Almost everybody in the world of faith and religion have a certain amount of knowledge concerning Jesus Christ. There are those who are comfortable in admitting an inadequate knowledge of Jesus Christ. And there are also those who believe that they have attained a comprehensive knowledge of His real being. It is always a good thing to admit that one does not really know Jesus Christ that much and at the same time manifest a readiness and willingness to know more. But those who think that they already know Him completely must have to be sure that their knowledge concerning Jesus Christ is firmly founded upon the truth of the Biblical revelations. The Holy Bible is the singular source of human awareness concerning the realities of Jesus Christ. It must then follow that the perfect perception of His actual being should be faithfully attuned and consistently the same with the meanings and intentions of the Biblical revelations. But men are divided in their knowledge and discernment of the actual realities of Jesus Christ.
The Holy Bible reveals Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God. Simple logic should then establish that Jesus must be seen in the same divine nature of His Father. Yet there are those who opted to utilize all kinds of sophisticated logic in an effort to deny His divinity. Arius, a priest of Alexandria, denied the divinity of Jesus Christ and promulgated his own doctrine. He explains that since Jesus Christ is a begotten Son, He is only a creature who is liable to sin and limited in intellect. He says that the Son is not of the same substance as the Father, but merely a superior creature meant to be an instrument that God will utilize in other creative acts. The Catholic theologians and teachers speak of Jesus Christ as one of the three persons in one God.
There is one prominent church organization in the Philippines that spends the majority of their broadcast hours every day in their own television station teaching and ratiocinating their conviction that Jesus Christ is a man like you and me, having flesh and bones, and therefore cannot be in the same nature of God who is a spirit being. This specific church organization, through its founder and teaching authorities, professes that Jesus Christ cannot be and must not be seen in the nature of God, His Father, because that should violate His Law and commandment that enjoins His people to have no other God besides Him. Their given reason is that admitting the divinity of Jesus Christ should constitute the existence of not one, but two Gods. Another lame excuse they hold on to is that Jesus Christ cannot be another God only on the basis of His being a Son. Their distorted point of view is that being the son of a president does not make one another president, craftily misleading their listeners to admit that the term, ‘God’, refers to an office or title of an entity and not to its nature. Now, this doctrine is more palatable than that of Arius because they profess Jesus Christ as the Son of God who cannot sin; and so very many have been convinced to believe and abide it. There are also those “born-again Christians” who believe that Jesus Christ became what he previously was not - a man. But that is just another way of saying that Jesus Christ has changed His Godly nature to a human nature and became a man. And so, Jesus Christ is seen and perceived by different people in many different realities of His actual existence.
Who is the real Jesus Christ? Is He any one or every one of these entities whom these different people perceive Him to be? But first of all, is it really that important for man to really know and understand Jesus Christ in His true nature?
Most everybody in the world of faith and religion believe that it does not matter how one may perceive Jesus Christ in His being; but what is most important is that one believes in Him and in His existence in whatever manner he chooses. Such attitude or point of view is gravely erroneous. The real and the only Jesus Christ must be known, understood, and perceived in the truth and spirit of the Biblical revelations. And since the Biblical revelations possess the sole power and authority to ascertain all truth concerning the only true God and Jesus Christ, then the world of perfect faith and religion must only acknowledge and recognize one Biblical Christ. Whoever will know and understand and perceive Him in the light of the Biblical revelations is thereby established and made manifest as the Biblical Christian in the true sense of the word.
All those who believe in the existence of Jesus Christ are one in admitting that He is the only-begotten Son of God who was sent into the world in order that the world may be saved through Him. But such belief is not adequate and may consequently cause very many to fall into a false sense of security with regard to the salvation that they hope for through faith in Jesus Christ. John, the beloved apostle of Jesus indeed testified and said:
“For God so loved that world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that those who believe in Him may not perish but may have life everlasting.”- John 3:16.
Of course, John’s testimony is indisputably true, whether anybody admits it or not. And so, everybody in the world of faith and religion happily goes about their daily lives believing in the only-begotten Son of God and certainly expecting that they will not perish and will have everlasting life. They believe in the only-begotten Son of God in every which manner they conceive and perceive in their mind and hearts. Such diverse manners of perception are brought forth from the opposing doctrines and precepts that men conceived and taught. Jesus Christ is being introduced and distinguished as the only-begotten Son of God who is either a Catholic Christ or a Protestant Christ or a Methodist Christ or any other Christ of any religious or church organization. Will a man truly NOT perish and have everlasting life by believing in any one or every one of these different Christs? Certainly not! The testimony of the apostle John specifically speaks of an only-begotten Son of God who was given to the world. And if He is Jesus Christ, then He must be that one and only Christ of the Bible.
