To: Hebraic-Foundations@yahoogroups.com
From: "Pastor Buddy Martin" <Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org>
Date sent: Mon, 9 Apr 2001 18:31:28 -0500
Subject: HF029 - The Jesus Issue
Hebraics,
The forum has been quiet for a bit so I'll provide another Bible study. This one may proved to raise a few questions or comments. This is study HF029 - The Jesus Issue.
Who Jesus really was and is, is at the very heart of new covenant faith. And believe it or not, this is the 'one' issue that separates Judaism and Christianity. It did for the early Church, and it does today.
It may have been that the Jewish leadership of long ago would have accepted Jesus into their fold had He been but a reformer, or at most a prophet. But because neither Jesus nor His followers limited Him to being a prophet, but actually very Son of God, He was rejected.
The Jews said, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God." (John 10:33)
Who Jesus really is involves a revelation. Jesus said it would be this way; "No one knows [perfectly; fully; experiences] the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father [perfectly; fully; experiences] except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him." (Matt11:27)
The Bible speaks of a 'partial hardening' that has been placed upon the Jewish peoples until the full count of the Gentiles has come in. This partial hardening is based on the identity of Jesus. When the full count has come in, then the Lord will remove the blinders and allow them to see that Jesus was and is their Messiah.
This is when the Scripture is fulfilled, which says, "I will pour our on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that the will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn." (Zech12:10)
It isn't simply the Jewish people who must struggle with this issue of who Jesus really is. To say the deity of Jesus is an easy thing to grasp is an under statement. There is no way in the natural that a man can be God. God is without space and time. Man is a frail, limited creature. We know that men are bound by the little world they are acquainted with. God us boundless. How can a man be God, or even the Son of God? Both terms speak of deity.
Nowhere in Scripture is the term 'Son of God' used for anyone other than Jesus, with one exception. When the genealogy of Jesus is being traced back, it comes to Adam. Luke says, "The son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God." (Luke 3:38)
The plural 'sons of God' is applied both to angels and to redeemed humans. But the Greek word 'monogenes' is only applied to Jesus, again with the exception of Isaac being a type of Jesus.
Monogenes means uniquely one of His kind and it is this term that expresses the Sonship of Jesus. Monogenes means that God only has one Son in the sense that Jesus uniquely incorporates in Himself the fullness of man, and the fullness of God.
It is true that Jesus rarely called attention to Himself as being God manifest until those private moments He had with the disciples prior to the cross. But there were times that He did so for the purpose of preparing His disciples for a fuller revelation of His deity. These instances are several. I'll mention a few what have to do with worship.
First His birth. When the men from the east brought the gifts for the newly born king of Israel, it says, "They fell to the ground and worshipped Him." (Matt2:11).
When Jesus brought Peter back to the boat after the walking-on-the-water event, when they got into the boat the winds stopped. It says, "And those who were in the boat worshipped Him, saying, "You are certainly God's Son!" (Matt14:33)
Then there is the incident that took place after the resurrection when the women were confronted with Jesus. It says, "And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshipped Him." (Matt28:9)
Think about just these incidences. No Torah observant Jew would have worshipped Jesus had they not been convinced that somehow He was God manifest. They knew the great commandment; "You shall have no other Gods before Me."
They were acknowledging Jesus as Messiah. Yet the belief that Messiah would be somehow also be deity was not lost to the Jewish people of that time. It was one of the many beliefs during second temple Judaism.
The deity of Messiah was a very ancient motif to the Jews. One name found in the Targums for Messiah was 'Bar Nifle', which means 'Son of the Clouds." This came from a well-know image of God riding on the clouds.
In B. Sanh. 98a, a conversation is recorded concerning the coming of Messiah. It says, "If they will be righteous, the Messiah will come on the clouds of heaven; if they will not be righteous, he will come as a poor man riding upon an ass."
The Bible calls Jesus "God's mystery." I don't think anyone fully understands the deep of the mystery of Messiah. It is something to be realized in the heart, but not something easily put on paper.
We have to remember that the early Christians were Jewish. Their theology was Hebraic, monotheistic, and monarchic. They simply said, "God cannot be divided." The rabbis later accused the Christians of believing in 'two powers.'
Here is one way to understand the thinking of the early Jewish Christians concerning Jesus. But I'd like to put it in narrative form:
"We must begin with Jesus.....
Jesus said that no one can come to the Father but through Him. So our journey must begin with Jesus.
But this creates a problem because no one can actually see Jesus anymore. No, we can't see Him with the natural, but we can perceive Him in our hearts. And we can hear His voice. There is something about His voice.
Often the first time we hear His voice is in the preaching of the gospel. There is something wonderful about His voice. It causes us fall in love with Him. Perhaps its all in the Voice. No one can speak like Jesus. Even the temple soldiers admitted this.
Anyway, Jesus said He would do something very special to help us on our journey of redemption. He would send another comforter to guide us safety to our desired haven. This Comforter would be called the Holy Spirit. The ancients spoke of the Holy Spirit as Ruach haKodesh, which can also be translated 'holy breath.' They rarely made a distinction between the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Messiah.
The Hebrew apostle refers to this Comforter 'the Spirit of Messiah.' (Rom8:9)
Now the 'Spirit of Messiah' is not a new concept to the Hebrew people. When Moses said, "The Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters," the ancient sages said, " This is the Spirit of Messiah." When God anointed the prophets for their role of proclaiming truth to the peoples, the sages said, "This anointing was the Spirit of Messiah." (1Pet1:10,11) Actually the sages had the idea that Messiah was God Himself.
So the Spirit of Messiah is with us on our journey. He never leaves us. He strengthens us. Comforts us. Consoles us. Guides us. Empowers us. And finally presents us before the throne of God in our proper time.
So at the end or our journey, here we are before the throne. But what do we hear from the throne? We hear from the throne that same wonderful Voice who has been our guide all the days of our pilgrim journey.
Could it be!? Is the voice of God, the voice of Messiah, the voice of the Holy Spirit, all the same Voice? Perhaps this why Paul told us not to listen to many voices? Elohim only has one voice. Strange thing this Voice of God.
We hear the Hebrew apostle say, "He showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb." With tears streaming down our faces, we find ourselves crying out, "Is God the Lamb?" "God is the Lamb!"
We look around and myriads of peoples are crying out at the same time, and singing, "To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever." It rolls like thunder across the expanses of heaven.
What a great mystery, this Messiah of God. How can it be that God is One, and yet manifest Himself as three? I don't know the answer. Actually I don't really worry about it. I don't have to understand it. I believe.
Yet I remember the words of our Hebrew apostle, who warned us with, "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the Church of God which He purchased with His own blood." (Acts 20:28)
So the early Jewish Christian would say, "God is absolutely One, no matter how He chooses to reveal Himself." And the Jewish believer would say equally with Thomas, "My Lord and my God!"
Well, the Jesus issue is still with us. What do you think about it?
The study is open for discussion.
Shalom in Christ,
Buddy
Lawrence E. (Buddy) Martin, HF Host
email: Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org
Web: http://www.ChristianChallenge.org
"See to it that no one comes short of the grace
of God; that no root of bitterness springing up
causes trouble, and by it many be defiled." (Heb12:15)