Absolute Essentials Of Christianity - Part 1 Series

He continued to exercise His divine attributes when a situation demanded it. He demonstrated His Omniscience, Omnipotence, Omnipresence, Omnibenevolence, Providence, and Sovereignty because God's fullness dwelt in Him bodily during His earthly ministry! (John 1:48, 2:24-25, 5:21-23, 6:64,70-71, 10:17-18, 11:11-14, 43-44, 17:2, 18:5-6, 3:35,38; Matthew 11:27, 18:20, 28:18-20; Mark 2:28; Luke 7:14; Hebrews 1:1-3; Colossians 1:17,19-20)

Jesus did not give up His own essential holiness. In His prayer to the Father, He asked for the return of His Glory, but He did not ask for the return of His power or attributes because He already had them. He did not change because He was, is, and will always be "the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8 NIV).

The Greatest Mystery

Jesus is a great mystery who, as a human being, loved, lived His life, and spoke like no other man has ever done or ever will (Romans 16:25, 1 Corinthians 2:7, Ephesians 1:9, 3:4, 3:9, Colossians 1:27). Through His act of ultimate humility, He willingly suffered and died on the Cross as wholly God and wholly as a human being. In His act of atonement, Jesus took all sins, past, present, and future, upon Himself, "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" and defeated satan ultimately for eternity at the Cross (2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV).

At the Cross, the entire Trinity was involved as the Father poured out His wrath, the Son paying the absolute price for the remission of sins as the final sacrificial lamb turning away the wrath, and the blood of Jesus offered through the Holy Spirit for the sins of all human beings (Romans 1:18,3:25-2,5:8-11; Hebrews 9:14). This is the greatest mystery that came directly through Love Himself. The blood of God was shed and poured out to redeem and set free all who willingly choose to accept Him as their personal Lord and Savior and become Born-Again by repenting of their sin and surrendering their life to Him (John 3:16; Acts 20:28).

Jesus intercedes from Heaven for all Born-Again Christians (Matthew 3:17,14:27; Mark 6:50; John 1:1; 1:14; 8:24,58; 10:30; Titus 2:13; 1 John 5:20). He is both love and the Word incarnate. He is the only mediator between God and humanity and is the proper and only object of a person's faith (See 1 Timothy 2:5). Salvation is found in no one else (Acts 4:12; Romans 10:9). He said that if a person does not believe He is God - the "I am" of the Bible - they will die in their sins (Exodus 3:14; John 1:1,14; 3:18; 4:2-3; 8:24,58; 10:30-33; 14:6; 20:28; Colossians 2:9; Philippians 2:5-8; Hebrews 1:8).

God, the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is fully God, the pre-existent Counselor, and Comforter who lives inside every Born-Again Christian and will remain in them to help, guide, and change those who willingly want to be changed (Isaiah 40:13; 1 Corinthians 2:12; Psalm 139:7; Job 33:4; Romans 8:2; Galatians 5:22; John 14:17). He is not a "spirit guide," "pure energy," or a "ghost" or phantom. He has a will, mind, and feelings with His personality (1 Corinthians 2:10-11,12:11; Ephesians 4:30; Acts 16:6-11). He is not a raw power that exerts energy or the effluence of the eternal God that resonates through eternity. He is the third person of the Triune God (Genesis 1:2; Matthew 12:28, 31-32; 28:19; Acts 1:8).