My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.
The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.
The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
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| GOD MANIFEST IN THE FLESH |
| 1 Timothy 3:16 Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. |
| I have a friend down south who stated this passage was his very favorite verse of the entire Bible. The entire Bible. That is some claim, and he certainly used it in many contexts, but his favorite context was when we were evangelizing on the streets, in the winter, while the temps were -20 to -30 degrees, on Tuesday nights. No-one left their warm homes during the winter, especially on a Tuesday night (for some unknown reason), and we were occasionally asked in as a gesture of kindness. Sometimes the invite was due to curiosity, for we clearly represented ourselves immediately as Christian believers sharing the gospel of Christ. Prior to knocking, we would always decide which of us would speak, and which of us would pray, and as this one night I will speak of progressed, my brother took this verse and shared a mystery with a young family. He spoke of God being in the flesh. He really labored on this phrase, for he sought to make Jesus understood for who He is, and not some generic, run of the mill Rabbi, or teacher, or prophet. He labored in making the point that Jesus was not simply a good man, but that He was God in the flesh. Now if you spend just a moment considering this phrase, hopefully you will come to the same conclusion Paul suggested as he began this verse.. This truth, that Jesus was (and is) God in the flesh is a great mystery. How could God be “in the flesh”? Sometimes in the New Testament, to be “in the flesh” is synonymous with living in the sinful nature, or to be fleshly, earthy and natural. Surely this is not the message Paul is giving out, for he speaks of the Messiah as being vindicated by the Spirit, that He was the worthy Lamb of God. So what is Paul getting at? What is so mysterious? The mystery, at least in this verse, is that Paul is speaking of how God saves sinners, that is, God saves sinners through the Christ, that God’s Messiah was not just a very good man, but that He was God in the flesh, in a human body. That really is a mind blowing truth. Now, for context, a mystery for those of the first century, referred to something that had been hidden, that had not been understood, or even considered, but that was now a known truth. So let me try to summarize. God’s method of saving lost souls is through His taking on of human flesh, with all the limitations, pains, weakness, fears, pressures and trials of the human experience. God’s method of saving lost souls is through Jesus, accepting the condition of humanity forever, and dying to bring us to God. Jesus is God manifest in the flesh! That night, a friendly family who invited us in for some warmth, were given a mystery, a message revealed that is truly magnificent, and after 30 years, still rings in my ears. He is God manifest in the flesh! |
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
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