Jesus in the Old Testament

[0:00] Well, in connection with considering requests that you have made about prophecy regarding the Lord Jesus, both the Old Testament and the New, it's like everything else in the Scriptures, it's a subject that has no bottom to it.

[0:17] And I'm satisfied even before we engage this that we will probably not succeed in scratching the surface, but if we are able to scratch the scratch on the surface, that will suffice because there is so much more.

[0:37] So in speaking of the Lord Jesus, let us go to, well, let's go to where it all began.

[0:47] Let's go to Genesis 1.1, because many people are not aware that Jesus is in Genesis 1.1, but He is, and we'll explain that. It has to do with the nature of the union that exists between Father and Son and Spirit, which union we are deficient in understanding, for sure.

[1:11] So, let's look at that first verse, if we may, and we read that in the beginning, God. There He is, right there.

[1:23] Now, the typical reaction might be, well, now wait just a minute, that's talking about God, that's not talking about Jesus. Well, it's talking about both. Because the word for God, in the beginning, God, in the Hebrew, is Elohim.

[1:42] Elohim. Now, the plural for God is Eloah. E-L-O-A-H is the way we would spell it. But the word that is used here for God is Elohim.

[1:58] Elohim. And you put, in the Hebrew, you put an I-M on the ending, and that pluralizes the word. We pluralize the word by adding an S.

[2:10] Elohim. And that means the plurality. But in Hebrew, they add an I-M. So, you get Eloah is a singular for God.

[2:23] Elohim is a plural for God. Elohim. And the Hebrew, in all of the manuscripts, uses Elohim. Elohim.

[2:33] In fact, I think it is 2,570 times in the Old Testament where Elohim is mentioned. And something like, the numbers escape me, I'm not sure about these, but I think it's something like 6,830 or something like that, where Jehovah is used, that is translated L-O-R-D in the English, but it is all capital letters, as opposed to L-O-R-D in small letters, which may mean just an individual who is superior to another, as they would discuss in the Old Testament, where one would call another Lord, and it simply means you are my superior or my master.

[3:21] It doesn't mean that you are God. But the capitals L-O-R-D, and you'll notice in your Bible, you'll find them probably whatever translation you have, that there is a distinction made, but it's one that tends to escape us.

[3:35] But it's there for a reason, and the translators did us a favor when they used the capital letters as opposed to the smaller case letters. So here, in the very first verse, we've got, in the beginning, God, or Elohim, God's plural.

[3:51] But the problem is, in Judaism, there is an expression that is characteristic of everything that is connected with Judaism and with God, and it is in Deuteronomy 6,4, and it is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one.

[4:19] And that is, if you want to call it a motto, that's the motto of Judaism, and it's Deuteronomy 6,4. And when you use that expression, the Lord our God is one, then they have a problem with Genesis 1,1, because there's a plural used there.

[4:37] And it is, in the beginning, God's created the heavens and the earth. How can that be? Because there's only one God. Well, truth be told, guys, we're talking about, we're talking about an aspect that is above and beyond our ability to understand, and I wish more people understood that.

[4:58] But they tried to make sense of the Trinity and the nature and character of the Godhead, which consists of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But there are not three gods.

[5:11] There's one God subsisting in three persons. Well, how does that work mathematically? It doesn't. It doesn't. And it simply suggests that there is a plane, there is a level that is reserved for deity, and the definition thereof and the explanation thereof that simply goes beyond our ability to understand.

[5:38] And that is a bitter pill for humanity to swallow because we have a thing about us called pride, and it says something to the effect, well, if I can't understand it, I won't accept it. It has to make sense to me.

[5:50] If it doesn't make sense to me, it can't be right. And that's just human ego talking. But, fellas, there are a whole lot of things, if you stop and think about it, that don't make sense to you, but you accept them anyway.

[6:05] And you do because it is so obvious. But anyway, Jesus is in this very first verse, and so is the Holy Spirit. Well, let's read on a little bit. In the beginning, God Elohim created the heavens and the earth.

[6:20] The earth was formless and void. Darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God. There's the third person there. Spirit of God. Holy Spirit.

[6:31] Not to be confused with the Father or the Son. Yet, the Spirit is not one-third God. And the Son is one-third God. And the Father is one-third God.

