Christology Of Accomplishment
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| Psalm 19: 1 |
Is God limited in what He can do, or are humans limited in their belief and understanding of what He can do?
Is God limited at all?
If not, then there should be nothing too amazing that would be deemed impossible for God to do, correct?
So it seems that the thought of limitation is a concept born from men, a shortcoming in understanding what God can do, and has done, and will do.
This is what mankind is challenged with when it comes to believing God, and what God can do, according to what He has spoken.
“You are My witnesses,” declares the Lord,
“and My servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe Me
and understand that I Am He.
Before Me no god was formed,
nor will there be one after Me.
I, even I Am the Lord,
and apart from Me there is no savior.
I have revealed and saved and proclaimed—
I, and not some foreign god among you.
You are My witnesses,” declares the Lord, “that I Am God.
Yes, and from ancient days I Am He.
No one can deliver out of My hand
When I act, who can reverse it?”
- Isaiah 43: 10-13- God mentions “witnesses” in a plural manner (more than one witness)
- God mentions “servant” in a singular manner (one servant)
Does God then mention to the witnesses “so that you may know and believe Me and understand” that He (God) is that servant “I Am He”?
- God mentions before Him “no god was formed” and “nor will there be one after Me”
“Formed” like created, or formed as in manifested and made known to mankind so mankind can understand 'who' and 'what' and 'how' God is?
- “no one can deliver out of My hand”
What did Yeshua declare in combining both His hand and the Father's hand?
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.”
- John 10: 27-33Read the rest of the passage in Isaiah considering that God is speaking of Himself manifested, revealed in a way as no other time before (or after).
It is from this understanding that the concept and definition of “Messiah” was derived, understanding that Messiah would mean God manifested before and among His creation; mankind.
This is where the term / name “Immanuel” is derived, which means “God with us” in Hebrew.
Later in Isaiah 43 it says:
This is what the Lord says—
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
... I Am the Lord, your Holy One,
Israel’s Creator, your King.”
- Isaiah 43: 14a-15- the Lord... is the Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the Holy One, the Creator and King of Israel
There are many earthly kings, many have been and many still Today.
Kings made by themselves or made kings by other men, yet some are appointed and anointed by God while the others are simply men pursuing wealth, power and glory for themselves.
Many religions have been derived from such men making themselves kings or calling themselves prophets and such, yet by their fruits you will know them.
But what of the Lord, the God of heaven?
What about the King whom God has become, or better yet, the King He has always been?
But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected Me as their King.
- 1 Samuel 8: 6-7People reject God's lordship and Him being “King” over them when they place other men, or themselves, or other ideas as king in place of God's kingship and sovereign authority over their lives.
This is why the confession “Yeshua is Lord” is so universally and spiritually powerful.
This declaration speaks eternally to what God has always been, and completes who God has revealed Himself to be since the beginning in His testimony we read in the Scriptures.
This confession declares that not the self, nor the ideas of men, nor even an ideology or religious group is 'lord' and 'king' of one's heart, mind and affairs, but that Yeshua is Lord, King and the Sovereign over one's heart, mind and earthly efforts.
Since we have learned that the God of heaven is the Lord, the Holy One, the One who declared “I Am God”, then what does the confession “Yeshua is Lord” mean?
The people were amazed at His teaching, because He taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out, “What do you want with us, Yeshua of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
“Be quiet!” said Yeshua sternly. “Come out of him!” The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.
The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey Him.”
- Mark 1: 22-27- Yeshua didn't invoke God in prayer, but simply spoke His authority over the impure spirit who confessed 'who' Yeshua is
- creations; angels, demons, humans, nature, etc., obey God's command and authority
Why did the impure spirit obey Yeshua's command?
Some people believe that Yeshua was the best of God's many creations, or the first of His creations.
But can something created do anything outside of God's will or without God's authority?
Doesn't creation submit to God's will, or ask permission from God to act or do anything?
In all the prophets who preceded the Messiah Yeshua, we see clearly how they invoked God in doing anything.
Why was the manner in which Yeshua spoke and acted so different?
Either Yeshua was God manifested in the flesh as the Mystery of the Gospel declares, or people are incorrect in their conclusions that Yeshua was separate from God or simply another man / prophet of God.
Have the prophecies of old been incorrect in their message, or have some men interpreted incorrectly in their fulfillment?
Did God fail in His message to mankind, or has some members of humanity been excluded from seeing what God has done?
But He continued, “You are from below; I Am from above. You are of this world; I Am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I Am He, you will indeed die in your sins.”
- John 8: 23-24Yeshua proclaims the eternal attribute of God within Himself, echoing and fulfilling the prophetic message in Isaiah 43.
What is also quite difficult for unbelievers and some believers to accept, is the sin of not believing (denying) that Yeshua is He (I Am He).
Yeshua is the fulfillment and accomplishment of God manifesting Himself in the flesh as all the prophets of God have mentioned in many places prior.
Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing My day; he saw it and was glad.”
“You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to Him, “and you have seen Abraham!”
“Very truly I tell you,” Yeshua answered, “before Abraham was born, I Am!”
- John 8: 56-58
Yeshua proclaims His eternal existence in the timeless and authoritative response “I Am”.
This is the same response echoed from the time Moses asked God for a name, and God responded with this eternal declaration befitting only to God.
God said to Moses, “I Am who I Am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I Am has sent me to you.’ ”
- Exodus 3: 14
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