Tag: Son of God series

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“Where Is Your Father?”

“Oh, so you’re Duke’s boy!” the townsfolk would exclaim when making the connection. This was often followed by, “You look just like him!” Though I was seven when Dad died, I have vague recollections of our times together. His whiskers on my cheek as he hugged me, his gentle tuck-ins and goodnight kisses, his cheerful whistle as he walked home from work. But above all memories was this: Dad and me alone in the boat, fishing for Perch in the serene morning mists of Mullet Lake. Quiet time. Quality time. Together time.

Over the past two weeks, we have been beholding Jesus, the Son of God, from a heavenly perspective. For Jesus is not a mere man who became God; He is the Son of God who, for a specific time and purpose, took the form of a man and lived with us in His own creation. Today we glimpse the intimacy between Father and Son, incomprehensibly close from everlasting to everlasting. In prayer Jesus exalted the Father, “you loved me before the foundation of the world.”1 This Son, wrote John, “was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us.”2 He lived incarnate among the people, but the Father they could not see. So the skeptics asked Him, “Where is your father?”3 Even an unsettled disciple said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”4 Jesus answered him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip?. . . Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?”5

Jesus said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”6 Scripture attests. Jesus “is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”7 “In him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.”8 “In him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.”9 Indeed, “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.”10 Then “No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.”11 Why? Because they are one — Father and Son. They always have been; they always will be. Together time. Forever time.

It is into this intimacy that the Father and the Son draw us. Jesus prayed that we believers in Christ “may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”12 United, we live with purpose: “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”13

“Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.”14 Thank You for showing us Yourself to us clearly through Your Son. You are worthy of our praise. Be glorified in us, Your people. In Christ we pray. Amen.

1 John 17:24 ESV
2 1 John 1:2 NLT
3 John 8:19 ESV
4 John 14:8 NIV
5 John 14:9-10 ESV
6 John 14:9 ESV
7 Colossians 1:15 ESV
8 Colossians 1:19 ESV
9 Colossians 2:9 ESV
10 Hebrews 1:3 ESV
11 1 John 2:23 ESV
12 John 17:21 ESV
13 Matthew 5:16 NIV
14 Matthew 6:9 RSV

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“Where Are You From?”

Hannah1 was an atheist when we first met her, a bright young woman with a highly scientific mindset, but her convictions eventually began to change. “I believe there is a God,” she confessed to Peggy and me one evening before adding, “But I don’t believe in Jesus being God.” We’ve all heard this before, and perhaps said it ourselves. In fact, we’d probably agree that one of the primary reasons people struggle with Jesus is the very notion of a man being God or a man becoming God. When Jewish leaders surrounded Jesus one winter’s day in the temple, they, with stone in hand, accused Him of blasphemy, “because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”2 Indeed, if “a mere man” were to proclaim himself or be esteemed by others as deity, we would rightfully object.

In Jesus’ case, however, the flaw lies in the premise. Jesus is not a man who became God; He is the eternal Son of God who, for a specific time and purpose, became a man. This distinction changes everything. Jesus “was God,” wrote John, and “He was in the beginning with God.”3 Some 700-plus years before the birth of Jesus, Micah foretold His coming this way: “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah . . . from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.”4 The phrase, “from ancient days” here refers to Jesus’ timeless origin. The Messiah of eternal existence would be borne to us in Bethlehem, claimed the prophet, and indeed He has. Jesus himself proclaimed, “Very truly I tell you, before Abraham was born, I am.”5 Paul echoed the same of Christ Jesus, who “being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”6

As Jesus stood before Pilate, the increasingly frightened governor asked of Him the question that confronts us all: “Where are you from?”7 From a human perspective, we could say Jesus was from Bethlehem, Egypt, Galilee, or Nazareth — all would be true. But His origin is elsewhere: “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.”8 Can a mere mortal rise up and save us? No, only the Son of God can do that.

Epilogue. Hannah has since become a believer in Jesus Christ, embracing relationship with Him through His Word and refreshingly open and trusting prayer. Her inner joy outward shines.

Father, thank You for sending Jesus from Your presence and into our world. Truly He is the Son of God. In Him we trust, in Him we live, and in Him we pray. Amen.

1 This name is changed for privacy purposes.
2 John 10:33 NASB
3 John 1:1-2 ESV
4 Micah 5:2 ESV
5 John 8:58 ESV
6 Philippians 2:6-7 NIV
7 John 19:9 ESV
8 John 6:38 ESV

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“Are You the One?”

John was in lockup. His crime? Exercising free speech, or perhaps surpassing its subjective limits. And now the death penalty loomed. Seven hundred years prior, Isaiah had foretold John as the herald of the Messiah — “A voice of one calling: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’”1 It was John who proclaimed Jesus’ identity to the crowd: “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”2 It was John who, though first demurring, baptized the Son of God in the flowing waters of the Jordan.3 He was there to see the Spirit descend upon Jesus like a dove and to hear the celestial voice: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”4

Now from his correctional confines, John heard reports of Jesus’ miracles and the people’s boundless joy. But there he sat, once a trumpeter and now a prisoner. How could this be? Was I wrong? I hear the reports, but here I sit. So John sent two of his followers to Jesus with this question: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”5 I suspect most of us can relate; I certainly can. In troubled times we may ask, “Where are you, God? Are you real? Do you care? Do my prayers matter?” Contemplating our demise we may ask, “Did you really take away my sins? Will you really take me into your rest? Is my hope indeed secure?” In other words, we all are tempted — literally tempted by the evil one — to doubt.

Then what must we do amid the hissing enticement to grow weak? Appeal to what we have already seen Jesus do in, through, and around us. To John’s messengers Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.”6 I’d venture to say God has done far more in and around each one of us than we can recall — healings, inexplicable coincidences, divine surprises, fulness in the Spirit, the peace in forgiveness. We could go on. In fact, do just that — start a list of God’s faithfulness in your life; you’ll be amazed.

Jesus had one more word for the messengers to take back to John: “Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”7 When tempted by the tempter to question this Son of God, choose faith — choose to believe. Yes, He is the one. Rest in Him.

Father, You show Your love for us in this: While we were still sinners Christ died for us.8 In Him we trust; in Him we rest. And in Him we pray. Amen.

1 Isaiah 40:3 NIV
2 John 1:29 ESV
3 Matthew 3:13-14
4 Matthew 3:17 NIV
5 Luke 7:19 NIV
6 Luke 7:22 NIV
7 Luke 7:23 NIV
8 Romans 5:8 NIV