[6:43] They all comprise one deity subsisting in three persons. How does that work? I have the slightest idea. I just absolutely do not know. And not only that, but there are a couple of other things in the Bible that escape me too.

[6:57] And this is the very first chapter and the very first verse is right over our heads. So I want you to understand what we are talking about in connection with the deity of Christ.

[7:10] And that means the God-likeness of Christ. Christ. And in connection with the question that was submitted of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and Christ in prophecy and fulfilled and so on, it is imperative that we understand that.

[7:27] So, we will move on. Well, while we're still here in the same chapter, let's just mosey on down through the chapter just a little bit. And if we'll look at verse 26, Then Elohim said, Elohim said, Let us.

[7:46] Well, now that's a plural. It doesn't say, I shall or let me, but it is let us. Who's the us? Well, you know, the best that our Jewish friends can come up with because this just gives them fits.

[8:03] It's in their own language and they struggle with it, but they've got to find a way around it. Because it seems to contradict, it seems to contradict Deuteronomy 6.4.

[8:16] The Lord our God is one. So, you've got to make these fit. And that doesn't fit. Let us. Well, this is clearly, clearly God is speaking to the angels.

[8:29] Well, that's a real stretch to believe that. Because we have absolutely no reason at all to believe that angelic beings have any powers of creation at all.

[8:42] They themselves are created beings. So, the us comes right back to that same problem of Elohim. Let us make man in our image.

[8:54] Well, what is that image? Well, we'll look at that just a little bit later because it is very significant. And if you look at Genesis 2 and verse 7, we read, then the Lord God, and here, by the way, is Jehovah Elohim.

[9:14] You see the word Lord is all capital letters. And that is in reference to Jehovah, as we mentioned. Can we back up just a minute to that verse 1? What? 1.1.

[9:25] Okay. Or in Exodus 2, the second one. Hovering over the waters, it says created the heavens and the earth. But how could you be hovering over the waters if it was created the heavens and the earth?

[9:36] How did the waters get created? How did the waters get created? I mean, the water was created the same way the earth was. Ex nihilo. Out of nothing.

[9:49] Out of nothing. How can you create something out of nothing? You can't. It's impossible. But God can.

[10:01] And He brought everything that is in existence, and we're talking about all of the planets, all of the universe, and this little dinky thing called planet Earth.

[10:12] This little seemingly tiny insignificant thing in the midst of all the rest that's out there that is so mind-boggling. And He created it all out of nothing.

[10:23] That's a Latin term. Ex means out of, from which we also get the word exodus. And nihilo is from the word, well, it's related to the word annihilate, which means to take out of existence or completely remove it.

[10:43] So God created everything, all material substance. was made from nothing. Well, that wasn't even right.

[10:53] It was created from nothing. We don't create anything. We make things, but we don't create anything. We don't bring into existence something out of nothing.

[11:06] And that requires a job description that exceeds ours. That's what the deity does. All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made that was made.

[11:19] And He made it all out of nothing. That, too, is mind-boggling. But that's okay, because we don't have the mind of God.

[11:29] We've got a definite inferior mind to that of God, and yet we have an edge and an ability to at least comprehend the greatness and the majesty of this creating being and how all things came into being.

[11:49] It is just, well, mind-boggling is the word. So, the Spirit of God in verse 2 is another member of the Trinity. And I want you to look.

[12:00] We're back in chapter 2 and verse 7. The Lord God, it is Jehovah Elohim, formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being.

[12:26] And I think that would probably be better rendered and man became a living soul. Because a soul represents the totality of our being.

[12:40] We do not have a soul. We are a soul. And as a soul, we are comprised of materiality, flesh and bone and blood and all of that good stuff, and immateriality, which is spirit.

[13:01] And the most significant thing about spirit is our inability to really grasp this. Yet, every one of you has one. And it is that immaterial part of your being so that when you come to personal faith and trust in Jesus Christ, it is that immaterial part of your being, your spirit, that is quickened and made alive in Christ.

[13:31] Your body, physical body, is not altered at all. If you had a broken leg or only one arm when you came to faith in Christ and you trusted Him as your Savior, He didn't give you another arm.

[13:48] He didn't heal your broken leg. It is a spirit thing that is the real essence of our being. And that is the part of you that is regenerated or made new in Christ.

