|
|
| From | Message |
|---|---|
|
coram_deo 19-Jul-21, 08:51 |
 The Triune God in the Holy BibleThis first citation, from Genesis, is short: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” (Genesis 1:26) “Let us,” “our image,” “our likeness” clearly show God using the plural. And Genesis is accepted as a holy text by not only Christianity but Judaism and Islam as well. |
|
coram_deo 19-Jul-21, 09:12 |
Here is the first chapter of Hebrews: “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high: Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?“ (Hebrews 1) Here, imo, is the key verse: “But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.” The author of Hebrews is unknown, though some believe Paul (formerly Saul of Tarsus) wrote it. Here is a commentary on Hebrews 1 enduringword.com |
|
coram_deo 19-Jul-21, 09:19 |
“But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” (Romans 8:11) Here’s the verse with identifications: “But if the Spirit (Holy Spirit) of him (God the Father) that raised up Jesus (God the Son) from the dead dwell in you, he (God the Father) that raised up Christ (God the Son) from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit (Holy Spirit) that dwelleth in you.” |
|
coram_deo 22-Jul-21, 12:09 |
“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” (Matthew 28:18-20) |
|
coram_deo 22-Jul-21, 12:22 |
“Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:13-17) |
|
coram_deo 28-Jul-21, 17:11 |
“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” (John 14:16-17) “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” (John 14:26) |
|
coram_deo 03-Aug-21, 10:08 |
“And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:” (Genesis 3:22) “Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.” (Genesis 11:7-8) “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.” (Isaiah 6:8) |
|
coram_deo 04-Aug-21, 15:43 |
“But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” (Acts 7:55-60) |
|
coram_deo 04-Aug-21, 16:13 |
“Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.” (Acts 5:29-32) How to obey God (and receive the indwelling of His Holy Spirit) can be found in the Gospel of John chapter 6, when Jesus says: “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:40) |
|
coram_deo 11-Aug-21, 04:20 |
“How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:14) |
|
coram_deo 13-Aug-21, 07:44 |
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Romans 8:2-4) |
|
coram_deo 22-Aug-21, 08:38 |
BTW, Jesus Christ’s birth in Bethlehem 2,000+ years ago wasn’t His beginning. Jesus exists eternally. Just as He went to Heaven after His Resurrection, He existed in Heaven before His birth in Bethlehem. (See John 1.) “Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.” (Isaiah 42:1) The book of Isaiah was written about 700 years before Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry. |
|
coram_deo 26-Aug-21, 10:12 |
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;” (Isaiah 61:1) The Spirit is the Holy Spirit, the Lord God is God the Father, and me is Jesus Christ, who accomplished all the blessings listed in that verse during His earthly ministry 700 years later (the book of Isaiah was written about 700 B.C.) |
|
coram_deo 01-Sep-21, 16:12 |
longviewbc.org |
|
coram_deo 01-Sep-21, 19:58 |
But first, I think the first chapter of the Gospel of John makes clear that Jesus Christ is God (as Jesus Christ Himself said more than a few times while on earth, though in most cases obliquely.) “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” (John 1:1-5) “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” (John 1:10-17) The book of Hebrews talks about Jesus Christ being made “a little lower than the angels” when He came to earth 2,000 years ago to save mankind: “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” (Hebrews 2:9-10) The apostle Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians speaks of Jesus lowering Himself to save mankind: “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9) Here is the article that contrasts Jesus before He came to earth 2,000 years ago to save mankind and after He was Resurrected and ascended into Heaven: From pilgrimministry.org: Perhaps as a reader you have never considered whether Jesus is still a man. Does it matter? What does the Bible teach? Is Jesus a man now, or did He go back to heaven and become the son of God in the same form as before the Incarnation? No honest Christian denies that Jesus indeed became a man. Christians also believe in a triune Godhead—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Much concerning the Trinity is shrouded in mystery, far beyond human comprehension. The humanity of Jesus, however, can be humanly discerned. This argument the Hebrew writer defends. He unmistakably declares that Jesus the Son of God became a man. Jesus is the author of eternal salvation and our present help in time of need. He is High Priest in the temple of heaven, after the order of Melchisedec, interceding in the presence of God for redeemed men. For Jesus to be a priest after the order of Melchisedec, He must be a man. He is not presently a spirit. Furthermore, Stephen, full of the Holy spirit, saw Jesus standing as a man in heaven. Stephen did not see a spirit—he saw a man. John, too, the disciple and Revelator, saw Jesus in person, heard Jesus’ voice, and felt Jesus’ hand upon his shoulder on the Island of Patmos. Apostle Paul did not call Jesus in heaven a spirit; he called Him a man. Jesus is today a man in heaven in a glorified human body! Jesus always existed as the triune Son of God. ‘I and my Father are one’ (John 10:30). Jesus was a spirit, Son of the Most High, and active in Creation. ‘The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters’ (Gen 1; Col 1:16,17). Jesus as the Son of God the Father agreed to come to earth and to procure the salvation of the human race. ‘Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you’ (1Pe 1:20). It is important to understand that something humanly incredible, divinely mysterious, and eternally significant occurred in the Incarnation. Before the Incarnation, Jesus was a spirit. He was a divine spirit, like God the Father, but He was not a divine man. He was a divine spirit but not a human and had not flesh, blood, nor bones. A few times prior to His human birth on planet earth, Jesus personified Himself in pre-incarnate form (e.g., to Abraham, Sarah, Joshua). The point is that Jesus was not a man with flesh, blood, and bones before the Incarnation, though He had agreed before Creation to become so to save the human family. The Hebrew declaration is unmistakable. In the Incarnation Jesus took on the nature of man—the seed of Abraham, of Jewish descent—a mystery