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| During the coming season of Lent, Christians meditate in the Old Testament. Unless a person recognizes that Jesus is both true man and true God he will not understand the significance of the death of Jesus. Micah prophesied that the coming Messiah was without beginning and without end. “But thou, Bethlehem Ephrata, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose going forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (Micah 5:2). “The angel told the Virgin Mary: “That Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35 ). At His birth the angels proclaimed the Babe of Bethlehem to be “Christ the Lord (Luke 2:11 ). Christ Himself has declared that He is God. He accepted the answer of Peter: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,” and added that this knowledge had been given to Peter “by My Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 16:13 -17). Christ said that He was one in essence with the Father. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one” (John 10:27 -30). While Christ here differentiates between Himself and the Father, who gave him the sheep (a difference in person), He identifies Himself with the Father in saying that the sheep are both in His hand and in the hand of the Father, adding: “I and the Father are one” (unity of essence). |