[14:02] And the body is not changed at all. Time is coming when it will be and our bodies will be fashioned like unto the body of Christ. This is the Romans 8 thing and it's a beautiful passage.

[14:14] But for now, we live as a trinity ourselves comprised of the soul which is made up of immateriality and materiality.

[14:29] So it is the body and the spirit that comprises the soul. That's the totality of your being. And by the way, that's an interesting expression that is used even today particularly in the maritime industry and the airline industry.

[14:46] And captains, ship captains talk about so many souls on board. It's interesting that they use that term. And airline pilots, they talk about so many souls on board.

[14:56] And it's a curious expression because that's about the only place you hear it used in our vernacular. But it's very significant. It goes way back a long ways. And, well, I've got to move on.

[15:08] I'm going to be the devil's advocate again. Okay. There's a scripture in the Bible that says there's a soul, spirit, and body. Now you just told us that the soul is made up of the body and the spirit.

[15:24] Well, in this verse, as you read it, it says there's, it mentions all of them separate. Soul, spirit, and body. Like there's three actual parts to us, not just two like you've just explained.

[15:39] First Thessalonians. So, okay, I don't know where it's at, but it's in there. Now how do you explain that? I mean, that would look like a contradiction that's in there. Well, I can't say that, I wouldn't consider it a contradiction.

[15:51] I just consider it an expression of reality. But maybe we can look at it later. But if we go there now, it'll blow all the rest of the study. So just put it on hold, okay? We'll get back there.

[16:02] And it's a good question, good legitimate question. So what we've got here is God breathed into the nostrils the breath of life. Now, the tendency, of course, of many in reading this is, well, you can't take that literally.

[16:20] Okay? So we don't take it literally. How do you take it? What's left? I don't know. I don't know.

[16:32] I think it's very literal. I think it is a very hands-on thing. You've got to have a respect for the physicality that God created for a specific purpose.

[16:43] And that is our physical body. Because, guys, if God is going to create beings such as humans, he has to have an environment in which these humans can exist and procreate if he's going to continue that.

[17:14] And this is precisely why he created heavens and earth. Because his intent was, and the completion of his act was, to create beings that occupy space and time.

[17:30] And if we are going to be physical beings, everything that is physical occupies space and time. I don't care I don't care if it's a microbe, it occupies space and time.

[17:41] And if beings made in his image and in his likeness are going to occupy space and time, they have to have an environment in which they can live. That's why heavens and earth were created.

[17:53] For us, specifically for us, so that we would have a habitation, a place in which we could dwell and thrive and so on. So apart from that, it wasn't even necessary for God to create materiality at all.

[18:09] And you've got to realize, guys, that God is spirit and he is, he is not a spirit. He is spirit. And there is a difference.

[18:21] And in his spirit being, he has no body. Nor did he have any need for a body. But I better not go there.

[18:39] In connection with our being, physical beings, we've got to have space and time in which to exist. And that's why God created the heavens and the earth. Because, see, before that, so far as we can determine, before there was any creation of heaven and earth, before there was any creation of man, there were angels created.

[18:58] But the angels are strictly spirit beings. They were not created with materiality. They were, in some respect, like God, in that God is spirit and angelic beings were spirit also.

[19:12] They had no body. And guys, can you think in terms of, if you can, you're a better man than I, can you think in terms of God existing, creating angels, all of whom are spirit beings and there are no planets, there's no universe, there's no stars, there's no earth, there is nothing that is physical.

[19:33] Yet there is God who is immaterial and the immaterial beings he created called angels. That is pre-Genesis 1.1.

[19:47] That is before everything. And the only reason we can give for God having chosen to create anything physical and planet earth on which to put them is in accordance with that passage in Revelation 4 that simply says that physical creation was brought into existence because it pleased him.

[20:13] He decided to do it and he did it. And that's as far as we can go. It pleased him to do so. So we've got here beginning in the Trinity and the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground.

[20:26] He breathed into his nostrils the breath of light and man became a living being or a living soul. This gives him capacity for relationships. and the idea of a physical body having been formed from the dust of the earth.

[20:45] And by the way it is not coincidental that the physical chemical bodies that make up your body the elements that make up your body are all found in the earth.

[21:02] So we are taken from the earth and it shows up in our body because your body physically is comprised of the very same thing as dirt.

[21:16] The soil of the ground. And it was from that that man was originally created and he created him in his image.