John’s testimony is not absolute, but conditional. He did not say, “. . . that those who believe in Him will not perish but will have life everlasting”; but he rather said, “. . . that those who believe in Him may not perish but may have life everlasting.” It means that there is a certain condition that must first be met and satisfied before those who believe in Him can be certain that they shall not perish but shall have life everlasting. It does not necessarily mean that all a man must do is believe in the only-begotten Son of God in whatever manner he perceived by his own wisdom. The issue here is how must one believe in Him? And the only manner that should satisfy the condition set by the testimony of John is for every man to believe in the only-begotten Son of God in true and living faith. And indeed, there is a true and living faith inasmuch as there is a false and dead faith. If one believes that the only-begotten Son of God is Jesus Christ, it must only follow that he must have to believe in the only Biblical Christ. And thus shall his faith in Him be proven true and alive because it is founded upon the true and divine revelations of the Bible concerning the true realities of Jesus Christ in His actual and everlasting existence.
Jesus spoke of that specific manner by which everlasting life shall be given to those who will believe in Him; and He said,
“Father, the hour has come! Glorify thy Son, that thy Son may glorify thee, even as thou hast given him power over all flesh, in order that to all thou hast given him, he may give everlasting life. Now this is everlasting life, that they may know thee, the only true God, and him whom thou hast sent, Jesus Christ. I have glorified thee on earth; I have accomplished the work that thou hast given me to do. And now do thou, Father, glorify me with the glory that I had with thee before the world existed.” - John 17:1-5.
Clearly now, everlasting life is only meant for all those who will believe in the only-begotten Son of God on the basis of their truthful knowledge and understanding of His true realities in which He is made manifest by the Biblical revelations and never from the revelations that wise and prudent men of this world only pretend to possess. The apostle Peter has already given warning in this regard, and he wrote:
"For there were false prophets also among the people, just as among you there will be lying teachers who will bring in destructive sects. They even disown the Lord who bought them, thus bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their wanton conduct, and because of them the way of truth will be maligned. And out of greed they will with deceitful words use you for their gain. Their condemnation, passed of old, is not made void, and their destruction does not slumber.” - 2 Peter 2:1-3.
But more enlightening and uncompromising is the saving counsel of Jesus in His words:
“Take care that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.
“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold here is the Christ,’ or, ‘there he is,’ do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise, and will show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. Behold I have told it to you beforehand. If therefore they say to you, ‘Behold, he is in the desert,’ do not go forth; ‘Behold, he is in the inner chambers,’ do not believe it. For as the lightning comes forth from the east and shines even to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Wherever the body is, there will the eagles be gathered together.” - Matthew 24:4-5; 23-28.
True and living faith in the only-begotten Son of God is only established upon that truthful and perfect knowledge of His real being. Indeed, Jesus Christ and His apostle spoke of false Christs, false prophets and lying teachers who disown the Lord and through whom the way of truth is maligned. They will lead astray very many. Thus, those who believe and so teach that He is not God by nature, but of the same nature of a man like you and me, must be professing a false and vain faith in Him if it is Biblically proven that He is indeed in the nature of God and not man. Believing in Jesus Christ in this erroneous manner will not merit the promised everlasting life of His salvation.
The Bible also reveals the existence of false Christs, false prophets, and lying teachers in this world. They have not been sent into the world in order to save the world, but only to lead astray and destroy the world. Without these false Christs, false prophets, and lying teachers, the indisputable presumption is that the entire world of faith and religion shall only have the same true and perfect knowledge and understanding of the real being of Jesus Christ. But since they have been in the world then and are in the world today and even unto its consummation, it becomes an essential and most important responsibility of every man to really know Him in accordance to the truth of the Biblical revelations. Man must distinguish the real Biblical Christ from the many different false Christs who had been brought forth into the world by many false prophets and lying teachers who malign the way of truth.
These prevailing different and opposing views concerning the real being of Jesus Christ can only be attributed to the proliferation of different church and religious organizations that continuously propose and promulgate doctrines and precepts of faith that oppose each another. Thus, it is clear that seeing Jesus Christ in these different manners only speaks of the different faiths and religions which men profess and practice in their varying recognition of His being. These different perceptions of the reality of Jesus Christ are being offered and presented with specific and pertinent chapters and verses in the Bible as its credible bases, the very reason why these teachers are able to lure very many into their erroneous and wanton beliefs.
