Focussing on the man Jesus and the relationship with God

Having now three different websites focussing on the man Jesus and his relationship with God we only can hope more people shall come to listen to the very challenging things Jesus said.

Hopefully those Christians who take Jesus as their god will consider those words Jesus spoke like

“on that day” (Matthew 7:22),

i.e., the day of judgement. Jesus speaks of those who will come before him, but to some of them he will say,

 “Depart from me; I never knew you” (verse 23).

 These will be among the

 “many (who) will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in your name … and do many mighty works in your name?” 

In Christendom we can see many  who try to build mega churches and attract lots of people by laying of hands and claiming to do miracles in the name of God, though “works” does not necessarily mean, perform miracles, and his reference to those who prophecy, we should not think of him as meaning those who have some gift to foretell the future.

It is God Who calls people, but it is the way how they react to God's call which shall be important. We also should be aware that when people hear about Jesus and his heavenly Father they shall come to make decisions. How and why they take them shall be important for God and on the final day of judgement.


Those who Jesus tells to depart are described as “workers of lawlessness”, the ones who are “outside” excluded from a place in God’s “city” because their names were not found in “the book of life” (20:12). them who did things which are not acceptable for God, perhaps wanting to keep to human traditions, participating to heathen rituals and preferring to be popular, i.e. being of this world, instead of becoming a child of God belonging to the world of Christ.

You may wonder when a person does not want to accept the words Jesus speaks, like saying the Father is greater than him, how they sincerely can be called a follower of Christ when they keep holding fast to human traditions and human doctrines like the trinity, worshipping a three-headed god instead worshipping the Only One True God.

How can they who consider Jesus to be God build up a proper relationship with Jesus, when they keep ignoring that Jesus did not do his own will and demands from us to do the same, coming in unity with his heavenly Father like Jesus is one with God


We must make sure we have developed a really strong and committed relationship to and with Christ – only then will we be able to “conquer” our human nature and become more and more like our Saviour. Let us remember what we read last week in Revelation 21:7

 “The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son” – then “on that day” he will declare “I … knew you”.

Israel Gods people

Was Moses being too starry-eyed, too close to the Israelites to see things in perspective, when he spoke of them as the "chosen people"?


The idea that God has a special relationship with the nation of Israel does not go down well today.  Our society is pre-occupied with equality and equal opportunity.  Why should God choose one nation out of the many that fill the globe?  What is so special about that tiny strip of land between the continents, the country we now call Israel, for which He seems to have such a deep regard?

Did every detail of the prophecy come true: the sojourn in a foreign land; the slavery; the taking of a spoil; the 400 years?
In case the murder of God's Son was the ultimate act of rebellion by the Chosen People, were the Israelites punished whe they, as Moses had foreseen, became the Wandering Jews after 70AD, to be found in practically every country of the world, despised, reviled and hounded by persecution from city to city?  For long centuries, exactly as the cursings had warned, they had no rest for the soles of their feet.
"Has God rejected His people?"

This month's survey question:
 God's People?  God's Land?

1. The people of Israel are God's people and an integral part of His plan.
2. The people of Israel are NOT God's people nor is Palestine their land.
3. The notion of a chosen people is irrelevant and wrong-headed.
4. Don't know.

> http://thisisyourbible.com/

Separation from God in death, the antithesis of life

"My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?"

We know the passages that describe death in the Old Testament. It is sleep (Dan 12:2). It is total unconsciousness (Eccl 9:5). Death is the antithesis of life.
But there is something else of the greatest importance that was central to the thinking of faithful men like David and Hezekiah:

"My soul also is greatly troubled. But you, O LORD — how long? Turn, O LORD, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love. For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise?" (Psa 6:3-5).

"Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or your faithfulness in Abaddon? Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?" (Psa 88:10-12).

"O LORD, by these things men live, and in all these is the life of my spirit. Oh restore me to health and make me live! Behold, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness; but in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back. For Sheol does not thank you; death does not praise you; those who go down to the pit do not hope for your faithfulness. The living, the living, he thanks you, as I do this day; the father makes known to the children your faithfulness" (Isa 38:16-19).

Death completely separates man from fellowship with God. For the faithful man or woman, this is the worst possible thing that could happen. Nothing is of greater consequence. Fellowship with God is the essence of life itself.
Life derives all its meaning from our relationship with God.
The faithful man or woman, for whom fellowship with God is life’s greatest joy, shrinks from anything that severs this holy relationship. Death is an enemy indeed.
No one knew this better than the Lord Jesus Christ. His life was fellowship with the Father in a degree that we can only try to contemplate. He walked with his Father every moment of every day. And His Father walked with him. It was an earnest of the eternal joy that God set before him.
Jesus knew, of course, that he must die to put away the sin of the world. He knew that the grave would not hold him; that he must rise to life again. But this did not diminish the full awfulness of death that loomed before his face.
His words as he entered Gethsemane were an echo of Psalm 6:

"Then he said to them, ‘My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.’

And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will’ " (Matt 26:38,39).

May I suggest that the cup that Jesus prayed might pass from him was not just the cup of physical suffering? It was the bitter cup of death that would separate him from his Father and his God.
Where now would be his remembrance of God? Where now would be his life of praise? Could not God transfigure him, as He had once done on the holy mount, and give him immortality without the horror of even a moment’s separation between them?
Do not holy men and women think this way?
Then the ninth hour of the next day drew near: the hour of his death on the cross, the end. Jesus must have felt the last vestiges of life slipping from him:

"And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ " (Matt 27:46).