[21:27] Now I hadn't intended to go here but sometimes so what. you know we're in no hurry. When he created him in his image what's that mean? We are created in God's likeness and image.

[21:44] The tendency is to equate the two and say well they're the same thing. The Hebrew calls it a tautology which you use two different words to mean the same thing. But I don't think that that's necessary because to be created in the image of God speaks of physicality.

[22:03] Physical expression. When you see something that is an image of something else whether it's an idol or statue or whatever it is it's an image of something you always think in terms of physicality.

[22:18] One might say that Jones boy he's a spinning image of his father. It means he has characteristics that makes him look just like his dad.

[22:30] So that has to do with physicality but we are also made in God's likeness and what's that? That is our spirituality.

[22:43] God is spirit. So we are made a physical being and a spirit being at the same time because this lifeless body that we would call the first man Adam which by the way means of the earth or of the clay of the soil was a lifeless body created in God's image.

[23:08] Well what was God's image? What's that mean? And when we talk in terms of the eternal nature of Christ and what I'm suggesting and I know guys this is going to sound pretty far out but I'm satisfied that I'm on solid ground with it.

[23:28] Who is this that's doing all this creating? Who is it? How is it that he formed this man from the dust to the ground and what would you do if you were shaping something out of clay you would use your hands wouldn't you?

[23:42] And you would form that thing and make that thing and as mind blowing as it is that's that's how Adam was made he was physically constructed from the soil and put together now I grant you it is mind blowing to think in terms of good grief what about heart and blood and kidneys and all of this stuff well that's all part of the package and when it says that we are made in God's image it means it means that God had a pattern from which to work Jesus yeah what was the pattern?

[24:21] Jesus the pattern was deity to begin with it was a Christophany now we tend to think of Jesus as being a Christophany or that is an appearance of Christ beforehand and and we don't think in terms of humanity but that's exactly the way he appeared and we'll see later on in our study maybe not today but perhaps next time where Christ is found in the Old Testament long before thousands of years before Bethlehem well what's that all about?

[24:59] what that is all about is an expression of the eternality of the Son of God let me put it this way too because this is part of the mind boggling essence we're talking about Jesus Jesus in his humanity never existed as Jesus until Bethlehem that's when he took upon that's when that's when deity that's when the word was made flesh and dwelt among us that was Bethlehem that's when he was born there prior to that time he had always existed Jesus as a man began in Bethlehem but Jesus didn't even exist as a man prior to that he existed only as the Son of God what was that?

[25:56] he was just the Son of God there with the Holy Spirit and with the Father but he wasn't Jesus until like the angel said to Mary thou shalt call his name Jesus which means deliverer or saviour for or because he will save his people from their sins so before Bethlehem he existed and we already saw him in Genesis 1 1 but he didn't exist as Jesus he didn't exist as a human being yet he existed eternally as the Son of God now we've got another problem we've got a Father and a Son and we've got the Holy Spirit and each of these make up the Trinity or the Godhead and neither is into the area of the other but each is deity in his full right none is superior to the other although we tend to think of the Father being superior especially because

[26:57] Jesus in his humanity referred to his Father I do always those things that please him and I came to do his will and etc but there is an equality that exists in the triune Godhead that is also part of our mind-blowing attempt to try to comprehend so what I'm saying is in the pre-existence of Jesus which is what we have here in Genesis there is a form in which he existed as and when he created Adam and I suggest that he was there in physical form so he made Adam in his own image which means he made Adam physically to look like himself physically with a body with one head and two arms and two legs and so on so that

[27:57] Adam and Eve except in her femininity Adam and Eve looked much like the person who created them he wasn't some kind of a mysterious gaseous substance but he had physicality to him and it was with that physicality that he created something physical and what it was was Adam and Adam looked much like the creator in his image this is called a pre-incarnate revelation of Christ and when you stop and think about it everything about him should and does exceed everything that we can put together so all we're trying to do is just get a handle on this I wish I understood it better because if I did I would explain it more but I can't so let's go let's move on when you talk about this and yet Jesus said you've seen me you've seen my father yes well we as humans interpret that we see a human being how do you interpret this and what you're saying well

