Deities Tabernacled In Human Flesh

In several instances in his First Letter, Apostle John repeatedly highlighted the fact and the purpose of our Lord’s earthly mission. Sometimes the question is asked: How do we know that Jesus came? There are two main lines of evidence to prove our Lord’s birth, life, ministry, death, resurrection, ascension and exaltation:

First and foremost the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ was prophetically predicted and fulfilled. Frequently in the Old Testament scriptures we find predictions of the first arrival of our Lord. The fact and purpose of His coming are presented to us in pictures, types and promises –- look up and compare Genesis 3:15,21; 4:1-5; Exodus 12:13; Isaiah 7:14; 9:6-7; 53:5-6; Lamentations 1:12.

Again, His coming was historically authenticated as attested to in the four Gospels and in the Letters, which contain the historical record of His birth and life. Also worth noting is the verifiable accounts of secular raconteurs of history.

Several reasons have been adduced to explain the coming of Jesus Christ. These reasons, which can be Biblically verified, include that: Jesus came to be our sin-bearer (See 1 John 3:5; John 1:1-3; 2 Corinthians 8:9; Galatians 4:4; 1 John 1:1-12); He came to destroy the works of the Devil (See1 John 3:8; Hebrews 2:14; Revelation 20:10; Mark 3:27; Revelation 20:10; John 10:10;  Matthew 12:30; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Romans 16:20); He came to give us Eternal Life (See 3. 1 John 4:9;  Romans 5:12; Ephesians 2:1, and compare John 5:40; John 3:16; 1 John 5:11-12;  John 5:24); He came to be the Atoning Sacrifice for our sins (See 4. 1 John 4:10;  Psalm 7:11; 1 Peter 2:24; Psalm 103:10); He came to be the Saviour of the World (See 5. 1 John 4:14; Luke 2:10-11, and compare John 4:39-42; Acts 4:12; Hebrews 7:25; Romans 10:13.

The foregoing, constitute the commonly known reasons why Jesus came to the world. However, one other very significant underlying reason why our Lord came to the world, which has not been adequately emphasized in both Christian literature and teachings is the fact that He came to reveal to mortal man his god nature; that is, to help man recognize that he is a divine being created in the image and likeness of the Most High God, and imbued with unlimited powers to live a victorious, pain-free live on earth.  Christ came to teach man how to live a godlike life.

In the course of his glorious life and ministry on earth, Christ constantly harped on the inherent powers possessed by those who reposed undiluted faith in Him and the wonderful feats they could perform with the right application of such powers.  Jesus taught that faith backed by action was the current that connected man to God, and that through faith man could obtain solutions to life’s Herculean challenges.  He came to help man discover his Godlike abilities and use them to live fulfilling lives on earth. All they had to do was stay connected to God, via faith in Him.

Christ, during his lifetime, was saddened by the fact that most people were ignorant of the authority they wielded as God’s children. He saw potential champions living under the yolk of fear; saw princes living like serfs; saw giants being crushed under life’s Herculean challenges; saw lives being shattered by problems that could be easily overcome with mere words of faith; saw gods living like mere mortals.

The Bible says that we are created in God’s own image and likeness (Genesis 1:26). That means we look like God. Not in this our flesh, it only means there is a part of a Spirit of God in us. It only has its source in God. Our breath is directly from Him (Genesis 2:7). We are from God’s own inside and we can’t therefore live without Him. We have no material of our own to live. We are sparks of the Almighty.

Man, at creation, was empowered by God to have dominion over the earth, its resources, and to even tame and subject the largest and wildest of beasts to do his bidding. Man was given amazing abilities to transform the earth into a peaceful, productive, habitable place. All other created things – living and nonliving – were subjected to man’s control. No other created thing was permitted to compete with man for the control of the earth and its resources; none of them could reach the glory that God placed upon man. Man was created to manage the earth on behalf of God. All other things were supposed to be obedient to him as he was obedient to God.

The truth is that that there is a part of God’s divine nature that resides inside all living souls, as repeatedly buttressed by Christ in his teachings. That part of God is the Spirit of truth, which enlivens us with the breath of life. Without that part of God indwelling in us, we are lifeless, inert and unproductive. It is that part of God in us that imbues us with special abilities to perform godlike acts, though not on the same grand scale as the Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient God.

