Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Nature of Christ

God is supra-natural. Jesus is the natural aspect of him, and Is His Substance. Theologians refer to the three homeostasis - substances of God. That is commonly referred to as "the Holy Trinity". Even "substances" are inaccurate because they are the elements which were created by God. God was not created, but always Was, Is, and Will Be. God is without Name, and merely said "I Am That I Am":
Rev 3:14 And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you.
Hence, God is Existence. He is a composite of everything "good" as "only God is good"  (Mat 9:17).
"Was", "Is", and "Be" are tenses of "I Am".  Thus, God is Infinite in both time and space. That majestic condition is called omnipresence - "present in all places at all times" (Merriam-Webster Dictionary).

"Goodness" is God's character, being the entirety of all his attributes. His character is made up of knowledge, wisdom, kindness, justice, patience, empathy, grace, mercy, power, and ultimate love, called agape in the Greek. Those attributes are just a few. God is everything "good" and His "goodness" in unlimited. On the other hand there is no evil in Him at all as He cannot even look upon evil:
Hab 1:13 Thou (God) art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously...
When God looks at the creation, He doesn't see the evil. He only looks upon the persons who do evil. What does God see? 
1 Kings 8:39 Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men).
This knowledge of the heart is called omniscience - knowing everything. Everything apparently does not include evil. God knows the ways of the heart of everyone. As such He knows the will of all mankind who ever existed, even on a personal level. The evil in each person's heart or will is called iniquity. That is how Satan has influenced us by "the law of sin".

God is just. He judges our heart - or our will. The measure by which God judges is God's will. Scripture refers to God's will as "the law of God". The metrics of His law is love. The greatest love is loving God with all our strength, mind, heart, and soul (Luke 10:27), and others as ourselves. Because God saw man's heart with original sin, he knows how much mankind loves Himself. He buys into that under one condition: that we love others to the same degree!

God's Laws, or His will, is metricized with the Ten Commandments. They were written on stone by the finger of God (Exod 31:18). He wrote them because they are His will. They were written on stone to be everlasting. They are fulfilled by loving God and others. Why does God want us to love him with all our strength, mind, heart, and soul? Because he loves us that much (John 3:16). He demonstrated the depth of His love by allowing Himself to be crucified. In order to feel our pain, temptations, isolation, and desperation, God took on flesh to be like His creatures. God took on the nature of man, maintaining his supra-nature and power. On the cross, he sacrificed his Flesh, Soul, and Power on our behalf by taking on the iniquity of all mankind of all ages. He bore physical and spiritual death so that we would not need to.

Jesus is God's nature. We were created in God's image (Gen 1:27). Our flesh, clouded that image. Jesus is God's image:
2 Cor 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Jesus was made like us, ironically, after we were made in the same image he was!
Heb 2:17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. 
So Jesus was made in the image of God, as we were as well, but then Jesus was born like us. One big difference is that Jesus was born without sin!
2 Cor 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 
Mankind was born with sin (Psalm 51:5). Jesus took on sin for our sakes to be like us. Before Jesus, God couldn't even look at sin, but God became flesh to bear our sins - all of them.

Jesus's nature is God's nature since Jesus is God. John 1:1,14 bears that out. It is never God and Jesus but Jesus Is God and God Is Jesus.

Jesus said "I Am":
Mat 14:27 (YLT) ...and immediately Jesus spake to them, saying, `Be of good courage, I am , be not afraid.' 
"I Am" is from this literal translation. Hence, Jesus is the Great "I Am' - God's Existence.  God in the flesh is "called Jesus"! (Mat 1:25). God was all supra-natural until he became flesh. God became natural. The natural substance of God is referred to as the "Son of Man". The supra-natural Existence is referred to as the "Son of God". On the other hand, Jesus Is God and Jesus Is Man. He is not half man and half God but fully man and fully God. God is not three persons or even two. He is One Existence with three characteristics. He is one person called Jesus.

Why called? Because he Is Existence. Being God Jesus "IS". I AM THAT I AM is JHWH. That is the God's Hebrew description transliterated into the English. JHWH is also transliterated as JHVH. We pronounce that "Jehovah" a combination of the English letters for I AM THAT I AM and Adonay. Hence, God, to avoid using his "Name", is called Adonai, rather than JHVH. 

Jesus is the English transliteration for the Hebrew Yeshua, meaning "Jah is salvation". Jah, in turn, is the shortened Greek pronunciation of Yahweh - JHWH. You see, the etymology of the Name Jesus Is JHWH!

They say Yahweh (JHWH), we say Jehovah (JHVH). Both are what God is called, and it Is God who saves: Jesus - Jah is salvation. Names mean things in scripture, and God made it clear that He Is Jesus!

We don't like it, but not only does Jesus love mankind but also metes out justice. Jesus is "good" because as God who is good, Jesus is good. Likewise, God is just and Jesus is as well. 
Mat 25:41 Then shall he (Jesus) say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels...
That's not very nice from our perspective but it is just.  Jesus gives us enumerable chances - seventy times seven (Mat 18:22).  With that degree of fairness we are without excuse (Rom 1:20).

Jesus didn't learn the Scripture from anyone. He repeated what he so often had said long before. John said he is "the Word" (John 1:14) which of course, is what is written in Scripture. Jesus was born with the entire body of knowledge of God because he Is God! He spoke to John the Baptist even in the womb. We know that because John leaped within Elizabeth's womb (Luke 1:41) and Elizabeth was filled with Jesus's "Holy Ghost". Jesus transferred some of his power to Elizabeth, and subsequently John.

Jesus was a Nazarite. (See Num 6). He was set apart for God's work. Like Samson and John the Baptist, Jesus was never known to have drank wine. Neither did Jesus ever touch the dead unless he made them alive! In the only "picture" of Jesus I've seen he had moderately long fair as did the Nazarites. However, his strength lied not in his hair but in his Holy Spirit! (Note: Pilate apparently gave Caesar a signet ring with Jesus's likeness in it. That picture is below.)

Jesus the Christ
In order to be saved, we must know Jesus (John 14:6) because he is the Way to eternal life. My hope is that you know Jesus by this time. One thing which must be known is that God Created existence, and Jesus was right there speaking it into being! The creation manifests God:
Rom 1:21 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse...
The creation is evidence that God Exists. If anyone doesn't believe that God was Creator, they deny Jesus. That is not the Way to be saved! One thing the Word Jesus is not; he is not a liar. That characteristic belongs to Satan - the father of lies. The Word said that "in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth". Jesus doesn't lie! It is his nature to be truthful:
John 14:16 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. 








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