Welcome to Sacramento central Seventh-day Adventist Church. It is by no accident that you have found us either live streaming on your computer - on the internet, on television, through radio waves - however you're joining us welcome and we are thrilled that you have joined us to study God's Word together. What a privilege it is, from all over the world, to join together to study God's Word - the thing that will bind us for eternity. Before we begin our study today with Pastor Doug, I invite you - those of you that are at home and want to sing along with us - every presentation we sing together so pull out your hymnals and we are going to sing together, 'it took a miracle' - hymn #111. This comes as a request from lorene in guyana, mejing in hong kong and glenn in North Dakota and many others around the planet love to sing 'it took a miracle' so let's sing all three verses.
Let's pray. Our Father in Heaven, we humbly come before you this morning with a gladsome mind, knowing that you have created us and that you have sent Jesus to save us and that you are coming again soon. Lord, we rest in that promise as we open Your Word to study together as one big family. We trust you and we know that your promises are true so just change our hearts to be more like you. Help us to be shining lights so that we can do our part in hastening your coming.
And lord, when you come, please help us each to be ready and waiting and watching and say, 'lo, you are our Savior we have waited for.' We pray these things in your name, Jesus, amen. Our study today will be brought to us by Pastor Doug Batchelor. Morning. I want to thank our musicians and welcome everybody. If you're visiting central church we're glad that you're here today and we're just very thankful for the opportunity to study this lesson.
This is a good lesson we're just entering on. For those who might be joining us and you were not able to participate in the first one, we're dealing with a new quarterly now, talking about the teachings of Jesus. Of course, in our class here now, locally, we teach a couple of weeks in advance so that the program can be edited and then they send it off to have closed captioning added and to the various networks then and so we're on lesson two today dealing with the subject of the son. Before we do that, along with our subject for today, we usually have a free offer for our viewers and if you've not read this book before, we recommend it - by Joe Crews - it's called the - 'Christ's human nature' - Christ's human nature. There's been a lot of confusion and discussion on that and it goes in to some of the mystery of 'how can you be a human and still be a hundred percent divine?' And so, if you'd like to understand that better then just ask for offer #729.
We'll send it to you free with the understanding you will read it and then share it with somebody. And the number to call is -study-more - that's 866-788-3966. And let's turn then and go to our lesson - lesson #2 in our new quarterly - and, by the way, this has got - let me just read the contents, if you've not heard it yet, for the new quarterly - last week pastor mike did 'our loving heavenly father', today 'The Son', next week 'the Holy Spirit', 'salvation', 'how to be saved', 'growing in Christ', 'living like Christ', 'the church', 'our mission', 'the law of God', 'the Sabbath', 'death and resurrection', 'the second coming' - wow, it's - this is like an evangelistic meeting. This is going to be a really good quarterly so I'm looking forward to it. Today we're going to delve into the mystery of Jesus - understanding the second person of the Godhead - The Son.
And our memory verse is Mark :45, if you would like to say that with me. Mark 10:45 - are you ready? "For even The Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many." Jesus came to give his life a ransom for many. And so we're really exploring, today, the big subject of who was Jesus? Who was Jesus? Now this question is actually found in the Bible in several places. In fact, maybe I'll get someone ready - I think we gave out some verses to some of you sitting here. Somebody should have John - the gospel of John 1, verses 10 and 11 - who has that? Did you get a slip of paper with that? Right over here - we'll get you a microphone right there - and that way that cameras can find out where you are.
We'll have you read that in just a moment. As we queue up to that, I'm going to read a couple verses. Look, for instance, in Luke 9, verse 9, "and herod said, 'John I have beheaded,'" - speaking of John the baptist - "'but who is this'" - speaking of Jesus - "'who is this of whom I hear such things?' So he sought to see him." That's why herod was so glad when he could finally see Jesus face to face at the trial of Christ. He thought, you know, I've been waiting to see who this fella is for such a long time.' You can read then in John 9:35 and 36 - you remember when Jesus healed the blind man? And after he healed the blind man - the blind man had actually never met Jesus yet - and so Jesus, preparing to reveal himself to him, it says here, "Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said to him, 'do you believe in The Son of God?' He answered and said, 'who is he, lord, that I may believe in him?'" Now that's a very important verse because, in order for us to be saved, you need to believe in Jesus, but in order to believe in Jesus you need to know, who is he? Right? You can't just go up to a person on the street and take them by the collar and shake him and say, 'believe in Jesus.' Now some people use that method but that's not the right way to do it. The person needs to know, 'who is it I'm supposed to believe in?' Then you go to John 8, verse 23 - John 8, verse 23.
"And he said to them" - Jesus is speaking - "'you are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. Therefore I say to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.'" So how important is it to know Jesus and to believe in him? Christ's own words said, 'if you don't know then you'll die in your sins.' We've got to know him. Jesus has no grandchildren. You need to have a personal relationship with him.
