Lesson
7
The
Mighty God in Christ
VII. The Mighty
God in Christ
Who was this Jesus?
This is one of the most important questions we could ever answer. Jesus had
asked His disciples, "Whom say ye that I am?" (Matthew 16:15). Was He
a prophet? Yes, much more than that. A diligent comparison of Old Testament
Scriptures with the New, will reveal that He was God manifest in the flesh (I
Timothy 3:16). The pivotal text of the Old Testament, to the Hebrew scholar, is
Deuteronomy 6:4-9. This lesson is very basic: There is but One God. This truth
is born out in a multitude of Scriptures (refer to chart). According to John
4:23-24, this One God is a Spirit. Who is Jesus? He is God! He is God with us
(Isaiah 7:14). He is the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father (Isaiah 9:6). He is
the One Who created us (Genesis 1:1; Malachi 2:10; John 1:3). (Rather than
continuing to list all the various verses here, refer to them as listed on the
chart.) While Jesus Christ was God, He was also man. This is the mystery of
Godliness: God was manifest in the flesh (I Timothy 3:16). As a man, He
hungered, slept, was weary, and wept. As God He fed the 5,000, healed the sick
and raised the dead. Great confusion is wrought by those who forget that Jesus
was both God and man. He was fully God and fully man!
All Scripture points
to the grand truth that there is but One God:
* God is the Creator;
Jesus is the Creator.
* God is the Savior
and Redeemer; Jesus is the Savior and Redeemer.
* God is the Shepherd;
Jesus is the Shepherd.
* God is the King;
Jesus is the King.
* God is the I AM, and
the I AM HE; Jesus is the I AM, and the I AM HE.
* God is the First and
the Last; Jesus is the First and the Last.
* God is the Rock;
Jesus is the Rock.
* God is Coming; Jesus
is Coming.
The importance of the
identity of Jesus Christ cannot be stressed too much. The Pharisees had asked
Him, "Where is thy Father?" Jesus answered, "Ye neither know me,
nor my Father: if ye had known me ye should have known my Father also. . .for
if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins" (John 8:19-24).
Philip, one of the disciples, said to Him, "Lord, shew us the Father, and
it sufficeth us." Jesus responded, "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? Believest thou not that I
am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak
not of myself but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe
me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the
very works' sake" (John 14:8-11).
The Father (John 4:23,
24), was in the Son (Galatians 4:4). Thus, it was not two separate persons, but
GOD (Spirit) MANIFEST IN THE FLESH (body) (I Timothy 3:16). "God (Spirit)
was in Christ (body) reconciling the world unto himself" (II Corinthians
5:19).
Who was Jesus? He was
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father (Isaiah 9:6). He willingly left heaven's
splendor and came to this earth in the form of a servant and was made in the
likeness of men (Philippians 2:5-8).
Paul clearly revealed
the essential oneness of God in Ephesians 4:5-6:
"One
Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and
through all, and in you all."
A story is told about
Andrew Bahr, who drove a great herd of reindeer across the Alaskan wilderness.
During the long trek, a frenzied helper came to him one winter day crying that
they were lost. Andy glared witheringly at the speaker, then at the others
around him. At length, smiting his chest, he roared, "You men can see me,
can't you?" They nodded, not understanding what he was driving at.
"Well," he went on, "as long as you can see me, you ain't
lost."
In the catastrophic
confusion about us we are not lost so long as we can see the Christ. He ever
says, "Follow me."