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• Christ: Model Of Perfect Manhood!

           I hope you and yours have had a great 4th and weekend. Because of the way the founders obtained American independence, our nation has a special reverence for what is considered the noble rebellion of persons and peoples that throw off the shackles of royal or any other type of government tyranny. This reverence for rebellion is part of the cultural DNA of the nation and is prominent in many churches that practice Christianity the religion of men. So, without any shame, many professing male and female Christians have sided with the world in all of its foretold rebellion against God and His Word in these latter days to include its definition of a man (Psalm 2:1-3).
  
           However, in every generation of men since Eden, God has had those that remain faithful to Him in spite of the rebellion of others supposedly equally religious and even at the cost of their lives (Genesis 4:1-8; Luke 11:37-54). I take my stand among the faithful that the immutable God and Creator has not changed His definition of what a man is from the beginning of creation and that Jesus Christ is eternal Manhood in perfection! As the Lord leads, I briefly lay out my biblically drawn case in this blog repost and more fully in my just re-released book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics.
  

   

  Originally Posted October 20, 2013

   

              As it is written, God is man’s Creator that purposely made him “in the image and likeness of God,” (Genesis 1:26, NKJV). However, perfect Adam rebelled against his Creator in sin. Yet, God loves man and sent the Word and Son of God into this world to save the willing by faith through His own death on the cross for man’s sins and bodily resurrection to immortality on the third day after (John 1:1-18; Romans 5:6-11). Reconciled back to God, such men come up under the work of God to fully restore them not in accord with their fallen, sinful nature and character in the flesh, but God’s eternal, perfect nature and character fully displayed by the Son of God, Jesus Christ (Galatians 5:16-25; Ephesians 5:1-14; Hebrews 1:1-4). And so, redeemed men are called to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” as the divine garment of eternal, perfect Manhood that was taught and displayed by Him who was Adam’s prototype before creation (Romans 5:14, 13:14; 1 Corinthians 15:47-49, NKJV)!

   

              In my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics, I am led by the Father to focus entirely on His Son as the Father’s joyfully presented model of perfect Manhood and the Strong Man of God (Matthew 3:16-17). His is the image men in God pleasing restoration are being transformed to conform to (Romans 8:29). As the Lord Jesus bears the divine nature and character, so, also aspiring strong men of God in His image; as He had several roles the Father designed for Him to act out of, so, those that aspire to be strong men of God in His image.

   

              Concerning roles assigned the Lord by the Father, there were several including Christ, King, Prophet, Priest and Lamb of God! His conduct in these roles as others was influenced by the perfect nature and character of His uppermost and eternal role as the Son of God (Luke 2:48-49; John 5:17-19, 20:17)! In the same way, God has purposed that men who will become like Jesus have as their number one role being eternal sons of God in His image (Luke 11:2)! Then, they are Christ’s disciples, husbands and fathers or celibates, sons of their parents, servants of God and humanity.

   

              Therefore, fully restoring men requires those that win and disciple them to cooperate with God to help the men understand who and what they are as unique creatures designed to fulfill multiple roles--some temporary for this present age only and a few eternal--He has assigned them. Once more, their foremost role in the image of Christ is to live now and forever as sons of God! Developing in nature and character in their primary role as sons through the agency of the Holy Spirit, these aspiring strong men of God in the image of Christ excel in all of their other roles as He did and does!

   

              For example, the Lord does not call Himself to be High Priest, but is first identified as God’s Son. And He is not said to “learn obedience” as the Christ, King, Prophet, Priest or Lamb of God. But it is written, “though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered,” (Hebrews 5:5-8, NKJV). It was His demonstrated faithful obedience as a Son that showed Him qualified to serve and function in superior fashion as the “Author of eternal salvation” and in His role as our “High Priest” (Hebrews 5:9-10, NKJV).

   

              So, while many in the churches, denominations and Christian men’s movement of American Christianity major on men as good husbands and fathers which are solely temporary roles for this present age, it is only possible that men functioning in those roles will finally begin to hit the biblical mark of pleasing God in them when they are first fully functioning as His eternal sons in the image of Christ! Thus, there is frustration in the often well intended efforts at restoring men because steps are being skipped or eliminated and emphasis is in the wrong place; the proverbial cart is being put before the horse.

   

              Sinful men no matter how well intended can come up with a program for anything that will work better than the one God has already put in place! God’s unchanging program for fully restoring men begins with their salvation through genuine faith in the Gospel of His Son, Jesus Christ, and making them sons by spiritual rebirth--something only He can do (John 1:12-13)! God then develops His aspiring strong men of God in the image of Christ as eternal sons through bringing them to sold out devotion to Christ as His disciples--their second eternal role. For we shall line up behind, follow, be taught by and serve our Lord Jesus Christ forever (Luke 14:26; John 12:25-26, 14:1-3, 17:24; Revelation 20:4, 22:1-3).

