Last month, I wrote the Father
sent Jesus to Earth so the Father
could speak to the Jews through
Jesus’ lips. Several
times, Jesus told the Jews that
His words were not His own and
the Jews put Jesus to death for
blasphemy.
For more than one thousand years,
Jews thought monotheism was
an absolute truth, but
the Bible teaches monotheism is
what I call
a sufficient doctrine.
Sufficient doctrines exist
because God allows people to
embrace incomplete and faulty
ideas.
(1 Corinthians
13:9-12) When God
reveals greater truth, sufficient
doctrines become weak and
insufficient because He has given
more light on the topic.
Sufficient doctrines always have
loose ends and are not
scripturally complete.
People who accept a sufficient
doctrine overlook and diminish
parts of Scripture that, within
the context of the sufficient
doctrine, make no sense.
For example, what would you do
with this passage if you were a
devout believer in
monotheism? “[The
Father said to the Son,] Your
throne, O God, will last for ever
and ever; a scepter of justice
will be the scepter of your
kingdom. You love righteousness
and hate wickedness; therefore
God [the Father calls Jesus,
“God”], your God, has
set You above your companions by
anointing you with the oil of
joy.” (Psalm 45:6, 7 ,
insertions mine) The Jews
often read Psalm 45, but, within
their concept of monotheism, they
could not figure out how one God
(the Father) could speak to
another God (the Son) and elevate
Him above His companions!
(See Hebrews 1:8, 9)
Therefore, the Jews ignored and
diminished Psalm 45 because
it did not fit their
preconceptions.
The Father sent Jesus to Earth so
the Father could speak through a
faithful witness. A few
people believed the Father spoke
through Jesus and He supported
this belief when He prayed to the
Father, “ ‘I have
revealed you to those whom you
gave me out of the world . . .
For I gave them the words you
gave me and they accepted them.
They knew with certainty that I
came from you, and they believed
that you sent me.’ ” (John 17:6, 8)
Jesus’ ministry reveals a
very interesting process:
Man’s understanding of truth
is always incomplete. We
cannot know more than God has
revealed. When God wants
more truth known, He sends
“new light” and it
often produces conflict.
Jesus said, “This is
the verdict: Light has come into
the world, but men loved darkness
instead of light because their
deeds were evil. Everyone who
does evil hates the light, and
will not come into the light for
fear that his deeds will be
exposed. But whoever lives by the
truth comes into the light, so
that it may be seen plainly that
what he has done has been done
through God.” (John 3:19-21)
We cannot know when or through
whom “new light” will
come, but we know the Father will
continue to reveal it for
eternity because He is constantly
revealing more truth. The
irony with new light is that
seekers of truth are delighted
and defenders of tradition are
insulted because their darkness
is threatened.
Paul observed this phenomenon,
but only after He became a
Christian: “Surely you
have heard about the
administration of God’s
grace that was given to me for
you, that is, the mystery made
known to me by revelation, as I
have already written briefly. In
reading this, then, you will be
able to understand my insight
into the mystery of Christ, which
was not made known to men in
other generations as it
has now been revealed by the
Spirit to God’s holy
apostles and
prophets.” (Ephesians 3:2-5, italics
mine)
When the Father releases new
light in religious matters, there
are always two results. The
first is insult and
rejection. The Jews
rejected Jesus because He
presented a doctrine of two Gods
(new light) which was not
compatible with their doctrine of
one God (tradition).
Secondly, people who embrace new
light will suffer for it and the
price may be death (like Jesus
and the first Christian martyr,
Stephen). However, truth
will move forward because the
Holy Spirit will help seekers of
truth to understand and embrace
it! (John
16:13) Jesus is the Son of God
The Father sent Jesus to Earth
(He did not come on His own
– John 10:18) to
reveal more truth, but the
mission did not go
well. “Jesus said
to them, ‘If God were your
Father, you would love me, for I
came from God and now am
here. I have not come on
my own; but He sent me.
