Doctrine #37: Jesus

God Himself still gave Ahaz a sign. God gave Ahaz the opportunity for benefiting from the effects others would receive because of the sign God would give. What was the sign? The most well known Messianic prophecy there was: "a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Jesus!!!

"Immanuel" meant "God with us." This was fulfilled in Matthew 1:23. Ahaz's son, Hezekiah, did ask God for healing and a sign in 2 Kings 20, and that led to Manasseh being born and God rejecting Judah. Did Hezekiah make his request because he knew his dad did not make a request that God encouraged Ahaz to make?

Notice, within this Messianic prophecy lay an important piece to understanding Jesus. He was/is Right and Just in His Nature. However, when He was on earth Jesus had a free will. He had the ability to act apart from Right and Just but never did. He had to refuse evil and choose good. This point was repeated in the next verse...

This prophecy was concerned with the forthcoming invasion by Assyria.

Jesus was honest with His desire but prayed for God's Will to be done. These events were not predestined. Jesus had to choose to go through with His death.

An angel from heaven strengthened Jesus because this choice was difficult.

This choice was so difficult that Jesus was sweating blood. It may be the most difficult part was knowing He would be separated from God the Father. Jesus had never experienced separation from God and every instance He had seen throughout history showed that it was painful.

Verse 34 showed that Jesus experienced separation from God the Father. Jesus "gave up the ghost." This was the ninth hour. Jesus had been on the cross for six hours in order to choose to die during the day of Passover.

Here was the proof that Jesus' bearing witness of Himself would not have been prideful.

Doctrine: Jesus did nothing of Himself but only what the Father taught Him. This was the definition of grace: the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life. Jesus did not do anything out of His own God Nature. He operated in His human nature and let God's influence work through Him. It is possible for us to do this as well.

Doctrine: Jesus always did what pleased the Father. Hebrews 11:6 - "But without faith it is impossible to please Him..." Jesus' actions were always an effect of His faith in God the Father.

Paul began this next section with four if's. The most critical one was "fellowship of the Spirit," which would lead to fellowship with each other (consolation of love, tender mercies, compassions, etc.). Paul stated that if the Philippians had any fellowship of the Spirit (and any fellowship with each other)...

...then they should do the following:

1. Make Paul's joy full.

2. Unity - same mind and same love.

The overarching theme of this letter was joy, so it was no surprise that believers' fellowship with God (First Command) and fellowship with each other (Second Command) would make Paul's joy full. What is interesting was Paul's additional focus on unity, which was a theme of Ephesians - "unity through uniqueness." During the commentary for the Book of Ephesians we presented a "1-2-3" model. Fellowship with the Holy Spirit is a "1" - the individual. Fellowship with others is a "2" - exchanging with other individuals. Everyone being of one accord is a "3" - the community as a whole. How did Paul think believers could have unity? How can people achieve "3"?

Paul first explained a "not 1" - not doing things for the immediate benefit of the individual. Then he followed up with a "2" - do all things in humility, thinking of others as more excellent than ourselves. The principle of uniqueness allows everyone to see everyone else as more excellent than themselves, because everyone can be the most excellent in what God made them to be, in their "1."

Again, Paul explained a "not 1" - not doing things for the immediate benefit of the individual. Then he followed up with a "2" - do things for others.

Verses 5-8: foundational Doctrine that showed how Christ was fully man and fully God.

Paul exhorted us to conform ourselves to the same mind that was in Christ, and Paul then specifically explained Christ's perspective.

Doctrine: Jesus is fully God. Jesus' Nature is Right and Just. The one man who ever lived that was God in the flesh did not see being equal with God as something He would do as a cause.

Huge Point: Jesus did not act directly in His God Nature while He was on earth. How did Jesus act?

Doctrine: Jesus was fully man. Man has a free will, which meant man has the ability to act apart from his nature. God the Father is Right and Just, and cannot act apart from this Nature. God still has choice, but all the choices are within His Nature. Jesus could act apart from His God Nature, and He did by emptying Himself, by becoming a servant.

John 8:28 documented Jesus said He did nothing of Himself, which was the same as Jesus not thinking that being equal with God was a thing He could intentionally do. While Jesus was on earth, He could have chosen to do wrong. Isaiah 7:14-16 (the most famous prophecy concerning Jesus' virginal birth) stated that He would eat butter and honey until He knew to refuse the evil and choose the good. Once Jesus went to heaven after His resurrection and was judged, His Nature was set. Today, Jesus does not have free will. Paul stated Jesus did not act in His equality with God by directly acting as God. Jesus humbled Himself and allowed God the Father to do everything through Him via the Holy Spirit, via grace. How humble was Christ?

