is not simply a likeness, or a resemblance of
God; He is God. If you want to see God
you must look to Jesus. It is His body God occupied in the incarnation (Colossians 2:9-10) and
His is the only body God ever had.
The Two of Them are one
When Jesus referred to Himself as the “Good Shepherd,” in John 10:26-30, He said, I and my Father are one.”
When Philip asked Him, in John 14:9, to show them “the
Father,” how did our
Lord respond? In typical Jewish fashion, answering the question with a
question: “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not
known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father: so how can you say,
’Show us the Father.’” (John 14: 9).
When Thomas was
told that Jesus was alive again he refused to believe. When he saw the marks of
the nails in Jesus’ hands, and the place where a Roman Spear pierced His side,
Thomas called Him “My Lord and My God.” (John
20:28). And what did Jesus say of
Himself in Revelation 1:8? “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the
End, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” The Greek word translated to “Almighty” in Revelation
1:8 is “pantokrator.” It can also be rendered “the Omnipotent One” or “The all-ruling God” (as absolute and
universal sovereign). (See # 3841 in Strong’s Concordance).
Heathen
Psalm 2:1 asks, “Why do
the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing?” The
answer is, “because they have rejected God.” The Apostle Peter quoted Psalm 2:1
in Acts 4:23-28, indicating it was heathenism that precipitated rejection of
God in the person of Jesus Christ and resulted in His crucifixion. “Heathen”
is, of course, a term for people who worship anyone, or any thing, apart from
the God of the Bible. Since they do not know Who God is, heathen cannot even
begin to worship Him properly. John 3:18
says, “He who believes in Him (Jesus) is not condemned; but he who does not
believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the
only begotten Son of God.” Don’t
be misled by the foolishness of this world. (1 Cor. 3:19). Don’t
waste your time, or your energy rebelling against The LORD. (Psalm 2:1). Serve
Jesus Christ, the “Lord of glory.” (James 2:1). Worship the “Author and the Finisher” of the only faith that can lead to
salvation through the grace of God. (Hebrews
12:2).
One God
Jews do not accept a plurality of Gods. Deuteronomy 6:4
tells them, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!” But Jesus did not claim to supersede, or
even to compliment, Israel’s God; He insisted He was the “one
God” of Deut. 6:4. Jehovah
God, The Holy One of Israel who called Abraham His friend, (Isaiah 41:8), became the man Christ Jesus in order to reveal Himself
to men. (John 1:18). Sinners can be reconciled to God only through the
God/Man. (John 14:6). It is at His feet that “every knee shall
bow, and every tongue confess that He is LORD, to the glory of God the Father.” (Isaiah 45:22-25,
Romans 14:11-12, Philippians 2:11, James 2:1).
Although The God of the Bible is triune in
nature, having three distinct personalities (Father, Son, And Holy Spirit), He
is one in substance. The Apostle Paul referred to that fact when he said, of
Jesus: “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;
and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” (Colossians
2:9-10). In other
words, since the three spiritual personalities of the Godhead reside in a
single physical body, that of Christ Jesus, who is described as “the
head of all principality and power,” God “is,” as Deuteronomy 6:4 says, “one.”
Jesus is not just the Son of God. He is
God the Son. Isaiah 9:6 equates Him
with the Father in His birth announcement, saying: “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son
is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called wonderful,
Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah used seven titles in that passage of
Scripture, all of which indicated the coming Messiah would be God come in the
flesh: Child refers to a human child.
Son makes Him God’s Son. Wonderful speaks of a miracle,
referring to His virgin birth. Counselor means “deliberator,” or
“resolver.” Mighty God means “The
Almighty God.” Everlasting Father is actually two words: “Everlasting” means “the absolute starting point.” “Father” means the “chief
fore-father.” Prince of Peace is two words: “Prince” means the “principal ruler.” “Peace” refers to “our eternal
welfare.”
Isaiah 41:14 calls Jehovah God “the
LORD And your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.” Verse 20 refers to “the Holy One of Israel” as the Creator. John 1:1-2 speaks of the
Creator/Redeemer saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God. He
was in the beginning with God. All
things were made through
Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”
In John
14:6-7, where Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the
life. No one comes to the Father except
through Me,” He added these
words. “If you had known Me, you would
have known My Father also; and
from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” In a sermon to the Jews after Pentecost, Peter cited facts about Christ
that clarify the John 14:6 announcement: “This is the ‘stone which was rejected by
you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ “Nor is their salvation
in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which
we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12).
The I AM
Not only is Jesus “The way, the truth, and the life,” He is “I AM,” the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Moses, and
David. When He responded to the mob in the Garden of Gethsemane He said, “I AM
He.” (John 18:5). Since the word for “He” is not in the Greek text, Jesus actually
said, “I AM,” using the
name of the God of Israel as His own.
The next verse tells what happened: “Then - when He said to them, ‘I AM,’ they
drew back and fell to the ground.” Imagine the drama of that moment. The power of God that was resident in
Jesus knocked those men off their feet in a way that confirmed His declaration.
