Participants:
Series Code: AU
Program Code: AU000029S
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00:01 - Christians insist that Jesus was a real human being,
00:03 but at the same time, they say, 00:04 He was a lot more than that. 00:06 In fact, what Christianity teaches 00:08 is that Jesus was God in human flesh. 00:10 So you've gotta wonder, 00:12 is that really what the Bible teaches, 00:13 or did somebody surreptitiously slip that 00:16 into the Christian religion 00:17 long after the 1st century? 00:19 Some people think so. 00:20 So today, let's find out. 00:23 [upbeat music] 00:44 You know, it's really kind of a shame 00:45 that after 2,000 years of Christianity, 00:47 there's still some kind of debate 00:49 about the divinity or deity of Christ, 00:51 because that's an issue that's been settled 00:53 practically forever. 00:55 I mean, there have always been offbeat sects 00:57 who say they have a problem with the idea 00:59 that somebody could be fully God 01:01 and fully human at the same time, 01:03 but for the most part, 01:04 the deity of Christ has been a foundational teaching 01:07 of biblical Christianity. 01:09 So today, even though I don't really have time 01:11 to unpack what amounts to a really big topic 01:14 in any detailed way, 01:15 I think I'm gonna touch on the subject anyway, 01:17 just in case somebody out there still needs to sort this out 01:20 in their own mind, 01:22 and maybe at least I can point you in the right direction. 01:25 Challenges to the deity of Christ 01:27 seem to come in historical waves, almost like a fad, 01:31 kinda popping up once in a while, 01:32 and then settling back down. 01:34 One of the more recent waves of anti-trinitarian teaching 01:38 came in the wake of this book, Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code", 01:41 a novel he published almost 20 years ago. 01:44 Of course, people should have noticed right off the bat 01:46 that this book was for sale in the fiction section, 01:48 and that's because that's what it is, it's fiction. 01:51 It's a made-up story that capitalizes 01:54 on people's nearly endless fascination 01:56 with conspiracy theories, 01:57 right up to the point 01:59 where one of the lead characters' names in this book 02:01 was actually an anagram 02:03 of a rather famous writer of alternate history, 02:05 a guy by the name of Michael Baigent, 02:08 who devoted himself to questioning the stories 02:10 you find in the Bible. 02:12 You might remember his book, 02:14 "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail", 02:15 a book that stirred quite a bit of controversy 02:18 because it suggested 02:20 that Jesus was merely a mortal human being 02:22 who didn't actually die on the cross 02:25 but went on to get married 02:26 and have children with Mary Magdalen. 02:28 Of course, the book was roundly condemned by real historians 02:32 because it's nonsense, 02:33 but apparently, that didn't stop Dan Brown 02:35 from tapping into it. 02:37 One of his lead characters, in fact, 02:39 is named Lee Teabing, 02:41 and Teabing turns out to be an anagram for Baigent, 02:44 a fact that actually led to a lawsuit in 2006. 02:48 But I'm getting a little off topic. 02:50 Both of these books, 02:51 "The Holy Grail" and "The Da Vinci Code", 02:53 have enough bad thinking in them 02:55 I could probably do an entire season of this show 02:57 just exploring them, 02:59 but for today, I wanna focus on one issue, 03:01 the divinity of Christ, 03:02 or to be more precise, the deity of Christ, 03:06 and the reason I use that word deity 03:09 is because there are people 03:11 who have reinterpreted the word divine to downplay it. 03:13 They say Jesus is divine in the same way 03:16 that anything might be considered divine, 03:18 you know, like a sunset. 03:20 As far as these people are concerned, 03:22 divine doesn't mean that Jesus is God, 03:24 so I use the word deity very deliberately. 03:28 Dan brown suggests that somehow, 03:31 it was the Emperor Constantine 03:33 who pushed the idea of a Christ who is God 03:36 at the Council of Nicaea, 03:37 at the beginning of the 4th century. 03:39 I'll show you what I mean. 03:41 This passage is the character Lee Teabing 03:44 describing the Council of Nicaea 03:45 to another character, named Sophie, 03:47 and the story goes like this: 03:49 "'At this gathering,' Teabing said, 03:51 'many aspects of Christianity were debated and voted upon; 03:55 the date of Easter, the role of the bishops, 03:57 the administration of sacraments, 03:59 and, of course, the divinity of Jesus.'" 