27 ¶ And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am? 28 And they answered, John the Baptist: but some say, Elias; and others, One of the prophets. 29 And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ.
“The Christ” is the Messiah or Messias.
John 1:41 He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.
Interpretation is the translation of a human language. Think of an interpreter at the U.N.
John 4:25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.
The question of who you believe that Jesus Christ is, that is the most important question you will ever answer because on it depends where you will spend eternity.
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
John 5:18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
John 14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
If you reject what Christ said about Himself then you can expect no mercy when your soul enters the spiritual world after death.
John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
So, what do we make of the theistic Unitarian who believes that Jesus is not God but simply a great teacher? Since Jesus declared Himself to be God the Father in the flesh we can say with certainty that the Unitarian is not a Christian and therefore not saved, but bound for Hell. He is no less in need of the gospel than the most desperate drug addicted prostitute.
What about the Jehovah’s Witness, who is a modern day Arian? The Jehovah’s Witness doesn’t know that in the Old Testament God has said;
Zechariah 12:10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
In the New Testament Gospel of John, when speaking of Jesus;
John 19:36 For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. 37 And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.
As the Philippian Jailer was told in Acts how to get saved;
Acts16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
And the Romans were told how to get saved;
Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
In all these verses you can find the conditions for salvation; believing what Jesus said about Himself and believing in His resurrection. If you can find any other conditions for salvation please give me chapter and verse.
Jesus is the appearance, the presence, of God, which is what is meant by angel.
Isaiah 63:9 In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.
Notice how the angel of the Lord takes God’s place in this verse in Judges;
Judges 2:1 And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.
The angel of the Lord, the angel of God, the appearance of God, is Jesus Christ.
Acts 27:23 For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve,
He is the visible image of the invisible God and just as we and the higher animals are composed of a body, soul, and spirit (1Thessalonians 5:23; Numbers 31:28; Job 12:10; Ecclesiastes 3:21) so is the God who created you, one difference being that His component parts can operate independently while you would die if separated from your flesh (Genesis 35:18).
God is spoken of as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God the Father is the soul of God, the seat of self-identity and will, God the Son is also called the Living Word by which God spoke the universe into being, and God the Spirit is how God acts on His creation and yet all three are one.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
As “the only begotten Son” in John 1:18 Jesus represents the only time in history that God walked the earth as a flesh and blood man, not Alexander the Great who had himself declared the son of God in Egypt or Octavian Augustus who signed his documents Deus Fide, the son of God, after declaring that his adoptive father, Julius Caesar, had ascended to heaven.
As the physical image of God;
Hebrews 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
Colossians 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
So, these three parts of God, able to function independently but still being one;
John 10:30 I and my Father are one.
Are revealed throughout the Bible, in the New Testament;
Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
2 Corinthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.
1John 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
And in the Old, as here we see God the Father and the Holy Spirit in action;
Genesis 1:1 ¶ In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Here is the preincarnate Jesus Christ in action;
Judges 13:21 But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the LORD. 22 And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.
So, who is Jesus Christ? He is the Jewish messiah. He is the anointed one of God. He is the only begotten Son. He is the Word by which all things were created and by which they consist. He is God in the flesh.
Believe that Jesus Christ is God, that He lived as a man, that He died for your sins, and that He rose from the dead. Trust in His righteousness to get to heaven and not your own. Your eternal destiny depends on it.
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