The Christs of God

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Many titles and names are descriptive of His divine mission and ministry. At the moment of betrayal, Peter drew his sword against Malchus, a servant of the high priest. During all of the taunting, abuse, scourging, and final torture of crucifixion, the Lord remained silent and submissive—except, that is, for one moment of intense drama which reveals the very essence of Christian doctrine.

That moment came during the trial. Pilate, now afraid, said to Jesus: One can only imagine the quiet majesty when the Lord spoke: What happened thereafter did not come because Pilate had power to impose it but because the Lord had the will to accept it. Before the Crucifixion and afterward, many men have willingly given their lives in selfless acts of heroism. But none faced what Christ endured. He by choice accepted the penalty in behalf of all mankind for the sum total of all wickedness and depravity; for brutality, immorality, perversion, and corruption; for addiction; for the killings and torture and terror—for all of it that ever had been or all that ever would be enacted upon this earth.

In so choosing He faced the awesome power of the evil one, who was not confined to flesh nor subject to mortal pain.

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How the Atonement was wrought we do not know. No mortal watched as evil turned away and hid in shame before the Light of that pure being. All wickedness could not quench that Light. When what was done was done, the ransom had been paid. Men at last were free. Then every soul who ever lived could choose to touch that Light and be redeemed. It was not an unknown word, for it had been used much in the Old Testament in connection with the law of Moses, but once only in the New Testament.

I find that to be remarkable. I know of only one explanation.

Jacob defined the great and abominable church in these words: And they were restored. I quote but one verse from Alma: Only once in the New Testament but 39 times in the Book of Mormon. What better witness that the Book of Mormon is indeed another testament of Jesus Christ? And that is not all. Forty-seven references of transcendent importance. And that is not all!

Hundreds of other verses help to explain the Atonement. According to the plan, agency must be honored. It was so from the beginning, from Eden. Whatever else happened in Eden, in his supreme moment of testing, Adam made a choice. There was too much at issue to introduce man into mortality by force. That would contravene the very law essential to the plan.

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Adam saw that it must be so and made his choice. Adam and Eve ventured forth to multiply and replenish the earth as they had been commanded to do.

The creation of their bodies in the image of God, as a separate creation, was crucial to the plan. I use it now—twice: In mortality men are free to choose, and each choice begets a consequence. A redeemer was sent to pay the debt and set men free. That was the plan. In a profound lesson, Alma taught the plan of redemption to his son and so to us. If punishment is the price repentance asks, it comes at bargain price. Consequences, even painful ones, protect us. Except for the pain, the child might be consumed. I readily confess that I would find no peace, neither happiness nor safety, in a world without repentance.

I do not know what I should do if there were no way for me to erase my mistakes. And was rebuilt with the great, unshakable, stone pillars of truth about Jesus. For several days he spends time with the disciples in Damascus v. And Luke tells us in two crisp statements what was at the heart of Saul's new worldview. Jesus, the hated, rejected, crucified criminal, is the Son of God and the long hoped-for Messiah. Isn't it amazing that the last words we hear coming out of Saul's mouth before his conversion are, "Who are you, Lord" v. Surely Luke wants us to see that this is foundational to being a Christian and foundational to the rest of Paul's life as the greatest missionary who ever lived.

What I am praying will happen now in this message is that God will reveal his Son to you in new ways so you can enjoy fellowship and life in him. Paul said in Colossians 2: He said in Philippians 2: He is the radiance of [God's] glory and the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power. He is not a mere man or a high-ranking angel in human form.

He is truly man and truly God. When we call him Son of God, we mean that he is of the same nature as God. Fathers create things unlike themselves, but they beget sons like themselves. Lewis puts it like this:. When you beget, you beget something of the same kind as yourself.

A man begets human babies, a beaver begets little beavers, and a bird begets eggs which turn into little birds. But when you make or create , you make something of a different kind from yourself. A bird makes a nest, a beaver builds a dam, and man makes a wireless set or a computer. So when we say that Jesus is the Son of God, we mean that God has begotten his Son in his very same divine nature, nothing less, from all eternity.

Begetting is a metaphor, a picture, that tries to hold two truths together: But 2 the Father and the Son are one God not two Gods, one essence, one divine nature. From all eternity, without any beginning, the Father has always had a perfect image of himself and a divine reflection or radiance equal to himself, namely, the Son. In Colossians Paul describes Jesus as the Son of God's love, implying that the love for his divine Son is utterly unique from the love God has for all his human children by adoption. And two times in the earthly life of Jesus—once at Jesus' baptism and once on the mount of transfiguration—God the Father broke in and said, "This is my beloved Son.

So when we call Jesus the Son of God, we should have in our minds the truth that he is God and that there is a relationship of infinite love between God the Father and God the Son that is different from all other loves. But let's ask why this was so crucial for Saul and for Luke that they put it right at the front of the ministry. The first thing Saul proclaims is, "Jesus is the Son of God.

Consider these four truths about the Son of God and see if you don't think the truth of Jesus' Sonship deserves first place. So it was the coming and the dying of the Son that gave us the gift of adoption. So if you confess the Son, you have the Father also—have him as Father. And if you have the Son and the Father, then you have everlasting life.

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And not only for the ages to come, but right now the Son of God works for us so that our lives should be described as living by faith in the Son of God. So it is not surprising that Saul and Luke would put this truth at the very beginning of Paul's missionary preaching: It needs to be right at the front end of our Christian lives too.

It needs to be one of the central pillars in our understanding of reality. Jesus is the Son of God. I want you all to know the Son of God and to have personal, intimate, hour-by-hour, trustful, saving fellowship with him; and to have the Father with him; and to have life in them; and to enjoy the exalted place of adoption through the Spirit of the Son; and the gift of redemption and reconciliation and conformity to the Son; and the power of victory over the devil. I want all this for you. So how do you come to know and have the Son like that?

Jesus said in Matthew Then in Matthew Do you remember how Jesus responded?

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