"I will"; "You will."
"I will"; "You will."
I believe I am correct in saying that a person's "will" is the most unique part of his or her personality. Other aspects of his personality may be true of different people. But an individual's will is most uniquely what he or she was, is, and always will be.
Now, when the Lord Jesus cried out, "Not as I will," He, Jesus, was speaking, as I see it. The Father did not say this. Jesus said it.
"But as You will" shows clearly that two different wills are being set forth in this instance. The will of Jesus was one will. The will of the Father was another will.
How, then, can it be maintained that Jesus is another Form of the Father?
Also, please note the following:
During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered. (Hebrews 5:7,8)
To whom did the Lord Jesus learn obedience? To Himself?
On one occasion a minister of the Gospel was questioning me concerning the Trinity.
He asked, "What is your understanding of the relationship of Jesus to the Father?"
I answered, "Jesus is God's Son."
He laughed, and changed the subject.
When and why was the doctrine of the Trinity formulated?
I do not know. But I suspect it has been established for many centuries, with the goal of insuring a proper regard for the Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Associated with the doctrine of the Trinity is the expression, "Very God of very God and very Man of very Man.
Thus Christ's Divinity and Humanity are established.
I am entirely in agreement with this position.
It is clear to me from the New Testament that Jesus Christ is King of all other kings; Lord of all other lords. Through Him God created all things.
He died as a human Being to make an atonement for the sins of the world. He rose from the dead as the Firstborn and the beginning of the new creation of God.
God has given to Jesus all authority in Heaven and upon the earth. All the creatures of God shall bow the knee to the Lord Jesus.
Having been a disciple of the Lord for several decades, I have been assured of all of these facts.
So my problem is not with the supremacy of the Lord Jesus; it is the viewing of Him as not being a Person in His own right but a revelation of the Father.
Christ indeed is the supreme Revelation of the Father, but He Himself is not the Father. He is the express image of the Father; but He is not the Father. He is One with the Father in the sense of being in complete union with the Father, but He is not the Father.
If the Lord Jesus Christ is the Father, then numerous passages of the New Testament do not admit to a straightforward interpretation. One has to employ theologic acrobatics to make these passages support the idea that Christ and the Father are the same Person.
You heard me say, "I am going away and I am coming back to you." If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. (John 14:28)
Does the Lord Jesus mean that He is going to someone who is greater than He is, or does He mean something else? What is your point of view?
There is a passage that can be used to support the idea that Christ and the Father are two Forms of the same Person.
Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?" (John 14:9)
The above sounds like Jesus is the Father, doesn't it? A while back a preacher stated that when Christ was on the earth, God's Throne in Heaven was empty.
If such were the case, when Jesus lifted up His eyes to Heaven and prayed, which He apparently often did, He was praying to an empty throne.
After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: "Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you." (John 17:1)
Does that sound like the Throne in Heaven was empty? Was the Lord praying to Himself?
The Lord Jesus prayed to His Father in Heaven. How could this be if They were the same Person? Perhaps theologians have an explanation for this; but honestly . . .
Enough of such nonsense!
Actually, the Lord explained what He meant when He claimed, "Anyone who sees me has seen the Father."
Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. (John 14:10,11)
Saying "the Father is living in me" is a lot different from claiming, "I am the Father."
Christ is living in many Christians. If, as was true of the Apostle Paul, Christ was thinking, speaking, and behaving in them, they could say, "He who as seen me has seen Christ, which likely would be true to a limited sense. This is altogether different from saying, "I am Christ."
I think you will agree with that.
"Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them." (John 14:21)
It is difficult, in the light of the verse above. to understand that Christ and the Father are the same Person.
It is true that Christ is the perfect image of the Father, but that does not make Him the Father. A son can be the image of his father, but that does not make him his father.
The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. (Hebrews 1:3)
If it is true that the Son is the exact Representation of God's Being, then the Son is not God Himself, except by some contorted theologic reasoning.
I would not take the time to discuss the Trinity if there were not a practical application. I try to avoid all discussions that do not lead to righteous behavior.
Please notice carefully and think about the following passage. It is a favorite of mine.
