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WHO IS GOD OF CHRIST?
PRE-VIEW
Everyone in this world knows that there exists a very powerful supreme being who made the entire universe with the exception of those who call themselves atheists. They believe there is no God and for that matter, they believe that the universe exists because it needed to exist. Listen to this baseless statement. Never mind, I have a very strong conviction that, every living being whether atheist or not, believes there is a Great Person who is so powerful and Supernatural, who is the Creator of this world. Psalm 14:1 “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’. They are corrupt, their deeds are evil and does no good” Take a moment, go outside and look at the skies for at least ten minutes without taking your eyes of it. If the sky doesn’t tell you there is a God, then I do not think you are a human being because if you are, a voice will tell you there is a an invisible creator of this whole universe.
SUBSTANCE
The bible refers to this supreme invisible being as God or Lord. God created the heavens and the earth in six days and rested on the seventh day. When God was creating the world, something strange happened. The only one God, who was creating the world prior to the time when nothing existed except Himself, was there with someone. Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep and the Spirit of God was moving over the waters” From this verse, we see that as God created the heavens, his spirit was also moving on the waters, thus God is seen, His Spirit is also seen. Now this is more evidenced in Genesis 1:26 “Then God said, ‘Let us create man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the earth and all the things in it’” In all these, God was the one doing the actual creation, Genesis 1:3-27. God created man not because He was lonely as some of the pastors think; He was full of everything and created man out of abundance. Is there a difference between God and His own Spirit?
When man lived after creation, God revealed Himself to man in so many ways. In the days of the Israelites, Exodus 13:21 “By day the Lord went ahead of the Israelites in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light” Let us try and understand this. Who was the pillar of cloud? Was it any normal cloud which is seen in the skies? Probably not! This is a special pillar which the Israelites saw as God for that matter. If the pillar was not God, then where was God? Exodus 33:10-11 “Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshipped, each at the entrance of his tent. Then the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend” It is clear now that the pillar of cloud and fire which the people of Israel saw was God. If that pillar is not God, let me ask you? If you speak against that pillar, whom have you spoken against? It is not about God possessing an already existing pillar of cloud and fire; rather He created a pillar of cloud and fire with Himself and after fulfilling His purposes, He returns to God. This will help you understand this more; Exodus 19:18 “Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire” If God showed Himself in all these ways to man, then who is Christ?
There are so many churches which do not agree that Jesus and God are one. They say that Jesus is the Son of God but not God Himself. Do you know the problem? The problem is the theoretical interpreting of the scripture instead of spiritually interpreting it. Why am I saying this? You see, when I say to you that the man sitting on that chair is my father and I am his son, you theoretically interpret this to mean that the man is older than me, he has power and authority over me, he has a wife (as the Islam say) and that he can command me but I cannot command him because he brought me into this world. Yes you are right but that doesn’t apply to Jesus Christ being the Son of God. Will you apply the same interpretation to Christ being the Son of man? Probably not, you will tell me man cannot have authority over Jesus, man is not older than Jesus and man didn’t bring Jesus into the world. Christ is also said to be the son of both David and Abraham in Matthew 1:1. This make it clear that when the bible refers to Jesus being the Son of God or man or Abraham or David, it does not necessarily mean Jesus is below or subordinate to God, man, Abraham or David. But it means a different thing all together and that is what the Holy Spirit teaches Christians. John 20:31 “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” The bible again says in John 6:61-63 "Jesus said to them; does this offend you? What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
Do you know why it is the Spirit in you which gives you life? Any man is said to be dead when the spirit God gave him has left the flesh. This can be evidenced where people who lose their hands or legs through wars at times live. They live because their spirit is still living in their flesh. Even if your Head is cut off, you do not die instantly, you will shake for a while and during the period of shaking, can you pronounce the person dead? No you cannot because the spirit is still in the flesh. You will only say that his head has been cut off and you believe he is going to die. If the body keeps on shaking for let’s say an hour, within that period can you say the person is dead? Not at all!
