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The Son of God
By John Gavazzoni
It was a strategic moment in Jesus' discipling of the twelve, when He posed the question to them: "Who do men say that I am?" It was a leading question, meant to bring THEM face to face with THEIR conclusions regarding the nature and source of His Personhood, this One of such supernatural magnetism, that He was able to cause them to immediately drop whatever each of them had been doing, and follow Him. His commanding invitation, "follow me..." connected them to their deepest yearnings, and they somehow instantly knew that their destiny lay down the path of His leading. He would lead, they must follow. It was of comparatively little interest to Him, what people in general thought. What those called-out, chosen vessels thought of Him, was of supreme importance. And so it remains today.
Keep in mind, that there was no development of an orthodox Christology at that time. There was an expectation, of course, of a coming Messiah who would deliver Israel from foreign, alien bondage (the nature of which, they were largely ignorant). They were aware of scriptures that spoke of kissing the Son, and of a Child who was to be born, and a Son to be given, and that the government of God would rest upon that One's shoulders. They couldn't quite put together the relationship of that One, and the predicted Suffering Servant of Yahweh. Thus immediately following their summation of the various opinions that were being voiced, Jesus got to what he was leading to: "Who do YOU say that I am?" Dear reader, who do you say He is?
As was customary of him, Peter spoke up---apparently voicing the conclusions of the others, a conclusion that hadn't yet, up to that very moment, broken through definitively into the understanding level of their consciousness: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Now certainly, the moment had arrived, for Jesus to straighten out their thinking if Peter's conclusion was at all distorted. But NO correction was in order. NO gentle adjustment of perception, and certainly NO denial---"Oh no Peter, you've gone too far, spoken too much of Me." Peter had spoken truly. He had seen. He was clear. Right there with them was the long-awaited Messiah, and He was God's own Son. Jesus commendation of Peter's "confession of faith" was without any restraint. He wanted Peter to know that none other than His Father had given him that revelation above all revelations, that Truth above all truths, and by it Peter was blessed with that blessedness from which all blessing flows.
Peter knew what He was talking about, but so many today, on the subject of who Jesus is, are confused, misled by their own intellectual egotism, joining the ranks of those who have departed from the faith down through the centuries, deluded into thinking that they must lower Him in order to raise their consciousness of who they are. Strange crap. Some insist on arguing that Jesus never came out and said that He was God. Of course He didn't. Our Lord was the Master of accuracy. He said that He was the Son of God. He did not want His Deity to be understood apart from His union with the Father, thus to say, "I am God," would have been misleading.
It's simple, Jesus of Nazareth, the historical Jesus---that's who Peter was talking to in his affirmation---is the Christ, the Son of the living God. As the Son of God, He is full Deity AS a Son, as His Father is full Deity AS a Father. Yes it's true. God can be both a Father and a Son, without losing Deity's Oneness. They are One in Deity. Deity has birthed a Son, and by so doing, became a Father. Full Deity reproduced Itself----as the Primal Origin of the principle that all things reproduce after their kind; So has God. Godness begets Godness. Deity gives birth to Deity----so that They could enjoy Deity together in eternal, blessed communion. By the very Holy Spirit, which God is, God relates in communion as a Father to a Son, and as a Son to a Father, and this communion is an ever enlarging circle gathering into it, the whole family of God who share in the Only-begotten's sonship. This is the communion of the Holy Spirit, the communion that all mankind will be brought to share in by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
From eternity, God has desired to share with all creation, the communion that is enjoyed within Deity, or Godhead, or Godness. God wants all creation to share in what's going on within nuclear Deity. Do you realize that this is what Jesus had in view when He went to the cross? Do you realize that when He rose from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Majesty on High, that He took all of us in Himself into the blessedness of His relationship with the Father? THAT'S our inheritance. Nothing less. and nothing more, for how could there be anything more than THAT?
I have experienced much grief of spirit lately as I've become aware of Christ's Deity being denied within the ranks of those who are supposed to possess a greater revelation than what is to be found within the denominations that they have separated themselves from. Can you be blessed with extraordinary revelation and not know that Jesus came out from the Father, embodying all that the Father is as a Son? You have torn out the very heart of the gospel. Only God can save, and He does so As God, not by indirect instrumentality. It is Emmanuel, God with us---AS the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world---who saves us by His very living presence. "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the LIVING God." Agents of God proclaim His salvation, but only He saves, coming to us, having become one of us, He touches us with His salvation.
"HE touched me, O HE touched me,
And O the joy that floods my soul.
Something happened and now I know
HE touched me and made me whole."
With Thomas of old, I confess before the crucified, risen and glorified Jesus: "My Lord, and my God."
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