Considering Jesus: Jesus is God

Let us continue to “consider Jesus.” (Heb. 3:1) 

John begins his gospel by stating “the Word (Jesus) was with God and the Word was God” (Jn. 1:1). This is a fact that scripture affirms in a variety of interesting claims. 

Early on in his gospel, Matthew tells us of His coming and its meaning. “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.” (1:23)

Peter tells us that He is our “God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 1:1). This agrees with the prophecy of Isaiah that “your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, Who is called the God of all the earth.” (Isa 54:5)

The apostle Paul declared him to be, “the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.” in Romans 9:5. and the we should all be,  “looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus” in Titus 2:13.

Paul records for us a little poem, likely an early hymn, that tells the whole story of Jesus in a few words. “By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness: He [God] who was revealed in the flesh,/Was vindicated in the Spirit,/Seen by angels,/Proclaimed among the nations,/Believed on in the world,/Taken up in glory.” (1 Tim. 3:16)

As John summarizes for us as revelation was coming to come to a close: “And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” (1 Jn. 5:20)

Considering Jesus: The Glory Of Israel

Let us continue to “consider Jesus.” (Heb. 3:1) 

Luke 2:29-32 “Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, According to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation, Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, A Light of revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.”

In Luke 2:25ff we are told the story of when elderly, devout Simeon saw the infant Jesus being brought to the temple. He was told that he would live long enough to see the Messiah, and so when he saw Jesus, he praised God and quoted Isaiah 42:6 about Jesus being a light to the nations and paraphrased Micah 2:32 about Him as the glory of Israel.

To the Gentiles He was a light like they had never known or even conceived, since they were without hope and without God in the world, and strangers to His promises. (Eph. 2:12) But for Israel, Jesus was the glory that they should have been expecting. He was God with them, the perfect example of man in the flesh, the fulfillment of the prophecies and all their sound hopes. 

John said that he saw his glory, (Jn. 1:14) but that did not understand, appreciate or receive Him.(Jn. 1:12) He was the glory of the nation, one of the main reasons for the nation to continue to exist as a people, and still they missed it.Their glory came, and to their shame, they did not see Him.

Considering Jesus: The Radiance Of God’s Glory

Let us continue to “consider Jesus.” (Heb. 3:1) 

Heb. 1:3 “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high”

Our God is the “God of glory.” From the beginning of the Bible (“Behold, the LORD our God has shown us His glory and His greatness” Duet. 5:24) to the end (“And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.” Rev. 21:23) the great glory of God is made manifest so that man may worship and honor Him.

This relates to Jesus because in Heb. 1:3, the Hebrew writer tells us that Jesus is the bright radiance of the that glory. Jesus is the very brightest part of the glory of God. 

Jesus is the glory of the God of glory. He is the glory of God personified. This is why He and the father are one, and to see Jesus is to see the Father. A glimpse of the glory was seen on the mount of transfiguration, and it awaits to be fully revealed to us at the end. “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.” (1 Jn. 3:2)

A Case For Traditional Marriage

Consider this:  

...Besides children, women who carry the burden of pregnancy are obviously at greater risk than men in the childbearing process. Historically, gendered marriage has tied men to their children and to the mothers who sacrifice to create them. This arrangement not only overcomes but also compliments the biological differences of men and women.

Finally, gendered marriage addresses the rights of fathers. Fatherhood is the most fragile biological relationship in the father-mother-child triangle. The bond between mother and child is obvious. The father less so. Marriage closes this gap by legally binding a father to a mother and child, giving him both rights and responsibilities in a relationship that, by the way, dramatically affects the successful socialization of children.

This observation is from is a Mormon magazine, but this argument is based in biology, not theology. The problem is that for the past half century our culture and law have made a priority of minimizing the differences between the sexes. If one accepts contemporary feminism's premise that men and women are essentially interchangeable, it is very difficult to formulate a coherent reason why, for the purposes of marriage, one of each should be treated any differently from two of one or the other..