Evidence of Man’s godly abilities stares at us everywhere we look. His astounding accomplishments,  in science and technology, which has resulted in the production of spaceships, automobiles, airplanes, industrial machines, medicines etc, shows the god nature in Man. Our origin in God makes all these achievements possible. He is the reason we can do what the rest of creation can’t do. God is the Creator of all. What we have been able to do is all because there is a part of Him (God) in us, the source of all creation.

We are gods because of what God has empowered us to do. The source of all we do is God. In Exodus 7:1, God said to Moses; “…see today, I have made thee a god over pharaoh…” By these words, God was empowering Moses to do what pharaoh could not do. By what Moses did, he was a god.

In one of the instances in the Bible, when He declared man’s divine nature, Christ, while engaged in a heated argument with the ignorant, doubting Scribes and Pharisees about His claim of being God’s Son, quoted Psalms 82:6, (See John 10:34), which read, “is it not written in your law, I said Ye are gods?”  This statement could be taken both literally and figuratively. Literally, it means that man is actually a god, while figuratively it means that Jesus Christ is part of the Godhead. When collocated, both the literal and figurative explanations connote that Christ, the son of God, is part of the Trinity, and that man, who was created in the image and likeness of this unified deity, is godlike in mien. It is sad to note that the supposed teachers of the law did not recognize man’s preeminent position as the pinnacle of God’s creative act and his role in the Almighty’s divine master plan for humanity. But Christ, who is part of the Godhead, and a central participant in the entire process that culminated in the birthing of the earth and man, knew; he always knew.

Psalms 8 tells how glorious man is before God. If a rooster sleeps with its own mother, it has no case to answer. On the hand though, if man did, he would have a case to answer, because he is in God’s own image. Such is the very reason it took God all it did to ensure that we are set free from the claws of the devil.

However, it must be pointed out that despite man’s godlike abilities he is only permitted to act on God’s behalf. Without God’s support, man is powerless. But sadly, Satan tries to convince man that his astounding feats in science, technology and other ramifications of human endeavor, including his control of other created things are enough for him to act independent of God’s control. He stirs up a spirit of rebellion in man in order to condemn him to the same detestable fate as himself. Don’t be deceived by Satan and his fallen angels to turn your back on God. He was blindfolded with pride thinking he could overthrow God.

Man’s godlike abilities are deadened by sin, a corrosive element that weakens his ability to express his divine nature. This was evident at the Eden debacle, when man was stripped of all his privileges by God consequent to his ill-advised rebellion. When he disobeyed his loving Father, choosing to kowtow to the whims and caprices of mischievous Lucifer, he fell from his first estate, losing all his natural abilities and the accouterments of his position as the earth’s landlord. His exit from Eden symbolized his shameful fall from grace and the commencement of a troubled existence on earth.

However, the coming of Christ, through God’s loving grace, and his death and resurrection, presented sinful man with the opportunity to regain all he had lost. Christ is the ultimate sacrifice for the redemption of man and his return to his first estate. All man has to do is believe in Him and obey his instructions. Faith in Christ empowers us with the abilities to be the gods that we were created to be on earth. That is one lesson Christ tries to continually hammer into his followers.

In one of his teachings on faith, Christ admonished his followers to be unwavering in their faith in him. He instructed them that with faith they could move mountains, make the seemingly impossible possible. A Christian’s live without faith, no matter how little, is worthless; it is powerless and ineffective.

By faith in God, you can cast out demons in the name of Jesus Christ, heal all diseases and sickness, and solve every kind of problem that arises in your lives. Faith is the fire that moves the spirit of God to descend to do miracles beyond human understanding. God has empowered us with the ability to destroy, heal, protect, love, restore, and do anything according to His will.  If you really know the God you serve, and what He is capable of doing, then why should you be afraid?

Jesus, our redeemer, demonstrated for us to know how faith works by commanding the storm to stop, evil spirits to flee and even cursed the fig tree to wither. With faith nothing is impossible. We serve an Almighty God, the creator of heaven and earth there is nothing too hard for him to do. All those who showed faith in God in the bible were mere humans just like you and me so we too must show faith in God without wavering and all our needs will be given to us. Nothing is impossible for true believers; they are gods tabernacled in human flesh!