Category: God: The Father, the Son Jesus Christ, & the Holy Ghost

He Looks Like His Father

Sunday, June 19, 2011

“Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?” (John 14:9 KJV).

In John 14:7, Jesus Christ told His apostles that they had seen God the Father. Puzzled, Philip replies, “Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us” (verse 8). Today’s Scripture is Jesus’ response, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” Oftentimes, a person bears resemblance to a parent. In the case of Jesus Christ, He looks just like His Father. If we could look at the Lord Jesus Christ, we would be looking at God His Father!

Hebrews 1:3 says Jesus Christ is “the brightness of [His Father’s] glory, and the express image of his person.” The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 4:4 that Jesus is “the image of God.” Colossians 1:15 says Christ is “the image of the invisible God.”

Why does God the Son bear resemblance to God the Father? While they are separate Persons, they are the same God! John 1:1 declares about Jesus Christ: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Christ claimed: “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30). The Bible says in Colossians 2:9 that “in [Christ] dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”

God wants to take us Christians and form Jesus Christ in us. Ephesians 4:13 says, “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:” The Apostle Paul wrote, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,” (Galatians 4:19).

God the Father’s goal is to form Jesus Christ in us. As God’s children, in Christ, we will gradually begin to look like our Father, God!

Happy Father’s Day, especially to You, Heavenly Father! 🙂

The Wages and the Gift

Monday, June 13, 2011

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23 KJV).

Often used to lead someone to salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, today’s Scripture is loaded with doctrine. Two contrasting phrases catch our attention: “the wages of sin” and “the gift of God.” In addition, we see “death” and its antonym “eternal life.”

“Wages” means “compensation for labor.” Contrariwise, “gift” is “something freely given to someone without him or her doing anything to receive it.” Notice the Bible uses “wages” (plural), indicating sin causes two deaths. Physical death, when a soul separates from its physical body, and spiritual death, the “second death,” when a soul is cast into the lake of fire, eternally separated from God’s holy presence (Revelation 20:14,15; 21:8).

Romans 2:6 says God “will render to every man according to his deeds.” Verse 7 explains that God will give eternal life to those “who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality.” Then verses 8 and 9 say, “but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul that doeth evil.”

God will give eternal life to anyone who is perfect, yet Romans 3:23 says none of us can live up to God’s perfect standard because we are sinners. Death is our “wages.” We have earned death because we cannot keep God’s law perfectly (Romans 3:19,20; Galatians 3:10)!

At Calvary’s cross, God demonstrated His wrath “against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,” our sin (Romans 1:18). But, at Calvary’s cross, God also demonstrated His righteousness (Romans 1:17). Jesus Christ, God’s perfect Son, bore our sin and suffered our death. Christ paid our sin debt with His blood, and He now offers His righteousness and eternal life as a free gift to you (Romans 3:21; Romans 5:15-18). Will you receive that gift by trusting in Christ as your personal Saviour?

The wages of sin, or the gift of eternal life… your choice!

Seek Another’s Wealth

Thursday, June 9, 2011

“Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth” (1 Corinthians 10:24 KJV).

Today’s Scripture sits in the context of whether or not it was acceptable for Christians to eat foods that had been offered to pagan idols (this is not a problem for us today). Paul instructed the Corinthians that although God did not forbid them from eating foods offered to pagan idols, they should not eat those foods in the presence of weak believers who did not think it was appropriate to eat those foods (1 Corinthians 10:25-33). The Apostle Paul also dealt with this issue in Romans 14.

The Bible says (1 Corinthians 10:23): “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.” In this the Dispensation of Grace, we are not bound to observe the Mosaic Law. Paul does not instruct us, “Thou shalt…” and “Thou shalt not….” However, “all things are not expedient [profitable, beneficial].” Why? “All things edify not.” Galatians 5:1 says we have liberty in Christ, but let us remember that our actions may tear down someone (and not “edify,” or build them up). See also Galatians 5:13.

In Romans 12:10, the Bible says: “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;” That word “preferring” means to put the Christian brethren before yourself! Before you take action, consider how it may affect others. Will it destroy the Christian fellowship? Or, will it encourage and strengthen your Christian brethren? The “What can I get out of it” attitude brought on by our sinful flesh is overruled by the Bible instructing us to say, “What can others get out of it?”

Most importantly, we recall that the Lord of glory, Jesus Christ, left heaven, “took upon himself the form of a servant” and “humbled himself” (Philippians 2:5-11). Christ Jesus thoroughly demonstrated that He loved us and He endured Calvary’s pain and shame because He was seeking our wealth… our forgiveness and our salvation!

Do You Know Jesus Christ?

Friday, June 3, 2011

“Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name” (Psalm 86:11 KJV).

Are you like King David, the author of Psalm 86? Do you pray for God to show you His will, His way, and His truth?

God wrote a book, the Holy Bible, because a book is permanent, mobile, and can be available to everyone. In order to know God, we must allow Him to reveal Himself to us through His written Word. Everything that God wants you to know about Him and His plan for the universe is found in the Holy Scriptures. God will not speak to us apart from His written Word.

We read in 1 Corinthians 2:9,10: “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.”

God the Holy Spirit teaches us about Himself through His written Word. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16). In the Bible, we learn that: (1) God is one God in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14; 1 John 5:7), and (2) God the Father’s overall plan is to exalt His Son Jesus Christ as the Supreme Ruler of heaven and earth (Ephesians 1:9,10; Philippians 2:9-11).

“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time” (1 Timothy 2:5,6). Jesus Christ, the Grand Person of the Bible, shed His sinless blood for your sins, He was buried, and He was resurrected the third day for your justification (1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Romans 4:25). Will you trust exclusively in Christ as your personal Saviour?

Jesus Christ is knowable. He has always known you. Do you know Jesus Christ?

Do You Want to Know God?

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God…” (Psalm 14:1a KJV).

Atheists claim there is no God because they cannot see Him (see today’s Scripture). We Christians admit that we have never seen God face-to-face and we have never heard God speak audibly to us, so how do we know God exists?

Consider this. We gather tangible data via five different “gates:” eyes, ears, a nose, taste buds, and appendages that perceive touch. However, the capacity of these “gates” is limited: data from a given source cannot be collected via all five “gates.” For example, you cannot smell this website; does it still exist? We are unable to taste voices or see air; do they exist? Our ears cannot hear gravity; yet it exists. We cannot touch the Milky Way Galaxy; yet it exists.

These five “gates” enable our bodies to interact with and perceive our natural environment, but what about invisible things? Values? Ideas? Feelings? These are spiritual, not physical, yet they exist, right?

In the same manner we do not perceive our ideas, values, and feelings through those five “gates,” neither do we use them to perceive God! God does exist because we see God through spiritual eyes, the eyes of faith.

Furthermore, we have an origin, so we know indirectly that God exists. Romans 1:20,21 says: “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful.”

The Bible says that God is our Creator. If God does not exist, then neither do we! Regardless of whether or not we want to believe it, we all know that one Creator God made us. God is “not far from every one of us,” so we can know Him if we want to know Him (Acts 17:27). Do you want to know God?