   

              God makes no exceptions to His program: first comes salvation, then sonship, discipleship and the heart of a servant to God as eternal roles; after these comes all other temporal roles which of rank importance if not assigned by God to be a lifelong celibate is being a husband, father and son of one’s parents as adults. The apostle Paul as great as he would become is a prominent example in the New Testament of God’s “no exception” in His program for fully restoring men (Acts 7:54-8:3, 9:1-30; Galatians 1:11-2:10).

   

              Again, for those of us who have been burdened and called by God to fully restore men, our mission is to cooperate with Him in His already established program for doing so plainly laid out in His Word, not attempt to come up with our own! As obedient sons, disciples and servants, we are to serve as His vessels to make (witness and proclaim the Gospel) disciples of Christ, baptize and teach them His commandments and instructions exclusively (Matthew 28:18-20). This is why my book is subtitled, Back To Basics. God’s program for fully restoring men is so basic and plainly presented in the Bible.

   

              But supposed Christian men are sitting in the pews clueless to the fact God has called them to be strong men of God in the image of Christ and in many cases, are ruined spiritually if they are in church at all! And is it any wonder that untold numbers of professing Christian men fail spiritually, morally and ethically as pastors and leaders especially among the churches of manmade Christianity the religion which pride themselves on self-sufficiency since God’s program for preparing men for service is discarded for their own (1 Timothy 3:1-13)? I exhort pastors, elders, denominational and men’s movement leaders that are guilty to repent and let’s get back to God’s program for restoring men from the Bible as faithfully presented in my book.

• Jesus Christ King And Judge!

            There is no other way to say it but directly: those of you who have been and are being taught by whomever Jesus Christ is only lowly, meek and mild are being deceived!  Truly, by His own testimony the Lord Jesus does invite persons weary and heavily weighted down from the “labor” of life in sin and religion to “Come to” Him, “take” His “yoke upon” themselves “and learn from” Him because He is “gentle and lowly in heart.”  In doing as He says, these persons “will find rest for” their “souls,” (Matthew 11:28-30, NKJV).  To the humble, He presents Himself gentle and humble.  But the proud in their sins should beware; this same Jesus holy and strong is King and Judge of all mankind!¹

   

            Even His Personal advance man, John the Baptist, was concerned if in fact Jesus of Nazareth was Israel’s long awaited Anointed of God--her promised King and Deliverer.  After sending back word to John, the Lord essentially gave his eulogy and followed this sharply rebuking three cities of the Galilee that had been privileged to see many of His mighty works of power including Capernaum where His ministry was headquartered (Matthew 11:1-24).  Then, the Lord Jesus prayed to His Father in the hearing of all present and on the basis of Their mutual knowledge and relationship, immediately pivoted to His hearers to issue the invitation cited in the opening of this post (Matthew 11:25-30).

   

            Their King stood in their midst loving on them, but they did not receive Him because He did not fit their preconceived profile nor subscribe to their practice of external religion that blinded them as evidenced by what happens in Matthew 12:1-45.  He invited faith in Him by the same kind of humble persons He had previously called “Blessed” in a sermon proclaimed to those assembled to Him on a mountain (Mathew 5:1-6, NKJV).  Gentle and humble as “The Lamb of God” is part of the character and demeanor of Christ He still presents to those at this very hour that come to Him humble and broken in their sins (Psalm 51:16-17; John 1:29; Philippians 2:5-8; 1 Peter 1:18-19, NKJV).

   

            Unfortunately, either through genuine or willful ignorance or purposeful deception, many have portrayed the Lord Jesus as only “The Lamb” or worse, still the cute, harmless “Babe” in the manger.  This has led to many false teachings such as Christ being not just tolerant, but accepting of biblically defined sin, His endorsement of other gospels including that built on covetousness for prosperity at all times and syncretism that seats Him at the table with religious figures and idol worshippers antithetical to His Word.  And as if these were not enough as examples, many professed Christians deny God's Word denying Christ is now, “the Judge of all the earth,” (Genesis 18:25, NKJV)!²

   

