Father and Son Relationship

Back to The True Jesus Christ Unknown to Christianity

The close bond between God and the Word continued in Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry.

The Rock of the Old Testament lowered Himself to be born of a woman. Notice: “Who [Christ], being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:6-8).

Jesus was God in the flesh, a member and representative of the kingdom of God, yet He was physical.

Christ, the living Word personified, authored the written Word, the Bible. During His time in the flesh, Jesus used the “Bible” in His mind—the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:17)—to make right decisions. He knew well the verses describing the true nature of man (Jer. 17:9; Prov. 14:12; 16:2, 25; 21:2), which is why Jesus said, “Why call you Me good? None is good, save one, that is, God” (Luke 18:19).

He later inspired the apostle Paul to write, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwells no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not” (Rom. 7:18).

Therefore, Christ daily practiced suppressing His own will—the natural human reasoning that dwells in man’s nature—to serve His Father’s will. Jesus knew Him. He trusted Him. He placed His life and safety in God’s hands.

Again, Christ, of His own physical self, did not perform miracles—His Father did them through Him (John 14:10). Jesus exercised perfect faith, knowing His prayers would be answered because He always sought and prayed according to God’s will.

Later, during His earthly ministry, Jesus performing awesome miracles was the result of Him seeking power from the ultimate authority in the universe—God Supreme—and then exercising that authority while seeking His Father’s will.

It was this relationship of faith, power, authority, government, truth and love that enabled Christ, when He was about to be arrested, tried, tortured and crucified, to pray, “Father, if You be willing, remove this cup from Me: nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).

“One God…One Mediator”

Jesus knows what it is like to be human, to feel the temptations and pressures that come from the self, society and Satan. He knows what it is like to wage spiritual warfare day after day after day. He knows that the flesh is weak, that it becomes weary. Christ knows what it means to be tempted. Yet He never gave in. He never gave up (Heb. 4:15).

And today Jesus Christ is in heaven with the Father, serving as our “Mediator between God and men” (I Tim. 2:5). He is able to relate to God what we as fallible human beings experience in striving to overcome sin.

Jesus takes the prayers of His people before God’s throne, into the “Holy of Holies,” and gives them the authority to pray to God directly. This is why we are to close our prayers with, “In Jesus’ name” or “In the name of Jesus Christ,” or something similar.

True Christians are spiritually begotten sons of God. They have God’s Spirit dwelling in them: “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His…For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Rom. 8:9, 14). This potent verse is rarely considered. Why are so few concerned with a passage so definitive in regard to who is and is not a Christian?

Today, Christ is working through Christians to conquer sin just as He did—by giving them the power to fully submit to the Father’s will. He enables them to use the Holy Spirit so that it “helps our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Rom 8:26).

As a Christian’s Elder Brother—“the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom 8:29), fellow “first fruit” (James. 1:18)—Jesus assists His people in fulfilling their incredible human potential, to ultimately be born into the God Family. He works to help Christians grow in the father-son relationship He shares with God.

In effect, our Mediator is working to bring us to the point where we can say, “I and My Father are one.”

Back to The True Jesus Christ Unknown to Christianity

Back to By David C. Pack