Who Is Jesus #9

God was Made Flesh!

Fred R. Coulter

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I was talking to Dr. Dorothy about Philip. 2 and he said that that’s exactly what it is there, that Jesus was God and did devoid Himself of being God, that He did become a human being. That’s what the Greek says. There are two studies on this: 

1. emphasizing the emptying of Himself 
2. emphasizing His exaltation 

It talks about that God exalted Jesus!

Dr. Dorothy said that this part from Philip. 2:5-11 were part of an early New Testament Church hymn, before it was written down in Scriptures. This tells us that the early New Testament Church did knowthat Jesus was God before He became human. At least He was Yahweh; Yahweh Elohim became a human being. 

I just wanted to cover this inasmuch as this is a tremendous part of the proof that Jesus was God before He became human. This refutes and contradicts quite a bit what Anthony Buzzard said in his booklet: Who Is Jesus? That Paul didn’t know anything about that, and in Matthew, Mark and Luke there is not one hint that Jesus was God before He became human. 

Let’s go through and let’s look at Matt., Mark and Luke; let’s do a little survey. Let’s see some statements that give a hint, an indication, but also—when we understand it properly—is telling us that He was God. But that Jesus—while He was human—could not say that He was God, because being human, after giving up being God, He was in fact not God. 

This is going to be a survey, so I’m not going to go in-depth into the Scriptures very much, I’m just going to refer to them, and read some of them and we will build some evidence as we go along what these Scriptures are telling us. 

Matthew 7:28: “Now it came to pass that when Jesus had finished these words, the multitudes were amazed at His teaching; for He taught them as one Who had authority, and not as the scribes” (vs 28-29). 

What does this mean? When you go back and study all of Matt. 5-6, Jesus was actually re-legislating the Law of Moses.

Jesus says, ‘You’ve heard in ancient times that it has been said, but I say to you…’ He goes through many, many occasions where He says that. If He is re-legislating the Law of Moses and He’s teaching with authority, does this not give us an inclination that there had to be someone there who was greater than Moses doing the teaching. Moses was one who had seen God! Here’s a hint! It’s one of these things that is not absolutely crystal clear, where it says that God is speaking these things in the flesh. 

Matthew 9:1: “And after going into the ship, He passed over and came to His own city. And behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a stretcher. Then Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, ‘Be of good courage, child; your sins have been forgiven you.’” (vs 1-2). We have a parallel account of this in Mark 2!

Verse 3: “And immediately some of the scribes said within themselves, ‘This man blasphemes.’” Why is it blasphemous to forgive sin? Only God can forgive sin!

Verse 4: “But Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, said, ‘Why are you thinking evil in your hearts?…. [He accuses them of speaking evil] …For which is easier to say, “Your sins have been forgiven you,” or to say, “Arise and walk”? But I speak these words so that you may understand that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins.’….” (vs 4-6). We have two cases of authority here: 

1. authority much more substantial than Moses had 
2. authority much more substantial than the scribes and Pharisees 

The parallel account, Mark 2:4: “And since they were not able to come near to Him… [the ones carrying the man sick of palsy] …because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He [Jesus] was; and after breaking it open, they let down the stretcher on which the paraplegic was lying. Now, when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paraplegic, ‘Child, your sins have been forgiven you.’ But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, ‘Why does this man speak such blasphemies? Who has the power to forgive sins, except one, and that is God?’” (vs 4-7). 

Let’s notice Jesus’ answer again because this is important. In Matt. 9:3 it says that ‘He blasphemes.’ This one says that only God is able to forgive sins. 

Verse 8: “These things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paraplegic, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you’? or to say, ‘Arise, and take up your stretcher and walk’? But in order that you may understand that the Son of man has authority on the earth to forgive sins’…” (vs 8-10). 

What did He not deny? His authority! But He did not say ‘I am not or was not God.’ 

When you understand how Jesus answered a lot of questions, He answers a lot of them by not revealing everything. Did Jesus intend that everything He did, and everything about Him, be known publicly? Most people would say, ‘Oh, yes.’ But the New Testament teaches us, no! There’s a reason for it. He wouldn’t have been able to do His ministry if He would have said, ‘I’m God,’ even though He was! But He wasn’t really truly God, because He was human. 

Lots of times in going through and reading these statements we really miss some of these things. It just goes to show you that we can go through two years of going through the book of John and miss some very important things. That’s the way God’s Word is. The more you study into it, the more you cross-reference everything, the more you let the Bible prove itself the truer it becomes your perception. Not that it never was true or does not contain all the truth for it; it becomes truer to our perception because we understand more. 