04:02 Now, some of that's actually true. 04:03 There was a discussion way back when 04:05 about the date for Easter, 04:07 a discussion that lasted for centuries, 04:09 and they did bring it up at the Council of Nicaea. 04:12 Dan brown also points out just a few sentences earlier 04:15 that Constantine pushed the idea 04:17 of worshiping on the first day of the week, 04:19 and that's also true. 04:20 The very first Christians continued 04:22 to observe the seventh day sabbath 04:24 for quite a while, in fact. 04:26 But then Brown gets to the deity of Christ, 04:29 and this character, Sophie, responds by saying: 04:32 "'I don't follow. His divinity?" 04:35 'My dear,' Teabing declared, 'until that moment in history, 04:38 Jesus was viewed by His followers as a mortal prophet, 04:41 a great and powerful man, but a man nonetheless. 04:44 A mortal.' 04:46 'Not the Son of God?' 04:47 'Right,' Teabing said. 04:49 'Jesus' establishment as the Son of God 04:51 was officially proposed and voted on 04:53 by the Council of Nicaea.' 04:55 'Hold on. You're saying Jesus' divinity 04:58 was the result of a vote?'" 05:00 Now, frankly, that's a bunch of nonsense, 05:03 but let me tell you what is true. 05:05 There was a renegade priest in North Africa 05:07 by the name of Arius, 05:08 who suggested that Jesus is not eternal, 05:11 that He did not have a divine nature. 05:13 Needless to say, that created a huge uproar, 05:17 and the fact that it created an uproar should tell you 05:19 that most Christians didn't believe what he was saying. 05:23 If everybody believed him, 05:24 or even the majority of Christians believed him, 05:27 there would have been no need to discuss it 05:29 at a major church council, 05:31 but it was a controversial opinion for a reason. 05:35 That's because the deity of Christ 05:36 had already been established for a really long time. 05:40 So yes, the topic was on the agenda 05:43 at the Council of Nicaea, 05:44 And no, the Council was not the origin of the doctrine. 05:48 The Council of Nicaea merely affirmed 05:50 what Christians had already been teaching 05:52 from the very beginning. 05:53 And yes, there are all kinds of problems 05:56 with the influence of Constantine on Christianity. 05:58 His impact wasn't always a good thing. 06:01 And yes, the Council of Nicaea certainly had some issues, 06:05 but the idea that Constantine basically invented 06:08 the deity of Christ, 06:09 it's not true, and I can demonstrate that. 06:14 The earliest Christian writings we have 06:16 date back nearly two centuries 06:17 before the Council of Nicaea, 06:19 and you don't need to read very much of it to see 06:21 that Christians have always believed 06:23 that Jesus was God in human flesh. 06:25 For example, history suggests 06:27 that the ancient church father, Ignatius, who was martyred, 06:31 was a disciple of John The Revelator, 06:33 the man who actually wrote the book of Revelation. 06:35 So Ignatius is about as close as you can get 06:38 to the original disciples, 06:39 at least in the extra-biblical writings. 06:42 John, of course, was the pastor of Ephesus, 06:45 and at one point, Ignatius writes a letter 06:46 to the Ephesian church, 06:48 and here's how that starts. 06:49 He writes, "Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, 06:53 to the Church which is at Ephesus in Asia, 06:56 deservedly most happy, being blessed 06:58 in the greatness and fullness of God the Father, 07:01 being united and elected through the true passion 07:03 by the will of the Father and Jesus Christ, our God." 07:08 Now, just in case somebody is tempted to think 07:11 that this is some kind of misunderstanding, 07:13 he says it again just a little bit later. 07:15 "There is one physician," he writes, 07:16 "who is possessed both of flesh and spirit; 07:19 both made and not made; God existing in flesh." 07:24 The concept that Jesus was God in human flesh 07:26 was widely taught by all kinds of early Christians 07:29 long before Constantine was even a twinkle 07:32 in his father's eye. 07:33 People like Irenaeus taught it, Clement taught it, 07:35 So did Tertullian. 