Address—C. Hendricks
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Begin by reading a verse in First Timothy 3 verse 16 and without controversy. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
Justified in the spirit scene of angels preached unto the Gentiles.
Believed on in the world, received up into glory.
Six things mentioned in the verse.
And I'd want to talk tonight about the first one. God was manifest in the flesh.
God and Man in one person, a truth soul, marvelous and wonderful.
We really cannot fathom it, it's beyond us, and yet we can enjoy it.
And believe it in our souls. Now just a verse in Second John. Second Epistle of John, verse 7.
Of Second John, Many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.
This is a deceiver and an Antichrist. Verse 9. Whosoever transgresseth, and go, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God.
He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son, the doctrine of Christ.
Is the truth as to his person? It has many aspects and I'd like to.
Tonight, consider in one meeting what he usually takes at least 2.
So we can just touch on certain things that He is very God and very man.
The doctrine of Christ involves that God manifest in the flesh.
It's interesting to note as you read the scriptures how many times those two truths comprising the doctrine of Christ are found together in the same verse. For instance, verse seven of second John confessing Jesus Christ coming in flesh is the doctrine of Christ. It's the truth of his person, He who pre existed before he became a man as God came in flesh.
His manhood Christ and man in one, God and man in one person.
Now I'm going to have to move along quickly, but I I wanted to read a little extract that I called from the Christian Treasury some time ago, and it's on John's epistles. It's very choice and very short. As an introduction, the House of the elect Lady, Second John, was the sanctuary of the truth.
And had to keep outside all that was not of it.
All those that did not bring the doctrine of Christ with them.
The House of Gaius Third John, On the contrary, was the guest Chamber of the truth and had to open itself to the witnesses of it.
She, the Elect Lady, was to be the guardian of this mystery. He, Gaius, was the fellow helper of it.
The atmosphere within God's house should be so full of the fragrance of the name of Christ.
That all who are of a contrary part should be forced out.
The door at the entrance should be so closed that the same those who are antichrists and deceivers should know that they would be kept out.
But the welcome should be so clear and fervent that all who savor and witness of that name should feel themselves at home in it.
3rd John 8.
Shall we not all join in such services as these? Surely all this is coethite service. This is business with the Ark itself.
Oxen and wagons could not aid in it.
Then that the material of the service is too delicate for such help. The shoulders of the Levites must do the service, and even their hands must reverently and only reverently handle the sacred deposit committed to them.
If there's one truth that has been committed to us above all others, it is the doctrine of Christ. Note, the doctrine of Christ is the confession of the truth as to His blessed person. The Christ of God is revealed in Scripture. This is the true God in eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
This is an immense subject, so we can touch on it. Let's begin by turning to Genesis chapter 3.
And I'm going to read some a verse after the fall has come in here.
Verse 14.
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And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou has done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field. Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life, and I will put enmity between thee and the woman.
And between thy seed and her seed. God is speaking to the serpent here, and he says it.
Shall bruise thy head.
Thou shalt bruise his heel.
Her seed it, her seed, the seed of the woman shall bruise, or as Mr. Darby renders it, crush thy head.
And thou shalt crush his heel. When did that take place? At the cross?
When apparently Satan was victorious in bruising or crushing the heel of Christ, in reality it was Satan that was his power was destroyed there.
When Satan introduced sin into the human family, he attacked the weaker vessel, the woman.
And she undertook to engage in a conversation with the serpent instead of turning it over to Adam as she should have done, and instead of him taking the lead as he should have done. He evidently allowed this to happen. But he's held responsible because the word says by one man sin entered into the world, not by one woman.
But Satan attacked the woman and she was deceived. Adam wasn't deceived, but she was. And then she gave to him and he ate.
And sin entered into the world. Well, the woman was the vessel that the enemy used to introduce sin into the human race. So God says immediately once it's entered in, he says, I'm going to use the woman.
Her seed, the Redeemer, will come through the woman, not the man, not the seed of the man. Every one of us in this room this evening is the seed of man.
But there was a man in this world that wasn't the seed of man. He was the seed of the woman.