that had never been seen before. In this unexplainable mystery Jesus became 100 percent divine and 100 percent human. John emphasizes Jesus’ divine nature in his gospel story, while Luke emphasizes His human nature. That Jesus became a man is the Hebrew writer’s encouragement and argument. The incredible truth, that in all points Jesus was like us, should encourage us into faithful, holy living. Things incredible and incomprehensible happened in the Incarnation. Jesus gave up some of the inheritance from His Father so that redeemed man could receive some of it. Jesus, who was not a man before, was now a divine man with all the attributes of God. Yet He willingly laid aside something of His divinity. Jesus did not draw upon His divine nature to pass the tests of temptation. He was tempted in all points like as we. When Jesus saw a beautiful girl crossing the street, He was tempted. When the devil offered him a farm, He was tempted by personal accomplishment and pride of life. When the devil offered Him a position which bypassed the highest eternal service to the human race, He was tempted to avoid the cross. These temptations began in the wilderness and ended with Him hanging in physical human pain on a physical Roman cross. Something miraculous beyond what we often consider is that Jesus became a human Who had never been human before! By His agreement to be the sacrifice to redeem the fallen human race, He became a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec, to make intercession for them forever! He remains this moment in heaven a human, glorified body as He intercedes for those whom He has redeemed! By Jesus’ perfect life and death He became the new Adam, the head of the human family. Adam had been the first human and head of the earth, but he sinned. As the first of the human family to live sinless, as the first of the human family to rise forever from the dead, Jesus became the head of the human family on earth and in heaven, and the first fruits of resurrection from the dead. Summary: Jesus died a human. There is no controversy that Jesus died on the cross—except for non-Christian religions and various atheistic groups who deny the biblical record. ‘…We believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him’ (1Th 4:14). Jesus prophesied He would rise in glorified humanity (John 2:19-21). Paul confirmed this in First Corinthians 15:14. Jesus rose from the dead physically as a glorified human. He rose from the dead in the same body in which He died, though it was a glorified body. The angels told Mary, ‘He is not here, for He is risen!’ Peter found Jesus’ crucified body was gone. Mary saw and knew Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. The disciples saw and knew Jesus too. Jesus walked and talked with them as a human after the resurrection from the dead. He ate breakfast with them by the Sea of Galilee. He was seen by 500 men on one occasion. Paul the Apostle saw Jesus too. John saw Jesus in the Revelation as a man, not as a spirit, and immediately recognized Him as the glorified Jesus. Merely asserting that Jesus rose from the dead is not enough. It must be stated that Jesus rose physically, lest the very words of Christ be denied. Jesus said He would raise the temple of His body. Jesus’ body as the firstborn from the dead retained the physical wounds of His crucifixion as proofs, but man will be given a new body of perfection! Paul declares in First Corinthians 15 that any who denies the resurrection of Christ in the body has a false religion—he is not a true Christian. It is not enough to only believe that Jesus rose. You must acknowledge that He rose physically! Paul defends that a ‘spirit’ resurrection is not a resurrection of the body, and without the resurrection of the body of Christ, death has not been conquered and our faith is vanity. Jesus’ resurrected body was a glorified body. Jesus rose from the dead physically in the same body in which He died. But what kind of physical body was this in which He rose? Was it subject to death again? Would it grow tired or old? Did it have blood? No! The Bible tells us some things concerning the body which all Christians will receive in the resurrection. It is sown a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body. The same body that is sown (dies) is raised. The natural body is the body in which we are born. The natural body dies and is raised from the dead. But when it is raised, it is changed into a spiritual body. The resurrected body will be different from the natural body in its abilities and qualities, as was Jesus’. We see this in the fact that Jesus retained the wounds of His crucifixion as evidenced by the holes in His hands and side, yet He was able to appear in a room without entering through the door (John 20:19-20). Jesus was raised in the same body He died in, though it was glorified. Jesus is now a man in a glorified body. ‘For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily’ (Col 2:9). Objections Answered Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, some argue. ‘Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.’ However, the term ‘flesh and blood’ is a phrase used to designate the natural and carnal state. The following verses show this without mistake: • ‘And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in Heaven’ (Matt 16:17). • ‘To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood’ (Gal 1:16). • ‘For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places’ (Eph 6:12). • ‘Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil’ (Heb 2:14). After the resurrection, Jesus said, ‘Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have’ (Luke 24:39). So Jesus specifically stated that He had flesh and bones, not flesh and blood. This is not a word game. Jesus’ blood was drained out of His body on the cross. It is His shed blood that cleanses us of our sins: ‘But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin’ (1Jo 1:7). Jesus’ body was the sacrifice and His blood cleanses us. Therefore, flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, but glorified flesh and bones can! ‘The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.’ This verse is not saying that Jesus is without a body, but that He is a life-giving spirit. That is, as the last Adam, He is the one who gives life to people. Furthermore, it is designating that Jesus’ resurrected body is equipped to be in both the physical realm and the spiritual. ‘When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory’ (Col 3:4). ‘We know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is’ (1Jo 3:2). Yes, my Jesus is still a glorified man, interceding in my behalf! ~ Greencastle, PA August 2013” www.pilgrimministry.org |