Doctrine (written)

Jesus Christ, The God-Man
Part II – His Deity

“And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.” Revelation 22:12, 13

Theology really matters, and it is of prime importance in the life of human beings. Theology simply signifies the study of God and of religious belief which is in line with that.

What is God like, what are His expectations for man, and so on are truly important subjects because if one is wrong in his theology, and there are certain expectations of a person in order to have a right relationship with God, then that relationship is either in question or nonexistent.

There are those who hold to the Law of Moses for their justification, and there are true Christians who have accepted the grace found in Jesus Christ. Both believe in the same God, but they do not accept the same amount of revelation that this God has provided concerning Himself. That further revelation of Himself, meaning in what Jesus accomplished for us, will make all of the difference in one’s eternity. Be assured of that.

Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, and others claim they believe in the same God, but they reject the theology which says that God has so revealed Himself in the Person of Jesus, or that what is revealed of Him is different based on the very nature of His deity. It isn’t a matter of further revelation. Rather, it is a denial of what is considered orthodox.

But the central point of Christian theology is that Jesus Christ is God. He is the incarnate word of God. It is not that He is not God, or that He is either one of many gods, or He is a lesser god. Rather, He is the Pantokrator – the Almighty. To believe otherwise, then, is to believe in a false Jesus. And to believe in a false Jesus is to believe in a false gospel. Paul says as much, first in 2 Corinthians 11 and then in Galatians 1 –

“But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. ⁴ For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!” 2 Corinthians 11:3, 4

&

“I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, ⁷ which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. ⁹ As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.” Galatians 1:6-9

To accept another Jesus is to accept another gospel. And to accept another gospel is to reject the truth of God in Christ. Without the Savior, there is no salvation. Theology really matters.

Text Verse: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷ And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. ¹⁸ And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. ¹⁹ For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, ²⁰ and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.” Colossians 1:15-20

A denial of the deity of Jesus Christ, and that of the Holy Spirit, can be bafflingly complex. I say this because if some from the Jehovah’s Witnesses come to your door and starts talking, unless you know the Bible, and your theology is sound, they can twist what little you know to the point where you aren’t sure what you believe.

Getting off on a single point of doctrine, especially a major point of doctrine, will end in a complete unraveling of sound theology. Either that, or one will have a single error with a logical contradiction to that one error.

This is normally found in denominational differences and generally occurs on points which are not salvific, or saving, in nature. But the deity of Christ is not a minor point of doctrine. It is fundamental and it is principle. To be wrong on this point will result in a completely convoluted hermeneutic, or method of interpretation. To demonstrate this, we’ll take the Jehovah’s Witnesses as an example.

They deny the deity of Jesus Christ and teach that He is a created being. From that one incorrect point, their entire biblical hermeneutic becomes flawed. And it all starts with that one premise – Jesus Christ is not God. In speaking on their doctrine, the International Bible Society says –

“…Furthermore, he is not only called ‘God’ (regardless of the issue concerning the translation of John 1:1), but also ‘Savior,’ ‘Lord,’ ‘Redeemer,’ ‘God with us,’ and ‘Creator.’ We can pray to him; he helps us; he lives in us; he gave up himself for us; he forgives our sins; he receives worship – all things, which in the Old Testament are clearly within the jurisdiction and ability of ‘Jehovah.’  Yet in the face of all this, the doctrine of the Watchtower Society would have us believe that this One is some form of created being?  Frankly, not only is that incongruous, it is the worst form of blasphemy – relegating to a creature the attributes of Jehovah.”

As you can see from that one quote, translational differences arise, theological differences are held to, and a completely different gospel – because of the presentation of a completely different Jesus – is accepted. How can such a vast array of differences arise when the same source text is used? It is because of the spirit of antichrist.

Yes, that is exactly what John says of it as we will see as we progress through the sermon today. For now, understand that theology really matters, and that proper theology is obtained through a proper evaluation of God’s superior word. And so, let’s evaluate that word once again, and may God speak to us through His word today, and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. Unto Us a Son is Given

To open our previous thought concerning the humanity of Christ, Isaiah 9:6 was cited, “For unto us a Child is born.” However, Isaiah continues the verse. He next says, “Unto us a Son is given.” It must have perplexed Isaiah, and indeed any who have read Isaiah’s words, as to what “a Son is given” must mean.

A child being born implies, and it even demands, that the child is a human being. The reference “us” demands this. But if “unto us” is speaking of humanity, and a Son is being given to humanity, it appears that this “Son” is coming from outside of humanity.

Suppose the object was a cake, and the statement was made referring to the Americans and the Germans. An American might say, “Unto us a cake is made.” It is obvious that the cake is an American cake – in all its tasty goodness. But the person speaking is also dealing with the Germans, and so he says, “Unto us the ingredients are given.”

The obvious meaning is that though the cake is made in America, and therefore it is an American cake, the ingredients have come from Germany. It is, therefore, German by nature. Oh! Das schmeckt sehr gut! This is the thought which must be considered in Isaiah’s words. There is a Child born – a human being. But there is a Son given. The subject of the first is a human; the subject of the second must be other than human.

This must be so, because the next verse says, “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” If a Child being born embodies the idea of humanity, the idea of the giving of a Son must then imply the concept of deity because it is directly performed by Yehovah Sabaoth, or “Yehovah of Hosts.” Thus, when properly understood, it is God who gives the Son.

This might be a misunderstanding of the matter, and simply a play on words, but a description of this Child who is the Son is then given. Taken as a whole, Isaiah 9:6, 7 says –

“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, Prince of Peace.
⁷ Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” Isaiah 9:6, 7

Some of the responsibilities, titles, and descriptions could be argued over as to their intent, but some of them assuredly cannot be. We will look at those and pass over the others for now.

First, He will be the Mighty God. How can that be? The Hebrew says el gibbor – “God mighty.” That is direct and to the point. This is even more so when considering that in the very next chapter of Isaiah, the same term, el gibbor, is given again –

“And it shall come to pass in that day
That the remnant of Israel,
And such as have escaped of the house of Jacob,
Will never again depend on him who defeated them,
But will depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
²¹ The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob,
To the Mighty God.” Isaiah 10:20, 21

There, it is speaking of Yehovah qedosh Yisrael, or Yehovah the Holy One of Israel. It would be unthinkable, literally unthinkable, for the Lord to place the only two uses in Scripture of el gibbor, or “mighty God,” only one chapter apart and expect His reader to consider one as deity and the other as some type of created being.

It would be the epitome of confused terminology and contradictory thinking. One refers to the coming Messiah, and one refers to Yehovah. Thus, the two are clearly identified as One. This is especially so when Isaiah is inspired to continue with his words by calling this One abiad, or “Everlasting Father.” It is a term unique to Scripture, and it is speaking of the Father of eternity; the possessor of time.

This Father of eternity, as with all of Isaiah’s descriptions as speaking of the coming Messiah, is not to be confused with God the Father. The title shows possession, not position. The father of the Hebrews is Abraham. He possesses the title even though he is dead and is no longer in the position. Thomas Edison is called the father of the lightbulb because he was the one who invented and developed it. He possessed the idea and then developed it.

Abiad, the Father of eternity, is the One who possesses time. He created it and He has mastery over it. This Child who was born, this Son who has been given, is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End; He is the First and the Last. There is no time that He did not exist and there is no time He will not exist. This is what the title means.

Further, Isaiah says that His government will be established, and it will continue from then on, even forever. David had come and gone. It was promised that one of his sons would establish his kingdom forever, but David’s forever kingdom is only in name, not in actual personal authority.

What Isaiah speaks of here is a government which will have an eternal authority, implying the One who will rule forever. Only One who is immortal could actually fulfill this. However, we again see the dual nature of this coming One.

He is the Everlasting Father, meaning uncreated and eternal, and yet, there is a point in which His throne is established and in which it continues on from. As the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this, one can – in hindsight – look back and see the incarnation of Christ clearly referred to here. He is God, and yet He is Man.

But could this simply be an exalted way of Isaiah speaking which is maybe poetic in nature? Could the Lord have used Isaiah’s unique style to convey to us something that we easily confuse, like the words of a poet who is speaking of one thing while forming words which seem to allude to another thing?

The answer is, “No.” This is not merely style conveyed by Isaiah. It is revelation transmitted from the Lord. This is perfectly certain when we read comparable words from Micah –

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
The One to be Ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old,
From everlasting.” Micah 5:2

Here we see words equivalent to those of Isaiah. A Ruler is prophesied to come, but this Ruler will obviously have a beginning. This is evident from the words that He would come forth out of a location. In this case, Bethlehem Ephrathah.

Because Bethlehem Ephrathah is a part of creation, it could not have existed into eternity past. The world is not eternal. It had a beginning. Bethlehem has a name, and it was identified as a location at some point after it came into existence at the creation.

However, and at the same time, the One who Micah prophesies about is coming forth from that location, but He has motsaah, or “goings forth,” which are miqedem, or “from the east.” It is an idiom meaning, from the absolute forepart. In other words, from eternity itself.

Just as – from man’s perspective – the sun rises from nowhere, so this Ruler would also come from the eternal past. There is no beginning to His coming. Instead, it simply is. The author then further defines this by saying mime olam, or “from the vanishing point,” meaning from the place where nothing is known of it.

The motsaah, or “goings forth” is a plural construct in the Hebrew. It signifies the eternal and continual generation of the Son from the Father. There is no time that it did not occur, and it shall occur for all eternity. Charles Ellicott says of this –

“The nativity of the governor of Israel is evidently contrasted with an eternal nativity, the depth of which mystery passes the comprehension of human intellect: it must be spiritually discerned.” Charles Ellicott

And this is true. Israel could not, and indeed still does not, discern this. The veil remains when the law is read. What the words here clearly imply is that because He was before the creation, He must be the Creator, because only the Creator can exist before that which is created.

But this misunderstanding is also one which goes beyond the Jewish sages, rabbis, and common folk who have overtly rejected Jesus as the Christ, or Messiah. It is one which is continued on by many who supposedly accept the coming of Christ in the Person of Jesus.

The denial of the deity of Jesus Christ is no less damning than the denial of His humanity. This is for several reasons. First, even from the Old Testament Scriptures, it is perfectly evident when compared to who Jesus is, what He accomplished, and what is written about Him that He is God.

Before His coming, the words could simply not be fully understood. But with His coming, they become as clear as crystal. Secondly, what is ascribed to Jesus after his coming – meaning by the writings of the apostles – is impossible to mistake when properly considered from the context of what is presented. The quote by the International Bible Society, which was cited earlier, sums that up very well.

What is said about Yehovah, or the Lord God, in the Old Testament is attributed directly and unambiguously to the Person of Jesus in the New. Only a fool, a heretic, or a lunatic would deny the obvious nature of what the New Testament proclaims.

To speak on the deity of Jesus Christ could go on – literally – for innumerable sermons. But all that is required is one. One does not need to provide all evidence to establish the truth of a matter. There is a point where the evidence is sufficient to do so, and then discovering all of the other such incidences can come as one matures in his understanding and study of Scripture.

This is what we have done since Genesis 1:1, and it is what we will continue to do as long as we travel through the pages of Scripture. For now, we will simply establish the fact that Jesus Christ is clearly presented as God in Scripture without feeling the necessity of crossing every “t” and dotting every “i.”

All rule and all authority in Him is found
The government will upon His shoulder rest
And from Him shall come a rule which will astound
The nations will be at peace, no longer distressed

The ink has flowed from the pen guided by my hand
But I cannot comprehend what the words say
These words are so very hard to understand
I pray the Lord reveal them to me some wondrous day

As mommy lay sleeping, exhausted from caring for the Boy
He tenderly watched over her just as He today watches over us
To be found in the Everlasting Father is eternal joy
This is the amazing splendor to be found in the Lord Jesus

II. Jesus Christ – the Eternal God

The denial of the deity of Jesus Christ is an ancient heresy, overtly dating back at least to the time of Arius in the third century. It is, however, alluded to by the apostles who penned out Scripture at times. John certainly had this exact heresy on his mind when he wrote these words –

“Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. ²³ Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.” 1 John 2:22, 23

The words speak of the Father/Son relationship between the two. John is doing what he had already done throughout his gospel by connecting the two in the relationship of the Godhead. If the Father is God, which is clearly presented in Scripture, then the Son is also God. Both are God, and yet there is only one God.

Further, the very reason for the way the Genesis 1 record is made is to give us insights into what God would do in Christ. In Genesis 1, we read that the grass, the herb, the fruit tree, and the sea creatures and the living creatures of the land – indeed all species – reproduce after their own kind. When one thing generates an offspring, the offspring bears the same nature as that which generated it.

Why did God give such meticulous detail concerning this on that first page of Scripture? It was to alert us to Christ. When we are told that Jesus Christ is the only begotten of the Father, it is to let us know that God has begotten a Son, who is God. And because His mother is human, it is to convey to us that He is also a Man.

Despite being complex, the mystery of the Trinity is revealed in Scripture and it accurately explains the Godhead. It is the only teaching which aligns with a proper analysis of the Bible. The Person of Jesus Christ is the One who reveals the fullness of the Godhead to us and it is He who worked, on our behalf, to reconcile us to God.

And why did He do this? To destroy the works of the devil and to remove the stain of sin which we bear, and which keeps us from any relationship with the Father. It is Jesus and His cross which allows us this wonderful restoration. But, the work of salvation is – as Jonah clearly states – a work of the Lord. As he says, and as the Bible confirms, “Salvation is of the Lord” (Jonah 2:9).

If salvation is of the Lord, and if Jesus were simply a created being, then it really wouldn’t be of the Lord, except in an indirect and dubious manner. But this is what the Jehovah’s Witnesses and others claim.

To dispel this, and to show the utter folly of it, we will look at the work and the words of the Lord from the Old Testament, and then compare them to the work and words concerning Christ in the new. In this, we will form a basis for the certainty of the deity of Christ.

What will be presented will demonstrate that either the Bible is a completely convoluted book, filled with contradiction and error, or it is a book which is given with a main purpose of showing that God Himself entered into the stream of humanity in the Person of Jesus Christ.

To do this properly, even if it is already obvious to anyone who has read the Bible, we need to ensure that we understand who Yehovah, meaning the Lord of the Old Testament, is. In other words, “Is He God or not?” As obvious as that sounds, it is a necessary point of theology to determine. The first time Yehovah is mentioned in Scripture is –

“This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.” Genesis 2:4 

That seems clear enough. Yehovah Elohim, or “the Lord God,” made the heavens and the earth. It follows nicely after Genesis 1:1 –

b’reshit bara Elohim eth ha’shemayim v’eth ha’eretz
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1

However, as you can see, the word used in Genesis 1:1 is bara, or “create.” In Genesis 2:4, it is asah, or “made.” Are the two being used synonymously or not? Someone who wanted to simply argue the matter might do so. The Jehovah’s witnesses do exactly that with John 1:1. As there isn’t time here to argue foolishly, we will move on.

The third time Yehovah is mentioned is in Genesis 2:7 –

“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” Genesis 2:7

That follows in a precise manner after Genesis 1–

“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.’” Genesis 1:26, 27

It would be rather difficult to justify denying that these verses clearly identify Yehovah as not merely the Maker, but the Creator, and thus God. But we will cut to the chase, and simply go to Isaiah to establish this without any doubt at all –

“Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel,
And his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:
‘I am the First and I am the Last;
Besides Me there is no God.” Isaiah 44:6

The claim is made explicitly elsewhere as well, but this is clear. There is one God and He is Yehovah, the Lord. The Old Testament proclaims this truth both implicitly and explicitly so many times and in so many ways that it is impossible to be considered otherwise.

With that baseline established – that there is One God and that Yehovah is that One God – it is now our privilege to determine if Christ Jesus is that same Lord God. One must, obviously, hold the New Testament as Scripture in order to do this, but supposing that is so, then this is our set goal which lies ahead of us.

To do this, all we need to do is to provide a list of Old Testament references referring to Yehovah, and then place them side by side with New Testament references concerning Jesus, and then see what comes up. The list will be long, but not exhaustive. It is simply one which may help some poor soul with a family member lost in a cult to help him see the error of his ways.

Who did Isaiah 44:6 say is the Redeemer? The Lord was clear –

“Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel,
And his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: Isaiah 44:6

But what does Scripture say about Christ Jesus? It is that…

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”). Galatians 3:13

Yehovah is the Redeemer, and yet Christ Jesus is the Redeemer. 1+1 here should equal 2 in your mind. What else did Isaiah 44:6 tell us about Yehovah? He said…

“Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel.”

There were lots of kings of Israel, but the context of what is said about Jesus in the New Testament is clear. His kingship is on a completely different level. This is seen, for example, in Nathanael’s words –

“Nathanael answered and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’” John 1:49

It was clearly understood that Jesus was not the “ruling king” of Israel at the time. Therefore, his words were proclaiming that Jesus is, in fact, Yehovah. The premise follows throughout the New Testament when speaking of God, the kingdom of God, Jesus, and so on. But is that all that we can find from Isaiah 44:6, or is there more? Well, Yehovah proclaims this –

‘I am the First and I am the Last;
Besides Me there is no God. Isaiah 44:6

And what does the New Testament proclaim? From the mouth of Christ Jesus Himself –

“And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.” Revelation 22:12, 13

Here, in one verse from Isaiah, there are at least five examples of Yehovah of the Old Testament bearing the same titles, positions, or responsibilities as those of Christ in the New. In your theology, 1+1 should equal 2. There are many more of these to be considered. This is said of Yehovah in Isaiah –

Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand,
And His arm shall rule for Him;
Behold, His reward is with Him,
And His work before Him. Isaiah 40:10

Christ claims explicitly that He is the One Isaiah prophesied about with these words –

“And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me. Revelation 22:12

Yehovah again adamantly proclaims that He is the only God in Isaiah 46. In His words, He proclaims –

For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like Me,
¹⁰ Declaring the end from the beginning, Isaiah 46:9, 10

But from the same passage as before in Revelation 22, Jesus also said –

“And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.” Revelation 22:12, 13

The Lord, Yehovah, declares the end from the beginning only because He is the Beginning and the End. It is impossible to be otherwise. And yet Jesus claims that same position without any ambiguity.

