It s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Jesus And the angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Luke 1:35 For this month s Digging Deeper study, this statement by the angel Gabriel announcing the coming birth of Christ deserves a deeper look. We begin our study in Luke chapter one. Read the conversation between Gabriel and Mary in verses 28 through 38. 1. Now look at Colossians 4:14. Luke s profession was. 2. Knowing in what field Luke s training had been, we can imagine how Luke must have been fascinated with the information the angel Gabriel gave to Mary. According to verse 35, how would it be possible for a virgin to conceive a child? Some Interesting First Century Cloak and Dagger Luke wrote his detailed account of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ about 30 years after these events occurred. He addresses the letter (see v. 3) to a person he calls Theophilus. Theophilus is a Greek word that means friend of God or lover of God. Now, was this the person s real name? Or perhaps a name created to protect the recipient s true identity? You understand that at the time, Christians were under severe persecution and many were losing their lives. Bible scholar Dr. Paul L. Maier, after years of extensive research, believes Theophilus was an encoded name to protect the identity of the real person receiving this letter. From Luke s descriptive words most excellent (v. 3), it is also believed Theophilus was a respected Roman official. Dr Maier ties him by blood relation and marriage to some of the highest people in Roman government. He may have been the older brother of future Roman Emperor Vespasian. For this reason alone, we can assume Luke wanted to be precise in his detailed biography of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ for his important reader.
3. Most scholars believe the Gospel of Luke was written between A.D.60-68. Luke had to get the details of the Mary/Gabriel conversation from someone. Whom do you guess it might be? The Persons of Luke 1:35 And the angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. (v. 35) 4. How many persons are involved in verse 35? 5. Identify all of them,,,, and. In addition to the angel Gabriel and Mary, in that one verse you have all three Persons of the Holy Trinity. a. God the Holy Spirit is mentioned first as the catalyst to the conception of Jesus. b. the Highest refers to God the. c. that Holy One who is to be born is, of course, God the. 6. This verse specifies all 3 Persons of the Trinity. It also answers for all time the question: Who is Jesus Christ? that Holy One who is to be born will be called the of. Why We Can Say with Authority, Jesus Is God The doctrine of the Trinity is the great Christian distinctive, making our faith different from all other religious systems. The Trinity sets Christianity apart as unique. Islam does not believe in the Trinity. Unitarianism does not believe in the Trinity. Mormonism does not believe in the Trinity. Jehovah Witnesses do not believe in the Trinity. Judaism does not believe in the Trinity. In fact, the concept of the Trinity one God in 3 Persons is a stumbling block to Jews. A CLOSER LOOK AT THE TRINITY THROUGH JEWISH EYES For faithful Jews, one of the most foundational principles of Judaism is The Shema. Shema Yisrael, or Sh'ma Yisrael (Hebrew: שׂ ר א ל שׁ מ ע ;י "Hear, [O] Israel") are the first two words of a section of the Torah, and is the title of a prayer that serves as a
centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewish prayer services. The Shema, Deuteronomy 6:4, says: Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD. It begins the Jewish confession of faith, made up of three scriptural texts. The rest of the Deuteronomy passage continues: 5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. 9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. Deuteronomy 6:4 9, 11:13 21 and Numbers 15:37 41), together with appropriate prayers, form an integral part of Jewish evening and morning services. It is said that pious Jews hope to die with the words of the Shema on their lips. God is one is the capstone of Judaism. For Christians, we know that God in three persons is indeed One. He is One in essence, 3 in persons Even the Jewish Scriptures, the Old Testament, show that Jesus is God. Jesus Christ, Bethlehem s babe, was and is God, and He himself claimed to be. Let s walk through just a few of them: Exodus 3:14 7. God has asked Moses to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. Moses objected, But I can t just go to Pharaoh and say, Let my people go. Who shall I say sent me? Jehovah God answers: And God said to Moses, that Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you. (Ex 3:14) That is, You tell Pharaoh that I AM sent you. This is His name, I AM that I AM, the most sacred name for God in the Old Testament. What does He mean, I AM that I AM? Not I was. Not I will be. Not I had a beginning. But I AM the great I AM, the self-existent God. 8. Turn to John chapter 8 and compare this statement with what Jesus said there. The Pharisees were challenging Jesus, demanding that He give them some credentials, some authority for what He was doing. In a back-handed way they were saying, We don t even know who your Father is. Your mother wasn t married when you were born. Jesus answers them in verse 56. Fill in the blanks:
