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The Deity of Jesus Pt. 2

Posted: September 23, 2014

In his Gospel, John set out to make it clear that Jesus, the Word of God that was both with God and was God from the beginning, had become a human being and lived among his people. John accomplished this by writing about eight specific sign miracles of Jesus that related to eight “I AM” statements in which Jesus clearly stated his deity, all of which occurred during the three and a half years of his earthly ministry. Signs were extremely important to the Jews. Throughout the Bible God manifested himself to his people through signs. John writes: “Now Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book; but these (signs) are recorded that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. (NASB)”

The first sign that John records in his gospel was the turning of water into wine at a wedding feast in Cana of Galilee. Being able to change water into wine clearly demonstrated his power as the Creator, Jehovah. The water would have taken the Jewish mind back to the beginning of creation, when God’s Spirit hovered over the waters and created all things, including Adam and Eve, the first married couple ordained by God.

According to John Walvoord in the Bible Knowledge Commentary, the wine represented joy. God’s creative work brings joy to him and to his creation. (In the beginning God looked upon all he created, included Adam and Eve and saw that it was very good. Genesis 1:31 NET) Walvoord also contrasts Jesus turning water into wine as a sign of joy, with Moses turning water into blood, a sign of judgment in Exodus 7:20. The I AM statement of Jesus that corresponds to this first sign is found in John 15:1-8 when Jesus proclaims “I AM the true vine…” and again “I AM the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me—and I in him—bears much fruit…”(NET Bible). The sign miracle demonstrates that Jesus is God the true vine and the source joy (the wine) for those who believe in him.

This sign also relates to the fifth sign that John recorded in his gospel of Jesus walking on water. After Jesus fed the 5,000 and knew that they wanted to make him king, he departed to a certain mountain. His disciples get into a boat and head across the Sea of Galilee from Tiberius to Capernaum. After they rowed in rough seas for a few miles, Jesus comes walking across the water to the boat saying, “It is I, do not be afraid.” Just as God’s Spirit hovered over the waters at creation, now as Jesus Christ, he walks across the waters of his creation. This sign of Jesus power over his creation demonstrates that Jesus is Jehovah, the Almighty God. In John 18:5, 6, Jesus states “I am…I am” clearly communicating that he is Jehovah.

Walvoord, John F., and Roy B. Zuck. The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1983.

Net Bible: New English Translation. [Spokane, Wash.]: Biblical Studies Press, 2003. p. 1990.

Prayer Request from Sidewalk Prophets

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Updated: September 19, 2014

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Christians please pray – just got this update from the Sidewalk Prophets band 11 minutes ago:

“Brothers and Sisters… we received this email from a close friend and supporter of our band today. We ask that you take 3 minutes right now and pray for all involved. Please spread the word. We ask that you take this request seriously…this isn’t a tv show or a movie. It is real life and happening as we speak. We love and appreciate each of you! -SWP
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A friend from Ohio just got a text message from her brother asking her to shower him and his parish in prayer. He is part of a mission team and ISIS has taken over the town they are in today. He said ISIS is systematically going house to house to all the Christians and asking the children to denounce Jesus. He said so far not one child has. And so far all have consequently been killed. But not the parents. The UN has withdrawn and the missionaries are on their own. They are determined to stick it out for the sake of the families – even if it means their own deaths. He is very afraid, has no idea how to even begin ministering to these families who have had seen their children martyred. Yet he says he knows God has called him for some reason to be his voice and hands at this place at this time. Even so, he is begging prayers for his courage to live out his vocation in such dire circumstances… And like the children accept martyrdom if he is
called to do so. She asked me to ask everyone we know to please pray for them. These brave parents instilled such a fervent faith in their children that they chose martyrdom. PLEASE surround them in their loss with your prayers for hope and perseverance. She was able to talk to her brother briefly by phone. She didn’t say it but I believe she believes it will be their last conversation. Pray for her too. She said he just kept asking her to help him know what to do and do it. She told him to tell the families we ARE praying for them and they are not alone or forgotten — no matter what. Her e mail broke my heart. Please keep all in your prayers.
Thanks

How Can We Prove that Jesus is the Messiah?

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Posted: September 7, 2013

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God has given us archaeological evidence, historical evidence, and more importantly, eyewitness testimony.

“On the mouth of two or three witnesses, let a matter be established.” (Deuteronomy 17:6 and 2 Corinthians 13:1)

We have the eyewitness testimonies of Moses, Samuel, Amos, Habakkuk, Ezra, Nehemiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and so on.

We have the eyewitness testimonies of those who saw, heard, touched, and were touched by Jesus Himself. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Mary, Peter, Paul, James, Jude, and so on.

You have your eyewitness testimony, I have mine. Others have theirs.