            Blinded by flawed presuppositions, reading into Scripture, purposeful corruption of the same and personal desires for what they want Christ to be, the false teachers also fail to see who He is in fullness not only as “The Lamb of God,” but “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David,” (2 Samuel 7:12-17; Jeremiah 23:5-6; Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:30-33; Revelation 5:5-6, NKJV).  Validated by His resurrection, in strength and manner of a warrior He commenced issuing commands out of His delegated royal authority and continued reigning from the throne He shares with His Father upon being seated after His ascension (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:4-11; Ephesians 1:15-23)!³

   

            To this hour the risen Christ reigns and as Judge is directly responsible for giving authorization for every judgment that has been and will be carried out on earth just as His Father assigned Him (John 5:24-30; 1 Corinthians 15:20-28; 2 Corinthians 5:9-11; 2 Timothy 4:1, 8; Revelation 20:11-15).  He judges with the ready mercy He displayed at Sodom, as foretold of and taught by Him (Genesis 18:23-33; Isaiah 11:1-5; John 7:24).⁴  Thus, not the righteous or the unsaved humble He foreknows will come to Him need fear.  It is the proud wicked to include religionists who resist the Gospel and insult His Person and cross by inventing other ways for folk to come to God besides Him that have much to fear at His soon coming in wrath (John 14:6; Acts 4:8-12; 1 John 2:18-23).⁵

   

            A proud, overzealous religionist and Pharisee named Saul of Tarsus came to understand something of the terror involved encountering the risen Christ in His glory.  In persecution of Christ’s followers, he was on his way to Damascus, Syria to round up and bring any back to Jerusalem in chains.  A light “suddenly” engulfed him “from heaven.”  “He fell to the ground and heard a voice” not gentle in tone, but resolute and full of authority.  The Speaker identified Himself as “Jesus” and Saul “trembling” addressed Him “Lord,” (Acts 9:1-8, 22:6-11, 26:12-15, NKJV).  Jesus in royal posture and fearful roar will be gloriously revealed from Heaven for all to see with the foretold results (Jeremiah 25:30-31; Matthew 24:29-31; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; Revelation 1:7-18, 6:12-17, 19:11-16)!

   

            When He comes, He as King and Judge will reign as He has from His resurrection; doing so in His whole eternal character and demeanor as foretold in prophetic Scriptures.⁶  For example, Psalm 99 declares His universal worship alone as “the LORD our God” and repeatedly emphasizes His holiness (vss. 1-3, 5, 9, NKJV).  In His strength He loves justice and sees that it is administered with equity and righteousness; giving His laws as He once did with the saints of old (vss. 4, 6-8).  Indeed, He will not be defeated in bringing forth justice for all (Isaiah 42:1-4)!  This reality precludes the resumption of abominable idolatry, sorcery, sexual immorality, lying, exploiting and oppressions of any kind during His reign for He “will be a swift witness against” the guilty as Judge (Malachi 3:5-6, NKJV).

   

  1 Read the three-part post beginning January 29, 2017, Jesus, Son Of Man, under the category, The Cause.

  2 The  Lord  did  not  lose touch with any of His eternal designations or former experiences as deity in His permanent incarnation as the Man, Jesus of Nazareth.  In fact, in

     Genesis 18:25  Abraham  spoke  truthfully  in  that  moment  of  His eternal standing as God the Judge and also prophetically, as the Man his future Descendant since He

     stood before him in Human form (John 8:56-59)!

  3 As the second Adam, Christ gloriously reigns fully God and fully immortal Man!  See the August 11, 2019 post, The Man From Heaven, under the category, Glory To God!

  4 Read the two-part post beginning July 18, 2021, God: No Repentance, No Peace, under the category, Call To Repent.

  5 See the March 28, 2021 post, The Righteous Wrath Of God, under the categories, Bible Prophecy and The Cause.

  6 I  present  Christ’s  blended  character and demeanor of Lamb and Lion as that of the Strong Man of God and what the Father wills to conform His adopted sons to as His

     image  in  my  book, The  Strong  Man  Of  God: Back To Basics.  The book and companion Strong Man Of Men’s Group Study are available at your favorite internet book

     seller and in the Strong Man Store.

• God’s Kingdom Restored To Earth!

              Far from the supposedly hope quenching gloom and doom view of Bible prophecy foretelling the apocalyptic end of this present world as we have known it even many professed Christians hold, is the gloriously bright reality captured in the phrase, “the Lord reigns,” (Psalms 93:1, 96:10-12, 97:1-9, 99:1-3; Revelation 19:6, NKJV)!  These three words are exclaimed on the earth and in every other realm of existence after the victory of Jesus Christ at Jerusalem!¹ Indeed, elect, mortal Israel and surviving Gentiles of His grace are urged to join the glorified immortal saints in joyful celebration of the King; singing His praises with awe and jubilation (Psalms 47, 98, 100, 150:1-4; Isaiah 12)!

