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And just as each one of us is one
human being composed of many parts and often having many different titles
that describe or explain us, so, too God in whose image and likeness we
are made. Consider for a moment, we each have toes, feet, legs, knees,
thighs, hips and many other body part; many internal parts
are not even visible, yet we are only one entity or human being. And we
all at one time held the title of baby, son or daughter, toddler, child,
and eventually,truck driver, airplane pilot, doctor, preacher or lawyer
or some other title that described us might include, "Slim" as a tongue-in-cheek
nickname for a very fat person, "Red" for someone with copper colored hair,
or "Champ" for someone who is a winner or something different to different
other people according to our status in life.
So, too, Almighty for God, described
from Genesis to Revelation as the One and Only Supreme Spirit who controls
the universe has been called the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit based
upon what He is doing in the life of the person whose life He is touching
at that time. If one needs healing, God may be Jehovah-Rapha, the healer.
Just as the human doctor is known
as "Doctor" in his office and perhaps on the street, but his children call
him "Daddy", his wife calls him "Honey," and his and his fellow bowlers
in the bowling league may call him "Strike" if he is a thrower of strikes
or "Loser" if he is a poor player. Friends may simply call him John or
Mike or Joe, completely overlooking his title or accomplishments. Still
other people always call him by his title. Should the doctor's child always
refer to him as Doctor? Should his wife always? Are these titles wrong?
Of course not. He is still the same Joe Blow whether he has the word Doctor
appended to his name or is being called "Honey?" by a family member. Well
then, how about his identity? How does the Bank or the credit card company
identify him? By "Daddy," or "Honey," or even "Doctor"? NO, they use his
actual name as linked to a specific account number. Likewise it says authority
to cash the check. So is the Doctor three or four or more persons because
he is different things to different people? Of course not! How silly! It's
that simple. So too are questions about whether "in the name of" means
in His actual name or in His authority is like asking the bank if you can
cash a check simply signed "doctor," "father" or "husband". The bank needs
his name and signature that says he has the authority to cash the check.
Thus, common sense says that although
He did know He was the Son of God, He submmitted Himself to living as a
normal human being right up until the time came for Him to begin His earthly
ministry as the Messiah. Before His baptism by John in the first chapter
of John's Gospel, there is no record of Him performing any miracles
whatever. Could He have done so? To what purpose in the plan of God would
it have served? We do know that at His Bar Mizvah, He did know His Divinity
by His remark when he said, "Wist ye not [meaning don't you understand?)
that I must be about My Father's business?"
He had kept -His earthly parents
reminded of His Divine paternity. Thus, He did have a consciousness that
He was God in he flesh. It appears to me that it was not until He submitted
as a human to being baptized by John, though He had no sins to be buried,
yet based on Romans 6:3,4, if we are to rise with Him to walk in
newness of life, it was not until this point that to He began to perform
miracles such as turning the water into wine at the wedding in Cana
in John chapter 2, that it was when theHoly Spirit came upon Him that His
anointing as the Messiah took place. And in parallel, we who have been
subjection-buried with Him in baptism should rise, as He did, to walk in
newness of life.
This is NOT saying that He had exactly
the same change in His life as we do, for we all have indeed sinned, whereas
He had not. But He did arise out of the water and began to demonstrate
His Divine anointing and nature from that point on and we, as we are transformed
from our caterpillar like lives of just naturally doing destructive things
to a wholly new butterfly-like nature of feasting on God's bounty also
stop chewing on the things of the world and the limitations of stubby legs
and a heavy body and aretransformed into one that can fly quite naturally
through the air with the greatest of ease.
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