The Bible is undoubtedly the all-time best-selling book in the world. It is the only book which has been translated into almost every language and dialect of nations around the globe. And while there are new versions that came about in the recent past, copies of the original manuscripts have been preserved and reproduced in certain museums elsewhere. The Dead Sea Scrolls containing essential parts of the book of Isaias are now preserved and stored in a museum after its discovery sometime ago. The later versions of the Bible may have been paraphrased or somewhat revised in some ways, allegedly, in order to make it easier to understand, although most of them were meant to suit or correspond to the interests and intentions of the translators. But such changes in the presentation of the revelations can never alter the singular truth of the nature of the only-begotten Son of God in His real being. And anybody who really seeks to know and understand Him as He really is can certainly find Him and His truth in the pages of the Bible. And the Bible is readily available to everybody: It can be bought, it can be borrowed, it can be asked for and received for free, and most of all, it can be read in almost everyone’s language of choice. And thus is it so amazing and even mysterious why many people are inclined to hear and believe the opposing interpretations and explanations of certain men whom they foolishly perceive wiser and more prudent than they are. Perhaps these people are blind to the truth that the Bible is a book of revelation, and thus its only purpose for being is to make known the truth that God seeks all men to know and understand. Jesus Christ rather said,
“To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For to him who has shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but to him who does not have, even that which he has shall be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, neither do they understand. In them is being fulfilled the prophecy of Isaias, who says, ‘Hearing you will hear, but not understand; and seeing you will see, but not perceive. For the heart of this people has been hardened, and with their ears they have been hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest at any time they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their mind, and I heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. For amen I say to you, many prophets and just men have longed to see what you see, and they have not seen it; and to hear what you hear, and they have not heard it.” - Matthew 13:11-17.
“I praise thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and prudent, and didst reveal them to little ones. Yes, Father, for such was thy good pleasure. All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and him to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” - Matthew 11:25-30.
Perfect knowledge and understanding of the true meaning and intention of the words of revelation in the Bible never required the earthly wisdom and prudence of men. Excellent educational attainments and the highest levels of learning that men may have attained through many years of study in theology, philosophy, history, and such other scientific fields are not only insufficient but most likely encumber one’s effort to receive the divine truths that the Biblical revelation seek to impart. “No one knows the Son except the Father.” All that is necessary for one to learn the truth of the Biblical revelations is to read it diligently with undivided interest and a willful, honest, and ardent desire to really know and understand the only true God he must worship and Jesus Christ whom he must believe in true and living faith. And God, who sees through the inner desires of the human heart and mind, shall provide him with His divine Wisdom that should teach him every truth in His Word that He seeks to impart.
No one knows the Son except the Father. Why would anybody in his logical mind seek to know and understand Jesus Christ from anyone else except His heavenly Father? Yet Jesus also says that no one knows the Father except the Son and him to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. Thus is Jesus calling upon everyone to come to Him and take His yoke upon him and learn from Him. He is actually asking everyone to follow Him and become His true and faithful Christian disciple just as He did with His chosen apostles. Most certainly, the Biblical Christ will always choose to reveal the Father to every Biblical Christian. Since no one knows the Son except the Father in as much as no one knows the Father except the Son, Jesus has clearly established that it is not possible to see either one of the Father or the Son without seeing the other.
The salvation of mankind from death to everlasting life requires every man to know and understand the Father and the Son whom He sent, Jesus Christ, but only in the true realities of their actual existence that the Bible make manifest in its written words of revelation. The salvation of every man is only assured in doing the will of God the Father on earth as it is done in heaven. And thus must everyone who seeks salvation believe in His only-begotten Son and in His name: that he may learn God’s divine will through the truth of His word that His Son was sent forth to teach to all men. These words of God, spoken through His prophet, expressly speak of the pleasure in God’s will. And it is written:
“Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, and let not the strong man glory in his strength, and let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, for I am the Lord that exercise mercy, and judgment, and justice in the earth: for these things please me, saith the Lord.” - Jeremias 9:23-24.
