December 25, 2001
Scientists now claim to have cloned a ‘human being.’ This is not as impressive as it first sounds. Their clone was not an exact duplicate of the cell donor as was “Dolly” the famous cloned sheep from Scotland. The best they could do was a human ‘embryo.’
An embryo is “an unborn or unhatched offspring in the process of development, especially an unborn human in the first eight weeks from conception.” If this clone was “developing,” it did not get very far — only six cells. In other words, it did not survive to the point of being visible.
These scientific gurus also fell short of their stated purpose for cloning. They hoped to produce stem cells but this tiny, six-celled mass did not have stem cell capacity within it. It could not form itself into various other cells required in a human being, such as brain, hair, muscle, etc. Without that ability, who knows what it might have become?
One wonders how this six-celled creation could be called a ‘human’ embryo. Many people will not tag ‘human’ on a eight-week old fetus even though it has fingers, toes and a heartbeat. They say an unborn child is not human — only a “blob of tissue.”
Creating a human from another human might become possible but even if science accomplishes this so-called feat, God will always stand far above our efforts. In the first place, He created a man from the dust of the ground. After breathing life into that man, He later put him to sleep and from his rib created a woman. Now that is an accomplishment!
Those who consider this story a myth have to dismiss God entirely or at least say He hasn’t any power. They are left with the theory that people evolved over millions of years from apes, and apes came from a lesser life, and lesser life evolved from a single cell that accidently appeared as atoms clashed in some primordial soup.
Granted, maybe faith in God is more difficult because if we believe in Him, we must also believe and acknowledge that we are no longer the perfect creatures that He initially created. Since pride is part of the reason we are no longer perfect, we struggle with that part of faith.
No problem for God. He knew we could not do it alone so He did something even more amazing than the creation of Adam and Eve; He Himself became a human so He could save us.
Until recent computer and film technology, I could not offer anything that compares to the Incarnation. God in human flesh? How can that be? Yet I “saw” a leopard become a person through the magic of morphing. Through the eyes of technology, one became the other.
In the case of God, He did not lose His own identity by morphing into a human being; He remained fully God. And the person that God became was nothing less than fully human, yet He was also fully God. Through the eyes of faith, we see Jesus “who being the brightness of God’s glory and the express image of God’s person. . . and by Himself purged our sins.”
The man, Jesus Christ, was totally human. He breathed, became hungry, thirsty, and tired, and ate, drank, and rested. He had emotions; He cried and laughed. He was intelligent and understood human needs. He had a will for He decided to obey His Father rather than yield to Satan’s temptations.
The man, Jesus Christ, was totally God also. He could see into the human heart and declare a person’s motivations. He was powerful — “even the wind and the sea obeyed Him.” He was also sinless, something true of deity only.
By taking on flesh, God did something unique. No one can duplicate His feat. We might be able to ‘create’ flesh but it would not be anything like Jesus Christ. Instead, the result will be more sinful people, just like ourselves. Why add more rebels to a world already filled with them?
Even stem cell research makes no sense. No matter what science comes up with to cure disease and prolong life, without a changed heart, living longer only adds more time for sin. Our real need is not duplication in triplicate but the salvation God offers us through the death and life of Jesus Christ, His remarkable clone.
Showing posts with label incarnation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label incarnation. Show all posts
Friday, May 11, 2018
Friday, August 14, 2015
Who is Jesus? ................ Parables 313
April 14, 1992
Graffiti, found on a university wall says:
Jesus really did ask this important question to His disciples: “Who do you say that I am?” Today’s average man-in-the-street responds by saying He was only a man, maybe a great teacher or prophet, but still only a man. With that, they are forced to conclude that the Bible is not historically reliable (even though it is the most well-documented book in all history) because it says He is far more than a mere man.
Others say Jesus was a kook, some sort of religious nut. However, if that is true, we base our calendar, major holidays, and a large portion of our legal and ethical system on the life and sayings of a religious nut?