Jesus told the religious Jews of His day: “You
search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these
are they which testify of Me. But you
are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” (John
5:39-40). They thought
they knew the Scriptures but they had missed something very important. Isaiah 65:2 described the end result of
their problem. Romans 10:21 quotes Jesus’ experience as Isaiah prerecorded it,
saying: “All day long I have stretched out My hands To a
disobedient and contrary people.” Jesus simply wanted the Jews to study the Scriptures - to discover Who
He was and that He had come to save them, not to condemn them.
It
isn’t enough to think, to imagine, or to suppose you understand the Bible,
especially if you have relied on other people to interpret it for you. Don’t
accept any teaching based on either half-truths or misconceptions. If you can,
read the Bible for yourself. Check to see what God actually intended. The Bible
is your textbook and your guide for living. Find out exactly what it says,
especially concerning the basics of Christianity.
By the way.
Christianity is not a religion. (It is not a set of rules for finding and placating
a vengeful god). Christianity is a person (the man Christ Jesus) Who came
willingly to die on the cross in order to save helpless sinners. If
you are a Christian (a true follower of Christ) you should be like Him,
especially in your desire to share the gospel message with a
lost and dying world.
Are you familiar with the basics of
Christianity? You won’t find them,
unadulterated, in Catholic Dogma, in the Book of Mormon, in the Watchtower
Society’s publications, or in the teachings of other cults. All cults,
including those wrongly called Christian, portray an impotent Jesus, devoid of
deity, equal with or subservient to other creatures. They don’t believe God’s grace is sufficient for
salvation. They leave men to save themselves, and to keep themselves saved
through works of one kind or another.
Facts
1. All men are sinners. “All have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God.”
(Romans 3:23). As sinners, each of
has earned eternal damnation. It’s not
a pretty picture. “The wages of sin is death.”
(Romans 6:23). The kind of death
referred to here means being condemned to eternity apart from God, separated
forever from the benefits of His mercy and His peace. The
good news is we can be redeemed from sin’s curse through Christ.
Romans
6:23 says, “the gift of God <is> eternal life in Christ Jesus
our Lord.” Romans
10:8-12 tells how to obtain the gift: “But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your
mouth and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if
you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God
has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one
believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation. For the Scripture says,
‘Whoever believes on Him will not be put to
shame.’
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all
is rich to all who call upon Him.”
A. God
does not require us to earn salvation.
Faith in Christ is sufficient (when it leads sinners to
repent and obey God). And salvation comes in a completed package. The redeemed
are justified by faith without the deeds of the law. (Romans 3:28). As
Second Corinthians 5:21 says, God “made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us,
that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” His righteousness becomes ours, or is
applied to our account, when Christ's blood covers our sin.
B. Real
faith in Christ generates obedience to Him but it is trust in Christ that keeps
saved sinners saved.
We
cannot become more righteous than we are at our new birth. We need not
strive to retain what God gives us in Christ. We can rest securely in His
finished work. As Paul commanded in Galatians 5:1; “Stand
fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be
entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” Martin Luther discovered truth for himself, despite previous teaching to
the contrary, when he read Galatians 3:11: “The just shall live by
faith.” Consider that
verse carefully when you feel a need to save yourself from the penalty of your
sin.
2. A
lost sinner can be saved (through God’s grace) when he repents, forsakes his
sin, and asks God to forgive him for Jesus sake.
Jeremiah
29:13 says, “you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me
with all your heart.” Jesus
said, “All that the Father gives me will come to Me, and the one who comes to
Me I will by no means cast out.” (John 6:37).
3. The
Jesus who saves is God the Son.
One of His
names is “Jesus of Nazareth.” As our Redeemer He is authorized to forgive
our sins. He paid our debt at the cross.
As I indicated earlier, our Lord existed co-eternally with God The
Father before the incarnation. Psalm
40, verses 6-8 speak of God the Son who would become “son of
man.” Hebrews 10:5-7 refers to
that passage: “Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: ‘Sacrifice and offering
You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure.’ Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come - In the volume of the
book it is written of Me - To do your will, O God,’”
4. God became a man in the person
of Jesus of Nazareth. He lived a sinless life, died for our sins at Calvary,
and rose to new life on the third day. God The Father accepted the death of God
the Son, and the God/Man returned to Heaven. As the Word says, “by” (that) “one offering he has perfected for ever those who are
being sanctified.” (Hebrews
10:12-14).
5. Christians need to serve Christ, not for
salvation but as a result of it. Titus 3:5 says we are saved, “not by works of righteousness which we have
done, but according to His mercy he saved us.” God does
want us to perform good works after we are saved, and He expects us to
live holy lives. James
1:22 implores us to “be
doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
Romans 12:1 says, “I beseech you
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a
living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” James 1:27 says: “Pure and undefiled religion before God
and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to
keep oneself unspotted from the world.”
6. Christians are not perfect, and they never
will be in this life. They are only redeemed (which means the penalty of their
sin has been paid). Christians can become like Christ when
they submit to Him, allowing His word to change them from the inside out.
Unfortunately, they will fight the desires of the flesh as long as they live,
and they will lose some of those battles. (See
Romans 7:13-25). But don’t try to use that fact as a license to sin. Real
Christians suffer great remorse when they fail their Lord, and they repent
quickly. (1 John 1:8-9).
