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The Wonder of Jesus Pre-existence as the Eternal God

By: Miracle Evangelism

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One of the most fascinating things about Jesus is that He has existed from eternity, from the dateless past. He never was created. He never had a beginning. For a moment I want to focus our attention on the eternal future.

100 years from now, all of us alive today will be no more. But the tree in the field might still be there. The Great Wall of China should still be there. The Voortrekker monument in South Africa should still be there. The Taj Mahal in India should still be there, and the Capitol in the United States should still awe each visitor that views its majestic grandeur. But in time they too will fade like the pyramids of Egypt and the lost cities under desert sands.

And Jesus will still be there. He will be here a million years from now. He will be there a billion years from now, and He will be there a trillion, gazillion years from now, and at that time all these millions of years would seem like the wink of an eye compared to the eternal future. And Jesus will still be there. Imagine a million, trillion, billion, gazillions years multiplied by a million, trillion, billion, gazillion years into the future. Jesus will still be there. This is fascinating, but let us understand, that as awesome the thought is about the eternal future existence of Jesus, so too is the thought of His eternal past existence.

About 2,000 years ago a man walked upon the earth, who was known by the Name of Jesus of Nazareth, a descendant of King David, a legal heir to the royal throne of Israel. But before He was born in that lowly stall in Bethlehem, He pre-existed. A million years before, He was there. A billion years before then, He was there. A trillion years before then, He was there. And a gazillion years before then, He was there! Now multiply a million, billion, trillion, gazillion years by a million, billion, trillion, gazillion years. Whatever the sum of this ridiculous time span is, at that time He already existed for a the same number multiplied by the same number multiplied times over.

This is a wonder of Jesus, in that He existed for all this time, and will exist for all time. The human mind cannot fathom it, the angels are fascinated by it. The devil trembles at the thought. In the human mind, Jesus was eternally and shall be eternally. But God considers it merely being in the eternal now. To Moses He said "I am." To the Pharisees He said "I am."

The Scriptures teach us wonderful things about the pre-existence of Jesus.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God." (John 1:1-2)

Some incredible truths shine through God's perfect Book. Firstly, Jesus pre-existed in the beginning. What beginning? Beginning of creation? No. The word "beginning" indicates what Bible scholars have termed "the dateless past." It refers to the eternal past of Jesus. Jesus was in the beginning, pre-existed eternally as the Word of God.

Jesus was not always known as the Son of God. You see, the term "Son of God" refers to the human Jesus that would be born in time, which will be discussed in a later chapter. Rather, He was known as "The Word of God." In the beginning was the Word. What does the word "Word" mean? It doesn't refer to a scroll or a book. The word in the original Greek language, in which the New Testament of the Bible was originally written is "logos," which means "the manifestation" of something. So we could read it this way: "In the dateless eternal past was the Manifestation of God."

"Logos" is a Greek word, and so some have made the argument that this whole notion of Jesus being the Logos of God really stemmed from the writings of Philo and Plato, who also referred to the Logos and that it somehow crept into Christianity. This is a good argument but completely incorrect. In the Jewish mindset the Logos was absolutely a manifestation of God. In the Targum (the Hebrew Bible translated into Aramaic-the franca lingua of the Jews for hundreds of years, including during the time Jesus physically walked upon the earth) numerous references occur regarding the Word, or Logos of God. It is called the "Memra" of God. "Memra" is the Aramaic equivalent of the Greek "Logos."

For example, when Adam and Eve "heard the sound of Jehovah God walking in the garden," the Targum translates it as being the sound of the "Memra" of Jehovah God. And when Jacob wrestled with a man and said "I have seen God face to face…" the Targum translates it that he saw the "Memra" of God face to face.

So in the Jewish mindset it was accepted that there is a Manifestation of God. This manifestation of God is Jesus-the Word (Memra) that was with God and was God…

"Prof. David Flusser of the Hebrew University notes that it is to this mindset that we owe our understanding of John 1:1 and not to Philo and the Alexandrian "logos" philosophy." (http://www.conservapedia.com/Jesus)

The Jewish Encyclopedia also notes, "Like the Shekinah…the Memra is accordingly the manifestation of God…" (http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=399&letter=M&search=memra)

"Who is the IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD…" (Colossians 1:15) Jesus was the very Image, the Expression, the Manifestation, the "visible-making" of God.

"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…" (Hebrews 1:3) Jesus is the very exact Image of the Person of God-the manifestation of God. When we see the visible Jesus, we see the invisible God. This is a Wonder of Jesus.

"…Christ, who is the IMAGE OF GOD…" (2 Corinthians 4:4) Although man was made in the image and likeness of God in Genesis 1:26, Jesus WAS the image of God. Man looks like the image of God, but Jesus IS the image of God. This is a Wonder of Jesus.

Jesus was a pre-existent, very real Person in eternity past. He was the Word, the Manifestation of the Divine, and He was with God-that wonderful Person known to us as the Father. Not only was He the Manifestation of God, and not only was He with God the Father, but He also "was God." If there is any doubt whether Jesus Himself was God or a mere angel or prophet, this Scripture should serve as a fundamental proof text that "…the Word was God."

He was God throughout all eternity past, but at some point in the vast expanse of time, in the beginning "…God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep of the deep but the Spirit of God moved upon the waters. And God said, Let there be light, and there was light…" and Jesus created and then formed and filled the formless and void earth.

The Bible says that He created all things by the Word of His power. You see, when God the Father spoke, the Word created by the power of the Spirit.

"All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made." Jesus, the Word of God or Manifestation of the Divine made all things. Without Him was not anything made that was made, and every little particle of creation today was made by Jesus. This is a wonder of Jesus. In His pre-existence He was and is our wonderful Creator.

See Part 2 on this topic

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

Miracle Evangelism presents author and speaker Ev. Joel Hitchcock featured at www.joelhitchcock.com. His teaching and healing videos can also be accessed at www.joelhitchcock.com/JHMOnlineTelevision.htm . His blog is at joelhitchcock.blogspot.com.

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