Tag: John

  • Before Christmas Evangelicalism Advent 1

    Before Christmas Evangelicalism Advent 1

    Before Christ

    Before Creation

    And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.

    Genesis (Beginning) 2:5 KJV ..in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,

    Here witness a time before Adam, before an incarnational Birth of the Christ, yet not Before Jesus the eternal Son of the One Triune God.


    Before Re-Creation

    Note that I did not say 'recreation' as we often view these days of the pre-christmas season. 

    The Bible points to a renewal of a corrupted creation we noted in the beginning - a creation corrupted by SIN.

    The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.

    And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.

    Genesis 6:11-12 KJV

    Ark Encounter full-size replica of Noah's ark built to Biblical specs

    Have you considered that in the time of Noah and Before Christ

    ONLY Noah and his wife, along with their three sons and their wives, were chosen to be SAVED from the destruction to come.

    The DOOR to salvation on Noah’s ark would not have been open to you. Yet God may have brought you to the Door of Christ Jesus in these last days.

    Roger@TalkofJesus.com


    Before and After

    Before, of course, can mean ‘face to face.’

    Then the LORD said to Noah,

    “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation.

    Genesis 7:1 ESV פָּנִים


    We ought not speak of BEFORE without considering the consequent AFTER.

    In the context of TIME, and even before time, what comes after or NEXT typically follows before. We speak of consequence or result of what has come before.

    Before I was afflicted I went astray:

    but now have I kept thy word.

    Psalm 119:67 KJV

    And unique events such as the incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection of Christ still reflect a TIME before AND (except for the end of days) a TIME after. 

    .. the sun stood still, and the moon stayed..

    And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the LORD fought for Israel.

    Joshua 10: [12-15 context NKJV]

    Before our fathers or families

    It’s right there from the beginning:

    Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

    Genesis 2:24 NKJV

    Do you know this one?

    אֲנִי הִנֵּה בְרִיתִי אִתָּךְ וְהָיִיתָ לְאַב הֲמֹון גֹּויִם׃

    “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.

    “No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.

    וְלֹא־יִקָּרֵא עֹוד אֶת־שִׁמְךָ אַבְרָם וְהָיָה שִׁמְךָ אַבְרָהָם כִּי אַב־הֲמֹון גֹּויִם נְתַתִּיךָ׃

    בְּרֵאשִׁית (Genesis) 17:14-15 WLC & NKJV

    This PERSONAL interaction between the Creator and Living God of timeless eternity and a created son of Adam and Noah wandering through lands of other kings and princes clearly points to a unique time BEFORE CHRIST was born as a Son of Man in a manger in Bethlehem of Judea.

    AFTER this unique time Before Christ, Judah (and Israel) had yet to be conquered, named, lost, regained and renamed over centuries of the sons of Abraham.

    The chosen Before Christ

    For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.

    Deuteronomy 7:6 KJV

    But I'm getting ahead of myself. 
    We'll take a look at Moses and the Law later in this Advent series, God-willing. - RH)

    Jesus Christ, the grown Son of Man born of Mary and Son of God conceived by the Holy Spirit said this to well-schooled leaders of the Jews.

    ..it is my Father who is glorifying me, of whom ye say that He is your God..

    Abraham, your father, was glad that he might see my day; and he saw, and did rejoice.’

    The Jews, therefore, said unto him, ‘Thou art not yet fifty years old, and Abraham hast thou seen?’

    Jesus said to them,

    ‘Verily, verily, I say to you, Before Abraham’s coming — I am;’

    excerpt from Gospel of John 8: Young’s Literal Translation (YLT)

    The CHILD of MARY in a manger in Bethlehem of Judea IS the Christ, the Messiah of Israel and Savior of souls! Yet even BEFORE these pivotal historic events in the history of mankind, JESUS IS the Son of God — even as HE IS now and forever..


    I am the door, through me if any one may come in, he shall be saved, and he shall come in, and go out, and find pasture.