Why is my language not clear to
you? Because you are unable to
hear what I say. You belong
to your father, the devil, and
you want to carry out your
father’s desire [which
is to murder me for
blasphemy] . . . He who
belongs to God hears what God
says. The reason you do not hear
is that you do not belong to
God.’ ” (John 8:42-44, 47, italics
and insertion mine)
Of course, the Father knew that
Israel’s leaders would have
a very difficult time letting go
of monotheism so He often
confirmed Jesus was “the Son
of God” through astonishing
signs and miracles. The
first miracle was the virgin
birth of Jesus. No other
virgin had given birth to a
child. The Father sent the
angel Gabriel to Mary
saying: “ ‘You
will be with child and give birth
to a son, and you are to give him
the name Jesus.’ ‘How
will this be,’ Mary asked
the angel, ‘since I am a
virgin?’ The angel answered,
‘The Holy Spirit will come
upon you, and the power of the
Most High will overshadow you. So
the Holy One to be born will be
called the Son of God.’
” (Luke 1:31-33) You may
not realize it, but the angel
made a profound revelation when
He called Jesus, “The Holy
One.”
The Jews considered the title,
“The Holy One” very
important and they used this
title in the Old Testament about
50 times to describe Jehovah.
Notice Isaiah’s words: “To
whom, then, will you compare
God? What image will you
compare Him to? . . . Do you not
know? Have you not heard? Has it
not been told you from the
beginning? Have you not
understood since the Earth was
founded? He sits enthroned above
the circle of the Earth, and its
people are like grasshoppers. He
stretches out the Heavens like a
canopy, and spreads them out like
a tent to live in. He brings
princes to naught and reduces the
rulers of this world to nothing.
No sooner are they planted, no
sooner are they sown, no sooner
do they take root in the ground,
than He blows on them and they
wither, and a whirlwind sweeps
them away like chaff. ‘To
whom will you compare me? Or who
is my equal?’ says The
Holy One. ‘Lift your
eyes and look to the Heavens: Who
created all these? He who brings
out the starry host one by one,
and calls them each by name.
Because of His great power and
mighty strength, not one of them
is missing . . . Do you not know?
Have you not heard? The
Lord [Jehovah] is the
everlasting God, the Creator of
the ends of the Earth. He will
not grow tired or weary, and His
understanding no one can
fathom.’ ” (Isaiah 40:18-28, italics
and insertions mine)
After reading Isaiah 40, and many
similar passages in the Old
Testament, we can see why the
Jews regarded monotheism as an
absolute truth. Until God
chose to give “new
light,” it was a sufficient truth
in God’s sight.
However, Gabriel gave Mary
“new light.”
“The Holy One”
(Almighty God) would be born to a
virgin. John describes the
miracle this way: “The
Word became flesh and made His
dwelling among us. We have seen
His glory [on the Mount of
Transfiguration], the glory of
the One and Only, who came from
the Father, full of grace [compassion] and
truth [no lies].” (John 1:14,
insertions mine)
Jesus is called the
“Word” because the
Father’s testimony came
through His lips. When the Father
wants to say something, He speaks
through Jesus. Many people
do not realize that the Father
rarely speaks in the Bible and
when He does, He speaks through Jesus, to Jesus,
or to exalt Jesus.
Notice these passages:
Through Jesus: Jesus told
the Jews that it was the Father
speaking through Him: “For
I did not speak of my own accord,
but the Father who sent me
commanded me what to say and how
to say it . . . He who does not
love me will not obey my
teaching. These words you hear
are not my own; they belong to
the Father who sent me.” (John 12:49, 14:24)
To Jesus: The Father said
to Jesus: “
‘Your throne, O God, will
last for ever and ever; a scepter
of justice will be the scepter of
your kingdom. You love
righteousness and hate
wickedness; therefore God, your
God, has set you above your
companions by anointing you with
the oil of joy.’
” (Psalm 45:6, 7) The
Father called Jesus
“God” and He identifies
Himself as “God” in
Psalm 45. This should have
been a big hint to Israel that
monotheism was not an absolute
doctrine. Tradition has a
way of hiding things that we do
not understand.
