"Before Abraham was, I Am"

When Jesus spoke these words, the "religious foks" took up stones to cast at him, but he went out of the temple and passed them by. There are two critically important things that one can learn from this event. First, Jesus Christ is God; manifest in the flesh. Second, they could not lay hands on him as it was not the appropriate time; proving that Jesus laid down his life willingly. As the song goes, "He could have called ten thousand angels." Today, we have the gift of eternal life, free for the asking, because he went to the cross and paid for our sins with his own blood.

Nearly every type of doctrine and religious system has a belief concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. They will call him a "great teacher" or a "great prophet" or nearly anything from the category of "greathood." Yet when it comes down to who he really is, there's an underlying denial of his deity. They will call him the Son of God, but will attempt to place him into a "secondary category" if you will. They deny who he really is and as a result, preach "another Jesus." Here's what Jesus said to Philip as he explained who he is.

John 14:8-11 "Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? 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. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the father in me: or else believe me for the very works sake.

The four gospels testify to who Jesus is; that he is both the Son of God and that he is God. When he healed the sick he would say "be thou healed." He didn't have to call on another name; he simply healed those who were in need of healing. Likewise when he cast out devils, he simply cast them out. They knew who he is and had no choice but to depart when he ordered them to.

Here's a fact to keep in mind. The devil can only go as far as God permits him to. For example, the devil was allowed to afflict Job with sore boils, but was not permitted to take his life. In like manner, when Jesus told a devil to "go" it had to go! The book of James declares that the "devils believe and tremble." (James 2:19)

Luke 4:40-41 "Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them. And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ."

If you are born again and have a personal realationship with Jesus, this all should sound very basic to you. I bring it up, however, because the entire gospel rests on this single fact. Jesus Christ is who he says he is. Understanding this is of utmost importance as we live in an age with every form of doctrine imaginable circling the globe at lightening speed. Jesus warned us of the major deceptions in the last days.

Matthew 24:5 "For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

Many will come appearing to proclaim the gospel, but will be, in reality, teaching "another gospel." If you talk to a Jehovahs witness, (I wouldn't advise it) they will have no problem saying "Jesus is the Son of God" But if you ask them more directly, they will deny that he is God manifest in the flesh. Their denial is so great, that they have their own version of the bible that they use to uphold their doctrine. It's called the "new world translation" and is made to look like simply a "modern version" of the scriptures. The enemy has various methods of twisting scripture and, as a result, we have more "translations" today than one can count. Do you ever wonder why that is? Do you wonder why so many today view the new translations as being "more accurate with the original Hebrew and Greek?" Likewise, the King James version is no longer widely used as many consider it to be "lacking in accuracy." (A slippery slope to be sure) The devil has been attacking and twisting the word of God ever since he told Eve "Ye shall not surely die." He has been deluting the word of God and attempting to draw away from God ever since "pride" was found in him. He is so deceitful that a third of the angels kept not their first estate and followed him in rebellion against the God of heaven who is from everlasting and created all things. When Jesus rose from the dead, he stripped the devil of all authority once and for all. Ever since then, the devil has attacked the deity of Jesus Christ through false religion, wisdom of men, and "another gospel."

Galatians 1:6-7 "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ."

Jesus Christ is from everlasting to everlasting. He has no beginning and he has no ending. This is the truth that the enemy has sought to hide since the beginning of the dispensation of time. I need to end this post for now, but will leave with some verses to consider. These should be very familiar if you're born again, but they bear repeating as we're in an age where sound doctrine is increasingly rare.

Colossians 2:8-10 "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:"

Hebrews 1:1-4 "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 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; Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they."

I Timothy 3:16 "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory."

I John 3:16 "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."

Revelation 22:12-13 "And behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last."