    Gospel of John 10:9 YLT – Invitation of Jesus Christ to any who would follow Him
    sheep by a manger

    The Lamb of God in a manger

    Talk of JESUS . com

    Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel


  • The Holy Spirit IS that I AM

    The Holy Spirit IS that I AM

    The Holy Spirit IS.
    I am the Spirit of God.
    I am the LORD.


    The HOLY SPIRIT of Trinity

    Glory be to God the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit

    Who IS God?

    It’s a question we all ask and a familiar question asked by many souls before us.

    Moses said to God,

    “If I go to the Israelites and tell them,

    The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’

    and they ask me, What is his name?’ – what should I say to them?”


    JESUS asked His Apostles a rhetorically similar question:

    And He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

    τὸν Χριστὸν τοῦ θεοῦ

    And Peter answered and said, “The [Messiah] Christ of God.”


    The Apostle Matthew’s Gospel witnesses this same relational answer of his fellow Apostle Peter:

    God our Father and Lord

    Trinity = God the Father + God the Son Jesus Christ + God the Holy Spirit

    We get it humanly – the relationship of a son (or daughter) to a father (or to our mother).

    Human AND ever-existing SON

    Mortal men and women can relate to a Son of THE FATHER.

    We understand, in part, that JESUS was flesh and blood, body and brain a perfect human son of man (Mary, actually: ‘man‘ as in human like all of us).

    John, the Apostle who speaks so well relationally in the witness of his Gospel tells us:

    But these [signs, proofs or miracles] are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

    The Twelve, having loved their friend and Master whom they followed willingly, understood a relational link between JESUS and each of His disciples personally.

    When the Lord in so many ways showed His Disciples His ever-existing relationship to Almighty God our Father — HIS Father from before the beginning — they could not have been more awe struck that GOD stood in their human presence.

    My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

    My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.

    I and my Father are one.

    We get that - in a human sense of relationship.

    Jesus and Spirit

    Yet think from the witness of any of the Twelve of the impact of JESUS, the living Christ they follow, telling His disciples: “I and the Father are One.”

    Just like all faithful Jews, these disciples had recited the Sh'ma since their childhood:

    Sh’ma Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Eḥad

    שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָד׃

    Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:


    Even so, the Disciples had heard their Master instruct Nicodemus, a leader of the Sanhedrin:

    Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

    That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

    John’s Gospel continues with Jesus’ further explanation of the Spirit:

    • Although mankind is flesh and blood, created from dust and water,
    • and Man is created in God’s image;
    • Man, LIKE GOD, is also spirit.

    What is Spirit?

    John begins his Gospel with Jesus (the Word) and the Spirit.

    John’s clear reference is the beginning written in the word of Moses:

    בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ׃

    וְהָאָרֶץ הָיְתָה תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ וְחֹשֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵי תְהֹום וְרוּחַ אֱלֹהִים מְרַחֶפֶת עַל־פְּנֵי הַמָּיִם׃

    JESUS, THE WORD, WAS WITH GOD AND WAS GOD — ‘hovering over ‘a waste and emptiness,’ in the darkness over a face of the deep



    Spirit [spirit] – rûaḥ – רוּח

    • The KJV translates Strong’s H7307 in the following manner: Spirit or spirit (232x), wind (92x), breath (27x), (various additional)
    • Two additional uses in Genesis show both the Spirit of God and His quickening spirit in His creatures, including mankind:
      • And the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; – Gen. 6:3a NKJV
      • And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life.. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. – Gen. 7:15,22 NKJV

    COMMENTARY


    Man cannot grasp the whirlwind or the unseen breath of God, yet JESUS, who IS One with the Father tells us:

    God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth.”


    πνεῦμα – pneuma in the New Testament

    Spirit in the New Testament – basically has the same meaning AND is just as mysterious, illusive as the breath of angels. – RH

    spirit in a living soul
    • the spirit, i.e. the vital principal by which the body is animated
      • the rational spirit, the power by which the human being feels, thinks, decides
      • the soul
    How do you think of your own spirit? 