07:37 But of course, the early church fathers 07:39 were not inspired authors of the Bible. 07:41 You can always find something in their writings 07:43 that doesn't quite agree with scripture, 07:45 so we need something more than their say-so. 07:48 So after we take a quick break, 07:50 I'm gonna come back and show you 07:52 one of the plainest and earliest explanations 07:54 of Christ's divinity or deity 07:57 that I've ever seen, 07:58 and this one comes from the pages of the Bible itself. 08:04 - [Presenter 1] Life can throw a lot at us. 08:06 Sometimes we don't have all the answers. 08:10 But that's where the Bible comes in. 08:12 It's our guide to a more fulfilling life. 08:15 Here at the Voice of Prophecy, 08:17 we've created the Discover Bible guides 08:19 to be your guide to the Bible. 08:21 They're designed to be simple, easy to use, 08:23 and provide answers to many of life's toughest questions. 08:26 And they're absolutely free. 08:28 So jump online now, or give us a call 08:31 and start your journey of discovery. 08:34 - We know that the first century church 08:35 in the ancient city of Colossae 08:37 had some kind of theological problem. 08:40 We're just not exactly sure what the problem was, 08:43 we just know there was one, 08:45 and a lot of biblical scholars think 08:47 that it was an early form of Gnosticism 08:50 that started circulating in the church, 08:51 even though the formal Gnostic heresy 08:54 didn't really take root in Christianity 08:56 until the next century. 08:58 So what's Gnosticism? 09:00 It was a system of belief that was born 09:02 from a blending of Hebrew and Greek thinking, 09:05 and the epicenter was the city of Alexandria, 09:08 which, of course, was the major center 09:10 for all the intellectuals of the ancient world. 09:13 The city was named for Alexander the Great, 09:15 and it was known for this massive library 09:17 and its heavy emphasis on learning. 09:20 Some of the Jewish scholars who lived in that city 09:23 were keen to demonstrate to the Greeks 09:24 that they were just as intellectual 09:27 as the Greek philosophers, 09:28 and the result was a sloppy mixture 09:30 between the teachings of Plato 09:32 and the teachings of the Old Testament. 09:34 In later years, the same tendency 09:36 took root in Christian circles, 09:39 and the result was Christian Gnosticism. 09:41 And because they were all drinking 09:43 at the fountain of Greek philosophy, 09:45 the Christian Gnostics had a problem 09:47 with the idea of the deity of Christ. 09:50 Largely because of Plato's influence, 09:53 most of the Gnostics believed 09:54 that this physical creation we live in 09:56 was some kind of mistake, 09:58 because the physical world is obviously imperfect, 10:02 and because God must be pure spirit 10:04 and would never make a mistake, 10:05 they said some lesser being must have created this world, 10:09 and frankly, botched it. 10:11 Now, I'm summarizing that pretty quickly, 10:13 so for more detail, I guess I'll just refer you 10:16 to a new mini series we're developing 10:18 on the topic of Greek dualism 10:19 and how it relates to spiritualistic ideas. 10:22 But for now, let's just say that the Gnostics believed 10:25 that the invisible spiritual world was pure and perfect, 10:29 and that you and I are spiritual sparks 10:31 that originally emerged from the divine fire of God's mind, 10:35 and in the original design, they said, 10:37 everything was supposed to be immaterial, nonphysical, 10:40 including us. 10:42 But then a blundering creator, they said, 10:44 imprisoned us in this physical existence, 10:46 and now we're forced to live like this. 10:49 The very best thing that could happen, 10:50 a lot of these philosophers said, 10:52 was to die, because then you could go back 10:54 to the spirit world. 10:56 So to suggest that a perfect God could appear 10:59 in a physical human body, 11:01 for the Gnostics, that was completely unthinkable. 11:03 As far as they were concerned, 11:05 either Jesus wasn't really divine, 11:07 or He wasn't really human. 11:09 It had to be one or the other. 11:11 And what we think was happening in Colossae 11:14 was that an early version of this kind of thinking 11:16 was starting to make the rounds. 