You can't say, 'well, you know, I grew up in the church.' Or 'my parents are in the church, my grandparents are in the church.' 'Yeah, my grandfather was a pastor.' You ever heard people - it's like you get some kind of - you get credit if you've got a lot of religious relatives - you get some kind of credit. What did Jesus say - or John the baptist, rather - when the jews said, 'oh, Abraham's our father - we're jews. He's got to save us. We're from the chosen race.' And John said, 'the Lord is able to raise up children to Abraham from the stones and many will come from the east and the west.' So we've got to be careful not to think that somehow through association we're saved. You need to personally know him and have a relationship with him.
Who is he? Alright, go ahead. Read for us John 1, verses 10 and 11. "He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own did not receive him." Yes, but as many as received him, to them he gave power to be The Sons of God. So that's the big question: 'he came unto his own and his own did not receive him.
' Now I wonder how many times the Lord has come to his own and his own did not know him. And this is not just describing God's people in the old testament or the Jewish people in the new testament, it happens to God's people today. There are churches that have Jesus' Name on the building and he comes and they don't know him. And so a lot of people really don't understand who Jesus is. Let's talk about that for just a minute.
Who does history think that Jesus is? You realize that everybody sort of has a different idea of Christ. It's kind of like the story - and you've heard me use this before but it fits here so I'll use it again - the six blind men that had heard about elephants but they'd never really seen an elephant because they were blind and so a friend led them all, holding a rope one day, over to an elephant. And they all gathered around the elephant and they got a different part of the elephant. This story is from india. And so one of them got ahold of the elephant's tail and he said, 'I finally understand the elephant.
An elephant is like a snake - is like a rope.' And the one who got ahold of the trunk he said, 'no, you're wrong, an elephant is like a snake.' And then the other friend called - he was holding on to the ear - he said, 'no, an elephant is like a bird. It's got big wings.' And another one got ahold of the middle part of the elephant - 'the elephant is like a mountain' he said. And another one got ahold of the elephant's trunk - or rather the elephant's leg - and he said, 'no, an elephant's like a tree.' And then one of them got ahold of the elephant's tusks and he says, 'the elephant is like a stick.' And they all had a hold of the elephant but they had a hold of a different part and because they were blind they didn't understand the elephant. So understanding who Jesus is is not just getting ahold of one element of his character, but it's understanding the different facets of his character and you need to walk around it. He is a God of love but he is a God of judgment.
He is a God of mercy and grace. He's a God of wisdom. And so it's looking at the different facets of who Jesus is that we understand him. And so - now someone said, 'if you ask a buddhist 'who is Jesus?' The buddhists say Jesus was 'one of the enlightened incarnations of buddha.' If you ask islam and read in the koran, 'who was Jesus?' They believe that Jesus was real, that he was a holy man, and he was one of the great five prophets - five greatest prophets. If you ask hindus 'who is Jesus?' It says that he was one of the incarnations of the God vishnu.
If you ask jews they will say 'Jesus was a good man, maybe even a prophet.' You know, and some people say, 'well, we really can't know what Jesus said because there's so little about him that you can read.' That is a myth. You ever heard that before? Oh, we know a lot about julius caesar and we know a lot about alexander the great.' And 'we know a lot about these different characters from history.' But, in reality, there is more written in history about Jesus than alexander the great or - and a lot of the historians were writing second and third hand about alexander. You know, just about everything we know about julius caesar - everyone quotes and talks about caesar - but just about everything we know about caesar comes from some of the historical letters of cicero. There's very little that was written but we don't ever question that. But we question what they said about Jesus.
You know why? Because of the miracles. They say, 'well, how could this be true. But what the historians - his contemporaries - wrote about him - even those who were not gospel writers like flavius Josephus, who lived during the time of Christ - have you read what he wrote about Jesus? We don't question Josephus - what he says about the history of the jews and the Jewish wars and the Romans. We all write that down like fact but have you read what he said about Jesus? I'll read it. It's only one comment because he just goes through history and he records what was written.
"About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man, for he was one who performed surprising deeds and was a teacher of such people as gladly received the truth. He won over many of the jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Messiah." This is a Jewish historian. What did he say? He was the Messiah. He says it as a passing comment.
"And when, upon the accusation of the principle men among us, pilate had condemned him to a cross, those who had first come to love him did not cease, he appeared to them spending a third day restored to life, for the prophets of God had foretold these things and a thousand other marvels about him and the tribe of Christians, so called after him, is still with us to this day." That's in the Jewish antiquities .3.3 @63 if you want to look it up for yourself. And so history records Jesus really lived. Why do we say that this is 2014? How did we come up with 2014 what? That's supposed to be 2014 years ad - anno domini - they call it now the ce - the common era. They've re - instead of it being the year of the Lord ad, people that don't want to believe in Jesus and atheists they say, 'we need to change the way we date. Let's call it the common era.
