Posted on 10/18/2019 5:18:53 AM PDT by metmom
“‘For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes’” (John 5:21).
By asserting His equality with God, Jesus claimed that He had the parallel power with God to raise the dead—“just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life.” The Bible teaches that only God has the power to raise the dead (Deut. 32:39; Acts 26:8; Heb. 11:19), and the Old Testament records several instances in which He did so (1 Kings 17:17–24; 2 Kings 4:32–37; 13:20–21). Because His power is the same as the Father, Jesus Christ is able to raise the physically dead (John 11:25–44). Moreover, He has the power to give spiritual life to the spiritually dead. “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him,” Jesus promised, “shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:14).
Unlike Elijah and Elisha, Jesus did not merely act as God’s representative when He raised the dead, but as God Himself. “The Son” Himself gives resurrection and spiritual “life to whom He wishes.” As God is the source of life, so Jesus Christ is the source of life. As God chooses when He gives life, so does the Son choose, in perfect agreement with the Father—a truth illustrated by the salvation of sinners. All whom the Father chose before the foundation of the world to give to the Son will come to him, and He will not reject any of them (John 6:37).
Ask Yourself
Is there anything you’ve given up for dead in your own life, barely considering that God could raise it to life again? Even the possibility of victory over sin or the presence of Christian joy can be regarded as hopeless—lost relics from the past. Pray that Jesus would help you experience life anew.
Studying God’s Word ping
Compare this exceedingly weak teaching about the Trinity with other Scriptural citations.
Isaiah 7:14b ...”the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and she will call Him Immanuel.”
John 10:30 “I and the Father are one.”
I think his point is that Jesus power to heal and raise the dead were proof positive to those who witnessed those events since they did not have the written NT yet.
They were living it.
And there is no doubt they understood clearly His claims to be Deity, it was why they wanted to crucify Him.
But as we say, talk is cheap. Anyone can claim anything. His miracles backed up His claim in a way that any others did not have.
What separates Jesus from just a mere prophet as the Jews and Muslims preach was among other things that demons fled from the mere mention of his name. No small thing. As someone who is fascinated by church history on exorcism, you can shout all day long ..Mary..or Moses..or Mohammed or Buddha..or..Shiva at Satan and his minions and they will cackle at you. Mention Jesus and they flee. Could a prophet or some other man made pseudo deity cause that????
:: I think his point is that Jesus power to heal and raise the dead were proof positive to those who witnessed those events since they did not have the written NT yet. ::
I agree with MOST of that sentence but the way it is being taught -in the OP- implies that Jesus raised/healed according to HIS own will, independently from “God in Heaven”. Jesus, when he walked on Earth, was actually “God with us”; Emmanuel.
:: there is no doubt they understood clearly His claims to be Deity ::
Why would God care if anyone “understood His claims to be God”? Jesus was here among us to die, not convince us of anything. He knew He was the “Lamb who takes away the sin of the world” so why would he need validation from us? His ministry wasn’t about proving Himself to us.
You should recognize that you are dividing the Trinity in this statement. And, really, why substitute the atheistic term “Deity” when a more precise word would be “God”?
Jesus, per se, did not raise/heal...God did because He ^is^ God (John 1:1, Genesis 1:1-3). Hence, it (the OP) is a “weak” teaching that could lead some to think that God and Jesus and The Spirit are all localized independently to themselves causing Christianity to be a poly-theistic construct.
That’s just BAD theology.
You are reading way more into it than is there.
You are getting into hair splitting and your accusations make it look like you are trying to find a basis for accusation or error or bad theology rather than trying to get anything positive out of the devotional.
How you can come to that conclusion in light of the sentence in the article that says....."As God chooses when He gives life, so does the Son choose, in perfect agreement with the Father—a truth illustrated by the salvation of sinners." is beyond me.
So it wouldn't matter to God if not a single person came to faith in Jesus just so long as he filled his destiny to die on a Cross??? Was Jesus not seeking validation when he publicly performed miracles??? And weren't the apostles validating Jesus when they performed miracles in Jesus' name???
And His disciples there with Him responded, ‘Show us the father and that will suffice.’
Yours is a salient point!
Ouch! There is so much that is wrong in this statement. So much "BAD theology". EEEK!! The most obvious is that from Genesis through Revelation, we are shown a caring, loving God, who through his lovingkindess (chesed) CARES that His people know Him and who He is. He reveals that over and over and over and over throughout the entire Word. If people don't understand that Jesus is God, then they will burn in hell. If Jesus was not here to convince of us anything, then why was He always teaching, and healing, and loving, and....? BAD theology. Bad
:: If Jesus was not here to convince of us anything, then why was He always teaching, and healing, and loving ::
So.....
God needs us to believe he His God for Him to be God?
Riiiiiiight.
How many humans were present at Genesis 1:1?
That is a most ridiculous twisting of my words.
Some must twist the message so they can count their rightness, albeit an empty ‘rightness’. Bravo to you for speaking out. God’s attributes are inferred frm His creation: He is creative and He is loving, and He is obviously long suffering ... albeit some honor themselves by mocking His patience.
Thanks MH. Although I read many threads, I rarely say much - I don’t have the time to get into these discussions, or the energy to deal with some people.
You are so right. And there is nothing you can say to change their view of their rightness. Only the Holy Spirit can convict them. Through our words, perhaps there may be some reading as an observer who may see Truth. But most of those standing in their own righteousness (which of course is not righteousness) have had the truth given to them over and over and over and do not change, which is obvious from all of their posts.
See you in the clouds, lupie, sooner than some would believe.
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