When God Became a Man: Mystery of All Mysteries J. L. Hall When God Became a Man Mystery of mysteries- One day a little babe was born in a very rude and obscure place in a small and humble city. His expected arrival was not announced to the world. His mother was not widely known. Finding no room in the crowded inn the lowly couple retreated to a stable and there in dark hours of the night, while the city was sleeping, the little stranger arrived. No one suspected anything out of the ordinary-but the birth of that little Babe set all the bells of heaven ringing. A bright, new star appeared in the heavens. An angel hastened to a group of shepherds to announce the glad tidings of great joy while the illuminating light of heaven encircled the astonished shepherds, dispelling the darkness of the night. Suddenly the lone angel was joined by a whole multitude of the heavenly host chanting the joyful refrain: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. When the angels had gone the shepherds sped to Bethlehem to see the new-born Babe. From the far distant East came wise men with costly gifts to present to him. Soon all Jerusalem was stirred. Even the king was troubled. The birth of the humble child had moved heaven and earth. Who could he be? Why all this commotion about his birth? It was a mystery, a great mystery, but that newborn Babe was none other than the Mighty God, the Lord, the Creator of heaven and earth, who was born of a virgin and came into the world in the likeness of a man to dwell among us. "They shall call his name Emmanuel which being interpreted is, "God with us: " Matt. 1:23 The angel announced unmistakably who he was. Said the angel: Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the LORD. Luke 2:11. Many times in the Old Testament God is spoken of as the LORD God, the LORD Jehova, the LORD thy God, etc. And now this angel announces that the Babe of Bethlehem is Christ the LORD. Since both the Old Testament and the New Testament emphatically declare that there is only one Lord, then it is very evident that the LORD Jesus of the New Testament and the LORD God of the Old Testament is the same Lord. The following scriptures taken from the Old and New Testament will prove conclusively that the Lord God of the. Old Testament is the Lord Jesus Christ of the New Testament: The Lord God created heaven and earth. - Isa. 42:5. The Lord Jesus created heaven and earth - John 1:10; Col. 1:16. The Lord God is the only Saviour. - Isa. 43:10, 11. The Lord Jesus is the Saviour - Tit. 1:4. The Lord God is the First and the Last. Isa. 44:6 The Lord Jesus is the First and the Last. -Rev. 1:8. The Lord God said: "I am He' - Isa. 43:10. The Lord Jesus said: "I am He.”-John 8:24. The Lord God will reign forever. - Psa. 146:10. The Lord Jesus will reign forever.- Luke 1:33. The Lord God is King of Israel.-Isa. 43:15. The Lord Jesus is King of Israel. Matt. 27:37. The Lord God is Lord alone. - Nem 9:6-7. Jesus is Lord.-Acts 9:5. The Lord God is Almighty.-Gen. 17:1. The Lord Jesus is Almighty. - Rev. 1:8. Other scriptures that prove beyond the shadow of any doubt that the Babe of Bethlehem was the Lord God Almighty: The Child-a Son-shall be called the Mighty God and the Everlasting Father. Isa. 9:6. He who was born in Bethlehem was from everlasting. Micah 5:2. Jesus lived before Abraham. John 8:56, 58. Thomas acknowledged Jesus to be God. John 20, 28. Now that it has been fully established by scripture that Jesus is God, the next step is to treat of the Sonship. When did the Sonship Begin? Was Jesus a son in eternity with God before his birth in Bethlehem? If so, when did he become a Son? Was he as old as the Father? Who was his mother then? What became of his body when he was born in Bethlehem? Was he born twice-once in eternity and again in Bethlehem? Did he have two fathers and two mothers? O, no! That is not the right understanding of God and the Son. In eternity God was an invisible spirit without flesh and bones, who alone created the heavens and the earth, Isa. 37:16; Isa. 44:25; Job 9:8. He declared himself that there was no one else with him and that he created the earth by himself, Isa. 45:5; Isa. 44:24. There is no Saviour, he said, but himself, Isa. 43:11. It was he, the only Lord God and only Saviour who came into the world in the form of man to become man's salvation. His name was called Jesus, which means. "Jehovah has become Salvation." That is when the Sonship began, when God became a man-the Babe of Bethlehem-a Lamb of sacrifice for sin. It was God in the flesh who died for the sins of the world, Acts 20:28. There was no son before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, although he who became a Son