Pre-existence of Christ
All throughout the globe, people celebrate his birthday. Everywhere you look, you can see the cross that He died on. An influential preacher once posed a question that has since gone viral and has lasting relevance. When He was going through a crisis in His ministry, the Master Himself asked the question:
Who do men say I am, the Son of Man?
Right through the ages, scientists, theologians, and even hardened atheists have asked the same question that has already been tested and answered many times, even in our modern age.
What and who is Jesus?
It’s best answered in the gospels when we list and explain the names and titles of Christ and what He is called. The first is the Son of God (Deity). In a unique sense, he is God’s Son. In the Bible, Jesus maintained a relationship with God that no one else in the universe was able to do. D. L. Moody describes the world-renowned teachings in the Word of Truth.
The expression kenosis is taken from Philippians 2:7, where we read of our Lord Jesus Christ: ‘Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made Himself of no reputation.’ Greek word ekenosen serves as a representation of the words in italics. It is from this verb that the noun kenosis is derived.
In the revised version, it is translated, ‘He emptied himself,’ and this is the kenosis fact. The Son of God ’emptied Himself’ in wondrous grace, for the love of us men and for our redemption. The Scripture further teaches that God has been pleased to reveal His mind and purpose through chosen human vessels.
The Old Testament introduces us to men whose importance is that, for the time being, they were the media of Divine Truth. In the past, God spoke through the prophets, so that we hear Him as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, while in the New Testament, He is seen in Christ as the God of love, grace, and peace. All this is the foundation for the main theme. The only complete revelation of God is in His Son.
There is the final answer to man’s search for answers. “It is a coming of God to man on a redeeming mission: a descent of God into this sorrowful planet because to stoop into manhood was essential to the outworking of His plan for man’s salvation.
It’s a matchless wonder!” God is the Father of His son and our Lord, Jesus Christ (Rom 15:6; 2 Cor. 1:3). We know from Scripture that Jesus existed with the Father before the world began. Here is how the Apostle John reported Jesus’ pre-existence as well as His role in the creation of the world: In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that is made.” (John 1:1-3 N1V)
All through the Old Testament, there is a mention of an Angel several times; they call him “The Angel of the Lord.” The manner in which “the Angel of the Lord” is described distinguishes him from any other angel. The power of forgiving or keeping sins is attributed to him, and the name of God is in him. Ex. 23:20–23. In Ex. 32:34, it is said, “My Angel shall go before you.” which in Exod. 33:14 is varied: “And He said, My presence (literally, “my face”) shall go with you.” The two are combined in Isa. 63:9: “All their affliction, He was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them.”
One cannot avoid the conclusion that this mysterious Angel is none other than the Son of God, the Messiah, the Deliverer of Israel, and the Saviour to be of the world. Therefore, the Angel of the Lord is really an uncreated being. “[Jesus]Who is the image of the invisible God, the First-born of all creation. For all things were created in Him, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through Him and for Him…” Colossians 1:15
The above verses state in direct terms that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, was and is without a doubt God who came into a human form—God Incarnated into the form of a servant—and was made in the likeness of men. (Philp.2:6-8) He is the second Person of the Trinity. Jesus Himself testifies rightly through His ministry about this relationship He has with His Father. Nearing the end of His ministry, the teaching was more direct about this. Jesus answered Philip’s question,
“Show us the Father,” like this: “Have I been with you such a long time, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? The Words that I speak to you I do not speak of Myself, but the Father who dwells in Me, He does the works.” (Joh. 14:8-10). Jesus confirms this in another place like this. I and the Father are one! (Joh.10:30) Jesus, when He prayed for His disciples, the “priestly prayer” that we find in the Gospel of John, confirmed His Divine nature with God.
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