Monday: Son of God/Son of Man
As Christians, we believe that Jesus was fully God and fully human. This union of the Divine and humanity makes His perspective unique as to what is important on earth and important for eternity.
Image © Lars Justinen from GoodSalt.com
That we can’t understand how He could have a divine/human nature doesn’t nullify this truth any more than someone’s lack of understanding about aerodynamics could cause an airplane not to fly.
“Here are two mysteries for the price of one – the plurality of persons within the unity of God, and the union of Godhead and manhood in the person of Jesus. . . . Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as is this truth of the Incarnation.” – J. I. Packer, Knowing God(Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1973), p. 53.
One reason Jesus came to this world was to show us just how loving and caring God is and how much He cares for each of us. Far from being some cold and distant deity, as some believed, Jesus revealed our heavenly Father’s true character.
Satan, however, has tried to separate humans from God. He has tried to depersonalize Him, characterizing Him as someone who doesn’t care about us. He does all that he can, through whatever means possible, to keep us away from knowing and experiencing the reality of God’s goodness and grace. An inordinate love of material things works well as one of Satan’s ploys to achieve this end.
Read Matthew 19:16-22. What does this story tell about how Satan can use our love of material things to keep us distant from the Lord?
Imagine Jesus Himself, God in the flesh, speaking to this young man who obviously knew Jesus was somebody special. And yet what happened? He allowed his great wealth, his love of material things, to separate him from the very person of God Himself. The love of the world and of material things so blinded him that even though he was sad, that sadness wasn’t enough to make him do the right thing. He wasn’t sad because he was losing his possessions (he wasn’t). He was sad because he was losing his soul over those things.
| Whether we are rich or poor, how can we make sure we keep the right relationship to the things of this world? |
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We keep the right relationship to the things of this world by constantly reminding ourselves that everything we own comes from God. People who are successful professionally may start to believe that they are successful because they are hardworking, resourceful, and smart. But the truth is that we have what we have because of God’s grace!
Put God first in everthing that is the key to success in Life.
God has created us in His image.
After sin has tried to deface the image of God in us.
God has sent us His own son in His image and restored in us His image.
All that we have in creation and recreation comes from God.
God did this by being obedient, obedient even unto the death on the cross.
Son of Man he connects with humanity and being the Son of God He lifts us up unto Himself.
Seek ye first the kindom on of heaven and all things will be added unto you.
we can keep connected to God by praying without ceasing like Daniel 3 times a day and we shall see how God works for us even king Daruis laboured all day trying to save him and suffered insomnia all night , for he had come to meet the God of Daniel who he stood for in all things. The bible says an excellent spirit was found in him.
If we remember that prayer is really communication, and that both talking and listening are part of communication, then perhaps we should spend a lot more time in prayer listening. Like the young Samuel, some of us need to pray, "Speak Lord, your servant is listening!"
Amen Maurice. And when we listen, we will hear:
John 10:27 “My sheep hear my voice…”
John 8:47 “He that is of God hears God's words...”
In our scripture reading for today, it seems that if he would have accepted the answer of Jesus, he could have gone home free and happy. Why did he continue to ask the follow up questions? He was not satisfied. He knew he wanted something better but his material wealth blinded him and he could not see that we are nothing without God but with God we are everything.
Is there anything blinding you from the Lord?
It's so reassuring to know that our Father owns everything.
Job 41:11 says
"Who has given to me that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine."
Therefore, if even someone says to us,
"You're looking so good"
Let us remember to give God the glory. Let us give Him praise for everything, always
If we are poor let us be content if we have food and clothes 1 Timothy 6:8. And if we have more than that, share it with those who have less than we do.
We need the Holy Spirit whom God sent to lead us in all Truth.Everyone has an opinion but it is the Holy Spirit's opinion that counts.
Hi,my name Phil West of St.Louis,Mo. I want to share the thoughts I have about how weak I am about the ways of this world witch I believe in my heart belongs to the devil! I am saddened that I don't have the faith of a mustard seed! Or, I could move a mountain by the power invested in me through "Faith in Jesus"! I am living the ways of this world and weakened by the material things offered. My prayer is to continue to study the words of Christ and apply his will instead of my worldly desires and dreams! Please pray for me to have more faith even as little as a mustard seed! In the name of Jesus! Amen
Hi Phil, my prayers are with you. I pray that you can feel a real connection with God through the ministry of the community of believers. It is at times where we are weak and feel alone that we should be able to reach out and be supported by your local church. The biblical injunction to share one another's burdens is not only good advice for the church but a promise to the burdened.
