Tilling and Planting

Tag: God The Son

  • The Fullness of Time

    The Fullness of Time

    Intro

    Galatians 4:4 says, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law” (ESV). In this first post of the Christmas season (I know, I know, Thanksgiving isn’t done yet), I want to focus on that phrase “fullness of time”. What exactly does that mean? The NIV Bible puts it this way “But when the set time had fully come”. You could also say “When the perfect time set by God had come” (CLV, Cory Lewis Version 😉). When I read that, I think to myself, “Why was this the right time? Why did God select that period of time?” If you ever asked those questions, you’re in the right place. Turns out there’s a lot of great reasons, both from a human perspective and Biblical.

    The Roman Empire

    You read that right. The Roman Empire turned out to be one of the best reasons for this time being the perfect time for Jesus to come. Here are some of the reasons why.

    Peaceful Travel

    The Roman Empire conquered so much of the world at that time, that within its borders there was a sense of peace. In addition, the ruthlessness of the Romans when it came to criminals helped keep that peace. Crucifixion was no joke. Furthermore, the Romans built an extensive network of roads and ports that allowed for great ease of travel across the Empire. This allowed the gospel to spread to places it otherwise couldn’t have.

    Assimilation

    The Roman Army was fairly unique in how it recruited soldiers from among the provinces that it conquered. The recruits were taught about Roman history and culture and a great number of people were effectively assimilated. This allowed for a greater understanding of cultures across the world which made communicating ideas much easier. In fact, the gospel came to Britain largely because of soldiers stationed there.

    In addition, Rome allowed people of other nations to become Roman citizens. It wasn’t necessarily easy – or cheap (see Acts 22:28) – but it was possible. Paul benefitted from this multiple times. He avoided beatings, unfair trials, and could get into places he wouldn’t have been able to any other way. And lastly, he got the opportunity to speak before the emperor himself.

    Jewish Oppression and Hopes

    The Jews struggled under the Roman Empire. That created an intense longing and anticipation of the long-awaited Messiah prophesied hundreds of years beforehand. Many women of that day had high hopes of being the one to give birth to the Messiah. This hope and desire made Jesus more accepted and drew larger crowds than He otherwise might have.

    The Greek Language

    Perhaps one of the greatest reasons for this being the perfect time is the unified language that existed. The Greek language dominated the Roman Empire. Many people were bilingual at the very least (their own native language plus Greek). This allowed for a greater ease of communication than in times previous. Christians could travel from one place to another without having to wonder if they would find someone who could interpret for them. To be sure, not everyone spoke Greek, but there was a large enough number that finding an interpreter wasn’t difficult. It’s a lot easier to find someone to interpret from a common language to a local language than from one local language to another local language.

    The Spiritual Culture

    The Spiritual culture of the day provided yet another way that made people receptive to the gospel.

    Idols and Cults

    When the Romans came conquering, many people groups turned to their gods and idols for protection and salvation. However, when these gods failed to deliver, many people abandoned worship of them and began to seek alternatives. This created a greater spiritual hunger in people than if Rome had not touched their nations.

    Furthermore, many cults and mystery religions of the day emphasized a savior-god and bloody sacrifices to worship them. This made a gospel that included one ultimate sacrifice much more believable to them. In addition, many of these cults required baptism of some sort – often in the blood of animals – so the early church emphasizing baptism after repentance didn’t sound unusual to them. A little bit cleaner perhaps, but not strange. Finally, the belief of an immortal soul was also prevalent in this time. This made the message of Christ even more understandable.

    Greek Philosophy

    On the flip side, the Greek philosophy/science of the time left a lot of people feeling spiritually empty and void. People wondered if there was anything more to life than just this natural world. This is much like how modern day atheistic communist governments did in the 20th century and continue to do today. And even how the prevalent atheistic and evolutionist thought leaves people searching for truth and fulfillment in America today.

    Jewish System

    God laid the Jewish religious system and Law as a foundation for the coming of Jesus. The entire system was designed to demonstrate to mankind their sinfulness and their inability to stop sinning in their own power. God set it up so that they would recognize the depth of their sin and wickedness and thus more readily accept the salvation that Jesus as their Messiah offered.