   

              As the faithful reflect from this mortal vantage point prior to the coming Day of the Lord, it is beyond tragically sad that all of humanity does not accept God’s free offer of salvation and restoration through repentance and faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ!  For knowing the end from the beginning, salvation and restoration has been in God’s heart from eternity when He saw that man would sin.  Giving His creature free will, God also saw that many would exercise it and reject His gracious offer of pardon with immortal glory.  For this reason, any sadness we have now should move the faithful to proclaim the Gospel and witness Christ to unsaved fellow humanity with all the more zeal!

   

              For truly, we of all people have known from God’s Word that deliverance from and an end to this present evil age governed by fallen angels was finally going to come.  Rule over the earth or any part of physical creation was not intended for them, but man under the sovereign and righteous reign of God (Genesis 1:26; Psalm 8).  However, Adam rejected God’s rule (Genesis 2:16-17, 3:1-6)!  Nevertheless, the Day of the Lord was telegraphed in His foretelling of Satan’s defeat by the Seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15)!  Patient and longsuffering over the millennia, God first celebrates restoration of His Kingdom rule through Christ outside 1^st century Jerusalem (Colossians 2:11-15).

   

              Doing my assigned Kingdom work with many tears for the lost and disobedient professed Christians along the way, I gladly leave it behind for a moment and in God’s will come to the foretold second celebration of His rule restored by Christ at Jerusalem!  With His prophetic Word, faith and Kingdom vision causing me to be in attendance, I join in the celebration--shouting, clapping, dancing and singing praises to King Jesus; yes, in unrestrained joy shouting with all of my voice “the Lord reigns, He reigns forever and ever!”  “All glory, praises and honor be unto Him!”  Then, like David, with total abandon I dance before the “King of glory,” (2 Samuel 6:12-15; Psalm 24, NKJV)!

   

              Subsequently, I realize again I and all of the saints around me are shining with God’s glory and explode in fresh inexpressible joy--yet, I am expressing it fully (Daniel 12:2-3; Matthew 13:41-43; 1 Corinthians 15:47-49, 54-57; 1 Peter 1:3-9)!²  My slave forefathers may have truthfully sung “nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen.”  On this Day, though, everyone under, on and positioned over the earth knows my joy in the Lord with all of the saints for His victory; vindicating our faith, hope and suffering in Him (2 Thessalonians 1:3-12)!³  “Glory to God; glory to the ‘King of Kings and Lord of Lords’ who reigns and alone is worshipped forever more” (Zechariah 14:9, 16-19; Revelation 11:16, NKJV)!

   

              As foretold, the King One with the Holy Spirit will reign in the reverence of His Father in truth, righteous judgment, unimpeachable justice that punishes wicked mortals in accord with what their sins deserve, divine wisdom, knowledge, strength, perfect fairness, impartiality and tenderness toward the meek (Deuteronomy 32:3-4; Psalm 99:4-5; Isaiah 9:6-7, 11:1-5; Matthew 5:5).  Men will be taught the ways of the Lord and from Jerusalem His law will go forth throughout all the earth.  In consequence, under His rule a real, thorough and lasting peace will prevail on the earth.  Men will turn their weapons into tools and study war no more forever.  The ferocity and carnivorous behavior of related plants and animals will cease (Isaiah 2:1-4; 11: 6-10; 65:24-25; Micah 4:1-3)!

   

              The King will rule over mortal men with a “rod of iron” from His glorious throne at Jerusalem; elevated in height and beauty by Him (Psalm 2:8-9; Zechariah 14:8, 10-11; Revelation 19:15, NKJV).  And we, His saints, shall reign on the earth with Him in all of the same character qualities and governance as He (Psalm 150:5-9; Daniel 7:26-27; Revelation 1:4-6, 2:26-29, 5:9-10, 20:4-6)!  “Glory, glory to God for His awesome vindication of His faithful; of those that endured to the end proclaiming the Gospel to restore men and standing firm on His Word!”⁴  If only all professed Christians today could truly believe that what is unfolding in the world--great evil, a creation in labor pains and His coming wrath--is heading toward the exceedingly better Day of God’s Kingdom restored to earth!