In Isaiah 44, one of the titles that Yehovah proclaims of Himself is that of being the Rock. Indeed, he says that there is no other –

Do not fear, nor be afraid;
Have I not told you from that time, and declared it?
You are My witnesses.
Is there a God besides Me?
Indeed there is no other Rock;
I know not one.’” Isaiah 44:8

He was making an obvious allusion to the Rock in the wilderness from which the water flowed. It was something every Israelite would know and understand. And yet, Paul says this of Christ Jesus –

“…and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.” 1 Corinthians 10:4

Using similar terminology, the following is said concerning Yehovah Sabaoth, the Lord of Hosts –

The Lord of hosts, Him you shall hallow;
Let Him be your fear,
And let Him be your dread.
¹⁴ He will be as a sanctuary,
But a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense
To both the houses of Israel, Isaiah 8:13, 14

But what do both Paul and Peter say concerning Christ Jesus in the New Testament? They are in agreement on this. First Paul when speaking of faith in Christ –

“As it is written:
‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense,
And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.’” Romans 8:33

And Peter, he proclaims exactly the same message when speaking about Jesus. Thus, he equates Jesus with Yehovah –

Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient,
“The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone,”
⁸ and
“A stone of stumbling
And a rock of offense.” 1 Peter 2:7, 8

Either Paul and Peter were blasphemers, or they are rightly proclaiming that Yehovah has come in the flesh as Jesus Christ. But they don’t stop there. Yehovah adamantly proclaims that there is one, and only one, Savior, and that He is it –

I, even I, am the Lord,
And besides Me there is no savior. Isaiah 44:1

Paul then picks up on that and says the following about Jesus –

“…but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” 2 Timothy 1:10

That is one of numerous times that Christ Jesus is referred to as the Savior. And what is the honor that Israel’s only Savior will receive? Yehovah Himself tells us –

“I have sworn by Myself;
The word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness,
And shall not return,
That to Me every knee shall bow,
Every tongue shall take an oath.” Isaiah 45:23

The Lord, Yehovah, makes that awesome and all-inclusive statement. There are no exceptions. If Jesus were not the Lord, it would include Him too. But what does Paul say in Romans 14? There can be no mistake –

“But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. ¹¹ For it is written:
‘As I live, says the Lord,
Every knee shall bow to Me,
And every tongue shall confess to God.’” Romans 14:10, 11

And again, Paul confirms what Scripture so faithfully testifies to in Philippians 2 –

…that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, Philippians 2:10

So adamant is Yehovah concerning this precept, meaning bowing before Him, that He also proclaims the following. We will bow before Him because of His glory. That is the purpose of His words. He says so explicitly twice in Isaiah –

I am the Lord, that is My name;
And My glory I will not give to another, Isaiah 42:8 (and 48:11)

But John and the other apostles then ascribe this same glory to Christ Jesus. So many times does this happen, that it would take all day to cite them all. But this one will suffice –

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14 (and etc. many times).

Speaking of shepherding, this is said of the Lord in Isaiah 40:10, 11 –

“Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand,
And His arm shall rule for Him;
Behold, His reward is with Him,
And His work before Him.
¹¹ He will feed His flock like a shepherd;
He will gather the lambs with His arm,
And carry them in His bosom,
And gently lead those who are with young.” Isaiah 40:10, 11

What Isaiah says is comparable to David’s words of Psalm 23 when speaking of the Lord, Yehovah. There, he said, “The Lord is my shepherd.” And yet Jesus proclaims –

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. ¹² But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. ¹³ The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. ¹⁴ I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. ¹⁵ As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. ¹⁶ And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.” John 14:11-16

Either Jesus was a blasphemer, or He is the Lord, Yehovah. 1 plus 1 in theology always equals 2. From this, the apostles identify Jesus as the Great Shepherd (Hebrews 13:20) and the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4), again, clearly identifying Christ Jesus as Yehovah.

The words of the author of Hebrews both implicitly and explicitly demonstrate that Jesus is Yehovah. This is so clear and obvious that only the poorest of scholars could miss the significance of his intent. He cites a verse from the Old Testament which is applied to Yehovah, and then he says that the verse is speaking of Jesus. This occurs time and time again.

It is a pattern which, as we have seen, is repeated by Peter, John, and Paul again and again. Whereas Yehovah, the Lord, was the focus of all attention in the Old Testament, the title is never used in the New. Instead, Jesus is the focus of all attention, and the same verses, titles, positions, and analogies which are used concerning Yehovah are used concerning Jesus.

Though not nearly exhaustive, we have provided enough of them to demonstrate that the New Testament writers clearly and unambiguously identify Jesus Christ as the incarnate Yehovah – the Lord God.

As we saw in a previous sermon, but which we will repeat again to ensure your brain has received a new squiggle, even Luke – the great chronicler of the life of Christ Jesus – was very careful to note the deity of Christ throughout his epistle.

Following what He says here, and then carefully reading the rest of his gospel narrative, you will see how meticulous he was to ensure that no doubt of this particular point would arise –

“Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, ^39 ‘Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you.’ And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.” Luke 8:38, 39

This wasn’t a slip of words, but rather it was a carefully placed note that Luke was proclaiming that Jesus is God. As you read through the gospels, make a note of such things. They appear constantly there as well as in the book of Acts and also in the epistles.

The authors of the New Testament proclaimed that Jesus is God because they believed – with all of their hearts – that Jesus is God.

Before we finish, and to qualify what I said a moment ago, the name Yehovah is never mentioned in the New Testament, but He is referred to from time to time with other words, such as kurios, when speaking of Him. The only instances of the divine name, Yehovah, being used in the New Testament are from translational insertions in some Bibles. But the name itself is never used in the original manuscripts.

Rather, Jesus is the focus of the New because He is the Lord God Almighty. To deny this fundamental principle of who He is, then, is to deny Him. The Father/Son relationship within the Godhead does not mean that one is God, and another is not God. Nor does it mean that one is the Lord God and another is a lesser god. Together with the Holy Spirit, they are One essence expressed in three individual Persons.

To summarize: What we have done is to first establish that Yehovah is God and that there is none other. From that logical steppingstone, we have then demonstrated that the position, attributes, titles, and authority of Yehovah belong to the Person of Jesus Christ.

The Bible is not contradictory, nor is it convoluted. It is clear, precise, and unambiguous in this matter. Therefore, there is no need to argue over the wording of John 1:1, nor of the other verses which are disputed by those who deny the deity of Christ. Those verses simply confirm that what they are proclaiming is in accord with what Scripture, on this larger level, already confirms.

One should not miss the forest for the trees. The trees can be, and indeed are, argued over. But the forest is one large proclamation of the Eternal God – Jesus Christ is Yehovah! Jesus Christ is Lord. And thus, shall our proclamation be, to the glory of God the Father.

From the previous sermon, we learned that Jesus is fully human. In His humanity, He is uncreated except as is incidental to the initial act of creation. His humanity descends from Adam, through Abraham, through David, etc.

In this sermon, we have learned that Jesus Christ is fully God, nothing less.

Thus, Jesus is the God-Man. He is not a finite human who is the infinite God – a logical contradiction. Rather He is a human who is also God – two natures which never overlap, but in which there is no separation. Next, we will look at the doctrine of atonement, and why this incarnation – this God-Man – was necessary for our atonement.

Only in understanding the nature of Jesus Christ, can what Christ came to do be fully understood. The simple gospel is, in fact, simple. But the substance behind it is amazingly complex. It requires great precision of thought in order to avoid heresy which then leads to a false Jesus and a false gospel.

Closing Verse: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, being in the form of God, did not consider it ^]robbery to be equal with God, ⁷ but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. ⁹ Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:5-11

Jesus Christ, The God-Man
Part I – His Humanity

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— ² the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— ³ that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. ⁴ And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.” 1 John 1:1-4

There are a host of views concerning the nature of the Person of Jesus Christ. Scholarly, and quite unscholarly, comments go back to the beginning of the Christian faith, and they go in every possible direction one could conceivably imagine.

It would be impossible to even touch upon every point of doctrine that has been developed over the centuries, and there really is no need to do so for a series on basic doctrine. What needs to be understood about Christ Jesus is that He is fully God, and that He is also fully Man.

Any departure from those two principle points is, by default, heretical. But how one gets to those points can also be a source of either very poor doctrine or even heresy. Care needs to be taken to explain these things without going off on a bad path.

As far as His humanity, there is no scriptural doubt about it. By the words of the prophets, by the typological pictures which anticipate Him, by His own words, and by the words of the apostles who came after Him, the humanity of Jesus Christ is an undeniable point of biblical doctrine.

But to make sure that we understand the nature of that manhood, we need to at least make a short review of Scripture, and then look over one or two views which are contrary to what is sound. Often, evaluating that which is incorrect can lead us to more rightly see what is correct.

In this sermon, as in other sermons to come, we will evaluate the doctrine of others, including some who are still alive today. To determine what is correct, one should determine what is error. To this day, we speak of the Arian heresy. That was named because of the unsound doctrine of someone named Arius.

Just because someone is alive, it does not mean that their doctrine cannot be called out. In fact, the opposite is true. Paul called out unsound teachers by name, such as in 2 Timothy 2:17. If I teach poor doctrine, or even heresy, that should be noted. If someone is going to step up to the pulpit, that person is – by default – expected to teach what is orthodox.

Text Verse: “He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.” Isaiah 53:3

The Messiah was anticipated. What His role and work detailed was certainly debated, but Israel knew one thing for certain – He would be a human being. Andrew understood this and he excitedly proclaimed it to his brother, Simon Peter –

“He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah” (which is translated, the Christ). ⁴² And he brought him to Jesus.’” John 1:41

Even people not of Israel knew this would be the case. We learned this from a woman of Samaria –

“The woman said to Him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When He comes, He will tell us all things.’” John 4:25

There was no question in anyone’s mind at the time that the coming Messiah, or Christ, would be a human being. Scripture was clear, and the genealogies were perfectly understood that it was so. What the purpose of Christ’s humanity served is a different subject and for a different time.

The fact that He is a human, and how that came to be, is what needs to be detailed here today. It is a marvelous truth which is revealed in His Superior Word. And so, let us turn to that precious word once again and… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised. 

I. Jesus Christ – A Body Prepared

Isaiah 9:6 says, “For unto us a Child is born.” It is a confirmation of what was already anticipated, even since moments after the fall of man. A human being was promised who would be born into the world, and He would be unlike all other human beings. But He would, in fact, be a human being. The word was prophesied by the Lord to the serpent who had led humanity into the sin of disobedience –

“And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.” Genesis 3:15

The Lord God promised that One would come who would bruise the head of the serpent. From the details of Genesis 4, it is evident that Eve understood exactly what was meant. The naming of her first son Cain, and the exclamation she made concerning him, reveals that truth – qaniti ish eth Yehovah – “I have acquired a man with Yehovah.”

She anticipated that her child would be the One to take on the serpent and lead her back to the Garden of Delight that she had been expelled from. That is not a dubious inference, but rather it is a proclamation based on one thing alone – the promise spoken in Genesis 3:15 – Messiah would be the Seed of the woman.

At this point in the biblical narrative, all we know is that this One will be the Seed of the woman. Thus, as she rightly deduced, He would come from her, the mother of all living. Therefore, He would be a human being. Nothing else is yet explicit. However, the curious use of the words, her Seed, do leave unanswered questions.

The reason for this is that the Bible consistently speaks of the seed of man. It is through man that generations are noted and spoken of. The genealogical listings consistently refer to children being begotten of a father, and when a woman is introduced into a record, it is to clarify a matter, or resolve some sort of dilemma.

For example, the daughters of Zelophehad are referred to several times in the book of Numbers, and in Joshua and 1 Chronicles as well. In fact, great detail is given concerning them, but it is specifically because they are daughters of a man without sons that the specificity is given.

It is the line, or seed, of the male – and that alone – that bears the importance of the generational promises and inheritances. And so, to speak of the Seed of the woman should at least cause the reader to stop and ponder why the statement was given. One could not, until after the coming of Messiah, deduce the full import or implication of the term at this point.

For now, the Bible is focusing on His human nature – He will come from a human being, regardless of any other characteristics. Indeed, unto us a Child is born.

From this point, the fact that this One will be the Seed of the woman is carefully tucked away, as if a precious jewel which needs to be protected and cared for until it is needed again some future day when God so determines it.

In its place, or rather maybe, from a different perspective, the narrative now goes solely to the seed of man. With many stories interspersed throughout the narrative, it is the generations of Adam, the first man, that are highlighted. Genesis 5 gives the first notable genealogy – Adam, Seth, Enosh, Cainan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, and Noah.

They are ten names which detail the progression of the generations of man, from man to man. They state that one begets the next and then so on down the line. No women are listed, though some are incidentally mentioned for specific purposes, but which are not especially related to the genealogical records.

After Noah, the pattern continues. There is one main line which continues to feed the hungry belly of time, filling it up with one generation after another. Eventually, the line leads to the family of Abraham, of which a lot of detail is provided, and many names are mentioned.

At times, women are included in the narrative by name, such as Sarah and Rebekah. At others, they are referred to by family, such as the two daughters of Lot. But the focus of the lines is based on the male throughout the narrative, even if the lines of those people – including the women, such as the daughters of Lot – lead to the anticipated Messiah.

It is important, however, to stop with Abraham, and to highlight one of the chief aspects of his walk before the Lord in order to understand more about this coming Seed of the woman. God, in Genesis 17, says to Abraham –

“As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. ¹⁰ This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; ¹¹ and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. ¹² He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. ¹³ He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴ And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.” Genesis 17:8-14

The lines of man have been highlighted, and the Seed of the woman has also been referred to. But now, something new is introduced. The male organ, from which issues the seed of the man, is minutely discussed here and elsewhere from this point on.

One who is astute will at least question, “Why?” Couldn’t God have said to Abraham that he and his descendants should wear a certain hairstyle? Maybe shave their heads completely? Or, maybe wear a beard but no mustache? Couldn’t they have had a specific body mark, such as a tattoo or cutting in a conspicuous place?

Such things are found in cultures throughout the world. In fact, later in the narrative, there will be a group identified by their necks, the Anakim, first mentioned in Numbers 13. Either they have long necks, or they ornamented their necks in some obvious way, but they had a family identifier which was readily viewable to all.

However, Abraham has one that is secreted away, and it is also one which involves the very spot of the transmission of what begets humans from one generation to the next. Indeed, a connection is being made for us to ponder and contemplate.

From Abraham, the genealogical listings continue, but those which are especially highlighted are those which descend from a son of promise, Isaac, and not from a son who came in the natural way, Ishmael and other sons of Abraham.

Abraham’s many sons are listed, and at times the sons of their sons are listed as well, but these are branches off the main trunk. The main line is Isaac. And from Isaac comes Esau and Jacob. But Jacob quickly becomes the main line of note, and Esau is easily understood to be another branch.

But then, interestingly, all twelve of Jacob’s sons are highlighted as a single unit, with two more added through adoption. However, from this large assembly, hints begin to develop early on that one of these lines is of special import, Judah.

Several stories clue us into this. Eventually, it becomes perfectly obvious. By the time of David, it can be taken as an axiom that those early stories and prophecies were pointing – once again – to one particular and special listing of the generations of men.

And with the coming of David, it becomes obvious that the line, which is minutely and exactingly being detailed, is to specifically continue through him. The line of man is being highlighted, but a particular line of man is granted special note as it winds through the corridor of unfolding time.

And during this process of unfolding, promises are made which speak of a Man who is anticipated to come. Sometimes these promises, or prophecies, are veiled. Sometimes they are specific, even if the object of them is as of yet unknown.

Jacob speaks of the scepter and of Shiloh, Balaam speaks of one in the distant future who would be the Star out of Jacob and the Scepter out of Israel. The Lord spoke to David concerning the establishment of an everlasting throne and kingdom which would come from him.

And then the Psalms open up revelations, time and again, of One – a human being – who would be the fulfillment of all of the promises which had been made. Page after page of the psalms introduce new insights about Him. Quite often these could only be fully understood after His coming, but many were known to be Messianic all along.

There is enough to know that He is coming, but not enough to be definitive about who He would be, when He would come, and so on. But the overall and most evident aspect of Him is that He would be a Man. Unto us a Child is born. Humanity would clothe Him, and His garments would not be unlike our own.

And of course, the prophets also chimed in, time and again, concerning this exceptional Man to come. Micah even fills in the information that Isaiah leaves out concerning the birth of this anticipated Child –

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
The One to be Ruler in Israel.” Micah 5:2

Bethlehem is a place. It is a part of creation. It is a fixed and definite spot. But it is not just a location, like a lake or a mountain. And it is not a spot for particular animals. For example, in the Bible, there is a place called En Gedi. That means “Fountain of a Goat.” It then speaks of a place where goats are seen.