So have you seen how useless the flesh is without the spirit? It is the spirit which keeps the body alive. John 1:1-18 “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made…He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him…yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God…The word became flesh and made dwelling among us…No one has ever seen God, but God the one and only, who is at the father’s side has made him known” Jesus being the Son of God was the Spirit of God which existed at the time of creation, who was moving on the waters, and has come to live with men on earth. Matthew 1:23 “The virgin shall be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means, God with Us”
Reader, please what is your name? Where is your spirit God gave you and what is his name? Now if you will give a different name to your spirit and a different name to your flesh, then I don’t understand it, because the name which is given to your flesh is what will be used to identify your spirit at the time of judgement. Zechariah 12:1 “This is the word of the LORD concerning Israel, the LORD, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the spirit of man within him, declares:” Note that everyone has the spirit to live but only Christians have Holy Spirit, which is always represented in the bible by a capital ‘S’, Spirit. Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" Christ, when on earth, never made an explicit statement to show that He was God Himself. This was because they would have stoned him to death for saying such, as the law of blasphemy, comparing oneself to God, existed at that time. Christ was to accomplish His mission on earth by dying not any kind of death, but death on the cross. If that is not so, why then do you think God instructed the three wise men not to return to herod after visiting baby Jesus in the manger? Matthew 2:12 “And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route” God did this because that wasn’t the time destined for Christ to die. Why also did God instruct Joseph and Mary to escape with Jesus to Egypt? Matthew 2:13 “…escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child and kill Him” If we must be sincere to ourselves, we should understand why Christ never said directly that He is God, but revealed this to us by his spiritual teachings. John 14:8-12 “Philip said, Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us. Jesus answered: "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'? Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.” Apostle Paul also said in the book of acts that God Himself died on the cross for us in Acts 20:28 “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own Blood” Listen to how God became flesh, and was called Jesus. 1 Timothy 3:16 “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory” Paul again said that, Jesus who was in the exact form of God didn’t consider equal as God because He humbled Himself. Philippians 2:5-7 “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond-servant, and coming in the likeness of men” Jesus is addressed as Great God in the bible, Titus 2:13-14 “looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” God the Father even recognized Jesus, His Spirit on earth as God in Heb 1:8 “But to the Son He says: Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom”
To be frank with you, if we truly want to know whether Jesus is God or not, we should look at how He was perceived before His coming and not from His earthly life. This takes us to the Old Testament, although a lot about Jesus being God is in the New Testament. Let us take a look at what the Lord said in defending the inhabitants of Jerusalem in Zechariah 12:10:"And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on me whom they pierced” Who was pierced? Also the prophet Isaiah was one of the great prophets who professed of the coming of Christ and he wrote in Isaiah 9:6 “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace” Also he says in Isaiah 43:10-12 “You are My witnesses," says the LORD, "And My servant whom I have chosen, That you may know and believe Me, And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, Nor shall there be after Me. I, even I, am the LORD, and besides Me there is no savior. I have declared and saved, I have proclaimed, and there was no foreign god among you; Therefore you are My witnesses," Says the LORD, "that I am God”
Why do you think Jesus is being referred to as God, mean while God says He is the only God and none will be formed beside Him, He says He is the savior and beside Him there is no savior? If beside God there is no savior for real, then there is no doubt that Jesus is God Himself. In the beginning you remember I told you that during the creation of the universe, God was there with someone? Who was this Person and how different is this Person from God? Isaiah 44:24 “Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, And He who formed you from the womb: "I am the LORD, who makes all things, Who stretches out the heavens all alone, Who spreads abroad the earth by Myself; The Bible makes us understand here that God made the universe by Himself alone with the help of no other person. If this is so, then God, The Spirit of God and the Word of God through whom all things were made (Jesus Christ), are in one person who is God. So Jesus, the Son of God, is God.
POST-VIEW
Is there the need for one to believe that Jesus is God? And if I don’t believe, what happens? This is very fundamental truth which every Christian believes before one can be saved else one die in his or her sins. Believing that Jesus is God is to believe that He is the Son of God. John 20:31 “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” Do you remember God said that, ‘believe Me and understand that I am He, and beside Me there is no savior’? Now let us take a look at what Jesus said in John 8:19-23 “They asked Him, where is your Father? Jesus said, ‘you do not know Me or My Father, if you knew Me, you would know My Father’ But Jesus continued, ‘you are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not if this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins” As I said earlier, believing that Jesus is the Son of God and your Lord and Savior, is to believe that Jesus is God. This was what motivated me most to come out with this piece of work. I know and believe that the Hand of God is upon my life and He puts all that I said in this book in my mouth. If it is truly from Him, may He convict you to believe and understand all that I have shared so far, but if it is not from Him, He should take all that I have said in this book from you so that you will not understand to believe...AMEN!
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