   

  1 I  acknowledge  that  I  with  many other prophecy teachers and authors have conveniently named earth’s final war, “Armageddon” as is the case in my December 20, 2015
     re-post,  Reigning  With  Christ  On  Earth,  under  the  category,  Bible Prophecy that I recommend be read along with this present post.  Technically, though, Armageddon
     is  the hill or tel of Megiddo in northern Israel overlooking plains easily corresponding to the prophet Joel’s “Valley of Jehoshaphat” (Joel 3:1-2, NKJV).  It serves as the ma-
     jor  assembly  area, staging  ground  and launch point of the world’s armies with Antichrist for war against Israel and Jerusalem.  Christ descends upon the Mount Of Olives
     immediately  in  front  of Jerusalem on the east and engages the enemy there delivering it while also overseeing His swift victory in the war actually raging all over Israel in-
     cluding  Armageddon  and  around it (Isaiah 63:1-6).  Then my Lord the King will enter Jerusalem to great acclamation as before, but this time on a white horse and with all
     knowing in absolute certainty who He is (Matthew 21:1-11, 23:37-39; Revelation 19:11)!

  2 See the July 31, 2016 blog, The Immortal Bodies Of God’s Eternal Sons, under the category, God’s Creatures to learn more about the glorious immortal bodies of the saints!

  3 Read the November 29, 2015 blog, When The Glory Comes, under the category, Glory To God!

  4 Check out the Give Page on our Web Site to see how you can support the ongoing work of Strong Man Ministries to restore men.

• Jesus: The Jewish Messiah, Pt. 1

             (I have posted my blog today to enjoy some extra days off celebrating Christmas. The Lord saying the same, I will post my next blog on Sunday, December 29, 2013. Merry Christmas to you and yours!)

   

              Though the use of His name, Yeshua (or Yehoshua), in the Hebrew tongue was long ago supplanted among the Gentiles with the English, Jesus, the Man to whom the name belongs has always been and remains Jewish in ethnicity and heritage even now as a glorified immortal (Deuteronomy 17:14-15; Isaiah 22:20-23; Revelation 3:7, 5:1-7)! While the translation of His name into the many languages of the peoples is quite understandable, professing Western European Christians with their predominant manmade Christianity the religion have taken the extraordinary step of effectively erasing not only the Jewish ethnicity of Jesus, but His masculinity by artistically reinventing Him in art as an effeminate looking blond, long haired, blue eyed Anglo-European. Those that stumble over the Lord Jesus as a Jewish Man for whatever reasons, unavoidably end up failing to fully appreciate the prophetic significance of the New Testament narrative presenting His birth celebrated at Christmas and God’s subsequent multi-layered work of salvation through Him on behalf of the Jews and all mankind.

   

              For centuries prior to the birth of Jesus in the city of king David’s nativity, God spoke through men He used as seers; prophets through whom He revealed His foreordained plans to raise up a mighty King of the Jewish people (Genesis 49:8-12; Numbers 24:15-19; 1 Chronicles 17:1-15; Psalm 89:19-37; Jeremiah 23:5-6; Micah 5:2-4; Matthew 2:1-12). The Son of God from eternity was incarnated; conceived in the womb of a Jewish virgin named Mary (Miriam) engaged to a Jewish man, Joseph, both of whom were descendants of David fulfilling the words of the prophet and angelic messenger (Isaiah 7:10-14; Luke 1:26-38). With the help of God, Mary and her relative, Elizabeth, understood the prophetic significance to their people of the royal Child Mary carried; the Jewish Savior and King she birthed that we worship at Christmas (Luke 1:39-56, 2:1-14)! Jesus is called in English, Christ or Messiah meaning Anointed One because He is expressly chosen by God to serve His purposes to deliver and rule over Israel as of first importance, then all the peoples of the earth (Isaiah 11:1-10, 42:1-7, 49:5-6, 61:1-11; Matthew 12:15-21; Luke 4:16-21). 

   

              The rest of the Christmas narrative in Luke continues unfolding in the context of heightened messianic expectations stirred by God as well as Jewish sacred ritual He mandated in His covenant with Abraham (which required the circumcision of Jesus as a Jewish male) and the Law (Genesis 17:9-14; Luke 2:15-38). Later, bound up in His name announced by the angel and with an introduction from His relative, John the Baptist, Jesus the Jewish Messiah displayed the superior power He had to deliver the people of His heritage from the afflicting powers of darkness as well as sin and death (Matthew 3:1-17, 4:12-25; Mark 2:1-12; Luke 7:11-17).  He later fully accomplished an eternal atonement for them through His sacrifice on Calvary after their rejection (Isaiah 52:13-15; Matthew 16:13-23, 27:1-56). The many rejected Him not understanding that deliverance from personal sin was their greatest need (Isaiah 53). While not completely explained by the prophets because they did not understand all that they were saying and writing about God’s future salvation (1 Peter 1:10-12), it was revealed by the Lord’s apostles that God’s blessing of the Gentiles through Israel’s Savior and King was their inclusion with them through repentance and faith in the grace of His salvation during this temporary season of grace about to close (Ephesians 2:11-3:13)!

   

              Having broken the Old Covenant God made with them at Sinai, the Lord Jesus came to usher in the promise of God’s New Covenant with Israel through His blood offered not in the Jewish copy of the heavenly sanctuary (in all of history no other people on earth has been given designs and instructions to build things that copy the originals in Heaven), but the very sanctuary of Heaven itself (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Luke 22:19-20; Hebrews 7:11-8:13, 9:11-28). While the blessings of God’s New Covenant with Israel has been graciously expanded by Him to include Gentiles that believe on Jesus, it is of a first priority the fulfillment of His promise to the Jews as the apostle Paul laments in the face of his people’s stubborn unbelief (Romans 1:16, 9:1-5). God’s New Covenant with Israel is the only one in the Bible that speaks directly to Jews and Gentiles as believers in Jesus, “the way” in its terms and conditions (John 14:1-6; Acts 9:1-2; Hebrews 10:11-39, NKJV).  The structure and terms of God’s covenants with Abraham and David apply only to them but find ultimate fulfillment exclusively in Jesus who causes the promised blessings to flow to Israel and us through Himself by faith (Galatians 3:15-18, 26-29). 

   

              Knowing everything about the past and future as though they were before Him in the present (Isaiah 41:21-23, 42:8-9), the omniscient God led the apostle Paul to write to the Christians at Rome in his epistle we call Romans. In it, the Jewish apostle to us Gentiles not only perfectly reviews and presents the major thrust of God’s great salvation, but right in the middle as it were, he warns the Gentiles at Rome (which three centuries later would become the corrupt seat of Christianity the religion of men) and the world over who would be the major stewards of the faith for as it has turned out nearly nineteen hundred years, not to get the big head concerning God’s remedial judgment of the Jewish people. He has not abandoned His chosen people!  Jesus their Messiah will return to fulfill all of the salvation tied promises made to them as a people by way of an elect remnant including the blessings of the New Covenant and secure dwelling back in the land He promised to their fathers (Genesis 12:1-3, 15:1-21; Jeremiah 30-33; Ezekiel 36-37; Malachi 3:16-18; Luke 13:34-35, 21:20-24; Romans 11:1-29; Revelation 7:1-8).

• Jesus, Son Of Man, Pt. 2

              Mankind have been sinners so long, we cannot wrap our brains around a perfect, sinless man as Adam was before he sinned.  This is why even with Jesus, Son of Man, many attribute His sinless life to His deity.  This is the second of two common misconceptions of His Humanity mostly well meaning Bible teachers have and teach.  However, to any way have used the powers of His divinity in the conduct of His mortal sojourn would belie the apostle Paul’s inspired declaration, “who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men,” (Philippians 2:6-7, NKJV).

   

              Also, Scripture teaches that the Lord Jesus in the body of Mary, the virgin had a perfect, sinless body “prepared” for Him or else being holy God, He could not have entered it (Luke 1:31, 34-35; Hebrews 10:5, NKJV)!  The net result of this mostly unintended second misconception of Jesus, Son of Man is the implication that He through His deity cheated somehow in keeping Himself in perfect obedience to and sinless before God.  But, of course, this would be sin and scandalous!  This is why once again my God demonstrates His infinite wisdom in what is recorded in three of the New Testament Gospel accounts of Jesus being put to the test before He began His ministry.

   

              The Father having declared loving affection for and full pleasure in His Son at His baptism by John, the Holy Spirit who had descended upon Him is seen to even push Jesus into the wilderness to fast forty days and afterward become ravenously hungry; then, be tempted by the devil to act in this weakened state three ways.  First, he tempted Him to use His own power as the Son of God to meet His physical needs.  Second, Satan tempted Him to put the Father’s promise of protective care to the test.  Lastly, the tempter offered Jesus a path to world rule through bowing to him.  The Son of Man refused every temptation and prevailed (Matthew 3:13-4:11; Mark 1:9-13; Luke 3:21-22, 4:1-13)! 

   

              This was surely not the first attempt by Satan to seduce Jesus into sin from His age of accountability to that moment or after during His ministry years.  But in the barren wilderness temptation of Jesus as with Adam in the paradise garden, God the Father sought to reveal His only begotten Son’s heart; His willingness to please the Father even over Himself and do His will as He avowed coming into the world (Hebrews 10:6-7).  Adam failed in the garden, but Jesus marvelously succeeded in the wilderness and thereafter since it is written of Him that He “was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin,” (Hebrews 4:15, NKJV).

