▪︎ God created everything… He created all the chemistry, all the physics, all the engineering, all biometrics, all information systems (like DNA), all communications – Gen 1:1
▪︎ God created man in His own image – Gen 1:26; Gen 1:27, 28;
▪︎ Man was to be Holy – Deut 7:6;
▪︎ God wants to have an intimate relationship with man, His creation – Isa 43:21; Ezek 22:30;
However…
▪︎ Man fell from grace – Gen 3:16, 17;
▪︎ Sin separates us from God – Isa 59:2
▪︎ Israel grew weary of God – Isa 43:22;
Israel was also unaware of certain facts:
▪︎ Jesus of Nazareth is Son of David, Messiah – Matt 2:4-5;
▪︎ Jesus is the Son of a God – John 5:18;
▪︎ Jesus was the Creator – John 1:1-3; John 1:14, Col 1:15-16;
▪︎ Jesus has preeminence – Col 1:17-18;
▪︎ Jesus came to start that intended intimate relationship with mankind. Instead, He was rejected – John 1:4-5, 10-11
Status at the end of the Old Testament:
▪︎ Israel did not know how to have a close relationship with God.
▪︎ God gave them over to adversity, to the sword – Ps 78:60-61, 62
▪︎ No one does good. All of us do horrible things – Ps 14:1
▪︎ No one seeks God. We are all corrupt. No one does righteously. We all walk in sin – Ps 53:2-3
▪︎ Even the best were not able to fully experience God’s rest – Heb 11:13
But there was hope:
▪︎ They did have hope in a coming Messiah – Isa 42:6; Matt 4:16;
▪︎ God intevenes – Matt 1:18
(full text – Matt_1:18-25
Word Studies:
▪︎ Messiah – Hebrew for the Annointed One.
▪︎ betrothed – Unlike engagement, a betrothed couple was considered married, but did not yet live together, or have intimate relations
▪︎ Immanuel – “with us is God” – Matt 1:23; Isa 7:14, 8:8, 9, 10;
► Greek: Emmanouél ( ► )
► Hebrew: Immanuel ( ► )
What does this mean “God is with us”?
What is required to be “with” God?
- John 1:18 – Jesus explains God
- Phil 2:5-6,7-8 – Jesus was God incarnate in human flesh
- 1John 1:5 – God Requires Righteousness, Complete Holiness
- John 14:6 – Jesus is the way
- John 6:44 – God has to initiate it
- Rom 5:8-9 – Jesus died for us, to give us His righteousness
- 2Cor 5:17 – Those who trust Him are transformed into new creations in His likeness
- John 14:3 – His arrangements are long term
Lets look at the way Jesus lived to see how He walked “with” God:
- John 5:8-9 – Jesus healed the lame man on the Sabbath
- John 5:15-16 – The Pharisees were persecuting Him because it was the Sabbath
- John 5:17 – Jesus says … My Father is working and I am working.
- John 5:18 – The Pharisees rightly interpreted Jesus calling God “His Father” as equating Himself to God… which He was. And since He is God, He could not deny their assessment. That would be a lie… However, they called it Blasphemy!
- John 5:19 – Jesus walked with God and was God. You can’t have a closer walk with God that the walk Jesus had.
- Lets analyze v.19
- Jesus had opportunity to deny their allegations but did not.
- Jesus did not choose to grasp His divine characteristics…
- Phil 2:6-7 – 6 who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men.
- grasped = seized… robbery (KJV) implies that there is something wrong with this action. Obviously there is nothing wrong with Jesus deciding not to grasp the whole of his divine character.
- emptied = set aside His divine rights.
- He gives us an example of how to walk with God.
- What the Father does I also do
- Jesus chose to follow God as a man would, and did only what He saw the Father doing.
God Walks Among Us:
▪︎ God walked among us to be an example of how we are to live – John 5:19;
(full text – John_5:5-19
Now it was the Sabbath on that day. 10So the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet.” 11But he answered them, “He who made me well was the one who said to me, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk.’” 12They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk’?” 13But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place. 14Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.” 15The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. 16For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17But He answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.”
18For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. 19Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.