That's the first prophetic utterance by God himself, if you will, of a coming Redeemer. The one who would crush Satan's power and destroy his power would come through the weaker vessel. How like our God this is?
He introduced sins with the woman. God says I'll introduce the Redeemer through the woman. Now let's turn to Isaiah 7. Will we read a verse?
So the first thing we learn about this coming Redeemer is that he is going to be, He was to be the seed of the woman.
The seed of the woman, that's his humanity.
We're looking now at his humanity first.
And then we will look at little at His deity. Invert in verse 14 of Isaiah 7. Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Emmanuel. There you have the doctrine of Christ in that one verse, His humanity, the virgin conceiving and bearing a son. That's His humanity. And then his name is called Emmanuel, God with us.
His deity.
Some of the modern translations read that a young woman conceives and bears a son. Now I understand that I'm not a Hebrewist, but I understand that that word translated virgin in the Hebrew is not the more usual word for virgin.
And in some context it could be rendered young woman I believe, but not here because a young woman conceiving and bearing a son would be no sign. It happens every day.
It's not a sign, and this is a sign. No, the translators here are absolutely correct in rendering it virgin. And this verse is quoted to eliminate all possibility of any difficulty. It's quoted in the New Testament in Greek, where the word can only mean virgin. We'll see that as we turn to the New Testament. So here we have another verse.
In line with what we read in Genesis 3, the seed of the woman here is the virgin.
The virgin, literally not just a virgin, it wasn't any virgin, but one virgin only could have fulfilled the conditions.
She had to be here at exactly the right time according to the prophetic clock as Daniel gave it when the Messiah would be introduced. He was introduced through the woman, the seed of the woman, the virgin, conceiving and bearing a son, the virgin. Now let's turn to Matthews Gospel. I have to go quickly because.
Much to cover.
In Matthew we get the genealogy of Joseph.
In Luke we get the genealogy of Mary.
And in Luke the genealogy is traced back.
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Adam, who is the Son of God, says by creation he was the Son of God. He was created directly from the hand of God. Out of the dust of the ground. God breathed into Adam's nostrils the breath of life, and he became a living soul. So he was called the Son of God in the sense of having been created directly by God. Angels are called that in that sense, also sons of God.
But here we have his royal lineage, and it begins with Abraham and David.
The son of David, the son of Abraham, verse one.
And there's a word. And I won't read the genealogy just to save time.
But there's a word that occurs in everyone of these verses from verse 2 on. It's the word begat.
Abraham begat Isaac, Isaac begat Jacob, and so on.
In Luke's genealogy, it's not the word begat. It's not from the Father down, but it's from the from Joseph, Mary and Joseph and going back, going back to.
Adam.
Luke gives us his true humanity through Mary.
And Matthew gives us his royal dignity.
And so it's the genealogy of Joseph. Notice now we'll pick it up at verse 14. And Azor begat Sadich, and Sadik begat Achem, and Achum begat Eliad, and Eliad begat Eliezer, and Eliezer begat Matthan, And Matthan begat Jacob, and Jacob begat Joseph. And it does not say, it cannot say Joseph begat Jesus.
No, that's the very truth that the Spirit of God so very carefully guards.
That truth, that he was the seed of the woman, it was the virgin that conceived and bore a son. So it says. Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who was called Christ.
Now verse 18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise when as his mother Mary. Here's an expression we will come across repeated over and over again by the Spirit of God, his mother Mary, his mother Mary. Never by the Spirit of God, never is Joseph called by the Spirit of God.
His father.
He was legally that men called him that.
But never the Spirit of God. He guards against that, and we'll see that so beautifully as we trace this through.
But Mary has called his mother. The Roman Catholics say that Mary was the mother of God.
Well, Scripture never so speaks. Mary was the mother of his humanity.
As to his deity, he has no mother, only a father.
As to his humanity, he has no father, only a mother.
Who takes the place of the Father?
In the birth of Christ.
Who is the begetter?
You see in Matthew's genealogy, it's the Father that begets, that begets, that begets all the way through until you come to Joseph and there was number earthly Father begetting him. He was begotten by the power of the Holy Spirit.
