The Name of God: The Name Above Every Name (Part 3)
Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. [2 Corinthians 4:1-4]
It appears that the god of this world has also somehow managed to blind the minds of the believing regarding the true identity of Jesus. How many different ways can the Word state that our Lord Jesus is God Himself in an effort to convince whomever that He is God Himself?
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. [Colossians 1:15]
Due to rampant sin and rebellion among humanity and especially among the Lord’s own people, knowledge of God was largely lost in ancient times prior to the first century. How was He supposed to get our attention? How could He ever relate to humanity?
What if God became one of us?
Joseph the carpenter was a pretty cool guy, but even he was about to mess up big time. It seems that his new wife-to-be was already pregnant.
What?!
Also, the Torah clearly stated that a woman in such a predicament must be stoned.
What?!
Not only that, but Mary kept insisting she was a virgin.
What?!
(“You’re pregnant AND a virgin? What?!”)
What was he to do? Obey his denominational teachings? Run for his life? His religion had no satisfactory answer whatsoever, except to dictate that he simply could not do the will of God, that he could not do the one thing he must do. It was an impossible circumstance that required a miraculous out of the box response:
And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
“She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL,” which translated means, “GOD WITH US.” [Matthew 1:19-23]
So, in other words, an angel of YHWH informed Joseph that his betrothed was pregnant with a Child who was God, the long awaited Messiah prophesied by Isaiah, and that the Father of this Son was the Holy Spirit.
Right.
These facts do not seem to fit standardized Christian theology…
Have a great many Christians become misinformed and unknowing Samaritans?
“Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.”
Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.
“You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.
“God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.”
Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” [John 4:20-26]
Uh Oh.
Like He did with other people on numerous other occasions, the Lord just told the Samaritan woman at the well that He is I AM.
Did He also tell her He was the Father?
“I and the Father are one.” The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?” The Jews answered Him, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.” [John 10:30-33] [1]
Uh Oh.
We must remember that we are dealing with the world’s only pure monotheists at that time in the early first century. The Jews were the only people on the planet who believed in one God, and were condemned and ridiculed for such “nonsense” ad nauseam by a pantheistic heretical world of idol worshippers. Yet, Isaiah and others had made ancient claims that the Messiah would come, and that He would be God Himself. Therefore, those guys in the passage above did not necessarily disbelieve the accurate scriptural prophecies; they simply refused to believe that Jesus could be the guy. Why?
Maybe it was because the Lord wasn’t attituded and duded up like General George S. Patton, four stars, ivory handled sidearms, polished helmet and all, though He greatly outranked Patton or anyone else who ever walked the earth in pure manhood and warrior ability (something Patton would instantly agree with).
Maybe it was because it was also prophesied that the Messiah would first arrive as a humble suffering servant. Or maybe it was because religious people are generally blind as bats.
But even His own disciples didn’t get it most of the time:
“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.” Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’” [John 14:7-9]
Uh Oh.
© 2011 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [Part 3 of 10]
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Posted on October 5, 2011, in Teaching and tagged Christianity, I AM, Immanuel, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity, The Father, The Holy Spirit, The Name of Jesus, The Son, What If God Was One of Us?. Bookmark the permalink. 3 Comments.
Reblogged this on Real Christianity.
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Thanks for the re-blog. We cannot be reminded enough of His Oneness. It is a characteristic we carry in our very being; it is a part of our DNA so-to-speak. We are physically one body, with many parts or members; fine-tuned to function as One; for His Honor and Glory. This same concept of course applies to the Church as the Body of Christ…. And to Marriage and the Family as well.
If memory serves me correctly, I believe I once mentioned to you the “Oneness” of my mom. Mom suffered a stroke in her late 70’s and lost her ability to communicate with the family. You could see in her eyes and facial expression that she wanted to express herself in words, but the words just simply would not come. She would revert to a repetitive: One-to-one-to-one-to-one… One day perhaps I will understand what she was trying to say. Could it have been “there is One God, One Way;” or, “He is One;” perhaps, “keep the family One;” or “One day at a time, sweet Jesus.” An interesting aside was that you could start singing an old hymn and she would pick up the melody and beat of the song. It was my assurance that Mom was One with God, even in her sufferings… Praise God.
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Thanks for the perspective, Bro.
The Lord talks and sings to our heart, regardless of our health. We all occupy weak houses of clay with a time stamp, but our spirits are on an eternal wavelength. We can easily relate to God if not for earthly dissonance and too much attention to fleshly “seeing and hearing” and the temporal things of this world. Sin causes such a break in our communication with the Lord and one another that we sometimes lose the connection entirely. Your mother maintained her song and her hearing regardless of her physical challenges.
Theologians with no spiritual hearing have made God out to be some unfeeling, no-singing three-headed weirdo, and the false doctrine posse has cut many off at the pass. They are religious chuckleheads one and all. If the Bible says anything at all it says there is ONE GOD and His Name is Jesus.
And He is really not so far away, as your blessed mother knew. All we must do is tune in…
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