“In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also,” John 14:2-3.
Here we are clearly told one of the reasons for Jesus’ departure and delay: He is in Heaven preparing mansions (dwelling places) for all of His saints that will come to believe on Him. There is a Jewish marriage tradition with very similar language to the type our Lord is presently using. When the son was engaged to a wife there was a minimal wait time of about one year. Though only engaged the affianced coupled were treated as married despite the fact that they did not yet live together; formal divorce proceedings would be needed to annul the marriage even at that point, see Matthew 1:18-19. During that time the son would build a home worthy of housing his new wife and their prospective family, overseen by his father; and it was solely at the father’s bidding or approval that the son would be sent off to fetch his bride-to-be. When the house met with the father’s approval the son would hurry off to his fiancé’s home to take her as his wife. In this regard the bride-to-be would always be vigilant because she did not know if her betrothed would come during the day, afternoon, night, or early in the morning. Often candles were kept alight in case he suddenly arrived in the middle of the night to claim his bride. He would then take her from her family’s house and bring her back to the place he prepared for her; but not until the groom’s father gave his consent.
In this respect Jesus spoke with His Jewish audience, since many of them were married and already knew this tradition well. Our Lord spoke to them in a way they understood. He often used physical or familiar illustrations in an effort to impart spiritual truth to His audience, Mark 4:34; John 10:6. This included even the disciples, John 16:25. Jesus our Lord awaited (and awaits) the command from the Father to come and collect His bride from the earth and to bring her back home to be with Him forever. This finally consummates with the forthcoming marriage of the Lamb where saints from OT and NT times coupled with the saints martyred during the Tribulation period, Revelation 6:9-11; 19:7-8. We can clearly see then that Jesus our Lord is not inferior to the Father in the respect that Christ was a created being. In fact Jesus claimed quite the opposite concerning Himself, John 10:30; 13:19. The issue dissolves under a little scrutiny to reveal that this verse does nothing to harm the deity of our Lord, but is mishandled by men to promote their own doctrinal aberrations.
Yet what of John 5:19 and 14:28, and other verses of the like when Jesus appears to display a servant attitude toward the Father, not a relationship of equals? First, we must remember that God the Son was first known as the Word, John 1:1. Before He was incarnated as the only begotten Son of God, Christ existed as God’s Word in eternity past. Nowhere in the Old Testament is Jesus referred to as God’s Son, save for prophetic passages in anticipation of Christ’s birth; see Psalm 2:7 for an example. It is by reason of His incarnation that our Lord is referred to as the Son of God, Luke 1:35. When Jesus was incarnated as a man He emptied Himself of His intrinsic deity and functioned as a man.
“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,” Philippians 2:5-8.
It is important to note that Jesus our Lord performed no miracles prior to receiving the Holy Spirit from Heaven. This was a demonstration by our Lord of how man’s life should have been lived; in total and humble reliance and obedience to the will of God. In this respect—as a man—the Father was greater in position than Jesus. But we know now since Christ has risen and ascended triumphantly back into the Heavens He received the glory which was natively His restored to Him. “And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was,” John 17:5. Since we know from the Old testament that God shares His glory with no other (Isaiah 48:11, etc) it is a sound argument that Christ, sharing God’s glory, is Himself God, John 1:14; 2nd Corinthians 4:6; Hebrews 1:3.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is in fact Jehovah or Yahweh of the Old Testament Scriptures; a fact I have taken some pains to demonstrate in Is Jesus God? It all comes down to faith and whether or not we are willing to allow God to speak for Himself concerning eternal truths. In Christ our Lord we find that He is the only Savior by which men must be saved, Acts 4:12; Ephesians 4:5. God declared that He is the only Savior of men in the Old Testament, since He is God He is the only one capable of saving men, Isaiah 43:11; 45:21. Draw what conclusions you will, but there is no argument that one can level from Scripture that will reduce Christ our Lord to less than what He by nature is: the everlasting God. Let us labor to rightly divide God’s word and serve as sound teachers in our Lord’s body.
That the very creator would voluntarily submit to God the father is a tremendous demonstration of his humility. He asks us to have the same attitude. Without the Holy Spirit's power, we are like Ben Franklin, who commented that the thought he'd finally achieved it he proved he hadn't.
ReplyDeleteAmen.
ReplyDeleteI know I have hardly given an exhaustive explanation on the most mysterious aspect of our Lord's mission; coming down from the throne of creation to become a man. I only hope to have cleared a little of the semantic smoke cast up by people more eager to muddy the water than take a drink.