Matt. 12—they’re going through the cornfield and talking about harvesting on the Sabbath. The Pharisees were accusing them because they were plucking the ears of grain as they were walking through. They were complaining, ‘Why do Your disciples do this,’ and Jesus answered: 

Matthew 12:5: “Or have you not read in the Law…” That must have really goaded those Pharisees; and in this case it’s talking about David’s experiences that, in this case, the Law means the whole Old Testament. It’s not in the Law what David did. 

Here specifically “…that on the Sabbaths the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? But I say to you, there is one here Who is greater than the temple” (vs 5-6). Why does that become important? 

Matthew 23:16: “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever shall swear by the temple, it is not binding; but whoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is obligated to fulfill his oath.’ You fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold, or the temple, which sanctifies the gold? And you say, “Whoever shall swear by the altar, it is not binding; but whoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it, he is obligated to fulfill his oath.” You fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar, which sanctifies the gift? Therefore, the one who swears by the altar swears by it, and by all things that are upon it. And the one who swears by the temple swears by it, and by Him Who dwells in it” (vs 16-21). 

• Who is greater than the temple? God!
• Who sanctifies the temple? God does!

So, when Jesus said a ‘greater than the temple is standing here.’ He saying quite directly Who He is. But He’s not saying ‘I am God.’ He can’t say ‘in the flesh I am God,’ so He said, ‘a greater than the temple is here.’ 

Matthew 12:6: “But I say to you, there is one here Who is greater than the temple. Now if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless…. [this is the whole reasoning; another indication]: …For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath Day” (vs 6-8). 

What is that telling us? That’s claiming an awful lot of authority! Still not saying that He is God. But if this is not a hint, I don’t know what a hint is. In the game of charades you give guesses, you draw pictures and you’re supposed to guess what it is. Here is a hint! It’s supposed to bring you to some kind of understanding. 

Then we have the same account in Mark 2:28: “…the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” 

Verse 27: He says: “…‘The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” That implies Who made it! There’s another hint. 

These things I’m going through here are to remove any doubt in Matt., Mark and Luke that there are hints as to Who Jesus really was. 

Matthew 16:13—here’s a very interesting section, especially when we understand that this comes before the transfiguration as given in Matt. 17. 

Matthew 16:13: “Now, after coming into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, Jesus questioned His disciples, saying, ‘Whom do men declare Me, the Son of man, to be?’ And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But you, whom do you declare Me to be?’ Then Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, but My Father, Who is in heaven’” (vs 13-17). God the Father had to reveal it! 

The disciples didn’t know. How much did the disciples know about Jesus? Go through and read and study the Gospels, and you will see that they figured that He was the Messiah. That’s what they said in John 1—behold we found the One that Moses spoke of, that Prophet, the Messiah. They still didn’t understand very much about Jesus. Here the Father revealed this to Peter! 

Verse 20: “Then He charged His disciples not to tell anyone that He was Jesus the Christ.” He was saying, ‘You’re not to tell anyone that I am the Christ.’ 

Why? Because it wasn’t yet time to be known to the world! Jesus could not have completed His fleshly ministry if He would have said, ‘I was God before I became human.’ Everyone would have wanted to exalt Him and put Him in the temple and worship Him. Was it His purpose to come at that time and do that? and be that? No! So, it would have completely thwarted the purpose. If everyone understood truly that He was the Messiah, then He still wouldn’t have been able to accomplish His mission. That’s why He told His disciples, ‘Don’t tell anyone.’ 

We won’t go through the thing concerning the Transfiguration except to say if this is going to tell you that He was God by the Transfiguration—with Moses on one hand and Elijah on the other hand—who do you think He was? This is more than a broad hint. This is a Divine vision and revelation! 

Matthew 17:9: “Now as they were descending from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, ‘Tell the vision to no one until the Son of man has risen from the dead.’” 

The greatest thing that occurred in the apostles lives—which Peter refers to in 2-Pet. 1—is the greatest, most important thing. Then Jesus says to them, ‘Don’t tell anyone until I’m risen from the dead.’ 

With the word ‘again’ in the King James Version, does it mean that He had already died once and was risen one time and this was going to be the second time? No! That means until, not again. It needs to be clarified, especially for those who only have a King James Version to go along with. 

The parallel accounts are in Mark 9 and Luke 9 concerning the Transfiguration. I just reference it so if you want to look it up and read it. 

Matthew 22:43, for the sake of seeing how Jesus applied this to Himself: “He said to them, ‘How then does David in spirit call Him Lord, saying, “The LORD said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet’”?’” (vs 43-44). 