' Well, it was supposed to be the Christian era - ad - and so, they're trying to distance themselves. But where do we come up with that? Well, they dated it from the death of Christ. So there's no question that Jesus lived, the question is 'who is he?' And 'who is he to you?' Well, what did he say about himself? He claimed to be the Messiah, he claimed to be The Son of God, and he claimed to be God. Those are pretty outrageous claims. This is where I like to quote c.
s. Lewis, "a man who is merely a man - if he said the sort of things that Jesus said, he wouldn't be a great moral teacher. He'd either be a lunatic on the level of a man who says he's a poached egg or else he'd be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was and is the Son of God or he is a madman or something worse.
" That's right, you only have three choices. Jesus is liar, lunatic, or lord. Because of the claims he made, I mean, what are your other options? Is there another option? He was either crazy or he was a deceiver, or he was telling the truth. Well, we believe that he was telling the truth because then he backed up his great claims with great deeds and great miracles, right? So we need to know who Jesus was. Jeremiah 9 - now somebody look up for me John 14:7.
I'll just get you ready. You got - maybe I gave you - yep, that's it. I'm sorry, you're right richard - you're the one. Hold up your hand. We'll get you a microphone.
Yeah, get a microphone over to him. Yeah, I gave the wrong verse - John 14:17 - and we'll get to that in a moment. Jeremiah 9:23 is where I want you to read right now. Talking about knowing who Jesus was. "Thus says the Lord: 'let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this,'" - glory means boast - "'that he understands and knows me,'" - if you think what would lead to real happiness.
Well, for a man, if you could be strong, famous and powerful and rich - that's what a lot of people want. It's what the devil offers. But what does God say is the most important thing that you could be thankful for? Purpose of life? 'That you know me.' That is eternal life. - "'Let him who glories glory in this: that he understands and knows me that I am the Lord, exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight.
'" You go to John 17, verse 2 - this is in that great intercessory prayer of Jesus, "as you have given him authority over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him. And this is eternal life," - what is it? - "That they may know you, the only true God," - what is eternal life? To know him. So when we're talking about and studying the subject of The Son today, it's not enough for us to just talk about Jesus, we need to say, 'do we know him?' Do we have a personal relationship? Do you talk to him after church is over and through the week? Or do you just think about him once a week or when you're in trouble? Is he a regular friend in the good times and bad and in the boring times? I mean, he should be with you always. This is eternal life that they might know you the only true God and Jesus Christ who you sent. Knowing God in Christ is eternal life.
Alright, go ahead richard, read for us John 14:17. "the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; but you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you." The world cannot receive Christ because it does not know him. A lot of people dismiss Jesus. They scoff, they laugh - you mention Jesus' Name, they turn away. 'Oh no.
' - They roll their eyes. That's only because they don't know him. They can't know - they've got a different spirit and they're blind. What will Jesus declare to the lost? Many say, 'lord, lord' - and he says, 'depart from me ye who work iniquity, I never - I never knew you.' God wants to know us. He wants to have that intimate loving relationship with us and when I say intimate, just remember in the old testament it says, 'adam knew his wife' - they had a baby.
I mean, it was like a marriage relationship and the Lord wants to have a loving relationship with us. I like when Jesus talked to the woman at the well. If there was any question about who he was - some say - I've heard people say before, 'Jesus never claimed to be the Messiah.' Oh yes he did. John 4:25, speaking to the woman at the well, she said, "'I know that Messiah is coming' (who is called Christ). 'When he comes, he will tell us all things.
' Jesus said to her, 'I who speak to you am he.'" Can that be misunderstood? She understood it because she dropped her water pot, ran to town, and said, 'we found him of whom Moses and the prophets did speak. Come see the man who told me all things ever I did.' If you look in Matthew 26, when Jesus was being tried "and the high priest answered and said to him, 'I put you under oath by the living God: tell us if you are the Christ, The Son of God!'" That's a pretty plain question. He said, 'tell us already. You've been beating around' - you notice Jesus told other people but he didn't tell the religious leaders. He wanted them to discover by evidence.
God gave lots of evidence in the word. You remember when John the baptist - I'll get back to this verse, don't think I forgot. When John the baptist was in jail, he started getting discouraged. He kept waiting for Jesus to make some grand announcement that he was the Messiah and he didn't. And John - the devil started working on his - his confidence and John sent some messengers to Jesus.
