First, let’s look at what true freedom is. It is impossible to obtain it without being in Christ. Second, who of us are the true descendants of Abraham, that is, those who are justified by faith. True circumcision is in the heart, not in the body. The devil is the father of lies, and through this we also explain what the All-Mighty of God means. Finally, let’s take a look at who Jesus is. He is not a demon-possessed person as the Jews thought, but He and the Father are one. Anyone who abides by His ways will not taste death spiritually. We also gave the example of Abraham seeing Him. It is true that He has no stately form or majesty, but no one could touch Him before His time came.
1. True freedom in Christ
“So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”(John 8:31-36).
At the beginning of these verses, it was emphasized to do it, that is, “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.”(John 14:21) Those who the Trinity God discloses Himself to them are not necessarily those who love Him. This is very clear in the Old Testament. The scripture says, “Belshazzar the king held a great feast for a thousand of his nobles, and he was drinking wine in the presence of the thousand. …Suddenly the fingers of a man’s hand emerged and began writing opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, and the king saw the back of the hand that did the writing.”(Daniel 5:1-5) The Trinity God appeared to King Belshazzar. He obviously did not love Him. This brought a message of death, because in the end it was “That same night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain.”(Daniel 5:30)
In the New Testament, Jesus is with us in the form of the Holy Spirit, because we are the temple of the Triune God. “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”(1 Corinthians 3:16) And the promise of Jesus in the Great Commission, “…I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”(Matthew 28:20) So, this is how the promise works through the Holy Spirit.
When the Holy Spirit appeared to Ananias, it caused his death since the scripture records, “But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came over all who heard of it.”(Acts 5:3-5)
The Trinity God has absolute sovereignty and can appear to those who love Him in various ways. For example, Philip, who loves Him, in the matter of the eunuch (see Acts 8:26-39), “…the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; …”(Acts 8:39) But those who love Him may not see His appearance like this.
We cannot equate it casually to say that those who do not see His appearance like this way do not love Him. He has the absolute authority to decide whom to reveal Himself to and how. Therefore, manifestation can include general testimony that has subjective evidence that cannot be seen by others, as well as testimony that God uses objective facts that can be seen by others to reveal His existence. Regarding the latter, we last discussed in “1123 God reveals His existence through objective facts that are visible to others.” He indeed had given such a manifestation. Because I can show them to you in a internet medical system, those objective facts can become your objective facts that cannot be shown to others, if you see them with your own eyes. This is the last reason why I am willing to put this testimony online. At least people know that the Trinity God has done so. I want to emphasize that if you are willing, it can become your objective fact. For details, you can go to the website “https://a-christian-voice.com/” and click “Understanding of Spiritual Life” to find this article.
There is true freedom in Christ, and in that you can choose not to sin, instead of “I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.”(Romans 7:21) You see, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”(Romans 8:1-2) The law is like the law of gravity. It is applicable everywhere. Apples thrown around the world will fall down. Although airplanes can temporarily have the ability to resist gravity, but it will still fall down when its fuel runs out. This is the law. Only in Christ will we have fuel and thus true freedom.
Those Jews who believed in Him thought they had true freedom before, but they did not. As mentioned above, they were slaves to sin. Doesn’t the Bible say it clearly? “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.”(Romans 2:28-29) The only way to have true freedom is to abide in Christ.
2. The true descendants of Abraham and those of the devil
“I know that you are Abraham’s descendants; yet you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father.” They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham. But as it is, you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do. You are doing the deeds of your father.” They said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father: God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.””(John 8:37-47).