He’s applying something to Himself going clear back to the days of David. Again, that is a hint of something! 

Matthew 23:37: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who have been sent to you, how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you refused!” 

What is this implying? Jesus is saying that this is implying some kind of existence before, where then He wanted to bring them, protect and put them under His wings, but they wouldn’t. Not directly, but it implies, so we can say it is a hint. 

Verse 38: “Behold, your house is left to you desolate. For I say to you, you shall not see Me at all from this time forward, until you shall say, ‘Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord’” (vs 38-39). That’s a pretty powerful statement!

Mark 4—this is when they were on the boat; they were in a storm on the Sea of Galilee. The disciples said, ‘We’re perishing and Jesus is in the back sleeping.’ 

Mark 4:39: “And after being awakened, He rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Silence! Be still.’ And the wind died, and there was a great calm. And He said to them, ‘Why are you so fearful? Why do you not have faith?’ But they were afraid, and said to one another in great fear, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?’” (vs 39-41). The disciples didn’t know who He was!

You’ve got to have an awful lot of power in order to stop the wind and the sea! Who does the wind and sea obey? God! This is enough that if you know the Old Testament, you know the One Who commanded the sea go this far and no further. You know the One Who commanded the wind and used it as destructive forces. 

We find in the account in Luke 8:25—after Jesus rebuked the wind and the ‘raging water’: “And He said to them, ‘Where is your faith?’ But they were afraid, and wondered, saying to one another, ‘Who then is this…” 

That’s a very telling statement. They knew this was something special. He wasn’t just an ordinary human being. 

“…that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?’” (v 25). Again, we have more than a hint! 

Mark 9:9—here is the parallel account of the event of the Transfiguration: “Now as they were descending from the mountain, He charged them not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of man had risen from the dead.” 

That was an awfully tough secret to hold. Can you imagine holding your tongue that long, however long it was? The greatest, most fantastic thing that you’ve ever experienced in your entire life, and after experiencing it Jesus said to tell the vision to no one until He was ‘risen from the dead.’ Even then they didn’t understand what it meant to be ‘raised from the dead.’ 

Apparently it was even to the other disciples, because He only took Peter, James and John. Then it gets down to how many people in the whole history of mankind has God directly revealed Himself? Very few!

Hebrews 1:1: “God, Who spoke to the fathers at different times in the past and in many ways by the prophets, has spoken to us in these last days by His Son, Whom He has appointed heir of all things, by Whom also He made the ages” (vs 1-2)—or worlds!

How are you going to get around that statement that He [Jesus] “…made the worlds…”? Very clear statement! 

Verse 3: “Who, being the brightness of His glory and the exact image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His own power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” 

Let me read this in the Interlinear, v 3: “Who being the effulgence… [reflecting the very power] …of His glory and the exact expression of substance His…. [the very same substance] …and upholding all things by the word of His power.” 

When was that? This is surely not talking about a time when Jesus was on the earth as a human being! The only time they saw Jesus in glory was at the Transfiguration: When was He the Being—the effulgence of His glory—and the exact expression of His substance, and upholding all things by the word of His power? When was that? That was when He made the worlds! It says by Whom He made the worlds! What condition was He in when He made the worlds? Who being the effulgence of His glory and the exact expression of His substance in upholding all things by His Word, the Word of His power!

What does that bring us to? “…when He had by Himself purged our sins…” (v 3). How did He purge our sins? He had to become human! He had to die! He didn’t purge our sins while He was still in glory, because: 

• He emptied Himself 
• gave up being God 
• became a human being 
• came down here to this earth 
• lived a perfect life 
• was tempted in every way that we are 

I’m summarizing the rest of the book of Hebrews, because that all applies!

“…when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (v 3). We have in this very short period: 

• God did all of His glory 
• reflected in Jesus Christ 
• by Whom He made everything 
• then came down to the earth as a human being 
• purged our sins 
• was raised from the dead and exalted to the right hand of God 
• sat down on the throne of God 

You have to have the rest of the Bible to connect the other historical parts and details in there. So, this is a very quick summary, just like Rev. 12, the quickest summary in all of the Bible concerning the Gospel. 

Revelation 12:4: “And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to deliver, so that he might devour her child when she gave birth. And she gave birth to a man child, Who was to shepherd all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and His throne” (vs 4-5). 

How’s that for a quick summary of the Gospel. That’s even quicker than what we just read in Hebrews. When we read these things in Hebrews, we need to ask when? 