They said, 'are you the one we're waiting for or do we look for another?' Jesus didn't say, 'yes, I'm the one.' You know what he did? He told the messengers, 'stand by.' And they had to watch him as he taught and he healed and he opened people's eyes and he forgave sins. And then he turned back to them and he said, 'you go tell John what you saw and that should answer his question.' In other words, 'I'm not going to answer you yes or know. I'm going to give you the evidence in the word that tells about what the ministry of the Messiah would be.' Because it said in Isaiah 61, 'the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He's anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, to open the eyes of the blind, to heal the brokenhearted, to set at liberty those that are captive.' And so it told exactly what the Messiah would do in the old testament prophecies and then Jesus did it in front of the messengers of John and said, 'now you go back and tell him what you saw.' So the Lord, he wanted them to know the evidence in the word. But finally, the high priest, he couldn't stand it anymore and he said, 'tell us.
Are you the one?' And Jesus said - because he said it with an oath under the name of God. Christ said, okay, if you want to know, "it is as you said." What did he say? 'Tell us if you're the Christ, The Son of God.' Jesus said, 'it is as you said. I am what you said.' Isn't that what he's saying? "Nevertheless...hereafter you will see The Son of man sitting at the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven." Is there any question that he was claiming divinity? They understood he was claiming divinity because the high priest then tore his robes and said, 'this is blasphemy! You're claiming to be God!' And that's when they condemned him to die. There was no question about it. So - and, by the way, another time, when they threatened to stone Jesus, Jesus said, 'before Abraham was, I am.
' Now, you might think, 'well, I am what?' Jesus was saying the same thing that God said to Moses when he said, 'who are you so I can tell the children of Israel?' God said, 'I am that I am.' - I'm not one of the Gods. I'm not the God of the river and I'm not the God of the frogs and I'm - the Egyptians had the God of the sun - they had all these different Gods and God said to Moses, so he wouldn't confuse them - he said, 'I am the self-existent one. I'm the one that makes everything else. I am that I am.' Jesus said the same thing. He said, 'before Abraham was, I am.
' And if you think, 'well, what did that mean?' The jews knew what that meant. They took up stones to stone him for blasphemy and they said, 'because you, being a man, make yourself God.' Well, he did make himself God. Do you remember when the rich young ruler came to Jesus? He said, 'lord, I want eternal life.' Christ said, 'keep the commandments.' First - no, wait, wait, wait - he said, 'good master, what good things should I do that I might have eternal life?' And Jesus said, 'why do you call me good? None is good but God. No one is purely good but God because all have sinned.' Is any man good? All have turned away, the Bible says, right? All have fallen. All have sinned.
But Jesus said, 'no one is good but God and you're calling me good master.' So what was Jesus saying? That none is good but God? If only God could forgive sin and Jesus forgave sin, what was Jesus saying? He was God The Son. You ever think about that? How big God is and that God came to earth and became a man to show us what he was like? That was a lot of love to do that. Now, even though Jesus was God, was he man? Just let me give you a couple things to look at. Did Jesus exist before he was born? Now I am covering the lesson, I'm just bouncing around a little, so stay with me. Micah 5, verse 2 - now these are verses we typically read around Christmas - Micah 5:2 - but it's a good verse for the theology.
"But you, Bethlehem ephrathah," - and the reason he says 'Bethlehem ephrathah' - Bethlehem was a semi-common name. There were at least a couple of towns in the land of canaan called Bethlehem - it just means 'house of bread' - it's not an uncommon name, it just meant a place where they ground bread. And so to avoid it being misunderstood with another Bethlehem, he says, 'Bethlehem ephrathah' - that's the Bethlehem where rachel died giving birth to Benjamin and it's the Bethlehem that was right by Jerusalem - so there'd be no question about which Bethlehem this was. "But you, Bethlehem ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of judah," - it further tells us this was the Bethlehem in the southern kingdom - in judah - "'yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from old, from everlasting.'" His goings forth are from everlasting. Now, some have read - there's an interesting chapter in Proverbs where Solomon is talking about wisdom.
And in that chapter where he talks about wisdom - and this is in Proverbs 8:22 - it says, "the Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths I was brought forth;" - now some think that that is a prophecy about Jesus and they use that chapter to say, 'did Christ ever have a beginning? Well, it says he was brought forth.' Why is Jesus called the only begotten son? I mean, wouldn't you think that if somebody was begotten, there was a moment when they were begot? You know, there are a lot of dear people out there that love the Lord - they love the Bible - but they struggle with the idea of the trinity. And it's not they don't believe there is a father, son and holy spirit, but they don't believe that Jesus is eternal God. They believe Jesus created the world, but they believe there was a point when Jesus did not exist.
They believe there was nothing else before he existed but God The Father, but at some point - they struggle with this - in the remote recesses of eternity - go back as far as you can go - you're going to have to go warp speed - go back as far as you can go into the dark recesses - there's no stars, no nothing, but there's just God and God was lonely and he begot a son. They say, 'he had to have a beginning.' And so they say, 'he's not equal with The Father because he was born. Otherwise, how can he be the begotten son? They struggle with that word 'begot'. But don't struggle with that. What that means is there was only one time when God was begotten as a man.
