My Friend,
I am packed and ready to make my 514 mile trip north to settle in our new place, I do not know how long it will be before I am back on line so I am going to attempt to help explain why Jesus is Lord, God, and man before we celebrate the resurrection in the event that I am not back on line by that time.
Isaiah 49: 8-15; [8] Thus saith the Lord: In an acceptable time I have heard thee, and in the day of salvation I have helped thee: and I have preserved thee, and given thee to be a covenant of the people, that thou mightest raise up the earth, and possess the inheritances that were destroyed: [9] That thou mightest say to them that are bound: Come forth: and to them that are in darkness: shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in every plain. [10] They shall not hunger, nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor the sun strike them: for he that is merciful to them, shall be their shepherd, and at the fountains of waters he shall give them drink.
[11] And I will make all my mountains a way, and my paths shall be exalted. [12] Behold these shall come from afar, and behold these from the north and from the sea, and these from the south country. [13] Give praise, O ye heavens, and rejoice, O earth, ye mountains, give praise with jubilation: because the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy on his poor ones. [14] And Sion said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me. [15] Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? and if she should forget, yet will not I forget thee.
John 5: 17-30; [17] But Jesus answered them: My Father worketh until now; and I work. [18] Hereupon therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he did not only break the sabbath, but also said God was his Father, making himself equal to God. [19] Then Jesus answered, and said to them: Amen, amen, I say unto you, the Son cannot do any thing of himself, but what he seeth the Father doing: for what things soever he doth, these the Son also doth in like manner. [20] For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things which himself doth: and greater works than these will he shew him, that you may wonder.
[21] For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and giveth life: so the Son also giveth life to whom he will. [22] For neither doth the Father judge any man, but hath given all judgment to the Son. [23] That all men may honour the Son, as they honour the Father. He who honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father, who hath sent him. [24] Amen, amen I say unto you, that he who heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath life everlasting; and cometh not into judgment, but is passed from death to life. [25] Amen, amen I say unto you, that the hour cometh, 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 he hath given the Son also to have life in himself: [27] And he hath given him power to do judgment, because he is the Son of man. [28] Wonder not at this; for the hour cometh, wherein all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God. [29] And they that have done good things, shall come forth unto the resurrection of life; but they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment. [30] I cannot of myself do any thing. As I hear, so I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not my own will, but the will of him that sent me.
Understand: These words can be hard to understand don't you think? The prophet Isaiah speaks of the coming times when all of the people of the earth shall be called by God to come for salvation. "And Sion said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me." Many of God's chosen people who read these passages and taught about them in the synagogue rejected the very person that they taught would come.
Mankind forgets too easily, we also reject what is the absolute truth for what we choose to believe in order to suit ourselves. The man Jesus says; "Then Jesus answered, and said to them: Amen, amen, I say unto you, the Son cannot do any thing of himself, but what he seeth the Father doing: for what things soever he doth, these the Son also doth in like manner." This causes confusion in the world because it is taken out of context and used to promote a personal philosophy, that Jesus never said He was God and yet in this very same passage we also read; "Hereupon therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he did not only break the sabbath, but also said God was his Father, making himself equal to God." Everyone knew what Jesus was saying, why is it now controversy? The Jews wanted to kill him for saying that he was equal to God which would make him also God.
Remember that Jesus had two natures; God and man, the man Jesus had to do what he was born to do in order to bring about salvation, the Word that was God who taught us and preached to mankind could not force the flesh and blood Jesus to offer Himself on the cross. Man brought sin in the world through the flesh, man had to conquer sin in the flesh to defeat it and had to conquer death in the flesh in order to defeat it and allow us to also defeat sin and death through him once he accomplished this.
The flesh Jesus had to make a choice to allow himself to become the sacrifice, God in him would not force this on him, it is against the very nature of God, we must give ourselves willingly out of love for God simply because he is God, our Creator and for no other reason, Jesus the man gave the ultimate sacrifice in the flesh, He truly wanted another way to do it but there was none. The Word was not the Son until the Word was born in the flesh, the Word was God in the beginning and became flesh for our sake, by being born in the flesh through the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit, the flesh became the Son Jesus. The Word within Him was God's Holy Word that created the universe by being spoke into existence.
It was necessary to be perfect man in order to have a perfect sacrifice. So by hearing the Word and obeying, we may have salvation, we do not have to sin, we have the strength of God within us but if we do sin we now have Jesus the Christ, sitting on the right hand of the Father to speak for us, God will not hear us in sin, Jesus speaks for us if we belong to Him.
This is a difficult thing to speak about in an email, I have given you the very basic understanding as simply as I know how to do so in such a short writing. I pray that this will help you in your understanding.
Pray: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.
In Christ,
Monk Michael
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