11:19 So the Apostle Paul hears about this problem, 11:21 and even though he's never been to Colossae in person, 11:24 he writes them a letter, 11:26 and right near the beginning of this letter, 11:28 he gives us a detailed explanation of who Jesus is. 11:31 Paul probably wrote this around the year 62 AD 11:34 when he's a prisoner in Rome, 11:36 so this puts us roughly within three decades 11:40 of the life and ministry of Christ. 11:42 Now, I'll warn you, 11:44 there's no way we're gonna be able to work our way 11:46 through this entire passage today, 11:48 so what I'm gonna do is touch down on some key highlights, 11:51 and if you own a Bible, 11:52 you might wanna open it to Colossians, Chapter 1, 11:55 so you can follow along. 11:57 Let's get started with Colossians 1:15, 11:59 where Paul is talking about Jesus, and he says this: 12:02 "He," Jesus, "is the image of the invisible God, 12:06 the firstborn over all creation." 12:09 Now, I should probably stop there, 12:10 because some people have taken this word firstborn 12:14 to mean that Jesus is nothing but part of creation, 12:16 or that He was brought into existence by God 12:19 at some point in the very distant past, 12:21 which, of course, would mean Jesus had a beginning, 12:24 and that would make Him less than God. 12:26 That's an idea the Gnostics would have loved, 12:29 a lesser being who's still greater than us, 12:31 but less than God. 12:34 But that's not even close to what Paul is actually saying. 12:37 That word firstborn is the Greek word prototokos, 12:40 and it's not a chronological term, 12:43 it's not talking about a moment in time 12:45 when Jesus suddenly came into being. 12:47 No, prototokos refers to a position or prominence 12:52 instead of chronology, 12:53 and it's telling us that Jesus, 12:55 who became a human being at one point, 12:58 is over all creation. 13:00 Now, that's a concept you find all through the Bible, 13:03 and one of the most vivid examples 13:04 of what it means to be the firstborn 13:06 by God's way of thinking 13:08 is found in Psalm 89, and verse 27, 13:11 where God is talking 13:13 about Israel's most famous king, King David, 13:16 and here's what he says. 13:18 "'Also, I will make him my firstborn 13:21 the highest of the kings of the earth.'" 13:24 Now, chronologically speaking, David was not the firstborn, 13:27 in fact, he was the youngest of eight boys, 13:30 but he was also not the first king of Israel. 13:32 Mm-mm, he's the second king. 13:34 Yet the Bible says that God made David the firstborn, 13:38 the highest of the kings of the earth. 13:40 This is a declaration of importance, not chronology. 13:46 The same thing's true for Jesus. 13:47 He is the firstborn, 13:49 not because He was the first thing that God created, 13:51 but because of His position over this universe. 13:54 He was God in human flesh, 13:56 which makes Him the most important human being 13:59 who's ever lived. 14:00 Notice that Paul also calls Him 14:03 the image of the invisible God, 14:05 which is a really, really interesting statement, 14:08 so let's unpack that. 14:10 The book of Genesis tells us that in the beginning 14:13 God created man and woman in his own image, 14:16 and at least a part of what that means 14:18 is that human beings were made 14:19 to reflect the character or the glory of God. 14:23 But then, the story tells us, 14:25 we turned our backs on God, 14:26 and the image of God and humanity was severely tarnished. 14:30 And what that really means 14:32 is that human lives essentially became a lie 14:35 about what our creator is like, 14:37 because now someone can point to the human race and say, 14:39 "Are you kidding me? That's what God made? 14:42 What kind of God would make people like that?" 14:45 And you'd have to admit that on the whole, 14:48 human behavior is not really very godly, 14:52 which is precisely the problem that the ancient pagans had 14:55 with a physical creation. 14:57 If God is supposedly perfect, they said, 14:59 how in the world did he end up making this place? 15:02 Why is there so much pain and suffering, 15:04 and how in the world are you and I such imperfect beings 15:07 if we were actually made in the creator's image? 15:10 So the pagans relegated all the work of creation 15:13 to a much lesser being, 15:17 and it's on this point that the pagans and the Bible 15:19 now part company. 