Jesus The One And Only

Matthew 3:17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

At His birth the Angels sang… At His baptism the God of all Creation spoke… This voice from heaven symbolized the truths that Jesus was in direct communication with heaven, and God the Father wanted everyone to know the nature of His relationship with Jesus.

He said, “This is my beloved Son.” The words beloved and Son are both preceded by definite articles in the Greek text. Jesus is THE beloved and THE Son. These articles identify Jesus as unique… There is no one on earth or in heaven like Him. There is no one in such a relationship with the Father as this Jesus. Those who follow Jesus are following the very Son of God. He is The Beloved. The Greek Scholar Friberg gave this definition: “pertaining to one who is the only one of his class, but at the same time is particularly loved and cherished.” We also should love Jesus as the only one of his class and the one who we particularly cherish.

The Father said something else that could only be said of Jesus:

“in whom I am well pleased.”

Jesus stands above us all in moral perfection and alone pleases God! Let us fall at His feet.

Jesus' Kingdom Immigration Policy

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

The qualifications to enter the U.S. have been a hot button of controversy in recent years. Most citizens understand there must be some preconditions for entry, but what qualifies someone for entry is where the battle rages.

In this verse Jesus was talking with Nicodemus, a Jew of Jews, about His kingdom's immigration policy. He used terms that must have been difficult to hear for a member of Israel's ruling body, the Sanhedrin. But Jesus said it anyway.

Jesus informed Nicodemus that His kingdom has preconditions for entry. It was the wording of the precondition that would have jolted Nicodemus: “born again.” If anyone considered himself fully prepared for the coming Messiah's kingdom it would have been Nicodemus. With the expectation of the Messiah's coming, Nicodemus may have, in his mind, already perched himself on a seat in the Messiah's government. Now this...

“Born again” meant his first birth had no influence in this Messiah's new government. He must start all over again... Perhaps he remembered the stinging words of John the Baptist, “and think not to say withing yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” Matthew 3:9 Could it be that this Messiah was rejecting their religious order set up and accepted by multiple generations? Born again?

It must be difficult for many of us to find out that who we are, or think we are, has no value when it comes to entering Christ's Kingdom. We must first have a new beginning... we must be born again.

Jesus Opened The Gates To Let The Trash Blow In

John 3:8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

In verses 6, 7, and 8 it is important to keep the background of this discussion in focus. Jesus was speaking with Nicodemus, a member of the Sanhedrin, the supreme court of Israel. Nicodemus, a Jew of Jews, was struggling with the new kingdom realities Jesus had introduced. Jesus was not the Messiah expected by Nicodemus and the Sanhedrin.

In Nicodemus’ world, religion was based in the physical. It was racial. It all began with birth from a pure lineage of ancestors. Position and privilege was given based on name, title, and obedience to covenant and cultural laws. It was so structured... so controllable.

This verse is key to understanding the great change that was taking place. Jesus used the wind to illustrate entrance into His new Kingdom. A person can’t tell where it came from or where it’s going… it only matters that it is here. The history of Christ's Kingdom can't be measured by physical patterns. Young Charles Spurgeon sought shelter from a snowstorm in a small church, heard and believed the Gospel, then became the “prince of preachers.” A slave ship master, John Newton, heard and believed the Gospel, and went on to write the great hymn Amazing Grace. Who could have predicted all that! But millions of realities like that, we now know, make up the history of Christ's kingdom.

In Christ's kingdom a person's past has no influence upon God in their present. The most profane of the Gentiles can be immediately born again, and have equal standing in His kingdom with a Jew of Jews. In Christ's new kingdom a boy born in a dusty north West Texas town to an unwed mother, beaten and abused to anger by his adoptive father, and influenced by his atheist grandfather, can hear and believe the Gospel, then serve in this Messiah's kingdom all his days. No “rhyme or reason” to all of that, but I am thankful it is so... and on this day I offer my thanks and praise to my Redeemer for opening His kingdom gates to people like me.

Jesus, The Transcendent Witness

John 3:11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?

Most religions (I use this word in its broadest sense) have a primary witness. Someone who says they have seen or heard from God, or is uniquely aware of some force, power, or knowledge. The testimony of this witness usually becomes the foundation of the religion.

