"Jesus was the mind of God thinking out to man. The heart of
God throbbing love out to mans heart, The face of God looking into mans face,
The voice of God speaking into mans ears. The hand of God strong and tender,
reaching down to take mans hand." -S.D. Gordon
The eternal son of God before time began did not just join himself to some human being, but
through an inception by the work of the holy spirit, he could be born without a sin nature, thus becoming the God-man, fully fused
Godly nature visible in human form, with its fleshly limitations, thus He was the only human ever to walk this
planet having the ability to take away sin. If he was born of Josephs seed He
would have inherited a sin nature, but he was miraculously conceived by the
holy spirit giving vindication to his duality of being God and man. It must be
noted Jesus did not lay aside the 'essence' of God but merely the
'form'."Whoever met Him in the days of his flesh met God's son in human
dress" -Herbert Lockyer. What form God the father, the holy spirit or even that of the son of God (before
the incarnation) eternally possessed is one of the unanswered questions that
only our entrance into their very presence will reveal. True faith recognizes
Him as the only begotten son coming from God the Father. C.S. Lewis
has an enlightening interpretation on the word "We don't use the words begetting or begotten much
in modern English, but everyone still knows what they mean. To beget is to
become the father of: to create is to make. And the difference is this. When
you beget, you beget something of the same kind as yourself. A man begets human
babies, a beaver begets little beavers and a bird begets eggs which turn into
little birds. But when you make, you make something of a different kind from
yourself. A bird makes a nest, a beaver builds a dam, a man makes a wireless
set—or he may make something more like himself than a wireless set: say, a
statue. If he is a clever enough carver he may make a statue which is very like
a man indeed. But, of course, it is not a real man; it only looks like one. It
cannot breathe or think. It is not alive. Now that is the first thing to get
clear. What God begets is God; just as what man begets is man. What God creates
is not God, just as what man creates is not man."
God's will toward men
was indeed goodwill and fully revealed when the son of the highest left the
heavens and divesting himself of his garment of light, clothed himself in human
form. He inspired the angels to render the skies with their song of praise. The
marvel is-----our humanity is the very robe our redeemer still wears in heaven, with
nail scarred hands and pierced side rending his battle scars of victory on
full everlasting display. Through his grace and selfless sacrifice all who
now believe in him take in essence part of his very nature and
partakers of his divine nature. His work in saving sinners, defeating the
devil and abolishing sin gives rise to a new revenue of glory for God. Thus by
praising God be like those celestial hosts who leaving their station before the
throne of God and speeding downwards from star to star hovered over the stable
in fixed adoration of their king of glory, who dwells in everlasting light, now
divinely abiding within helpless babe. The host was in anticipation of the
triumphs he was about to win, men saved, death destroyed, the devil vanquished,
creation redeemed gave vent to an overflowing effluent praise "Glory to
God in the highest" on earth peace on earth, goodwill toward men. Notice
here the angels sing "in the highest" as opposed to "in the
heavens" The highest place is where God stooped down in order to save mans
helpless race. Many of today's events can be described of as "ill-will
towards men". Among the teeming millions few have any desire to re-echo
the first line of the angels song. Lands like Russia and China heir teeming
thousands of million of souls have all but put God out with their implantation
of atheistic communism and its brutal mechanisms of mass destruction
and violence, all in the pursuit of one goal, 'power'.
"Throughout the rest of the world, particularly in so-called
'Christian' nations, there is a practical assumption, that if there is a
God, He is far removed from our human life; that one may live without reference
to him, for the needs of life, that actually He is not required. Such pagan
secularism contends that 'Christianity' . with its pre-eminent basic concept of
glorifying God in the highest, is one fore monks and nuns to adopt in their
monastic life" -HL. The angels who sang the message from heaven of
"goodwill" toward men" must sob as they look down on wreckage of
godless human society which is primarily comprised of "ill-will towards
men".
Satan seethed at God himself
"My loving king, if you judge me for my crimes, my insubordination how
then do you allow mankind to get away with this gross act of highest treason?,
they all like me have turned away and despised you" No general act of
amnesty would pardon the guilty, but only in God punishing their acts on
himself. The angels had sinned not, punishing a pure angel would not display
the full depth of God's love as an angel was not a representation of God who by
definition is "Love". The very position of one Satan avowed to have
would have to take the sword, the one who had none no wrong, would have to be
the propitiation for all wrongs. If God did not plunge the sword into
his dearly beloved son then God's nature of deep compassion could never be
fully understood.