Phil I am praying for you but be encouraged, you are able to see the vices of the enemy and your heart wants God's will, so continue praying and asking God for strength to surrender this world and the lusts thereof.
May this be our prayer and heart song today, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace".
In the statement that Jesus is both "God and man" is the mystery of all mysteries. How could that be? It is hard for our finite mind to comprehend this reality. But in my opinion, and practically I will try to explain this by means of an illustration: Let's say that a Police Officer is in his uniform as a police; now does it means that when he is in a civilian clothes he is not a police officer anymore? Not so. Same with Christ who is God, he came down in earth leaving His office in heaven as God, came down on earth in human form. But He is still God by all means and has the power given to Him as God the father. Does it make sense?
The rich young ruler had obeyed the last six commandments, but he failed in the first four, love for God. He loved his possessions more than he loved God. How many of us today would be willing to sell every thing we owned and go serve in a mission field? How easy it is to be attached to the things of this world.
Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry for the delay. I never expected any replies about my post. Thank you so much for offering another word of encouragement byway of the teachings of our bible and belief in our Lord Jesus Christ! I will have to come to online Sabbath school replies and comments more often to meet people like yourself with the same beliefs as myself! 🙂 Thanks again bye
The reference text Matt19:16 and 17 - is a story that most are familiar with. Even so those two texts pose a cause for questioning. The 1st to the Rich Young Ruler. He was apparently an overseer of considerable stature and had everything under control. He came seeking to find Jesus. Apparently Jesus had a reputation that the this young ruler was aware of. The 1st question that Jesus asks "Why do you call me good"? Why do we see a puzzlement in that question? The last verse of the story verse 22, Jesus explains the reason for the sorrowful feelings. It would appear that Jesus had the for-knowledge of the life and possible destiny of this Rich, Young ,Ruler. There usually are some applications from different sources, and maybe a question or two.
I have been thinking about why Jesus said this: “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God" (Matthew 19:17; Mark 10:18; Luke 18:19), as it appears unrelated to the rest of the story of the rich young ruler.
Since Jesus wasn't denying He was "good," He may have been indirectly telling the rich young ruler "you are talking to God at this very moment."
Jesus is good... and "no one is good but, One, that is, God"... To wit, Jesus is God (John 14:9; John 14:7).
Exactly Sieg, Jesus was seeing if the man understood He was God.
Jesus was fully human because He was born of a human woman and He was fully God because God produced Himself in Jesus by way of His Spirit who motivated all thoughts and feelings producing the Mind and Character of God whereby Jesus could truthfully say the things He said, as a human, about His being God and how that God told and taught Him all that He did and said.
The humanity of Jesus evidently had a beginning with His conception in Mary. The Divinity of Jesus was produced by the Holy Spirit as He motivated every thought and feeling that the human Jesus thought and felt. This produced habit patterns with time and repetition to make the very Character of God, living out the purpose of God in the flesh.
He was also our example. The Holy Spirit seems to be key in the process of producing this Character of God in human flesh that carries out the purpose of God in our lives. We can have a ministry like Jesus if we will permit God to do what He will with our thoughts and feelings.
We are invited to sit on the throne with Jesus for a thousand years in judgment to help in the process of ridding the universe of sin for the rest of eternity.
I think that God wants to unite His Divinity with our humanity to do this work. He has already united with humanity in Jesus and all who would allow. Now He is patiently working and waiting for others to give Him room in the soul temple that we may join in the work that is so awesome there is no other work to compare with it.
Are you suggesting that Jesus was not the Son of God prior to the incarnation?
It appears to me that Jesus was procreated (begotten) by the union of God and a girl named Mary. He was God's only begotten Son. The Creator God who called Himself the "I AM" evidently lived in and through Jesus such that He could say that He was the I AM.
In Col. 2 Paul writes about the fullness of the Godhead being in Jesus.
I am confused. Either the Father sent His only begotten Son, or He sent someone else to become His Son. If the latter, who was it that the Father sent? How do we harmonise that with John 3:16?