Rhapsody of Realities 2 June
Scripture: “Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God” (John 5:18).
Until you discover who Jesus really is, you can’t walk with Him. Jesus is Adonai; He’s the Lord God! The very thought of this blows the mind. No wonder the Jews had difficulty accepting Him. They accused Him of making Himself equal with God because He said God was His Father.
They knew that when someone says, “God is my Father,” it doesn’t mean God gave birth to that person, because God is a Spirit. They understood what Jesus was saying: He Himself was Jehovah in human manifestation! In John 10:30, He made another staggering declaration that made them angrier. He said, “I and my Father are one.” In other words, “We’re one and the same; if you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father.”
Now, the Jews got really crazy and they took up stones again to stone Him. But Jesus interrupted them and asked, “…Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?” They replied, “…For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God” (John 10:32-33).
Read yesterday’s Rhapsody of Realities here
Notice the two charges brought against Jesus. The first one was blasphemy for saying God was His Father. The second was robbery, because being a man, He made Himself God. He was therefore condemned with robbers. But the Bible says in Philippians 2:5-6, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.”
This verse was a direct response to the Jewish charge against Jesus that He was a thief for declaring Himself to be equal with God. Jesus didn’t think He was robbing God by being equal with God, because He was in the form of God. The Greek word for “form” is “morphe,” which means “nature.” In other words, He was in the very nature or essence of God. Though He looked like a man, He was in the form of God. In essence, Jesus is God! This is one of the cleverest communications in the New Testament about the deity of Jesus Christ. His claim to deity is right.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, you’re the great God of glory and the complete embodiment of Deity! Thank you for revealing your divine personality to me. I celebrate your Lordship and rulership over my life and over all of creation. You’re the Most High God, and you alone are worthy of all praise, worship and adoration. Amen.
FURTHER STUDY:
Titus 2:13 13 Awaiting and looking for the [fulfillment, the realization of our] blessed hope, even the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One),
1 Timothy 3:16 16 And great and important and weighty, we confess, is the hidden truth (the mystic secret) of godliness. He [God] was made visible in human flesh, justified and vindicated in the [Holy] Spirit, was seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, [and] taken up in glory.
Colossians 1:15-19
15 [Now] He is the exact likeness of the unseen God [the visible representation of the invisible]; He is the Firstborn of all creation.
16 For it was in Him that all things were created, in heaven and on earth, things seen and things unseen, whether thrones, dominions, rulers, or authorities; all things were created and exist through Him [by His service, intervention] and in and for Him.
17 And He Himself existed before all things, and in Him all things consist (cohere, are held together).
18 He also is the Head of [His] body, the church; seeing He is the Beginning, the Firstborn from among the dead, so that He alone in everything and in every respect might occupy the chief place [stand first and be preeminent].
19 For it has pleased [the Father] that all the divine fullness (the sum total of the divine perfection, powers, and attributes) should dwell in Him permanently.
Colossians 2:9 9 For in Him the whole fullness of Deity (the Godhead) continues to dwell in bodily form [giving complete expression of the divine nature].
1-YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: John 17:1-26; 1 Chronicles 9-10
2-YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN:1 Corinthians 15:11-19; Proverbs 29
Thank you for studying today’s Rhapsody of Realities – The Deity of Christ – written by Pastor Chris Oyakhilome.
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Rhapsody of Realities 2 June 2022