And we'll see that taught here verse 18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise when as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before they came together. There is the guard.
Before they came together, she was found with Child of the Holy Ghost.
At his holy humanity, Child of the Holy Ghost.
Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.
But while he thought on these things, behold, the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David.
Fear not to take unto thee, marry thy wife for that which is conceived in hers of the Holy Ghost. Now if you have a margin like I have in my Bible, there's a little note there by the word conceived, and it says Greek begotten. Matthew does not talk about Mary conceiving, Luke does.
Matthew talks about the Holy Ghost begetting instead of the man begetting as is normal in all other births.
But there was number man begetting in connection with the Lord Jesus. Instead there was the Holy Ghost, and so that ought to read. That which is begotten in her is of the Holy Ghost. When we look at Luke's gospel, we will see that the word conceived is used and properly so there. The Spirit of God uses the word there because Luke is bringing out.
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Mary conceiving, and his proper humanity derived from his human mother.
But here Matthew is concentrating. Instead of the man begetting, we have the Holy Ghost.
Begetting that which is begotten in hers of the Holy Ghost, and she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus.
Jesus involves that, that word, that wonderful word. Jesus has the doctrine of Christ in it.
God and man in one person. That man was called Jesus, but it means Jehovah, the Savior, God and man in one person, for he shall save his people from their sins. In order to save us, he had to become a man.
Come to where we were. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Here we have the quote in the New Testament from the Greek language of Isaiah 714. Behold, a virgin. No question about the meaning of that word shall be with child, and she shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel. Here we have the doctrine of Christ, God, and man in one person she brings forth a son.
Humanity coming from his human mother, but his name is Emmanuel. God with us.
Then Joseph being raised from sleep did is the Angel of the Lord had bidden him and took unto him his wife, and he knew her not till she had brought forth her first born son, and he called his name Jesus. Notice now in this in this chapter we have two verses. Verse 18 in the middle of the verse it says before they came together she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
And the last verse tells us that Joseph knew her not till she had brought forth her first born son.
So it was literally true that when she came to the birth nine months after conceiving, she was still a virgin.
Still the Virgin. It was the virgin that bore the Christ.
Never known by man.
And then of course after his birth, Joseph and Mary lived together normally in marriage, and they had other children who were the half brothers and sisters of the Lord Jesus through the mother.
Joseph had nothing to do.
At birth, when I was in Los Angeles this summer, it was a full page ad in the Los Angeles Times. I got there just after the the riots.
And I believe the one who put the ad in the paper.
Was a Raven brother and a reason I read I believe that is because there were two mistakes in the ad. The one was very minor and that was the clue to me that it was put in by a Raven brother. And the other mistake was very serious, touching the doctrine of Christ. The rest of the article was beautiful. It started out by saying the next event that's going to happen is the Lord's coming for his church.
And this was the clue that tipped me off as to who wrote it, who wrote it, who put it in there.
And says and 3 1/2 years later he will come with the church to establish the Kingdom. And we would have said more like 7 years later, but the writers said 3 1/2 years. Why did he where did he get that from? Well, he got it from the writings of Mr. Darby where he said in one of some of his writings to faith.
The 3 1/2 years of the Lord's ministry here on earth.
Takes that first 3 1/2 years well to faith, but I think he misunderstood Mr. Darby.
And so instead of making it seven years between the Rapture and the appearing, he made it 3 1/2 years. A very minor mistake, not crucial, not fundamental, but the second one was very serious, he said later down in the article, he said.
Joseph had nothing whatsoever to do with the humanity of Christ, with his birth.
True, that was correct, but then he went out and said Mary also had nothing to do with the humanity of Christ.
Absolutely false.
If he wasn't born of the virgin.
If he wasn't the seed of the woman.
Then he's not a true man.
He derived his humanity through his mother.
Mr. Darby says it was not that his humanity was not that perfect humanity of Mary.
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I mean, his humanity was perfect, that of Mary, but that it was here without sin, preserved from sin by the power of the Holy Spirit, who was the beginning agent.
