DID GOD GIVE HIMSELF OR HIS ONLY SON? by GERALD IHLE

DID GOD GIVE HIMSELF OR HIS ONLY SON?

If Jesus is NOT God and Christians go on saying that he is, then something very profound is lost in theology.  To say that God died on the cross is to miss the suffering love the Father had for his tortured Son agonizing on the cross.  ...

I believe the Abraham and Isaac story is in the Bible for a reason.  God wanted to test Abraham to see if his faith was strong enough to obey him even if it meant giving up his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem.  The story reveals the anguish of a dedicated father having to choose between his son or God. 
It was a hard choice.  Abraham was not asked to sacrifice himself!  His choice would be harder than self-sacrifice!  God never intended to let Abraham go through with it.  It was a test of love as well as of faith.  At the last moment God provided a ram for sacrifice in place of Abraham’s son.  Abraham was to call that place on Mount Moriah “YAHWEH WILL PROVIDE.”
[YAHWEH-YIREH]

So Abraham called the name of the place “YAHWEH will provide” as it is said to this day,
“On the Mount of YAHWEH it shall be provided” (Gen 22:14)

What God did not require of Abraham, he would fulfill in the same place at a later time in history, to show his love for the world by giving up his beloved Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for the salvation of a sinful world: “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only son into the world” (1 Jn 4:9).  Rather than God giving up himself to death[1], the heavenly Father gave up his Son to die on the cross.
God required more of himself than he required of Abraham.

[1] Which GOD cannot do seeing that GOD CANNOT DIE!

The above was taken from
DID GOD GIVE HIMSELF OR HIS ONLY SON?

Some editing has been done.

WHY JESUS HAD TO BE A HUMAN by JESSE KNOWLES

WHY JESUS HAD TO BE A HUMAN

Many Trinitarians have a hangup to Unitarianism due to our offering praise to a (mere) man.  They have been told that praise can only be directed to God himself and not to a man He has given authority to.  But I find the Bible is clear as to why the Messiah must be a man and cannot be God himself.

Consider John 3:14 - "as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up" (KJV)

Jesus was referring to the Old Testament, when the Israelites were suffering from poisonous snake bites (due to a punishment from disobeying God).  God told Moses to fashion a bronze serpent head and put it on the end of a pole.  He told him to hold it up and whoever looked upon it would not die but live and be saved.  We can see how that directly parallels Christ's Glory on the cross, and that's why he mentioned it.

The takeaway from this is that there isn't any intrinsic divinity within the bronze serpent.  It is that God's authority was in it.  What God had set forth would be accomplished; His future sinless messianic son would be glorified on the cross and whoever looked to Him, would be saved.

If we read Deut 18:14-20 you will find the prophecy given to Moses about Jesus (the coming prophet).  God gave Moses the reason why him being a man is necessary.

For this is what you asked of YAHWEH your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of YAHWEH our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die. YAHWEH said to me: "What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name."

- DEUT 18:16-19

We know this scripture is referring to Christ as Peter quoted it in Acts 3 and Stephen in Acts 7.

Clearly, no one can sit at the feet of God and gaze upon him or hear his voice and live.  He made this clear in Exodus 33:20, "you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live." God has put his authority in His man Messiah, whom man can gaze upon, and we are to listen to everything he tells us and see it as coming directly from God himself.

Notice also in verse 17 how God would raise up the Messiah "from among their fellow Israelites."  This agrees with Genesis 3 that he would be from Eve's seed and a descendant of Abraham and David as Matt 1:1 states.  He would be a son of man, in other words, a human being.

"Though he were a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him."- HEB 5:7,8

When you turn Christ into God, you put him out of our reach and remove all of his humanity.  It's a blessing to know the truth about Christ and see him as our human example.  We as humans are capable of obeying God just as he was.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort"- 2 COR 1:3

The above was taken from
 WHY JESUS HAD TO BE A HUMAN

Some editing has been done.