Jesus Christ the son of God, walked the earth two thousand years ago. He is the Messiah of whom the law and the prophets testified. Jesus was the fulfillment of the law. He came in the volume of the book which was written of Him. Jesus understood who He was as He walked this earth, and He understood the call on His life. He simply believed the Word of God. It was the Word which testified of Him and that was what He chose to believe. The Prophets foresaw Him and foretold Him. Jesus walked the earth ensuring that all righteousness was fulfilled and that the words of the Prophets fell not to the ground. He fulfilled the law and was manifest as the Messiah.
Hebrews 12:2
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Jesus always taught from the position of the Spirit. The Determinate Counsel had foreordained from before the foundations of the earth were laid that Jesus would rise from the dead. This is the great plan of salvation. It is the hidden mystery – Christ has been given eternal life and power over all flesh. He has been given the power to raise any dead body from the dead as it so pleases Him.
The atonement of Jesus Christ was the medium that God used to reconcile the whole world to Himself. However the gift of life was given to them who had already been reconciled. The gift of the Spirit is the essence of the gospel, but a reconciliation must have first taken place.
But as we examine the scriptures we will notice that Jesus always taught as the resurrected savior. He rarely spoke of salvation being futuristic, but He ministered as if He had already died, and was glorified. Jesus always looked beyond the cross, because the cross did not define Him: but He testified of Himself I am the resurrection.
JESUS UNDERSTOOD THAT HE WOULD LIVE FOREVER AND SPOKE FROM THAT PERSPECTIVE.
His resurrected life is the essence of faith. Consider the following account:
John 5:14
14 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.
15 The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole.
16 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.
17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
Here we see the Pharisees disgruntled at the fact that Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath day. However Jesus responded by saying: “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work”.
Jesus explains here that the life He lives in the flesh it is by the Father who lives in Him. All the works that they have witnessed was the work of the Father. The Jews sought to slay Jesus for healing on the Sabbath day; but Jesus explained to them that it was the Father who did the work, and He like they have become a witness to that work - but Jesus also said “and I work”. Those three words were a prophetic word and they epitomize the doctrine of faith. Let us allow the scriptures to reveal itself in this account.
John 5:17- 47
17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
18 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.
19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do:for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
The work that Jesus refers to is not the present healings and works that are being done in the time that He spoke: those were the works of the Father. However there is coming a day (and now is) when Jesus will work even as the Father works in Him now. He explains to the Pharisees that the power and life they shall witness will be based on what the Father is teaching Him presently. God was in Christ’s body, reconciling the world unto Himself – this is the work of the Father. However the Son shall also work. One day the Son will be in flesh reconciling the world to God, by His life.
20 For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth:and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.
21 For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.
22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:
23 That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.
What are these greater works? They are explained in the following line. For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. This is not simply saying that Jesus has the power to raise a Lazaurus from the dead but it is speaking of the putting on of the new man. The Father was the one who raised Jesus from the dead. As Jesus’ soul suffered in hell, at the end of the 3rd night God placed Jesus’ soul back into Himself and then He got in the dead body which laid in the tomb. Jesus was therefore resurrected from the dead, as a man.
However, Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane “O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was” because God had given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. Jesus desired to be the Word of God, that He may be an eternal spirit that is not limited by time or space. Therefore if He receives this glory, He will be given the ability to exercise the power that He has been given over flesh. He will be able to quicken whom He will even as the Father quickens the dead.
At salvation after the circumcision of the flesh and heart, He baptizes us into Himself and manifests His power over the flesh by bringing alive the dead flesh and raising it righteous. Now Jesus, having been the Son of Man meaning he has been touched with the feelings of the infirmities of mankind – i.e. the flesh, is a righteous judge because he can relate. This is why God committed all judgement unto Him.
Now even as men honour the Father they must honour the Son because Jesus has become the Holy Ghost. His life has transcended death and His Ghost lives on in the lives of men.
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God:and they that hear shall live.
26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
The work of the Son is to finish the work that the Father started; and the work of the Father is to live in flesh. If we believe on the Son unto salvation we receive His Spirit, which is everlasting life. They that resided in the kingdom of darkness have now become citizens of the kingdom of life. This is the faith of the new creature. It is the resurrected Christ in the bodies of the Sons of God.
31 If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true…
36 But I have greater witness than that of John:for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.
37 And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.
38 And ye have not his word abiding in you:for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.
39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life:and they are they which testify of me.
Jesus manifested the Father on earth. God Almighty dwelt in the body of Jesus Christ. However when Christ’s Faith is established it shall be proof that God has sealed Christ Jesus and He is indeed the way, truth and life. The Faith of Jesus Christ will now testify that Jesus is Lord, because He finishes the work that the Father started in Him, in the bodies of the Saints. We are the works to be finished, and it is finished at the rapture. The work is the manifestation of the Sons of God, who dwelt in God before the foundations of the earth, in time. We are manifested in time, by Jesus Christ.
44 How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?
This honor is to be endowed with the Holy Ghost and receive the hope of glory.
45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father:there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust.
46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me:for he wrote of me. 47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?
47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?
Jesus was the fulfillment of all the law and prophets. He was the chosen Messiah of whom the whole Old Testament was written about. He was the chosen one to be believed on in all the earth from the beginning. Moses foresaw Jesus and wrote of Him. Therefore if they choose in their hearts not to accept the truth that Moses indeed wrote of Him, they will in no wise believe in Him.
Written on: November 2015
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