The Roman Catholics that have invented the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, that Mary was without sin, that's an impossibility because she had not only an earthly father, an earthly mother, but also an earthly father. But it was the power of the Holy Spirit that preserved the holy humanity of our Lord Jesus.
True man, just as true a man as any of us, but the state of his humanity was preserved wholly by the Spirit of God. And let's quickly look at chapter 2.
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the King, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem saying, where is he that is born King of the Jews? Where we're reading in Matthew here took place just short of two years after his birth.
Are we a senior star in the East, and I come to worship him? When had the King had heard these things? He was troubled in all Jerusalem with him.
And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him in Bethlehem of Judea. For thus it is written by the prophet. And thou, Bethlehem in the land of Judah, are not the least among the Princess of Judah, for out of thee shall come a governor. Notice the capital G the translators correctly giving it, This is God.
Out of these shall come a governor that you'll rule my people Israel.
And Herod, when he was had privily called, the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared, and he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, go and search diligently for the young child. Notice that expression. The young child will come across it a number of times in this chapter. The young child sets him off, and apart from here those that were searching for him.
They're removed from him and they're searching for the young child. He is the the central object here.
And then we come across another expression shortly. The young child and his mother, never. The young child and his father never get that. But the young child and his mother, we get that repeatedly. They're put together.
Go and search diligently for the young child, and when you have found him, bring the Word again that I may come and worship him also. He actually wanted to kill him.
When they had heard the king, they departed, and lo, the star which they saw in the East went before them till it came over.
Came and stood over where the young child was.
When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy, and when they were coming to the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshipped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts, gold His deity, and frankincense His holy humanity. And myrrh is atoning sufferings by which we are saved. That's what they speak of, I take it.
And being learned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.
And when they were departed, behold, the Angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt. He doesn't say to Joseph, Arise and take your wife and son and flee into Egypt. No, Sir, he doesn't say that.
Joseph is looked at as off and removed from the young child and his mother. They're put together by the Spirit of God. Joseph is just the one that takes them down into Egypt. He's not even spoken of here as a.
Having the position that he had legally, just the one that was going to carry out the instructions of the Angel, it could have been anyone else, but here it's Joseph. But he's not spoken of as the father or the husband right here.
Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word. For Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled. Which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying, Out of Egypt, have I called my son, who's speaking God?
Out of Egypt have I called my son God, referring to that blessed One as my son.
Not Joseph, but God himself.
Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wrath, and sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from 2 years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.
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And then we have those verses from Jeremiah. I won't read them. Verse 19. But when Herod was dead, behold, an Angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel, for they are dead, which sought the young child's life. And he arose and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.
Now let's turn to.
Luke's Gospel just quickly for a few verses.
Luke chapter 3.
Luke gives us, we've often been told, a moral order, and the connection of events that are presented in Luke are morally connected. We see that beautifully in the verses that I'm going to read to you.
In Luke chapter 3 verse 21. Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass.
That Jesus also being baptized and praying. The heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven which said, Thou art my beloved Son.
And thee I am well pleased. In the other gospels, it's the voice says, this is my beloved son. It's a voice announcing to to the others that were there who it was. But here Godfather is speaking directly to his son. Thou art my beloved son.
Beautiful. The father speaks to him. He says, my beloved son.
My beloved son.
He never said that to anyone else.
God the Father speaking to a man on earth, this is mine.
Beloved Son and thee, I am well pleased.
Now notice you don't think you read this. You can't see the connection between verses 22 and 23.
And Jesus himself began to be about 30 years of age being. And here we have the guard, as was supposed the son of Joseph.
That's the closest we get to the Lord being called the son of Joseph. He was the son of Joseph legally.
But it says being, as was supposed, because that guards the truth, that he wasn't really the son of Joseph. He was really, though, the son of Mary.
Being as well supposed the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli.
You might say, I thought you said this was Mary's genealogy. Yes, it is.
Joseph was the son-in-law.
Of Heli and in the way the Jews said it, they would say he was the Son. I feel I really heal. I was Mary's father, I believe.
And so we have the genealogy of Mary, and notice it goes all the way down the last verse 38 which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam.
