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THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER VOLUME 7, NUMBER 29, JULY 22, 2007 SNAPSHOTS OF JESUS – PART 1 There is no question that the New Testament teaches that Jesus was God in the flesh. In 1 Timothy 3:16, Paul wrote, “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” When Jesus walked through the valley of the River Jordan, climbed the foothills and mountains of Judea, or traversed the Plain of Esdraelon, He was treading upon that which He had Himself created. This truth could not be more clearly stated than it is in Col. 1:15-17. Concerning Jesus Paul wrote, “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” I marvel at the very idea of the divine Jesus. The words of John 1:14 thrill and astound me. “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” What Jesus revealed to us about the nature and character of God while here in the flesh is far beyond the scope of this article. Indeed, reams could be written about what was meant in the exchange between Philip and Jesus in John 14:8-9, “Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus said unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father: and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?” Yet contained within the pages of the gospels are simple statements that can almost be overlooked that I like to think of as snapshots of Jesus. They give us brief but wonderful glimpses into His humanity. Not only does the Bible teach us that Jesus was fully God on earth, it also teaches us that He was fully man. I do not understand all that is involved in such an incredible idea, I simply know that it is true. A few statements from the letter to the Hebrews emphasize this point. In Hebrews 2:16-18, we find, “For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behooved him to made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.” From Hebrews 4:15, we read, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” One such snapshot of Jesus is found in Luke’s account of His birth. In Luke 2:7, we read, “And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.” It came to pass in the days surrounding the birth of Jesus that a decree had come forth from the emperor of Rome, Octavian, Caesar Augustus, that a census should be taken of all the world under Roman rule. The purpose of this enrollment was to assist in the work of taxation and also to determine how many were subject to military service. Octavian ruled in Rome from 31 B.C. to 15 A.D. Joseph and Mary, both of the lineage of David, and Mary about to be delivered of a child, made their way to Bethlehem, the city of David, to be enrolled. As I envision this scene of the humble carpenter and his very pregnant wife making the arduous eighty mile journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem for enrollment in the city of their great ancestor, I am reminded of Isaiah 11:1. There we find, “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.” The world did not know that the house of David, referred to as the “stump” or “stem of Jesse,” cut down and brought low as evidenced by the poverty and obscurity of Joseph and Mary, was about to have the Branch spring forth of it and be raised to greater heights than it had ever known during the time of David. While in the city of Bethlehem, Jesus was born. It was not in a palace of royalty, surrounded by the best physicians and midwives of the day and eagerly anticipated by the subjects of the king. Jesus was born in a stable because the enrollment had brought such a large number of people to Bethlehem and there was no room for Mary and Joseph in the inn. The first bed for the King of kings was a feeding trough for animals. Were there sheep, donkeys, and cows witnessing His entrance into the world? I don’t really know, but could there possibly have been a clearer expression of His humanity than the humble circumstances of His birth? What a snapshot of Jesus – a tiny infant, wrapped in narrow strips of clothing (swaddling clothes), lying in a manger. Greg Litmer WHEN A CHRISTIAN FACED DEATH About 125 A.D., a Greek by the name of Aristides was writing his friends about a new religion, Christianity. He was trying to explain to them the reason for its tremendous success. A sentence from one of his letters reads: “If a righteous man among the Christians passes from this world, they rejoice and offer thanks to God and escort his body with songs and thanksgiving as if he were setting out from some place to another nearby.” ---Via Excel! |