All of these eyewitness accounts are after the fact. But there is one eyewitness account that is greater than all of these.

God’s testimony. You see, He says that He alone is God and that Jesus is His Messiah, the Savior of the world and His only begotten Son, and that we would know it without a shadow of a doubt because unlike all the other eyewitness accounts that were after the fact, God’s account was before the fact.
He told us the end from the beginning. He told us who Jesus would be BEFORE he came. (Isaiah 46:9-10)

Prophecy is God’s eyewitness account and Jesus fulfilled over 365 pinpoint prophecies when He came the first time.

But God’s eyewitness account isn’t done yet. There are still many more things that God has said that are being fulfilled today, and are going to be fulfilled tomorrow an on into the future, until He has accomplished all His plans for saving the human race, both Jews and Gentiles, people from every family, every language.

But not everyone will be saved, only those who believe all the evidence that God has so painstakingly provided, guarded, and communicated to us through the Bible, and through His people, and through the miraculously continued existence of the Jewish people that Satan has tried but failed to annihilate over and over again.

So God says to all of us: “do not be faithless and unbelieving, but believe and keep believing the truth I have given you.” And Jesus Christ says: “You believe in God, believe also in me.” (John 14:1)

The End is Better Than the Beginning

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Posted: April 3, 2013

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Can you sense the change? This morning when I walked outside I could feel the difference. Spring and the renewal of life. As I drove out of my subdivision, I noticed two large willow trees in bloom. As I drove to work, the sun was just coming up and my thoughts turned to the LORD and something He taught me during a time of prayer a year or so ago.

The Scripture says that nature declares the handiwork of God. I had prayed and asked the LORD to teach me something from nature. He reminded me from Genesis how the days were created… evening and morning the first day, evening and morning the second day, and so on. Always evening then morning. Darkness then light. In our western culture we have it backwards. We follow morning then evening. But with the LORD, the end is always better than the beginning. Just as we start out in the darkness of sin and the fear of eternal death, then the light of Jesus Christ’s redemption, salvation, and promise of eternal life with God dawns in our hearts as we respond to the gospel follows the pattern of darkness and then light. The end is better than the beginning.

In the same way, we go from Winter to Spring and the LORD in His infinite wisdom placed the Passover of Christ, His crucifixion and resurrection right at the transition from Winter to Spring. So as the Sun rose this morning, the joy of the resurrection and the promise of new life in Christ Jesus filled my soul. What an amazing God. WIth Jesus Christ, the end is better than the beginning.

The Deity of Jesus Pt. 1

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Posted: January 4, 2013

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When Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?[1]” they told him that some thought he was John the Baptist, some thought he was Elijah, and others thought he was the Prophet spoken of by Moses. When he asked them, “Who do you say that I am?[2]” Peter proclaimed that Jesus was “the Christ, the Son of the Living God![3]” Jesus told his disciples that Peter’s statement was a revelation from God the Father in Heaven and would be the immovable cornerstone upon which his church is built.

Although today, some people may argue that believing in miraculous signs isn’t a good foundation for faith (they also argue that ‘real’ faith is only based on believing the Word of God), the reality is that God always meets people at their level of faith and works to increase their faith, even through miraculous signs. In fact John’s purpose for writing his gospel, centered primarily upon 8 specific signs, was not only to increase peoples’ faith, but to bring it to the point where we believe the truth that Jesus is Himself the Son of God in human form, with the very same nature as God the Father in heaven. John writes: “Now Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book; but these (signs) are recorded that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.[4]”

Signs were extremely important to the Jews, and throughout the Bible God manifested himself to His people through signs. Leon Morris notes that John’s distinctive use of the word sign is “an important word which points to something beyond itself… It has a meaning that is fulfilled elsewhere than in the miracle.”[5] According to Elmer Towns in the book The Gospel of John: Believe and Live, the word John used for signs was a specific word (semeion in the Greek) to demonstrate Jesus’ deity, and was different than the words used for miracles in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

In a letter to one of the churches, Paul wrote that the Jews demanded miraculous signs and Gentiles seek after wisdom. It is also interesting to note that the gospel of John alternates between Jesus’ signs and his discourses to satisfy both Jews and Gentiles about Christ’s deity.

[1] New American Standard Bible. (La Habra, CA: Foundation Press Publications, Publisher for the Lockman Foundation, 1971), p. 1763.

[2] Ibid. p. 1764.

[3] Ibid. p. 1764.

[4] New American Standard Bible. (La Habra, CA: Foundation Press Publications, Publisher for the Lockman Foundation, 1971), p. 2011, 2012.

[5] Morris, Leon. Jesus Is the Christ: Studies in the Theology of John. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Pub., 1989. p. 2.