 |
| connect.in.com |
John 1:1-3 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.”
Jn.1:1 How can there be another God with Jehovah in the beginning? Even the Jehovah's Witnesses say only the Father is God. Who is this other God? The only other god that is acknowledged in Scripture is a false god, Lucifer who wanted to be God, not an angel named Michael. The Greek applies the same word theos to the word as to the Father.
John who wrote both the gospel and the epistles of John (1,2,3) explains to us John 1:2-3 “He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” This is a consistent teaching in John's writings that the Son was with the Father. (as Paul also attributes him to be the creator of all Col. 1:16-17).
The writer of Hebrews states: “For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God.” Making it very clear That Jesus is the creator and the creator is God. John in Rev.4:11 “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.” “ALL things” is a consistent phrase used and attributed to God, to the Son. God speaking in Isa. 45:12: “I have made the earth, and created man on it. I-- My hands -- stretched out the heavens, and all their host I have commanded.”
Paul found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands”(Acts 17:23-24).
God speaking (Isa. 48:13) “Indeed My hand has laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand has stretched out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand up together.” Ps 87:1 “His foundation is in the holy mountains.”
It should be established that God is the creator.
Gen.1:1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Notice Genesis says Heavens and Earth. Heavens is plural (Heb-shamayim meaning more than one). The whole universe was not made all at once -- there was an order of sequence (6 days).
God questions Job about when he began to create. Job 38:4-7 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”
Job 38:7 The Angels and their abode was first, they existed before the creation of the visible heavens and earth: the morning stars (used as symbols of the angels), is the angelic host, they are referred to as first, in the order of creation. The term “Sons of God” show their relationship to God (Lucifer being among them). These being the first-born of the Father of lights. These angels were united in a chorus of praise when the world was added to creation. It was not made for them, but for man.
They watched God create (this is why there was a stricter judgment for them when they fell). Job 38:8 adds “who shut in the sea with doors,” the angels watched God limit the sea to its place; this took place on the third day.
God is claiming to be the author of the foundations of the earth, there was no man or angel who helped. He did not consult with the angels, for he says in Isa. 40:12-14 “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, measured heaven with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or as His counselor has taught Him? With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of justice? Who taught Him knowledge, and showed Him the way of understanding?”
Psalm 102:25-27: “Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You will endure; yes, they will all grow old like a garment; like a cloak You will change them, and they will be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will have no end.”
When we go to the New Testament many of these statements in the Old Testament are given a clearer revelation and a specific application.
The Father speaking to the Son, says: Heb 1:10-12 And: “You, LORD, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You remain; And they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak You will fold them up, And they will be changed.” Here we have God attributing this to the Son, amazing. And people say that the Son is not God, equal with the Father who is God!
What about John 17:3. “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” I fail to see where it says that the Father alone is God, in fact it is not in the Greek text and we know what John meant because he later states in I Jn. 5:20: “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” This should be clear enough for those who seek the truth of the Scripture and do not want to follow any mans interpretation.
Going back to Notice “that they may know You, (The Father) the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” the word for and is kai- which means and, also, even, indeed. It is included
I Jn 1:2-3 “the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us--that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.”
What John is explaining is the very nature of God, which is life eternal is shared with another- the Son. It was made known to us by God becoming a man through Jesus Christ. Because of this we have fellowship with God- Both the Son and the Father. This is accomplished by God- the Holy Spirit, the comforter given to us until we see the Son.
I Jn. 5:11-12 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
Why is this so important? Because the same nature that is in the Father is shared with the Son, they are both (including the comforter) the one God whose essence is eternal uncreated Spirit.
Rom. 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
This is the promise given to those who believe in the Son, he is a gift. It was the Son who came from heaven to earth to reveal another, the Father. This is why Jesus said if you have seen me you have seen the Father, they are of like nature and do the same works.
John 17:4-5 “I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.
“And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”
Jesus is asking to be glorified along with the Father with the same glory he has because it is this glory he had possessed before he became man. This was before any one thing was made. The Bible teaches that the heavens and the earth were the first things made by God. Then God laid the foundations of the earth in the process of building it.
It is for this reason Jesus later prays John 17:24 “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” Jesus is saying that after he ascends on they will see his glory that is reinstated to him in heaven (Jn.14) and then refers back to the relationship he had that precedes the beginning of all creation.
v.25 “O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me.” Jesus made the Father known to those who did not know him by their believing he was sent to them by the Father from heaven.
God speaking, “Before Me every knee shall bow; by me every tongue confess”(Isa.45:23). This verse is quoted by Paul in Phil.2:9-11 and applied to Jesus Christ the Son of God “and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father.” This clearly shows what the apostles believed was indeed the deity of the Son along with the Father and was not some invention of a zealous believers or a church hundreds of years later, it is all found in the Scripture.
Let Us Reason
No comments:
Post a Comment