Bringing him right back, connecting him right to the first man. The second man connected here with the humanity of Adam through his mother Mary, which was the Son of God. Adam was the Son of God, not as the Son of as the Lord Jesus was.
But just by creation.
Christ never became the Son of God. Never. He was always the Son of God.
Luke guards that. Let's turn back to Luke Chapter 2, Chapter 1.
Excuse me?
Luke chapter 1.
Verse 30 And the Angel said unto her, Fear not Mary, for thou hast found favour with God, and behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb. That's the right word. Luke uses the word conceive. Matthew uses the word begotten.
Thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest.
And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his Father David.
There we have the the doctrine of Christ, the Son of the Highest. That's his deity.
Whenever he is called, the Son of God refers to his deity.
And then it says.
The Lord shall give him the throne of his father David. That's his humanity.
And he shall reign over the House of Jacob Forever.
And of his Kingdom there shall be no end.
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And then said Mary unto the Angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? She had no relations with a man.
Here she was, the virgin. The virgin.
That Isaiah prophesied that was the sign that God was going to give the virgin.
Would conceive and bear sun.
Verse 35. To me, that's one of the most wonderful verses in all of Scripture. Let's read it very carefully.
And the Angel answered, and said unto her, the Holy Ghost.
Shall come upon thee.
And the power of the highest shall over shadow thee.
Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Notice the precision of Scripture not shall become the Son of God.
He never became the Son of God. He was always the Son of God.
His eternal sonship.
But that holy thing, which was born of Mary, was called the Son of God. Why does it say holy thing? Why doesn't it say, as it says in many other passages, the Holy One?
Well, I looked the word up and it's the word holy in the neutered gender. If it was in the masculine gender, it would have been translated Holy One, but it's in the neuter gender, so it's translated holy thing. Why? Because I believe the Spirit of God is focusing here upon His holy humanity. His humanity was holy.
Adam's humanity was innocence, innocent in the garden without sin, but capable of sinning.
And after he fell, his humanity didn't change, but the state of it changed.
Into a state of sinfulness, sinful humanity.
And we all partake of that.
But in Christ, in the new creation, we also partake of that holy humanity which is not only without sin, but incapable of sinning because it's holy. What is holiness? Holiness is delight in what is good.
An abhorrence of evil.
And he was that holy thing. His humanity was holy.
Because it was the begetting power of the Holy Ghost. It was the preserving power of the Holy Ghost, preserving that humanity from any taint of sin, from his mother, from his human mother.
Only the Holy Spirit could do that.
The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall over shadow thee.
Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called.
The Son of God, that little baby in Bethlehem's Manger.
The Son of God.
Tremendous truth.
This thou art my beloved son, the Father, delighting to speak to him.
As my son.
And he delighting to address the Father as my father.
When is the first time he ever did that?
Luke chapter 2.
Luke chapter 2.
Verse 42. Verse 41. Now the parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover, and when he was 12 years old they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast, and when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem, and Joseph and his mother. Notice the difference. Notice the difference.
Joseph and his mother knew not of it.
And they, but they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey, and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance.
And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking Him. And he came to pass that after three days they found Him in the Temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. And when they saw him, they were amazed. And his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us?
Behold, notice how what she says. I don't know how else she could have said it.
But she says, Thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing, and notice how he very gently corrects her.
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Said unto them, How is it that she sought me? Wish ye not that I must be about my Father's business? First time ever in the scriptures when he was a boy of 12. He says, My Father, the Father from heaven at the baptism, says My son, my beloved son.
He doesn't say that about anyone else.
To which of the angels said He ever Thou art my son this day have I begotten thee? Never said that to an Angel. They're called sons of God in a generic sense, but.
There was only one son.
His beloved son.
I made a study.
On this word, my father.
I have a little small computer. It's not very powerful.
You can type in a phrase.
So I typed in my father.
I went through the whole New Testament.
And it's just as I had expected.
No one.
Except the eternal Son of God, says my Father.
No one. No apostles, no one.
Only he.
We can say our father.