7. When Jesus returns to rule His earthly
kingdom He will reward the faithful and discipline the disobedient. Mat. 16:27 says, “He will reward each (one)
according to his works.” Be careful to do your works correctly (James
1:27), and for the right reasons (1
Cor. 3:12-13 & Matt. 6:3). It would be a shame to discover your
works were fit only for burning.
The Jesus I’ve described here is the only
Jesus who can save anyone. If your
trust is in another you are still lost in your sins.
Personal
good works (including things like baptism, circumcision, paying tithes,
observing the Sabbath and self-sacrifice) never saved anyone and never will. That
does not mean you are free to ignore God’s commands as Jesus stated them. If
you love Him you will do the things He prescribed for His followers. (John 14:15). But Jesus did everything necessary for our salvation at
Calvary. It simply isn’t possible for us to improve on His work in any fashion.
We don’t have to keep Moses Law. Jesus is our “surety of a better covenant,” and He “continues forever” the “unchangeable” priest, continually “making
intercession” for us. (Hebrews
7:22-25).
Ludwig
Schneider said, “It seems strange that
Jews of today simply ignore the fact that the words, Jesus of Nazareth, King of
the Jews, were written in Hebrew first. “In Hebrew, these words read (from right to left), ‘Jeshua Hanozri
Wumelech Hajehudim.’ Religious scholars, even today emphasize the first letter
of each word, seeking to find a hidden message in these letters.” “What those
Jews saw in the sign on the cross were the letters “J H W H.” Obviously they ignored the Greek and Latin,
but what they saw (in Hebrew) must have shocked them beyond belief: ‘J H W H’
is the unspoken holy name of the eternal God, Creator of heaven and Earth, the
“Hshem” Adonai!’” (Ludwig Schneider in “Nachrichten Aus
Israel” for June 1987).
Hope for the Jews
The Jews can be grateful the God they rejected at
Calvary has not forsaken them. Their temporary blindness concerning Him will
end soon “and all Israel will be saved.” (Romans
11:25-26). Many of them
are submitting to their Messiah today, and that is another sign of the times.
Our Lord is about to make His second appearance on earth. Jesus told the Jews,
in Matthew 23:38-39, “See!
Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more
till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’”
The Creator is our Savior
So Who is Jesus
of Nazareth? He is “the” only “visible expression of the
invisible God.” (Col.
1:15, Phillips). Every time God has appeared to man it was in the
person of His “only begotten
son.” Jesus said, “I am the
Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” … “who is and who was and who
is to come, the Almighty.” (Rev. 1:8).
As the “God/Man,” He provided
eternal life for those who would accept it on His terms. He is well worthy of our honor and praise and thanksgiving and worship. “Life from
nothing began through him, and life from the dead began through him, and he is,
therefore, justly called the Lord of all.” (Col. 1:18, Phillips).
Settle the question
Study the Bible for your self. Know what you believe, and why you believe
it from personal research. Then live as
if you believe it - and share it with people who need your Savior as much as
you do.
- - - -
David E. Beneze, 1006 Fairview Ave., Canon City, CO 81212-2873. (719) 275-7410. 8 July 2000. Latest update 01/26/07.
Word Study For Isaiah 9:6
Seven words from Isaiah 9:6 predict who the Messiah
would be. He is Jesus of Nazareth, the God/man, the Second Person of the
Trinity, God the Son, Jehovah Jesus.
1. Child. Hebrew “yeled.”
Strong’s 3206 - “something born, i.e. a lad or offspring: boy, child, fruit,
son, young man (one).
2. Son. Hebrew “ben.”
Strong’s 1121 - “a son (as builder of the family name).” Jesus Christ was born the Son of God. He was to build God’s family name, not
Joseph’s.
3. Wonderful. Hebrew “Pele’.” Strong’s 6382 - “a miracle.”
Jesus Christ was born to a virgin.
4. Counselor. Hebrew
“Ya’ats.” Strong’s 3289 - “deliberator,” or “resolver.” Jesus resolved the sin question, for men who
cooperate, when He became God’s sacrificial Lamb at Calvary. Isaiah 1:18 speaks to sinners willing to
deliberate with Christ concerning salvation: “come now and let us reason
together) Says the LORD, Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as
white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.
5. Mighty God. Hebrew
“El.” Strong’s 410 - “The Almighty.” (Not just “a mighty god,” as the Jehovah’s
Witnesses insist, but The Almighty God).
6. Everlasting Father. “Everlasting”
- Hebrew “’ad.” Strong’s 5703 - “peremptory terminus,” “the absolute starting
point.” “Father” Hebrew “’ab.”
Strong’s 1 - “chief fore-father.” Christ existed in the beginning. He was both
before all things and Creator of all things (John 1:1-3).
7. Prince of Peace. “Prince” - Hebrew “sar.” Strong’s
8269 - “principal ruler.” “Peace”
- Hebrew “shalowm.” Strong’s 7965 -
refers to “our eternal welfare.”
Page last updated 1:33 PM 5/16/2007