    “Blessed are the poor in spirit,

    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

    Gospel of Matthew 5:3 LSB from the Beatitudes of Jesus Christ

    Consider a mysterious ethereal truth: observable, yet beyond measure of man's contemporary thought. 
    
    spirits apart from your own mortal soul
    • a spirit, i.e. a simple essence, devoid of all or at least all grosser matter, and possessed of the power of knowing, desiring, deciding, and acting
      • a life giving spirit
      • a human soul that has left the body
      • a spirit higher than man but lower than God, i.e. an angel
        • used of demons, or evil spirits, who were conceived as inhabiting the bodies of men
        • the spiritual nature of Christ, higher than the highest angels and equal to God, the divine nature of Christ

    spirit and soul alike, yet distinct

    Before proceeding to the more powerful and most mysterious Holy Spirit of God, 

    consider beyond flesh and blood, mind and spirit --
    that which is the same in Old and New Testaments, yet having subtle ungraspable distinction: spirit and soul.

    We hear it also in the heart of Isaiah, a Prophet of God:

    With my soul [nep̄eš] I have desired You in the night,
    Yes, by my spirit [rûaḥ] within me I will seek You early;
    For when Your judgments are in the earth,
    The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

    • soul – psychē – NT Greek
    • soul – nep̄eš – נֶפֶשׁ – OT Hebrew

    the HOLY Spirit

    Although related to spirit, we cannot examine the soul today as part of our brief topic of the Trinity and Holy Spirit.

    Spirit – rûaḥ or pneuma

    Spirit of God, the third person of the triune God, the Holy Spirit, coequal, coeternal with the Father and the Son

    1. as inspiring ecstatic state of prophecy
    2. as impelling prophet to utter instruction or warning
    3. imparting warlike energy and executive and administrative power
    4. as endowing men with various gifts
    5. as energy of life
    6. as manifest in the Shekinah glory
    7. never referred to as a depersonalised force

    Gospel of Matthew 1:18 NKJV

    Simply the human beginning of the son of man (Mary, a virgin, that is; bearing a second adam in the line of God’s created ones).

    Certainly mysterious, controversial to this day to the psyches and spirits of mortal men and women who resist the Spirit of God.


    πνεῦμα – pneuma – spirit OR ghost


    As mysterious as Ghost or the Spirit may be to mankind, its root word [Strong’s G4154 – pneō] directs our thoughts

    • to breathe hard, i.e. breeze:—blow (of the wind)

    Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.

    Flesh is born of flesh, but spirit is born of the Spirit. Do not be amazed that I said, ‘You must be born again.’

    The wind blows where it wishes. You hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

    The HOLINESS of God

    GOD IS HOLY text of Deuteronomy 6:13

    NO mention of Trinity is absent the key concept of HOLY in reference to the HOLY GHOST or the HOLY SPIRIT.

    We have examined the doctrines of Holiness previously:

    DOCTRINE: GOD IS HOLY

    I encourage you in the spirit to pray with ears to hear the Holy Spirit of the Lord God, who IS ONE with the Father and the Son our savior Jesus Christ.


    Cast me not away from your presence,
    and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

    God has raised this Jesus to life, to which we are all witnesses.

    Exalted, then, to the right hand of God, He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.

    God LORD Father JESUS Son Holy Spirit

  • Jesus Christ 2 the Person and His Roles

    Jesus Christ 2 the Person and His Roles

    Who is this Jesus? Has God sent us the Christ – the anointed Messiah?

    God and The Person of JESUS

    JESUS IS and was and will be.

    Talk of JESUS .com Jesus Christ IS Lord – 1

    JESUS IS God! just as we introduced last time through the beginning in John’s Gospel — “..and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God..”

    “No one has ever yet seen God..”

    John 1:18a Berean Standard Bible

    Begotten, NOT made

    John continues [John 1:18 BLB].

    “.. the only begotten God who is in the bosom G2859 of the Father, He has explained Him.