Christianity is multi-tiered in its cadre of Biblical witnesses. There are those who testify in Holy Writ that God spoke directly to or through them. Then there are those who, throughout history, have confessed to a definite, real, experience with God. I am in that group... I know God has changed my life.

Jesus is the primary witness, and He is also the transcendent witness. By this I mean He is far past simply being a conduit of God's revelation or message. He is the revelation. He is the message. The fullness of His knowledge, being, and purpose transcends this existence. But He came to us... The Apostle John seems to have understood this reality better than most, so this insight is boldly woven into his writings.

This is the chief realism of Christ followers--Jesus is Emmanuel--God with us. He is our primary witness, and there is none like Him.

Jesus, A Teacher Of Heavenly Things

John 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

We are “earthy”. Paul used this descriptive word in I Corinthians 15:47 for Adam, the first man, and for us, Adam's descendants. I am earthy… and so are you, and so was Nicodemus, the man Jesus was talking with in this verse. But Paul then said, “the second man is the Lord from heaven.”

When Jesus said, “And no man hath ascended up to heaven,” he wasn't speaking of Enoch or Elijah. He was speaking of any person who may have visited heaven to be educated in heaven's realities.

In the USA many great presidents, politicians, lawyers, and business men and women have graduated from Ivy League universities like Yale, Harvard, and Princeton. But… not one has ever attended the University of Heaven! Nicodemus might have had the greatest education in the Jewish world, but he had never sat at the foot of heavenly Mt. Zion and listened to God. But Jesus, the Son of God, walked the eternal hills. Jesus was there when the morning stars first glimmered, and the sons of God shouted for joy. And He was here.

There has never been a teacher like Jesus. Listen to Him.

Love's Promises

John 3:15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

16 ...whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

17 ...that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned:

Jesus explained to Nicodemus, the one He was talking with in these verses, that he needed more than his birth and his good deeds to enter the Kingdom of God. If birth to a good family, and good deeds could open the doors of heaven to Nicodemus, then there would have been no need for Jesus to come... and die.

Jesus gave Nicodemus a clear explanation of the motivation behind His coming. The motive was love. God’s love moved Jesus to act for the benefit of a fallen world. His actions established an infallible way for Nicodemus and the rest of us, who have fallen short of God's requirements for our lives, to gain permanent, everlasting reconciliation with God.

This permanence was promised by Jesus to Nicodemus, and any other person who would trust in Jesus and His great gospel work. Jesus deliberately used forms of words that leave no doubt about the solid nature of His promises. Read these verses above again. He used the present possessive “have” when speaking of His promise of eternal life.

At the moment of faith a believer possesses “eternal life.” Since it is eternal it has no end, so once gained it cannot be lost. The legal penalty for sin has been permanently lifted. A believer can never be tried in the courts of heaven, because Jesus has paid his/her legal debt to God by His death on the cross. When a person believes Jesus died for his/her sins, and He defeated death by His resurrection from the dead, that person is freed from the status that was theirs because of sin.

Jesus talked to Nicodemus face to face. There was no one between them. No one to add something to what Jesus said, or tell Nicodemus he must join their church to gain the benefits of Jesus' gospel. Just Jesus and Nicodemus... This is pure Christianity... just Jesus and a person He came to save. Don't let anyone get between you and Jesus. Simply trust in His promises and take Him at His Word.

Glorify God

Romans 15:5 Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: 6 That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

If we think unity is for and about us, then we will miss this message. Paul's purpose in this challenge for unity in the local church was not to indulge us in the warmth of brotherly love, but to impact the world’s opinion of God. Glorify means, “to influence one’s opinion about another so as to enhance the latter’s reputation.” BDAG

Unity, day in and day out, among people of diverse backgrounds gives a credible context to what we want the world to know about God. Paul was not simply promoting a worship service where the worshipers publicly speak pleasant things about God. In this passage he was promoting consistent like mindedness as a context to evangelism.

When we experience disunity in our church the direct result is a weakening of our ability to influence the world’s opinion of our Savior. The first work of the evangelist is to secure the unity of his church. It is the anti-evangelist who foments and sows discord. The person who would glorify God must be trained in and use the methods taught in scripture to resolve conflicts and disunity, so God may be truly glorified.