Others say Jesus was a liar, a grand fraud who claimed to be God in the flesh. According to them, He was simply not telling the truth. But if that is true, many of His followers have given their lives for a lie rather than admit they had been fooled.
I can’t buy that. Anyone who is convinced they saw a man alive after He had been crucified and put in a tomb has far more reason to die for their belief than a person clinging to some lies in a “hope-so” kind of way. After all, if Jesus offers eternal life to all those who trust Him, and if He rose from the dead Himself, why not die for that belief? Death merely ushers you into eternal life! Besides, the disciples lived with Him for over three years. Not one of them ever called Him a liar.
So who is Jesus? Only a man? Does a mere man walk on water, calm storms with a word, heal the sick, raise the dead, and start a movement that lasts 2000 plus years in spite of organized efforts to stop it? I cannot think of anyone else that has done what Jesus has done.
Was He a kook? A fool? Do fools live like He did? They may get themselves in trouble for their claims (Jesus did), but they do not gain the respect of anyone who honestly examines their life. Jesus lived to serve others, loved the unlovely, called hypocrites to account, and never broke one Old Testament law. Fools do not fit His description.
Liars don’t live like He lived either, even clever liars. Besides, there is no motive for falsehood. He gained absolutely nothing positive or personally beneficial by saying what He did about Himself. Instead, it made the religious leaders of His day so angry that they killed Him.
Jesus Himself said that those who saw Him saw the Father. John wrote that He was the “Word who existed in the beginning with God” and in fact “was God” (John 1:1). The writer of Hebrews said, “He is ...the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being...” Paul said, “He was ...in very nature God, (yet) did not consider equality with God something to be grasped... (Philippians 2:6). Instead, He became one of us.
The Bible says Jesus was born as a baby, grew up in a home with human parents, learned how to obey them as His Heavenly Father commanded, and when the time was right, He died for us. In other words, God pulled on humanity so He might deliver us from our sins by paying the penalty for them Himself... something no mere man, no fool, no liar would or could ever do.
Only God could act as our substitute or proxy because only God had no payment of His own to make. Furthermore, only God could rise from the dead and offer us forgiveness and eternal life. He may have done these things inside the skin of a man, a very real and fully human man, yet He could be none other than who He claimed to be. All other possibilities are easily eliminated.
God, being God, is not limited to what we can understand. We may not be able to grasp the mechanics of how God could become a man, but understanding the incarnation is not our responsibility — believing it is.
Jesus still asks, “Who do YOU say that I am?”
Graffiti, found on a university wall says:
Jesus said unto them: “Who do you say that I am?”This bit of wit is not intended to imply Jesus is unable to understand verbal gobbledegook. The point is, many “educated” people in their efforts to be profound often miss the simplicity of who He is.
And they replied, “You are the eschatological manifestation of the ground of our being, the kerygma in which we find the ultimate meaning of our interpersonal relationships.”
And Jesus said: “What?”
Jesus really did ask this important question to His disciples: “Who do you say that I am?” Today’s average man-in-the-street responds by saying He was only a man, maybe a great teacher or prophet, but still only a man. With that, they are forced to conclude that the Bible is not historically reliable (even though it is the most well-documented book in all history) because it says He is far more than a mere man.
Others say Jesus was a kook, some sort of religious nut. However, if that is true, we base our calendar, major holidays, and a large portion of our legal and ethical system on the life and sayings of a religious nut?
Others say Jesus was a liar, a grand fraud who claimed to be God in the flesh. According to them, He was simply not telling the truth. But if that is true, many of His followers have given their lives for a lie rather than admit they had been fooled.
I can’t buy that. Anyone who is convinced they saw a man alive after He had been crucified and put in a tomb has far more reason to die for their belief than a person clinging to some lies in a “hope-so” kind of way. After all, if Jesus offers eternal life to all those who trust Him, and if He rose from the dead Himself, why not die for that belief? Death merely ushers you into eternal life! Besides, the disciples lived with Him for over three years. Not one of them ever called Him a liar.
