August 2024: The Beginning Before Time

Published on 08/01/2024 by Dr-Shirley-Cheng.

Intro to the Gospels

"Gospel" means "good news." The particular good news that the Gospels speak of is the good news of Yahweh's gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. This good news is the best gospel ever because anyone who accepts it will receive eternal life with Yahweh and His Son in the Kingdom of God. "Jesus" means "Yahweh's salvation." As his name suggests, Jesus is the Agent whom Yahweh anointed or appointed to bring salvation to us. "Christ" means "anointed one," and its Hebrew is "Messiah." It is not Jesus' last name.

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called the "synoptic Gospels." "Synoptic" is derived from the two Greek words "syn" and "opsesthai," and it means "to see together." Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called synoptic Gospels because their accounts correlate with one another; when we put them side by side, we can see that they record many of the same events or teachings of Jesus Christ. However, as we'll see, this does not mean that they present Jesus' accounts in the same order. The Gospel of John, on the other hand, includes many unrecorded teachings and events in the ministry of Jesus. To get a fuller picture of Jesus' life and ministry and his teachings, we must study all four Gospels.

The Gospels are biographies of the most important and fascinating person who has ever lived on the planet: Yahweh's Messiah, Jesus. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John each selected specific events in Jesus' life to include in their biographical sketches. According to His Torah, Yahweh requires at least two witnesses to establish a case. Thus, He chose four men to bear witness to His Messiah. Matthew, Mark, and John were among Jesus' earliest disciples, whereas Luke was a disciple of Paul who interviewed trustworthy sources such as eyewitnesses to compose his Gospel. Though these four men did not identify themselves in their writings, early Christians attributed their authorship to their respective writing.

Matthew and John were among Jesus' closest disciples, having been chosen by the Christ as two of his first twelve apostles. "Apostle" means "sent out one." The original twelve apostles were appointed by Jesus to spread the gospel throughout Israel while he was still on Earth. Following his ascension, these apostles brought the gospel outside the borders of Israel to gentile lands. You and I have received the gospel message due to their foundational work.

Mark is believed to be John Mark, a spiritual son of Peter, one of the twelve apostles. It's believed that Mark wrote his Gospel under the guidance of Peter. Mark himself was also a disciple of Jesus. Thus, he was an eyewitness to Jesus' ministry, death and resurrection as Matthew and John were.

Luke was the only Gospel writer who did not know Jesus in person. To compose his work, he interviewed eyewitnesses and other reliable sources, whom likely included Mary, the mother of Jesus since his birth narrative is the most detailed. His Gospel account is the longest of the four Gospels and is not his only contribution to the Bible; he also wrote the book of Acts, which recounts selective activities of certain apostles to show how they advance the gospel to the ends of the world following Jesus' departure from Earth. Both of Luke's books take up nearly thirty percent of the New Testament. It's widely believed that he was a gentile believer. If he was indeed a gentile, then he would be the only gentile Bible writer; all other writers were Hebrews, though Daniel did include a proclamation and narration by Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4.

The Bible is like a spellbinding mystery novel. In the beginning and middle, we get all the twists and turns, and clues about the key figure or protagonist are sprinkled throughout. It's only in the end will we learn the identity of that figure and see how the plots tie in together. But unlike a mystery novel, it is entirely the truth! Now, let us dive into the Gospels and study the most fascinating figure that has ever lived!

The Beginning of Christ

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that has been made." (John 1:1-3, WEB)

To tell the story of Jesus Christ, we must start at its beginning. Normally, the biography of a person's life begins at birth or childhood, but Jesus is no ordinary human. For Jesus, his life story doesn't begin at his birth, or even at his conception, but it begins a long, long time ago, even before the universe existed. In actuality, it began outside of time.

Micah foretold that the origins of Yahweh's Messiah "are from of old, from everlasting." (Micah 5:2) This points to the pre-human existence of Jesus Christ. Not only did he pre-exist prior to entering the world as a human but has also pre-existed from eternity past, from an immeasurable extent of time.