An Atheist No More 4th And Last

This is my forth and last post in this series, and, perhaps, the most important. One of the reasons theism is so frightening to an atheist is not so much the reality of God's existence, but the questions which logically follow belief in His existence. Antony Flew opens the next question in the second paragraph below. Has God revealed himself in ways other than physical creation? Has He spoken to us? Has He told us things we could not learn any other way? Yes... He has. My blog is not about atheism... it is about that revelation... that light. I try to follow it where ever it leads.

"Now, all this might sound abstract and impersonal. How, it might be asked, do I as a person respond to the discovery of an ultimate Reality that is an omnipresent and omniscient Spirit? I must say again that the journey to my discovery of the Divine has thus far been a pilgrimage of reason. I have followed the argument where it has led me. And it has led me to accept the existence of a self-existent, immutable, immaterial, omnipotent, and immaterial, omnipotent, and omniscient Being."

"Where do I go from here? In the first place, I am entirely open to learning more about the divine Reality, especially in the light of what we know about the history of nature. Second, the question of whether the Divine has revealed itself in human history remains a valid topic of discussion. You cannot limit the possibilities of omnipotence except to produce the logically impossible. Everything else is open to omnipotence."

"As I have said more than once, no other religion enjoys anything like the combination of a charismatic figure like Jesus and a first-class intellectual like St. Paul. If you're wanting omnipotence to set up a religion, it seems to me that this is the one to beat!", [Antony Flew with Roy Abraham Varghese, There is a God]

This book can be purchased at many book stores including Amazon.com, or as an e version at various sources including e-books. I own both. A hardback copy to keep, and an e copy for quoting.

Romans 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

An Atheist No More - Did Antony Flew Write Or Believe What Was Written In His Book?

One of the published arguments of Atheists against Antony Flew's book, There Is A God, is that he probably didn't write the book, and may not believe the contents of the book. Well... you can hear him discuss the contents of the book in this interview with Lee Strobel HERE This should leave no doubt that Antony Flew believes what he wrote in his book...

An Atheist No More 3

Here is my third offering this week in remembrance of my grandfather. Antony Flew, the famous former atheist, addresses the problem of the purpose and origin of life.

“Let us first look at the nature of life from a philosophical standpoint. Living matter possesses an inherent goal or end-centered organization that is nowhere present in the matter that preceded it.”

"The first challenge is to produce a materialistic explanation for "the very first emergence of living matter from non-living matter. In being alive, living matter possesses a teleological organization that is wholly absent from everything that preceded it." The second challenge is to produce an equally materialist explanation for "the emergence, from the very earliest life-forms which were incapable of reproducing themselves, of life-forms with a capacity for reproducing themselves. Without the existence of such a capacity, it would not have been possible for different species to emerge through random mutation and natural selection. Accordingly, such mechanism cannot be invoked in any explanation of how life-forms with this capacity first 'evolved' from those that lacked it." Conway concludes that these biological phenomena "provide us with reason for doubting that it is possible to account for existent life-forms in purely materialistic terms and without recourse to design.”

"Paul Davies observes that most theories of biogenesis have concentrated on the chemistry of life, but "life is more than just complex chemical reactions. The cell is also an information storing, processing and replicating system. We need to explain the origin of this information, and the way in which the information processing machinery came to exist." He emphasizes the fact that a gene is nothing but a set of coded instructions with a precise recipe for manufacturing proteins. Most important, these genetic instructions are not the kind of information you find in thermodynamics and statistical mechanics; rather, they constitute semantic information. In other words, they have a specific meaning. These instructions can be effective only in a molecular environment capable of interpreting the meaning in the genetic code. The origin question rises to the top at this point. 'The problem of how meaningful or semantic information can emerge spontaneously from a collection of mindless molecules subject to blind and purposeless forces presents a deep conceptual challenge.'”

"The Nobel Prize–winning physiologist George Wald once famously argued that 'we choose to believe the impossible: that life arose"spontaneously by chance.' In later years, he concluded that a preexisting mind, which he posits as the matrix of physical reality, composed a physical universe that breeds life:.. This, too, is my conclusion. The only satisfactory explanation for the origin of such "end-directed, self-replicating" life as we see on earth is an infinitely intelligent Mind.", [Antony Flew with Roy Abraham Varghese, There is a God]

This book can be purchased at many book stores including Amazon.com, or as an e version at various sources including e-books. I own both. A hardback copy to keep, and an e copy for quoting.

Romans 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: