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did ; but J esus did not trust himself
to them,
because he knew al/ men
and needed no one to bear witness
of man; for he himself knew what
was in man" (verses 23-25). Christ
the C reator had made mankind and
he knew a ll about people's human
weaknesses.
Jesus-From Heaven
John knew Jesus' true origin. Quot–
ing Christ himself, J ohn 3: 13
declares: "No one has ascended
into heaven but
he who descended
from heaven, the Son of
man."
J ohn continues this
Backtrac k i ng to ve r se 26,
" ... but
he who sent me
is true,
and I declare to the world what
1
have heard from him."
Verse 38:
" l
speak of what
1
have
seen with my Father.... "
Verse 42: " ...
1
carne not of my
own accord, but
he sent me."
Jesus-The Lord of the Old
Testament
In this very long d ialogue of J esus,
the Pharisees brought up the sub–
ject of Abraham {the greatest of
Jesus Christ was tbe same God
who walked and talked witb Mases
in the wi lderness-the same
" 1
AM"
(see Ex. 3: 14) who brought the chi l–
dren of Israel out of Egypt. Paul
makes this plain. " J want you to
know, brethren, that our fatbers
were al! under the cloud, and all
passed through the [Red] sea, and al!
were baptized into Mases in the
cloud and in the sea.... For they
drank from the supernatural Rock
which followed them, and
the
['that,'
AV]
R ock was Christ"
( 1
Cor.
10: 1-2, 4).
This same personage
Christ
in the
Book
of
John
in the Godhead presided
over the Flood in Noah's
day. Peter gives us the
facts: "For Christ also
John had an unusually clase,
friendly relatíonshíp with
Jesus. He seemed especíally
to understand where Jesus
He became a man:
1:14.
He came down from
heaven:
hath once suffered for
sins, the just for the
unj us t , that he might
bring us to God, being
theme in the second half
of the chapter: " He who
comes
f rom above
is
above all; he who is of the
ea r th belongs to the
earth, and of the earth he
speaks; he who comes
from heaven is above all .
He bears witness to what
he has seen and heard,
yet no one [the vast
majority] receives his
testi mony; he [only a
few] who receives his tes–
timony sets his sea! to
this, that God is true. For
he whom God has sent
utters the words of God,
for it is not by measure
that he gives tbe Spirit"
(verses 3 1-34).
carne from. where he was
going, and what he was all
about. Below are references
from John's gospel on the
nature of Christ.
3:13, 31 ; 6:38, 41, 51 ,
58, 62; 8: 14, 21-23.
put to death in the flesh,
but quic kened by t he
Spirit: by which also he
[Christ ] went a nd
preached unto the spirits
[demon s ] in pri son ;
wh ich sometime we re
d isobedient, when once
the longsuffering of God
waited in the days of
Noah, whi le the ark was
a prepari ng, wherei n
few, that is, eight souls
were saved by water"
{1
Pet. 3: 18-20, AV) .
He was sent by God the
Father:
Christ created the world:
1:1 -3; 1:10.
3:16- 17, 34; 4:34; 5:30;
6:29, 44, 57; 7:28-29, 33;
8:42; 9:4; 11:42; 16:27-28;
17:7; 20:21.
He was the Lord of the 0/d
Testament:
1:15, 30; 5:46; 8:56-58.
His authority was from God
the Father:
He is one with God the
Father and equal to him:
5:17- 18; 10:30, 33, 38;
12:44-45; 15:23; 17: 11 ,
21 -26; 19:7.
7: 16-18; 8:16, 26-29;
12:44, 49-50; 14:24; 15:15.
He went back to heaven:
Whil e J esus Christ
was yet in heaven
(before
his human birth), he saw
and heard beforehand the
message th at he Jater
spoke on earth.
He rules over everything:
3:34-35; 5:19-23, 26-27;
16:15.
6:62; 7:33-34; 8:21 ;
13: 1-3, 33; 14:1-3, 12;
16:27-28; 20:17.
He wi/1 come again:
5:25-29; 14:3; 21:22-23.
From Creator to Son
But we find the most
emphati c s t a teme nt s
about the preexiste nce
of J esus Christ in the
In a conversation witb
the religious leaders of his genera–
tion, he said: "Even if 1 testify on
my own behalf, my testimony is
valid, for 1 know where J carne
from [heaven] and where 1 am
going [to God's throne in heaven]"
( John 8: 14, N IV).
He continued in verses 23 and 28
(back to RSV): "You are from
below, 1 am
from above;
you are of
thi s world , l am not of th is
world.... When you have lifted up
[cruci fi ed] the Son of man, then
you wi ll know that 1 am he, and
t ha t 1 do nothing on my own
authori ty but speak thus as the
Father taught me."
March 1983
the J ews' national heroes). J esus
explained to them: " You r father
Abraham rejoiced that he was to
see
my day;
he saw it and was glad"
(verse 56). The one who became
Christ actually walked and talked
with the patriarch Abraham (Gen.
12: 1-4; 13:14- 18; 17:1-22; 18:1-33;
22: 1-2).
Of course, these relig ionists sim–
ply didn' t grasp what J esus was
saying. "The J ews then said to him,
' You are not yet fi fty years old, and
have yóu seen Abraham?' Jesus
said to them, 'Truly, truly, 1 say to
you,
before Abraham was, 1 am'
"
(verses 57-58) .
book of J ohn . The book's majar
emphasis is on the undeniable fact
that
Jesus Christ was God
befare
his human bi rth. Even the Pharisee
Nicodemus said to Jesus: " Rabbi ,
we know that you are a
teacher
come from God .
. . "
(John 3:2).
J esus had told the leaders of the
Phar isees: " My Father worketh
hi therto, and 1 work. Therefore the
J ews sought the more to kili him,
because he not only had broken the
sabbath, but said also that God was
bis Father , making himself
equal
with God"
(J ohn 5: 17-18, AV).
If
you have any sons or daughters,
(Continued on page 44)
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