Bethlehem is a place of people. It is a city inhabited by human beings. The implication is that the anticipated Ruler would be a human as well. One plus one equals two. Nobody who reads those words from Micah would think otherwise. If He comes from a created place, and if He comes from the created people of that place, then He is a human being.

This Person would be from the city of Bethlehem, and He would be from the tribe of Judah. Judah descends from Jacob, Jacob descends from Isaac, and Isaac descends from Abraham. From there, the genealogies which have been carefully recorded go right back to Adam. Do you see how logical and orderly it all is?

Human beings beget human beings, and, therefore, this will be a Man who comes from human beings. The male line is carefully recorded for us to see this. If there is more to this Man than meets the eye, it does not negate that He will be a Man descended from humanity.

So obvious was the prophecy concerning this coming One in Micah, that when Herod the king heard the news that the King of the Jews had been born, he went to the chief priests and scribes and asked where He was to be born… this Christ; this Messiah.

Their answer was clear and precise. They simply cited Micah and told him that it would be Bethlehem. A human being, from a city of human beings, had been prophesied to come and rule.

We could go on and on, with prophecy after prophecy, clearly demonstrating that the Messiah would come into the stream of humanity as a human being, being begotten from human beings.

To state otherwise would not only violate every aspect of Scripture from Genesis to Matthew and then beyond, it would deny the very purpose of the sacrificial system of Israel which anticipated – in the minutest detail – of the need for blood atonement of a like-kind of being.

That isn’t perfectly obvious until the book of Hebrews in the New Testament, but it is as clear as can be when detailed there. Based on this, to state that this coming Messiah is either not a human being, or that He did not come through the line of humanity – from Adam, Seth, Enosh, Cainan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah and then later through Abraham by Sarah, Lot via both of his daughters, Isaac, Jacob, Judah via his daughter-in-law Tamar, Boaz through his mother Rahab the harlot, David through his wife Bathsheba, and so on down the line – yes from all of these and so many others faithfully recorded in Scripture – to state that He did not come through them, then, you are not just dealing with faulty doctrine, you are dealing with heresy. It is a fundamental denial of the genealogical humanity of the coming Messiah.                                

However, the world is full of heretics, and of those who deny this fundamental basis for the coming Messiah. One of these heresies is Docetism. This doctrine states that the occurrence of the coming of Jesus, His historical and bodily existence – and in particular His human form – was only a semblance without any true reality.

The heretic Marcion held to such a belief. He dismissed the advent of Christ as being the Jewish Messiah. To Him, Jesus was rather a spiritual entity. He viewed Christ as so Divine, that He could not have been human. Such views deny what is both logically and Scripturally necessary concerning the humanity of Jesus.

On the other side is Arianism, or its modern equivalent, the heretical doctrine of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. They state that Jesus was a created being and not God. The deity of the God-Man Jesus will be addressed, and this heresy will be refuted then.

There are many odd and heretical teachings between the two as well. For example, there are those who may agree that He is a human, and yet they deny that He was born into humanity. For example, let us take this quote from the sermon “The Two Adams” by Jacob Prasch and see if you can detail his errors –

“As far as God is concerned, there’s only two men who have ever existed, Adam and Yeshua. The first Adam and the second Adam. Everybody is either part of the first Adam, or part of the second Adam. Adam and Yeshua were both created by Ha’Shem by God directly and personally. And they were both created without sin. They did not have a fallen nature.” Jacob Prasch

I don’t know if he still teaches this or not. I don’t listen to other preachers unless someone tells me what they have said, and they want clarification on whether it is correct or not. If he hasn’t corrected this, then he continues in serious theological error. If he has, fine. But the video was sent to me, I was asked if it was Scriptural, and I evaluated it for that reason. I will admit that I learned a couple interesting things from the sermon, but what is said here involves a serious deficiency in Christology. 

Briefly, the first error is contained in the first sentence, “As far as God is concerned, there’s only two men who have ever existed, Adam and Yeshua.” This is such a strange statement that cannot be reconciled with reality. There are countless men who have existed, and all are known by God. Jesus Himself said as much in Mark 12:26 –

“But concerning the dead, that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the burning bush passage, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?”

Being gracious, we will overlook the obvious error that says that there are only two men who have ever existed and grant that he later defines it as referring to the state of man. Man is either in Adam, or in Christ – and there is no other option apart from those two. That is made explicit in Scripture by Paul in both Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15.

He next says, “Everybody is either part of the first Adam, or part of the second Adam.” This is an error in terminology which is not supported in Scripture. One is either “in” Adam, or “in” Christ. The term “part of” is not found in Scripture, nor does it align with sound doctrine.

One is “in” another because he bears the traits of another. One is in Adam, and he bears the traits of Adam. He may be a part of Adam’s offspring, but that is incidental. When one is “in” Christ, it means that he now bears the traits of Christ. He no longer possesses Adam’s sin nature. One may be a part of what Christ is doing in the world, but again – such a term is incidental.

When Jesus said to Peter in John 13:8, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me,” He was not speaking of physically being a part of Christ, but of having a portion, or share with Christ.

His third, and most egregious error, and which is heretical in what it teaches, is the statement, “Adam and Yeshua were both created by Ha’Shem, by God, directly and personally.” This is the heresy known as Valentinianism.

Jesus is not a created being. That is the error of many cults, such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses. However, Jesus, in His humanity, is a part of the creation. There is a world of difference between the two, and it is what defines the distinction between orthodoxy and heresy.

To state that God created Jesus directly and personally as He did with Adam, is to then deny the entire body of Scripture which points to the begetting of human beings, one to another, from Adam to Christ.

God created all things, it is true, but the body of Christ, is an incidental part of creation, not a direct act of creation. Rather, God prepared a body out of that creation for the incarnation. This is evidenced by Hebrews 10:5 –

“Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:
‘Sacrifice and offering You did not desire,
But a body You have prepared for Me.’” Hebrews 10:5

Scripture, given by God, carefully – even meticulously – details the preparation of the body of Christ, through seventy-five direct generations of fallen human beings as is recorded in Luke 3, and with the introduction of even more fallen souls who are found in the pages of Scripture, and who likewise enter into His genealogy.

To say that Jesus was created by God, directly and personally, and to have that mean what is being conveyed in that sermon, would be exactly the same thing as saying that Charlie Garrett was created by God, directly and personally.

It is at best a category mistake, but such a category mistake results in the formulation of a heretical doctrine. The body of Christ, despite having come through these innumerable fallen souls was prepared perfectly by God, not suddenly created. Jesus is the seventy-seventh name noted in Luke’s genealogy, and God is the first.

The record is given, and the details are provided, to ensure that the error of assuming that Jesus was a being created directly and personally by God, would not be made. The statement that Jesus was created is incorrect, but that He was – and is – without sin is true.

But how can that be reconciled? If Jesus’ humanity descended from fallen beings, then how can it be that Jesus was without sin? The answer is found in what was commanded to Abraham in Genesis 17, and which is found in the body of every properly observant Jew concerning this precept to this day, even if they missed the significance of what it anticipated – circumcision.

It was fitting for Him, our Lord Jesus
For whom are all things, and by whom they are as well
In bringing many sons to glory, even us
As the precious words of Scripture do tell 

To make the Captain of our salvation
Perfect through sufferings, His great tribulation

For both He who sanctifies
And those who are being sanctified too
Are all one; in His death each of us dies
A marvel in how His children He does accrue 

For which reason He is not ashamed, time and again
To call them brothers, you and me too
Saying “I will declare Your name to my brethren
In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You”

II. Jesus Christ – the Sinless Man

God said to Abraham in Genesis 17:11 that being circumcised in the flesh of the foreskin was “a sign of the covenant between Me and you.” A sign is representative of something else. It is not a thing all by itself, as many Jews seem to perceive it. “See, I am circumcised, and this is the sign of the covenant between God and me. I am right because of the cut in my flesh.”

That is incorrect. A sign anticipates, pictures, and reveals something else. This is why Moses speaks twice in Deuteronomy of circumcision of the heart in verses 10:16 and 30:6, why Jeremiah repeats that many hundreds of years later in Jeremiah 4:4, and then Paul explains what a true Jew is with these words –

“For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; ²⁹ but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.” Romans 2:28, 29

The physical aspect of circumcision looks to an inner aspect. If the latter is missing, the former is void of any value. Indeed, circumcision is not limited to the Jewish people. Rather, it has been and is practiced by Gentile cultures around the world, and their circumcision is as meritless as the circumcision found in Jews whose hearts are not circumcised along with their flesh.

If circumcision is a sign of something else, then what is it a sign of? It is that which many other signs from the Old Testament anticipate, Christ. Adam, a true and actual human, was created without sin, but fell through disobedience. In his fall, sin entered the world, and as Paul then explains –

“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— ¹³ (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. ¹⁴ Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.” Romans 5:12-14

In other words, all bear Adam’s image, meaning his sin nature. Adam sinned, and in Adam all sinned. Because of sin, man is unrighteous. But God declared Abraham righteous by a simple act of faith. That is seen in Genesis 15, prior to the giving of the sign of the covenant –

“‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.’
⁶ And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.” Genesis 15:6

The righteousness of Abraham led to the covenant with Abraham, and the covenant of Abraham was given a sign – circumcision. That sign anticipated the coming of Christ. Abraham understood this because he had already been told as much in Genesis 12 –

“Now the Lord had said to Abram:
‘Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
² I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
³ I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’” Genesis 12:1-3

The promise of Messiah had already been made, the continued understanding of His coming is implied in the words to Abraham, and thus, Messiah would come through Him. As Abraham was not the father of all the families of the earth, then it follows that the words spoken to him were in relation to Messiah who would descend from him. This is something that would be again confirmed to him.

Later, as we saw, Abraham was declared righteous by faith in God’s words. And today, how is one declared righteous? It is through faith in Christ. But that is getting ahead of ourselves.

We have to remember that it is the humanity of Christ which makes this obtainable. As Christ was not created, directly and immediately, then He descended from Adam and his subsequent generations – as the Bible clearly lays out.

But if all in Adam have sinned, then how can Christ, who is descended from Adam, be sinless? And indeed, Paul clearly says that Christ is so descended. Was David descended from Adam? Yes or no? We all agree that it is so. And, in fact, David inherited sin because of this –

“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.” Psalm 51:5

David is descended from Adam. But Paul says of the gospel to his protégé Timothy –

“Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel, ⁹ for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained.” 2 Timothy 2:8

If David is of the seed of Adam, and Christ is of the seed of David, then Christ is of the seed of Adam. In proper theology one plus one always equals two. To support this further, the author of Hebrews says that Christ arose from Judah (7:14).

The term “seed of David” cannot be misconstrued or twisted because of this. The genealogical record does not allow anything but a real descent from Adam through these men, and then to Christ Jesus. But this is only true in His human nature. And so, where is the dilemma resolved?

It is because of a young Jewish girl named Mary. Whether Mary is of the line of David or not is debated. She was a cousin of Elizabeth who is clearly from the priestly line of Levi through Aaron. But this does not mean Mary was.

It could be that the mother of Mary, and the mother of Elizabeth, were sisters descended from Aaron, but Mary’s mother could have married a man of Judah. If so, then Mary would be reckoned as being of the tribe of Judah through her father. Regardless of this though, Joseph was of the tribe of Judah and the house of David –

“Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David.” Luke 1:26, 27

Because the line of a child is based on that of the father, to include all inheritance rights, the birth of Jesus would have been reckoned as such. However, as the account tells us, the Holy Spirit came upon her, and the power of the Highest overshadowed her. God is the Father of Christ.

As sin travels through the father, and as Christ’s true Father is God, He inherited no sin. The rite of circumcision, the sign of the covenant, is simply a picture of the incarnation of Jesus Christ. It is the cutting of the sin nature because of the cutting of that which transmits the sin from father to child. Picture fulfilled. Hence, circumcision is not required to be included in the New Covenant, as Paul clearly states again and again in his epistles.

This then takes us back even further. The Bible has spoken of the generations of Adam, the generations of Noah, the generations of Shem, Terah, Ishmael and Isaac, Esau, Levi, and so on. The seed of the man has directed the course of human history, even to Christ.

But there is another Seed which affects all of them – the Seed of the woman. We were admonished earlier to stop and ponder why the Messiah would be called the Seed of the woman. It is the seed of man by which genealogies would be determined. Right?

However, it is the Seed of the woman that would bruise the serpent’s head. The Lord didn’t say to Eve, “Your seed will bruise the serpent’s head.” She just assumed it was so. He said to the serpent, v’evah ashit benekha u-ben ha’ishah – “And enmity I will put between you and between the woman.”

Eve had to assume that “the woman” was her, and the assumption was wrong. One can argue at another time if the woman is Israel or Mary, but Mary is of Israel. The Seed of the woman is the Man, Christ Jesus. Mary was the human receptacle for the God-Man. Thus, He bears all of her humanity, but none of man’s sin.

The sign of circumcision is fulfilled. The sin-nature of Adam is cut, and the righteousness of God is found in Him. This would not be true if Jesus were a created being. He would not bear the humanity of David, which Paul clearly states is found in Him.

He would also not be a descendant of Abraham, or Isaac, or Jacob, as promised to them. Paul explicitly says that, and he cited Scripture to show that the human link is found in Christ –

“Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ.” Galatians 3:16

Again, to deny the genealogical record of Christ, leading to His incarnation and which makes up His humanity, one has to completely abuse the force and intent of the entire body of Scripture. Jesus was born into the stream of humanity, not created, and He was and is fully human.

More importantly, a denial of the truth of the genealogical humanity which led to Him would result in a problem with the deity of Christ as well. If Mary was just a receptacle for the creation of Jesus as some have claimed, then 1) Jesus is not God, because there is only One God who cannot create another God, or 2) God would have had to create a body for Christ, which He then united with.

There would be no begetting of His humanity in the process. This is similar to a confusion of thought concerning Christ’s deity which is seen in the error of the heretic Arius. He said, “If the Father begat the Son, then he who was begotten had a beginning in existence, and from this it follows there was a time when the Son was not.”

This is an error in understanding the nature of God. Jesus Christ is God. If God created Jesus in the womb of Mary, and yet He is God, then God and His creation are one indivisible single unit, but they are not. The incarnation says that God is the Creator and the creation is created.

Therefore, there is a distinction between the humanity and deity of Christ, a doctrine known as the hypostatic union. This describes the union of God and Man in the person of Jesus Christ – two hyposies, or states, in one.

He didn’t possess humanity before His conception, but since His conception, He is clothed in humanity forevermore. And although He is united with human flesh in this “hypostatic union,” He is not bound by the human nature; He remains fully God. His two natures are not in any way separate and yet they in no way intermingle. But if His body was created in the womb by God, for Jesus who is God, the two would intermingle.

Rather, His humanity remains human. He has all the attributes of man.

1. Human genealogy
2. He aged and increased in knowledge,
3. He prayed
4. He got hungry.
5. He got tired.
6. He felt compassion.
7. He wept.
8. He was thirsty.
9. Many times, more than 100 in fact, He is called the Son of Man or the Son of David, demonstrating his human nature.

Adam was created, and he is not God, though he wanted to be like God. Jesus Christ IS God. This is exactly the opposite of what Mr. Prasch later says in his sermon. He says, “He was God who became a man” (23:50). This is incorrect. He IS God who united with humanity in the incarnation. But unlike Adam, He treated His state in exactly the opposite way–

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, ⁷ but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” Philippians 2:5-8 

In the womb of Mary, there was not a creation of man and a uniting with that man, thus forming a human who is God – a logical impossibility, because God is infinite.

Instead, there was a human who was a part of the creation and who was designed to bear children, who then was overshadowed by the Creator in order to beget a Son. The result is the God-Man, Jesus Christ. He is a fully human, but He is also God. This is why the very first page of the Bible tells us that all things reproduce after their own kind. Humans beget humans. God begat a Son. And Jesus Christ is the God-Man.

The humanity of Jesus Christ serves all of the purposes of redemption for fallen man, because He is the embodiment of all that is needed to redeem fallen man. Without this humanity, man could not be redeemed, but through the shed blood of Christ, it is possible. But more, without the shed blood of Christ, it is impossible.

All of the types and pictures of the sacrificial system of the Old Covenant only anticipated the coming of Messiah. As Hebrews 10:4 says –

“For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.”

If one thinks about it logically, Christ is both the sacrifice for sin, and He is the standard for judgment. He was found without sin, and He prevailed over death because of it. He is the embodiment of the law, and therefore, what He has done is the ideal to which all others must attain in order to meet God’s standard and be accepted by Him.

Therefore, one will either be found in Christ, and thus acceptable to God, or he will not be in Christ and be found unacceptable to God. The judgment will be that simple to conduct. There will be no balances to weigh out good and bad. There will be no listing of deeds leading to justification. There will be no time in purgatory which leads to a state of sanctification and holiness. There will only be those in Christ and those who are not in Christ. Those in Christ will be saved; the others will be condemned.

For now, we will close with the thought that theology matters, doctrine matters, and both of them matter in being precise. It is one thing to not know a matter, be given the gospel, and to then be saved by receiving the gospel.

It is another thing to be taught a heretical teaching and then be asked to trust in the one whom that heretical teaching proclaims. The first will be saved. Such a person does not need to be told the many intricate details of the incarnation of Jesus Christ in order to be saved. He simply hears the gospel, receives it, and is saved.