15:21 The Bible teaches that Christ was sinless, 15:23 and in the book of 1 Corinthians, 15:25 Paul calls Jesus the last Adam, 15:28 which is another way of saying 15:29 that Jesus is the new head of the human race. 15:32 The first Adam blew it, 15:34 and he no longer reflected the image of God. 15:37 The second Adam, Jesus, a real flesh and blood human being, 15:41 I mean the story demands that fact, 15:44 He did not blow it, and He is the perfect image of God. 15:48 But just in case someone is tempted 15:50 to think that's all Jesus was, 15:52 a human being and a part of God's creation, 15:54 Paul then goes on to say this in verse 16: 15:57 "For by Him," again, that's Jesus, 16:00 "all things were created 16:01 that are in heaven and that are on earth, 16:03 visible and invisible, 16:05 whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. 16:08 All things were created through Him and for Him. 16:12 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist." 16:18 This is so important that we need to slow down 16:20 and think about this. 16:22 But I do see it's just about time for another break, 16:24 so let me just say this before we go to commercial. 16:28 Paul insists that the entire creation was made by Christ, 16:32 it was made through Christ, and it was made for Christ. 16:36 In the very opening verses of the Bible, it tells us: 16:39 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," 16:43 and Paul is saying Jesus did that, 16:46 so we have a sinless, perfect creator. 16:49 This is such a clear statement on the deity of Christ 16:52 that I've heard some people say, 16:54 well, Paul must've been some kind of imposter 16:56 who came in and derailed the authentic Christian faith 16:59 by inventing the deity of Christ. 17:01 But frankly, again, that's a bunch of nonsense. 17:03 Don't forget, Paul wrote his stuff 17:06 several decades before the gospels were written, 17:08 and you'd have to think 17:10 that if an influential figure like Paul 17:11 was leading the whole Christian world astray 17:14 on such an important issue, 17:16 Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John would have said something, 17:19 but they don't. 17:20 The only indication we have that Paul was controversial 17:23 is found in the book of Acts, 17:25 where the Jerusalem Council was struggling to figure out 17:27 how Gentiles could fit into the Church, 17:30 and there's not one word 17:32 about Paul teaching something unusual 17:34 about the deity of Christ. 17:36 In fact, the gospel of John starts 17:38 with the very same thought, 17:40 and it drives the point home in no uncertain terms 17:42 when it says, "In the beginning was the Word, 17:46 and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 17:50 He was in the beginning with God. 17:52 All things were made through Him, 17:53 and without Him, nothing was made that was made. 17:57 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men." 18:01 All right, I really do have to take a break now, 18:03 so I'll be right back after this. 18:07 - [Presenter 2] Here at the Voice of Prophecy, 18:09 we're committed to creating top quality programming 18:11 for the whole family, 18:13 like our audio adventure series, Discovery Mountain. 18:16 Discovery Mountain is a Bible-based program 18:18 for kids of all ages and backgrounds. 18:21 Your family will enjoy the faith-building stories 18:23 from this small mountain summer camp and town. 18:26 With 24 seasonal episodes every year, 18:29 and fresh content every week, 18:31 there's always a new adventure just on the horizon. 18:38 - In the book of Colossians, 18:39 Paul describes Jesus as the firstborn over all creation, 18:43 and some people get hung up on that. 18:45 They've taken it to mean that He's just part of creation. 18:48 Now, it is true, biblically speaking, 18:50 that Jesus entered the creation and became part of it, 18:53 but at the same time, it reassures us 18:55 that He is, in fact, the creator. 18:57 Let me give you just a few more examples 18:58 of how the Bible uses this idea of firstborn, 19:02 because this, again, is where people get hung up. 19:04 In Isaiah 14:30, the Bible talks about 19:07 the firstborn of the poor, 19:10 which is another way of talking 19:11 about the very poorest of people. 19:13 In Job 18:13, it describes a deadly disease 19:17 as the firstborn of death, 19:19 and in Exodus 4:22, God tells the Pharaoh 19:22 that "'Israel is My son, My firstborn,'" 19:25 another way of saying that Israel 19:27 was the most important and prominent nation on earth 19:29 as far as God was concerned. 