    In addition, the Law and the prophets laid out many prophecies concerning the coming of Jesus and what He would do so that the Jews would recognize Him when He came. And the sacrificial system painted the picture of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross – as well as just the necessity of a blood sacrifice to pay for sin.

    Lastly, their feasts and festivals that God ordained in the Old Testament all point to Jesus in some form. Going through just a couple of them quick: Feast of Tabernacles points to the birth of Jesus because it recognizes God dwelling with man (one of Jesus’ names is Immanuel – God with us) and Passover points to the death of Christ (and not just because that’s when Jesus died) because the Passover lamb that each household had to slaughter had to be pure and without blemish and not one of its bones could be broken – Jesus became the ultimate Passover lamb, being pure and without blemish and not a single bone was broken.

    There is so much more in the Jewish system that points to Jesus and the New Covenant. But that’ll have to wait for another day.

    The Fullness of Sin

    This might sound like an odd one but hear me out. Some scholars believe that part of the “Fullness of Time” means that sin reached its fruition under the law as well. Paul suggests such a thing in Romans.

    The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. Romans 5:20 (NIV)

    I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. Romans 7:7 (NIV)

    The introduction of the law allowed people to see how sinful they really were. And it demonstrated their need for a savior. Not just a savior from their natural enemies, but a savior from the sin within them. And when things had progressed to a certain point, it became time to send that savior because God will only tolerate so much sin before He acts.

    This idea we can see all the way back in Genesis 15 when God told Abraham about his descendants’ captivity in Egypt.

    In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure. Genesis 15:16 (NIV)

    It took another 400+ years before the sin of the Amorites reached its full! And that’s on top of however many centuries they were already sinning. Makes sense it would take a few thousand years for things to build up before God chose to send Jesus.

    Daniel’s Prophecy

    The last thing I want to mention is that Jesus came at the time He did to fulfill the prophecy of Daniel. Which prophecy? The “Seventy weeks” or “Seventy sevens” found in Daniel 9:24-27. We know from studying history that 69 of these “weeks” have already been fulfilled with the last one still coming. The countdown of these started with the command to rebuild Jerusalem (verse 25). This occurred in 444 B.C. Verse 26 tells us that after 69 of these “weeks” “the Annointed One will be put to death”.

    Many people have done the calendar math and used historical and astronomical clues to determine when the 69 weeks began and end. It’s largely agreed that they began at the end of February 444 B.C. (some say beginning of March) with the command to rebuild Jerusalem and ended in March A.D. 33 just days before Jesus’ death. (Even though I read a few different articles about this in my research, this one I believe to be the most accurate: Link).

    So, Jesus came when He did in order to fulfill this very specific piece of prophecy from Daniel – and the religious leaders missed it.

    Wrapping Up

    From this, I hope you can see God’s guiding hand on the course of history. This should give you hope for your own life. No matter where you’re at, God can redeem what looks hopeless and can bring you back into His will for your life. With God there are no disqualifying paths, only detours.

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!

  • The Shepherd

    The Shepherd

    Intro

    Jesus refers to Himself as The Shepherd. Even more specifically, the Good Shepherd. What exactly does Jesus mean by this? In what ways is Jesus like a shepherd. And how are we, His followers, like sheep?

    Sheep

    To understand why Jesus likens Himself to a shepherd and us to sheep, it would help to get an understanding of what sheep are like. Here’s a handful of characteristics of sheep that as humans, we tend to resemble. Disclaimer: I found the original list here. Credit where credit is due.

    No Sense of Direction

    Sheep are notorious for wandering. Without a shepherd to guide them, the sheep will get hopelessly lost. They’ll likely go wherever the sheep ahead of them goes. If a couple of sheep wander off a cliff, the rest of the flock will probably follow. Stories of sheep doing exactly that are well documented. Here’s one such story.

