Time with Jesus - 18 Dec 2013
Hi all,
In John’s Gospel, while Pilate was “interviewing”
Jesus, he asked Jesus, “what is truth?”. 38 "What
is truth?" Pilate asked. Then he went
out again to the people and told them, "He is not guilty of any crime.
John 18:38 NLT
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A major Christian doctrine is
challenged by pagans as well as a number of “born again” believers. The
doctrine is the Holy Trinity. To help us with this, the following is an extract
from by Dr A W Tozer‘s book, “The Knowledge of the Holy”. I’ve had to edit it (shorten)
for space considerations. It is called, “The Holy Trinity”. It makes no effort
to explain the doctrine. To attempt to do so would be futile.
To meditate
on the 3 Persons of the Godhead is to walk in thought through the garden
eastward in Eden and to tread on holy ground. Our sincerest effort to grasp the
incomprehensible mystery of the Trinity must remain forever futile, and only by
deepest reverence can it be saved from actual presumption.
Some
persons who reject all they cannot explain have denied that God is a Trinity.
Subjecting the Most High to their cold, level-eyed scrutiny, they conclude that
it is impossible that He could be both One and Three. These forget that their
whole life is enshrouded in mystery. They fail to consider that any real
explanation of even the simplest phenomenon in nature lies hidden in obscurity
and can no more be explained than can the mystery of the Godhead.
The Church
has not hesitated to teach the doctrine of the Trinity. Without pretending to
understand, she has repeated what the Holy Scriptures teach. Some deny that the
Scriptures teach the Trinity of the Godhead on the ground that the whole idea
of trinity in unity is a contradiction in terms; but since we cannot understand
the fall of a leaf by the roadside or the hatching of a robin’s egg in the nest
yonder, why should the Trinity be a problem to us?
Not all who
called themselves Christians through the centuries were Trinitarians. However, since
the days of the apostles, purity and power have followed this faith. Under this
banner have gone forth apostles, fathers, martyrs, mystics, hymnists,
reformers, revivalists, and the seal of divine approval has rested on their
lives and their labours. However they may have differed on minor matters, the
doctrine of the Trinity bound them together.
What God
declares the believing heart confesses without the need of further proof.
Indeed, to seek proof is to admit doubt, and to obtain proof is to render faith
superfluous. Everyone who possesses the gift of faith will recognize the wisdom
of those daring words of one of the early Church fathers: “I believe that
Christ died for me because it is incredible; I believe that He rose from the
dead because it is impossible.”
The
doctrine of the Trinity is truth for the heart. The spirit of man alone can
enter through the veil and penetrate into that Holy of Holies. Love and faith
are at home in the mystery of the Godhead. Let reason, kneel in reverence, outside.
Christ did
not hesitate to use the plural form when speaking of Himself along with the
Father and the Spirit. “We will come unto him and make
our abode with him.” Yet again He said, “I and
my Father are one.” It is most important that we think of God as Trinity
in Unity, neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the Substance. Only so
may we think rightly of God and in a manner worthy of Him and of our own souls.
It was our
Lord’s claim to equality with the Father that outraged the religionists of His
day and led at last to His crucifixion. The attack on the doctrine of the
Trinity two centuries later by Arius and
others, was also aimed at Christ’s claim to deity. During the Arian controversy
315 Church fathers (many of them maimed and scarred by the physical violence
suffered in earlier persecutions) met at Nicaea and adopted the Nicene Creed. For
more than sixteen hundred years this has stood as the final test of orthodoxy,
as well it should, for it condenses in theological language the teaching of the
New Testament concerning the position of the Son in the Godhead. The Nicene
Creed also pays tribute to the Holy Spirit as being Himself God and equal to
the Father and the Son:
How do
these words harmonize with the saying of Jesus, “My
Father is greater than I”? Those old theologians knew, and wrote into
the Creed, “Equal to His Father, as touching His Godhead; less than the Father,
as touching His manhood,” and this interpretation commends itself to every
serious-minded seeker after truth in a region where the light is all but
blinding.