19:32 The same thing would be true, then, of Jesus. 19:33 He is hands down the most important human being 19:36 who ever lived, 19:37 because where humanity failed, Jesus succeeded. 19:41 Where you and I became horrible reflections 19:43 of God's character, 19:44 Jesus displayed it perfectly. 19:46 In fact, in John 14:9, Jesus says, 19:49 "'He who has seen Me has seen the Father.'" 19:53 So it's not really just the death of Christ that saves us, 19:56 but also the life of Christ. 19:58 Look, there was no hope 19:59 that a fallen humanity could atone for sin 20:02 and restore itself to the perfect image of God 20:05 unless God Himself became a human being 20:08 and became the new head of the human race. 20:11 Here's the way Paul describes what happened 20:13 in his famous tribute to Christ's humility. 20:16 This is from the book of Philippians. 20:19 He says, "Let this mind be in you 20:21 which was also in Christ Jesus, 20:23 who, being in the form of God, 20:25 did not consider it robbery to be equal with God," 20:28 notice, he says Jesus is equal with God, 20:31 "but made himself of no reputation, 20:34 taking the form of a bondservant 20:35 and coming in the likeness of men." 20:37 So Christ willingly sacrificed everything 20:41 in order to become one of us. 20:43 "And being found in appearance as a man," Paul continues, 20:47 "He humbled Himself 20:48 and became obedient to the point of death, 20:50 even the death of the cross. 20:52 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him 20:55 and given Him the name which is above every name, 20:58 that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, 21:01 of those in heaven, and of those on earth, 21:04 and of those under the earth, 21:05 and that every tongue should confess 21:08 that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." 21:14 Christ's glory is found in His humility. 21:17 The Bible teaches that the creator became a human being 21:20 so that he could deal with our problem, 21:22 and there's no mistaking that Paul was teaching 21:25 the full deity of Christ. 21:28 In fact, when Paul says that every knee will bow 21:32 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, 21:36 he's lifting that language straight from the book of Isaiah 21:39 out of chapter 45, and here's what that says. 21:43 It says, "'Look to Me and be saved, 21:45 All you ends of the earth, 21:46 for I am God and there is no other.'" 21:49 So we're clearly talking about God. 21:51 He says, "'I have sworn by Myself; 21:54 the word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, 21:56 and shall not return, that to Me,'" that's God. 21:59 "'every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath.'" 22:06 When Paul wrote that every knee would bow 22:06 and every tongue confess 22:07 that Jesus Christ is Lord, 22:09 it would have created a lot of controversy 22:11 in the Jewish community, 22:13 because he had just declared Jesus was the God 22:17 that Isaiah was talking about, 22:20 and this is frankly 22:21 what all the earliest Christians believed. 22:23 I mean, just have a look at the book of Revelation 22:26 where Jesus has several important titles. 22:29 Here's what it says in Revelation 1:8. 22:31 Jesus says, "'I am the Alpha and the Omega, 22:35 the Beginning and the End,' says the Lord, 22:37 'who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.'" 22:41 Then you have this in verse 10: 22:43 "'I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last.'" 22:47 And wouldn't you know it, 22:49 that's another quote from that book of Isaiah, 22:51 this time, Chapter 44. 22:54 "Thus says the Lord," Isaiah writes, 22:56 and when you see the word LORD in all capital letters, 22:58 that's the translator's way of telling you 23:00 it's Yahweh or Jehovah. 23:02 "Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, 23:06 and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: 23:07 'I am the First and I am the Last; 23:11 beside Me there is no God.'" 23:14 The First and the Last is Jesus, according to the Bible, 23:17 and the First and the Last is God. 23:21 Look, I know a lot of people balk at the concept 23:24 of a God who is three and one at the same time, 23:27 and frankly, I see why, 23:29 because it is a difficult concept to get your brain around. 