Hebrews 1:3: “…sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high; having been made so much greater than any of the angels, inasmuch as He has inherited a name exceedingly superior to them. For to which of the angels did He ever say, ‘You are My Son; this day I have begotten You’? And again, ‘I will be a Father to Him, and He will be a Son to Me’?” (vs 3-5). 

When did that occur? When Jesus was begotten! Yahweh Elohim was not the Son until He was begotten. The Father—as we know the Father today as revealed by Christ—was not the Father until He begot Jesus. 

Verse 6: “And again, when He brought the Firstborn into the world, He said, ‘Let all the angels of God worship Him.’” It shows that He’s greater than the angels! Let’s see something about worshipping angels. 

Revelation 19:10: “And I fell at his feet to worship him. Then he said to me… [the angel talking to John]: …‘See that you do not do this! I am a fellow servant of yours, and of your brethren, who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God….’” 

What is this telling us about the Son back in Hebrews? If the angels worshiped the Son, the Son is God! Is anyone supposed to worship anyone other than God? No! That would break the first commandment to ‘have no other gods before Me.’

He said the same thing in Revelation 22:8: “Now I, John, was the one who saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who was showing me these things. But he said to me, ‘See that you do not do this! For I am a fellow servant of yours, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God’” (vs 8-9). 

The angels would only worship God, and they will not allow a human being to worship them. Here’s a quick test for anyone who wants to test the spirits: If anything appears to you and appears to be an angel and says, ‘Worship me,’ you know it’s not from God!

As we go along, these things prove and reprove, and verify what we’re covering. 

Hebrews 1:6: “…He said, ‘Let all the angels of God worship Him.’ Now, on the one hand, of the angels He says, ‘Who makes His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire.’ But on the other hand, of the Son He says, ‘Your throne, O God… [Is the Son God? Yes! He’s quoting] …is into the ages of eternity… [Psa. 45:6—quoting the One Who was Yahweh of the Old Testament] …a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your Kingdom. You loved righteousness and hated lawlessness…’” (vs 6-9). 

Do you ever get so irritated at sin and wretchedness that you hate it? That’s a Godly feeling, because Jesus hated iniquity!

“‘…because of this, God, even Your God… [still quoting Psa. 45] …has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your companions.’” (v 9). 

• Was Jesus God? Yes!
• Is there God Who is God over Jesus? Yes!The One Who in the New Testament called God the Father!

Verse 10: “And, ‘You, Lord… [the Son] …in the beginning did lay the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of Your hands. They will perish, but You remain forever; and they will all grow old like a garment, and You will roll them up like a covering, and they shall be changed; but You are the same, and Your years will not end’” (vs 10-12). How much clearer can it be that: 

• Jesus was Lord 
• Jesus was Yahweh 
• He laid the foundation of the earth 
• He made everything that there was 

Not just some sort of ‘idea’ that the One Who was God—the Father—had this idea in mind and He somehow thought of it ahead of time so therefore, it was done. No! It says that He did it. 

We know that Jesus is going to remake the heavens and the earth (Rev. 21-22)—the new heavens and the new earth! He’s going to use the same material that’s here, but reuse it. It says He’s going to ‘fold it up as a garment and make everything new.’ 

Verse 13: “But unto which of the angels did He ever say, ‘Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet’?” 

How many times have we seen that quoted in the New Testament referring to Christ? Several times!

Verse 14: “Are they not all ministering spirits, being sent forth to minister to those who are about to inherit salvation?” 

Again, this is very clear that the One Who became Jesus was Yahweh Elohim of the Old Testament, the One revealed to Israel. 

(go to the next track) 

Is there any indication what God’s name was before He became the Father? The only indication we have is where Elohim said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness.’ Let’s go to Rev. 3 because there is an indication here of something that’s very important and of something that we won’t know until that particular time. 

Revelation 3:12: “The one who overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall not go out any more; and I will write upon him the name of My God…” 

It doesn’t tell us what the name is, but we know that we’re going to receive that new name. We don’t know yet what it will be, but we’ll know when we get there. 

“…and the name of the city of My God the New Jerusalem, which will come down out of heaven from My God; and I will write upon him My new name” (v 12). 

So, there’s a name that Jesus is going to have, which is a new name that we don’t even know about, yet. That’s going to make some people upset because they don’t know everything. 

God doesn’t tell us everything, and even if He may have told one of His disciples this—which I’m convinced He didn’t—He probably would have told them not to tell anybody. Just like He told the disciples, ‘Tell the vision to no man until I’m risen from the dead.’ 