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see day: and he saw it, and was glad. Then said the Jews unto Him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily I say unto you, before Abraham was,. Not I arrived here before Abraham did. But There never was a time when I was not. I AM the great God of Exodus chapter 3. I am the I AM. That s why they picked up stones to kill Him. They knew exactly what He was saying, and to them it was blasphemy stating there was more than one God. Daniel 3:25 9. In Daniel 3:25 we have the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, tossed into the fiery furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar for refusing to worship an idol. In they go, but soon King Nebuchadnezzar looks in and exclaims, I see men and the form of the fourth is like the of. What King Nebuchadnezzar saw is what is called In Scripture a theophany. What is a theophany? Remember, this study is called Digging Deeper. A CLOSER LOOK AT THEOPHANY Theophany comes from Greek: theo- (god) + -phaneia (to show) and means a visible manifestation or appearance of God to man. Bible scholars use the word theophany to indicate any time in Old Testament Scripture when God appeared to Man before Jesus birth at Bethlehem. Scholars McClintock and Strong 1 put it this way: "God reveals himself only in Christ (Matthew 6:27). A theophany, therefore, is more accurately called a Christophany, or the appearance of God in Christ. The fact that Almighty God appeared to man in the Old Testament is well documented. He temporarily clothed Himself in flesh during these appearances, called theophanies. Genesis 18 1 John McClintock and James Strong, Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Eccliesiastical Literature, First published Harper and Brothers, 1867-1887, Baker Book House, 1981.
10.The entire 18 th chapter of Genesis is a theophany an appearance of the Second Person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, in the Old Testament. Even before King Nebuchadnezzar, God visibly appeared to Abraham as a man. Turn to Genesis 18. 1 Then the LORD appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. 2 So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three were by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, 3 and said, My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant. 4 Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. 5 And I will bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, inasmuch as you have come to your servant. At first, Abraham only knows he has 3 ordinary human visitors. He offers them the hospitality of getting to wash their feet and eating a meal, which we can assume they did. But note that the passage says in verse 1, Then the appeared to him, with 2 other companions (angels). Abraham did not immediately know that. Read this chapter for the remarkable continuance of this theophany, during which it becomes clear to Abraham that this is a visit, in the flesh, by God Almighty. 22 Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before (WHO?) the. (v. 22) Knowing now it is the Lord, Abraham says, 27 Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to Genesis 32:24-30 11. You are probably familiar with the account of Jacob one night when he was in dire straits, wrestling with a man who finally overpowered him. In this account, in verse 30, Jacob says, 30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel (face of God) For I have seen face to face, and my life is preserved.
Psalm 2:6-7 12. God begins by saying, Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: [Jesus is speaking now] The LORD has said to Me, You are My, Today I have begotten You. God the Son speaks of God the Father: The Lord has said unto Me, Thou art My Son. The Second Person of the Trinity is speaking about what the Frist Person of the Trinity (God the Father) has said to Him. Proverbs 30:44 13. The writer asks, Who hath established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is s, if thou canst tell? That name is Jesus. Isaiah 9:6 14. This is a classic Christmas verse: For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty, The Everlasting Father The Mighty God, literally translated, is the God-Man. Conclusion Jesus Christ is the Son of God and God the Son. That s the reason God the Father said in Hebrews 1:5 Thou art My Son. This day have I begotten Thee. And again: I will be to Him a Father, And He shall be to Me a Son Only to Jesus did the Father say, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever (Hebrews 1:8). God the Father testifies by these words to the world that Jesus Christ, His Son, is indeed God.
We will close our study today at this point. You do not depend solely upon what the New Testament says to confirm that Jesus Christ is also God, the incarnation of God the Father, come to earth in human flesh. From all of us at Love Worth Finding, may you and your loved ones have a blessed Christmas, where the Son of God, the Prince of Peace, brings His peace to your hearts.