   

              Jesus, the Son of Man maintained His perfection from a Boy the same way Adam could have out of faith in and love for His Father along with the pure, Selfless ambition to please Him and do His will (Genesis 2:15-17, 3:6, 17a; Luke 2:41-52, 8:19-21; John 14:31).  The Gospels record that Jesus kept emphasizing repeatedly how He had come to do His Father’s will in all that He taught as His message and the deeds He carried out in the Father’s power by the Holy Spirit (John 8:25-29, 12:42-50, 14:7-11).  Beyond ambition as a Man, He perfectly displayed authority, leadership, courage, zeal, physical and spiritual strength, toughness and forcefulness in His mission (Luke 4:31-44; John 2:13-22).

   

              Along the way, He forthrightly spoke of greatness in the glory the Father had prepared for Him; the life cause and mission He was willing to suffer and endure death for in carrying out (Matthew 16:13-17:13).  He took what most mortal men would certainly agree were risks in His ministry while traveling throughout Israel and decisive actions that relieved human suffering (Luke 4:16-30; 5:12-26).  He followed His Father’s instructions and plans wholly to the death as an obedient Son; the distinctive Strong Man of God (Philippians 2:8)!²  Truly, He learned obedience (God does not learn, man does) in all that He suffered on the way to and on the cross (Isaiah 50:4-6; Matthew 26:36-46; Hebrews 5:5-8). 

   

              Even with the impending abandonment of His “band of brothers,” Jesus copiously “loved them to the end,” (John 13:1, NKJV).³  Before entering His final trials, He interceded for them and all of us that would be the beneficiaries by faith of His sacrifice (John 17); a sacrifice that made a way of eternal deliverance from sin and death for the first time since Adam’s fall (Isaiah 53; Romans 3:10-31; Ephesians 2:1-10).  Again, Jesus, Son of Man did this to restore fallen man the creature in the divine purpose of creation-wide governance, bring many sons to eternal glory with Him, help the faithful in our earthly sojourn and remove the fear of judgment (Hebrews 2:5-18, 4:14-16, 5:9, 9:22-10:18).  The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, “Who is on the Lord's side?”

   

  2 Obeying God to the death is one of four distinctive characteristics of Jesus as the Strong Man of God I am led by the Holy Spirit to write about in my book, The Strong

     Man Of God: Back To Basics available in the Strong Man Store.

  3 I  gratefully  acknowledge  here  David Murrow and his book, Why Men Hate Going To Church as a reference source for presenting part of Jesus’ masculine checklist

     (i.e.  aspiration  for  greatness,  a cause to die for, risk taking, adventure, action taking and problem solving, following a leader and the love of a “band of brothers”).  I

     have  shown Jesus as such a Man in this blog and will do so in upcoming blogs to relate this partial masculine display to His disciples and very importantly, as typical 

     of  males  presently  and  man  the  creature made in the image and likeness of God.  Other characteristics of masculinity displayed by Jesus, Son of Man will also be

     presented in upcoming blogs as they are by Murrow in his book and me in The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics.

• The King Of Israel

            No one has been waiting longer for a single event than the Jews!  Indeed, as an ethnic people they have been waiting for the coming of their King, the Son of David, nearly three thousand years if one begins at God’s covenant with their second king; almost four thousand years if God’s promise of a “Seed” made to Abraham is the starting point (Genesis 22:18; 2 Samuel 7:12-17; Galatians 3:15-18).  The many wait to this day for God’s Anointed and their King as a never having ever occurred event because as their first century forefathers in unbelief, they did not take to heart the prophecy of Daniel for example, that counted down the time of His coming (Daniel 9:20-27).

   

            The birth of Jesus of Nazareth not only perfectly fit Daniel’s prophetic timeline, but the prophesied genealogy of Israel’s King as the Son of David and Abraham as well as the miraculous nature of His conception and place of birth foretold in complete accuracy some seven hundred years before (Matthew 1:1-2:12; Luke 2:1-7)!¹  And though He did many miraculous signs and wonders and taught among them with authority, knowledge and wisdom as no one ever before (or since), the Jewish religious leaders especially refused to believe in and rejected Him; instigating His death on the cross to be rid of Him (John 4:46-54, 6:1-21, 7:10-52, 11:45-57, 12:37-41, 18:1-14, 19:1-24, 28-30).