Exalts Jesus: Now, notice
how the Father exalted
Jesus: “While
he [Peter] was
speaking [on the Mount of
Transfiguration], a cloud
appeared and enveloped them, and
they were afraid as they entered
the cloud. A voice came from the
cloud, saying, ‘This is my
Son [my equal], whom I have
chosen [the Messiah]; listen
to Him.” (Luke 9:34, 35,
insertions mine) The
Father also exalted Jesus when He
was baptized: “As soon
as Jesus was baptized, He went up
out of the water. At that moment
Heaven was opened, and He saw the
Spirit of God descending like a
dove and lighting on Him. And a
voice from Heaven said,
‘This is my Son [my
equal], whom I love; with Him I
am well pleased.’ ” (Matthew 3:16, 17)
When the Father announced from
Heaven that Jesus was His Son, He
exalted Jesus as His equal!
The Jews perfectly understood the
equality of a father and son and
this claim made them furious. (John 5:18; 10:33) Jesus Speaks for God the Father
The Father is invisible. No
created being has seen Him and no
created being will ever see
Him! Even the angels can
only see an outline of His
brilliance. At the Second
Coming (Matthew 26:64) and for
all eternity, the redeemed will
only see an outline of His
brilliance. No created
being can see the Father because
He lives in “unapproachable
light.” His infinite
glory and power would blind
anyone who is exposed to the
Father. This explains why
only Jesus and the Holy Spirit
can see the Father and enter into
His glory. Each of them is
God in the same way the Father is
God. When the Trinity
formed, Jesus was appointed
“The Word” and He will
be the Father’s spokesperson
forever. Carefully study
these verses:
Jesus
said: “No one
has seen the Father
except the one who is
from God; only He has
seen the Father. (John 6:46)
Paul
wrote: “He [Jesus] is
the image of the
invisible God . . . The
Son is the radiance of
God’s glory and
the exact representation
of his being.” (Colossians
1:15, Hebrews
1:3,
insertion and italics
mine)
Paul
wrote: “God [the
Father], the blessed and
only Ruler, the King of
kings and Lord of lords,
who alone is immortal
and who lives in
unapproachable light,
whom no one has seen or
can see. To Him be honor
and might forever. Amen.
(1
Timothy
6:15, 16,
insertion and italics
mine)
John
wrote: “No one
has ever seen God [the
Father] but
God [the Son] the
One and Only, who is at
the Father’s side,
has made Him known.” (John 1:18,
insertions and italics
mine)
In the previous
study, I wrote that Jesus is like
the Father’s identical
twin. This is important
because the Father sent a
duplicate of Himself to
Earth. When we consider
Jesus’ life of self-denial,
sacrifice, humility, and
kindness, we are also considering
the Father’s
character. Remember, Jesus
washed the dirty feet of His
disciples and allowed wicked men
to ridicule, spit on and beat Him
within an inch of His life before
He went to the cross. Then,
on the cross, He said,
“Father forgive them,”
before He died. Through His
life on Earth, Jesus reflected
the Father perfectly. We can know
the Father would have done the
same things because Jesus and the
Father are identical in
character, too. “Jesus
answered [Philip]:
‘Don’t you know me,
Philip, even after I have been
among you such a long time?
Anyone who has seen me has seen
the Father. How can you say,
‘Show us the Father?’
” (John 14:9,
insertion mine) Jesus is the Word
The Father lives in
unapproachable glory so He has
chosen to speak through the lips
of Jesus who is like an identical
twin. This is why Jesus is
called “The Word.” The
“Father’s
testimony” comes out of His
mouth. When Jesus was on Earth,
He did not speak on His own! The
Father confirmed that Jesus was
His spokesperson to help those
that seek truth. Jesus was
born to a virgin and performed
many miracles, signs, and
wonders. The Father resurrected
Jesus, took Him to Heaven, and
seated Him on His throne. When we
understand why Jesus is called
“The Word,” John 1:14 makes
perfect sense: “The
Word became flesh and made His
dwelling among us [so that
mankind could understand the
Father and hear from Him].”