[29:07] I know it doesn't mean that yeah when Jesus said I and my father are one and in John 8 and verse 58 he says this is kind of mind boggling too Jesus says before Abraham was I am what's that mean it means he existed before Abraham well when Jesus said that Abraham had been dead 2,000 years before Abraham was I am and the I am in the in the Greek is a word that is so expressive and he doesn't say before Abraham was I was but before Abraham was I am he's the eternal I am he's not the I was or the I will be he is forever and ever the I am the always present existent one and put that in your pipe and smoke that's just part of what we're looking at here let's go we've got to move along guys let's go to Genesis 18 while we're still in the book of

[30:16] Genesis Genesis chapter 18 this is this is a remarkable thing and by the way our Jewish friends just have fits with this because they just cannot correlate these things and make them fit and we can't either from the standpoint of fitting into a nice neat little package that we would like because it just it just won't work that way all I'm suggesting guys is that deity exists on a plane that is far greater and higher than our ability to grasp and I think it was Howard Hendricks who was a professor at the time at Dallas Theological Seminary and he was taking questions from his students and one of his students said I have a question professor and he said what is it and he said how do you explain the trinity and

[31:20] Howard Hendricks went and gave the definition that he could give as best he could and the young man said well prof is that the best you can do and Hendricks said yeah that's that's the best I can do he said tell me does it bother you that the omniscient omnipresent omnipotent God has characteristics about him that escape your understanding does that really bother you well when you put it in terms like that can we cut God some slack and say okay I have my questions and I have my doubts but I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt okay what Joe no no okay so here in Genesis 18 before we even get out of the book of

[32:26] Genesis we're dealing with Abraham and I want you to look at chapter 18 beginning with verse 1 now the Lord notice the capital letters there this is Jehovah the Lord appeared to him that is to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of day guys this has got physicality scribbled all over it he's sitting at the tent it's the heat of the day and this is as physical as you can get and he lifted up his eyes and looked behold three men it doesn't say anything mysterious about him it just says three men how else are you going to take that M-E-N other than to mean three men so to Abraham they look just like three men they just look like men that he knew they were who knows maybe six feet tall maybe 180 pounds who knows but they look like men they were dressed like men they're going to talk like men and they're going to eat like men and he saw them he ran from the tent door to meet them bowed himself to the earth and he said my Lord you see how that word spelled look at that that's not

[33:45] Jehovah he doesn't know who these are he thinks they're men they represent deity at least one of them does my Lord small l small o small r small d as opposed to chapter verse 18 and verse 1 if now I have found favor in your sight please do not pass your servant by and of course he's speaking of himself in the third person he's saying please don't pass me by let a little water be brought wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree and I will bring a piece of bread that you may refresh yourselves after that you may go on since you have visited your servant again he's talking about himself third person and they said so do as you have said Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and this is the typical husband passes the responsibility on to his wife and he puts her on the cook stove so then they say after they eat she hurried to prepare it

[34:51] Abraham hurried to prepare it he took curds and milk and so on and they said to him where's Sarah your wife he said she's in the tent he said I will surely return to you notice the I and he said I will surely return to you at this time next year and behold Sarah your wife shall have a son and Sarah was listening at the tent door which was behind him and she starts giggling hey they've been trying to have a baby for years no success every time every month would it become time for her menstrual circle or cycle they always hoped that it wouldn't start and that would indicate oh things have taken hold she's pregnant but no she'd start bleeding again and go through that again and disappointment and Abraham would have to ask her what's going on she would tell him well maybe next month this went on for years so they were now in advanced age past childbearing she left and when she says in verse 12 my lord being also who's she talking about talking about her husband

[36:05] Abraham she's calling him her lord typical expression then and the lord now look at the capitalization again in verse 13 the lord said to Abraham why did Sarah laugh now he's the one that's saying I will return this time next year and she's going to have a baby and this of course is the god of all created life and living who is speaking and the men rose up from there looked down towards Sodom this is after they had their meal Abraham was walking with them to send them off that's our equivalent to seeing someone to the door and he's just walking with them to say their final goodbye and and the lord said shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do and I'm going to cut to the chase on this and suggest that what he is about to do is completely destroy Sodom and Gomorrah and they enter into this little bargaining thing about finding some who are righteous there and so on and the end result is there are none there that are righteous except for