Consider Jesus: The Gift of God

Let us continue to “consider Jesus.” (Heb. 3:1) 

Jn. 4:10 “Jesus answered and said to her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, “Give Me a drink,” you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.’”

Jesus asked the woman at the well for a simple and easy to accomplish favor, He asked for a drink of water. She was drawing water anyway, a little bit for him wouldn’t have even been as much as got sloshed out getting the water home. But she gave him an off-putting answer. Doing it would have been simpler than conversing about it, but how often do we talk much instead of do even a little? 

Jesus didn’t reproach her severely, but told her that if she really knew what God had given and what God was doing how differently she would act. She thought of what she was asked to give (not much) and was missing what could be given to her (eternal life). So many things in this life is lost for lack of asking, how much more the things of eternal life and blessings. 

This opportunity was not lost for her only because Jesus kept insisting on giving her what she almost seemed to be trying to miss. And so it is for the greatest gift that was ever given. God gave His son (“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son…”) and many people miss that gift repeatedly. The gift is presented to us in so many way and so many times but we often keep missing it. 

Still the Father keeps presenting us His gift, just like a patient father knowing what is best for his children even thought they are all to often oblivious to the value and need of the gift. Jesus once asked if any father would give his son a stone when he asked for bread, or a snake for a fish. If, He said, you give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give good gifts to His? (Matt. 7:9-11). Thanks be to Him that He gave and wants us to take His gift.

Consider Jesus: The Friend of Sinners

Let us continue to “consider Jesus.” (Heb. 3:1) 

Matt. 11:19 “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax-gatherers and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

Luke 7:34 “The Son of Man has come eating and drinking; and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man, and a drunkard, a friend of tax-gatherers and sinners!’”

The charge that Jesus was a friend of sinners is at once a false and slanderous charge and the most true and wonderful affirmation ever. 

The Jewish enemies of Jesus thought that He was too close to those who they felt were entirely given over to sin. They did not recognize that Jesus was with those in sin to teach them, to restore them, to heal them. “And hearing this, Jesus said to them, ‘It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’” (Mark 2:17) 

So Jesus was in fact the greatest friend to sinners that there ever was. He loved, helped, taught, encouraged, uplifted and saved sinners like no one ever did, but did so truly without ever approving or partaking in their sins. 

So a friend to, a participant in, sin: No, never. It’s a scurrilous charge. A friend, a true helper, to sinners: Marvelously, Yes.

Consider Jesus: The Foundation

Let us continue to “consider Jesus.” (Heb. 3:1) 

1 Cor. 3:10,11 “According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it.  11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

Jesus is the foundation of what we believer. It all rests on, starts with, is built on, is supported by Him. He is the exclusive foundation of the church. Paul was arguing to the Corinthians that even though other people may help the church by adding to it, by bringing more people in and helping those already there, it was still and always Christ that the building, the church, was built on. 

For all times, the only foundation is Christ built on the fact the He is the Son of God. (cf. Matt. 16:18; 1 Peter 2:4-8; Eph. 2:20; Isa. 28:16) The foundation is the most fundamental part of a building, since all else is built upon it.  While it is possible to build wrongly on a good foundation, if the foundation is wrong, nothing else can be truly right.

So, like Jesus taught in the sermon on the mount (Matt. 7:24-27), let us build our house on the solid rock so we can be secure when the wind and rains come, and not upon the sand that has not stability to it and will always ultimately disappoint. 

As we sing in the old hymn: “The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord,” and a solid foundation it is.

Consider Jesus: Forerunner

Let us continue to “consider Jesus.” (Heb. 3:1) 

Heb 6:19,20“This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil,  20  where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”

A forerunner is a scout, and advance person, a trailblazer and preparer. Normally in this regard we think of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ. And this is true, “And it is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah…” (Luke 1:17) But this is not the only “forerunner” in the gospel.

Just as John went ahead of Jesus readying the way for Him, Jesus goes ahead of us to ready the way to heaven. He has done what we cannot yet have done, He has gone behind the veil, behind the curtain as it were, He has gone to where we cannot yet see to prepare the way for us. We can fully trust him to lead the way because He has gone there Himself. 