Because we've been brought as a redeemed company, sons of Aaron, we're in the priestly family. We can say our father, but we can't say my father.
Only he can say that.
Only he did say it.
My father.
And the first time he said it publicly, this was as a boy of 12. And they didn't understand it. Notice what it says. They understood not the saying which he spake unto them, Boy of 12.
They hadn't told him. Evidently, they hadn't told him.
The uniqueness of his birth. Maybe they thought he didn't know.
You know how slowly we grasp the immensity of the truth of His person, who He is, God and man and one person.
I don't believe they really entered into the immensity of this truth that we're considering tonight until after the resurrection.
And after the Holy Spirit came upon them.
And then they were illuminated and enlightened.
As to who he really is, such an immense truth that God became a man. More than that, he became a baby, and that little baby was called the Son of God.
That's why they nailed him to the cross.
He made himself, they said, the Son of God. They knew The Jews knew that when he claimed to be the Son of God, he was claiming equality with deity.
Proof of that is in John 5. Let's turn to it.
You see, those that teach the temporal sonship doctrine say that the term son, I don't like to call it a term. It's not. It's His name, the name of the only begotten Son of God. It's not a term, it's His name.
They say that implies inferiority. It implies equality to the Jewish mind. John 5.
Let's look at it.
Verse We'll, we'll, we'll pick up that story in verse 15. The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus which had made him whole, and therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus and sought to slay him because he had done these things on the Sabbath day.
Now notice what the Lord says. But Jesus answered them. My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. That's all he said. My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. He wasn't talking about Joseph.
He was talking about his Father in heaven.
And they immediately.
Understood what he was claiming.
Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his father. In Mr. Darby's translation, it's even more emphatic. God was his own father.
Making himself equal with God.
That was their conclusion, but it was more than their conclusion. It is the statement.
The positive statement in Scripture that when he said my Father, he was making himself equal with God, that's the statement of the Holy Spirit.
To say my father was claiming equality with God and that's why we can't say that.
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We can say our father.
We can't say my father.
At least we ought not to.
Because you see, between the ark and the priest there was that 2000 and the people there was that 2000 cubits, and there's always that distance.
Though he is the first born among many brethren.
Yet as the eternal Son of God, he has no brethren.
Is alone is unique.
And there's that distance between US and him.
But he came to where we were.
So that we might know God.
That blessed man.
And I think in those coming days of glory, as we look upon that man that will be the constant gaze of our souls, we will realize Colossians 28IN him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead, bodily in that blessed man.
All the fullness of the Godhead.
So here we have the first time he claims.
He speaks of him as my father. Well, not the first time. It was in Luke. We saw it in Luke as a boy of 12.
Making himself equal with God. So to the Jewish mind, if God has a son?
He must be equal with God.
Everyone, everything begets. Every being begets after its own kind.
Genesis 1.
And to the Jewish mind, if God has a son, he must be of the same substance and essence as God the Father.
And he is.
And that's called by the ancients the eternal generation of the sun.
In the early church, the time of Constantine, there was a great controversy between.
Arias, the Father of our present day Jehovah's Witnesses.
And Athanasius, who was the champion of the faith.
And the controversy raged over just two words. Arias said he was of a similar substance with the Father, and Athanasius said he was of the same substance as the father.
And that was the truth.
The same essence.
Not just similar.
You see areas allowed that Christ was the creator after he had been brought into existence at some time way back eons back. Doesn't matter whether whether he became the Son when he was born a man, which is really an awful doctrine and there are many that teach that and it's terrible error.
Or whether he became the son billions of years ago, He never became the son. He was always the son.
The eternal Son of God.
And only he had the right to say my father and the father when Speaking of him, said my son.
My son.
I also ran through my little computer the expression My God.
And only the apostle Paul, he uses it numbers of times.
One of the most favorite famous that I could think of was in Philippians four. My God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. I thank my God continually upon every remembrance of you, my God. It occurs in a number of epistles, but never does he say the apostle Paul, even my father.
That expression is only.
Is reserved only for the eternal Son of God.
The eternal Son.
So when he claimed God to be my father, they said, and the Spirit of God.