So when Christ came into this world, he was the only begotten Son of God where God took on the form of a man. But Jesus lived eternally - doesn't Christ say, 'I am the alpha and the omega'? That means you figure out how far you can go in that direction and how far - he's always been. He's - 'from everlasting to everlasting thou art God.' It says about Jesus. Now here's a couple of reasons that that idea that Jesus had a beginning doesn't work. And I believe that these people are sincere and they struggle with it and I know the verses that make them struggle, but I think they're wrong.
It is true - there are some of the founders in the Seventh-day Adventist Church that were aryans - they did not believe in the eternal existence of Christ. They thought that Jesus had a beginning. They struggled with the concept of the trinity. But they were wrong. James white and Ellen white, they believed that.
There was even a division among the early adventists on that - but when they studied it out - and then some people will say, 'well, we can't believe that.' 'Well, why not?' 'Because the catholics believe it.' As though anything catholics believe is automatically you've got to believe the opposite. Where do we get that? Yes, it's true catholics believe in the trinity - of course, they believe it a little differently. You know, they sort of believe that mary was also a sinless birth - the immaculate conception is not about Jesus, it's about mary. And you can pray to mary and she intercedes so mary is also a mediator - so they almost have a holy quartet as opposed to a trinity, so the catholic version is really different. Do catholics believe in reverence in church? Yeah, so does that mean we can't believe in it because they do? I mean, it's crazy, the idea that just because catholics believe something it must be wrong.
So anyway, here's one of the problems with that idea: is God love? How long has he been love? From everlasting he's been love, right? Can you be love and have nobody to love? How can you be love and not be able to express it? It's impossible. So in order for God to be love, that love must always have found some expression. You can't have love with one person. The devil tried - it's self-love - and you end up self-destructing, right? Love must always be given away for it to be love. The Son had to always exist for God to be love.
The other reason is the Bible says 'all things that were made were made by him. Without him was not anything made - not anything was made - that was made.' If The Father made Jesus then Jesus didn't make himself then that verse isn't true. See what I'm saying? If all things that were made were made by Christ - it doesn't say 'except himself' - that means all things. That means Jesus wasn't made. Jesus is not a creature - a creature is something created.
Did you get that? Jesus is a creator. And so the idea that takes away from the trinity of Christ, it diminishes the sacrifice that Jesus made because what's happening then, when it says, 'God gave his son' - it's like God saying, 'I don't want to go down there and die, I'll just create somebody to die for me.' But that's not what happened. God, himself, came to the world and died for us. So there's a lot of problems with that idea that Jesus was born. So what does it mean in Proverbs - we were just reading those verses in Proverbs - when it says, in chapter 8, "the Lord possessed me at the beginning of his way.
..i was set up from everlasting...i was brought forth...before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth." You read earlier in that chapter it's talking about wisdom - it's not about Jesus, it's about wisdom. It is a soliloquy - it's poetic. Proverbs is talking about wisdom - 'wisdom has built its house.' It's almost giving personality to wisdom. It's not about Jesus. Just don't forget that and you'll have no problem with this.
It's talking about wisdom was brought forth at the very beginning. God didn't do anything without wisdom. That's all it's saying. So Jesus has always existed. Alright, The Son of man - one of the favorite titles of Christ.
Someone look up for me Daniel :13 - who has that verse? We'll get you a microphone, cathleen. And I'm going to read Ezekiel :17. Jesus' favorite designation for himself was 'The Son of man.' He used it about 87 times in the gospels. Of the old testament prophets, who do you think uses that term the most? Of the old testament prophets? Ezekiel. Ezekiel uses the phrase 'son of man' more than anyone else.
Matter of fact, often when God spoke to Ezekiel he said, 'son of man do this. Son of man do that.' Why? I don't know but that's the way he addressed Ezekiel and he didn't always the other prophets. You can see in verse - Ezekiel :17, "son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me." Now Jesus referred to himself as 'son of man' - why? He wanted us to know that he loved us and he's identifying with us - that he became one of us to save us. He loved to remind us that he became one of us. Now, keep in mind, as we talk about Jesus and you talk about divinity - any preacher that does this needs to do it with a pretty healthy dose of humility because we've got to keep in mind, as the heavens are high above the earth, so are his ways above our ways.
And so as I'm now attempting to teach you about Jesus and the nature and character of Jesus, we're on holy ground and you've got to admit you don't - there's mysteries. The Bible talks about the mystery of Godliness. You've got the mystery of iniquity in the Bible, you've got the mystery of God. And how God could still be God and become human - the incarnation - is a mystery. There's things about it that every honest preacher is going to say, 'I can't fully explain.