To redeem
mankind the Eternal Son did not leave the bosom of the Father; while walking
among men. We grant mystery here, but not confusion. In His incarnation the Son
veiled His deity, but He did not void it. The unity of the Godhead made it
impossible that He should surrender anything of His deity. When He took upon
Him the nature of man, He did not degrade Himself or become even for a time
less than He had been before. God can never become less than Himself. For God
to become anything that He has not been is unthinkable.
The Persons
of the Godhead, being one, have one will. They work always together, and never
one smallest act is done by one without the instant acquiescence of the other
two. Every act of God is accomplished by the Trinity in Unity. Here of course,
we are being driven by necessity to conceive of God in human terms. We are
thinking of God by analogy with man, and the result must fall short of ultimate
truth.
When the
Son of God walked the earth as the Son of Man, He spoke often to the Father and
the Father answered Him again; as the Son of Man, He now intercedes with God
for His people.
The dialogue involving the Father and the Son recorded in the
Scriptures is always to be understood as being between the Eternal Father and
the Man Christ Jesus. That instant, immediate communion between the Persons of
the Godhead which has been from all eternity knows not sound nor effort nor
motion.
A popular
belief among Christians divides the work of God between the three Persons,
giving a specific part to each, as, for instance, creation to the Father,
redemption to the Son, and regeneration to the Holy Spirit. This is partly true
but not wholly so, for God cannot so divide Himself that one Person works while
another is inactive. In the Scriptures the three Persons are shown to act in
harmonious unity in all the mighty works that are wrought throughout the
universe.
In the Holy
Scriptures the work of creation is attributed to the Father (Gen. 1:1), to the Son (Col.
1:16), and to the Holy Spirit (Job 26:13 and
Ps. 104:30). The incarnation is shown to have been accomplished by the
three Persons in full accord (Luke 1:35),
though only the Son became flesh to dwell among us. At Christ’s baptism the Son
came up out of the water, the Spirit descended upon Him and the Father’s voice
spoke from heaven (Matt. 3:16, 17). Probably
the most beautiful description of the work of atonement is found in Hebrews 9:14, where it is stated that Christ, through
the Eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot to God; and there we behold
the three persons operating together.
The
resurrection of Christ is likewise attributed variously to the Father (Acts 2:32), to the Son (John
10:17-18), and to the Holy Spirit (Rom.
1:4). The salvation of the individual man is shown by the apostle Peter
to be the work of all three Persons of the Godhead (I
Pet. 1:2), and the indwelling of the Christian man’s soul is said to be
by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (John
14:15-23).
The
doctrine of the Trinity, as I have said before, is truth for the heart. The
fact that it cannot be satisfactorily explained, instead of being against it,
is in its favour. Such a truth had to be revealed; no one could have imagined
it.
How is your heart? The “truth” of
the doctrine of the Holy Trinity will not be found elsewhere.
Shalom
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| Christ before Pilate - "What is Truth" |
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
Time with Jesus – 18 Dec 2013
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
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©
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These
devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright
protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it
is for non-commercial Christian purposes
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©
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INTRODUCTION
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DAILY
LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES
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TRUTH
OR FACTS
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Springbok Radio: For me there is a strange nostalgia contained in
these two words. A desire for things dead and gone. Yet I’m among the many who
deserted radio for the questionable pleasures of Television. I suppose it was
inevitable. Much the same had happened all over the world as the “one-eyed
monster” invaded our homes. It’s still a “one-eyed monster” although some of
us have become a little more discerning. I “cut my teeth” on BBC TV in UK.
Back then, there was BBC and ITV. The essential difference was that ITV had
“commercials”. I’m not charmed when, at a key point in the show, we are interrupted.
We have to see more garbage about the advantage of one washing up liquid
verses another. So I stuck with BBC. There was no equivalent in USA or
Canada. I learned to switch off the sound during the commercials. It was also
a convenient spot to attend to the calls of nature, make a cup of tea or get
a beer out of the fridge.
In 1974, there was no TV in South Africa. This meant that I experienced
a certain amount of withdrawal symptoms from TV’s mindlessness. But, there
was Springbok Radio! Good old Springbok radio. But it couldn’t last. TV
arrived in RSA in 1976. The programmes were bad then. They are worse now.
