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 anabsolutetruth,
but the Bible teaches monotheism is
what I call asufficientdoctrine.
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!
(SeeHebrews 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
generationsas
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?’ saysThe
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 asufficient 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 speaksthrough Jesus,to Jesus,
orto exaltJesus.
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 theexactrepresentation
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 andwho
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].”