    Hundreds of sheep followed their leader off a cliff in eastern Turkey, plunging to their deaths this week while shepherds looked on in dismay. Four hundred sheep fell 15 metres to their deaths in a ravine in Van province near Iran but broke the fall of another 1,100 animals who survived. Shepherds from a nearby village neglected the flock while eating breakfast, leaving the sheep to roam free. The loss to local farmers was estimated at $74,000.

    Sounds pretty dumb, right? But let’s be honest. How many people do something, follow some fad, some star just because “it’s cool.” So many people go along with the crowd because they want to be “in.” We don’t always think about the consequences. We just want people to accept us – even if it means doing dumb (or dangerous) things.

    Defenseless

    When you think about an animal who’s great at defending themselves, sheep are probably not the first one that comes to mind. Frankly, they’re terrible at it. Apart from ewes kicking when protecting their young or the fact that when frightened, the whole flock tends to run together (safety in numbers), they can’t defend themselves very well. That’s where the shepherd comes in. They defend the sheep against predators and their own stupidity.

    Similarly, we can run and maybe kick a little against small things, but when it comes to needing protection against the bigger enemies, we desperately need God’s divine protection. Without that, we will fall prey to Sin and Satan over and over again with no hope.

    Can’t Get Up

    I remember watching the VeggieTales adaptation of David and Goliath (Dave and the Giant Pickle) and thinking that the portrayal of sheep falling over and needing help to get back up was just a fun thing the creators put in. After all, there’s no way that there’s an animal incapable of standing back up when it falls over, right? Apparently, there is, it’s called a sheep. When sheep tip over (particularly on their backs), they are physically unable to stand back up. They require assistance from the shepherd to get back on their feet.

    How many times have we fallen in life and would have fizzled out or even died (whether self-inflicted or not) if we didn’t get help from God?

    Emotional and Recognizes Voices

    On a brighter note, sheep have an amazing ability to recognize the voice of the shepherd who cares for them. If a stranger’s voice tries to command them, they will more than likely run away in fear. They know who’s voice they are safe listening to. In addition, sheep are emotional creatures. They build friendships with other sheep and will even stick up for those friends in a fight. They can become anxious or distressed, and they feel sadness when a fellow sheep dies or is lost.

    I don’t think I need to explain the parallels to humans with this one. For we have all felt anxious or distressed at times and most (if not all) of us have felt the pain of a loved one passing away. We long for companionship and connection to fellow humans. And we learn from an early age, the voices of our parents. When strangers try to tell us to do something, we tend to question if we need to listen.

    Can’t Carry Burdens

    If there’s one thing that sheep were not made for, it’s carrying heavy loads. You will never see a sheep as a pack animal. They will be quickly crushed by such a burden. Similarly, God did not mean for us to carry the burdens of life like we do so often. God created us to be dependent on Him, and to give our burdens and trials of life to Him. We can’t carry it all on our own. We were never meant to.

    Settles For Less

    Sheep generally don’t know what’s good for them. If they see a dirty puddle, they’ll stop and drink from it – even though there might be clean water just a few feet away. As long as it satisfies in the moment, sheep just don’t care. Shepherds help the sheep find what’s good for them. And sadly, we are like that all too often. Rather than going after the good things of God, we settle for the things of this world which do not satisfy.

    Valuable

    Another point in favor of sheep is that they were quite valuable back in ancient times – and still are in different parts of the world. Owning large flocks of sheep indicated that one had wealth and influence. God declares us to be His special possession (1 Peter 2:9). God values humans above everything else in all of creation (Matthew 10:29-31).

    Can’t Care for Their Wounds

    Many animals lick their wounds until they heal. But not sheep. Sheep can’t do anything to help their wounds. Without treatment, sheep might die of easily treatable wounds. Shepherds are essential to the treatment of wounds. While we treat our physical wounds very well, we have no ability to treat our spiritual wounds on our own. We need help.

    Innocent

    Lastly, sheep are often associated with innocence and purity. How could you look at a sheep and blame it for anything worse than wandering away from the flock and getting lost? God calls us to be innocent and pure like sheep. Though that’s not possible without His sacrifice on the cross. Jesus washed away our sins and made us spotless as a sheep’s wool. Innocent in His sight.