[37:23] Lot and his wife and they are going to be able to escape it but the rest of course are going to perish and we're not going to enter into this exchange that takes place between him and them but I do want you to come over to verse verse 33 as soon as he had finished speaking to Abraham the lord departed and Abraham returned to his place and now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening who are these two angels they are two of the three strangers that appeared to him in the earlier chapter they appeared as human beings but they're not human beings at all they are angels who assume the posture and the presence of a human being so they look just as much like a human being as you and as I so the third one of this trio is none other than

[38:23] Jehovah himself I think that it is a pre-incarnate revelation or experience appearance of Jesus Christ 2000 years before Bethlehem and it was this same being who fashioned Adam from the dust of the ground and fashioned him and made him in his own image by that I mean gave him physical structure that looked like his own so when this takes place the Lord departed in verse 33 Abraham returned to his place the angels came to Sodom in the evening forget the chapter division here just keep right on reading and you'll see the incident that happens with Abraham and the destruction of the city now in chapter I better not do that okay let's let's just get into this real quick while we've got a little bit of time let's go back to the New

[39:28] Testament and John John's Gospel chapter 1 what Joe make it short why do you suppose God he dealt with them back then with Jesus appearing to people and interacting now he called the distanciation of the church age which we live in now versus back in the prophecy time why do you suppose God deals with us different now we've never heard of any stories of anybody like we hear of UFOs and stuff we never hear of any stories of Jesus or God a figure appearing to them and telling them this now we don't do that we don't hear of that why do you suppose God is dealing different with us than them all I can all I can suggest is that God deals with humanity in accordance with their need at the time and the need changes with man developing and making progress in certain areas his needs change his perspectives change and God accommodates that because we are fearfully and wonderfully made and we are in a developing humanity we tend to think of course that we are the ultimate because we are the latest but in many ways we are the most advanced when it comes to technology and all of that good stuff but at the same time while we have made a lot of improvements for man we have not improved man you get that that's a really important concept to understand we've found ways of making things better but we haven't found ways of making people better that's an entirely different issue so

[41:17] I wish I could give you a better answer to that but let's look at John's gospel chapter one in the beginning when the beginning began is another way of reading it was the word now that's an interesting expression right what does that mean the word is logos in the Greek l-o-g-o-s logos and it means literally word or reason it has to do with it's like an all encompassing term and when the scripture says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God the word word in logos is a word from which we get the word logic logic is something that is arrived at through a thinking process an intelligent thinking process we exercise logic and long story short what this boils down to in this passage is that

[42:29] Jesus Christ is the logic of the father and in that form of logic he is going to send him into the world so in the beginning was the word and that of course is reference to Christ and the word was with God and the word was God now that presents a problem of understanding how can this be and our Jehovah's witnesses that deny the deity of Christ translate this that in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was with God or like God but the text in the Greek won't accommodate that it's flat out exactly the way it says and that by the way too drives a lot of people up the wall because in our level of understanding in our human mind we have difficulty if not impossibility computing this and that is simply another expression of

[43:37] God saying listen I'm putting a lot of this content in accordance with my terms my comprehension don't be upset if you can't add two and two and get four just I want you to trust me and believe me I know what I'm doing and I am not like you I am removed from you can you accommodate an inferior status to humanity that's our problem right there we don't we don't want to do that we want to be equal with or above so he was in the beginning with God all things came into being by him and apart from him this is still talking about the word in verse one apart from him nothing came into being that has come into being the Greek labors here to make this point and does so very rigidly and very definitely it's as if the spirit of

[44:47] God who inspired this is saying now I know that you are not going to think this means what it says and I'm going to take extra pains to state it in such a way that it can't be misunderstood I want you to get this I'm not asking you to understand it I'm asking you to get it and that's exactly what he's setting forth here in him was life and the life was the life of men and so on talks about his coming in verse 10 he was in the world the world was made through him what the world was made through him but this is talking about Jesus yep the world was made through him he is before all things and by him all things consist well who made the world anyway I thought God the father made the world he did Jesus made the world he did the spirit of God made the world he did the spirit of God brooded upon the face of the waters and brought forth all of these are active in this and all are going to be active in the crucifixion and in the resurrection all three persons are going to be active in that and here in this text we've got this monumental passage in