If I could then I'd be God because how can I explain God?' I mean, he's the creator. We're creatures. It's much bigger. It's wonderful as he reveals elements and our minds continue to go 'wow!' Through eternity God'll continue to show us new truth and we'll never know what he knows even though we'll forever be learning. Does God learn? That's a trick question.
I was studying with some friends of mine that go door to door two by two and they give Bible studies. They came to our house, I was studying with them, and basically they said, 'yeah, our God is actually the God of our universe but there are other Gods of other universes and our God used to be a lower creature and over time he continued to learn until he was promoted to be God of his own universe.' And you know what church this is? And so I said, 'you're telling me that God continues to learn?' 'Yes.' I said, 'does God know everything?' 'Well, compared to us he knows everything.' I said, 'wait a second. Does the Bible say that God is omniscient? Is he all-knowing?' If you're learning and you know eternity in the future and you know eternity in the past. If you are the quintessence of knowledge then you're not learning anything. It's sort of like being a teenager - you think you know everything.
God knows everything, right? So is he ever learning? You've got to be careful because there are even some pastors out there that say, 'God's on a journey.' God's on a journey like 'he's finding out what's around the next corner.' I heard a pastor on the radio say that yesterday - something like that. He said, 'God didn't know what Jonah was going to do. He was kind of waiting to find out.' I said, 'what? God knows everything. He knows exactly what's going to happen. It doesn't mean we don't have a free will.
The fact that he's all-knowing and sovereign doesn't mean that we don't have a choice. He knows what our choice is going to be but you still have freedom of choice. He gives it to you and he respects that. He just knows everything. Alright, Daniel 7:13 - who has that? Let's go ahead and read that.
Daniel 7:13, "I was watching in the night visions, and behold, one like The Son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him." You know, it's interesting that this is one of the places in the Bible where you actually see a glimpse of The Father and The Son together. You see a lot of analogies of that in the Bible where Abraham is going up the mountain with Isaac. And you can see pictures of the father and The Son. You see, you know, the love of Jacob for Joseph. Joseph was an old man - I'm sorry, Jacob was an old man when Joseph was born.
Jacob, you might say, was an ancient of days. Was Abraham young or old when Isaac was born? Old. He was like - he was an ancient father of a young son. And jesse had this young boy named David and you know what it says about jesse? He was an old man when David was alive - when David went out and fought the giant. So you see this picture all through the Bible of The Father and The Son, but here you actually see them in vision together.
You see the throne of God in Revelation and you see a lamb that was slain before the throne. Again, you see a picture of the father and The Son. And so Jesus is identified as The Son of man. Daniel, of course, saw Christ in the fiery furnace. When he wrote it - Daniel wasn't actually there that day but it talks about Nebuchadnezzar saying, 'one like The Son of God' was in the furnace with shadrach, meshach, and abednego, right? And you can look in Matthew :55 - the people just saw Jesus - they thought he was just one of us.
I mean, think about it. Even Christ's own family - his own brothers - before his resurrection - they thought, 'you know, Jesus is an unusual boy. He's a very good boy. We could never get him to get involved in the mischief and trouble that we got involved in.' But they thought he was human, didn't they? His brothers tried to straighten him out. They didn't understand his anointing.
Was Joseph misunderstood by his brothers? Was David misunderstood by his brothers - the special calling that God had on David? And Jesus was misunderstood. Look in Matthew 13:55, "is not this the carpenter's son?" - When Jesus went to nazareth to preach - "is not his mother called mary?" And his brothers - here it lists at least four of them - James, and Joses, Simon, and Judas. When you read the book of James in the Bible, you're reading - that's the brother of Jesus who wrote that. He ended up becoming, sort of, chairman of the board for the church in Jerusalem. And it says Jesus had sisters.
These are probably his half sisters through Joseph. It doesn't tell us their names, but Jesus had brothers and sisters. He had at least two - he might have had five - we don't know. So he had a family and he grew up and they said, 'isn't this the carpenter's son?' The people of the community knew him. They saw, 'yeah, you live in the house where Joseph, the carpenter, lived.
And with mary and we known them all and what? He's the Messiah?' So Jesus was so human that - could he disappear in a crowd? Why did they have to pay Judas to identify him in the garden of Gethsemane? Because he looked like everybody else, right? You know, we always see the pictures of Jesus painted and he's wearing this stunning white robe with, you know, maybe it'll have blue tassels on it and he just always looks like a movie star and he's never dirty. His robe is always clean and I just - I kind of picture him that way too just because of all the paintings that we've looked at. But, in reality, it was probably pretty hard to tell Jesus apart from the average carpenters and fishermen and shepherds that lived in the day back then. He - the Bible says there was no outward beauty that we should desire him. He looked like everybody else.