    Jesus as The Good Shepherd

    Knowing now the nature of sheep, it doesn’t take much to understand the importance of a shepherd. And in John 10:11, Jesus declares himself to be the Good Shepherd. So, now I’ll describe how Jesus fits into that role of a shepherd. I’ll reference back to the list of sheep characteristics and show how Jesus fulfills these.

    Valuable, Innocent, Healed

    I’ve already mentioned how much God values us – similar to how valuable sheep have been. And I’ve also mentioned that through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, we are innocent and pure in God’s sight. And going along with that, the cross and resurrection provides the means through which God heals our spiritual wounds – much like the shepherd must care for the sheep’s wounds. Romans 6:8,11 (NIV), “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him…In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Through Jesus, God made us alive spiritually – totally healed.

    Guidance, Settling

    A shepherd leads his flock of sheep from one place to another. And he always leads them to the best pastures and waters he can find. He ensures that his flock will have everything they need and not settle for less. Psalm 23 is a fantastic passage to describe God leading us as a shepherd does his flock. “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:1-4, NIV).

    Falling, Carrying Burdens

    I briefly asked how many times we might have fizzled out in life if God hadn’t been there to pick us up. To put a verse to this: Psalm 145:14 (NIV), “The Lord upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.” When times are tough, God will be there always to lift us up. And furthermore, Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV) says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Jesus carries the burdens we cannot carry on our own. He invites us to come to Him and learn from Him, because His burden is light, and it’s light because He carries it with us.

    Defenseless

    A lot of people might get offended to think that we are defenseless like sheep. And in the physical world, I can’t argue that we will defend ourselves in a variety of ways. However, in the spiritual world, we got nothing. Our only defense against the powers of Satan and our own temptations comes from God. Only through Holy Spirit living in us and enabling us to we have any sort of defense against the dark powers that operate in this world. “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” Ephesians 6:11 (NIV). This verse makes it clear that we need God to stand against the devil. We can’t do it on our own.

    Hearing His Voice

    Jesus states in John 10 that sheep recognize the voice of their shepherd and He further states that His sheep know Him and know His voice (verses 3-4,14-16). A lot of people (myself included) struggle with this idea of hearing God’s voice. We wonder if we are hearing His voice or if it’s our own thoughts or if it’s the enemy trying to trick us. There is a process of learning to recognize God’s still small voice. It comes through spending time with God in prayer, worship, and reading of the Word. Simply knowing His word helps to prevent us from being deceived by other voices. After all, the Bible is the chief way by which He speaks to us.

    Wrapping Up

    Comparing people to sheep may not be the most flattering thing but praise be to God that we have a Good Shepherd to take care of us! I hope this instills more confidence, hope, and peace in your life.

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!

  • Explaining The Trinity

    Explaining The Trinity

    Intro

    Welcome to the last post discussing the Trinity. Even though I’ve officially completed the Trinity Trilogy, explaining the Trinity warrants its own post. So, I’ll be doing my best to explain – or at least simplify – what the Trinity is and how it works. If you haven’t read any of the posts in the trilogy, catch up here: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

    What Is The Trinity?

    The Trinity, also known as the Godhead, is a concept that is difficult to explain and understand. Basically, God is a single God who exists as three persons – Father, Son (Jesus), and Holy Spirit. (Just writing “single” and “three persons” in the same sentence to describe the same noun makes the logical parts of me cringe.) These three persons are distinct yet are also each God. And the Bible demonstrates in many places just how distinct they are.

    Some examples, Jesus prays to Father God on a regular basis. God speaks affirmations over Jesus, declaring Him to be His son, on no fewer than 3 occasions (Jesus’ baptism, the transfiguration, and another time). And Jesus states that both He and Father God will send Holy Spirit and Jeus refers to Holy Spirit as “Him”. This makes it clear that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct persons. However, the Bible is also clear in referring to each of them as God. Jesus makes statements to be God (refer to my previous posts for examples) and one of the best passages that references Holy Spirit as God is in Acts 5. In this story, Peter accuses Ananias of lying to Holy Spirit and then a couple of sentences later, says that he lied to God. Clearly Peter understood Holy Spirit to be God and not just some impersonal “force”.

