Book 3 of Musings The House, Not the Competitor, of God

Current theology, although well intentioned, makes the Lord Jesus Christ the competitor of God, rather than the Offspring, Prophet, Priest, King, Servant, and eternal House of God.

I don't think the current viewpoint concerning God and Christ is correct.

It appears some view God as one Person who is manifested as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Others hold that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three equal Gods who are one in purpose.

As I see it, neither position is scriptural.

I can understand the Holy Spirit exercises sovereignty as He distributes gifts and ministries, and directs the ministries. Yet I don't think the Spirit is equal to the Father in the sense that He reflects His own will and not the Father's will. The Holy Spirit, after all, is the Spirit of God, the Personality of the Father that is communicated out from the Father's Person.

The main problem in my mind is the relationship between the Father and the Son.

To begin with, Jesus Christ is not the Father in another form. It is clear from Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane that two different wills are involved, which certainly would not be the case if Jesus is the Father in another form. Perhaps theologians have an explanation as to how the Father could pray to Himself in Gethsemane. I don't care. I don't like intricate explanations that lead away from the obvious conclusions a person of average intelligence would draw from the Scriptures.

I don't believe we have to have a special priesthood to explain the Scriptures to us. The Gospel is to the poor, and us poor folks are apt to believe what the Scriptures say.

So much for the idea that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are one Person in different manifestations.

Then we come to the notion that there are three equal Gods.

Now think for a moment:

Is Jesus the Prophet of God?

Is Jesus the Priest of God? Does He make intercession for us before God's Throne?

Did God make Jesus both Lord and Christ?

Is Jesus the King God has ordained?

Did God invite Jesus to pray that He, Jesus might inherit the nations and the farthest reaches of the earth?

Did God say in Psalms that Jesus is God and His Throne is forever?

Is Jesus the Servant of God? Does Jesus obey God's will?

Is it true that God gave the vision of the Book of Revelation to Jesus?

Is it true that Jesus does not know the hour of His return, but the Father does?

Is it a fact that Jesus said, "I return to My Father and your Father; and to My God and your God?

Have we been predestined to be the brothers of Jesus Christ? Is Christ the Firstborn among many brothers?

Did Jesus say there is none good but God, when people referred to Jesus as good?

Did Jesus say "My Father is greater than I"?

Again, theologians have a way of explaining away the clear statements of the Scriptures. I think it is because they know the Bible but do not know the Lord. Perhaps I am incorrect in this.

If Jesus and the Father were equal, then it must be true that:

Jesus is not the Prophet of God. The expression "the Prophet of God" implies there is a God for whom Jesus is the Spokesman.

Jesus is not the Priest of God. If Jesus were equal to God He would not be making intercession for us before the throne of another God. The expression "the Priest of God" implies that Jesus represents Another who is greater than Himself.

The Father did not make Jesus Lord and Christ, as Peter stated. Jesus would be Lord and Christ in his own right; He would not need another to make Him Lord and Christ.

Also, the Father would not establish Jesus as King. Jesus would be King in His own right.

The Father would not invite Jesus to pray that He might inherit the nations and the farthest reaches of the earth. Jesus, being co-equal with the Father, would inherit them according to His own will.

The Father would not state Jesus is God and His Throne is forever. This would be an established fact over which the Father had no control.

It would not be true that the Father gave the vision of the Book of Revelation to Jesus. If Jesus was equal to God, Jesus would have had the vision at the same time as the Father.

If Jesus was equal to God, Jesus would know the hour of His return.

If Jesus was a God co-equal with the Father, He never would have said, "I return to My Father and your Father; and to My God and your God.

If there were three co-equal Gods, we would not have been predestined to be the brother of just one of them. If there were three co-equal Gods, Jesus would not be the Firstborn among many brothers.

If Jesus and the Father were equal Persons, Jesus would not have disclaimed the statement that He is good, saying only the Father is good.

And most certainly, if the Father and the Son were co-equal, the Lord Jesus would not have declared "My Father is greater than I.

I know there are theological acrobatics that explain away these facts. But I do not care for them, as I said. I don't believe the Holy Spirit communicates in such a manner that only a privileged few, masters of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek exegesis, are able to explain satisfactorily why the Scripture does not mean what it says.

I will tell you how I think the confusion came about.

The Lord Jesus is the dwelling place, the eternal House of God. He is not another God. He is the House of the one God. There is only one God, and Jesus refers to Him as "Father."

God has poured all of Himself into Jesus. When Jesus speaks it is the Father speaking. When Jesus acts it is what He sees the Father doing. Jesus thinks the thoughts of the Father.

On this basis, on the basis of His being the perfect representation of the Father, Jesus can say, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father."

So the Lord Jesus is the great House of the Father.

Jesus said, "In My Father's house there are many dwelling places. I go to prepare a place for you."

Jesus went to the cross so we also might become dwelling places in the one House of the Father, which is Jesus Christ.

It is the Lord's will that as we learn to live by His body and blood, live by His life, that we arrive at the place where our thoughts, words, and actions are not ours but those of Jesus Christ, and in turn, those of the Father. In this manner God becomes All in all in His creation.

The Apostle Paul said: "I am not living anymore. It is Christ who is living in me."

Thus Paul has the same relationship with Christ that Christ has with the Father.

We too are called to be part of this Oneness, this heavenly Entity, which one day will descend through the new sky and be located for eternity on the new earth.

You know, one cannot understand the Godhead, and our relationship with the Godhead, by logical reasoning. Good men have tried, and, as we might expect, emerged with conflicting thoughts.

The Godhead has to be experienced. It is as we become one with God through the Lord Jesus Christ that we understand the exalted Head of the Body, the Lord Jesus, indeed is-as the Bible states clearly-the offspring of the Father. More than that, He is the Firstborn, meaning there will be brothers whom God will form into the express image of His Firstborn.

We cannot enter the desired relationship with God while we envision one God in three manifestations, or three co-equal Gods. Better and simpler to stick with the statement of the Scripture, that the Lord Jesus is God's Son and Heir.

Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. (John 14:19-20)