So who is Jesus? Only a man? Does a mere man walk on water, calm storms with a word, heal the sick, raise the dead, and start a movement that lasts 2000 plus years in spite of organized efforts to stop it? I cannot think of anyone else that has done what Jesus has done.
Was He a kook? A fool? Do fools live like He did? They may get themselves in trouble for their claims (Jesus did), but they do not gain the respect of anyone who honestly examines their life. Jesus lived to serve others, loved the unlovely, called hypocrites to account, and never broke one Old Testament law. Fools do not fit His description.
Liars don’t live like He lived either, even clever liars. Besides, there is no motive for falsehood. He gained absolutely nothing positive or personally beneficial by saying what He did about Himself. Instead, it made the religious leaders of His day so angry that they killed Him.
Jesus Himself said that those who saw Him saw the Father. John wrote that He was the “Word who existed in the beginning with God” and in fact “was God” (John 1:1). The writer of Hebrews said, “He is ...the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being...” Paul said, “He was ...in very nature God, (yet) did not consider equality with God something to be grasped... (Philippians 2:6). Instead, He became one of us.
The Bible says Jesus was born as a baby, grew up in a home with human parents, learned how to obey them as His Heavenly Father commanded, and when the time was right, He died for us. In other words, God pulled on humanity so He might deliver us from our sins by paying the penalty for them Himself... something no mere man, no fool, no liar would or could ever do.
Only God could act as our substitute or proxy because only God had no payment of His own to make. Furthermore, only God could rise from the dead and offer us forgiveness and eternal life. He may have done these things inside the skin of a man, a very real and fully human man, yet He could be none other than who He claimed to be. All other possibilities are easily eliminated.
God, being God, is not limited to what we can understand. We may not be able to grasp the mechanics of how God could become a man, but understanding the incarnation is not our responsibility — believing it is.
Jesus still asks, “Who do YOU say that I am?”
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Incarnation ............................. Parables 082
In his book, DEATH OF A GURU (Harvest House publishers), Rabindranath Maharaj said that he believed he would be reincarnated as a cow, therefore he spent hours staring at one, intent on her characteristics, putting all other thoughts out of his mind. He relates what a shock it was when this revered creature finally noticed him, became angry, and charged at him. It was one of several upsetting events that caused him to re-examine his belief in reincarnation and finally abandon it.
Reincarnation is the belief that a soul returns after death to live in another body. Although neither the word or the concept are mentioned in the Bible, Christians use another word that sounds very much like it. The word is “INCARNATION.” Actually, this word is not in Scripture either, at least in this English form. The New Testament was written originally in Greek and the component parts, “in carne”, are in the original text.
Incarnation refers to a unique event regarding the person of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God. He left heaven, came to earth and occupied a human body. This event is unique because it happened only once, to one unique person, who lived in one body, for one lifetime, yet still lives - in that same body, forever.
Jesus Christ was born, fully man, nearly 2000 years ago. The Bible says that His mother was Mary, but His Father was not Joseph, Mary’s husband, but the Spirit of God. John 1:14 says that “God became flesh and lived among us.” Therefore, Jesus was unique, the God-man, and God did this unique thing in order to “save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).
Man had originally been created in the image of God (not a physical image because God is spirit, and no man can see Him, but with moral, mental, emotional, and volitional capacity), yet human beings have failed to reflect the likeness of God because of rebellion against Him.
Because He is holy and just, God says those who rebel against Him (sin) must die. But He is also a God of love and mercy so He determined a way to pardon the sinner yet still satisfy His wrath against their sins.
His remedy was to provide a substitute, one who would die for the sins of others, making it possible for sinners to live. This substitute had to be a man to qualify as payment for man’s guilt, yet more than just another sinner with his own debt of sin towards God.
There was only one way to satisfy that criteria: God Himself came in human flesh. He, in a fully human body lived a perfect sinless life even though He was tempted to sin just as we are. Then He died the death that others deserve. But, because He did not deserve to die, He rose from the grave where He had been buried, and later ascended into heaven where He “lives forever to make intercession for us.”