God the Father’s only pleasure in every man He created is for him to know and understand Him as He really is. It is a man’s honest and willful effort to really know and understand Him that moves Him to reveal His reality through His Son, Jesus Christ. But man must be very sure beyond the shadow of a doubt that the revelation he will receive is from the one and only Biblical Christ. And such certainty is only established in every man who will ardently seek Him straight from the words of the Bible and not from its sophisticated and confusing explanations and interpretations by so many wise and prudent men of this world.
Rather than exert the endless, vain, and foolish effort to explain and interpret the profound revelations of the Bible, it is most necessary for every man to analyze, scrutinize, examine, and study the written words of God that authoritatively and comprehensively explain and portray the exalted thoughts and ways of God to all men.
A man’s state of life does not matter in the effort to know and understand God through the revelation of His words. Every man is a sinner. He may be wise or foolish, rich or poor, strong or weak, famous or unknown, free or bound; but God does not consider these in His divine will to reveal Himself. Whether a man admits it or not, he is an established and distinguished sinner. As such, his mind and heart must be empty and utterly lacking of any knowledge or understanding of the truth of the words of God. This is the fact of his being that every man must have to fully admit in all humility before he begins his search for the truths of God’s written words. God can see through the mind and hearts of men; and it is man’s willful, ardent, and honest desire to really know and understand Him which certainly pleases God and moves Him to bestow the divine providence of His Wisdom that should enable his eyes to see, his ears to hear, and his mind to perceive the truth of His words.
Man must equate himself to a vessel filled with all kinds of perceptions that he received and gathered from many different human thoughts and ways. But the perfect knowledge and understanding of God’s truth require the full space of the human mind and heart because such knowledge and understanding must be the whole basis and singular direction of his way of life - a new and reborn life that is meant for eternity. And thus must man empty himself of all previous knowledge and understanding about God and His Son which he has learned from this world. When he begins his search for the truths of God’s words in the Bible, he must sincerely admit that he knows and understands nothing concerning God’s divine truth. But the very reason why very many fail in even their most honest efforts to know and understand the divine truths is their foolish presumptions and prejudices and predispositions that they conceive and adapt by the timid deliberations of their human mind and hearts. A famous national hero is perfectly right and true in his words when he wrote:
“Now then, my faith in God, if faith may be called the result of ratiocination, is blind; blind in the sense that it knows nothing. I neither admit nor deny the qualities which many attribute to Him; I smile at the definitions and vague descriptions of theologians and philosophers of this ineffable and inscrutable being. In the conviction that I find myself before the Supreme Problem, which confused voices desire to explain to me, I cannot but answer: ‘That may be so; but the God that I surmise is much greater, much better: Plus Supra (Far Above)!’” - DR. JOSE P. RIZAL
These famous words of Dr. Jose P. Rizal undoubtedly conform to the truth of Scriptures, not as the result of any effort to interpret or explain, but as the result of an honest, ardent, faithful, and diligent search for the divine truth in the words of God. And thus it is written:
“For what man knows God’s counsel, or who can conceive what the Lord intends? For the deliberations of mortals are timid and unsure are our plans. For the corruptible body burdens the soul and earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns. And scarce do we guess the things on earth and what is within our grasp we find with difficulty; but when things are in heaven, who can search them out? Or who ever knew your counsel, except you had given Wisdom and sent your holy spirit from on high? And thus were the paths of those on earth made straight, and men learned what was your pleasure, and were saved by Wisdom.” - Wisdom 9:13-18.
The Biblical Christian is every man whose true and living faith in Jesus Christ is firmly and singularly anchored in the Biblical revelations that he was able to know and understand through the divine providence of the Spirit of truth that he deservingly received from God. He must read the Bible in any possible manner he can. He must yearn and crave to know and understand the only true God and Him whom He sent, Jesus Christ, but only from the truth of the words of the Bible. Actually, the Bible speaks of only one kind of Christian, uniquely distinguishing each and every one of them as the true Biblical Christian by their living faith in the Biblical Christ that is firmly founded upon their God-given knowledge and understanding of the Biblical revelations.
Being a disciple is indeed profound because it has many connotations, implications, and insinuations. A disciple can be a follower, believer, supporter, devotee, partisan, adherent, student, learner, or scholar of somebody or something that he knew, or liked, or believed in. So that one can also be a disciple of someone or something that he has known, liked, and believed, either correctly or erroneously. But while it is not likely that one would opt to be a disciple of someone or something that he does not certainly know, he can be prevailed upon or even deceived to be a disciple ignorant of what he has chosen to follow, to believe, to support, etc. And thus is there the need to distinguish the true Christian from the false by ascertaining that their knowledge and understanding of Jesus Christ is Biblically correct.