Doctrine: Jesus humbled Himself even unto death on the cross. Paul's point was that we should humble ourselves towards other believers because even Jesus, who could have acted directly in His divinity, did not do it, so why do we think we can directly do divine behavior? The only way we can do divine works is if we humble ourselves and allow God to do the divine works through us via the Holy Spirit, which is grace. We need to choose to conform our mind to this same mind that was in Christ.

Doctrine: When you are humble, you will be exalted. When you exalt yourself, you will be humbled. Christ's ultimate obedience to the Father (going from divine to dying on the cross) caused God to highly exalt Christ.

Christ is exalted so highly that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. Everyone will be humble, it is up to you HOW this happens. You can humble yourself internally through understanding or you will be humbled externally through experience.

God does not change. He is always completely Right and always completely Just.

Doctrine: The Holy Spirit is untamed and so is everyone who is born of the Spirit. Those who are "born of the Spirit" are those who allow the Spirit to work through them. This is living by grace: "the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life."

Verses 4-25: Ezekiel's vision of the cherubim and the wheels.

They went wherever the Spirit went. The spirit of the cherubim was in the wheels.

Chapter 2 started the 6th (and current) Dispensation: Pentecost. God administrated this dispensation by grace to individuals by the Holy Spirit upon our hearts. Everything prior to this (excluding the Book of Genesis and including the four Gospels) documented the 5th Dispensation. So, the first book of the Bible covered the first four dispensations. The next forty-two books of the Bible covered the 5th Dispensation. This book was the first of twenty-three books that covered the current 6th Dispensation.

"Pentecost" meant the "Fiftieth Day." According to Leviticus 23:15-16, this was the fiftieth day from the day after the first Passover Sabbath. Jesus rose three days after Passover and walked among the disciples for forty days. It looked like the Disciples only had to wait seven days after Jesus ascended for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

The upper room was filled by a sound that was as of the rushing of a mighty wind. The word spirit came from "a movement of air or breath." In the next verse we will see another description of the Holy Spirit. The "tongues parting asunder" or "cloven tongues" were tongue-shaped, flame-like objects. These symbolized the Holy Spirit baptizing with fire. So far, the two descriptions associated with the Holy Spirit were not plain. This account did not say a mighty wind filled the house. It said a sound from heaven filled the room as of the rushing of a mighty wind. This account did not say tongues of fire sat on each one of them. It said tongues parting asunder sat upon each one of them that were like as of fire. However, this was not the first account in the New Testament that described the Holy Spirit's appearance. During Jesus' Baptism, Matthew 3:16 stated the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus like a dove. The rest of the Gospels focused much more on Jesus instead of the Holy Spirit.

When a member of the Trinity first appeared in the Bible, they were most like their True Nature. Once they interacted with people, they ended up having to adjust to the flaws in people and we see less of their True Nature and more of their adjustments.

God the Father during Creation and His interactions with Adam and Eve, and Cain and Abel were the best accounts of HOW/WHY God interacted with people: Genesis 1-3. God the Father asked questions and tried to guide people through questions and if/then's with promise of reward, not statements and not punishment. It was only when people would not respond to this approach that God gave a list of Commandments (Exodus 34:28) with punishments for those who would not do the statements. By the time the New Testament was written, God the Father made very few appearances. The focus became Jesus.

When Jesus began His ministry, He taught directly through principles: Matthew 5. However, this resulted in the religious leaders becoming worse. It was only after people were not able to handle principles taught directly that Jesus taught through parables, through presenting principles indirectly: Matthew 13. We saw Jesus in Acts chapter 1. Jesus also appeared to Saul/Paul in Acts 9 and to John in the Book of Revelation. However, from this point forward in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit was the focus, and these chapters (and this book) were the best accounts of the True Nature of the Holy Spirit.

Those in the upper room, who were all believers, were filled with the Holy Spirit. They began to speak with other tongues as the Holy Spirit led them to speak. These people were taking direction from the Holy Spirit to the point they spoke in other tongues.