Can you imagine what was going on in the mind of these disciples trying to learn all the things that they are learning, wondering Who Jesus was, seeing all these things that were done? That must have been something!

We will proceed through the book of John and we will cover every place having to do with Who Jesus was before He became human. Remember, John was writing to finish the Gospel account. John was writing to establish the important doctrines for the New Testament Church, because He knew at the time that He was writing that Jesus was not going to return in his lifetime. We’re going to see that he’s going to answer the questions: When? Where? What? Who? Why? 

John 1:1: “In the beginning…” 

• When was this? In the beginning!
• When was the beginning? For us the beginning is when there is a beginning of historical time! 

We cannot relate to anything beyond the beginning. We’re human beings; God made time for us. We operate by time. Time has to have a beginning. 

God lives in eternity! Eternity needs no measurement of time. That’s why Peter said, ‘A day with God is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as a day.’ You try and figure that out with your finite mind, and you will see that it will crash just like any other finite mind to really understand how that can be so. 

To live in eternity does not require a consciousness, or an operation by time. To us that’s strange, because we operate by time, by numbers. 

• When were you born? 
• How old are you? 
• Who is your mother? 
• Who is your father? 
• Are you right-handed or left-handed? 
• How tall are you? 
• How much do you weigh? 
• How fast does your heart beat? 
• What size are your shoes? 
• What size clothes do you wear? 
• How big is your hand? 
• How big are your feet? 
• What color are your eyes? 
• When is the next paycheck? 

We all operate on physical things that require time! We go to bed at a certain time; we get up at a certain time. We eat certain foods; we have some that we like, some that we don’t like. We like to have our baths at a certain temperature. Time, numbers! We don’t want it too cold or too hot. 

God is so great He says that even the hairs on your head are all numbered. Don’t worry about the physical things. When John is talking here, He says: “In the beginning…” 

• Where is the beginning? Gen. 1 says, ‘In the beginning Elohim made the heavens and the earth!’
• Why is he starting there? Because that’s where you start in understanding Jesus!

He didn’t start at the birth of Jesus. He said, “In the beginning was the Word …” (v 1). 

Let’s understand something concerning verbs: Verbs declare an action or a state of being: 

I am here is a state of being saying where I am. I am here, not there. 

In his booklet Who Was Jesus? Anthony Buzzard apparently doesn’t understand what a verb means. 

“In the beginning was the Word…” (v 1). When was the Word? In the beginning!

“and the Word was with God…” (v 1). Not some place else, but with Him!

“…and the Word was God” (v 1). The Greek word for Word is ‘Logos.’ The full pronunciation of the Word is ‘ho [the] Logos.’ 

In the Greek the placement in the sentence is determined by the structure of the word, not the order of the words in a sentence. In English you could not say it exactly as it is this way in the Greek: ‘Theos en ho Logos.’ In the English we would say: ‘ho Logos en Theos.’ We would do it backwards. It makes no difference in the Greek. 

What does this tell us? What does a verb give us? It gives an action or a state of being! Or we could say a place. An action, state of being or place. This is telling us that the Word was God! Not something else! Not a thought! But it was God!

When we covered the section in the series that it was claimed that Logos was an idea, an ethereal idea. The philosopher Philo has quite a bit to say about that. If you want to read about Logos in a summarized way, read Edersheim’s The Life and Times of Jesus—if you can stand it! His writings are so complicated, that the average reader is going to be lost, because his sentences contain anywhere from five to ten thoughts with up to 200 words per sentence. 

The Logos, according to Philo, was the One Who was first created by God. Then God used this ‘spirit thing’ like wisdom to create everything, but it really wasn’t a person, it was sort of a force. This force then became a mediating force between man and supposedly the things that God would do. 

This is why I am convinced that John wrote this phrase and this part of the sentence: “…and the Word was God.” That’s what the Word was. 

• it wasn’t an idea 
• it wasn’t a thought 
• it wasn’t a force 
• it wasn’t a power 
• it was God

That’s why this is so very important to have here, and we’ll see why John clarifies everything. John did more than any other disciples or apostle to clarify Who Jesus was before He became human. After all, that was a raging question then. 

• we established when: “In the beginning…” 
• we established who: Logos 
• we established where: “…with God…” 
• we established what: “…was God.” 
• we established why: because He created everything 

It answers all of those questions! This is so profound, and stop and think for a minute: 

• How many times have you gone over John 1:1 since you have been in the Church? 
• How many times have you heard a sermon given from John 1:1 since you’ve been in the Church? 
• Probably scores, if not hundreds!
• How many times have you personally read and studied this yourself? 
• Who knows, scores? Maybe hundreds of times!