existed as the invisible Spirit from Everlasting. Jesus Was both God And Man Jesus was a man, a perfect man. As a man he slept, he ate, and he grew weary. But all of his mighty works prove that he was more than a man. What man other than he could raise the dead, walk on water, open blind eyes, multiply bread and fish, etc.? He was God and man united in one image. That is the reason he could say to Philip, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father," John 14:9. And did not he say, I and my Father are ONE. “And did he not also say.”If ye believe not that I am he (speaking of the Father) ye shall die in your sins? John 8:24, 27. Indeed it was a marvelous mystery but Jesus was the God-man. His birth was not after the fashion of ordinary man. He had no earthly father. His father was the Holy Ghost and his mother was the Virgin Mary, therefore he was both God and man. As a man he ate; as God he multiplied bread and fish. As a man he slept in the boat; as God he arose and calmed the stormy waves. As a man he prayed at the grave of Lazarus; as God he raised Lazarus from the dead. As a man he died; as God he raised himself from the dead. John 2:19. He was God and man-Father and Son-Spirit and Flesh-in ONE IMAGE. Therefore when God said "Let us make man in our image (not images), he was speaking of the two-fold relationship of Father and Son in ONE Image. We read: "So God (by himself) created man in HIS OWN IMAGE (not images). Gen. 1:26-27. What, then, is God's linage? Jesus is the IMAGE of the INVISIBLE GOD. Col. 1:15. The children of Israel had never seen their God. He was always invisible to them. But when Jesus came the invisible God was made visible. At the same time God was manifest in flesh on earth he remained Spirit in heaven. For that reason Jesus could speak of the Father that "dwelleth in me," and also speak of the Father "in heaven." Right Hand Jesus at the right hand of God does not mean that God and Jesus are two persons sitting side by side on a Throne in heaven, both of them sitting there stationary for centuries. That is a ridiculous and unscriptural idea of God. A preacher once said that Jesus had stood up only one time since he ascended into heaven, and that was when he stood up to welcome Stephen, because Stephen saw him "standing" at the right have of God. But that is not the meaning of the right hand. The right hand is a symbolic term which means power and authority. Jesus said: "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." When God became Incarnate Man on earth he did all of his mighty works through the power and authority of that Man. And now that Jesus has ascended to heaven he has all the power in heaven. Matt. 28-18. Therefore Jesus at the right hand of God means that Jesus has all the power. It means that Jesus is the power of God. 1 Cor. 1:24. It must be remembered that the Lord Jesus Christ is more than a man. He is both God and man. He is God manifest in the flesh, 1 Tim. 3:16: Notes few symbolic uses of right hand in connection with power: My right hand hath spanned the heavens, Isa. 48:13. The Lord is at the right hand of the poor. Psa. 109, 31 God led the children of Israel by the right hand of Moses, Isa. 63:12. The Lord was on David's right hand, Psa. 16:8, etc. The Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit is not a third, separate and distinct person from the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is God. In John 4:24 we read: "God is SPIRIT." And God is HOLY. Therefore God is the HOLY SPIRIT. No further evidence is needed to prove that the Holy Ghost is God than the scriptural fact that the Holy Ghost is the father of Jesus, Matt. 1:18,20. It, must be remembered that Jesus Christ is Incarnate God. Jesus Is the Holy Spirit Jesus called his disciples together one day and told them he was soon going away but that he would send another Comforter who would abide with them forever. Who then is this other Comforter? What is his name? Is he someone else other than Jesus? If the Comforter is someone else, then Jesus is not here, he is not in us. But Jesus said. "Lo I am with you always even to the end of the world.” Jesus did not leave his disciples in the dark: he told them very plainly who the other Comforter is. Said he: "I will not leave you Comfortless. I will come to you." John 14:18. And he further told them that the other Comforter was he who was dwelling with them, and would be in them when he came again. He was WITH them in flesh and went away to heaven in flesh, but he came back in spirit on the day of Pentecost to be IN them. So we may rightfully sing: Since Jesus came into my heart. Therefore the name of the Comforter, who is the Holy Ghost, is