Showing posts with label "God Incarnate". Show all posts
Showing posts with label "God Incarnate". Show all posts

Monday 21 September 2020

God Incarnate

  God incarnate.

The writer of Hebrews states,

“In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.  Hebrews 1:1,2.

Here we have a key belief of Christians. Jesus is the Son of God. He is appointed as heir of all things, and through Him the universe was made. Jesus is God incarnate.

C. S. Lewis stated,

    "I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.

Thus the question becomes; who do you think Jesus is?

Please think about it.

Monday 20 November 2017

God Incarnate

God Incarnate
The Apostle John writes,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  
He was with God in the beginning. 
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  
In him was life, and that life was the light of men....
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. ”John 1:1-4,14.
Quoted above is perhaps one of Christianities most controversial statements. Believers in Christ Jesus, believe that He is God in the flesh.
That the God who created the heavens and the earth actually entered the world He crated that He entered the world to point mankind to heaven.
That he entered the world to pay the price for the sins of each man. The writer of Hebrew states,
“In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.  
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” Hebrews 1:1-3.
Sin is falling short of God’s ideal for our lives. It is doing what God does not want us to do.
God in his wisdom, when he created mankind, gave man a freewill. God did not create robots that would follow a preprogramed line of code and do what he said. He gave each and every individual in this world a choice. Thus we can choose to follow God’s way or turn away from Him and do our own thing.
At the same time God realized that individuals are weak. They choose to do things that are not liked by Him, be it, lying, stealing, murdering, adultery, and more. All are sin and all sin separates us from God. And all of our good works will not take away that sin. We are essentially powerless to rid ourselves of sin. Thus the need for Jesus to enter the world.
The apostle Paul however points out,
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  
Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.  
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:6-8 
I know this is a difficult concept to understand it even sound foolish. The apostle Paul points out,
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.  
For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” 
Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?  
For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.  
Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom,  but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,  but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  
For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.”1 Corinthians 1:18-25.
Simply put God does not do things the way man would have him do things.
God could have sent Jesus to earth in all his power and splendour. He could have come with legions of angels and demand we worship Him.
God I am convinced knew that, that would not produce true believers in Him. It would produce people who were scared of what He could do to them. Such people are not true believers.
God asks us to have faith in Him the writer of Hebrew stating.
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”  Hebrews 11:1
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Hebrews 11:6.
Thus the choice is yours the reader. Do you believe that Jesus is God Incarnate,  the Messiah, the Son of God, The Saviour of mankind, or do you not?
Please think about it.