However, when someone is told in advance of hearing the gospel that Jesus is a created being; or that Jesus Christ is not God; or that people need to continue to observe the law in order to be saved; or that a person can lose his salvation; and on and on and on, he has put his trust in a false Jesus and he will not be saved.

How can we know this is true? Because Paul says as much in Galatians 1 –

“I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, ⁷ which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. ⁹ As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.” Galatians 1:6-9

Another gospel is no gospel. Be sure to share the gospel, but don’t confuse who Jesus is, what the nature of Jesus Christ who is God is, or anything else in your presentation. Stick to the basics, and then they can go about ruining their doctrine all by themselves if they so wish. Or, they can pursue that which is sound and reasonable in order to stand approved before the Lord on the Day when we face Him for our rewards and losses.

Closing Verse: “For it is evident that our Lord arose from Judah…” Hebrews 7:14

The Trinity

Read 2 Peter 1:16-21. When I first typed this sermon, I had a cheesy joke to begin us. You would have thought it was funny and laughed, but it would have also been the one thing that you remembered above the rest of the sermon.

That is why I don’t include jokes in sermons. Nothing of real value is conveyed by them, and yet it is that one thing that will most stick in your memory. I know this is true because of all the great Adrian Rogers sermons that I listened to, the jokes he began his sermons with are what I still remember. That’s actually rather sad.

While typing my commentary on 2 Peter 1:17, I decided that citing the substance of it would be a better use of our precious time. That verse says, “…for having received from God the Father honour and glory, such a voice being borne to him by the excellent glory: ‘This is My Son — the beloved, in whom I was well pleased;’” (YLT).

This verse, like the account of Jesus at His baptism, teaches us a lesson in the nature of God. Though the word translated as “borne” is a commonly used word, it is of note that it is the same word used in Acts 2:2 and which is translated as “a ‘rushing’ mighty wind.”

In other words, the Excellent Glory refers to the Holy Spirit who transmits the word of God from God the Father. He does it in written form through men of God (2 Peter 1:21 – where the same word is also used there), and He does it in open displays of glory, such as on the Mount of Transfiguration and when He came to the people of Israel at Pentecost.

In this, it is seen that all three of the members of the Godhead were demonstrably present at that moment. Peter says the Source is God the Father. The Excellent Glory is the Holy Spirit conveying (bearing) the word, and Jesus, the beloved Son, is the recipient of the honor conveyed in that word.

It is a rather marvelous display of the workings of what we would call “the Trinity” as the members of the Godhead harmoniously interacted for us to more fully understand God’s nature.

This same basic proclamation was made upon Jesus twice during His ministry. The first time was at His baptism and is recorded in Matthew 3:16, 17 (also in Mark and Luke) –

“When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. ¹⁷And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’” Matthew 3:16, 17

The words of Peter in his epistle confirm that he and the others were eyewitnesses of the glory of Jesus Christ. Jesus told his apostles “Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom” (Matthew 16:28).

In all the three gospel accounts, the transfiguration immediately followed this statement, indicating that this is what Jesus was speaking of. The occurrence was like a note of deposit for the apostles to reflect on and stand by when times would get tough. Peter uses this to assure us that what he says is both true and reasonable.

There is a God, Peter calls Him the Father, but Peter also refers to the Son, and Peter speaks of the conveying of the Father’s word by the Excellent Glory – indicating that a third member is present and actively accomplishing a part of what is going on.

The Christian concept of God is that of a Trinity within the Godhead. There is, in fact, one God. The Bible – and indeed simple logic – tells us this. Despite that, the Bible also refers to God in a way which reveals that He is expressed in a Triune manner.

However, because the Bible never mentions the word “Trinity,” it is claimed that the idea of a Trinity is not reasonable. But such a statement is, by itself, unreasonable. A doctrine, idea, or concept may not be named in a text by using a particular word, but it does not mean that the concept is not fully fleshed-out in another way.

For example, you will not find the term “original sin” in the Bible. However, it is implicitly taught from the very first pages of Genesis all the way through to the final words of Revelation. It is also explicitly stated in another way in the 51^st Psalm.

Likewise, the word “rapture” is not explicitly stated in the Bible, but it is a concept clearly taught there. The idea of the rapture first comes from a Greek word, harpazó, which signifies to be snatched up, suddenly and decisively.

This state of being snatched up suddenly is said by Paul to be an action accomplished by the Lord, and it is for the explicit purpose of changing the redeemed of the Lord from their earthly bodies to heavenly bodies.

In this action of being snatched up, there is a transformation from a state of mortality, pain, sorrow, and physical death to a state of immortality, health, joy, and eternal life – which is exactly what the word “rapture” implies.

 

Rapture means “intense pleasure or joy.” Therefore, the word does not translate harpazó, but it does explain what the harpazó initiates. The two are not synonymous; they are complementary.

This event, the rapture, is clearly laid out in exquisite detail by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 and in 1 Thessalonians 4, and yet people skip over them as if they aren’t even written down, and their defense is to say, “The word ‘rapture’ is never mentioned in the Bible.”

We do these things because of our own faulty logic, we do them because of presuppositions, or we might do them because we want to show that we are more knowledgeable on a subject than others, even when we are not properly versed on it ourselves.

This is certainly true with the doctrine of the Trinity. If we want to deny – for whatever perverse reason – the nature of God as is revealed in Scripture, then we will use faulty logic to meet our goal. I say this because the Trinity is what Scripture reveals. Because it is, sound interpretation and proper logic will inevitably reveal the precept.

The same Bible that teaches that there is one God, that there is original sin, and that the rapture really will happen, also gives us insight and revelation concerning the doctrine of the Trinity.

Text Verse: “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. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.” Zechariah 12:10

For those who deny the Trinity, such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Zechariah 12:10 is such a problematic verse that a literal reading is simply ignored, and a margin note is inserted into it instead.

The Lord, who is clearly presented as the One and only God in Scripture, is speaking in the passage. He says that He will pour out the ruakh, or Spirit upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Without the rest of Scripture, the meaning of ruakh could be debated if it is referring to the Holy Spirit or a general spirit.

Scripture elsewhere, however, does answer what is being referred to – meaning the Holy Spirit. After that, the Hebrew says, v’hibitu elay eth asher daqaru – and they will look on Me whom they pierced.” However, God is Spirit. And so, apart from accepting the Trinity, this makes no sense.

Because of this, a margin note, citing variant readings of the verse, is used by disbelieving Jews, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and others in their translations, thus changing the text to read “and they will look to the one whom they pierced.” That safely allows them to continue on in their otherwise incorrect and incoherent theology.

This is all the more so because the verse immediately goes from the first person common singular, Me, to third person masculine singular, Him, twice. The obviously correct reading is “Me” rather than “Him,” or “the one.” The reason for this is that the very difficulty of the use of “Me” sets it apart as otherwise impossible unless it was truly inspired.

In other words, the reading is so obvious as to what it proclaims that it would be impossible to accept unless it was exactly what God intended.

However, because there is a variant reading, the doctrine can be dismissed as an aberration – unless all of Scripture is laid out and analyzed in order to come to a final resolution of what is being conveyed to us concerning the nature of God.

Obviously, all of Scripture cannot be analyzed in a short sermon, but we can at least get a reasonable grounding in what Scripture says concerning this precept. And we will attempt to do just that. The mystery of the Trinity is, in fact, revealed in God’s precious and sacred word. And so, let us turn to that precious word once again and… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. Monotheism – One God

Malik Jabbar says –

“All of the monotheistic religions, which primarily include Islam, Christianity and Judaism are mythological representations of the natural environment. The ancients fashioned their spiritual concepts as mythical copies of natural phenomena, the environment and its interactions. They pictured the sun as the ruler of the universe, the life giver, the conqueror of darkness and cold, the scorcher with its intense fire, the compassionate with its soothing heat. When the sun triumphantly appeared on the eastern horizon at the dawning of the day, the whole universe (from our earthly perspective) was seen bowing in submission to the greatest of all lights. All the stars and planets of the higher and lower heavens were vanquished without trace at the dawning of the great sun god. This physical reality is the true seminal generator of our religious rituals in reference to an omnipotent conquering god, evolved from the customs of the ancients”.

What Jabbar says here is both an irrational and an incoherent attempt to explain away monotheism. If man were to make a religion based on natural phenomena, which has happened innumerable times, he would certainly not be a monotheist. The sun would be one of many gods, and this is what has occurred as religion has devolved throughout the ages.

In the 19th psalm David skips over the created god Jabbar proclaims and exalts the God who created the very sun who was supposedly the object of reverence in his confused analysis.

“The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament shows His handiwork.” …
“In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun.” Psalm 19:1 & 4

David understood that the Creator is above, not subservient to, or part of, His creation.

However, liberal theologians have twisted the evolution of religion, turning it completely upside down. It is evident from the historical record in the worship of God by man that the most ancient belief is that of monotheism. From that point, worship has devolved into polytheism, animism, etc., not the other way around. Assyriologist Stephen Langdon says –

“The history of Sumerian religion, which was the most powerful cultural influence in the ancient world, could be traced by means of pictographic inscriptions almost to the earliest religious concepts of man. The evidence points unmistakably to an original monotheism, the inscriptions and literary remains of the oldest Semitic peoples also indicate a primitive monotheism, and the totemistic origin of Hebrew and other Semitic religions is now entirely discredited.” Stephen Langdon

The region of Sumeria, which Langdon cites, is where many of the early Bible figures find their homes. And it is the record of these early people, by those who descended from them, who have given us the pages of the Bible as breathed out by the One true God.

From the first page of the Bible to its last, the idea that there is One and only One true God is proclaimed. And this goes in both directions, meaning from the top-down and from the bottom up.

God speaking to man –

“For thus says the Lord,
Who created the heavens,
Who is God,
Who formed the earth and made it,
Who has established it,
Who did not create it in vain,
Who formed it to be inhabited:
“I am the Lord, and there is no other.’” Isaiah 45:18

In the book of Isaiah alone, this claim is explicitly made almost a dozen times.

Man speaking to God –

“For You are great, and do wondrous things;
You alone are God.” Psalm 86:10

Yes, the Bible proclaims that there is one God. But reason and intellect tell us this as well. We can know it is true by simply thinking things through in a rational manner. Of the twelve First Principles, points 8, 9, and 10 reveal this.

First, point 8 states that a Necessary Being Cannot Cause A Necessary Being. In other words, if there is a God, there can only be one God. This is known as the Negative Principle of Modality. It is undeniable. Only one Necessary Being can exist. Any being which exists apart from a Necessary Being is contingent and could simply Not exist. It is not “necessary.” This is self-evident.

Point 9 then says that Every Contingent Being Is Caused by a Necessary Being. This is known as the Principle of Existential Causality. The fact that there are contingent beings necessitates that a Necessary Being (God) exists. We exist, therefore a Being that cannot Not exist must exist. The principle is undeniable in and of itself.

And, point 10 then concludes that a Necessary Being Exists. This is the Principle of Existential Necessity. Contingent beings exist (such as you and I); therefore, a Necessary Being must exist. The principle is reducible to the undeniable.

We did not need the Bible to come to those conclusions. And yet, we logically came to those conclusions. The Bible does not argue the existence of God. It proclaims that He is. It is our responsibility to contemplate this God and to logically and rationally consider if what it presents is true or not.

I say this because other texts, such as the Koran, also proclaim that there is a “god.” But does what the Koran teach about God reflect the truth of God. If so, then we should all become Muslims? If not, then Muslims are following a false god. How can you know unless you think these things through?

The Koran teaches that God is a monad, a single God who is not part of a Godhead. But how could a being that didn’t understand fellowship create anything beyond Himself which fellowships? He would be completely contained within Himself. The twelfth First Principle, the Principle of Analogy states that “The cause of being cannot produce what it does not possess.”

If God does not possess – and thus understand – fellowship, He could not create that which fellowships. The principle is undeniable, and the precept which comes from the principle is irrefutable. Because of this, the mere fact that we are social beings confirms a plurality within a single essence such as the Trinity.

As a demonstration of the soundness of the doctrine, early church fathers, even before the compilation of the various books of the Bible, taught the doctrine of the Trinity in their writings. They didn’t just pull this out of the wind. Rather, it was handed down to them directly from the Apostles.

Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna, was a personal disciple of John the Apostle. In other words, he knew John and learned directly at his feet. He wrote –

“O Lord God almighty… I bless you and glorify you through the eternal and heavenly high priest Jesus Christ, your beloved Son, through whom be glory to you, with Him and the Holy Spirit, both now and forever.” Polycarp

What he wrote was from a clear understanding of the specific roles within the Godhead. Tertullian, who lived during the second and third century, was an African apologist and theologian. He wrote a great deal in defense of Christianity, including on the doctrine of the Trinity –

“We define that there are two, the Father and the Son, and three with the Holy Spirit, and this number is made by the pattern of salvation… [which] brings about unity in trinity, interrelating the three, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are three, not in dignity, but in degree, not in substance but in form, not in power but in kind. They are of one substance and power, because there is one God from whom these degrees, forms and kinds devolve in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” Tertullian

Such writings are not easily dismissed, because these people were right there at the beginning of the Christian faith. It is true that there were many heresies early on as well, and so even early writings have to be analyzed in light of Scripture itself. It is through Scripture that we find the final authority for the teaching of Trinitarianism.

As Scripture reveals only one God, and yet Scripture reveals a Trinity within the Godhead, then true Christians are Trinitarian monotheists.

Unfortunately, the idea of the Trinity is so dismissed by cults, such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, that they are trained to claim that what mainstream Christians believe is actually a Triad within a godhead, not a Trinity within the Godhead. But this is certainly not the case. The difference between a Triad and the Trinity is the difference between the finite and the infinite.

A Triad speaks of three “gods,” a logical impossibility. The Trinity speaks of One God, in three Persons – which is what the Bible proclaims. There is a fullness to God which Scripture then reveals – not of two or four or ten Persons, but three – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

As the Bible is God’s revelation of Himself, and as it is the rule and guide of proper faith, we would be ignorant at best, and found false teachers as well, should we deny what it proclaims.

But this doesn’t mean it is an easy concept to understand. Scholars have struggled with it all along, and we continue to do so. John Wesley said, “Bring me a worm that can comprehend a man, and then I will show you a man that can comprehend the Triune God.”

This may be true to some extent, but just because we cannot fully comprehend the Triune God, it does not mean that we cannot at least explain how He can be Triune, and what the aspects of each member of the Godhead will be like.

Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God of Hosts
He is glorious and almighty
To Him we give our praises, and in Him are found our boasts
Now and forevermore, there before the glassy sea

 In Him is all majesty and all power
In Him is all glory, now and forevermore
For all eternity and from this very hour
Our God we shall praise, for it is He our hearts adore 

Holy is the Lord our God, yes holy is He
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit whom we adore
And so, to Him we trod, to the shores of that glassy sea
Where we shall behold His glory forevermore

II. One God in Three Persons – The Trinity

The Trinity is hinted at throughout the Bible – Old Testament and New. However, it remained a mystery long-hidden at God’s prerogative. It wasn’t until the coming of Christ that the mystery of this profound secret was finally and fully revealed. As Paul says as he closes out the book of Romans –

“Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith—to God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.” Romans 16:25-27

As already noted, the doctrine of the Trinity states that God is threefold in Person and yet they together are one God – three Persons in one Essence. The term “persons” comes from the writings of Augustine who agreed that it wasn’t the best of terms but, as he said, “rather than being silent on the subject…”

The reason he said this is because he could not be silent on the subject. Scripture is not, and – therefore – the Christian cannot be. This Trinity as revealed throughout Scripture is:

God the Father
God the Son
God the Holy Spirit

In the Bible, at one time or another, each of these Persons is referred to either implicitly or explicitly as God. He has the attributes of God, accomplishes that which belongs to God, and so on. And yet, each is spoken of as an individual Person. As this is so, then there are individual Persons, three being identified, who make up the Godhead.

For example, each is stated as being involved in the act of creation; He is the Creator. Each is referred to as being eternal. Both Jesus and the Spirit are said to search out the heart and mind, but that is what God in the Old Testament is said to do. Etc.

Other such things as these, time and again, are attributed to the Lord God in the Old Testament, and yet they are things which are spoken of as being attributed to the Father, to the Son, and/or to the Holy Spirit in the New.

Either the Bible is filled with confusion, or each of these is God. When Jesus uttered the Great Commission to his apostles, he said the following:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 28:19

In the Greek, the word “name” is onoma. It is a singular noun. This means that the three – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – are spoken of as one essence. Is this an aberration? It is something completely unique to the New Testament? Or, can we find parallels even in the Old? No, No, and Yes.

For example, Deuteronomy 6:4, is known as the Shema, or “Hear.” It is the Hebrew statement of faith which is faithfully repeated thousands of times a day by observant Jews ever since it was given to Moses 3500 years ago –

Shema Yisrael Yehovah Elohaynu Yehovah ekhad
“Hear, O Israel: Yehovah our God, Yehovah is one!”

In this, it says “The Lord (Yehovah) is One.” A cluster of grapes is one; the people Israel are one people. Both of these are made up of individual parts and yet are termed “one.” 

The word ekhad used in the Shema allows for this interpretation. There is another word which means one and only one – yakhid. It was used, for example, when speaking of Abraham’s one and only son, Isaac. It is remarkable, but not unexpected that ekhad, rather than yakhid, was used in the Shema, because the Bible elsewhere reveals that the Godhead is a plurality within a single essence.