Jesus, John 14:26. There is no other name. The Trinity Theory Through the confusion of the dark ages and the traditions of men the vision of the greatness and the glory and majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ has become dimmed. He who said: "I am the First and the Last" has been relegated to second place. After a raging discussion of centuries concerning the Godhead, a doctrine was finally agreed upon known, as the doctrine of the Trinity, namely: that God consists of three separate and distinct persons, thus placing Jesus Christ, who is declared Lord of all, as second person. God, no doubt, has winked at the ignorance of the people as they have piously chanted hymns to the "blessed holy trinity-God in three persons" but now the mists are being cleared away and the doctrines as taught by the apostles is again being revealed, that Jesus Christ is God the Spirit manifested in the flesh-not three persons, but One. The trinity doctrine is man's feeble attempt to solve the great mystery of the Incarnate God, but in thus dispraising of the mystery they have only added absurdity to mystery. If the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three, separate persons, then each Christian has three persons in him. 2 Cor. 6:6; 2 Cor. 13:5, 1 Cor. 6:19. If there are three persons each raised Jesus from the dead. Act. 13:30; Rom. 8:11; John 2:19. If Christ and God are two separate persons there are two separate churches because the Church is called the Church of God and is also called the Church of Christ. If the Holy Ghost and God are two separate persons then Jesus has two fathers. God is his father and the Holy Ghost is his father, Matt. 1:18; Matt. 16:16. Moreover Jesus himself is called the Everlasting Father, Isa. 9:6. If there are three separate distinct persons each called God then there are three separate Gods or else each one of the three is one-third of God. If there are three persons co-equal then Isaiah had a false vision when he said "To whom then will ye liken me' or shall I be equal ? saith the HOLY ONE, Isa. 40:25. If there are three separate, distinct persons there should be three separate, distinct names, whereas there is only one name. Father is not a proper name. Son is not a proper name. Holy Spirit is not a proper name. Peter was not so mistaken after all, as many people think, when he inspiringly said on the day of Pentecost: "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of JESUS CHRIST. Acts 2:38. Human intelligence can never fathom the mystery of Jesus Christ . Nothing short of divine illumination of the scriptures can reveal him as he is. He is hidden in the scriptures from carnal view but the illuminating light of the Holy Spirit places a halo of glory around his Majestic Being and brings him to view as the GREAT I AM, the Everlasting Father, the only wise God our Saviour, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, etc. John 8:58, Isa. 9-6, Tit. 2:13; I Tim. 1:17; Col. 1:16. Jesus Christ puzzled the world in the days of his flesh, and he puzzles them now. The Jews rejected him because "he being a man made himself God.” John 10:33 . They were continually asking then: Who art thou? Whom makest thou thyself? What manner of man is this? Whence hath this man this wisdom? Art thou then the Son of God? Art thou the king of the Jews? Whence art thou? How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? Who is this that forgiveth sins also? And still today the world is puzzled. No wonder He is great an, marvelous. The name of Jesus excels all other names. No tongue of man has ever proclaimed his worth. Anti- Christ The devil has done his best to conceal the identity of Jesus Christ-to hide him from the people, and so well will he have succeeded until at the end of the age the entire world will reject Jesus Christ and will worship the Anti-Christ as God (all except those who names are written in the book of life). John warned of this when he said: "Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God; and this is that spirit of Anti-Christ." I Tim. 3:16 says God was manifest in the flesh and I John 4:2 says Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. Harmonizing these two scriptures we find that Jesus Christ was God who came in the flesh and to attempt to place Him on a lower plane Menthe Mighty God and Lord of all is to join ranks with the anti-Christ forces. In Jesus Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Col. 2:9; Acts 2:38; Acts 8:12:17, Acts 10:44-48; Acts 19:1-6; Col. 3:17. The tract "When God Became a Man: Mystery of All Mysteries" was written by J. L. Hall. This article may be copy written and is suitable for research and study purposes only.