Let’s see what else he tells us about this, v 2: “He was in the beginning with God.” Again, this tells us where He was, when He was and who He was with. 

Verse 3: “All things came into being through Him…” Very clear! The Logos Who was God, Who was with God in the beginning. 

Another clarification: “…and not even one thing that was created came into being without Him” (v 3). Sorry, Darwin, about this, but you had nothing to do with this! God did all!

Verse 4: “In Him was life…” a state of being; a possession of power! It is stating that there was life in Him, which then everything that has life got life from Him! If it’s in Him then He’s the Author of life. The Father is greater—as it’s revealed later—than Jesus—the Logos. How much greater is the Father? Equal in existence, but He’s greater in authority! It says that life is in Him!

“…and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, but the darkness does not comprehend it. There was a man sent by God, whose name was John. He came for a witness, that he might testify concerning the Light… [the Logos is also the Light; the Logos is also the Life] …so that through him all might believe. He was not the Light, but came that he might testify concerning the Light” (vs 4-8). 

John was bearing witness that He was, v 9: “The true Light was that which enlightens everyone who comes into the world.” 

That is really quite a statement when you think about it. He gives light to every man coming into the world. In other words: 

• in Him was life 
• He gives that spark of life to every human being coming into the world 

How could He do this if He didn’t exist until He was created in the womb of Mary? Could not do it! It would be a total impossibility!

What does this mean? Every human being has this, and it is one of the truths that’s been in the Bible, which we have understood for quite a while; and that is that the difference between man and animal—just ordinary men—is that they have the spirit of man which is in them. That is the light that is given to every human being, which comes from its Creator God: 

• Who was the Life 
• Who was the Light 
• Who was the Logos 

1-Corinthians 2:11: “For who among men understands the things of man except by the spirit of man which is in him?….” 

Every human being has that spirit. That spirit is the recording and is the very finite essence of what our human body, mind, personality, attitudes and everything are about. 

In other words, when you get down to the final nitty-gritty, and you get rid of all the physical things having to do with a human being, what do you have left? You have the spirit of man! Didn’t Jesus say, ‘Into Your hands I commend My spirit. That spirit—which is spirit—has everything on it that you are, and that spirit—when there is an impregnation of human being—is formed at that particular time. 

I’m not going to get into a philosophical discussion on that any further than what we’re covering now, except to say that that spirit or light—which comes from God to give a human being life—is the spirit of man that all men have. That’s how we understand human things. 

Paul goes on to say: “…In the same way also, the things of God no one understands except by the Spirit of God” (v 11). 

You can’t understand the things of God without the Spirit of God. That’s the biggest problem we have today in so much theology. There are so many carnal-minded men who don’t believe God, what their actual devoted study is to do is to go into the Bible and study the Bible to see if they can disprove it and tear it apart. 

Our job is exactly the opposite. We study to put it together to see the Truth in it. But it takes the Spirit of God to do that, and then we compare spiritual things with spiritual things. What did Jesus say concerning the words that He spoke to His disciples? The words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit and they are Life!

When you read this statement in John 1:9 that He was “The true Light was that which enlightens everyone who comes into the world.” 

If He did not exist before He was conceived in Mary’s womb, that could not have been done. Remember, nothing comes into existence without Him! In the human realm it may be unplanned. In the human realm it may not even be wanted, that is in the pro-creation of children. But God put in the bodies of males and females that which automatically works to produce new life, whether they do it in a responsible way for a blessing, or they do it in a irresponsible way for a cursing does not stop the fact that God nevertheless created and set in motion everything. God is responsible for it, and nothing comes into existence without Him!

I sure don’t know how you’re going to get around v 10—this is powerful: “He was in the world…” What does the verb tell us? It tells us where; a state of being; a state of existence!

“…and the world came into being through Him…” (v 10). 

What are you going to do with that? How on earth are you going to say that Jesus did not exist before He became a human being with these statements? There are many things you can explain away, but this is kind of like coming to the kid standing in the kitchen with the jam jar open and the peanut butter jar open and jam and peanut butter strew all over. And you look at this little kid when he was told not to go in there, and he’s got jam and peanut butter all over his hands, all over his face and he’s holding a nearly eaten sandwich of peanut butter and jam, and it’s dripping on the floor, falling done on his little tummy and you say, ‘Didn’t I tell you not to get into the jam and peanut butter?’ 

• What is he going to say? 
• How is he going to explain it away? 

Adam did a good job, he said, ‘The wife!’ So, the little boy is going to say, ‘The sister!’ 