But even though Scripture reveals this Godhead, is there any way of accurately describing it without being utterly incorrect in our thinking? A friend of mine said that the more you continue to talk about the Trinity, the more likely you are to devolve into heresy. That is certainly true. Eventually, words can no longer explain every detail of what God is like, and we run off into error.

But that does not mean we cannot form a basic concept of the Trinity which, at least partially, reveals it without being incorrect. And yet, we have to be careful in attempting to do so.

Throughout the ages, people have used tangible concepts to try to explain this Trinity. One is to equate it to water which can be steam, liquid, or solid. Another is to take a circle and divide it into three equal parts. The egg has been used because it has a shell, a yolk, and the white. But, none of these accurately portrays the concept. In fact, if used they lead to heresy. 

So, is there is no proper analogy? Has God left us with a concept in Scripture, but no way to rightly contemplate it or explain it? Interestingly, a concept has been provided, and it is visible everywhere you look. It is beautifully explained by Dr. Nathan Wood in the book The Secret of the Universe. I cited it in a sermon from Numbers 6, but it is useful and proper to cite again here.

He explains that the universe is made of a trinity of Space, Time, and Matter. Further, each of these is a trinity itself. Space is comprised of Length, Breadth, and Height. Time is expressed in Past, Present, and Future. And matter consists of Energy in Motion producing Phenomena. The universe itself is a trinity of trinities.

But more, we can equate Space with the Father – unseen and yet omnipresent; matter with the Son – visible, tangible, understandable; and Time with the Spirit – which is unseen and yet it is a medium in which we move and gain understanding.

From that, Dr. Wood further defines a trinity using Time as his primary example. He breaks it down into an understandable concept. After doing this, he changes only four words and thereby accurately explains the mystery of the Trinity as revealed in Scripture –

The Future is the source. The Future is unseen, unknown, except as it continually embodies itself and makes itself visible in the Present. The Present is what we see, and hear, and know. It is ceaselessly embodying the Future, day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment. It is perpetually revealing the Future, hitherto invisible.

The Future is logically first, but not chronologically. For the Present exists as long as Time exists, and was in the absolute beginning of Time. The Present has existed as long as Time has existed. Time acts through and in the Present. It makes itself visible only in the Present. The Future acts, and reveals itself through the Present. It is through the Present that Time, that the Future, enters into union with human life. Time and humanity meet and unite in the Present. It is in the Present that Time, that the Future, becomes a part of human life, and so is born and lives and dies in human life.

The Past in turn comes from the Present. We cannot say that it embodies the Present. On the contrary Time in issuing from the Present into the Past becomes invisible again. The Past does not embody the Present. Rather it proceeds silently, endlessly, invisibly from it.

But the Present is not the source of the Past which proceeds from it. The Future is the source of both the Present and the Past. The Past issues in endless, invisible procession from the Present, but, back of that, from the Future out of which the Present comes.

The Past issues, it proceeds, from the Future, through the Present.

The Present therefore comes out from the invisible Future. The Present perpetually and ever-newly embodies the Future in visible, audible, livable form; and returns again into invisible Time in the Past. The Past acts invisibly.  It continually influences us with regard to the Present. It casts light upon the Present. That is its great function. It helps us to live in the Present which we know, and with reference to the Future which we expect to see.

Dr. Wood next substitutes Time with God, Future with Father, Present with Son, and Past with Spirit. And the result is –

The Father is the source. The Father is unseen, unknown, except as He continually embodies Himself and makes Himself visible in the Son. The Son is what we see, and hear, and know. He is ceaselessly embodying the Father, day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment. He is perpetually revealing the Father, hitherto invisible.

The Father is logically first, but not chronologically. For the Son exists as long as God exists, and was in the absolute beginning of God. The Son has existed as long as God has existed. God acts through and in the Son. The Father makes Himself visible only in the Son. The Father acts, and reveals Himself through the Son. It is through the Son that God, that the Father, enters into union with human life, and so is born and lives and dies in human life. God and humanity meet and unite in the Son. It is in the Son that God, that the Father, becomes a part of human life, and so is born and lives and dies in human life.

The Spirit in turn comes from the Son. We cannot say that it embodies the Son. On the contrary the Spirit in issuing from the Son into the Spirit becomes invisible again. The Spirit does not embody the Son. Rather it proceeds silently, endlessly, invisibly from Him.

But the Son is not the source of the Spirit who proceeds from Him. The Father is the source of both the Son and the Spirit. The Spirit issues in endless, invisible procession from the Son, but back of that, from the Father out of whom the Son comes.

The Spirit issues, He proceeds, from the Father, through the Son.

The Son therefore comes out from the invisible Father. The Son perpetually and ever-newly embodies the Father in visible, audible, livable form; and returns again into invisible God in the Spirit.  The Spirit acts invisibly. It continually influences us with regard to the Son. It casts light upon the Son. That is His great function. He helps us to live in the Son which we know, and with reference to the Father which we expect to see.

And that is just what has been evident since creation in the physical universe and to which the Bible faithfully testifies to concerning the nature of the Godhead. Examples from the Bible –

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…” Genesis 1:26

Right in the first chapter of Scripture the terms “Us” and “Our” are used by the Creator reflecting His triune nature. Again, in Isaiah –

Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:
“Whom shall I send,
And who will go for Us?”
Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” Isaiah 6:8

As we saw in our text verse, Chapter 12 of Zechariah, still Old Testament, places all three members of the Trinity together in one passage. The Gospel of John, time and again, reflects the relationship between the Father and the Son as well as the Spirit –

Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”
⁹ Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? John 14:8, 9

And again, in John 16 –

“Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. ⁸ And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: ⁹ of sin, because they do not believe in Me; ¹⁰ of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; ¹¹ of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” John 16:7-11

Next, Paul shows that he clearly understood God’s triune nature. He alludes to it here and elsewhere many times in his epistles –

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.” 2 Corinthians 13:14

And again in 1 Timothy 6:13-16 he writes –

“I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, ¹⁴ that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing, ¹⁵ which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶ who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.”

Who is Paul speaking about when he says that “God gives life to all things?” God obviously. But in Job 33, John 6, Romans 8, and 2 Corinthians 3, it is said that the Spirit gives life.

And who is Paul speaking of when he says, “the King of kings and Lord of lords?” It must be the Lord God, and yet it is the same title which John uses when referring to Jesus in Revelation 19:16. We could go on and on in this, but – instead – we will go on…

Oh God! You are our Father, and we are your children
You brought us forth for Your honor and glory
You have brought forth all the sons of men
We have become a part of Your redemption story 

It is You who begat us, and to You we lift our praise
It is You who created so that we came forth to You
It is we who turned away, for seemingly endless days
But You never abandoned us; You are ever faithful and true

And so, O God our Father, bring us back to You
Turn our hearts to You so that we are right again
Lead us on paths that are righteous and true
Look with favor on Your wayward children

III. The First Member – God the Father

God the Father is clearly acknowledged by all Christians as well as most cults and sects who use the Bible as their reference. An unfortunate exception of course has come out of modern liberal denominations with songs and hymns which have purposed a gender-neutral God. Such perversity has taken over many major denominations –

Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above the Heavenly host
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (Good and proper)

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise God, all creatures here below;
Praise God for all that love has done;
Creator, Christ, and Spirit, One. (Bad and contemptible)

This gender-neutral trend is not how God has revealed Himself, nor shall we. Regardless of such depravity, the texts as received from God for our Bible are in the masculine and for that reason, we adapt political correctness in this matter at our own peril. God’s word stands though. Concerning God the Father we read –

“Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us?” Malachi 2:10

“Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father.” John 6:46

This verse from John 6, plus those from both John 14 and John 16 which I read earlier, perfectly match the description Dr. Wood made concerning the nature of the Trinity. God is One, and within the Godhead, there is the Person and the role of the Father.

Who is like the Son of God that came from above?
Who can compare in splendid majesty?
Where can be found the depth of His love?
When God reveals Himself as such, how can it be? 

Great are You O God, who came from the eternal realm
And who for fallen men stepped out of eternity
We behold Jesus, our Captain! He at the helm
And He is taking us to His place of victory 

Hail the Son who died upon the cross!
Hail the One who died upon Calvary!
In Him is the triumph – to the devil only loss
For in Christ Jesus is God’s perfect victory

IV. The Second Member – God the Son

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. ⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” John 1:1-5

This could not have been stated any more clearly concerning the nature of the Word, meaning the Son, and His eternal relationship with God. And yet, people perversely twist something so clear and so concise in order to deny the truth of the very words so meticulously penned by John under inspiration of the Spirit.

In his first epistle, John follows the exact same pattern concerning the Word. These verses, along with everything else John writes, are so absolutely clear concerning the deity of Jesus that it is without excuse to misunderstand or deny what he is saying –

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— ² the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us.” 1 John 1:1, 2

Later in Revelation, John quotes Jesus’ own words – His own claim to deity. If the resurrection didn’t prove it to us, He clarifies it to us out of His own mouth –

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.” Revelation 22:13

Of course, that is not Jesus’ only claim to eternality, and thus deity. There are many examples of it. However, we have to be careful that we only use that which is intended to be used in this way. The next verse speaks of Jesus’ eternality, but maybe not the way you have thought, or been taught –

“Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” John 8:58

If you have heard that the words here, translated as “I AM” prove Jesus was claiming to be God, it is not that simple. The Greek reads ego eimi. However, if you go to the very next chapter, the same words are used by the man Jesus healed –

“Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, ‘Is not this he who sat and begged?’
⁹ Some said, ‘This is he.’ Others said, ‘He is like him.’
He said, ‘I am he.’” John 9:8, 9

In this exchange, the man states ego eimi just as Jesus did. He clearly wasn’t claiming to be God, so we need to be careful to not swallow the wrong colored pill.

The claim of deity in John 8 is evident from the construct of the verse – “Before Abraham was.” Jesus was saying that He is before Abraham was. Thus, He preceded Abraham and must be God. It is also evident from the actions of the people based on the Hebrew or Aramaic Jesus would have spoken, not necessarily the Greek used in the translation. How do we know this?

“Then they took up stones to throw at Him;” John 8:59

The very fact that they picked up stones to throw at Him testifies that He had claimed an existence which only belonged to Yehovah. Thus, He was being accused of blasphemy, for which stoning was the penalty. And again, this next verse leaves no doubt –

“‘I and My Father are one.’ Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.” John 10:31

Here, it is both what Jesus said and the reaction of the people that assure us that Jesus was claiming deity. Luke had no doubt of Christ’s deity. Listen to how carefully he worded the following which is a pattern seen throughout his writings –

“Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, ³⁹ “Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you.” And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.” Luke 8:38, 39

Either Luke was making a point for us to read and understand, or he was an incompetent blasphemer. Next, Paul completely supports the deity and Godhood of Christ Jesus –

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷ And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.” Colossians 1:15-17

In these verses, the JW’s NWT adds in the word “other” before the word “created” in both verses 16 and 17 – “He created all other things.” The word cannot even be inferred from the context, but more, it is incomprehensible and illogical to think that a created being could somehow “create all things,” or “all other things.”

The sixth First Principle, that of Contingency (or Dependency) disallows it. It says that “Contingent Being Cannot Cause Contingent Being.” This would lead to an infinite regress of causes which is disproved by Relativity.

Time, Space, and Matter came into existence simultaneously. The existence of each is dependent on the existence of all. And all are dependent on both a Creator and a Sustainer. The principle is undeniable. A contingent, or created being, cannot create or sustain anything else because it is already contingent.

In theology, 1+1 always equals 2, and Jesus is the eternal God. The writer of Hebrews makes the same claim as Paul concerning God’s sustaining power for the entire universe as being held in the Person of Christ Jesus –

“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word.” Hebrews 1:3

No matter what else, the deity of Jesus Christ is not only fully supportable by the text of the Bible, but it is the only logical and reasonable conclusion that we can come to. It is through Jesus that the Eternal God reveals Himself to us. And it is the Holy Spirit who will, if we allow Him, teach us the proper doctrine concerning the nature of God. This, through the word He breathed out to us.

By the Spirit I search out the things of God
Things gloriously breathed out for us to search and see
For all the days upon this earth as I trod
I shall seek my God as His Spirit lovingly guides me 

It is the word He has given, through men selected O so carefully
That I can see what God has done, even for one such as me
The words are given, and they are presented so beautifully
Marvelous things are hidden there for us to search and see 

Give us wisdom in Your word, O God
Help us find those things hidden away so secretly
Open the treasures of Your word as in this life we trod
May Your Spirit guide us as we search to see

V. The Third Member – God the Holy Spirit

“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” John 3:6-8

In the Bible, the work of “begetting” sons is the job of the Father, but it is also the work of the Spirit. To attribute this to the Spirit, were it not the case, would be blasphemous.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses call the Spirit an “active force” – whatever that means. They have to make up a term for the Spirit which is completely unsupportable in order to diminish His proper role as the third member of the Godhead. But the Spirit is the One who searches the Godhead and reveals to us God’s workings –

“For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:11

Next, Paul – after talking about Christ (the Lord) – does a change-up and says in practically in the same breath…

“Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” 2 Corinthians 3:17

Either Paul is completely confused theologically, or He is as clear as a crystal in his claim – Christ is the Lord, the Spirit is the Lord, and the Spirit is the “Spirit of the Lord.”

Numerous other examples of the workings of God the Spirit are found in both testaments of Scripture. They identify Him either implicitly or explicitly as God. Thus, the Bible reveals that there is one Godhead which then is expressed in three Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each is God, but each expresses God to us in a different and yet understandable way.

As we finish today, please remember a few things. The first is that the Bible both implicitly and explicitly shows that each of these three Persons is God. As the Bible also says that there is only one God, then it must be that there is a Godhead comprised of them.

Secondly, just because we don’t fully understand a thing, it does not mean that such a thing does not exist. I don’t fully understand my wife, but I am quite certain she exists. It is illogical to make a claim that the Trinity is not possible simply because we cannot perfectly explain every point concerning it.

If you think it through, there is nothing that we can fully explain, even the composition of a single atom. We can explain it to some extent, but the further we look into it, we eventually break down in our ability to define all that comprises that one, single atom.

Third, as you heard today, there is a logical and acceptable model for the Trinity that we subsist in at every moment of our existence, Time. As this is so, and as it adequately reflects the Trinitarian model, we are not left completely excluded from understanding a principle that the Bible proclaims as true, but which is otherwise very complicated.

And fourth, a monad God has been proven impossible by simple logic as revealed in the First Principles. As a monad is not true, then a multiplicity within the Godhead must be true. That multiplicity is defined in the God of Scripture as not being 2, 5, 17, or 120, but 3 – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Such is God, and such is how we are to accept this revelation of Himself to us.

Surely, we praise our Creator – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! May you be blessed as you read the Word in the future, observing and accepting the Trinity. 

Closing Verse: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
The whole earth is full of His glory!” Isaiah 6:3

 

 

The Sovereignty of God
Calvinism, or “Something Else?”

Read Isaiah 44:9-23. The week I typed this particular sermon, I also typed up the week’s prophecy update. As you know, at the end of the prophecy update – which is often a bit of a downer in its contents – I add in one or two ironic things that have happened in the recent past. I do this to end on a fun note rather than on something that might be depressing or maddening. The two ironies for the week were –

1) On a Tiny Island that Bans Guns, the Only Prosecutor is Shot Dead, and 2) ‘Lucky’ Buddhist Statue Topples Over and Crushes Religious Leader as It Is Unveiled in Thailand.

It’s hard to imagine two better lead-ins into the subject of the sovereignty of God. The first example is because as soon as there is a tragedy in our lives, the preeminent question which arises in our minds is, “Where is God in this?”

We may ask, “How could God allow this to happen?” We may ask, “Wasn’t God big enough to stop this?” A hundred variations of this line of thought will come to mind, or they may even be spoken aloud as we implicitly accuse God of not being in control.

The second example could follow suit, at least for the friends and family of the monk who got scrunched. But would they have a right to ask this? They lost someone who was crushed by a concrete image of Buddha that fell over.

We could stop right there and ask a few logical questions. “Where did the concrete come from?” “Is concrete used for other things?” “Do we pray to or petition our concrete house?” “Do we pray to or petition the sidewalk?” What is it that makes the lucky (or in this case – not so lucky) Buddha different than a concrete urinal in the public restroom?

Text Verse: “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.” 1 John 5:21

What is it that we are worshiping when we fall down before, and pray to, lucky Buddha? It is the work of our own hands. It is the imaginations of our own mind. It is almost a form of man worship, because we are giving our devotion to something man has made.

But isn’t that the same as questioning why God allows the death of someone close to us? Is God required to serve our happiness? Is this the point of the Creator’s existence – to serve His creation and make sure that it remains happy, content, and free from calamity? Or, in this, have we not fashioned a god in our own minds rather than allowing God to be God.

God is sovereign. He is sovereign over His creation, He is sovereign over how He allows access to Himself, He is sovereign over suffering, He is sovereign over all things. There is no thing which is outside of His knowledge, ability, or presence. Nothing happens apart from Him. He is omniscient, He is omnipotent, and He is omnipresent.

Therefore, He is sovereign. And the sovereignty of God means that whatever happens has been allowed by Him. We may question why something happens, and we may question how it fits into His plan, but we may not – ever – impute an implied state of incompetence or wrongdoing to God in the process of our questioning.