    All that said, many illustrations exist to try and explain – or simplify – the Trinity to make it easier to understand. I will be putting forth a handful that I have heard over the years. I leave it up to you to decide which one(s) make it easier for you to understand.

    Illustrations

    I have heard several illustrations trying to explain the Trinity from my many years of experience within the church. And this list I’m giving you probably isn’t all of them, just the ones I can remember. I will give a description of each one and how well I think it holds up to the truth. The litmus test for these will be how well the individual part can perform the job of the whole. Any member of the Godhead can perform everything that Bible says God can do. Each member is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and immutable. So for these examples, how well it holds up depends on how well the individual part can perform the job that you expect of the whole. If you have any additional ones that you like, let me know in the comments.

    The Tree

    One of the earliest illustrations I recall is the Tree. When you think of a tree, three pieces of one probably jump to your mind immediately: the leaves, the trunk, and the roots (branches as well, but I’m including that in the trunk for the sake of the illustration). These three primary parts of a tree are all distinct, but they make up a single tree. The problem here is that while each member of the Godhead is individually God, you can’t say the same about each of the three parts of the tree. The leaves can’t perform the job you expect the whole tree to do. The nicest part of this one is that it demonstrates an example of a triune God creating things with the number 3 (seriously, start examining everything God has created and you’ll be amazed at how many times the number 3 pops up).

    The Egg

    I only heard about the Egg illustration more recently. It’s one that my wife, Stacy, introduced me to. In this one, you’ve got the shell, the egg white, and the yolk. Again, they are all distinct pieces of the egg, yet it’s still a single egg. I like this one a bit better than the tree since unlike the tree, eggs really don’t have much more to them other than these three parts. It makes it easier to compare instead of nitpicking a tree apart and pointing out all the distinct parts of it. And similar to the tree, the egg is also an example of a triune God creating things with the number 3. However, the tree’s shortcoming is the same as the egg. You can’t point to the yolk and call it an egg. Without the other two parts, it’s not a complete egg.

    The Family

    Now we’re getting to my favorite illustrations. The Family unit is one of the better illustrations for the Trinity. In the Trinity you get Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In the family unit you get Father, Mother, and Children.

    Relationships

    As an aside, I am going to briefly mention the relationships within the Trinity. In the Bible we clearly see Jesus submitting to His Father’s will time and again. Jesus says He only does what He sees the Father doing (see John 5:19). Even though Jesus is God and is equal to God, He submits to Father God. With Holy Spirit, Jesus states that He and Father God have authority to send Holy Spirit. Furthermore, Jesus declares that Holy Spirit will glorify Him, Jesus, rather than glorifying Himself. This demonstrates a submission on the part of Holy Spirit to Jesus and to Father God.

    This relationship reflects the ideal family unit that God designed (and that sin destroyed). First, you got the father in the place of Father God. Second, you got the mother submitting to the spiritual leadership of her husband as Jesus submits to Father God (the Bible makes it clear that the wife submits to the husband, though it is also clear that the husband submits to his wife as well; but that is a whole other topic). And finally, you got the children as – pretty literally – coming from the parents. And the children are meant to submit (obey) to both father and mother (Ephesians 6:1-3 is perhaps my favorite passage about this). In addition, just as Holy Spirit glorifies Father and Son, so too are children meant to bring joy and honor to their parents (Proverbs 15:20).

    The family is great to describe the relationships within the Trinity. And again, one family, but three distinct parts.

    Still Falls Short

    Unfortunately, the family example still falls short. The problem again comes down to the inability of each individual to perform the role of the whole, i.e. Jesus can do all that Father God can do, but a child cannot do all that the father can do.

    The Human

    The illustration of mankind is probably one of the most powerful. God created humans with 3 very distinct parts that together make us “human”. As humans, we are spirit, soul, and body. 3 distinct pieces making up one human. As an added bonus, the soul is also made up of 3 pieces: mind, will, and emotions. I believe this is just one of the ways in which we are created in God’s image. The Godhead is a triune being. Humans are triune beings. And God created many triune examples in the world. A lot more than I’ve mentioned!