Verse 10: “He [Jesus Christ] was in the world, and the world came into being through Him, but the world did not know Him”? That’s pretty strong! How are you going to explain that away? You can’t!

Verse 11: “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.” 

Even the ones of the house of David, the tribe of Judah didn’t receive Him. The only ones who did were the ones whom He called, which was through God the Father. 

Verse 12: “But as many as received Him, to them He gave authority to become the children of God, even to those who believe in His name; who were not begotten by bloodlines, nor by the will of the flesh, nor by the will of man, but by the will of God. And the Word became [made] flesh…” (vs 12-14). 

Let’s go back and read v 1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…. [v 14]: “And the Word became flesh…” 

Is that improper reasoning? or Is that not proper deductive reasoning? Would have to be proper deductive reasoning! If the Logos, the Word, in the beginning was with God, and He was God, then He was made flesh! God was made flesh, the God Who is called the Logos. 

If He was made flesh, then He had to be in another form before He was made flesh! Heb. 1 tells us what He was—in the same form, the exact substance of what God was with the effulgent glory of God. 

Philip. 2 says that He gave that up; He emptied Himself! He voided Himself and took upon Himself the form of a servant. John says the same thing: and the Word was made flesh! This becomes important when we’re dealing with some of the other doctrines concerning Christ, the pagan doctrines that are counterfeit. Some of the pagan religions say that God manifested Himself as having flesh, but not having flesh. In other words, it only appeared that He had flesh, so therefore, their version of their savior was not really human, but took on a human form. 

This becomes absolutely critically important: the Word was made flesh! What kind of flesh? I’ve actually heard people say that Jesus ‘didn’t have a hard time of it; after all He wasn’t like us, He was the Son of God.’

• If that’s the case, how then could He be ‘tempted like we are’? 
• If He wasn’t like we are, how could He be tempted? 
• There’s no way to be tempted if He isn’t like we are!
• What could you tempt Him with then? 

Romans 8:1: “Consequently, there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who are not walking according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit; because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has delivered me from the law of sin and death” (vs 1-2). 

When we talk more about the nature of Jesus we’ll cover more about the law of sin and death.

Verse 3: “For what was impossible for the law to do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, having sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh…” That’s what kind of flesh He had; sinful flesh!

If you have sinful flesh, are you not going to have a hard time with it? There’s a time that every one of us wonders if we’re ever going to make it. Every one of us! And there’s a time when every one of us wonders: How on earth could I do that? It’s like the Apostle Paul said, ‘I want to do the things that are right, but every time I try to do something right it ends up being wrong.’ Human beings, with ‘the law of sin and death,’ are walking mistakes, going everywhere to catastrophe! That’s just the way it is, unfortunately. We can be thankful for the mercy of God. Jesus had to have the same flesh as we have! It could not have been any other way. 

John 1:14: “And the Word became flesh, and tabernacled among us (and we ourselves beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten with the Father), full of grace and Truth.” 

There was the vast difference between us and Jesus. He had God’s Holy Spirit in full measure from conception, and He was “…full of grace and Truth.” We’re going to see what a profound thing that Jesus did. 

Verse 15: “John [the Baptist] testified concerning Him, and proclaimed, saying, ‘This was He of Whom I said, “He Who comes after me has precedence over me because He was before me.”’” 

The verb there is the verb to be in the past tense—was. He didn’t say He is. He didn’t say shall be. He said “…He was before me.” The implication is before I [John] existed, He was!

Remember in Luke 1 how Mary went to see Elizabeth and Elizabeth was about six months pregnant. Mary had just received the impregnation. She went to see Elizabeth and Elizabeth said, ‘Oh, the mother of my Lord.’ There’s another hint, another clue that Jesus was Lord!

When you really begin to analyze it and begin to really take it apart, the Bible is literally dripping with evidence that Jesus was God before He became human; literally full of it. 

Verse 16: “And of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses…” (vs 16-17). Up to that point that was the great thing given to human beings, the Law of Moses! 

“…but the grace and the Truth came through Jesus Christ” (v 17). There was an absolute profound change when Jesus began preaching. The profound change was the Law and the Prophets were until John. Since that time, the Kingdom of God is preached. So, the preaching of the Kingdom of God is greater than the Law and the Prophets. That’s not to take the Protestant point of view and throw them out and say we don’t need them. 

• you see without Jesus what the Jews have done to the Law 
• you see what the Protestants have done to Jesus and grace without the Law 

That’s why there is that sharp demarcation that we’re to understand what the Law means, what the Prophets mean; but this now is centered on Christ Who is greater than they are. He was God in the flesh Who came. That’s why He taught with authority. 