In supports that making himself equal with God. So it's not a term of inferiority, it's a term of equality.
Now let's turn to Hebrews chapter 5.
Hebrews, chapter 5.
Just I just want to make a comment on verse 5.
This is this verse is quoted from Psalm 2. Thou art my Son. So also Christ glorified not himself to be made in high priest, but he that said unto him, Thou art my son today have I begotten thee.
Now there's two things stated in there that occurs 3 It's quoted 3 times in the New Testament, Acts 13, Hebrews 1 and Hebrews 85.
And it's a quote from Psalm 2.
The first translation that I know of that rendered it You are My Son this day I have become your father is the New World Translation of the Jehovah's Witnesses. It's also the NIV translation. Serious error. He never, never was a point in time when he became his father. He was always his father.
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And he was always the Son. There was a time, there was a point in time, when he became his God.
Psalm 22 Says Thou art my God, even from my mother's belly. When he became a man, then he could address him as my God.
Not until.
He was Co equal with the Father in the inscrutable essence of the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
But when he became a man, then he was his God.
As a man.
And the only time we hear him using that expression.
Is on the cross during the three hours of darkness.
My God, my God, why is thou forsaken me?
At all other times it's my father when he says it, when he says that, or father or ABBA father. But it's never my God. It's in the Psalms.
And then in John 20, when he's the risen Christ, he says to Mary, go to my brethren, tell them, I ascend to my Father, and to your Father, to my God, and to your God.
He wasn't talking to him then, he was talking about him to marry, then he uses my father and my God.
And I know a number of brethren do this.
But I think it's a mistake.
They say.
Our Father and our God.
That's the wrong order for us.
The epistles always presented.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. I think it's proper for us creatures.
To speak of Him first as our God.
And then of the nearness of the relationship into which we've been brought by redemption as our Father. But he didn't say it that way. He said, I ascend unto my Father, and to your Father, to my God, and to your God.
Because he was his father forever.
And he didn't become his God until he became a man.
Whereas it's just the opposite with us. He was always our God, but He didn't become our Father until we were redeemed by the precious blood of Christ.
These are just.
Touches from the word of God that set him off and apart from us.
The unique one.
The eternal Son.
With a verse that really brings it out. Well, I this verse thou art my son. This today I have begotten thee. Today is a point in time.
He was begotten into manhood at some point in time, but He was always the Son. Thou art. My Son is what He always was from all eternity, but this day have I begotten thee is when He entered His own creation and became a man.
Another thing I want to say, the scriptures never speaks of him as a creature, never speaks of him as a servant, speaks of him as a man. But, and, and, and, and men are are are creatures. Yes, that's true. But the Spirit of God never speaks of him as a creature, speaks of him as the creator.
The creator.
He entered his own creation and when he did that as man, he was the first born.
The preeminent 1.
But the Spirit of God always guards the glory of His person, the doctrine of Christ.
Very God, very man, but he never speaks of him as a creature. Even as to his humanity, it's never spoken of as being created.
A body hast thou prepared me? The language of the Spirit of God.
Doesn't say created prepared me.
He was born.
The atom was created directly from the hand of God, out of the dust.
But you couldn't apply the term creation to him because he's eternal.
And the Spirit of God never does that.
Guarding his.
Eternal sonship guarding his whole humanity.
Oh, what a person.
Now I want to look at verse 8. That verse, very strong proof of His eternal sonship, though he were a son. Now there's no indefinite article in the Greek language, and so it's sometimes supplied to complete the sense, but it's better left out here. And so it should say though he were son.
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That's what he was.
Yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.
You see as the sun in the Trinity, before he became a man, he never had the experience of obedience.
That was not that, That was not his experience, because everyone obeyed him. He was God.
And it doesn't say because he was Son or when he became Son, he learned obedience. No such thought. But in spite of the fact that he was Son, that's his eternal glory as the eternal Son of God. In spite of the fact that he was Son, he learned obedience by the things which he suffered.
And that's when he became a man.
Again, we have the doctrine of Christ in that one verse. Though he were Son, that's his eternal glory as the eternal Son of God.