There are indeed Catholic Christians, Protestant Christians, Christian Mormons, Born-again Christians, and all other such Christians in the world of faith and religion. But Jesus Christ has never been nor will ever be party to any one of these. The entirety of the Biblical revelation speaks of only one Christ which definitely distinguishes Him as the Biblical Christ. And His true disciple is the Biblical Christian that perfectly knows and understands the only true God and Him whom He sent, Jesus Christ, in complete conformity with the revelation of the Father to those whom His Son has chosen to reveal Him.
The divine providence of the Wisdom of the Lord that enables the disciple of Christ to know Him in His actual being is the unique distinction that separates the Biblical Christian from these Catholic, Protestant, Methodist, Pentecostal, Baptist, and all such other “Christians.” While all these self-claiming “Christians” may have indeed acquired that certain amount of knowledge about Christ by reading the Bible or by listening to their organizational teachers and preachers who persistently explain and interpret for them the meanings and intentions of the profound Biblical verses, the unfortunate fact is that they remain ignorant of the true realities of Christ due to their inability to really understand and perceive the Biblical revelations according to its divine truth. And this fact is proven beyond doubt by their different recognition of Christ in His actual being. The Biblical Christ and the Biblical Christian are defined and distinguished in their true and vivid Biblical descriptions that cannot be altered by any man at any time.
Who is the the real Biblical Christ that the true Christians perfectly know and understand in His real Being? The perfect answer is indelibly written in the pages of the Holy Bible:
“Now Jesus having come into the district of Caesaria Philippi began to ask his disciples, saying, “Who do men say the Son of Man is?’ But they said, ‘Some say, John the Baptist; and others, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered and said, ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Then Jesus answered and said, ‘Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to thee, but my Father in heaven. And I say to thee, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever thou shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever thou shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.’ Then he strictly charged his disciples to tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ.” - Matthew 16:13-20.
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. He is the real and only Jesus Christ identified, distinguished and made manifest in the Biblical revelations. As His Father is the living God, so must Jesus Christ be the living Son to prove without any doubt that the Father and the Son are one God. Jesus is the Christ; and the Christ is the Word of God. And who is the Word of God? The apostle John, a true Biblical Christian testifies:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God; and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was made nothing that has been made.” - John 1:1-3.
THE WORD WAS GOD. This should establish the truth which speaks of the divinity of the Word even before the beginning when all things that has been made was made. And who is the Word? It is also written in Scriptures:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways, my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are my ways exalted above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts. And as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return no more thither, but soak the earth and water it, and make it to spring and give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my Word be, which shall go forth from my mouth: it shall not return to me void, but it shall do whatsoever I please and shall prosper in the things for which I sent it.” - Isaias 55:8-11.
The Word is of God. He went forth from the mouth of God; was sent to do whatsoever pleases God; and prosper in the things for which He was sent. The Word of God can only be the Christ of God. For Christ refers to Him whom God has anointed and sent. Now Jesus has profoundly admitted that He was indeed anointed and sent by His Father. And it is written:
“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and according to his custom, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read. And the volume of Isaias the prophet was handed to him. And after he opened the volume, he found the place where it was written, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me; to bring good news to the poor he has sent me, to proclaim to the captives release, and sight to the blind; to set at liberty the oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of recompense.’
“And closing the volume, he gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were gazing on him. But he began to say to them, ‘Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ And all bore him witness, and marveled at the words of grace from his mouth. And they said, ‘Is not this Joseph’s son?’” - Luke 4:16-22.
The Biblical revelations has now very clearly established that Jesus Christ is the the Word of God. How can anybody in his sound state of mind accept and adhere to any proposition which suggests that the Word of God is a man like you and me? He cannot. The Biblical Christian knows and understands in perfect truth that Jesus, who is the Christ and who is the Son of the living God, is the Word of God who was God. The Biblical Christ is the Word of God distinguished by its true revelation:
"And I saw heaven standing open; and behold, a white horse, and he who sat upon it is called Faithful and True, and with justice he judges and wages war. And his eyes are as a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems; he has a name writte which no man knows except himself. And he is clothed in a garment sprinkled with blood, and his name is called The Word of God; and the armies of heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and pure, where following him on white horses." - Apocalypse 19:11-14.
In conclusion, the Biblical revelations have finally established that Jesus Christ is the Word of God who must be God in the true realities of His actual and imperishable being.
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