Word Studies:
▪︎ working = The Father is working and continues to work
▪︎ Son can do nothing of Himself = this is an emphatic form in the Greek. The Son cannot do anything, nothing… unless it is something He sees the Father doing.
▪︎ in like manner = in the same way, similarly, in the same way, equally
Simplified Illustrations:
John 5:19 – Jesus Our Example – Lets illustrate the process with a few examples that progressively approach what Jesus actually did…
Word Processor – responds to each key stroke of the typist, accurately reflecting what the author wants to be recorded in the document. This is a robotic response, which provides a highly accurate representation of the author’s intent, but leaves much to be desired relationally from the typist’s or the typewriter’s perspective, from the cold robot’s perspective.
Son or daughter – Sons and daughters obey their parent once they see what the parent really has intended to be done. Because these children have a free will and personality of their own… this can be a heart felt response borne out of the relationship with the parent. It incorporates the child in the process but may be a less accurate representation of the father’s intent, depending upon the child.
Team of Experts – members of a team that all have the same goal and similar abilities. They may be experts in their field and are unstoppable when they work together on a project. Some view this as the way the children of God are to approach a project when guided by the Holy Spirit; however, we are no where near God in skill or ability. It also misses the emphatic nature of Jesus’ statement, “the Son can do nothing of Himself”.
Gloves – the best example of how Jesus’ statement actually works is in a pair of gloves. On its own, a glove is simply a well crafted piece of leather or cloth but on the hand of skilled craftsman, it takes on the personality, skill and fulfills the purposes of that craftsman. On the hand, the glove performs the duties of the one who wears it, the One who created it. Once on the hand of a person, it is identified as that person.
- John 5:30 – Jesus walked in lock-step w/ God (see also… Gods Church Radar Locked on God)
- John 14:31 – Jesus did exactly what the Father commanded
- John 12:44-45 – He who sees Jesus sees God
- John 12:49-50 – Jesus speaks what God tells Him to say.
- John 14:7 – Knowing Jesus = knowing God
- John 14:10 – God abiding in Jesus does His works.
- John 14:16 – Jesus will send a Helper (The Holy Spirit) who will be with us forever.
- John 14:17 – The Holy Spirit will be with us and in us forever.
- John 13:31-32 – God is glorified in His Son
- John 14:26; 15:15;
- John 16:13, 14; Ps 25:5; John 3:27 – John the Baptist’s assessment.
- John 7:15-16, 17-18; 28-29;
- John 8:12, 28, 38, 42;.
- Exod 7:1-2; 29:42-43; 45-46; Lev 25:23;
meta ►
sun ►
Two Greeks words meaning “with”, used almost interchangeably. However, the Greek word sun is used as a preface meaning “with” that is used to modify other Greek words … Best explained with an example :
Gal 3:1; Matt 20:19 – Jesus was crucified – stauroó ►
Gal 2:20; Rom 6:6; – We were crucified with Him – sustauroó ►
1Cor 15:3-4; Rom 6:4 – He was raised up from the dead – egeiró ►
Eph 2:6; Col 2:12, 3:1; – We were raised up with Him – sunegeiró ►
These are profound concepts…
- John 5:19 – Jesus could only speak what He saw the Father doing.
- John 14:16 – God is with us, and in us
- 1John 4:17 – We become Him to the world. Hopefully, they look at us and see Jesus.
- John 14:20 – We are in Jesus and He is in us.
- John 14:23 – Jesus and God will abide with us.
- John 17:21, 22, 23 – Unity with a goal, with a purpose
- John 17:24 – God with us, in the plan from the beginning
- Ps 46:6-7 – God is with us no matter the state of the world; He is our stronghold.
- Exod 3:12, 34:5; Ps 73:23-24, 25-26, 28;
- Deut 31:8 – He will never leave us.
- Phil 2:2 – we Christians are of one mind, one soul – one (εἷς – Greek) – heis ► primary number, one.
- 2Chron 20:17
Make this your New Year’s Resolution:
Col 1:28 – Make men complete in Christ.
Col 3:1-2 – Set your mind on things above.
Col 3:3 – We are kept with Christ in God.
Other References for “God With Us” – Ezek 34:30;
▪︎ I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
▪︎ Emmanuel