Jesus came the first time in the flesh as the Son of God, demonstrating by example how we should live this life. He came the second time in the spirit as God the Father, ready to relate to us as His children. Having revealed His personality and character as the Son, we can have confidence about how He thinks and acts as the Father. Oh, the glorious wisdom and bountiful kindness of God! He gave us the Father-Son paradigm so that we might know how much He loves us, and the intimacy we are allowed to have with Him. He did not merely explain the paradigm, He lived it…even to the point of death on a cross! As He graciously fulfilled the Son’s role on earth, He now graciously fulfills the Father’s role in heaven.
Someone may ask, “If Jesus was God, why didn’t He say so plainly while He walked the earth?” He came very close at times, but He did not press this point because humanity could not have handled it. Israel – prepared as it was, more so than all the other nations – could not even handle the idea that He was their Messiah, much less God Almighty in the flesh!
Even if we could have grasped His Divinity at the time, Jesus was determined to lay aside His Divine privileges and live in the flesh as “the model child” so we could have an example to imitate, steps in which to follow. Therefore, He took upon Himself all the limitations of flesh. That is, He took on all the weaknesses that we ourselves have, yet without sin, demonstrating that even with such weaknesses a human being could still live a wonderful life with God. Having lived out that human experience, He was raised from the dead and returned to heaven. From there, He reassumed His role as Father of all creation in what has been called the Second Coming of Jesus Christ which occurred in the late first century A.D.
Someone may ask, “What about the Trinity?” The Trinity idea says that God is three – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – and one; that is, three-in-one. This man-made doctrine was invented after the generation of the apostles had died when subsequent church leaders did not accept the Second Coming of Christ and insisted instead that He was to return to the earth in the flesh and with earthly glory. The prophets and apostles of ancient Israel never taught that there was a Trinity. In fact, God had made sure they wouldn’t by early on making the signature call of His nation to be: “Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one.” How could a nation with a rallying cry like that ever backtrack on the point?
The Holy Spirit had been revealed in the Old Testament, but neither God nor the Jews had ever claimed that this introduced a “twoness” to God. So how then could the advent of Jesus in the New Testament make for a “threeness?”
God keeps His secrets until He is ready to reveal them. As Jesus was not to be proclaimed Messiah until after His resurrection, so Messiah was not to be proclaimed as God until after His Second Coming. Hence the idea of the Trinity results from people believing only part of the truth. It has confused our relationship with God. For example, “To whom am I praying: Jesus or the Father?” Believe all the truth, drop the confusion, and rest assured that God is one.
Take, therefore, the primary declaration of the Jews, which is, “The Lord our God is one.” Then take the primary declaration of the Christians, which is, “Jesus Christ is Lord.” Combine them and what do you have? Jesus Christ is God. And indeed He is! This is the ultimate – and the foundational – Judeo-Christian ethic, at least from God’s point of view.
God has walked on the earth as Jesus of Nazareth. He walked the earth as no one else ever has. This one – this very One – is your heavenly Father. Embrace His intimacy, walking in His steps…for He opens His arms to you even now.
(Jn 14:18; Eph 1:5; 2 Cor 6:18; Ps 68:5)
The Duty of a Man 