Tuesday, March 30, 2021

The "How" of Jesus

 

Per the Nicene Creed:

By the power of the Holy Spirit


Per the Holy Bible
:

The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God."

Luke 1:35 NLT

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This clause of the creed is simply explaining how God the Son took on human form. Well, explaining is probably too strong a word to use. It's more like giving credit without really understanding any behind-the-scenes making of the sausage. For God the Son to take on flesh, it took some kind of special power, and that power was administered through God the Spirit.

Truth is...I don't understand it, but I don't really expect to be able to understand everything about God.


Tuesday, March 23, 2021

The "From Where" of Jesus

 

Per the Nicene Creed:

He came down from heaven


Per the Holy Bible
:

No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven.

John 3:13 NLT

He has come from above and is greater than anyone else. We are of the earth, and we speak of earthly things, but he has come from heaven and is greater than anyone else.

John 3:31

After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.” So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves.

When the people saw him do this miraculous sign, they exclaimed, “Surely, he is the Prophet we have been expecting!” When Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king, he slipped away into the hills by himself.

That evening Jesus’ disciples went down to the shore to wait for him. But as darkness fell and Jesus still hadn’t come back, they got into the boat and headed across the lake toward Capernaum. Soon a gale swept down upon them, and the sea grew very rough. They had rowed three or four miles when suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the water toward the boat. They were terrified, but he called out to them, “Don’t be afraid. I am here!” Then they were eager to let him in the boat, and immediately they arrived at their destination!

The next day the crowd that had stayed on the far shore saw that the disciples had taken the only boat, and they realized Jesus had not gone with them. Several boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the Lord had blessed the bread and the people had eaten. So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went across to Capernaum to look for him. They found him on the other side of the lake and asked, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs. But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given me the seal of his approval.”

They replied, “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?”

Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.”

They answered, “Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in you. What can you do? After all, our ancestors ate manna while they journeyed through the wilderness! The Scriptures say, ‘Moses gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven. The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

“Sir,” they said, “give us that bread every day.”

Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But you haven’t believed in me even though you have seen me. However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them. For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will.

John 6:12-38

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Truth is...the idea of coming "down" from or going "up" to heaven may be a bow to our limited, human understanding, so let's not get all excited about getting in a rocket and blasting out into space looking for a physical place called heaven. The point being made is that Jesus existed in a purely spiritual "form" before being birthed on Earth having taken on the form of a human being. (Philippians 2:7)


Tuesday, March 16, 2021

The "Why" of Jesus

 

Per the Nicene Creed:

For us and for our salvation


Per the Holy Bible
:

I have seen your salvation.

Luke 2:30 NLT

For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

1 John 4:14

There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone.

1 Timothy 2:5-6

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Truth is...there are plenty of people who say plenty of things as to why Jesus came to Earth. "He came to show us how to love." "He came to be an example." "He came to teach us truth." But primarily, it was the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth that made it possible to restore mankind's relationship with Father God. He saved us!


Tuesday, March 9, 2021

Jesus Creator

 

Per the Nicene Creed:

Through him [Jesus] all things were made


Per the Holy Bible:

God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.

God sent a man, John the Baptist, to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light. The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him.

John 1:3-10 NLT

Through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth.

He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see - such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.

Colossians 1:16

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If you've been paying attention, you might be saying, "Hey, wait a minute! The second phrase in this creed says that God, the Father Almighty, is 'maker of heaven and earth,' so what's the deal all of a sudden saying that the SON was the creative agent?"

Pay attention to the two Scripture references above. God the Father did the creating, but he did it through the Son.

It might help to take the opening of John's gospel literally for a moment when it equates Jesus with "the Word" and then reread the first chapter of Genesis where God speaks  -  pronounces a word  -  and things come into being.

Truth is...It's as if God the Father sits enthroned eternally and any personal interaction, like touching or creating, is accomplished by God the Son.


Tuesday, March 2, 2021

Father and Son Unity

 

Per the Nicene Creed:

Of one being with the Father



Per the Holy Bible:

Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of the work you have seen me do.

John 14:10-11 NLT

I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.
John 17:22-23

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Truth is...If it helps to think of deity as being a physical substance, then we can say that God the Father and God the Son (stay tuned for truth about God the Holy Spirit) are both made up of the same "stuff".