Basic HTML Version
M
oses was finally convinccd
that the God he worshiped–
the One who becamc Jesus
the Christ-did have merey and
grace in mind for every human
being who had evcr lived, or was yet
to live. Moses and Jcsus were of one
accord on that subject- and that
One to become Jesus had thc
power
to bring to pass thc
hope
of Moses.
Moses had a lot more to do with
the Christian religion than most
people know- he realized more of
the true purpose of life than the
majority ofChristians today!
The Transfiguration
When the disciples of Jesus' day
asked Him to show them thc King–
dom of God and its coming, Jesus ,
through a "vision," providcd three
of their number with a foretaste of
what that Kingdom would be like.
Peter, J ames and John, from among
the twelve apostles. were chosen for
this special revelation. The whole
scene is described in Matthew 17.
The two individuals Jesus chose
to show in vision to His di sciples
we re Moses and Elijah! Moses,
then, will definitely be in
God's
Kingdom.
Moses was Jesus' first
choice, a long with Elijah, as an ex–
amplc for Peter, James and John of
the end product of the purpose of
creation. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
are carlier mentioned by Jesus as
definitely being in the Kingdom of
God. as well as Noah, Daniel and
David- but Jesus chose to show in
vision only Moses and Elijah!
Surely, then, Moses and Elijah must
have known the purposc of life
Jesus was about to revea l to His
disciples !
Power To Become Sons
The Bible clearly reveals tha t the
purpose of the creation of human
beings is to make them "sons of
God." Yet this presents an enigma
because it also clearly states that
"flesh and blood
cannot
inhcrit the
kingd.Dm ofGod"
(1
Cor. 15:50).
The only answer to tha t problem
is the equally enigmatic statement
by Jesus that human beings must
"be boro again" (John 3:3). That
statemen t by Jesus is perhaps the
most misunderstood of all He made.
"Boro again" is turoed by most of
religion into sorne sort of "spiritual
24
PARTS
ATALE OF
TWO
PROPHETS
by Jon
Hill
God told Mases that every
human being would have his
opportunity for sa/vation-but
that He, the God of grace, re–
serves the judgment of when
and to whom He grants that
salvation. A special physical,
mortal resurrection is planned
for the great majority of man–
kind in al/ those " lost" gener–
ations so that they may have
their one and only chance at
salvation. But the question is:
saved for what? What is the
purpose of human life? Why
are we here? Saved from
Egypt? From sin? From
death? From "he//"? But for
what? And, once saved, what
wi/1 we be?
experience" which leaves the body
still fiesh and blood, incapable o f
inheriting the Kingdom.
lt
seems no
one actually wants to take Jesus a t
His word !
Let's cheat, and believe Jesus–
that second of the two prophets of
this tale- really meant exactly what
He said. He said: " But as many as
receíved him, to them gave he
power
to become the sons of God,
even to
them that believe on his name:
which were boro,
not ofblood, nor of
the wi/1 of the jlesh, nor of the wi/1 of
man, but of God,
(John 1: 12-13).
Let's face it: Jesus was not talking
about pseudo sons, or allegorical
sons, or religious-terminology sons,
or pretend
sons- but real sons!
If
you can believe it, the purpose of
creation is to raise human beings to
Goo
B~I NGS:
real sons of God,
God
as God is God!
" Blasphemy!" shouted the righ–
teously indignan! and generally en–
raged re ligious bigots of Jcsus' day
when He said.
"1
am the Son of
God."
" Fo r a good work we stOne thee
not ; but for blasphemy: and be–
cause that thou. being a man.
makcst thyself God !" they ex–
plained smugly in their theological
straitjackets as they stooped to pick
up rocks.
But, for some reason, they paused
to g ive Jesus time to pose a puzzling
question from the heart of their own
Scriptures : " Is it not wriuen in you r
law,
1
said,
Ye are gods?
lf he called
them gods, unto whom the word of
God carne. and the scripture cannot
be brokcn; say yc of him. whom the
Father hath sa nctified, and sent into
the world, T hou blasphemcs t; be–
cause 1 said,
l
am the Son of God?"
(John 10:33-36.)
ls a Son a Son?
At thc very heart of Chris tian belief
is the absolute necessity of recogniz–
ing and believing what those of
Jesus' day labeled "blasphemy!"
Every good Christian believes as the
cardinal point of doctrine that Jesus
Christ of Nazareth was and is the
Son of God- but how many good
Christians do you know who
also
believc
equally
in the words of that
same
Jesus of Nazareth when He
said, praying to His F a ther in
heaven just before His crucifixion:
" Ho ly Father, keep through th ine
own name those whom thou hast
given me.
that they may be one. as
we are.
...
Neither pray 1 for these
alone. but for them also which
sha/1
believe on me through the ir word;
that they all may be one; as thou,
Father, art in me, and
1
in thee,
that
they also may be one
in
us"!
(John
17: 11 , 20-2 1.) How many do
you
know who believe
that?
Why do so many use allthe words
and slogans so common to Chris–
tia nity in vai n? Do we believe that
nei ther Jesus nor the Father in
heaven really
mean
what they say?
Do we believe that the gospel mes–
sage so plainly stated by Jesus is all
allegory, all symbolism, all parable,
all fable , all myth? Do we say by
our beliefs and actions that tbe
The
PLAIN TRUTH June 1977