We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. (I John 1:3)
Fellowship! The Lord Jesus has been my very best Friend for many years. Now that I am approaching ninety years of age, Jesus is closer than ever. I talk to Him throughout the day and night.
Do you know something? Christ is leading me to the Father. Christ is the Way to the Father, isn't He? He is the Way to Someone other than Himself. The Father has never before been as real to me as I would have liked. Possibly because of the confusing doctrine of the Trinity.
At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do. All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." (Matthew 11:25-27)
When our Lord promises we will find rest for our souls, He is speaking of our knowing the Father.
You know, I have been preaching a lot recently about the rest of God. It is found in the fourth chapter of the Book of Hebrews.
The idea is, God finished all His works in six days, and then rested. We are to press into that rest by driving all sin and self-will from our personality, as Jesus helps us.
When we are free from sin and self-will, God finds rest in us and we find rest for our souls. It is as simple and straightforward as that.
It is my point of view that today we are entering a new phase in the plan of redemption. The prior phase was the baptism with the Spirit of God, accompanied by speaking in tongues.
We now are to move forward in the plan of redemption.
What is the next step? It is the rest of God. The purpose of speaking in tongues is to guide us into looking to God for everything we think, say, and do.
Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues God will speak to this people, to whom he said, "This is the resting place, let the weary rest"; and, "This is the place of repose"— but they would not listen. (Isaiah 28:11,12)
If we will seek the Lord we will discover He is dealing with us concerning our sins and self-seeking. We actually are passing through the Judgment Seat of Christ in preparation for the Lord's coming. This is the next step toward the fullness of salvation, which is the fullness of God dwelling in us.
As we move ahead with the Spirit of God, we may find that the Father is becoming more real to us. Soon we are having fellowship with the Father and with His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
I do not wish to make a big point of this, because the problems we talk over with the Lord Jesus come also under the jurisdiction of the Father. Sometimes I pray to Jesus, and sometimes to the Father, in Jesus' name. I am sure you do the same.
Yet, there are times when I feel a special love for the Father and it just seems right to speak with Him. I know it is Jesus leading me to the Father. The Father is Jesus' Father, and our Father as well. The Father is Jesus' God and our God as well.
Although Jesus is vastly superior to us in so many ways, still I get the feeling that He is pleased to have fellowship with brothers who have been born of the same Father, and who are growing into His (Jesus') image.
Speaking of "image," it may be of interest to the reader to consider that God did not make man to go to Heaven and live forever. God made man to be in God's image, just as the Lord Jesus is in God's image.
It may be millennia before we are completely in the image of Christ, which is the image of God. But this is the plan. If we do not quit but keep following the Spirit of God, the day will come when we can say: "He who has seen me has seen Christ"; just as Jesus can say: "He who has seen Me has seen the Father."
There is another consideration here, and that is union.
We need to give careful consideration to the prayer of Jesus in the Gospel of John:
That all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity [into one]. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:21-23)
Have you ever heard anyone preach from this passage? I haven't!
Do you realize Jesus is praying that those who believe in Him will be brought into the Oneness that He and the Father share? That we are to receive the Glory that the Father has given Christ? That the Father has sent Christ and loves us as He loves Christ?
I believe all of this totally. I realize it means that God is enlarging the revelation of Himself. Also, He is bringing many sons to glory so that His Firstborn may have brothers.
In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. (Hebrews 2:10,11)
None of this subtracts one bit from the Glory and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. But it does gives us Christians some understanding of our high calling in Christ.
This is why I am belaboring the point that Christ and the Father are not the same Person. If Christ is the Father in another Form, where do we come in? Are we being made the Father in another form? If not, how then can we be truly the brother of Christ?
Is the Bride of the Lamb also the Bride of the Father? I don't think so. It does not seem right to me.
If we are to have genuine fellowship with the Father, and with His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, I believe we are going to have to abandon the complicated doctrine of the Trinity and just accept what the New Testament teaches us plainly:
The Father has given all things to the Son.
All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." (Matthew 11:27) The Son prays to the Father continually, and does what He hears from the Father.
So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him." (John 8:28,29)
In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me." (John:17,18)
The Father is greater than the Son.
You heard me say, "I am going away and I am coming back to you." If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. (John 14:28)
Next Part The Son obeys the Father.