Author Archives: Royce

Sep 17 2008

The Deity of Jesus …Fact of fiction #3


 

As Jesus begins His great high priestly prayer in John 17 He says to the Father in verse 5 “And now Father, glorify me with your own presence with the glory I had with you before the world existed”.

In Philippians 2:6-8 we read “(Jesus)Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross”. Jesus “was in the form of God”, was equal (equality) with God, “made himself nothing”, and “humbled himself”. Here it is clear that Christ’s life transcends both time and eternity.

The same idea is conveyed in John 1 where it says in verse 14 that He “became flesh and dwelt among us”. Unique among all humans who ever lived He clearly lived before His birth.

Further in John’s account in 6:62 He said to his disciples “Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before”? And in John 8:58 the familiar verse “Before Moses was I AM”. There was no doubt to the hearers that His claim was that he lived before Moses and that He is God. The “I AM” is a translation of Yahweh, or more correctly YHVH, the name reserved and revered as the name of the God of Israel. Jesus claimed to live before Moses and to be God in the same breath.

(It is wonder that anyone can reject these plain truths of the Bible, even Jesus’ very words, and still proudly refer to themselves as Christians.)

Post # 4 will prove without any doubt that Jesus is God to any person who wants to know the truth.

In Him,
Royce

Sep 13 2008

The deity of Jesus …Fact or fiction #2


I am always amazed what nuggets of truth can be discovered in scripture that are more often than not passed right over, and for the most part go unnoticed. 1 Peter 1:11 is such a verse. Peter is speaking about the gospel of Jesus, the trials, joys and hope that accompanies those who trust Him, and then he talks of the prophets of ages past who prophesied concerning the suffering and glory of Christ. In verse 11 he says about those prophets “… the spirit of Christ in them was indicating the sufferings of Christ…” Centuries before a birth in Bethlehem, before the cross, before the resurrection of Jesus, He was active in revealing partially to the prophets the salvation that had been planned long before the creation of the universe. The spirit of Christ could hardly be doing anything hundreds of years before He would come in flesh had he not existed prior to His humble birth as Mary’s child.

Another example of Christ being active in Old Testament history is found in 1 Corinthians 10:1-4. Paul is warning against idolatry and he says “For I want you to know, brothers that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ”. Even a rank skeptic must agree that if the Bible is true, then Jesus lived before His birth.  

Jesus existed before His natural birth “in time”. Post # number 3 will show that Christ also existed before time began, that He is God and is eternal.

In Him,
Royce

Sep 11 2008

The Deity of Jesus…fact or fiction? #1


Many centuries before the birth of Jesus the prophet Isaiah predicted the virgin birth of Jesus (Isaiah 7:14) saying He should be called Immanuel, which means “God with us”. When an angel speaks to Joseph in a dream about the birth of Jesus he says

“Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
   “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
   and they shall call his name Immanuel.”  

   (Which means, God with us). 24When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife; 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.” (Matthew 1:20-23)

This text, including the quote from Isaiah, is the first in the New Testament to establish the deity of Jesus who is the Christ.

1.    “for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit”. Only God can cause a virgin to conceive a child without the sperm of a man. This fact sets this child apart from all others. With no human father, but God as his father, He must be God. Kind begets kind. Sheep have sheep, apple trees propagate more apple trees, birds more birds of their kind, reptiles follow kind and on and on, it is the result of the order of creation. The birth of Jesus is no exception, God begets God. In His humanity, and in His role in the Godhead, Jesus is the Son of God.

2.    “call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins”. Who but God can save sinners from their sins? The obvious answer is “nobody”. Only God can save a soul and of course Jesus could, did, and still is today.

3.    “and they shall call His name Immanuel” (which means God with us) The word “Immanuel” is a combination of two Hebrew words “immanu” and “EL”. The first, “immanu” simply means “with us” and “EL” is one of the several holy names of God, and reserved only for God. It is this God who would be conceived in a virgin by the Holy Spirit. It is this God who would save people from their sins. It is this God, the Christ (anointed one), who would now be with the people on planet earth in a human body.

As wonderful as this narrative is, it is not the beginning of Jesus. In the next post I will talk about His eternal existence. The account of Jesus’ birth was only a description of His incarnation, not His beginning. We will see that being God He had no beginning. Only created things have beginnings, the Creator does not.

In Him,
Royce

 

Sep 8 2008

MSNBC Drops Olbermann, Matthews as News Anchors


Finally the suits at MSNBC smell the coffee and Olberman and Matthews have been spanked on the hand. The Washington Postreports this morning that these two liberal hacks can no longer anchor political events. My question is why do they keep them at all. Matthews show “Hardball” consistently has the worst ratings of all news shows on air.

It seems that NBC will continue it’s slide toward oblivion. The next new show on MSNBC? None other than Rachel Maddow of Air America fame. She is worse than Matthews or Olbermann.

The people decide by purchasing goods and services and viewing and listening to broadcasts. Fox still tops the charts. No one is force to watch. They are just better than the others and the ratings prove it.

Royce