Such truths are to be found in His superior word. And so, let’s contemplate that precious word once again. And, may God speak to us through His word today, and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. Free to Will, or Not Free to Will

Most Christians will acknowledge the sovereignty of God. Even if we don’t think about it much, we take it as an axiom that God is in full control and that He is fully capable of working things out as they should be.

The questions that arise from us, such as “Why did God allow this to happen?”, show a weakness in our understanding, and that usually comes from not being properly trained in the ways of God. But even if we get it. Even if we understand that God is in complete control, we still may not understand what that means in regard to the things we do.

It would be impossible, even in a hundred sermons, to define everything about the sovereignty of God, but one of the greatest questions of all, and one of the greatest doubts of all – even by some of the finest theologians in Christian history – comes down to the question of free will. Does man have free will? If so, how far does that free will go? Does it extend to doing good? Does it extend to salvation? Or, does man actually not have free will at all?

One thing that is evident and clear – even without the Bible – is that God knows the future. But the Bible does proclaim it as well –

“Behold, the former things have come to pass,
And new things I declare;
Before they spring forth I tell you of them.” Isaiah 42:9

He created all things in a single moment. Relativity proved this. Time, space, and matter all came into existence at the same time. None of the three can exist without the other two. They are all dependent on the existence of the others.

But they could not have created themselves. If they did, then there would have been the existence of each of them before they existed, meaning all three would have existed already – a logical contradiction. Therefore, there is a Being which brought them into existence who is not a part of them. The Bible says this is God, who is also the deity of the Lord Jesus –

“because by him were created all things, the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones, or lordships, or principalities, or authorities: all things have been created by him and for him.
¹⁷ And *he* is before all, and all things subsist together by him.” Colossians 1:16, 17 (Darby)

God has no matter; He is not bound by time; and He is not limited in space. Because of this, His being – for the lack of a better word – is above all matter. This means above in power, in presence, and in how it subsists.

In other words, when we look at the vastness of the known universe, and in all of the power displayed there, He is – right now and for all time – in control of it.

We may see a tremendous storm and think, “What a display of God’s power.” We may see the enormity of a volcano and tremble at the destruction which flows from it. Or, we may look to the nuclear weapons we have created and think, “What an awesome display.” The mechanics of a small bit of plutonium and a few other elements combine to create such power. And from that, we can think about how God was the One who set that power into those things.

But consider this, all of the power and energy that man has ever seen on this earth, or that he will ever see on this earth, doesn’t compare to a millionth of a second of the power released in the rest of the universe.

That is the matter. But there is also space. With our telescopes – of various kinds and which peer into assorted diverse places of the universe – we have an idea of the size of what we call “the known universe.”

The implication is that there is still “the unknown universe.” But, of the known universe alone, which stretches out, as they say, 93.016 billion light-years, not one micrometer is outside of the presence of God.

If we were to travel on one of our space shuttles, which can move at 5 miles per second, it would take about 37,200 years to go one light-year. Multiply that times 93 billion light-years. And now consider that in three dimensions. We may ask, “Where is God in this?” during a catastrophe, but the answer comes right back, “He is here, and He is everywhere else – right now.”

That is the matter, and that is the space. But there is also time – the third element which necessarily came into existence with the other two. It is often said that before God created time, He lived in the eternal state.

The word “eternal” has two general meanings. The first is a condition where there is no beginning or end. The second is that which lasts forever. The first is the one used to describe the state God is in. The universe had a beginning, but God was there before that. It is He who did the beginning, putting it all together. That is found at various times in Scripture, such as –

“Before the mountains were brought forth,
Or ever You had formed the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” Psalm 90:2

As this is so, He is before time, and He is outside of time. Thus, logically, like being in all places at one time, and like having all power of all of the universe at all times, He also fills all time at all times. His being is present with Adam right now, and His being is hovering over the cross of Calvary – right now. His being is with Jacob as he agonizes over the loss of his beloved son Joseph, and His being is on the road which Paul is taking to Damascus in order to persecute Christians in that city.

His being is here in this church, and His being is there at the rapture – and indeed He is present at all times which is throughout all of time that ever has existed or ever will exist – right now.

He is everywhere, He is at all times, and He possesses all the power contained within the two. And, further, He is not limited to these things; He transcends them. This is the Creator; this is God. This is the One who revealed Himself to Moses in the burning bush of Sinai –

“And God said to 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.” Exodus 3:14 (Darby)

As these things are true of God, they establish the baseline of God’s sovereignty and control in, and over, the universe. In all things – nothing excepted – God is aware of and allows all things to occur, which, in fact, occur.

Anything which does not fit His plans for what occurs will not occur. All that He determined to occur will come to pass. He can cause or prevent anything in order for what He wills to come about. However, those things which do occur, which are morally opposed to His nature, and yet which have come about, have been allowed by Him, though not directly caused by Him.

Some, when contemplating that God is sovereign and that He knows the end from the beginning, cannot accept the idea of free will in man. To them, if God knows the end from the beginning, it must – by its very nature – negate free will in man.

If God already knows what we will do, and if God has already determined how all things will come out, then they would say that we cannot be truly free moral beings. There is real fault in that thinking, from several perspectives.

First, God calls certain things “evil.” There is evil that God abhors. Further, man is capable of committing evil. Therefore, to say that man lacks free will is to then say that God determined the evil, which he abhors. That is a logical contradiction. There are many examples of this in Scripture, but one example will suffice –

“Now Israel remained in Acacia Grove, and the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab. ² They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. ³ So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel.” Numbers 25:1-3

These people willfully bowed to a god which is not God. God did not force them to do so, but He also could have forced them to not do so. Therefore, there is an allowance by God of things which stand opposed to His own moral nature.

But, does the fact that there is evil then mean that God is not in control? Not at all. To understand the problem of evil – how it came about, and what it means in relation to God’s plan – you can go back and watch several of the early Genesis sermons, especially the sermon called “Who is the Liar.”

Suffice it to say that evil exists, that God – although the ultimate Cause of all things – does not actively cause evil, and that logically man, therefore, possesses free will. God indirectly controls all things, but He does not directly cause all things to occur.

This, then, is the exterior limits of God’s sovereignty over His creation. Man’s free will, and man’s accountability as to how he exercises his free will is that limit. We can do things which are contrary to God’s nature, and He allows this within His own personal control of creation.

Just because God knows something will happen, it does not mean that free will does not exist. What it means that God’s knowledge, and His plan using that knowledge, has factored in man’s free will.

Though the term “free will” is not explicitly stated in Scripture, the concept is. One does not need to have specific words stated in order to have a concept explicitly stated in another way. In other words, the term “original sin” is not found in Scripture, but it is taught implicitly, and it is stated in another form explicitly. So is free will, explicitly, such as in Deuteronomy 30:15-20 –

“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, ¹⁶ in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. ¹⁷ But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, ¹⁸ I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. ¹⁹ I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; ²⁰ that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

This precept is found, maybe in its most profound sense, in the words of Jeremiah the prophet. Moses could have said to Israel, “You are commanded today to be observant to the Lord your God.” But even that implies free will, because a command is – by default – something that can be disobeyed.

However, a burden was laid upon Jeremiah by the Lord. It is one he strove to cast off – implying free will to do so. And yet, the Lord overrode his ability to do so. Thus, His allowance of certain things only extends so far –

“Then I said, ‘I will not make mention of Him,
Nor speak anymore in His name.’
But His word was in my heart like a burning fire
Shut up in my bones;
I was weary of holding it back,
And I could not.” Jeremiah 20:9

The very fact that Jeremiah willed to withhold the name of the Lord and the word of the Lord, but that he could not, proves that he had free will, but it also proves that he was not free to will. So it is with each and every one of us. But how far does what God desires to occur mean that God will override what could occur. It is an interesting question that is answered within Scripture. For example, 2 Peter 3:9 says –

“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

The Lord is not willing that any should perish. But, in countless other places, the same Greek word is used to show that, in fact, many will perish, such as by the hand of Paul in 2 Thessalonians –

“The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, ¹⁰ and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” 2 Thessalonians 2:9, 10

Therefore, though it is God’s will that all will be saved and that none should perish, there must be a limiting factor placed on what God desires, because those He desires to not perish will, in fact, perish.

One of the premises of the Bible is that God is building a church, out of living human beings. Jesus alluded to it in Matthew 16, Paul confirms it and explains it in 1 Corinthians 3:9 – “For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.”

Peter speaks of it then in 1 Peter 2:7 saying, “you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” From there, both Paul and Peter say that Christ is the Cornerstone of this building. There is one building, and one Cornerstone of those who are not set to perish.

But one of the limitations of that building is that it will only be built out of those who have faith in Christ, believing His gospel message.

God has set the parameters, one of which is faith. But not merely any faith will do. Rather, a properly directed faith is necessary. It takes real faith to walk into a shopping mall, pull a cord, and blow yourself up in order to destroy others in the process.

There is real faith in the person that what he has been told is true – paradise awaits, along with a bunch of perpetual virgins. The problem with that is not a lack of faith, but it is misdirected faith. And, misdirected faith is, unfortunately, wasted faith.

Using the same word for “perish” that both Paul and Peter did above in regard to those who perish and those who God wills not to perish, Jesus our Lord – Jesus the Lord – says this –

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” John 3:16, 17

God is willing that none should perish, but some – in fact – do perish. And the limiting factor that one should not perish is faith. But it is not any faith. It is faith in Christ Jesus.

Despite the sovereignty of God, He does not force faith. Instead, He allows man the choice. But the fact that some perish does not mean God is not sovereign.

Just because God does not actively cause and direct all things, people assume that He is not sovereign. “Why couldn’t God keep my husband from dying?” But if God must do everything that He can do, and everything that He wills to do, then all things would be done, and there would be nothing to do.

But God has put limitations on Himself in order for things to come about in a way where we can participate in His creation. Along with those limitations, He has set parameters, and He has given guidelines. Some of those are known to us. They are recorded in nature and they are recorded in His word. An example of this is found in Romans 10 –

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? ¹⁵ And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:

“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace,
Who bring glad tidings of good things!”
¹⁶ But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” ¹⁷ So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:14-17

God has set limitations on Himself as to how the message to keep those He wills to not perish can do so. One of them is that He has given us the word of God. And within that limitation, he has set the parameters. There must be someone who will proclaim that message.

But there are then other implied parameters. Because a person is limited by time, by movement, by funding, and so on. A person cannot simply stand on a mountain, shout out the gospel, and then expect everyone to hear it.

And so, there are set natural and written parameters which must be adhered to. And yet, these are limited by guidelines. As we saw, faith is how the message moves one from “perish” to “not perish.” And that faith must be proper faith for this to occur.

But some might then say that this dispels the idea of God’s sovereignty. Rather, it upholds it. If there is a message of restoration with God, and if that message is exclusive of all but one avenue, and if that avenue has defined parameters and guidelines which come from God, then it means that God is sovereign over the very process which He at first seems to be incompetent in controlling.

What this tells us, is that God has put a burden on us if we care about what He desires. His will, including His will that none should perish, is actually tied up in our will in regard to that same precept. If our will says, “I don’t care that some are perishing, then He has allowed our will to override what He wills.”

This is certain because Paul says that the message which has been given must go through us. And further, that the one who carries that message cannot do so unless he is sent. And so, as you sit here, unwilling to assist those who desire to go forth to share the gospel, your uncaring will is, at least in part, the cause of God’s willingness that none should perish to not come about. How does that move you? Or does it just not matter to you?

One problem with man’s view of God’s sovereignty is that man places far too high of a view and value on himself, or on the things he possesses or loves than the Bible actually reveals concerning how God views those things.

The Bible says that the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. As God (as we have already seen) possesses time as well as space and matter, then He possesses all things once and forever. For man to perish, it means that he perishes from the stream of time going forward. But God does not stop possessing that man at the time he existed. And, therefore, God always possesses that man.

And he may have been a good man or a bad man. But to us, a good man or a bad man is not the same as it is to God. A person to God is, by default, bad. That is the doctrine of original sin. Sin is bad; man has sin; man is bad. But we love people around us without taking that into consideration. God does not.

Those who do not have the sin problem corrected perish. From a certain point, and forever after, they are done. But, they were already done because of the sin in them. God is not out of control when someone perishes. Rather, He has controlled what was already bad by not allowing the person to continue (see Genesis 3:22-24).

The value in man is not in the state in which he arrived. It is in the state which he will become, if he comes to God through Christ. That is why Christ came. It was to allow a change in the default position from bad to good.

Therefore, God – the Person of Jesus – came into the stream of humanity in order to bring about the necessary change for man to go from “bad” to “good.” Was God under an obligation to do this? No. Could God have destroyed the entire world? Yes. Did God destroy the world once? Yes, with the exception of eight souls.

Therefore, God’s sovereignty is not in question. The goodness of man, and the usefulness of man to God is. God sovereignly allowed eight to live. God sovereignly chose Israel to bring forth Messiah. God sovereignly stepped out of His eternal realm. And God sovereignly set the parameters, based on these things, to bring man from bad to good.

He is not out of control. Rather, He is in complete control. He is allowing things to occur, despite that control, in order for the man of value, meaning the man brought from “bad” to “good” to come about.

Our arbitrary assigning the concept of “bad” and “good” to those around us is not reflective of how God assigns those same values. This is why Solomon was able to say this to us –

“When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on earth, even though one sees no sleep day or night, ¹⁷ then I saw all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. For though a man labors to discover it, yet he will not find it; moreover, though a wise man attempts to know it, he will not be able to find it.” Ecclesiastes 8:16, 17

We look at the plan of redemption, and we say, “If God is not actively redeeming all men, then He must not be in control.” But all men are bad. Therefore, that any are redeemed at all shows that God is sovereign over the entire process – both for those who are perishing, and those who are being saved.

The parameters are set, the guidelines are given, and God’s sovereignty stands. What He determines is advanced no matter which occurs. It may not be our will, but our will is not always God’s will, and His standards take priority over our fallen state, and our preferences, desires, and life choices.

However, when our will is in accord with God’s will, then there is a chance that what God is willing to happen, meaning that a particular “bad” person will become a “good” person, will happen. If not, then His will for that unchanged “bad” person, will come to pass. Both the sovereignty of God and the free will of man are on prominent display here.

“To whom then will you liken Me,
Or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One
Lift up your eyes on high; look and see
Who has created these things, and who is His Son 

Who brings out their host by number, from darkness to light?
He calls them all by name
This, by the greatness of His might
He will bring Himself glory and fame

Through the strength of His power
Not one is missing; all the heavenly host is accounted for
From day unto day and hour unto hour
And as the waves ceaselessly wash up on the shore

Great is God, and worthy is He of our praise
Glorious is God, from everlasting to everlasting – unto eternal days

II. God is Sovereign Over Salvation

If God is Sovereign over all things, as is clearly the case – even if He doesn’t actively work out all things – then God must be sovereign over salvation. Jonah, from the belly of the great fish, confirms this with the words, “Salvation is of the Lord.”

Man cannot save himself because he is already condemned. Jesus says that explicitly in John 3:18. As we are condemned already, then to become uncondemned must come from without ourselves, just as the default state of a computer must be changed from outside. Even if a computer was programmed to change its default settings under certain circumstances, the programming had to come from outside itself originally.

Unfortunately, because of this idea of such a dramatic change in man’s default position, and because man cannot change himself, certain aberrant doctrines have arisen over time to say that man is incapable of being changed apart from an active working of God.

Such a view proclaims that this is the only way to confirm God’s sovereignty over the salvation process. If He doesn’t actively do every step of the changing, then it somehow would then mean that He is not sovereign over what occurs.

But the fallacy of that is seen in the computer which is given instruction to change its default position. The instructions are given, and they may or may not ever occur. But if the parameters which have been placed into the computer are met, the default position changes.

There was no active participation by the programmer, and yet, he has remained sovereign over the process of change. The error of, for example, Calvinism is in perceiving how the process of change is effected in the man.

The question for man is, “As Scripture declares that man’s nature is condemned already, and also incapable of saving himself, then how is it possible for a person to choose or desire a relationship with God?” The Calvinist answer is, “He cannot. Therefore, he must be predestined by God for regeneration in order to believe and then to be saved.”

This makes the assumption that man cannot see what is good. But that is proven false both in human nature, and in Scripture. Man is not incapable of seeing that which is good, nor is he incapable of pursuing that good thing which he sees.

Further, Calvinism incorrectly uses the words of Paul to show that man cannot make a choice for salvation. Paul says in Ephesians 2 that apart from Christ we “were dead in trespasses and sins.” Calvinism says that one who is dead cannot choose life, nor can he bring about a change in himself any more than a rock could.

This is what is known as a “category mistake” – a fallacy, or an error in thinking. A category mistake is the error of assigning to something a quality or action that can properly be assigned to things only of another category.

Calvinism has taken the category of “dead in trespasses and sins,” meaning spiritually disconnected from God, and it has assigned that same category to living man, who is a rational, cognitive organism that can choose both good and evil.

Because of this, Calvinism produces a convoluted theology concerning salvation which says that 1) man is dead; 2) God regenerates man (he is born again by God); and then 3) man chooses Christ, and then – based on that choice – 4) he is saved.

From this error, the other principle points of Calvinism arise. Each based on the original error, and each therefore continuing that original error and expanding on it. Quite possibly the greatest error of this failed theological system is the doctrine of “Limited Atonement,” which says that Jesus died only for the elect, not for all people, and thus only the elect are saved.

