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kind- reproducing Himself after His
own kind- for we are, upon real con–
version, actually begotten as sons
(yet unborn) of God; then through
study of God's revelation and His
Word, living by His every word, con–
stant prayer, daily experience with
trials and testing, we grow spiritually
more and more like God, until , at the
time of the resurrection we shall be
instantaneously changed from mortal
into immortal- we shall then be born
of God- we shall then be God!"
The Father Greater Than the Son
When Jesus Christ was here on this
earth as a human being He constant–
ly referred to the gospel of His Fa–
ther-the gospel of the Kingdom of
God-<:onstantly turned people's a t–
tention to the fact tbat there was a
Father. He revealed the Father. He
never hesitated to show that He
could do nothing except the Father
guide, lead, support and sustain Him
(John 5:19, 30). He said, " My Fa–
ther is greater than I " ( J ohn
14:28).
Just as sorne human beings have
greater jobs, responsibilities and au–
thority than other human beings, so
it is that that great God called Father
has the greatest responsibility of any
being- is greater in every way than
any other being. Jesus Cbrist, who is
next in responsibility, authority and
office to His Father is joyfully, will–
ingly and properly submissively ful–
fi lling His responsibilities as second
in command in the great God Fami–
ly. Jesus gladly admits the Father's
superiori ty. He focuses all His caBed–
out ones' attention on that fact. He
does not chafe under that authority
but lives in perfect harmony with it.
It was through Jesus Christ in a
total unanimity with His Father that
all th ings were created- the invisible
things as well as the visible; that is,
great spi rit beings such as angels and
cherubim. It was
that
Jesus who by
living Hi s perfect life example
through the power of the Holy Spirit
showed us, manifested to us, made
visible to us what the invisible God is
like! It is that same Jesus whom God
has made the Head of the body He
calls the Church. That same Jesus
who is the firstborn from the dead–
the first to receive total Sonship in
January
1980
the Kingdom of God (Colossians
1:15-18).
The Son' s Responsibility
Let's briefly review the magnificent
and glorious responsibilities and ac–
tivities of Jesus Christ. Ask yourself
the question as we do so-what
greater thing can the Father do? By
Bible definition, Jesus Christ, who is
tbe Word of God, was the One who
spoke, and all the great universe we
see carne into being. lt was He as
well that created the vast world of
spirit beings that we do not see. It
was He who called out Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob. lt was Christ who
called Israel out of the bondage in
Egypt.
It
was Jesus who spoke tbe
Ten Commandments from Mount Si–
nai.
It
was Christ who chose David to
be king of Israel. It was this same
Jesus who sent Israel and later J udah
into exile and captivity, wandering
over the face of the earth, as a result
of their having turned aside from His
true way.
This was the Jesus who carne, born
of a virgin, begotten by God, who
lived an entire lifetime perfectly
within the Spirit of God's law, died
as a perfect sacrifice, shedding His
blood, pouring out His life-having
already emptied Himself of being
God, He now emptied Himself even
of His human life. He gave His life's
blood to pay for our transgressions,
our spiritual sins.
He gave His body, beaten, pum–
mclled and bruised as a payment for
our physical sins, so that we might be
hea led . (Have you ever wondered
why the sacrifice of Christ can pay
for the sins of all the world? Well
obviously, if all the world and all tha t
a re in it and all of the created spirit
beings and everything we know about
was created by that one life, then the
payment of that life was certainly
sufficient!) This same Jesus, God the
Father in heaven, by the power of the
Holy Spitit, resurrected from the
grave to be His firstborn Son.
This same Jesus began God's one
true Church on the day of Pentecost
in 31 A.D. This same Jesus has been
with that same Church all these
years, and death and the grave have
not prevailed on that little flock, as
He promised. This same Jesus is
coming again as l(jng of kings and
Lord of lords to rule, on this earth, all
the nations in the wonderful world
tomorrow, which is just around the
comer.
If Christ, then, did all of these
great things and fulfills these mag–
nificent prophecies- what greater
things is it that the Father does?
The
Father begets and brings to birth
very sons of God!
Jesus Christ does
not beget us as the sons of God, the
Father does. Of course it is only
through Jesus Chri st that we know
about the Father, that we can go
befare the Father, our sins paid for
by Christ 's blood.
Father and Son, Perfect Unison
Jesus Christ , with His Fatber, in a
perfect unison, works out the purpose
for which crea tion was made. But
only God the Father can beget sons!
And each one of those sons He begets
and brings to birth in His Kingdom is
worth more than a ll the creation we
see and do not see put together! And
so God the Father is greater than
Jesus Christ (and remember 1 didn't
say it, J esus C hrist did! (John
14:28]) in that this God is the Father
of that God we call Jesus Christ the
Son-and the Father of all the other
brothers of Jesus Christ to be born at
the resurrection into that glorious
Kingdom, called God. And Jesus
Christ, as any true Son of God, is the
first to admit that His Father is
greater than He- the last to want it
to be any other way!
Listen to this statement from the
apostle John as translated by J . B.
Phill ips in his New Testament in
modern English: "Consider the in–
credible !ove that the Fa tber has
shown us in allowing us to be called
'children of God' "- and that is not
just what we are called, but what we
a re. Our heredity on the Godward
side is no mere figure of speech–
which explains why the world no
more recognizes us than it recognized
Christ (1 John 3: 1) . Continuing in
the King James translation: "be–
loved, now are we the sons of God
(begotten now, but not yet born] and
it doth not yet appea r what we shall
be [that is, the manifestation of the
sons of God, the time in which they
will appear, has not yet come-Ro-
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