If we want to go to heaven we follow the one who laid down, mark out, and traveled the path for us and has clearly shown us which way to go.

Consider Jesus: The First Born

Let us continue to “consider Jesus.” (Heb. 3:1) 

Several times n the New Testament, Jesus is called the “firstborn,” in the KJV first ‘begotten,” several times in different aspects, but always with the same basic meaning, that of being the most preeminent one.

Heb 1:6 “…He again brings the first-born into the world…” Jesus is the first-born of God. Of the children of God, Jesus is the first, the main, the most important one. 

Col. 1:15 “And He is…the first-born of all creation.” In all creation He is the most preeminent. This is true to the degree that this passage declares all things were made “for Him” and “by Him.” 

Rom. 8:29 “…His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren” Of all the brethren, He is the first, the primary, the most important one. He is the head of the order, the savior or us all, and the great example for the brethren. 

Rev 1:5 “Jesus Christ…the first-born of the dead…” Of all those raised from the dead, and there with a handful in the Old Testament and in the gospels and Acts, He is obviously the most important one. His resurrection proved Him to be the Son of God and brings us salvation. 

So in anything he’s involved in, He is the most important one of it. As the psalmist prophesied long ago: “I also shall make him My first-born, The highest of the kings of the earth.” (Ps. 89:27)

Consider Jesus: Finisher Of The Faith

Let us continue to “consider Jesus.” (Heb. 3:1) 

Heb 12:2“fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter [finisher – KJV, NKJV] of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Jesus is the beginning, middle and end of our salvation. Sometimes that is explicitly stated, as in this verse and the in the Alpha and Omega passages (Rev. 1:8, 21:6; 22:13) He is fully the “Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” (Rev. 22:13)

The first description of Him here is that He is the “author,” the starting or originator or our faith. Then he also brings it to completion, to perfection, to its fullness. So He is the creator and sustainer of it until the very end. 

The beginning and ending of the faith is true for us in two parts. First, that the work He planned and set out to do, He did. He came to earth, loved us, taught His way, was successfully the sacrifice for our sins, and set the church in motion. But then, in a second, in a personal way for each of us, He helps us to reach the end and object of our faith by sustain us in our faith through His teaching and help for us in being a Christian until the ultimate day. “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 1:6)

Consider Jesus: Everlasting Father

Let us continue to “consider Jesus.” (Heb. 3:1) 

Isa. 9:6,7  “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given;

    and the government shall be upon his shoulder,

        and his name shall be called

    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

        Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

    Of the increase of his government and of peace

        there will be no end,

    on the throne of David and over his kingdom,

        to establish it and to uphold it

    with justice and with righteousness

        from this time forth and forevermore.

    The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.”

We often think of Jesus as a son to the Father and as a brother to us, and these are His primary relationships. But these are not the only relationships that Jesus has with us. He is our Lord (1 Pet. 1:3), our priest (Heb. 7:26), our mediator (1 Tim. 2:5), a mediator (Heb. 9:15), an advocate (1 Jn. 2:1), and many other things to us. In Isaiah 9, He is also the “Everlasting Father.” We with absolute certainty that Jesus is the subject of this prophecy since He is the one who sits on the throne of David in the kingdom of God.

While a son to the Heavenly Father, He is a father to us. Jesus. A fatherever there, ever living, ever hearing, ever helping, every meditating, every lasting.

Consider Jesus: Faithful and True

Let us continue to “consider Jesus.” (Heb. 3:1) 

Rev. 3:14“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this:”

Rev. 19:11“And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war.”

The truth that we need to recognize is that what Jesus says is true. Although His veracity is constantly affirmed in the scriptures many doubt what Jesus has said.  This is sometimes the truth that Jesus speaks is something that we don’t want to hear, like the church at Laodicea, when Jesus had to tell them that they were lukewarm, poor, wretched, miserable and blind, when they thought that they were rich and insightful.

At other times, the words of Jesus revealed in the scriptures are hard to believe because they are about great things, far beyond our limited understanding, like the great judgment coming on the Roman Empire in Rev. 19. 