Thanks to our daughter, we have DSTV. It’s available on all the sets
throughout our home. 3 bedrooms, 2 lounges, our flat and both outside rooms.
She has an Explorer with two channels available for us. There are now some 90
odd channels to choose from. Most of them are junk and don’t challenge the
imagination of a fruit fly. We get bombarded with “truth” constantly. We can
even get the news from Russia. Some of the programmes are in foreign languages.
There is also SABC 1, 2 and 3 as well as E-TV. You’d think that there would
be something worth watching. Well, there is “Animal Planet” and one or two
documentary channels with a bit of crime and investigation thrown in. But, by
and large, to me it is all junk!
Springbok Radio had a programme on Tuesday nights called, “Consider
Your Verdict”. As a youngster I learned to recite, “Do you swear that the evidence you are about to give will be the
truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth” The answer was never “No!” Later, when I’d committed my life
to Jesus and started to get into the Bible, it occurred to me how ludicrous
the statement was. Springbok Radio and the courtrooms of the world have no
idea that the truth is Jesus. 6 Jesus
told him, "I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No one can come to the
Father except through Me. John 14:6 NLT Nothing
else is the truth. No one else can say it. Truth and facts have somehow
merged. It makes life for the Christian somewhat confusing. But after almost
40 years of mind-destroying TV, it’s not really surprising!
Jim & Phyllida
Strickland
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32 And you will know the truth, and the
truth will set you free."
John 8:32 NLT
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Are you among the many who make the big mistake,
Of thinking that a fact is truth? Christians should forsake,
This way of double thinking. These two are not the same.
Jesus said, “I AM THE TRUTH”, which nothing else can claim.
Only He can say that. The truth is Him alone.
It happens to be factual. It also is well known.
A fact may not be Jesus. A fact could be your hat.
But sometime in the future? Well, that’s the end of that!
The truth must be the person of Jesus Christ the King.
And truth is something changeless. It doesn’t bend or swing.
It’s someone to rely on regardless of the facts.
It’s someone sure and steadfast, no matter how life acts.
The truth is only Jesus. He’s absolutely sure,
And even when worlds pass away, Christ Jesus will endure.
Facts have no endurance. They change from time to time.
They are unreliable and hardly worth a dime.
A clock may be misleading. It may say half past three.
But just one second later, that time is history.
My garden may look beautiful. But if it is neglected,
The weeds will soon take over and beauty is rejected.
It is a Man who sets you free; it’s not a bunch of facts.
Of course there’s no denying religious things attract.
But all of our kowtowing and our ceremony,
Are merely the distractions, we think will set us free!
It’s Jesus Christ Who frees us. No substitute will do.
Nothing else can take His place. He’s faithful and He’s true.
And when the “truth” has set you free, you will be free indeed.
It’s not the fancy clothes you wear. That cannot meet your need.
You may comply with all the facts. You may think you are right.
But if you haven’t got “THE TRUTH”, it’s useless in God’s sight.
Facts are the slave woman. So if you’re of her kind,
Then you will be in bondage and freedom you won’t find!
But if you’re a descendent of the woman who is free.
Then Jesus Christ will be your Lord for all eternity.
You never can be justified by following the Law.
That cannot be the reason God gave it to us for.
The facts can never make a path that leads to God Most High.
We have to have the Truth of God; and He will never die.
Jim Strickland
Written
18th
December 2012
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17 For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever
the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
2 Corinthians 3:17 NLT
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2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set
you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:2 ESV
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36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be
free indeed.
John 8:36 ESV
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31 So, dear brothers and sisters, we are not
children of the slave woman; we are children of the free woman.
Galatians 4:31 NLT
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16 yet we know that a person is not
justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also
have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ
and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be
justified.
Galatians 2:16 ESV
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25 But the one who looks into the perfect
law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a
doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
James 1:25 ESV
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1 So Christ has truly set us free. Now make
sure that you stay free, and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law.
Galatians 5:1 NLT
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