The Jews did want to kill Jesus, “…because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.”(John 5:18) He did tell them the truth. This is a fact! But they did not believe in Him, so they were not the true descendants of Abraham. Those who were truly circumcised were the true descendants of Abraham. The Bible says very clearly, “Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.”(Galatians 3:7) Obviously, Abraham’s true descendants also include Gentiles who are justified by faith. “For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.”(Romans 4:16)
They thought God was their Father, but He gave them a sure reason why their Father was not God, that is, they did not love Him and could not listen to His words. In short, interpreting the Bible based on the Bible is about looking at what the Bible verses say, rather than quoting the scriptures to support our own views. Therefore, we quote scriptures as much as possible, rather than just stringing the scriptures together unless the whole Bible does have such a concept. We believe that what God tells us through the Bible is consistent, and we will not discount the words of the Bible. Only when we want to explain a biblical concept and there is no appropriate direct quotation from the corresponding text, we will replace the biblical statement with a suitable but equivalent statement, and cite the source when appropriate. We have to say not whenever possible because there are exceptions to this, for example, when we have discussed some basic concepts before, like the Trinity of God, etc. Another example is when giving an example to illustrate something, one must always use his own narrative.
Those who are either of God are of the devil (Satan). Since they didn’t belong to God, their father is the devil! Here we also talk about some characteristics of the devil, and we also see that the devil is the father of lies, so lying comes from the devil and is not created by God. Lying is not in God, and God cannot lie. Therefore, God is not like what the world says that He can do everything, but He is almighty. The verse says clearly, “Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; …”(Genesis 17:1) He can do all things inside Him, only He has. For example, lying is not in Him, how can He do it? Another example is that He can perform miracles at any time and at any place, but we in the world absolutely cannot. At most, we can become a channel for Him to perform miracles.
3. Who is Jesus?
”The Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. But I do not seek My glory; there is One who seeks and judges. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death.” The Jews said to Him, “Now we know that You have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets also; and You say, ‘If anyone keeps My word, he will never taste of death.’ Surely You are not greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets died too; whom do You make Yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God’; and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.”(John 8:48-59)
The Jews thought Jesus was demon-possessed, but He “…and the Father are one.”(John 10:30) How could He lie and say that He did not know God? He clearly said that if anyone keeps His word, he will never taste death. This obviously refers to spiritual matters, because physically, “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.”(Hebrews 9:27) He said clearly that He as a man came from God, and it was God the Father who glorified Him, not Himself.
The Jews could not understand why “Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.””(John 8:58) Because Jesus is one of the Trinity of God, before the creation of the world. It already exists, because the scripture says, “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”(John 17:5) So Jesus Himself said that He is fully God. Regarding the fact that He is fully God, we have shared before. In short, Jesus was God before the creation of the world. His identity as God will not change just because He emptied Himself and took on the form of a man. Just like a prince, if he becomes a beggar due to the rebellion of his subordinates, he will not lose his status as a prince just because he is a beggar. He will still be a prince because it is innate.
And He said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” (John 8:56) In the Old Testament, Abraham did see Jesus. “Now the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; …”(Genesis 18:1-2) After a conversation, “Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before the LORD.”(Genesis 18:22) After Abraham made a series of requests to the Lord, finally, “As soon as He had finished speaking to Abraham the LORD departed, and Abraham returned to his place.”(Genesis 18:33) For details of this event, please see Genesis 18:1-33. What we want to emphasize here is that this LORD refers to Jesus, because God the Father Yahweh said to Moses, “…You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!”(Exodus 33:20) Afterwards, Abraham was alive and well, and he could not see the Holy Spirit as spirit, so the logic clearly pointed out that this LORD refers to Jesus, the one in the Trinity.
Finally, we see that He had indeed no stately form or majesty(see Isaiah 53:2-3). He was born in a stable, and a man in his thirties looked already fifty years old! And here it says, “Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.”(John 8:59) This is because His time has not yet come and people cannot do anything to Him. This time He hid in the temple since He was out of it. How could the Jews stone Him in the temple? It’s a different method every time. We’ve shared this before, so I won’t say more about this point.
(Verses refer to those in NASB95 unless otherwise specified.)
(You can get all articles in “https://a-christian-voice.com/” under “On spiritual understanding about life.”)
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