He who has seen me has seen the Father" (Jn 14:6-9). It is through Jesus that men know God; it is in Jesus that men can approach God. Apart from Jesus we have no secure knowledge of God; to deny him is at the same time to lose all grip of God. If we deny Jesus', if we deny his knowledge of and his relationship to God, we can no confidence in what he says. His words become no more than the guesses which any good and great man could make. Jesus claims that a man's reaction to him is, in fact, a reaction to God and that that reaction settles his destiny in time and in eternity. "So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven" (Matt 10:32-33). To deny Jesus is to be separated from God, for on our reaction to Jesus our relationship to God depends. To deny Jesus is indeed the master lie, It is to entirely lose the faith and the knowledge which he alone makes possible. We may say that there are three New Testament confessions of Jesus. There is the confession that he is the Son of God (Matt 16:16; Jn 9:35-38); There is the confession that he is Lord (Php 2:11); and There is the confession that he is Messiah (1Jn 2:22). The essence of every one of them is the affirmation that Jesus stands in a unique relationship to God; and to deny that relationship is to deny the certainty that everything Jesus said about God is true. Joh 16:13-14 ESV (13) When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but
He who has seen me has seen the Father" (Jn 14:6-9). It is through Jesus that men know God; it is in Jesus that men can approach God. Apart from Jesus we have no secure knowledge of God; to deny him is at the same time to lose all grip of God. If we deny Jesus', if we deny his knowledge of and his relationship to God, we can no confidence in what he says. His words become no more than the guesses which any good and great man could make. Jesus claims that a man's reaction to him is, in fact, a reaction to God and that that reaction settles his destiny in time and in eternity. "So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven" (Matt 10:32-33). To deny Jesus is to be separated from God, for on our reaction to Jesus our relationship to God depends. To deny Jesus is indeed the master lie, It is to entirely lose the faith and the knowledge which he alone makes possible. We may say that there are three New Testament confessions of Jesus. There is the confession that he is the Son of God (Matt 16:16; Jn 9:35-38); There is the confession that he is Lord (Php 2:11); and There is the confession that he is Messiah (1Jn 2:22). The essence of every one of them is the affirmation that Jesus stands in a unique relationship to God; and to deny that relationship is to deny the certainty that everything Jesus said about God is true. Joh 16:13-14 ESV (13) When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but
62_1st_John_TJL_Compilation.docx