Quote Originally Posted by sayso View Post
Hi Gatekeeper,

Do you believe Jesus is/was a liar?
Absolutely not, which is why I take Him for His word. He clearly referred to Himself as God's son, and [that] is who I believe Him to be.

John 8
56 Your forefather Abraham was extremely happy at the hope and prospect of seeing My day (My incarnation); and he did see it and was delighted.57 Then the Jews said to Him, You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?
58 Jesus replied, I ***ure you, most solemnly I tell you, before Abraham was born, I AM.
59 So they took up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus, by mixing with the crowd, concealed Himself and went out of the temple.


Jesus clearly told the Pharisees that He existed before Abraham was born. By saying "I AM" He was saying in effect that He is God because that is what God told Moses to call Him, I AM. The Jews understood and knew what He meant because they wanted to stone Him for blasphemy.
This scripture is about God promising Abe a seed (Issac) through which an everlasting covenant would be made. A promise of things to come (Jesus Christ). Abe rejoiced at this day for He new G-d was faithful, and that the messiah would come from the promise of this everlasting covenant.

Jesus made no claim of deity, but rather messiah, as in the rest of scripture. He had offended them by suggesting that he was greater than Abraham, and that they were under bondage, and that they did not know God. He implied that they were not the children of Abraham, and that they were not the children of God. Jesus simply called them out as liars.

Were they trying to stone him for blasphemy? Obviously not, for they (Many) already believed on him. But now they were angered and confused by his accusations, and frustrated by his answers. You will undoubtedly claim that Jesus was quoting Exodus 3:14, where the name of God (according to most Bibles) is revealed as "I AM", but the name of God as revealed in Exodus 3:14, is actually "I WILL BE" according to most Hebrew scholars. (EHYEH ASHER EHYEH, EHYEH)


John, "the disciple that Jesus loved" said this about Jesus. Did John also lie?



John 1

1 IN THE beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself. 2 He was present originally with God.
3 All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him was not even one thing made that has come into being.
Actually John said this about the "Word", and then explained how Jesus was the manifestation of that "Word". You have added to the text....


Philippians 2

5 Let this same at***ude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus: [Let Him be your example in humility:]

6 (Paul is speaking of Jesus)Who, although being essentially one with God and in the form of God [possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God], did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained,


7 But stripped Himself [of all privileges and ]rightful dignity], so as to ***ume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like men and was born a human being.


8 And after He had appeared in human form, He abased and humbled Himself [still further] and carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross!

Jesus possessed the fullness of God, but this doesn't make Him God, but rather a vessel for G-d's "Word".


And once again Jesus tells John in Revelation chapter 1 who He is.

10 (John)I was in the Spirit [rapt in His power] on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a great voice like the calling of a ]war trumpet,

11 Saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last. Write promptly what you see (your vision) in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia--to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.


12 Then I(John) turned to see [whose was] the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands,


13 And in the midst of the lampstands [One] like a Son of Man, clothed with a robe which reached to His feet and with a girdle of gold about His breast.

14 His head and His hair were white like white wool, [as white] as snow, and His eyes [flashed] like a flame of fire.



15 His feet glowed like burnished (bright) bronze as it is refined in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters.


16 In His right hand He held seven stars, and from His mouth there came forth a sharp two-edged sword, and His face was like the sun shining in full power at midday.


17 When I(John) saw Him, I fell at His feet as if dead. But He(Jesus) laid His right hand on me and said, Do not be afraid! I am the First and the Last,

18 And the Ever-living One [I am living in the eternity of the eternities]. I died, but see, I am alive forevermore; and I possess the keys of death and Hades (the realm of the dead).


Think Gatekeeper, when did God ever die? Immanuel means "God with us". His name shall be called Immanuel.



God is not a man that He should lie. If you believe that Jesus lied about even one thing, then how could you believe anything else that He said?
I understand why you believe what you do, but the reality is that Jesus was who He claimed to be. He claimed to be God's son, and our messiah. Nothing more, and nothing less. He was not God on earth, but He possessed God's Word/Wisdom/Spirit as a part of His being.

Blessings

1Jn 4:12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

GK