Limited Atonement supposedly stands in opposition to another heresy known as Unlimited Atonement in the sense that Christ died for all people, and that all are, therefore, saved. But this is a second category mistake made by Calvinists. The words, Limited Atonement and Unlimited Atonement do not stand alone as the only quality which is assigned to the process of salvation.

John 3:16 says that Christ died for the world, meaning the people of the world, and that whoever – meaning anyone – believes in Him would not perish but would be granted everlasting life. This is substantially repeated elsewhere in various ways and degrees throughout the New Testament.

Therefore, the term Unlimited Atonement is appropriate, but it is only so potentially, not actually. And the term Limited Atonement is appropriate, actually – not because God has limited the atonement, but because we have limited it – either through negligence in transmitting the word to those who could be saved, or through rejection of the word presented to the individual.

God, through the giving of His Son, has granted the potential for all men to hear the word, and then for all who hear the word to be saved. But he has only granted that salvation actually to those who hear, and who then respond in accord with His word. This is perfectly seen in the words of John –

“And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” 1 John 2:2

The sacrifice of Christ is not limited to the elect except in how it is received or rejected. Election is made based upon the free-will exercise of faith in the Object of rightly directed faith, meaning the atoning sacrifice of Christ Jesus.

Understanding this, we can see that God is wholly sovereign over the process of salvation. Man fell, man is in the pit, and God must bring Him out. In this, He has developed the remedy, He has prescribed both the parameters and the guidelines, and He has limited Himself in the process.

To say that God must first regenerate the man is to say that He must make a second move in salvation, apart from the giving of His Son. This is not found in Scripture. God has made the move. He has entered into the sphere of His creation, and He now offers that to the people of the world.

Again, just because God does not actively select and regenerate the man, it does not mean that God is not sovereign over the process. The exact opposite is true. If we were the computer mentioned earlier, the default setting is already set – condemned.

But there is a program which has been included in the process which, if enabled, changes the default setting. Unlike a computer which cannot see good and bad, man has that ability (again, Genesis 3:22 says this). The fact that you are listening to this sermon – whether saved or not – testifies to this. Not that this is a good sermon, but you are freely deciding if it is or not. I hope you are not disappointed.

When you execute the appropriate command, the default setting is changed. God’s sovereignty is seen in that He has shown the way of salvation, he has effected and provided the means of salvation, and He has established the mode of salvation.

All who are to be saved will follow the path, they will hear the gospel message, and they will place faith in what they have heard. For those who do not hear, or for those who reject what they have heard, God is sovereign over that. For those who do hear and respond, God was and is sovereign over that (see John 12:32).

No part of the salvation process is out of the control of God, and the glory is given to God through the process. Though upholding what would otherwise be the sovereignty of God, the Calvinistic model does not bring glory to God because it does not follow the process of salvation as recorded in the word of God.

But on the other side of the aisle are the countless other religious expressions found in the world, both supposedly Christian and those outside of the realm of that sphere.

There is one common thread between every one of them – be it Roman Catholicism or the Hebrew Roots Movement, or Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, and etc. That common thread is works.

For non-Christians, it is works in order to please God so that the man can be saved – whatever that salvation means to the individual. For them, it cries out, “I am my own savior, and God will accept my works as such.”

For supposed Christians, it means works in order to please God apart from what Christ has done. For them, it cries out, “God has sent the Savior, but I still must save myself.” It is a rejection of the all-sufficient work of Christ, and it is a desire to show God where His deficiencies were and what the person can do to correct those deficiencies. Both deny the sovereignty of God over the salvation process.

The sovereignty of God says that He is in complete control of all things, but that He has allowed certain things to occur apart from His direct control. This is true in creation, it is true in the daily process of our lives – either in harmony with Him or apart from Him, and it is true in the process of salvation which restores the harmony between us and Him.

Concerning God’s sovereignty in the process of salvation, it is just as necessary for God to allow man free will in his decision-making process as it is for Him to impel His will at any time and in any way that He so chooses.

This is because His word has given man the right, the duty, the privilege, and indeed the responsibility to carry this message forward. As His word is a reflection of who He is, then to effect the transmission of this message apart from man – whom He has commissioned to do so – is to interfere in His own sovereign decree over the very process which He has ordained.

And this must take into consideration that not everyone who transmits this message has the same reason for doing so. Some will do it because of their love for God. Some will do it because of their love for money. Some desire to be famous. Some might simply use the gospel as a way to travel to exotic locations. Who knows… one may simply want to marry the preacher’s daughter, and becoming a preacher is the surest way for that to happen.

Surprisingly, God has factored all of that into the transmission of His word to the people of the world. God, who is infinitely wise, and who is in complete control over all things, has done these things to bring Himself glory, and to bring restoration and fellowship to those who were once far off, but whom He has now brought near through the precious, purifying, and all-sufficient shed blood of Christ.

Closing Verse: “Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill: ¹⁶ The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; ¹⁷ but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. ¹⁸ What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.” Philippians 1:14-18

 

 

 

The Word of God
The Basis of our Faith

The voice said, “Cry out!”
And he said, “What shall I cry?”
“All flesh is grass,
And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.
⁷ The grass withers, the flower fades,
Because the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
Surely the people are grass.
⁸ The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever.” Isaiah 40:6-8

It is certainly argued which point, or aspect, of religion and faith is to be held as preeminent. This is especially true because there are innumerable religions, and there are countless texts out there which claim religious authority.

And within adherence to those various religions, whether defined by a tradition, a text, or simply an adherent who claims divine inspiration to speak on behalf of God, there are still innumerable interpretations of how to correctly pursue what is presented within a particular religion.

Does anyone here think that all Buddhists are united in how they interpret the teachings of Buddha? Obviously not. There are as many subdivisions within Buddhism as there are kernels of corn in Iowa at harvest time.

Did everyone in Jamestown accept the words of Jim Jones equally? Again, obviously not. Some gladly drank the grape juice while others were forced to do so. Are Muslims united in their theology? If they are, they wouldn’t be blowing one another up as much as they do, and there wouldn’t be Shiites, Sunnis, and Wahhabis – along with countless other divisions among them.

Each different religion, and each difference within a religion, must come from somewhere – even if it is simply from the mind of a lunatic – L. Ron Hubbard anyone?

What is it that is preeminent in religion that would define one particular religion as right and proper, and how can it be known that adherence to that one right religion is doctrinally correct?

In a random list of possibilities, not intended to place any above another so as to incorrectly settle the matter in your mind now, we could consider various points and try to establish which is the most noble, which is the most important, and which is to be preeminently considered before the others. Here are some options –

The nature of grace. The Trinity. The nature and/or attributes of God. The Deity of Christ. The Humanity of Christ. The need for Christ. The nature of Sacred Doctrine. The sovereignty of God. The all-sufficient atonement of Christ. The salvation of man. Eternal security in salvation. How man is saved. The covenants of God. The dispensations of time. Israel. The existence of God. The nature of man. Creation. The nature of Creation. The glory of God. Heaven and hell.

Which of these, or is it some other not mentioned, is most necessary for us – as human beings – to know what is right and proper to place first in our search for the truth of God and the disposition of man within the stream of time?

Text Verse: “If a man of wind were to come and say falsely, ‘I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,’ he would be just the preacher for this people!” Micah 2:11 (BSB)

Adding to our list, how about the nature of good and evil? Wouldn’t that be an appropriate starting point in our quest for the truth? If there is good, there must be a source of goodness. If there is evil, there must be a reason for it to exist and a source from where it is derived. Right?

No, rather all such things, even the nature of God, must be pursued, logically, from a source which reveals those things to us. I could have just said, “the nature of God Himself,” but that would be presupposing that God has revealed Himself in the masculine.

Maybe God is female, as some claim. My use of the masculine would be a point of contention with Him… I mean Her, if so. How can we determine what is correct in all things theology? Or, can we even do so?

The answer is, “Yes.” However, the answer will actually take some thought to get us to that point. Yes, you are going to have to use your brains today, and you are going to have to think about things logically and rationally.

That is absolutely necessary to know if the word of God is, in fact, the word of God. “‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ Says the Lord.” The Lord wants you to think your faith through, and He wants you to be well prepared to then explain it to others.

Such truths, believe it or not, are to be found in His Superior Word, and so, let’s both turn to and contemplate that precious word once again, and may God speak to us through His word today. And may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. A Reasoned Defense

Of the great works of Christian philosophy, somewhere right at the very top of the list, is what is known as the Summa Theologica. It is the massive and detailed work of Thomas Aquinas, written from 1265-1274. It is considered one of the most influential works of western literature. In it, Aquinas evaluates a vast array of subjects, many of which we just considered a moment ago.

He discusses the nature of God and the Godhead. He discusses the problem of evil. He evaluates what the natures of man and angels are like. He looks into the law and also into grace. There is hardly a subject that one could think of in relation to religion that Aquinas didn’t evaluate. And he did it in an order that allows a person to think logically from one premise to the next.

With this in mind, what discipline did he place first? What was the one thing that set the parameters for all of the other things he would discuss, including the very nature of God? The answer is “Sacred Doctrine,” meaning Scripture. His first subject, or as he puts it, his first Question is –

“Question 1. The nature and extent of sacred doctrine.” From there, he asks, discusses, and answers the following ten questions: Is it necessary? Is it a science? Is it one or many? Is it speculative or practical? How it is compared with other sciences? Is it the same as wisdom? Is God its subject-matter? Is it a matter of argument? Does it rightly employ metaphors and similes? May the Sacred Scripture of this doctrine be expounded in different senses?”

The logic of placing the nature and extent of Sacred Doctrine first is impeccable. Without a surety of knowing what Sacred Doctrine is, nothing else in religion matters. Everything, including the nature of God and all that proceeds from Him, is subject to error.

We can deduce things about God without a source of writing which tells us of Him. In fact, we can be positive about a host of things about Him without ever first being told those things.

We can also do this concerning creation, about who we are as a species, and so on. Man has done this since the beginning, and he continues to do it today. We can logically work out things that must be because of things that are. However, there are also deficiencies and defects in man which can cause us to make limited or incorrect conclusions about such things as well. Despite having knowledge, we don’t have all knowledge.

But, with knowledge we can often – if we are willing to – prove things false much more readily than we can prove things to be true. If we look at religious beliefs, for example, we can see a common thread among many of them. There is the proclamation that there is a “God,” or there are “gods,” and that we are accountable to Him or them.

However, by simply thinking the matter through logically, man can actually know – with all certainty – that there is only one “God,” meaning the Source of all things. We can, in fact, know this.

Therefore, we can be sure that any religion which proclaims more than one God cannot be true. If you can’t see how this is possible, go back and watch our Genesis 1:1 sermon. There we discuss the First Principles. First Principles are statements of logic which are undeniable, or which can be reduced to the undeniable. We will even talk about some of them later here and in upcoming sermons.

From there, and understanding that there is a God, just One, we can also further determine what this God must be like. Aristotle was able to do this. He deduced that there is a God, and then he deduced many things about Him that Christians today take as axioms concerning Him.

For example, there can be no change in God. Aristotle explains why this must be so. Aquinas builds upon that and further defines it. Did Aristotle have the Bible to tell him this? No! He simply thought the matter through logically. And you can too.

As God does not change, that will then further refine our pursuit of “which” God, if any, is the true God as claimed by His adherents.

Taking the god of Islam, for example, we can read the text which describes “Allah” the god of Islam, and we can know if what it says about God is correct or not. The Koran says that there is “one God.” Well, that matches what we can know is certain. Is that the end of the test? Do we now bow down and say, “O great Allah, you are “god” and there is none other!”?

No, more is needed. God doesn’t change. Does Allah, the god of Islam, change? Yes. He is vindictive. He also proclaims one thing and then another, but not in a logical way. Rather the supposed god of Islam changes in his very nature by the proclamations he makes. We can toss out Islam, and we can toss out Allah.

See, this isn’t that difficult. Man has been given a brain to use, if he will but use it. God did this so that man will seek Him and reach out for Him. He is actually not far from us. Man has, however, invented many gods, but because there is one God, man can – and very well should – be able to say, “This is a lie. This is not ‘God.’”

So, we know there is one God, and we can know things about this God. This then allows us to search out the supposed revelations of God, like the Koran, and say, “No, this ain’t God.” Eventually, through this process – and if it exists – we come to what is truly “Sacred Doctrine.”

We are presented with a copy of the Bible. This word of God says there is one God. That passes the test. The word then says, “For I am the Lord, I do not change” (Malachi 3:6). So far so good. But what about the verses which seem to show that He does change?

Do those actually reveal this, or are those supposed changes in Him merely logical and orderly revelations of Himself for our benefit and understanding, but not actually changes in His being? Through careful study, we find out that this is the case. God hasn’t changed. Rather, we have changed in relation to Him, and the result is obvious and expected based on His unchanging nature.

And so, after reading what is truly Sacred Doctrine, meaning the proclaimed Word of God, or what we would call the “Holy Bible,” we are convinced that this is how God has revealed Himself to us, including in the masculine – something we were trying to avoid as a presupposition a few minutes ago. He has done this, and so we follow suit – He, Him, Father, etc.

And so now, with this carefully and precisely laid out word, this text of Sacred Doctrine that finds its source in God, we continue to expose faulty conclusions concerning Him. As we have already seen, there are countless denominations and cults all claiming this word as their source and authority for right doctrine. How can that be, and this still be the Word of God?

The answer is not that there is a problem with either God or His word. The answer is found in us and in our translations and interpretations of this precious gift of life and restoration. We act no differently about our own text than Muslims do about theirs. They don’t engage their brains, and we don’t engage our brains.

The Jews stop with one testament and one over-arching covenant. Some supposed Christians do this as well by falling back on the Old when the New has set it aside. But right there in the Old is the promise of a New. The same God who does not change is not changing still. He is slowly and progressively revealing Himself.

And so, knowing this, we can toss out Judaism – in all its forms – as being a proper evaluation of Sacred Doctrine – it is not. The Old Testament is proper revelation, but it is incomplete. And in tossing out this theology, we can then toss out the theology of some Christians, such as Dual-Covenant theologians like John Hagee. Such heretics teach that Christians are saved through the New Covenant, and Jews are saved through adherence to the Old. This is even taught by the Roman Catholic Church – the church of Thomas Aquinas.

And yet, there is more to consider. The New Testament, which details the New Covenant, also details some very precise revelations of God, of who He is, and of what He has done. For example – and of which will be explained in greater detail in another sermon – the Bible clearly shows that though God is One, there are different persons within the Godhead.

And more, there are not two or five or twenty or a hundred. The revelation of Sacred Doctrine, which is the only source for knowing this aspect of God, shows us that there are three individual Persons within the Godhead – not more, not less.

There is a Person we call the Father. There is a Person we call the Son. And, there is a Person we call the Holy Spirit. Each is clearly revealed to be God based on the nature of who God is.

However, there are some denominations and cults which deny this. There are others who affirm it but then violate laws concerning the nature of God that we don’t even need Scripture for in order to know they are wrong.

For example, the Jehovah’s Witnesses state that Jesus is a created being – denying His deity – and yet they say that Jesus is the Creator of all things other than Himself. We don’t need the Bible to know this is incorrect. All we need to do is think it through logically.

For Jesus to be a created being, and yet to create all other things beside Himself, would violate the Principle of Contingency, the Positive Principle of Modality, and the Principle of Existential Causality. To understand this, go back and watch the Genesis 1:1 sermon. And so, we can toss out their teaching.

Likewise, Mormonism also teaches that Jesus was a created being. He was a man who became God. The same principles apply as those we just saw. But Mormonism also adds another Testament to Sacred Doctrine. Without going into all the details and faults of this supposed text – of which there are many – it violates what is explicitly stated in the New Testament writings, and it is false. Mormonism can be tossed out.

As you can see, the brilliance of Aquinas’ logic of placing the nature and extent of Sacred Doctrine first is evident. One must be able to determine if there is such a text. That is possible without even having such a text.

In other words, there may not be a true text of sacred doctrine. God may have just not revealed Himself in this way. But that doesn’t mean we can’t know if all of the false texts which claim to be sacred doctrine are false. We can. If they don’t match what we can know by simply using our brains through logic, then they are false.

From there, and if such a text actually does exist, one must be able to determine if how the text is presented is acceptable or not. This can be determined from within the text itself, such as through revealing a misunderstanding of what Paul says in relation to something that Jesus says.

It can, at times, also be determined from outside of the text – by simply using logic, such as the necessity for Jesus to be God if He is the Creator of anything.

If He created anything at all, even one coffee bean, then He must have created all things – and no thing which is created came into existence apart from Him. The Bible may tell us this – and it does, in Colossians 1 – but we don’t need the Bible to do so for us to know it is true, as we have already learned.

Logic necessarily precedes God’s revelation of Himself in order for us to know if this (or that) is God’s revelation. If it (meaning logic) does not come first, then we cannot truly know if it is God’s revelation.

This is exactly why there are so many religious texts, and this is why there are so many religions. And this is why the immensely intelligent Albert Einstein, a Benedict Spinoza pantheist, spent the rest of his life – after discovering the Theory of Relativity – working on the theory of everything. Yes, his worldview said that all is God (Pantheism), meaning the universe is the manifestation of God.

He did not want to accept that his logic, which is revealed in Relativity, confirmed the very source of his Judaism, meaning Sacred Doctrine – “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Through Relativity, Einstein proved there was a beginning. If there was a beginning, there must be a Beginner.