    Gospel of John 1:18 LSB – Strong’s G2859 – kolpos – ‘the front of the body between the arms

    Look closely at John’s Gospel and understand that GOD IS ONE, yet God is a God of relationship – THREE PERSONS with very personal roles and relationships to created men and women.

    Jesus, himself, confessed:

    “I and the Father are one.”

    John 10:30

    the Personality of JESUS the Son

    • Can you attach a Personality to the Face of God who you cannot see?
    • Will you relate to a PILLAR OF FIRE or the unseen Hand of the whirlwind?

    God the Father of our Lord JESUS Christ reveals from His unseen ever-existence, two Personalities, a loving Father and His only Son, to which created mankind can relate in addition to His unseen Spirit-to-spirit power, Holy and separated from that which He has created.

    Roger@TalkofJesus.com

    Personality of sons and daughters of man

    per·son·al·i·ty (pûr′sə-nălĭ-tē) DEFINITION

    The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.

    Body, mind and spirit born of a woman

    1. The totality of qualities and traits, as of character or behavior, that are peculiar to a specific person.
    2. The collection of distinctive qualities of a person, especially those distinguishing personal characteristics that make one socially appealing
    3. The quality or condition of being a person.

    WE cannot comprehend the TOTALITY of the Personality of JESUS the SON of GOD any more than that of God the FATHER.


    Jesus IS God from God

    The PERSON of JESUS — perhaps a little difficult to understand, but we can relate to HIS relationship as SON of the One Father of all, even Almighty God.

    And as mysterious and illusive is God’s power, so we must hear from what God has said through Scripture about the Person of the Holy Spirit.

    Our basic CHRISTIAN teaching and belief, including study of GOD [theology] as THE TRINITY is outlined in several creeds of the church, including the NICENE CREED written by our Church fathers in A.D. 325.


    JESUS Christ explained by the Nicene Creed

    We believe in one God..

    And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God,

    Begotten from the Father, only begotten,

    that is, from the substance of the Father,

    God from God, light from light, true God from true God,

    begotten not made,

    of one substance with the Father,

    through Whom all things came into being,

    things in heaven and things on earth…

    THINK about these TEACHINGS of our Church Fathers living just a few generations after the incarnate JESUS, Son of Man.

    Consider in your heart for a moment of our mortal time:
    WHY would GOD show His Face to mankind as a Son, our Lord and Savior JESUS CHRIST?
    • We cannot be like GOD; but why would GOD want to become as one of us?

    Why not consider JESUS in your heart rather than dismissing the God you cannot see simply in your self-created thoughts?

    JESUS the Person of relationship with our personality

    Hear the theology of our our Church fathers as you embrace the mystery of God in more of the Nicene Creed:

    Jesus Christ..

    Who because of us men and because of our salvation came down, and became incarnate

    [Embodied in human form; personified – American Heritage Dictionary]

    and became man,

    and suffered,

    and rose again on the third day, and ascended to the heavens,

    and will come to judge the living and dead

    JESUS.. the GOD-MAN!

    Returning to the unseen.. in the heavens..

    Christ ascended

    AND WILL COME AGAIN TO JUDGE THE LIVING AND THE DEAD..

    which is of course the ROLE and right of GOD ALMIGHTY, Creator of all men and Maker all things.


    the Role of Christ Jesus

    Even though we cannot fully understand incarnation, that is, GOD becoming a MAN — let’s not confuse the PERSON of JESUS (of one substance with the Father and the Holy Spirit) with the ROLES of JESUS.

    Χριστὸν – Christ

    And He [Jesus] said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

    And Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.”

    Gospel of Luke 9:20 LSB [vs. 18-20]

    Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”
    Peter replied, “You are the Messiah [Or the Christ. Messiah (a Hebrew term) and Christ (a Greek term) both mean “the anointed one.”] sent from God!”

    Gospel of Luke 9:20 New Living Translation


    MORE about JESUS the Messiah or Christ of God NEXT time, God-willing.

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