Why have you abandoned me to this end? You are everything to me, even life itself!
Is it not possible that this cry of Jesus simply expressed the anguish of his soul as the darkness that had settled over the land turned into the reality of his death? Heaven must have cried, too. God derives no pleasure from the death of a sinner, let alone the death of the righteous man.
In Psalm 22, the opening words of which anticipated the anguish of Jesus’ soul, the immediate context is separation from God:

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest" (vv 1,2).

In David’s case, the experience was some living death when he had sought but received no help from God; when he had prayed but gotten no answer. For Jesus, it was about to become the complete separation of death itself.
How thankful we can be that reassurance follows. God has saved the faithful before. He will do it again. He will yet be enthroned on the living praises of His people:

"Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame" (Psa 22:3-5).

God is now forever enthroned in the praises of the Son whom He delivered from the darkness of death. But for a little while their fellowship was severed. The separation of the Father and the Son by his death was a tragedy of the ages. It was not because of anything he had done. Our sins made it happen. Hear his cry from the cross and be ashamed. God forgive us!

Jim Harper (Meriden, CT)

The Christadelphian
TIDINGS

OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD

2016 linkupdate

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2 Corinthians 5:19 - God in Christ

 “in that God was in Christ reconciling to Himself a world of humankind, no longer reckoning to them their trespasses–and He entrusted to us the message of reconciliation.” (2Co 5:19 MHM)

The thought many would like for us to see in this verse is that God was in
Christ, and being in Christ this makes Christ God Almighty. This, of course, is not what the verse is saying.

> 2 Corinthians 5:19 - God in Christ: http://godandson.reslight.net/?p=56

God was in Christ, or by means of Christ, reconciling the world to
himself. That is all that is says.
In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. — 2 Corinthians 5:19, New Revised Standard Version
God was using Christ as the instrument to restore his relationship with humanity.
...
Jesus himself gives us a hint as to its meaning, when he tells his
disciples: “In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.” (John 14:20)
Here Jesus likens his relationship to his Father to his relationship to his disciples. Now if his being in his father means that he is God, then his being in his disciples and his disciples’ being in him, would make the disciples God Almighty also, since, according to trinitarian philosophy, Jesus is God Almighty. Of course, none of these scriptures mean that Jesus is God Almighty, but it does show a closeness, a harmony between God and Jesus, and between Jesus and his disciples.
Jesus praying to his God (John 17:1,3), that his disciples “may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us.” Here it is plainly stated that the two unions are the same kind of union.

...

God resides in, dwells in Jesus and his church, by means of his holy spirit. — John 10:38; 14:10,20; 17:11,21; Romans 8:9,10,11; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 2 Corinthians 6:16; 11:10; 13:5; Ephesians 3:17; 4:6,15; 1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Timothy 1:14; 1 John 3:24; 4:12,13; 2 John 1:9; 4:6.

None of this means that Jesus is Yahweh, or that the church is Yahweh, or that the church is Jesus, etc. Thus there is nothing in 2 Corinthians 5:19 that would lead us to believe that Jesus is Yahweh, or that Jesus was God Almighty in human form.

~~~~~~

Of interest:

Matthew
http://godandson.reslight.net/?p=61
Studies of Scriptures in Matthew

Revelation 1:8 - Is Yahweh or Jesus Being Quoted?
http://godandson.reslight.net/?p=66
Who is speaking in Revelation 1:8? Jesus or the God and Father of Jesus?

The Doctrine of Christ
http://godandson.reslight.net/?p=72
A Scriptural and Historic Examination of the Trinity Doctrine (Associated Bible
Students, Glawson, MI)

Father of Eternity - Isaiah 9:6
http://godandson.reslight.net/?p=78
An examination of the argument that Isaiah 9:6 speaks of Jesus as the "father
of eternity."

Isaiah 9:6 and the Alleged Trinity
http://godandson.reslight.net/?p=82
In response to some trinitarian claims concerning Isaiah 9:6.

The Spirit Given to Jesus Without Measure - John 3:34,35
http://godandson.reslight.net/?p=88
The scripture (John 3:34) says that Jesus has the holy spirit without measure.
Does the mean that Jesus is the only true God?

Companionship

In the Christadelphian Waymark of December 2008 you can find an article on Companionship.

some quotes:

We all need companionship. One of the curses particularly of western society is loneliness. ...

Loneliness can lead to feeling isolated, lead to depression and even lead to suicide. Some people are able to establish new friendships, but for others forming friendships is more difficult. For most people finding close friends that they can trust and confide in, is not easy.

Brethren and sisters in Christ are no different, often family can be far away and we all need companionship. But for us knowledge of the gospel message of hope, brings, or should bring, a totally different perspective. You see no matter what our circumstances, we are never alone!

...

loneliness will not assail us to the point of despair.

...

Our primary relationship is with God, He is our Father and if we live according to the light of His word, then we have fellowship with Him. Fellowship with others who share the same precious faith comes as a product of fellowship with God.

... it is not good for one to seek isolation from those who share the same precious faith. But there are many who live in isolation through circumstance beyond their control, or who go into isolation because circumstances dictate that they must. Those in that position need the support and encouragement of all the other members of the body.

But if we do live alone then we still have that sure knowledge that God is ever mindful of His children. We can all read books about the Truth, read magazines, read exhortations, listen to tapes and in many do things that help to make us feel part of the one body. A husband and wife can support each other, but if companionship of other brethren and sisters is present, then this is a great blessing from God.

If we do have the companionship of brethren and sisters, let us then be grateful for it and make the most of our time with each other. Let the focus be upon building each other up and encouraging each other while we can. Let us never take this benefit for granted or neglect meeting together. Let us be givers and not takers, workers and not hinderers, supporters not complainers. Let us be grateful to God for companionship, yet content if need be to be dwell alone. Though we truly are never alone, for He is always with us.

 - Andy Peel

> full article: Companionship