23:33 So some people out there now insist 23:35 the idea of a triune God is nothing but a pagan invention 23:39 that wormed its way into Christianity 23:42 because of Constantine, in the 4th century, 23:44 when a lot of pagan ideas, frankly, 23:46 really were making their way into the church. 23:48 That really did happen. 23:51 But the idea that Jesus is the creator and the eternal God, 23:55 look, that did not come from Constantine, not at all. 24:00 It's a concept that permeates the scriptures, 24:04 and there's just no question that this book, the Bible, 24:07 presents Jesus as God in human flesh. 24:11 And in just a moment, I'll be right back 24:13 to tell you why that's so important. 24:18 - [Presenter 3] Dragons, beasts, cryptic statues. 24:22 Bible prophecy can be incredibly vivid and confusing. 24:26 If you've ever read Daniel or Revelation 24:29 and come away scratching your head, 24:30 you're not alone. 24:32 Our free Focus on Prophecy guides are designed 24:35 to help you unlock the mysteries of the Bible 24:37 and deepen your understanding of God's plan 24:39 for you and our world. 24:41 Study online, or request them by mail, 24:43 and start bringing prophecy into focus today. 24:47 - The ancient pagan philosophers spoke 24:50 of an ultimate God, a Supreme deity, 24:52 as if He was so far removed from our daily reality 24:57 that we would not be able to grasp who God really is 25:00 until we ourselves died and became spirit beings, 25:03 we left this mortal coil, so to speak, 25:07 and in nearly every world religion 25:09 outside the Abrahamic religions, the religions of the Bible, 25:13 you have an imperfect race 25:15 that's striving to find a path back towards a perfect God, 25:20 but in the narrative found in the Christian scriptures, 25:23 in the Bible, 25:24 you have a God who knows full well 25:27 that you and I can't fix our own problems, 25:29 we cannot redeem ourselves. 25:31 If you and I are just left to our own devices, 25:33 we will never again reflect the image of God properly, 25:36 and we will never be able to atone 25:39 for the damage we've caused in this universe. 25:42 And so instead of waiting for us to come to Him, 25:45 God makes the first move in this book. 25:48 Just listen to verse 19, now, of Colossians 1, 25:52 where Paul writes, "For it pleased the Father 25:56 that in Him," that's Jesus, "all the fullness should dwell, 26:00 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, 26:04 whether things on earth or things in heaven, 26:07 having made peace through the blood of His cross." 26:11 You and I couldn't do it, so He did it for us. 26:15 You and I put a serious blemish on this creation 26:18 when our selfish choices began to tell a horrible story 26:21 about the God who made us in the first place, 26:24 and the just thing and the fair thing for God to do 26:27 would have been to just wipe us out of existence 26:29 and start all over. 26:30 That would have been perfectly fair. 26:32 We were a serious problem, 26:34 and it would have been the easiest thing to do 26:36 to just replace us, 26:39 but instead, God does the merciful thing. 26:42 He becomes one of us, 26:43 and He lives the life that we failed to live, 26:46 and then He pays the price for our sins Himself. 26:51 And what that really means 26:52 is that even though God didn't create this mess, 26:54 He also didn't leave it for somebody else to clean up. 26:57 I mean, this isn't His problem, not ultimately, 26:59 but He owned it anyway, 27:01 and now you and I are once again able 27:03 to describe ourselves as children of God. 27:06 And what the Bible actually promises 27:08 is that Christ, who has taken human form now forever, 27:12 plans to live with us here on this earth for eternity. 27:16 So if this story is true, 27:19 if the Bible is telling the truth about who Jesus is, 27:23 I can't think of anything more important 27:25 you could do right now 27:27 than to go and give this book another honest look. 27:30 You may have written this book off, 27:32 but if this story is true, 27:34 you should probably pay attention. 27:35 I mean, you have nothing to lose, 27:38 and you would have absolutely everything to gain. 27:41 I'm Sean Boonstra, thanks for joining me. 27:44 This has been Authentic. 27:46 [upbeat music] |
Revised 2021-11-02