    As Romans 1:20 says, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” God put Himself into His creation in a myriad of different ways. And as humans, we are His crowning creation.

    Like the other ones, this one is also flawed. Separate the soul from the rest, and you get conscious mind with emotions and a drive, but no ability to do anything. The three parts of a human rely on each other too much to be a perfect representation of the Trinity.

    The Chord

    Of all the illustrations my personal favorite is the Chord. And of all the illustrations ever used, this one stands as probably the least flawed of them all. A triune chord – a chord made up of three distinct notes – has great advantages over the other illustrations. The three distinct sounds work together to make one beautiful sound all the while remaining distinct. Each note can work on its own to perform the job of filling up the space it’s in with sound (just like each member of the Trinity can perform all the functions of a deity). And together, they work in harmony to create something even more beautiful.

    The three notes of a triune chord are separate and distinct yet together they make up a single chord. Each note is a sound. They don’t all sound quite the same and when combined, they create yet another sound. But they retain their own unique sound. And this is why I think this is the best illustration.

    Wrapping Up

    Ultimately, understanding the Trinity will never fully happen on this side of eternity. Our finite minds just can’t fully comprehend an infinite God. And understanding the Godhead isn’t required for salvation (phew!). Still though, it’s important to have some grasp on this topic – if only to be able to have a better answer for someone else other than “I have no idea”.

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!

  • Trinity Trilogy – God The Son

    Trinity Trilogy – God The Son

    Intro

    Welcome to the second part of the Trinity Trilogy! In this part of the trilogy, I will be going over the second member of the Trinity: God the Son. In part one (check it out here if you missed it), I stuck with the more general name ‘God’ for God the Father – even though I could have chosen one of a number of distinct names. However, for God the Son, I am going to use His more common name of Jesus.

    Who is Jesus?

    Similar to the question “Who is God?”, the question “Who is Jesus?” will get you different answers. Some say he was a great teacher. Others say a prophet. Some people claim he was a fraud. Still others make the claim that he was – and is – the Son of God. How we answer this question reveals where our faith in God lies and reveals a lot more about our worldview. For the rest of this post, I explore the Biblical claims made about Jesus.

    As the title indicates, Jesus is the second member of the Trinity – as God the Son. That title – God the Son – indicates two key parts about Jesus’ identity: 1) He is the Son of God; and 2) He is God. I explore these two parts first before examining some other parts of His identity.

    Jesus is God’s Son

    The gospels quote Jesus claiming, or giving Himself, many names and titles. One of the most prominent ones is His claim to be the Son of God. In many of His prayers, He refers to God as “Father.” In one His most famous prayers in John 17, He says, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.” And on the cross, Jesus prayed “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34 NIV). The word Jesus uses for Father is “Abba” which denotes a deeply intimate relationship – the equivalent word in English would be “Daddy”. The Jews had an understanding of their people as the children of God, but they wouldn’t have used such an intimate word for their relationship with Him. Jesus’ use of it was radical indeed. Which indicates how close God and Jesus were.

    And it wasn’t a one-way relationship either; during His baptism, God declares that Jesus is “My Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17 NIV). And towards the end of His earthly ministry, when Jesus transfigured before Peter, James, and John, God spoke again and commanded that they listen to His Son. And later in Colossians 1:13 (NIV) Paul writes, “For he [God] has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.”

    Jesus is God

    Not only does Jesus make these claims about being the Son of God, but He also claims equality with God. And not just equality of status or standing – like two CEOs of different companies – but claims to be God.

    Jesus’ Claims

    Many people say that Jesus never once claimed to be God. That He would have been appalled at being elevated to godhood after His death. But this is just not true. All throughout His ministry, Jesus makes repeated claims to be God. Sure, maybe He doesn’t say the English phrase “I am God” but he sure does say things that make the religious leaders ready to stone Him for that very thing. For example, John 10:33 (NIV), “‘We are not stoning you for any good work,’ they replied, ‘but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.’” The Jews recognized what Jesus was saying and called Him out on it. And Jesus didn’t correct them. In fact, He doubled down on it later in this conversation.

