SON OF GOD

Christianity is the life of the Son of God made living in man. Christ IS Christianiy, and Christianity is Christ. Before you can deny His claim, there are some things that you must account for: His Virgin birth; His holy, sinless life; His many miracles; and His vicarious death and His bodily resurrection.

The deity of Jesus Christ is well established in the New Testament. His "God" nature is proclaimed by the Apostles, God the Father, and Jesus him self. The Apostle John opened his gospel with these words: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and Word was God". John is telling us that Jesus was the Word and Jesus was there in the Garden of Eden and He was the Word that created all things. When Jesus appeared to His diciples after His ressurection, Thomas doubted who he was and asked to see the perced side of Jesus and His hands where the nails had been driven through to hold Him to the wooden cross. This is why we call Thomas, Doubting Thomas. When he saw the evidence he needed to see, Thomas said unto Jesus, "My Lord and my God". In Hebrews 1:8, "But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: " Jesus claimed to be God: John 17:5....."And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was". This was part of the prayer of Jesus before He would be betrayed and crucified. In John 8 when the Jews were accusing Him of having a devil in Him, Jesus said "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad". V 56 Because Jesus was not yet 50 yrs old, they laughed that He claimed to of known and seen Abraham. In V 58 Jesus said: Verily, verily I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am". Jesus was claiming to have BEEN a diety long before the Abraham of the Old Testament, of which the Jews looked up to and honored. In Bible days (as well as it is supposed to be today) only God is to be worshipped. Both man and Angels refused to worship other than God. Jesus was worshipped. When the disciples were on a ship and the raging storm came up, (Matthew Ch 14:22-33) they were afraid and they saw Jesus walking on the water. When Jesus entered the ship, the storms ceased and they were safe. V 33....Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God". Jesus forgives sins, and only God can forgive sins. Mark 2:3-5 And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press (crowd), they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee". In Matthew 9:6 Jesus said to those who doubted who He was and accused him of blaspheme, "But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins". Remember, only God has the power to forgive sins.

Jesus was the Creator of all things! In Colossians 1:16-17 Paul writes to the church: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visable and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. To the Hebrews Paul wrote in Ch 1:1-2 ..."God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds"...Hebrews 2:9-10 But we see Jesus, ( who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death,) crowned with glory and honor; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man.! For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." By His dying, WE are made children of God if we only believe and let Him be our Lord. Paul goes on to tell the church that Jesus is the sustainer of all things, showing that Jesus is God, because only God can control the universe. Hebrews 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." A note in review to this point: Jesus is the Word and the Word was "in the beginning"..therefore, Jesus created the heavens and the earth and all things therein. The apostles recognized Jesus as the Son of God and as God the Son. The early church recognized the deity of Jesus also. Jesus created the universe and everything in it. He created mankind. Because mankind fell for the flattery and wiles of Satan, something had to be done to enable the people of the world to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven by a way other than "obeying the laws" of the Old Testament days, which was (and is) impossible to do. Therefore, God came to earth in the nature of man so that He could be the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of mankind, enabling them to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven through grace instead of by law. The Spirit of God became a living man, the Son of God. When His task was over and He had paid the price for the sins of all mankind thereafter, Jesus returned back to His Heavenly Home, enabling all of mankind to become the sons (and daughters) of God the Father by believing and accepting the gift of that great salvation. Only God has "all power", yet Jesus claimed to have "all power in heaven and in the earth".. Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth". Jesus walked upon the raging storm waters of the Sea of Galilee and the winds and the waves of the storm obeyed His command to be still. He healed the sick, the blind, the deaf, the demonized and He raised the dead from their grave. When His beloved friend, Lazarus had died and been buried, Jesus neared his tomb and spoke the Word...Lazarus, come forth"..and so he did!! Jesus turned the water into wine and fed 5000 people with a boys basket lunch of fish and bread. John stated that Jesus performed so many miracles that a book could not contain them all. We are only given a few of them. What about the humanity of Jesus? Yes, he was God...but he was man also!

Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king. Some time after His birth, wise men came from the East, following a star which meant to them that the King was born that had been prophecied by the Prophets.. They went to Jerusalem and asked Herod the king where the King of the Jews was born. Matthew 2:2b) "for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him". Needless to say, this troubled Herod because the Jews were not a people in their own land at this time. Herod ruled over them! A king of the Jews meant trouble to Herod and his control of Jerusalem. Herod gathered all the scribes and leaders of the Jews together and inquired of them where this Christ should be born. V 5...In Bethlehem of Judea: for thus it is written by the prophet, 6) And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule (be shepherd) my people." The birth of this child was foretold by the Old Testament prophets...Herod didn't let on that he feared this child, but told the wise men to go to Bethlehem and search for the young child. V8b)and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also". The wise men followed the star as it went before them and it came and stood over the house where the young child was. V 11-12) And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshiped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way." An angel appeared to Joseph and told him to Arise and take the young child and it's mother into Egypt until they received word from him (angel) because Herod sought to destroy the child. Herod was so afraid of this child king that he ordered the death of all the male children from an age that would include this child king. So we see that Jesus had an earthly mother and that he was born a baby just like we all were. He had parents just as we all had. He was taught things as we were; he probably helped Joseph with his carpentry work from an early age. And he learned the scriptures from his mother and teachers. Luke 2:52 ...And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." The Son of God was born unto us in human form and nature with all of the emotions and feelings that we have. He was subjected to all of the trials and sinless infirmities of the human nature. He hurt, He cried; He laughed; He felt grief and sorrow; He even became angry as He saw His Father's House being used in an unholy manner. Jesus hungered: Matthew 4:2... And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward ahungered". Jesus knew what thirst was also: Upon the cross, He said, "I thirst". John 19:28 ...But Jesus knew what it was like to be tired, too: John 4:6...Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey sat thus on the well:" The shortest verse in the Bible is John 11:35..... it merely says: "Jesus wept". He cried over the death of a loved one, Lazarus. When he had seen Mary, the sister of Lazarus before this, he groaned in His spirit as he watched her weeping and those around her crying. His heart was painfully troubled....He knew what sorrow and heartache felt like and He knew the tears of compassion when He saw others grieving. Paul tells the church in Hebrews 4:15 that Jesus was tempted of sin just as we are, but sinned not. Yes, Jesus was and is man, but He is much more than that! Jesus is God in human flesh! You've heard the story about the man who opened the door to find many birds on his front steps in a terrible snowy storm..."If I could just become a bird", he thought, "I could show them where to find shelter".. Well, this is exactly what God did! He became man so that we might find "shelter" from the storms of our life in Him, He became man so that He could understand what we feel and go through here on earth. His Son, Jesus was ordained to die on calvary as payment in full for the sins of man kind. The only thing that keeps all of mankind from eternal life with Him is our refusal to accept Him and let Him enter into our life.

HE WAS BORN OF A VIRGIN

Many people have a problem with the virgin birth of Jesus. I don't know why, especially in this day and age when artificial conception and cloning is being done. Why can't we just believe that the Almighty God knew what He was doing and it was very much possible! I have heard of much stranger things happening, brought about by man so if man can accomplish such things, surely God who is greater than mankind can accomplish even greater things!! Sounds like an easy task for God the Father to me! It was by the virgin birth that God became man! two natures...God and man...But because Jesus the Son of God WAS man, He could have sinned as did Adam in the beginning when He was so tempted! The first Adam failed in obeying God, but The Son of God, and The Son of man, did not fail!! The virgin birth was first prophecied in Gen 3:15 after Satan lured Adam and Eve into sin. The one who would defeat Satan was to be born of the seed of the woman. As there is no seed of a woman, this is a biological miracle. This one would be born without a biological father.... We all know the story about the birth of Jesus... but Mary was engaged to Joseph at the time of His conception. The angel appeared to both Joseph (to reassure him) and to Mary. In Luke 1:31 the angel said: "And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus" (Immanuel)....In the O.T. His birth was foretold by Isaiah..ch 7:14.... that a virgin would conceive and bear a son and shall call His name Immanuel...which means, "God with us". In Ch 9:6-7 Isaiah prophesied saying: "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given" meaning that this child would be the Son of God...who was with Him from eternity. God gave His Son to die for us! John 3:16...For God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life".... In Micah 5:2 O.T. He was to be born in Bethlehem That Mary was a virgin is in Luke 1:34..."Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" V 36...And the angel answered and said unto her, "The Holy Ghost (Spirit) shall come upon tee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called "the Son of God"...

HE WAS BORN TO DIE In the Old Testament books, through thousands of years of teachings and prophecies, the death of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is mentioned many times by the prophets. It is mentioned more than one hundred twenty times in the New Testament. His birth and death was not accidental. It was planned from the beginning when sin first entered the life of mankind. Matthew 20:28 says: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many"...He would willingly die so that mankind would not have to pay the penalty of sin ordained by God..which is death and the second death being that . of the eternal soul.. (we are not at peace when we die as many believe...but everything that we "are" lives on...our feelings, emotions, the very essence of who we are...we live on...only our body is put to rest!! and there is a second death for the sinner who has not been cleansed by the blood of Jesus as He died on that cross!) .On the cross, Jesus was a substitute for sinners and His Heavenly Father turned his face from Him because He could not look upon sin. OUR sins he was laden with as He hung on the cross! A sinless man made sin because of God's love for us. His Son would carry our sins to the grave if only we would have the Faith to believe on Him and allow Him to enter into our lives and be our Lord. Jesus was buried in a tomb, but his spirit and soul were seperated from His body, just as ours are when we die. He went to Hell (his soul) because He had became sin for us! He agonized His fate on the cross because He was seperated from The Father. Jesus, the Son of God went to Hell so that we wouldn't have to! Jesus did no sin; had no sin; knew no sin; there fore He had no penalty to pay for sin! He became sin for us! A sacrificial lamb led to the slaughter by an illegal trial and trumped up charges. Yes, Jesus could of saved himself from dying. In John 10:1718 He said: "No man taketh life from me. I lay it down to myself, I have power to take it up again"....which He did, 3 days and 3 nights later. He arose from the dead!! Only GOD in the form of man could die a vicarious, natural, un-natural death which was preternatural (It was not a afterthought of God..but a plan from the beginning>) and supernatural as His words above describe. They couldn't of killed Him had He chose NOT to die! BUT HE LIVES!! click "Next Page"