   

            This all happened as Peter later preached to the Jews after the Lord’s resurrection according to “the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God,” (Acts 2:22-24, NKJV).  The divine purpose was as the high priest unwittingly prophesied: ‘“...it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish,’” (John 11:49-52, NKJV).  Thus, through the evil plotting and treachery of their religious leaders, the death, burial and resurrection of Christ occurred precisely as the Jewish prophets (including king David) had foretold far in advance to save the willing from their sins among them first (Psalm 69:1-21; Isaiah 50:4-6, 52:13-53; Acts 2:25-40, 3:18-26)!²

   

            But thanks be to God from this Gentile among all others who have been saved by His grace through faith in Jesus Christ since the Gospel began to be proclaimed to us also by His apostles beginning with Peter according to His foretold will and plan (Isaiah 42:5-9, 49:1-6, 61:1-2; John 3:16-17; Acts 1:4-8, 10:1-48).  After this, the Lord called and specially set apart another Jewish man to be His apostle to us Gentiles; Saul of Tarsus, also named Paul whose calling and conversion I recently wrote about.³  His missionary journeys and tireless labor brought the Gospel to Gentiles throughout much of the Roman Empire; paving the way for our joy the world over (Romans 15:7-13)!

   

            Meantime, while not excluding the Jews from continuing to hear the Gospel of salvation and the coming Kingdom (Romans 10:14-11:6), during this nearly now, 2,000 years of “the times of the Gentiles” in world dominance and evangelistic focus God has also been fulfilling all that the Jewish prophets beginning with Moses and the Lord Jesus spoke concerning their punishment for sin to include rejecting Him (Deuteronomy 28:58-68; Jeremiah 16:1-13; Luke 13:34-35, 19:41-44, 21:20-24; Romans 11:7-10; 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16, NKJV).  And though after being scattered from the land 1,878 years Israel is back in it, “great tribulation” and grief still lie ahead (Matthew 24:15-25, NKJV).

   

            When at last the time of Israel’s comfort comes--the Day of the Lord and triumphant arrival of her long awaited King, she will have “received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins,” (Isaiah 40:1-2; Jeremiah 16:14-18, NKJV).⁴  The tiny, mortal elect remnant that sees the Lord’s coming will understand what they formerly did not; namely, that their one foretold Messiah and King would come twice (Revelation 1:7, 7:1-8).  His first coming was to save them from their sins as God’s “once for all” sacrifice (Romans 1:16-17; Hebrews 9:1-10:18, NKJV).  Resurrected, ascended and glorified He returns to fulfill the promises of salvation to the redeemed, deliver remnant Israel and restore David’s kingdom (Isaiah 1:7-9, 10:20-23, 11:11-16; Jeremiah 23:5-8; Ezekiel 37; Romans 11:11-36)!

   

            Consequently, God’s specially marked out and preserved, but unconverted mortal remnant of Jews will receive His promised Messiah and King of Israel; Jesus of Nazareth the Son of God and David who came, was rejected and now, has returned “with great power and glory” as He assured (Mark 13:24-27, NKJV)!  In that day, the remnant of Israel will mourn, repent and receive forgiveness (Zechariah 12:10-13:1).  They with the entire world will know why the Jews have suffered so.  Then, under their King, the nation and the land will be restored exceedingly beyond the days of David’s reign so that they are the times of the Jews throughout the whole earth (Isaiah 49:7-26; Ezekiel 36, 39:21-29; Zechariah 2, 8:18-23, 14:16-21)!  The King waits only on His Father for this (Psalm 110).

   

  1 Read the two-part December 2013 repost, Jesus: The Jewish Messiah, under the category, Holidays, the first post of January 28, 2014.  

  2 For this cause, I rejoiced when the Lord led me to use the rendition of the praise song, Praise Adonai, by Messianic Jewish Worship Leader, Paul Wilbur, in our first Strong

     Man  Of  God Online Rally.  Seeing  Jewish Christians who were the first take their place among us Gentiles at this hour means we have now, come full circle from the first

     century (Luke 13:22-30).  This is also yet another sign the Lord is at hand!  Nevertheless, He warns Jewish Christians they should not be corrupted by any Gentile Christian

     adulation  or  heretical  doctrines  nor should they be accorded infallibility by Gentile Christians apart from God’s whole Word as it is written (Acts 10:24-26, 15:1-21; Titus 1:

     10-16;  2 Peter 1:16-2:3).  You  can  view  the  Online Rally on our Web Site Page, https://thestrongmanofGod.org/Webcast or if you prefer, directly at this genuine and safe

     YouTube link, https://youtu.be/m78j5JaRrIc.

  3 See the August 1, 2021 post, Jesus Christ King And Judge!, under the category, Instruction.

  4 Read the June 12, 2016 post, The Day Of Israel’s Comfort, under the category, Bible Prophecy.