He learned obedience as a man.
As that perfect servant by the things which he suffered.
Now, just in closing, let's turn back to John Chapter 1.
Verse 14.
John's Gospel chapter one, verse 14 and the word was made flesh.
And dwelt among us. I'm going to read the verse without the parenthesis.
The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.
So here we have the word that person spoken of in the first verses as the Creator.
All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made, and Him was life, and the life was the light of men, the Word of God, the very expression of God's thoughts. The Word Co equal with the Father. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. But now he, he's made flesh. He he becomes flesh, He becomes a man.
Dwells among us, full of grace and truth. Now let's look at that little parentheses properly put in there by the translators, and it reads, And we beheld his glory.
The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, or.
More literally, the glory as of an only begotten with a Father. What glory was it that John beheld by faith? He saw this man standing before him, veiled in human flesh.
And he says we beheld a glory. He's not talking about his moral glory here. He's talking about his personal glory.
As the eternal Son of God, he beheld.
His glory. What was it that He beheld? The glory as of an only begotten with the Father?
He beheld the glory of that eternal relationship as the only begotten of the Father.
That's the glory he beheld by faith.
At the end of the chapter, I'll just cite this one instance. There are a number of instances where he's confessed as the Son of God, and what leads souls to make that confession is they realize he's God.
Let's just look at Nathanael verse 46.
Verse 45 Philip findeth Nathanael and saith unto him, We have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. He makes a mistake there. That's what everyone thought.
But the Spirit of God never calls him that, never calls him the Son of Joseph. He calls him the Son of Mary over and over again.
But here Philip makes this mistake, and it's interesting, isn't it, that it's Philip, the one in the 14th chapter, to whom the Lord says, Have you been so long time with me, Philip? And thou hast not known me. He that has seen me has seen the Father.
And he had to learn a deep, deep truth about his person. He wasn't the son of Joseph. He was the son of the father.
Let's go on. And Nathaniel said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to him, and sayeth of him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. Nathaniel sayeth unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, When thou hast under the fig tree, I saw thee.
Now that produces an amazing confession.
The family answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King of Israel. Why did he make that confession?
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He was owning his deity.
He saw you saw me under the fig tree.
No one saw me there. The only one who could see me there was God.
I was all alone with God. It was praying.
Under the fig tree.
Said I saw you there.
And it brings out this wonderful confession, and we all turn to it. But in John 9, the Lord finds this blind man whom he had given sight to had been cast out of the synagogue. And he says, Dost thou believe I'm the Son of God?
Who is he, Lord, that I may believe on him? Thou has both seen him, and he it is that speaketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe, and he worshipped him.
He worshipped him because he realized if he's the Son of God, he is God the Son.
You see, when you talk to a Jehovah's Witness, they'll confess that he's the Son of God, but they don't mean by it what you and I mean by it what Scripture means by it. In Scripture, the Son of God is a is a name of that person of the Trinity which he always had.
Because he was always the son.
Now there's one more verse that I want to look at, and then we close.
John, 118.
No man hath seen God at anytime.
The only begotten Son, the.
The only begotten Son.
And these modern translations that render that the only son or the only one are.
Are missing the real force of the expression monogenesis, only begotten Son.
Of the same substance as the begetter. Has nothing to do with time. Has nothing to do with time. There was no point in time when this happened. It's it has to do with essence. He is of the same substance and essence as the Father.
The only begotten Son, the Father, is God. He is God. If the Father is eternal, he is eternal.
If the Father is all powerful, he, the Son is all powerful. He has all the attributes of deity.
And the only begotten Son is the term used by the Spirit of God to bring that truth out to our souls. John 316.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. Who did He give? He gave the very darling of his bosom, the Son of his love. He couldn't have given more.
He wouldn't have given less.
That whosoever believeth in him, in him.
I'm emphasizing that little word in because it's not the Greek word ENN in which we would think it would be, but it's ice, which is into unto. And yeah, that doesn't make any sense in English. Whosoever believeth into him can't translate it like that in English. Whosoever believeth unto him, I think.