Chapter 2 started the 6th (and current) Dispensation: Pentecost. God administrated this dispensation by grace to individuals by the Holy Spirit upon our hearts. Everything prior to this (excluding the Book of Genesis and including the four Gospels) documented the 5th Dispensation. So, the first book of the Bible covered the first four dispensations. The next forty-two books of the Bible covered the 5th Dispensation. This book was the first of twenty-three books that covered the current 6th Dispensation.

The men who spoke in tongues were mocked and judged to have been drunk even though the miracle was that every (non-tongue speaking) man heard his own language. The KJV used the words "in doubt" for the word that was interpreted as "perplexed" in verse 12. Just as "manna" (which meant "What is it?" from Exodus 16:15) caused believers of that time to be confused because it was something new, this gift of tongues caused some believers to be in doubt (and ask "What meaneth this?") because it was something new and apparently without precedence in the Scriptures.

Verses 14-36: the famous sermon by Peter during Pentecost.

In verses 17-21, Peter referenced Joel 2:28-32a.

Doctrine: The Holy Spirit has been poured out on all flesh. Every person, whether they are a believer or not, has the Holy Spirit on them. Believers are people who have chosen to allow the Holy Spirit in them. These people were baptized in the Holy Spirit. They were full of the Holy Spirit, completely immersed. Visions are harder to have than dreams.

Prophesying is easier than having dreams. Verse 18 was the same as Joel 2:29. Verses 19-21 were the same as Joel 2:30-32a. Notice, these verses will not occur until the end of the Tribulation, the end of the 5th Dispensation (The Law) once it returned as the 70th Week of Daniel (Daniel 9:24-27), after our dispensation is completed. We were grafted in between verses 18 and 19 of this chapter and verses 29 and 30 of Joel 2.

The Holy Spirit would be poured out upon all flesh, on Pentecost.

We can get God's wisdom revealed to us only through the Holy Spirit, only once we choose to believe. Our recognition that we are flawed and fleshly ought to lead to us humbling ourselves: willing to consider our beliefs and methods are wrong. Once we humble ourselves and accept the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we can then receive the wisdom of God.

Jesus held back information for the benefit of the Disciples, it would have caused confusion.

Doctrine: The Holy Spirit would guide believers into all truth and would show believers things to come.

Jesus brooded over the Disciples. Jesus was transferring the brooding responsibility to the Holy Spirit.

The KJV did not end this verse with "and ye shall see me." There was a comma after "me" with the addition of "because I go to the Father."

Jesus stated that He would leave and that He would return in "a little while." What did Jesus mean? The context before this verse (back to verse 7) was concerning the Holy Spirit. Did Jesus mean He would return (meaning the resurrection) or that He would return through the Holy Spirit?

God immediately laid His Hands on Jesus through the Holy Spirit. God (the Ultimate Semikah Rabbi) and John the Baptist declared Jesus to be a Semikah Rabbi. Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist was the official beginning of Jesus' Ministry. Remember, a leader facilitates the purpose and progress of others. Jesus could not have facilitated His own purpose and progress. There had to be another human who had authority and then facilitated Jesus' purpose and progress. John's mission was to facilitate Jesus' purpose and progress.

Notice, all three Persons of the Trinity were mentioned in verses 16 and 17. The Holy Spirit alighting on Jesus was the baptism of the Holy Spirit to fulness and was emblematic of the baptism of the earth by the Flood. The baptism of the earth was completed when the dove alighted on the earth in Genesis 8:11. Likewise, Jesus' baptism was completed when the Holy Spirit alighted upon Jesus.

Matthew 1-3 covered the events of Jesus' life prior to the beginning of His Ministry.

This was a main theme of the Book of Romans that Paul revisited in his letter to the Galatians: Jews and Gentiles were no longer divided by the Law, but they were united in Christ.

The Law had been abolished by Christ. The division between Jews and Gentiles had been removed so that...

...all the believers (both Jews and Gentiles) were able to be in one body, which is the Bride.

Another verse where all three Members of the Trinity were mentioned separately: Through Christ we have access by the Holy Spirit to the Father. Without Christ's sacrifice, we would not be able to live by grace through faith.

Doctrine: The Holy Spirit could not come unless Jesus went away. It was good that Jesus went away so that He could send the Comforter.

Doctrine: The Holy Spirit would bring conviction with respect to sin, righteousness, and judgment.

Jesus held back information for the benefit of the Disciples, it would have caused confusion.