Satans first tempation to
Jesus came in the way of turning stones to bread "If thou art The christ,
turn these rocks to bread" Yet Jesus never
performed miracles for his own need but strictly for the needs of others, by trusting God's care and not the pangs of hunger from his humanity Satan was
rebuffed. Lucifer had the whole world duped under the power of his deceptive
guises, but yet He never cared about them, only that the power and praise
they brought him was not enough, as with monetary gain, it's never enough,
Satan only knew that the son of god was not worshiping him. That
vehement antagonist of old knew Jesus incarnate was no old foe. The
offer made by the tempter rested upon the apparent evidence of the worlds
history. The rulers, the Herods, and its caesars seemed to have obtained their
eminence by trampling the laws of God underfoot and accepting 'evil' in the
Lord and current master of the world, this temptation was to the love of power,
the same one Satan fell the hardest for. Under the guise of a transformed
beautiful creature of light and displaying the power under his name, Satan was
crushed when Jesus denied him his offer of it all if only He would worship him.
You see the second temptation came with a pitch to fall down from the temple,
trough this testing Jesus had to be persuaded 10,000 angels would inhibit him from harm.
Thus outward displays would surely shock and marvel the Jewish people into worship
of him. But these 'outward' acts through
supernatural means alluding to selfish gain were yet again weapons of the
devil.
"The Incarnation then and all
that was accomplished by it became the foundation for the church Jesus said he
would build and build in such a way that the gates of hell or powers of
darkness would never be able to prevail against it. We distinguish between the
visible organization and the invisible organism. One can be a member of a
church--a building or a group known as such--yet not be a member of the unseen
church which is his body. The gates of hell have certainly prevailed against
the church as a visible and in many cases a human developed organization, hence
so many branches of the church, contrary in belief and practice. Even today
'churchianity' is by 'schisms' rent asunder. But against 'THE church' He would
build, no subtle Satanic force could prevail." -Herbert Lockyer
It is important to notice
that when Jesus said he would build his church on peter himself but the words
he confessed, Jesus asked his opinion on what the apostle thought of his life
and claims after much diversity of opinion regarding his identity, some say he
was Elijah come back to life, still others that he was the devil of hell
himself, regardless of the mass of swirling controversy and opinions his mighty
works of power and supernatural acts were undeniable. Jesus said he would build
His church on the grounds of faith into a living breathing organism that is
moving to this day through souls confessing by faith the word of God is true
and pure so that he might bring a church into being. the church is nearly
finished. Peters initials can be found near the bottom of the masses of
compiled souls attached to the Rock that is Jesus. Based on the current world
events the roof is nearly put on and soon it will be completed, the souls that
are leading others astray, those wolfs in sheep's clothing will be pried off
the spiritual edifice and removed. When the roof is finished Jesus will return
presenting himself as to his glorious bride."There is presently a
groundswell across America--as in many other parts of the world--in which
people are meeting in small groups, in homes during the week rediscovering the
bible and enjoying a more intimate fellowship than they find in Sunday church.
This is especially true of many young people to whom 'Sunday Church' is a
spectacular sport and who seek more personal participation and accountability.
After all this is where it all began: 12 guys along the seashore with their
Teacher. All the remarkable episodes of the early church in the book of Acts
occurred in homes. It wasn't until the fourth century that edifices began to be
erected." -Thomas Horn
In summary religion cannot
save you, as God came to abolish it's ordinance and broke down the wall of
hostility based on our inability or desire to follow it by the stripes of
punishment directed at his own son. The great news is the gift is now a free
one if only for those who will be so willing to accept it. As Paul once
realized it was painful to 'kick the goads' to fight against God's compelling
power was a profit venture indeed and the once zealous Paul was changed; after gazing upon Stephens peaceful face must have had a profound affect upon him,
for the grace and humility one could accept death in the face of such ardent
hatred. "the lighting of Damascus struck no empty void but found plenty of
inflammable material in Paul's soul. Thus with reasonable certainty it must be
affirmed that the tremendous radical transformation he experienced and which
came to be described as God pleased to reveal his Son to him was not without
considerable preparation on the part of heaven" -HL
'"The
whisperings of that pleading voice he had heard in the past now rolls through
the hollow chamber of his inmost being and demands a reason for his persistent
animosity"
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