[45:57] John 1 and verse 14 and the word what word is that that is the same word as in verse 1 that's the same word that's the logos that's the logic of God the word became flesh what's that mean that means Bethlehem that means baby Jesus that means he was conceived of the virgin Mary made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory glory as of the only father only begotten from the father full of grace and truth what does that mean John who wrote this is speaking from personal experience when he said we beheld his glory the we is himself and Peter and James what yeah Peter James and John they beheld the glory of the Lord in the transfiguration it is a beautiful thing when he takes him up to the mount of transfiguration and there they are transfigured he is

[47:06] Jesus is transfigured before Peter James and John are there guess who else shows up here here's Abraham and Elijah what in the world they've been dead for a thousand years two thousand years what are they doing there they are beautiful thing the text says they were talking with Jesus and they were discussing his departure where's he going to depart from he's going to depart from earth after his resurrection and he's going to go back to the father in the ascension in Acts chapter 1 and that's what they're talking about these two Abraham and Elijah have been there and they are discussing with Jesus his return to heaven so the word verse 14 the word became flesh and dwelt among us we beheld his glory glory as of the only begotten from the father full of grace and truth that

[48:20] I'm sorry I was getting ahead of you that's exactly what I was going to mention that's the sermon for us right here that verse is the sermon for us he came for the father full of grace and truth and that's what he did for us he does it for us anyone who calls upon him gets that grace of salvation everlasting life to heaven thank you and later in John's for the law came by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ you see Moses was a preacher of the law John the Baptist was a preacher of the kingdom Paul the apostle is the preacher of grace got to keep those three in mind and you see the progression that is following there and each of those each of those is God addressing the current need of humanity as to whatever it was at that time and he is with us all the way providing the sufficient revelation for whatever generation comes along and what is needed at the time he is if you may use the term

[49:38] Johnny on the spot he is right there with what is needed for whoever needs it at that time it's a beautiful concept John bore witness this is John not to be confused with John the Baptist this is John the revelator who wrote this gospel and also wrote Revelation 1st 2nd 3rd John John bore witness of him John John who is writing is talking in verse 15 about John the Baptist he is not talking about himself and he says John bore witness of him that is John the Baptist bore witness of Jesus and cried out saying this was he of whom I said he who comes after me has a higher rank than I for he existed before me what does that mean he didn't exist before him or did he now stop and think in his humanity he didn't exist before him why because

[50:52] John the Baptist was six months older than Jesus Mary the mother of our Lord had a cousin by the name of Elizabeth and Elizabeth is past childbearing age they had given up on having babies and the angel appears to Zacharias and says your wife Elizabeth is gone and Zacharias is already saying no no way that cannot happen and the angel ends up saying well I gave you the truth and you should have believed me but because you didn't you're going to be smitten with muteness you're not going to be able to talk all the while your wife is pregnant so Zacharias wasn't able to talk at all until the baby was born and then they have a celebration everybody gets together because they're going to circumcise the baby and on that day they're going to name the baby and they're talking about what are you going to name him and they're talking to

[52:03] Elizabeth the mother and they're all kicking around family names and what not and they don't arrive at a conclusion and Zacharias opens his mouth and for the first time in nine months he's able to say something and he says his name John and that was his name John the Baptist so this John that he's talking about John the Baptist in verse 15 bore witness of him and cried out saying this is he of whom I said he who comes after me has a higher rank than I for he existed before me and he is here ascribing a pre existence of Jesus to that of Bethlehem because physically he didn't exist before him he wasn't born until six months after John was born but he existed as son of God before that time and well okay

[53:08] I've got I've got quick next week I'm going to bring you the study I intended to bring this morning can you go to 16 one more verse there okay one more verse he says out of his fullness we have always seen given what does that mean in place of grace already given we're going to receive grace in place of grace already given well the grace of God has always been an element and present for humanity from the beginning there are just different manifestations and different levels of the grace of God that I guess we could say that it developed and kind of grew in accordance with the deed of humanity over the years so it is grace for grace I can't go into it further because the food is here and I've already lost everybody's attention thank you thank you Michelle for the great service appreciate it we'll continue this next week guys and by the way

[54:11] I'll try let's do this next week next week let's open with the Q&A and if you have questions or comments if your memory is no better than mine jot them down and you can feel free to ask your questions next week at the beginning that way we'll make sure that we have time we'll start we'll Q&A so feel free to bring your questions and submit them you you comeами going listings new