So who was Jesus? Alright, it says he's The Son of God. Luke 1:35, "and the angel answered and said unto her, 'the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that holy one who is to be born will be called The Son of God.'" So Jesus, one of his names is 'The Son of God.' Now, in a sense, are we not all sons of God? 'Behold what manner of love the father has bestowed on us that we should be called 'sons of God.'' In the beginning it says, 'when The Sons of God came to know the daughters of men.' That means, when the descendents of seth that were the children of God, began to intermarry with the daughters of cain - they were called The Sons of God - then things really kind of went to pot in the world and God says 'the thoughts of men's hearts were only evil continually.' Isaiah talks about us being The Sons and daughters of God. And so, we are children of God in that sense but when Jesus is called - there's a difference between us being sons and daughters of God and Christ being 'the' Son of God. When you say 'the' what does it mean? If I say, 'can you please bring me the pen?' If I say, 'bring me a pen or a pencil' that means it could be anyone's pen or pencil in the room, right? But when I say, 'bring me 'the pen' you're thinking there's a definite article. There's a specific pen somewhere.
So when Jesus is called 'The Son of God' that means he is the ultimate expression of God becoming a man. There's something unique about him. John 1:49, "nathanael answered and said to him, 'rabbi, you are The Son of God! You are the King of Israel!'" Mark 15:39, so when the centurion saw him - when he was on the cross - "that he cried out like this and breathed his last, he said," - this is a roman centurion - "'truly this man was The Son of God.'" So even the Romans, the pagans, and a lot of world religions knew that God was going to somehow manifest himself and be coming to earth. He said this was him, The Son of God. Now, this - we're delving now, again, into some difficult subjects.
Jesus - is Jesus a hundred percent God or was he only ninety percent God? When Christ became a man, while he still was a hundred percent The Son of God, he laid aside an element of his eternal knowledge and power so that he could dwell in a human body. When Christ was in a human body and he had a brain like you and I have, did he know all things that are going on in the universe at one time? He only knew what The Father revealed to him. He laid aside that element - why do you think Jesus said, 'no man knows the day or the hour of my coming, not even The Son, but The Father only'? He knows now, God The Father's not hiding that information from Jesus because he can't be trusted, but when he was on earth he says, 'I don't have all knowledge now.' God The Father has ultimate power. When Christ was on the earth it doesn't say he ever took on anybody like sampson did or David fighting lions and bears. Jesus had the same kind of physical strength and power that the average man would have, right? And so he only had the additional knowledge and the additional power as The Father gave it to him.
So he laid aside - he made himself of no reputation, but he was still equal with The Father. Jesus said, John 10:30, "I and my father are one." Philippians 2:6, "...being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God." That means it wasn't a misstatement. It wasn't overstated that he was equal to God. It wasn't robbing God of anything or taking a title that he did not deserve. It says Christ declared that he was equal with God.
John 17:5, "and now, o father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was." So we see, when Jesus said 'before Abraham was, I am' - he says he pre-existed. When Christ pre-existed sometimes he was referred to in the old testament as 'the one who is as God' - you know how you say that? 'Michael.' The one who is as God. That's what that means - or 'who is like God?' Sometimes it could be a statement. It could be a question. And so why do you think when this general appears to Joshua before Joshua goes to battle - a general appears and Joshua sees him and he says, 'are you with us or for our enemies?' He said, 'no, but I'm here as the commander of the Lord's army.
' And when Joshua realized who he was, he knelt down to worship him. And what did Jesus say? 'No, don't worship me. The Bible says you should only worship God. It's in the Ten Commandments.' No, he said - not only should you worship me - he said, 'take your shoes off, this is holy ground.' The same thing that the 'I am' said to Moses, this general - it's one of the pre-incarnation manifestations of Christ. Jesus appears to Joshua.
That's what he said, right? So he humbled himself when he came to this earth. Okay, we're running out of time and I've got a lot of - lot of lesson left. I'll put my notes on the internet for things that maybe I don't get to - for any teachers that may want to use this. So did Christ submit himself to The Father when he was here on earth? I believe the answer to that is yes. Corinthians 11:3, "but I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man;" - that's a very contentious verse these days - "and the head of Christ is God.
" The head of Christ is God. So we all agree that, at least while Jesus was on earth, he recognized The Father in some superior way. While they are co-equal, there is still a submission on the part of Jesus. It's hard to misunderstand that verse, right? 'Now you know that the head of every man is Christ; the head of the woman is man; and the head of Christ is God.' 'For God so loved the world, he gave his son.' Who has the authority to give? The one who owns. The one who has some kind of superiority.
