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1:1-2. Phill ips).
lt
was God 's time to
comple1ely
revea l himse lf. He had
become a huma n being.
As s tra nge as it may sound in the
light o f much of modero theology.
Jes u wa the very God of the O ld
Testament, no t the Fa th er. He was
the o ne who directly created the uní–
verse (John 1:3 ; Eph. 3:9), wa lked
and ta lked with Ada m. dined with
Abraham, wres tled with Jacob. spoke
with Moses. and wa tched over an–
cient Israel (1 Cor. 10:4).
In th e book o f Hebrcws. Jesus is
ca ll ed " the br igh tn ess of his glory.
and the ex prcss ima ge [G reek.
karak1er]
of his pe rson" (Heb.
1
:3).
J esus a nd the Father, th ough two
sepa ra te spirit beings. a re o ne in
perfect character, o utlook. purpose.
!ove tOward ma nkind. etc.
But J esu is the member of the
God bead tha t has always dealt wit h
mankind . Jes us Chris t sa id of the
Father : "No man hath seen G od
al
any time .. . "
(Jo hn 1: 18). " And the
Father himse lf. which ha th sent me.
ha th borne wi tness o f me. Ye have
neither hea rd bis voice a t any time,
nor seen bis shape" (Job n 5:37). Yct
Moses saw the o ne that ta lked with
bim and who called him clf the se lf–
existent (YHYH) . cve rlivi ng God.
The only way to squa re these scrip–
turcs is to co nclude that Jcsus - not
the Father - was thc God of the
Old Testament.
The Rejection Syndrome
But humankind con t inued to play
" h id e-and-go-seek" with the pres–
ence of God - even in the ft esh. The
rejection o f God 's own son by his
own people (John 1: 11) is nowhere
bette r illus tra ted than in a parable
Je s u s gave in M a ttb ew 2 1:
" . .. Tbe re was a certa in ho use–
ho lde r . whi c h pl a nted a v in e–
ya rd .. . a nd Je t it out to
hus ba ndme n. and went into a far
country: and wben tbe time of the
fruit drew near. he sent his se rva nts
[the prophe ts in this ana logy]
to
the
husbandmen, tha t they might re–
ceive the fru its of it. And the hus–
bandmen took his se rvants. and
bea t one. and killed anothe r. and
stoned another. Again. he sent other
se rva nts . .. and they did unto them
likewise.
Bu1 last ofa/1
he sen t unto
th em his son. saying. They will rev–
erence my son .
The
PLAIN TRUTH November 1976
Originally God did reveal
himself to the first
man and his wife.
lt was they who first
began to play
"hide-and-go-seek."
They began a pattern that
was to last
throughout history.
" But when the husba ndmen saw
the son [Jesu. Chris t), they said
amo ng thcmse lves, This is the heir;
come. let us kili him. and let us se ize
on his inhe ritance. And they caught
him. a nd cas t him o ut of th e vine–
yard . and slew him" (verses 33-39).
Jesus thcn went on to explai n in
ve rse 42: " Did ye never read in the
sc ri pturcs. The s to nc whi ch the
build ers
rejected.
the same is be–
come the head o f the corner ... ?"
A mob of faces ftushed wi th
frcnzy insis ted o n thc Roman execu–
tio n of Jesus. T he reli gio us es tab–
lishment set it a ll up in advance.
They fea red fo r the ir own position:
th ey didn ' t want to lose their follow–
e rs; they were used to the adula tion
of the peo pl e.
In the mo re than 1900 yea rs since
C hris t 's death a nd resurrect ion.
mankind has had access to God
thro ugh his written Wo rd . But orga–
nized rcligion has do ne a very tho r–
ough job of bo th muzzling the Bible
and hiding its God! My riad of
councils, conclaves. a nd confe rences
have interpre ted the Bible so tha t it
has lost a ll of its pract icali ty to a
man's or woman 's d ay- to-day life:
no mo re laws, sa bba ths, holy days.
tithin g, prophecy, o r co rrec tion.
Now even th e Ten Commandments
are "out o f da te."
lf Jcs us Ch rist began hi s physical
ministry today as something similar
to the humble ca rpenter of Naza–
re th . he would undo ubted ly be ac–
cused o f being " the grea test threa t
ever to God. Christia n ity, and Patri–
otism ! He would be s ummarily
cha rged wi th treason and seditio n -
a nd h is tria ! and execution wou ld be
fes tivel y ce lebra ted a rou nd the
earth.
Why Does God Hide Himself?
"Veri ly th o u a rt
a God 1ha1 hides1
thyself . . ." wrote the prophet lsaia h
mi llennia ago (lsa. 45: 15). For the
wo rld as a who le, th a t s tatement is
jus t as true today as it ever was. This
world couldn' t be mo re un awa re o f
th e presence o f the true God.
But G od s till has a ll the power he
needs to revcal himse lf to you per–
so nally. Your curren! re la tio nsh ip to
God may be a good dea l li kc that of
Job's. He tho ught he knew a lot
about God. But a fter a lo ng series of
eloquent a rguments wi th his three
friends, God s tepped into the pic–
ture a nd po inted o ut a few things
Job had never considered be fo re. In
fact, he asked Job a bout 40 embar–
rass ing questions.
Ta ke a look at thc vita l lesson Job
learned. He sa id to God: " I know
tha t tho u cans t do eve ry thing, a nd
that no tho ugh t can be withholden
from thec. Who is he tha t hideth
counse l without knowl edge? There–
fo re have
1
uttered that
1
under–
stood not; things too wonderful fo r
me, which l knew no t" (Job 42:2-3).
He continucd :
"1
have hea rd of
th ee by th e hea ring o f th e ea r; but
now
mine eye seeth thee"
(verse 5).
He saw fo r the first time the true
picturc o f the awcsome persona lity
o f God. His conscious mind had
never rea lly previously seen this
God o f whom he spoke.
He sa id in essence:
" 1
have hea rd.
o f you by the hea ring of the ea r -
bu t now
1
ge t it,
now 1 real/y see,
now
l
unde rs tand. now 1 com–
prehend what it 's all about. Whe re–
fo re," he sa id in ve rse 6,
"1
abho r
myse lf. and repent in dust a nd
ashes."
Now Jo b go t th e tru e pe rspcctive.
And he made th a t most difficult o f
a ll huma n steps: He admitted th a t
he h ad been utter ly wro ng -
not partially wrong. but totally
wrong.
Could you adm it , even to your–
se lf. tha t you cou ld be wrong about
your current concepts concern ing
God?
1
f you could. you wou ld be o n
yo ur way to bccoming a Christia n -
in the truest . ense o f tha t term. We
have a bookl et o n the subj ect. Why
don' t you takc o ne more step and
write fo r o ur free booklet entitled
Whal l s a Real Christian?
O
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