That is the “en carne”, the incarnation.
No one ever has been, nor ever will be, God in the flesh again. The Bible calls Jesus the “ONLY begotten Son.” He is unique.
Furthermore, when Jesus died, it was in the body He had been born and grown to manhood in. When He rose again, it was also in the same body, a glorified body, somehow uniquely changed, yet still bearing the marks of the nails in His hands. It was this body that the disciples saw and touched. They watched Him eat and drink. Then they watched Him ascend and disappear into a cloud with the promise that “this same Jesus will come again” - in the same body. (Acts 1)
His soul did not and will not return in another body. Jesus was not and will not be “re-incarnated”.
The message of the Incarnation gives unique hope to those who believe in Him. God says that as we gaze into His glory, we are transformed, by the power of His Spirit, to be like He is... to be all that God intended us to be, clean from the sin that spoils the image we were created to reflect. Later, when we die, we will be raised to eternal life - in our bodies made incorruptible like His glorified body, fit to live forever with Him.
Reincarnation is the belief that a soul returns after death to live in another body. Although neither the word or the concept are mentioned in the Bible, Christians use another word that sounds very much like it. The word is “INCARNATION.” Actually, this word is not in Scripture either, at least in this English form. The New Testament was written originally in Greek and the component parts, “in carne”, are in the original text.
Incarnation refers to a unique event regarding the person of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God. He left heaven, came to earth and occupied a human body. This event is unique because it happened only once, to one unique person, who lived in one body, for one lifetime, yet still lives - in that same body, forever.
Jesus Christ was born, fully man, nearly 2000 years ago. The Bible says that His mother was Mary, but His Father was not Joseph, Mary’s husband, but the Spirit of God. John 1:14 says that “God became flesh and lived among us.” Therefore, Jesus was unique, the God-man, and God did this unique thing in order to “save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).
Man had originally been created in the image of God (not a physical image because God is spirit, and no man can see Him, but with moral, mental, emotional, and volitional capacity), yet human beings have failed to reflect the likeness of God because of rebellion against Him.
Because He is holy and just, God says those who rebel against Him (sin) must die. But He is also a God of love and mercy so He determined a way to pardon the sinner yet still satisfy His wrath against their sins.
His remedy was to provide a substitute, one who would die for the sins of others, making it possible for sinners to live. This substitute had to be a man to qualify as payment for man’s guilt, yet more than just another sinner with his own debt of sin towards God.
There was only one way to satisfy that criteria: God Himself came in human flesh. He, in a fully human body lived a perfect sinless life even though He was tempted to sin just as we are. Then He died the death that others deserve. But, because He did not deserve to die, He rose from the grave where He had been buried, and later ascended into heaven where He “lives forever to make intercession for us.”
That is the “en carne”, the incarnation.
No one ever has been, nor ever will be, God in the flesh again. The Bible calls Jesus the “ONLY begotten Son.” He is unique.
Furthermore, when Jesus died, it was in the body He had been born and grown to manhood in. When He rose again, it was also in the same body, a glorified body, somehow uniquely changed, yet still bearing the marks of the nails in His hands. It was this body that the disciples saw and touched. They watched Him eat and drink. Then they watched Him ascend and disappear into a cloud with the promise that “this same Jesus will come again” - in the same body. (Acts 1)
His soul did not and will not return in another body. Jesus was not and will not be “re-incarnated”.
The message of the Incarnation gives unique hope to those who believe in Him. God says that as we gaze into His glory, we are transformed, by the power of His Spirit, to be like He is... to be all that God intended us to be, clean from the sin that spoils the image we were created to reflect. Later, when we die, we will be raised to eternal life - in our bodies made incorruptible like His glorified body, fit to live forever with Him.