Finally, the words of Jesus are sometimes hard for us to believe because the spiritual enemies of Christ so regularly attack them. So we need the constant reminder: “These words are faithful and true.” (Rev. 21:5, 22:6)

Consider Jesus: Eternal Life

Let us continue to “consider Jesus.” (Heb. 3:1) 

1 John 1:1-3“What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of Life--

2and the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us--

3what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, that you also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”

The ultimate spiritual hope for mankind is eternal life with God. God offers this to us through the person and work of Jesus Christ. 

So Jesus is the one that we can ask about eternal life (Matt. 19:16). And He is the one who teaches us about eternal life (Matt. 19:29; 6:47). Believing in Him brings us eternal life (Jn. 3:15,16,36; 5:24; 6:40,47). He gives eternal life to His followers (Jn. 10:28; 17:2). He give eternal life as a free gift (Rom. 6:23). His gives eternal life by His mercy (Jude 21).

Eternal life is so fully connected to Him and only Him that John speaks of His as “the eternal life” (1 Jn. 3:2 and concludes that: “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son” (1 Jn. 5:11).

Consider Jesus: Ensign of the People

Let us continue to “consider Jesus.” (Heb. 3:1) 

Isa. 11:10-12“Then it will come about in that day That the nations will resort to the root of Jesse, Who will stand as a signal for the peoples; And His resting place will be glorious. 11 Then it will happen on that day that the Lord Will again recover the second time with His hand The remnant of His people, who will remain, From Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, And from the islands of the sea. 12 And He will lift up a standard for the nations, And will assemble the banished ones of Israel, And will gather the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth.”

The Lord, through Isaiah, says that He give the nations relief and shelter through the “root of Jesse,” which we know to be the Messiah. He will be for them a “standard” (variously translated as “banner,” “signal” and “ensign”). 

The Messiah will be the promised rallying point for the beleaguered people. The “banished ones of Israel” as well as a host of people from pagan nations will all come to the signal that God has raised and find shelter and relief there.

We think of all the symbolic importance of a flag – we pledge alliance to it, we gather under it, we rally around it, we march behind it, it represents us and our cause, we have a special place in our hearts for its colors and symbols, we view attacks and disparagements of it as personal affronts. In this sense, Christ is the flag of God to the world and all nations are called to find rest and peace under it.

Consider Jesus: Emmanuel

Let us continue to “consider Jesus.” (Heb. 3:1) 

Matt. 1:21-23“And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.” 22 Now all this took place that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, 23 “‘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.’”

Isaiah 7 records Judah fighting against both Syria and Isreal. King Ahaz was tempted to call on Assyria to relieve Judah by having them attack from the north. Isaiah assures him God will be deliver him and uses the symbolic names of children to make God’s point. He took his own son, named “Shear-jashub” (“a remnant shall return”) to assure him that the two kings will not succeed (Isa. 7:3-9). Then, to assure Ahaz that the first prophecy was true, he gave another, saying that a virgin (young maiden) will have a child, named “Immanuel” (“God with us”) and before that boy knows the choice of right and wrong, these enemies will be defeated. (Isa. 7:14-16) It might take a few years, long enough for a girl to marry, conceive and carry a child, and that child grow, but it would still be a little one when the victory God gave was complete. 

While this prophecy surely came to pass in Ahaz’s day, likely with the marriage and motherhood of a young woman known to the prophet and the king, we don’t know of its particulars. But it is the second fulfillment of this prophecy that is of most known to us. 

Here is Jesus, appearing in the world as “God with us” in the fullest sense possible. God as with Ahaz, and is with us too, but not in theJohn tells clearly that He is God “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (Jn. 1:1,14)

Consider Jesus: Door

Let us continue to “consider Jesus.” (Heb. 3:1) 

John 10:7-9“Jesus therefore said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.  8 All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.  9 I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”

Doors mean access. Both in the scriptures and daily life we often figuratively speak of doors being open or shut (1 Cor. 16:9; 2 Cor. 2:12; Col 4:3). Open doors imply access, welcome; closed doors imply rejection and alienation (Rev. 3:7). Jesus opens the door, stands at the door and knocks, and on evil, closes the door.

