The Simplicity in Christ Jesus!
And the question: Why did Jesus pray to the Father and cry out to Him?
The Simplicity in Christ Jesus
2 Corinthians 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
The lying wonders of Satan, as we see in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, come with power...
Just as Eve was beguiled, so is the world today. We can see the blanket of dark delusion blinding the minds of the people.
But not just the world, the modern mainstream churches of today are just as confused and beguiled because they have been corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus.
2 Corinthians 4:3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Paul feared for the church at Corinth. The church that he helped build (not a building, the believers of Corinth), was in danger!
For there had come evil men, false apostles, deceitful workers, preaching another Jesus, who is not the Jesus preached by Paul!
2 Corinthians 11:13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
Just as the mega-church preachers of today, beguiling and corrupting the Truth with the lies of Satan!
Just look at what Satan has done...
He's created a subtle change to the gospel.
A simple change to how we see when we think of Jesus, and see Him in our minds eye.
Instead of the simple fact that God became a man by the Son, we are taught that He's some lower part of a multifaceted being with multiple personalities.
Instead of the simple manifestation of God Himself in the flesh, we're taught that Jesus isn't really God Himself in the flesh!
Some think He's supposed to be some lower, lesser "part" of God... while others say He's a co-equal part of the One God.
No!!! This is the beguiling corruption from Satan!
1 Timothy 3:16 ... God was manifest in the flesh ...
Hebrews 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death...
Acts 20:28 ... the Holy Ghost ... God ... purchased (us) with his own blood...
God made Himself a man, by the Son, by being born into His own creation, and made Himself a little lower than the angels so that He could suffer death for us.
It's such a simple truth!
The simplicity that Thomas realized when he saw the resurrected Jesus.
John 20:28 ... Thomas ... said ... My Lord and my God...
It's not some hard to understand, complicated thing!
It's a very simple, easy to understand truth!
God is Jesus!
It's that simple!
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ...
Jesus is the image of the invisible God.
2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
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:
John 14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
God is Jesus, and Jesus is God. The Father is the Holy Spirit which dwells within Jesus. Jesus is the human body God created for Himself!
Colossians 2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
Jesus is not just one part of the Godhead, Jesus IS the Godhead.
The simplicity that is in Christ...
God wanted to become a human being because it was pleasing to Him!
Revelation 4:11 ... for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created...
Why? Because God's plan from the very beginning was to become a man, and have a people to dwell with forever!
This life is a test to find those who God wants to take into eternity with Him!
1 Peter 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you...
This entire existence is simply for God to create a people do dwell with forever!
Revelation 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
Such a simple Truth!
Those who think this life is it, and try to gain as much in the world as they can are totally missing the point! This is not our home. The new heavens and earth will be our true home, with no pain or sorrow, ever!
Believe! Come to Jesus! Repent (change your mind) and turn to Him in obedience to the gospel!
So this begs the question: Why did Jesus cry out and pray to the Father?
I believe that when Jesus died, that was the first time since conception that He was without the Spirit of God. God had to leave so He could die.
This is why He cried out.
And, when He prayed earlier, it's because He knew this would happen and that He would have the sins of the world poured out on Him.
This left Him anguished!
I speak of this in my article, Chapter 15 - How many Gods are there?
The thing we have to understand is that this does not take away from the truth that we find in scripture that specifically says Jesus is the manifestation of God in the flesh.
God became a man, and that man was 100% human being just like us.
Many times Jesus acted and spoke as God Himself, and many times He acted and spoke as a man. Just like He's referred to as the Son of man, and the Son of God. He is fully 100% man and fully 100% God at the same time.
Difficult for our minds to grasp, but truth nonetheless!
Why does Jesus "pray to the Father"?
This can be very confusing if we don't understand that the flesh and blood man, Jesus, was a human being just like you and me. He was the "seed of a woman"; a man born of a woman just like all humans. God planted the seed in Mary, but He grew in the womb and was born a baby and grew into a man. It was God's way to live among us as a man to fulfill His plan of redemption and save us by shedding His blood and dying for us. He was every bit a human being who experienced the same things we do, like pain, hunger, etc. When he was mocked and beaten and hung on the cross, he felt every bit of it just as you and I would. Here's the thing; in order for God to be tempted in all points as we are; Hebrews 4:15 “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”, He had to be a man in all points as we are! Think about this for a second. God can do anything even if we can't understand how or why He did it. The Bible tells us that God cannot be tempted, so in order to experience temptation and fulfill His plan He had to become a man and be a man that could be tempted.
Heb 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
He was made a human being, a little lower than the angels, in order to be able to be killed so He could die for us.
Jesus was the limit of the unlimited. He was limited on this earth while He was here as a man in order to be tempted and to be able to be killed. Now that He is raised up to heaven, He is no longer limited but is made master of everything in heaven and earth. Eph 1:21 "Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named , not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:" He is the physical body that God made for Himself.
Jesus did many things by example and led by example. He did things as a man so we would know by His example what we should do. He prayed, was baptized, fasted; but He did all these things for us, not for Himself. In John 12, Jesus prays to God and a voice is heard from heaven. Then Jesus tells them that it was for them, not Himself.
John 12:30 Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.
In order to understand, we must remember that many things were done so we could understand in human terms. Jesus sometimes spoke and did things as God with the authority of God and other times spoke and did things as a man to bring things to our level of understanding and to be an example of what is pleasing to Him. It's hard to understand, but we have to remember that we cannot understand God and that we might get ourselves into trouble by trying to make it fit in our minds with philosophy. The man, Jesus, was totally submitted to the Spirit of God. He wasn’t an ordinary man as you and I are, but He was God manifest in the flesh as it says in the bible. He was a very special man. He wasn’t a puppet in the true sense of the word, but He was totally submitted to God so much so that the Spirit guided everything He did and as such He was really just speaking and acting the will of God. John 3:34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. He is the body of God, the human flesh that God manifested Himself into.
Again, He is the image of the invisible God. Understanding this is so important!
2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
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...
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