2017-02-03
Good Morning Dear Ones,
As promised, I will obey the Holy Spirit’s directive to write about the statement, “our reality is Christ.” While my intent is not to give a Greek lesson, it is to use that original language of the NT to help us have a better understanding of exactly what this means. Remember COL 1: 15a said, “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God…” In Greek, image is eikon meaning a representation or likeness. HE 1: 1-3, 9, “God’s Son and Heir through Whom He spoke to us and through Whom He made the universe…The Son is the Radiance of God’s glory and exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word…The Son’s throne will last forever-righteous (hating wickedness). After He had provided purification for sins (indicating the work of redemption is complete), He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” Let’s look at the word radiance in Greek is apaugasma meaning a light flashing forth, which intensifies. Being seated at God’s right hand indicates Christ is actively ruling with God as Lord over all.
JN 1: 18, “No one has ever seen God (the Father) but the Only Begotten (Christ) has made Him known.” Making Him known is the same as explaining Him to those who will listen. In Greek, only begotten is monogenes, meaning unique. JN 12: 45 [Christ speaking], “When he (a man) looks at Me, he sees the One Who sent Me.” JN 14: 7a, 9, & 11, [Christ speaking], “If you really knew Me, you would know My Father as well… Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father...I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me.” Now, let’s look at some words from the original Greek that apply to these last three citations from John. Egnokeite is a verb meaning to know, learn, realize, or ascertain. Horao means to see, perceive, look upon, experience, discern, or be aware of-to see with the mind.
Jesus was accused of blasphemy in JN 10: 30-33, the original Greek word, blasphemias, was used, meaning abusive, scurrilous language. This accusation referred to His statement, “I and the Father are One.” Our faith in Him and the miracles He performed fly in the face of this accusation. COL 2: 9 reads, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form…” The Greek word pleroma meaning completion, fullcomplement is used. PHIL 2: 5-11 tells us to be Christ-like, for He was the very nature of God and yet He didn’t try to be equal to God but instead, but came as a servant. God exalted Him to the Highest and gave Him the name above all names, that to His name every knee should bow…Every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord to the Father’s glory. In Greek, the word dulos means slave, servant and was used here. Christ came in the likeness of a man, expressed in Greek using the words omoiomati, meaning likeness or similitude, made like something in form and anthropon meaning man. Christ was humbled (in Greek: tapeinoo), meaning made lowly, humiliated. Used here in Greek, the words, highly exalted, are said to be uperupsosen. To confess as used here in Greek is exomologessetai, meaning to agree, consult fully, admit, acknowledge, give thanks and praise. It is perfectly appropriate to call Christ our Lord and Master, or in Greek, our Kurios!
PRAYER: O Lord, this devotion required a lot of research, but You have provided us with information from the original language that illuminates why our reality really is Christ. No human being can completely conceive of the power You possess, but it is far beyond anything even our most powerful leaders have, not to mention ordinary people. Our heads are bowed in reverence to You for giving Your Son’s physical life on the cross, for giving anyone who believes in Him salvation, eternal forgiveness, and justification. We, who believe, accept the truth of every word in the Scriptures. We offer our gratitude for Your will that Christ should share with us all He is given by You, and we pledge to live as PHIL 5: 2-11 describes. JN 3: 30, “He must become greater; I must become less.” We cite this verse, because of its many implications that we must understand. It means knowing Your word, accepting that He is our Kinsman-Redeemer, setting out to make our lives ones of humble service to others as He did, being willing to die for our friends, and so much more. Your will is ours now; we pledge to do our best to obey Your commands. We praise and thank You for being a righteous God, for loving us unconditionally, and for sharing Your wisdom with us. It is not just doing Your will that matters, but it is the kind of person we choose to be. Your attributes are admirable. While we have none of the supernatural powers You have, we can adjust our lives to be as Christ-like as we can. We offer You our love, loyalty, thanks, and praise. In the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: As you can see, the Bible tells us the same things many times over, so that there can be no misunderstanding of Who Jesus is. And yet, some people read it and misconstrue what is said, or even remove citations from the Bible mixing them with artificial, human-crafted ideas. Mankind’s sinful nature has led to a lot of these misunderstandings and trouble. Our stubborn refusal to learn to think in eternal terms instead of only earthly terms has led to a lot of heartache. Those who take the word of God seriously and follow His teaching are blessed in so many ways. Next week, we will look at some more cross-references that shed light on difficult concepts. Writing this devotion was hard, because I don’t speak Greek fluently. And yet, I prayed to the Holy Spirit to for His help. Biblos.com and Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible were great helps. I testify that when the Holy Spirit wants something done, it happens. And, it happens in His time frame. The most important thing we can do is to believe in Jesus Christ and know that He is only a prayer away from us any time of any day. Now, that’s my idea of being blessed! Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2016. All Rights Reserved.
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