Who Is Yeshua?

It is not an easy task the search for 'who' God is and what it is God asks of His creation.  It is discouraging and sad when one finds themselves disputing with believers who share the same faith.  Every individual usually 'sees' and / or understands the mystical things in a variety of ways, but there are and should be instances where a meeting of the minds and the hearts should be obvious.

I have found it much easier to discuss things of faith with those who share a different faith or no faith at all, who do not personally see or believe Yeshua to be anyone more than a prophet ( who see Yeshua as a fallible yet righteous man, like any one of us could be, inspired and directed by God ).  For those who believe Yeshua to be the "Son of God" and the "Messiah" ( a perfect man without fallibility / sin and being in essence God Himself in the flesh ), sometimes it is quite repulsive to deal with the pride and arrogance of believers who desire to argue with the words they've heard from the lips of men instead of sharing the faith and being mutually edified in sharing our amazing experiences and spiritual discoveries in what the Word speaks.  I sometimes find more strife among believers who, instead of realizing what God has revealed to them by faith, run after the doctrines they've been taught by men and the brand of Christianity / Churchianity they have been fed ( religions of men ).  Far too many believe what men teach instead of what the Word speaks to them; distrusting their spiritual awakenings of 'who' God truly is and instead run after what some say is irrefutable truths... but this isn't how God works.

Read the following passage and see how some things are not easily understood unless your heart and mind is opened by God to understand and 'see' certain things ( His choosing, not so much our effort, our logic or our wisdom ).

When Yeshua came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
 

They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
 

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
 

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
 

Yeshua replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.”

- Matthew 16:13-17

( "blessed are you... for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven" )

The answer to the eternal question was ( and I believe can only be ) revealed by God.  And the manner in which a person answers such a question is by faith and faith alone.  And faith is a gift of God.  What is more profound is that you have a choice in the matter.  You can choose to believe.  You can choose to have this faith, to develop it and increase in it.  You can also choose to disbelieve, deny and pursue whatever this world or others have to offer.  You do have choice!

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.  But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

- Joshua 24:15

Further along in this chapter in Joshua, you can read for yourselves that the people present 'saw' with their own eyes what God did for them.  They witnessed some very fantastic miracles and things defying logic and the laws of physics, yet many of them and their parents 'chose' to deny and disbelieve.  Much in the very same way you Today can choose to either believe or disbelieve.

Some argue they believe in nothing, calling themselves atheists.  Yet they do believe in something.  They believe what their thoughts, their heart and whomever they choose to listen to says.  If one listens and agrees with those who have chosen to doubt, they too have made the choice to doubt. 

So what is it exactly one needs to believe?

Simply stated: the message in the Word of God.

And what does the Word of God ( and the message ) say?

Quite a bit! 

Does one need to know AND believe every single thing in the Word of God in order to know God or be saved?

I don't think the entire Word can be completely and accurately understood in absolute fashion as God expressed it to be understood, yet I'm sure many men would say they 'know' it all or parts of it and will desire to teach you their wisdom.  I say look always firstly, concurrently and lastly at the Word, the gospel and the doctrine as explained by those who walked with Christ before believing how any man would explain their version of truth.

We should instead start with the most important points which are necessities while the details may not be as important prior to viewing clearly the necessities:

The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense?  If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
 

Yeshua answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe.  The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.  My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.  I and the Father are one.”
 

Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, but Yeshua said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father.  For which of these do you stone me?”
 

“We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”

Yeshua answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods”’?  If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came - and Scripture cannot be set aside - what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world?  Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’?  Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father.  But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”


- John 10:24-38

Some interesting highlights from the preceding passage in John 10:

"I did tell you" ( about being the Messiah )
"I give them eternal life"
"no one will snatch them out of my hand"
"no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand"
"I and the Father are one"
"you, a mere man, claim to be God"
"what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world?"
"know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father"

Peace be with you who believe, peace be with you who have yet to believe and peace be with you who choose not to believe, for God loves you all despite your choices.  May you choose to step out on faith and may your faith be rewarded as mine has.

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