Friday, November 15, 2013
ADVENT ......................................... Parables 042
Christmas gets an enormous amount of put-downs. It is “too commercial,” “a big nuisance,” “the loneliest time of year,” and a host of other assorted negatives. Sometimes those sad truths can bury the uniqueness of Christmas, and we forget how special this celebration really is.
Christmas is the advent of the Son of God. Advent means “coming or arrival” and could be used to describe the birth of any child. But “advent” describes the birth of Jesus Christ.
What was so unusual about the arrival of this Child that His birth is called the Advent? He was born of a woman. That is very ordinary. He was born in a stable. That isn’t exactly normal, but many babies have been born in stables, perhaps even during that same crowded night in Bethlehem.
Yet His birth was different. It, and the location of it, had been foretold hundreds of years before. That made it unusual. People were uniquely guided there by angels and by a star. That is not normal. Also, angels brought messages to Mary and Joseph concerning this baby’s name, His identity, and His purpose for coming. Parents do not usually experience that.
Additionally, all other babies are conceived, without personal self-determination about their existence. But the Son of God did not begin His life in Bethlehem. He always existed. Child of the eternal Father, He is an eternal Son, with no beginning, and no end. That makes His advent most extraordinary.
He came from another realm, another domain. He came from beyond what we could know, or see, or touch. It was His desire to leave eternity, and enter time. He arrived in that stable, through the womb of that woman, because He choose to do so, not because someone else wanted to have a baby. And the Bible tells us that He did it because of His great, eternal love for us.
Commercialism, and the sorrows experienced at Christmas are symptoms of the fact that most people have forgotten (or have never realized), that Christmas is a reminder of a marvelous, never-to-be-repeated event.
Because of His Advent, we need not be bound to the negatives of our existence, its sorrows and limitations. In His love, Jesus Christ punched a hole into where we are - not only so He could get in, but so we can get out, so we can enjoy the benefits of His eternal love. To do that, we need to experience a different kind of advent, a very personal “birth experience,” where the Son of God is reborn into our hearts.
For those who know the second advent, the first one has a significance that cannot be overshadowed by the negatives of the season. His coming is marvelous, but the fact that He is still here, in me, is blessing beyond comprehension.
Christmas is the advent of the Son of God. Advent means “coming or arrival” and could be used to describe the birth of any child. But “advent” describes the birth of Jesus Christ.
What was so unusual about the arrival of this Child that His birth is called the Advent? He was born of a woman. That is very ordinary. He was born in a stable. That isn’t exactly normal, but many babies have been born in stables, perhaps even during that same crowded night in Bethlehem.
Yet His birth was different. It, and the location of it, had been foretold hundreds of years before. That made it unusual. People were uniquely guided there by angels and by a star. That is not normal. Also, angels brought messages to Mary and Joseph concerning this baby’s name, His identity, and His purpose for coming. Parents do not usually experience that.
Additionally, all other babies are conceived, without personal self-determination about their existence. But the Son of God did not begin His life in Bethlehem. He always existed. Child of the eternal Father, He is an eternal Son, with no beginning, and no end. That makes His advent most extraordinary.
He came from another realm, another domain. He came from beyond what we could know, or see, or touch. It was His desire to leave eternity, and enter time. He arrived in that stable, through the womb of that woman, because He choose to do so, not because someone else wanted to have a baby. And the Bible tells us that He did it because of His great, eternal love for us.
Commercialism, and the sorrows experienced at Christmas are symptoms of the fact that most people have forgotten (or have never realized), that Christmas is a reminder of a marvelous, never-to-be-repeated event.
Because of His Advent, we need not be bound to the negatives of our existence, its sorrows and limitations. In His love, Jesus Christ punched a hole into where we are - not only so He could get in, but so we can get out, so we can enjoy the benefits of His eternal love. To do that, we need to experience a different kind of advent, a very personal “birth experience,” where the Son of God is reborn into our hearts.
For those who know the second advent, the first one has a significance that cannot be overshadowed by the negatives of the season. His coming is marvelous, but the fact that He is still here, in me, is blessing beyond comprehension.
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