Friday, May 21, 2021

As Your Faith Is be it unto you

 All scripture references, unless otherwise noted, are from the King James Version of the Holy Bible. The Hebrew and Greek meaning of the words mentioned are from Strong's Hebrew Greek Dictionary.

Who ever heard of a man, being put to death, buried in a tomb, and three days later rising to life again, impossible say the skeptics! And yet that is exactly the basis of Christianity, Jesus the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Christ did exactly that. You say you don't believe that. If you do not believe in the Death, Burial and Resurrection of Jesus Christ you are not alone. The vast majority of Christianity also think it highly unlikely if not an impossibility. Yet a multitude of people from the apostles forward believe just that. I am glad I am one of them.

All of the old time prophets believed that a day would come in which their prophecies would come to pass, although they probably didn't understand  them exactly how it would be done. I just finished watching an interview of Stephen Meyer by Peter Robinson of the Hoover Institute at Stanford University, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_8PPO-cAlA) about a book written by Mr. Meyer entitled, The Return of the God Hypothesis. Mr. Meyer's basic premise is there must be an intelligent designer behind creation. A planner who designed the universe from it's inception. It is quite interesting.

As I mentioned in the beginning of this posting, I said it was  impossible for a man to rise from the dead. The first two elements, death and burial were easy enough, but to the world's view for a man to rise from the  dead is an impossibility! Certainly a man who is dead cannot raise himself from the  dead. No one in this world has the power in themselves to rise from the  dead or to call a dead man to life again! Only if there is an outside agency could that ever happen. And only then if the outside agency even existed. To the Christian that outside agency does exist and it is called God.

Jesus said in John 4:24, "...God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." And in Luke 24:39 The Lord Jesus said"Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." So if God is a spirit and the Lord Jesus said,  "...a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." Then the Lord Jesus did not appear to the disciples as a Spirit but as a man. Yet Isaiah 7:14 says, "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Another impossibility? Not for God! The word Immanuel according to Dr. Strong means, "‛immânû'êl (pronounced) im-maw-noo-ale' From H5973 and H410 with suffix pronoun inserted; with us (is) God; Immanuel, a name of Isaiah’s son: - Immanuel." I am relatively sure that Isaiah wasn't talking about his son.

If Jesus was only a man, then as a man He would not be able to rise from the dead. But as He told the Jews in John 8:58b,  "...Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am." Before Abraham lived Jesus lives? The Lord Jesus was both  God and Man. He was and is the great I Am. As only a man, He would have been unable to rise from the dead, but as God He was able. He said in John 10:17-18, "... I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father."  The Bible says in Isaiah 9:6-7"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this." No, if the Lord were just a man, He couldn't have risen again, but as the everlasting Father He could and did! 

Friend, maybe you have been confused as to the Lord Jesus' identity. He is God in the Spirit and the Son of God in the flesh. This is why, after Peter's declaration in Matthew 16:16b "...Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.", the Lord Jesus said to Peter "... Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." (see Matthew 16:17). This is also why Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 1:2-4  about the Lord Jesus which God had promised, "...Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead..." 

My Friend, as the Bible says in numerous places, the Lord Jesus is coming again to take His church to be with Him forever. To be in that church when He returns, one must repent of their sins, be baptized in Jesus name in order to have their sins forgiven and God has promised the Gift of His Holy Spirit. (see Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38 and Acts 4:12) Based on only the Scriptures, why not obey the Bible today? You will be eternally grateful.

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