But in John 10, Jesus isn’t just the one who opens the door for us, but He says that He is the door for us. Of course this is figurative, a metaphor, since Jesus doesn’t really hang on hinges and swing in the frame. But He really is our access to the Fathers, and in the parable in John 10, the access to the flock of God and the shelter of the fold. 

We don’t get to God except by Him. “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.’” (Jn. 14:6) He is one and only way, door, to the Father. So, as He said using door in a slightly different figure: “Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.” (Luke 13:24)

Consider Jesus: Deliverer

Let us continue to “consider Jesus.” (Heb. 3:1) 

Rom. 11:26“and thus all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.”

This is quoting Isa. 59:20. “Deliverer” is often translated as “Redeemer” (as it is in the Isaiah passage quoted in Romans 11:26 as “deliverer.”) Jesus is the one and only hope of deliverance from our sins. “Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us out of this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.” (Gal. 1:3-5)

Let us consider Jesus who is the great king (in the likeness of David), the light for us, and our deliverer from sin by the covenant that He alone could bring us.

Consider Jesus: Day Spring

Let us continue to “consider Jesus.” (Heb. 3:1) 

Luke 1:78,79“Because of the tender mercy of our God, With which the Sunrise [Dayspring, dawn] from on high shall visit us  79 TO SHINE UPON THOSE WHO SIT IN DARKNESS AND THE SHADOW OF DEATH, To guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, prophesied hopefully of the work that his would do in leading the way for the Messiah. After speaking of the deliverance from sins that would be offered in Christ, Zacharias said that this was like the warmth and enlightenment of the sun shining on a world darkened in sin. Now the will be clearly illuminated. Christ will visit the earth like the rising sun with the tender mercy of God.

Zacharias was quoting Mal. 4:2 when he spoke these words, “But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings.” Christ's coming was the dawn of a new day for Israel and for mankind.  

Consider Jesus: David

Let us continue to “consider Jesus.” (Heb. 3:1) 

Jer. 30:9“But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.”

Ezek. 34:23,24“Then I will set over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feed them; he will feed them himself and be their shepherd.

24And I, the LORD, will be their God, and My servant David will be prince among them; I, the LORD, have spoken.

Ezek. 37:24“And My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd; and they will walk in My ordinances, and keep My statutes, and observe them.”

References to the Messiah as the “son of David” are very familiar to every Bible student. Even in Jesus’ time all knew that the Messiah would be a descendant of David. The hurting called out “Son of David have mercy” (Matt. 9:17; 15:22) and the crowds at the triumphal entry cried “Hosanna to the son of David.” (Matt. 21:9) The prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel go so far as to present Jesus coming as David Himself.

Of course Jesus is not a reincarnation of Jesus. When God promised to provide an unsurpassed leader for His people, only David was suitable for comparison. David was the greatest king of Israel – Jesus is the eternal king of spiritual Israel, the King of Kings. David was such a fitting king because he was “a man after God’s own heart, A MAN AFTER MY HEART, who will do all My will.” (Acts 13:22) Jesus was God’s own heart, who came to do God’s will. (Heb. 10:9) So Jesus is aptly called David.  

Consider Jesus: Covenant Of The People

Let us continue to “consider Jesus.” (Heb. 3:1) 

Isa. 42:6“I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness, I will also hold you by the hand and watch over you, And I will appoint you as a covenant to the people, As a light to the nations”

Isa. 49:8“Thus says the LORD, “In a favorable time I have answered You, And in a day of salvation I have helped You; And I will keep You and give You for a covenant of the people, To restore the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages”

The great hope of the New Testament relies on a covenant that is different from the one that the Jews had. The Old Law condemned them for their sins, but did not offer a way of complete pardon or forgiveness. So a new covenant was promised to take away their sins (ref. Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 8:7-13). Jesus not only brought us the new covenant, but He is the very embodiment of the covenant. He gave His life for it, and His blood brought in the covenant. “for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.” (Matt. 26:28)