The Bible says that God precedes His creation. He is not a part of it. That didn’t fit with Einstein’s presuppositions about the universe and about the god he believed in. Hence, his continued work on the theory of everything. However, if we now know that God has revealed Himself in this manner, meaning through Sacred Doctrine – of which we are convinced He has – then we must still use logic to know if our understanding of what He has revealed is correct.

This is exactly why there are so many denominations within Christianity, and so many – countless variations in fact – disparate doctrines which come to completely opposite conclusions concerning Christian theology.

Again, logic must precede God’s revelation of Himself in order for this to not occur. If it does not, then any and all of those religions, denominations, and even cults, are on an equal standing before your eyes. You actually have no basis for saying one is more or less valid than another.

Some of you are now sitting here and saying, “But the Bible proclaims faith, not logic. We are to ‘live by faith and not by sight.’” Yes, I know that verse. It is 2 Corinthians 5:7, I’ve written a commentary on it, and that is not what Paul is speaking about. He is speaking about our existence in Christ, after having made a decision for Christ.

And biblical faith is not, as the vast majority of people seem to believe, blindly stepping into acceptance of the Bible. It is exactly the opposite. It is stepping into the revealed light of God, which is the Bible. Nobody comes to a saving faith in Jesus unless he has heard about Jesus. And the knowledge of Jesus is recorded where? Yes, in the pages of Sacred Doctrine – the Holy Bible.

Again, there has to be a basis for your faith, or your faith has no basis. This does not mean that God does not accept you because of your faith. Rather, God accepts you based on your faith which was based on His word which He has revealed. It is light, you heard it, and you accepted it. But you had to logically put those things together in your head when you heard the word.

As Paul says in Romans 10:17, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” God did the revealing, you did the analysis, you found it reasonable, and you then – only after logically thinking it through – demonstrated faith in what the Bible revealed to you.

This is why God made the gospel so simple, and the means of obtaining it so simple. It is because too much needed logic, and most people would never get saved. The gospel’s simplicity is its own mark of the infinite grace of God.

As we have seen though, there are those who say Jesus is not God, and yet, they proclaim exactly the same verses concerning salvation as those who say Jesus is God. Therefore, again, logic must precede the faith, and that logic precedes the revelation of God in His word. It doesn’t mean it is more important, but it is a necessary part of the process in order to come to accept whether the message is true or not.

The title of this sermon is “The Word of God – The Basis of our Faith,” and that is true. The salvation of God which is found in Jesus Christ our Lord is only found for us in the word of God – whether transmitted orally, in writing, in a play on a stage, on a computer, or some other way. We are not getting saved without faith, and we cannot have faith without the word.

God is pleased with our faith in Christ when we hear this word and accept it as such. But there is a world full of people that do not. They have already either rejected the truth, and/or they have accepted something other than the truth. Or, they may have simply never heard the gospel.

How will they be saved unless you are willing to show them that what they have in their hands is false, and that what you have in your hands is true? If you care about their state at all, then you have an obligation to, as Peter says, “…always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you” 1 Peter 3:15.

The word Peter uses there, which is translated as “defense,” is apologia. It signifies not a dubious doctrine based on blind faith, but a well-reasoned reply for an issue which is raised. In ancient courts, it signified a legal defense and a reasoned argument.

The word of God, holy and pure
Is given to us from His wise and loving hand
Through this word, our faith is strong and sure
Because of our God, through it we can Him understand

We can know what is right for salvation unto life
And we can know when to reject that which is wrong
Through sound doctrine, we can weed out theological strife
And have doctrine which is sure, sound, and strong

Praise be to God who has given us this precious word
Praise be to God who has shown us what is true and right
The pages of the Bible are a precious cutting sword
Weeding out all that is false and revealing God’s glorious light

II. The Problem of Evil, the State of Man, Israel, the Nature of Creation, the Prophetic Word, etc.

The word of God has been given by God. The Bible makes this claim. It is up to man to either prove it false, or to accept it as true. By simply thinking the matter through – in a very limited way – we have seen how man has determined logically that there is one God. From there, we have seen what this one God must be like.

We have reduced the religious expressions of the world, through simple logic, to one possible expression which reveals God as He is – biblical Christianity. We could include biblical Judaism, but that is simply an incomplete revelation of Himself to the world.

The coming of Christ, and the introduction of the New Covenant, supplants the expression of God as limited to the Old Testament. But it is certain that the Bible is a big book, we are not going to prove or disprove every aspect of it here in the next few minutes.

Nor are we going to defend or prove false every point of doctrine to be found in the Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church, Methodism, fundamental Baptists, and so on. Those things will take a lifetime of study and contemplation. And it shouldn’t be necessary to rush away from a church simply because of a few minor doctrinal points of disagreement.

But what we can do is contemplate some of the aspects of what the Bible presents, and then decide if what it says aligns with how things are. In other words, why would someone read the Bible and put their hopes in a word which mischaracterized the state of man?

Likewise, why would someone look to the Bible for the plan of salvation if it got the problem of evil wrong? In fact, when there is an error in something, the thing is defective. If something is defective, then why would anyone go to it to correct their own defects?

And yet, people have gone to, and they continue to go to, the Bible for the correction of their defects. Drunks become productive citizens, harlots become faithful wives, the miserable are made joy-filled. There is a power in the word which transforms lives.

And as desperately as its enemies have attempted to challenge the Bible, there has been no successful challenge to it since it was first given to man through the hands of Moses 3500 years ago. Since then, it has been added to by God through men of God right up until John received the book of Revelation and then finished it with the word “Amen” in Revelation 22:21.

It accurately details the problem of good and evil – how it came about, what He would do to correct it, and why it continues to this day. Yes, the Bible explains how evil is cured, and when evil will be eradicated forever. In this, there is nothing left unattended to. What was lost in Eden will be restored in God’s coming Paradise.

How often it is said, “If God was truly God, He would eliminate all the evil in the world.” But that is a shallow and naive way of looking at how things work. It assumes that evil is out of the control of God’s sovereignty, but the Bible very clearly shows that it is not.

In fact, time and again what we consider to be true evil is used by God for good purposes and for His glory. Adam fell, Cain killed Abel, and from Joseph’s troubles in Egypt to man’s trouble with sin being laid upon Christ, God uses evil to bring about good.

We look at the cross as the highest expression of love, grace, and mercy, and it is so. And yet, you can be guaranteed that Jesus’ mother, Peter and the other apostles, and indeed many who saw Christ being crucified would have said, “This is evil. So why has God allowed it?”

Do you see the fallacy and naivete of those who question God’s competence because of their own supposed standards of what is good and what is evil and what God is doing about those things?

What is appropriate is to say that God has allowed evil into the world for His purposes, those things bring Him glory, and the evil will come to an end in His timing. If someone desires to use the problem of evil as a point of discrediting the God revealed in Scripture, they will find no satisfaction in their attempt.

The problem of evil is accurately explained in Scripture, it is properly death with by God in Scripture, and its end is assured in Scripture. That which was good at the beginning will be good again at the consummation of all things.

*The state of man – from how he got here, to what his purpose is – is exactingly expressed in Scripture. The desperately evil human heart is spoken of there. Go check Jeremiah 17:9. The chains which bind man are described there.

The freedom which man seeks is revealed there. The relationship between man and his Creator is defined there. If someone is looking to prove the Bible wrong, the state of man will not satisfy his goal.

*Some people look at Israel and deny Scripture because of them. That may be the most perverse ideology of all. In fact, exactly the opposite is true. Israel’s rejection of God does not in any way call into question the reliability of Scripture.

Rather, the words of the Lord, through the writings of Moses, foretold what has subsequently been revealed. Israel’s rejection of the Lord, the Lord’s continued faithfulness to Israel, and the prophetic timeline of such events – all recorded in His word – confirm time and again the reliability of what God has spoken.

If someone is in hopes of calling the word of God false because of either what it says about Israel, or what Israel says about the Lord, they have simply rejected what is clearly printed about both in it. And in fact, the attempts to destroy Israel are merely attempts to find some fatal flaw in God’s word which has not yet been found.

If only Israel can be destroyed, the word will be proven false and man will no longer have the convicting power of it hanging over their heads. Such is the dream, and such is the hope for a world which hates God, rejects His word, and finds the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ deplorable. But the Lord has spoken –

“‘I will bring back the captives of My people Israel;
They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them;
They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them;
They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them.
¹⁵ I will plant them in their land,
And no longer shall they be pulled up
From the land I have given them,’
Says the Lord your God.” Amos 8:14, 15

Israel stands, and Israel will stand. They have been planted again in their land, and they shall remain rooted there forever. The Lord God has spoken, and it shall be. If someone is looking to find fault in the Bible, the nation of Israel is a poor and perfectly pitiful place to attempt to do so.

*But what about something larger than Israel? What about the nature of creation itself? The Bible doesn’t attempt to argue that there is a God – a Creator. Instead, the Bible proclaims His existence and then it explains how He created. Further, it does so in a logical, orderly, fashion. God speaks, information is transmitted, and creation stands firm.

Rather than a universe which created itself, a logical impossibility by the way, the Bible reveals exactly what logic demands. There is existence, the existence is not necessary and yet it exists, and therefore there must be a necessary Being that exists in order for all other things – which are not necessary – to exist.

And not only that, but there can be only one necessary Being. That is God, and the Bible proclaims Him as such –

“For thus says the Lord,
Who created the heavens,
Who is God,
Who formed the earth and made it,
Who has established it,
Who did not create it in vain,
Who formed it to be inhabited:
I am the Lord, and there is no other.” Isaiah 45:18

And within the realm of creation, the Bible explains that things don’t always work as they were originally intended to, why that is so, and how it will be corrected. The Bible also explains aspects of creation, stating them as axioms, that were not understood until modern times.

For those who desperately desire to break off the chains of God by disproving the Bible’s claims concerning the Creator and His creation, their efforts only end in embarrassing futility. The word of God stands because it is, in fact, the word of God.

*And there is another aspect of the word which not only confirms that God is, but that God knows. He didn’t just create and let things go however they may come about. Rather, He reveals – in His word – things that will come to pass before they occur. He does this so that when they come about, man can say, “My trust in God is not in vain.” He even explains this to us so that we are all the more assured of what lies ahead –

“Behold, the former things have come to pass,
And new things I declare;
Before they spring forth I tell you of them.” Isaiah 42:9

The things He has spoken have come about, and the new things He reveals are assured to happen as well. Not a word of the word shall ever fail, because it is the word of God who cannot fail.

The prophecies of God, both those that are expressly spoken, and those that are typologically prophetic, and which have already been fulfilled, are so numerous and so specific that there is literally no excuse for those who see them and deny what they reveal.

The prophetic word, for those who have heard it, seen it fulfilled, and who yet reject it will stand as an eternal witness against them. God has spoken, His word has come to pass, and man will stand before God and receive his just due for how he has responded to that same prophetic word.

I am the One who created all things
And by Me all things are held together
My works are that of which the angel sings
Stretching out the heavens, they go on forever 

I am the Lord who called Abraham so long ago
I am the One who renamed Jacob Israel
I spoke from the burning bush to Moses, so you know
And of Me, David in the psalms does tell 

I am the Word of God, who was and is and is to come
And I offer the water of life; be pleased to partake of some

III. Common Sense Concerning the Word

One obvious question about the word of God, and one which is probably most often levied against it, is that of source texts. “Why are there variations in texts?” “How can we be sure that it is one rather than another?” And, “Don’t these variety of texts disprove the very premise that the Bible is the word of God?”

The answer to each is, “No,” but it is also not a study that can be completed in a few short minutes. Entire books have been devoted to the matter. Scholars dedicate their entire lives to this field. But, in short, the very fact that there are numerous source texts – even if they vary in content – will validate the reliability of the word.

If there are 10 source texts, and one of them says ABC in Isaiah 53, and the other 9 say XYZ in the same place, then it is rather certain that XYZ is the correct reading. This is especially so when these source texts come from different locations, different languages, different points in time, etc.

This could not be the case if there was only one source text. Nobody would know if the source was accurate or not. And there are other logical reasons why God would not want one single text to be the only source of His word. There is great wisdom in God’s word not being kept in any single man’s possession.

And so, for five groups to have five texts, each with some type of minor error in one place or another, but four of the texts having no error in the same place as any other text, it actually benefits the scholar. There is not just a reasonable certainty of the text, but a convincing certainty of it.

What we possess in our hands may have variations based on source texts which people can quibble over, but the substance of the words is as reliable as the over-arching message of the whole.

No major point of doctrine in Scripture is in question, and the absolute reliability of the word of God is evidenced through the amazing care God has taken to preserve His word in various ways, places, and languages throughout history.

If this is a point where you would question your faith, then spend the time needed to study this discipline. Give up 10 or 20 hours of TV a week that you watch, and instead, go learn just how reliable this word is.

When reading your Bible, forget the commentaries that may be provided with the text. Instead, read the footnotes which are also provided. They are where the mechanics of the accuracy of the word of God can be found.

For example, what you might read is something that at first causes you to question the Bible’s reliability. You read the footnote and find a difference between some texts, of which they cite the Greek, Hebrew, Samaritan, Masoretic, Vulgate, and Dead Sea Scrolls.

And yet, when you see that only the Masoretic Text and a few lesser Hebrew manuscripts say DEF, but all the others say GHI, you will realize that a corruption occurred, possibly on purpose, to hide Jesus, such as occurs in the Masoretic Text of Psalm 22 and of Isaiah 53.

But when you learn that the Greek and the Latin were both translated out of the Hebrew, long before the time of the Masoretic Text, and that the Hebrew Dead Sea Scrolls and the Greek both predate the coming of Christ, then you can say, “Aha! I understand!”

Your faith in the word will not be diminished. Rather, your faith in man will rightly be reduced, and your glory to God will be magnified when you realize that He has actually protected His word, even from the manipulations by His own chosen people who rejected Him when they rejected Christ.

Have confidence in God, be sure of His word, and trust that what He has proclaimed concerning His Son, His redemption, and His future promises to you are surer than the ground under your feet. Use your brain when you are presented with a doctrine you may have been unaware of before.

There is that which is of God and is reasonable, and there is that which comes from man and is simply wrong. Unless you are willing to study in order to show yourself approved, you will most likely not be approved. Proper theology is hard work, but the rewards for pursing it are heavenly.

As a good summary of this marvelous treasure, this gift and blessing from God, an unknown person penned the following words which are often printed in the Gideon’s Bible. Think on what you hear as I read to you what it says –

The Bible contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable. Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, and practice it to be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you.

It is the traveler’s map, the pilgrim’s staff, the pilot’s compass, the soldier’s sword, and the Christian’s charter. Here Paradise is restored, Heaven opened, and the gates of hell disclosed.

Christ is its grand subject, our good the design, and the glory of God its end.

It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet. Read it slowly, frequently, and prayerfully. It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory, and a river of pleasure. It is given you in life, will be opened at the judgment, and be remembered forever. It involves the highest responsibility, will reward the greatest labor, and will condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents.

I implore you now, to always consider the word of God. Handle it carefully, treat it as the most precious jewel you possess, and love it as God in Christ loves you. It is the rhema, the written word of God, that speaks of the logos – meaning the Word, Christ Jesus –the expression of God in Whom He reveals Himself.

Cherish the one and you will cherish the other.

Closing Verse: “’All flesh is as grass,
And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.
The grass withers,
And its flower falls away,
²⁵ But the word of the Lord endures forever.’
Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.” 1 Peter 1:24, 25

For we walk by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7

The word “for” builds upon what was just said – “So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.” As we are “absent from the Lord” our walk is different than it would be if we were in His presence. The word “walk” denotes our conduct in this life. It is a metaphor used to indicate the things we do and how we do them.

This “walk” for the Christians is a walk of “faith.” We have been saved by Christ and therefore, the conduct of our lives is to be for Him, emulating Him, telling others about Him, anticipating our being gathered to Him, etc. But as he said in the previous verse, at this time we are “absent from the Lord.” Because of this, our walk is entirely one of faith, “not by sight.”

The word “sight” doesn’t mean the active sense of vision. Rather, it means “appearance.” The word faith then is being contrasted with the time when we actually behold Jesus and our new heavenly home. We have never seen Him and we have never experienced heaven, and so our walk in this life is only in anticipation of those things. It is entirely a walk of faith. As the author of Hebrews says –

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1

But in this walk of faith is a blessing in and of itself. In fact, the next verse in Hebrews says, ”For by it the elders obtained a good testimony” (Hebrews 11:2). We obtain a “good testimony” through walking in faith. Jesus confirmed this to the disciples when addressing Thomas after the resurrection –

“Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:29

Life application: Lots of people have claimed to have seen Jesus, and lots of people have claimed to have gone to heaven. This is contrary to what the Bible teaches. If someone has experienced one of these things, then their walk is no longer of faith. And so, we must decide to either believe the Bible or believe them. Though many have seemed convincing about having experienced these things, it is better we reject their stories and accept that we do, in fact, live by faith and not by sight.

Lord God, we don’t need to read the stories people have written about going to heaven or having talked to Jesus. The Bible says that we are to live by faith and not by sight. That is good enough for us. We have researched Your word and we have the surest hope of all that what You have told us is sufficient for our faith and practice. The change in us testifies to this. We will stick to Your word and not fancy stories which do nothing to enhance our walk with You! Amen.