That’s why He had authority to forgive sin. That’s why He never denied that He had been God, or was God. He never said He was, but He never denied it. 

***** 

Question: 

What does it mean that the grace and the Truth came through Jesus Christ? I think we can best answer that by going back to Matt. 5! The basis of that question can be found in the assumption that the Law and the Prophets of themselves were whole and complete. They were Truth—the Law and the Prophets were Truth! But Jesus said of the Father, ‘Your Word is Truth.’ So, the message of the Father as contained in the New Testament is that grace and Truth built upon what we know as the Law and the Prophets. 

Matthew 5:17: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.” 

The grace and the Truth that came through Christ is filling full the message of God. In other words, when we say ‘the Law and the Prophets were until John’ and since then the Kingdom of God has been preached, we’re saying that if you look at a glass or something that is half full it is half there. 

The greatest part to preach is the second half, which is the grace and the Truth. That came through Jesus. The Truth of what the sacrifices pointed to is now revealed in the Truth concerning the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. 

The Truth concerning the law as to why you should not commit adultery is so that you will not lust and do it. The Truth is that you can go through every one of these and ‘of the Truth and the law you shall have no idols and statues or make anything’ now becomes the Truth and you won’t have them in your mind. The truth is that you give up everything for God. There is not one little thing of yourself that you keep. You give it all up to God! 

That’s what He’s saying; He’s to fill full—that’s was the word fulfill means; fill something full. If it’s half-empty you fill it full. That was Jesus’ purpose, to fill to the full all the meaning of the laws of God, all the sayings of God! Everything has a much more profound meaning when revealed through Christ. 

The plan of salvation is terrific because there was a salvation given to Israel, which was national deliverance from captivity, national deliverance from war. But now our salvation is eternal and spiritual, which is salvation from the devil, salvation from spiritual destruction! Yes, the grace and the Truth about that, and how we arrive at that. Very profound! 

The normal reaction, especially commandment-keeping people in the Church of God, when they read the Law and the Prophets were until John, are so use to hearing the Protestant explanation that that does away with the Law that they don’t know how to handle it, so they go beyond it. Unfortunately, most commandment-keeping Churches of God do not understand about the grace of God, so they rely just on the commandments. 

Go back and read the account where the rich man came to Jesus and said, ‘Good Master, what should I do to have eternal life.’ Jesus said, ‘Keep the commandments.’ The young man said, ‘I have.’ Jesus said, ‘Then go sell all that you have and come and follow Me.’ 

What is generally stressed is that you have to keep the commandments to have eternal life; which is a true statement, nothing wrong about that. But again, that’s only part of it. Jesus said, ‘Go sell all that you have and come and follow me. So, you have to give up everything you have and come and follow Jesus. 

Most of them don’t know how handle that the Law and the Prophets were until John, because they are under the assumption that now you have the idea that you throw out all the laws of God and you’re going to throw out the commandments of God, and now you’re going to become a very liberal Protestant and all we say is, ‘Grace, grace and love one another.’ 

I know that when we were in Worldwide Church of God they would go bonkers over that, and we saw that one of the reasons was that they didn’t understand or preach grace. They preached good, keeping the commandments, but that’s only part of it. 

Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version (except where noted)

Scriptural References:

• Matthew 7:28-29
• Matthew 9:1-6
• Mark 2:4-10
• Matthew 12:5-6
• Matthew 23:16-21
• Matthew 12:6-8
• Mark 2:28, 27
• Matthew 16:13-17, 20
• Matthew 17:9
• Matthew 22:43-44
• Matthew 23:37-39
• Mark 4:39-41
• Luke 8:25
• Mark 9:9
• Hebrews 1:1-3
• Revelation 12:4-5
• Hebrews 1:3-6
• Revelation 19:10
• Revelation 22:8-9
• Hebrews 1:6-14
• Revelation 3:12
• John 1:1-9
• 1 Corinthians 2:11
• John 1:9-14, 1, 14
• Romans 8:1-3
• John 1:14-17
• Matthew 5:17

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Philippians 2:5-11
• 2 Peter 1
• Luke 9
• Psalm 45:6
• Revelation 21
• Genesis 1
• Luke 1

Also referenced: Books:

• Who Was Jesus? by Anthony Buzzard | (christianmonotheism.com/media/text/WhoIsJesusBook.pdf)
• The Life and Times of Jesus by Alfred Edersheim

FRC:bo
Transcribed: 8-19-13
Reformatted/Corrected: 2/2020