The Father is giving The Son, right? 'For God did not send The Son into the world to condemn.' Who sends The Son? Who has the supreme authority? The one sent or the one sending? Right? My sons don't say, 'dad, go out and get the mail.' I say, 'no, you go out and get the mail.' So there's an authority - there's a respect here - it's even in John :16, you see what I'm saying? Ephesians 3:9 - you just jot these down. By the way, someone look up for me John 14:28 - did someone get that verse? Right here, mike - let's get a microphone over here. Microphone, right here, okay. We'll get you ready. Let's look at John 5:19 and 20, "then Jesus answered and said to them, 'most assuredly, I say to you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the father do; for whatever he does, The Son also does in like manner.
For The Father loves The Son, and shows him all things that he himself does; and he will show him greater works than these, that you may marvel." The Father revealed things to Jesus while he was on earth. He had limited knowledge. You and I can have knowledge of Christ's will as God reveals it to us. Now here's the big question - you go ahead mike. You read your verse.
John 14, verse 28, "you have heard me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to you.' If you loved me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to The Father,' for my father is greater than i." So who can deny, at least on earth, that there was some submission? Christ says, 'my father is greater than i.' Now here's the question - I'm probably going to get letters on this but it's in the Bible, I've got to share it with you. Prior to the creation of our world, was there any subordination of Christ to the father? Was there any authority that The Father seemed to have above Christ? Let me give you some verses and you tell me what you think here. 'God made all things through Christ.' Who relegates to Jesus creative power? Wouldn't you think that if the father said to Christ, 'you create' that means The Father had the right and he gave this right? Hebrews 1:2, God "has in these last days spoken to us by his son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he" - The Father - "made the worlds." The Father made the worlds through Christ. And, again, for The Father to send The Son. Let me give you something else that - this is from the book - this is a quote from the 'spirit of prophecy' and, you know, I didn't write down what that means.
Sr page 13 - I forget what the sr stands for. Someone will look that up in the e.g. White writings. Selected readings - it might be. "The great creator assembled" - it's talking about when Christ was sent to the world - "the great creator assembled the heavenly host that he might, in the presence of all the angels, confer special honor upon the son.
" Who's the great creator here? The Father. He's going to confer special honor upon The Son, okay. Do you see some superior authority here being represented? Okay. "The Son was seated on the throne with The Father and the heavenly throng of holy angels were gathered around them. The Father then made known that it was ordained by himself that Christ his son should be equal with himself.
" Well, who is declaring that? The Father is. "So wherever the presence of his son was, it was also his own presence. The word of The Son was to be obeyed as readily as the word of The Father. His son had invested" - his son - he - notice, this is very important - "his son" - the father's son - "he" - The Father - "invested with authority to command the heavenly host." So when one invests authority to another, doesn't that person have some superior authority in order to invest them with authority? If I'm sheriff and I deputize you, I've got to be sheriff first, isn't that right? You can't come to me and say, 'I'm a deputy. I'm going to make you sheriff.
' It doesn't work that way. You see what I'm saying? That's a crude illustration but it was the first one that popped into my head - "the word of the son was to be obeyed as readily as the word of The Father." His son he had invested with authority to command the heavenly host." Notice this: "especially was his son to work in union with himself in the anticipated creation of the earth and every living thing that should exist in the earth." Alright, is this difference in authority - does it exist before our world was made? Even - yes - it says he's investing him with authority, they're going to cooperate in the creation of the world. Prior to - you getting this? I'm not trying to build anything that isn't there - prior to the creation of our world - from everlasting to everlasting - in the Godhead there is a love and a respect where there is - there seems to be a sequence of authority. They are co-equal, they have - all three are all-powerful, they are God, they're all knowing, but they respect a primacy even in the Godhead. Now do you see that? Does that make sense? It seems to be there in the Bible for me, if you believe the Word of God and the Spirit of prophecy.
Alright, I'll get a couple more thoughts in here before we run out of time. Christ's diving nature part 1 - well, we sort of talked about this - Luke 5, verse 20, it says, "when he saw their faith, he said to him, 'man, your sins are forgiven you.'" And they got all upset that he was claiming the power to forgive sin. No one can forgive sin but God only. John 8:58, "Jesus said unto them, 'verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am.'" We've talked about that already. Oh, here's the one I wanted to close with: John 20, verse 28 - after Jesus revealed himself in the upper room, thomas bows before them and he says, 'my lord and my God.
' So Christ had this divine nature and Jesus didn't say, 'don't worship me.' They worshiped him. He didn't say, 'oh no, no, don't call me God because that's a sin. The Bible says in the ten commandments, 'worship only God.' The fact that Christ received worship - what was he? He was God. So we've run out of time. Please remember to ask for our special gift book, 'Christ's human nature'.
We'll send it to you for free. Ask for offer #729 and it's -788-3966 and we'll send that to you. God bless you until we study again next week. Have you ever wished you could do more to lead someone to Jesus? Have you ever felt the need for revival in your own life? Well, afcoe is the place for you. The Amazing Facts center of evangelism has incredible training opportunities for anyone who wants to become a dynamic and effective soul winner.
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