Divinity of Jesus

Ever since Jesus showed up on this earth people have been boggled by who He was. If you have read my The Bad News, you would know that I have been encouraged to reread the Gospels. Well, today I finally finished Matthew. Hooray! 

I am not typically someone who sticks with one book of the Bible and reads it straight through, but this has proven to be a very enlightening experience. Thus, from what I have concluded and continue to pursue, I encourage you to join along with me! Surprise, surprise teehee

I have decide to entitle this study "The Divinity of Jesus" as I/we will be looking distinctly at WHO Jesus exactly was. 

This is my prayer:

"Father,

You are magnificent indeed! Captivate us with your Truth presented in the Gospel of Jesus. Help us see, listen, and live out this Truth. Forgive us of our pride. Humble us and make us new, Holy Spirit. In Jesus's name I ask all these things, Amen."

Now, I'll be upfront with you-I probably will not be going through each chapter like a good devotional writer would be. Rather, I'll just be sharing my thoughts based on whenever the Holy Spirit teaches me something personally. So again, I can not say this enough, read the Bible for yourself!

I will, however, try my best to keep up this theme of summarizing at the end of Gospel accounts about who Jesus was. 

So first let me ask you...who was Jesus? Maybe take this time now to grab a sheet of notebook paper and write down your thoughts. It doesn't matter if it's right or wrong at this point. Nor do you have to back up your statements. That's what this study is about.

Now, answer this...who is Jesus to you in your daily life? Do your answers match? Why or why not?

Looking up the word "Divinity" we see that it comes from the word "Divine." Divine, according to Google, means "of, from, or like God."

From this we then must ask, keeping in mind our answers to our previous questions, how does this all tie into knowing God?

Finishing up Matthew, I have made myself a list on the characteristics I saw presented in Jesus. I will put some passages near each description in which I felt best described that attribute. Please share your thoughts on if you agree or disagree. 

Miraculously born-Matthew 1:18-25

God's favor-Matthew 3:13-4:1-11 

healer-Matthew 9: 18-34

provider-Matthew 15: 29-39 

teacher-Matthew 5-7 

instructor-Matthew 10 

profound-Matthew 13 

forgiver-Matthew 9: 1-8 

son of man and God-Matthew 26: 57-27:1-56

Conqueror-Matthew 28: 1-10 

In rediscovering (or maybe you're discovering for the first time) who Jesus was, we are immediately confronted with something out of this world...something some people might say is no different from any other religion...something that is perhaps just made up. 

But in staying on this topic of focusing on who Jesus was before we apply it to our personal belief system or not, we actually see three divine characters at play: God (the Father), God's son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

This in other terms is called the Holy Trinity or three in one. To best describe this concept, I use this picture:

 

Each hand has five fingers. The index finger, middle finger, & ring finger are our longest fingers that are also the most closest in similar height. Although they each have different names and can be used for different purposes, they are the part of the same hand. That hand then we will say is God. 

As we continue to read not only the Gospels, but the Holy Bible in its entirety, we see there are two more "divine" characters-you (the individual) and us (the Body of Believers, a.k.a The Church). 

The Jesus we read about in Matthew and will soon read in Mark, Luke & John, is not just an ordinary man from Nazareth. Nor is He just a good person, a prophet, or an  imaginary figure. He was God. Not an incarnation of God like Hinduism teaches. For He is God. Jesus was fully God and fully man. Yet, He was God's "son."  

I know this doesn't make sense. And I also know that I can never fully explain this to you nor make you believe. I do believe, however; that I can point you to the Truth and the Word says that it will NOT return back void. You will choose to have faith or not to have faith. And Jesus taught on what those two choices lead to. There is no third choice. 

I am here if you would like to discuss more, but for now stay tuned for what discoveries lay ahead in Mark!