    The I Am

    More than once throughout the gospels, Jesus uses a term that is translated as “I am” in English. Perhaps the best-known instance of this is in John 8:58 “‘Very truly I tell you,’ Jesus answered, ‘before Abraham was born, I am!’” (NIV). And like the other passage I mentioned, the Jews caught His meaning and tried to stone Jesus. Why? We miss it in English, but that phrase “I am” – which seems grammatically incorrect in Jesus’ statement – is actually the name God gave to Moses when Moses asked whom he should say sent him. “God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: “I am has sent me to you.”‘” (Exodus 3:14 NIV). Jesus used a very holy and specific name of God to refer to Himself. If that’s not claiming to be God, I don’t know what is.

    If Jesus never intended to claim to be God, and the Jews merely misunderstood Him, all Jesus would’ve had to do is say, “I’m not claiming to be God. You misunderstand me. Here’s what I meant.” And everyone would have been happy, and no one would’ve tried to crucify Jesus. But Jesus didn’t do that. He consistently doubled down and selected words and phrases (such as “I am”) to announce His deity. This served to antagonize the Jews – which resulted in the religious leaders pushing for His execution.

    Jesus is the Lamb of God

    Animal sacrifice was one of the key things that God instituted through Moses and the Law. All the various sacrifices were designated for forgiving sins and ritual cleansings. And the first animal sacrificed for the Israelite nation was the lamb. While still in Egypt, God commanded Moses to tell the Israelites to kill a lamb and to put the blood on their doorposts so that the Angel of death would pass over their homes and not kill the firstborn child (see Exodus 11-12). This would become known as the first Passover – a holiday celebrated by the Jewish nation to this day. The Passover lamb was one of the most important sacrifices that the priests performed.

    In John 1:29 (NIV), John the Baptist proclaimed, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” when he saw Jesus walking toward him. And that last portion “who takes away the sin of the world” is the key to understanding why Jesus is the Lamb of God. In Leviticus, we see all sorts of sacrifices required of Israel. Many were for purification or peace offerings, but others were sin offerings. And in Hebrews 9:22, the author states that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (NIV). So, in order to cleanse the world of sin, there needed to be a sacrifice. And Jesus was that perfect sacrifice who bore our sins upon Him on the cross. The Bible states that no one took His life, but that He gave it as a willing sacrifice.

    Jesus is sometimes referred to as the Passover Lamb, because He died during the Passover. One of the amazing things about the Jewish holidays defined by God in the Old Testament is that each foreshadows God’s ultimate plan through Jesus (But that’s another post).

    Jesus is the Coming King

    As the promised Messiah, Jesus’ work would not be complete if He did not come back and reign as the King of kings and Lord of lords here on the earth. The Jews expected the Messiah as a conquering king. There are several prophecies in the Old Testament about the Messiah being a king. One such passage is found in Daniel 7:14 (NIV), “He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” One of the reasons the Jews didn’t accept Jesus as Messiah is because He didn’t fulfill the conquering king role from the Old Testament. And there is some truth to it. Jesus hasn’t yet fulfilled all the prophecies of the Messiah. But He will.

    Acts 1:11 (NIV), “‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.’” Two angels promised the disciples that Jesus would return in the clouds – which Daniel promised the Messiah would descend from. Jesus promised in John 14 that He would return for His people (the church). And we see starting in Revelation 19:11 and through the end of the book, Jesus’ return, His thousand-year reign, and a new heaven and new earth culminating in the eternal reign of Jesus and the saints with him. There will be no more death, no more pain, no more sin, and there will be joy, peace, harmony, and a restoration of Eden. Amen! Come Lord Jesus, come!

    Wrapping Up

    I hope and pray this watered and nurtured your faith in who Jesus is. Or maybe it gave you additional points or Bible references for these different topics. Whatever you got out of it, I pray it helps you in your faith journey. I couldn’t cover everything under the sun for who Jesus is, but I do believe I adequately covered some of the most important parts of His identity.

    Well, that’s all for this post. Join me next time for part three of The Trinity Trilogy – God The Holy Spirit.

    Outro

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