The Gospel of John reveals that Jesus was with God "in the beginning." From when do we count this "beginning"? The "beginning" can mean different starting points depending on the context. For instance, Genesis 1:1 tells us that God created the Earth and heavens in the beginning, where "beginning" refers to the time that Yahweh began creating the physical world. By then, He had already created the spiritual world, for Job 38:7 tells us that God's spirit creatures rejoiced when they witnessed God's creation of the Earth. Thus, the "beginning" that Genesis 1:1 does not refer to the very beginning of all creation.

The "beginning" that John speaks of seems to point to the beginning of God's creation of everything, since he spoke of "all things" in existence being created through Jesus, so this preceded the "beginning" spoken of in Genesis 1:1. In that beginning, only Yahweh and Jesus existed. An unknown period of time passed before Yahweh began creating creatures and things, and He did not create them alone.

Hebrews 1:2 says that Yahweh created the worlds (the spiritual and physical worlds) through Jesus. The book of Colossians reveals that everything that is in existence is created through Jesus, "as by him all things were created, in the heavens and on the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and for him." (Colossians 1:16) The Gospel of John echoes this truth: "All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that has been made." (John 1:3)

The key word that Hebrews, Colossians, and John used is "through." Everything in the world, and the world itself, is created "through" Jesus. This word signifies that Jesus is the Agent of creation, whereas Yahweh is the ultimate Creator. Jesus is the Agent of creation "through" whom Yahweh created the world. Yahweh creating the world through Jesus is akin to my writing of books "through" my computer. My computer cannot be called the "writer," as it's only my agent or tool. I am the actual writer. In a similar way, Yahweh is the Creator of the worlds, while Jesus is the Agent through whom Yahweh created the worlds.

Who Is Jesus?

John began his Gospel with a most profound statement: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1)

First, John called Jesus the "Word." "Word" is translated from the Greek word "logos." "Logos" has multiple meanings. It can mean speech, the words we speak, and ideas that we express and truths we teach. It can also mean wisdom, a representation of knowledge, or an ideal. Jesus is aptly called the Word for these reasons:
a) Jesus is the highest Spokesperson of Yahweh who imparts to us God's teachings
b) Jesus is the embodiment of the wisdom and light of Yahweh, being the exact spiritual image of Yahweh (Colossians 1:15). He came into the world as a perfectly sinless human being to show how the ideal humanity behaves, what Yahweh intends every human to be.

The Word was with God in the beginning, as John told us. But the same Word was also God. "God" is translated from the Greek word "theos." "Theos" is a word that refers to any god, whether it be the true God or a false god. It can also describe any powerful being, such as an angel or a human judge or magistrate. Only the context determines what "theos" means. In John 1:1, we learn that the Word (Jesus) is theos; however, this does not mean that he is Yahweh God because it also says that the Word was with God (Yahweh). Jesus cannot be "with" Yahweh and "be" Yahweh. Hence, Jesus is the second Person in the Godhead, as the divine Son of God.

In the Word "was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn't overcome it." (John 1:4-5)

In the preincarnate Jesus, prior to his earthly existence, life was in him. As the agent of creation, he gave life to all the living as the source of life together with his Father. His life was the light of man; he himself was the light. Light represents all that is good and holy. His light shines in the world, and no darkness has been able to overcome it. Since he is the exact spiritual image of Yahweh, his light is equivalent to that of Yahweh. No darkness can overpower the light of Yahweh.

The Word of life and light became flesh, entering our physical world as an actual human being named Jesus (John 1:14). All his disciples, including John, saw him as he dwelled among them. John himself testified,
"We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14) He and the others saw the glory of Jesus, a glory that no other possessed. He possessed this glory as the Son of God. This is the first place where John identified Jesus as the one and only Son of Yahweh the Father. Only Jesus is the Son of God. While other spirit creatures are also called the sons of God, Jesus is the unique Son of God as all creation came through him.

The Bridge Between God and Humanity

The glory of the Son of God is full of grace and truth. From Jesus' fullness, "we all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ." (John 1:17-18)

These verses describe the difference between the Mosaic covenant era and the Christian covenant era. The Mosaic covenant made known to humanity the entire Torah of Yahweh, as well as the penalty for sins: death. While Yahweh in grace offered the animal sacrificial system to make atonement for sinners, not every sin could be atoned for. For instance, the sins of adultery and murdered resulted in the death penalty, unless Yahweh forgave the sinner due to the sinner's sincere repentance (as He had done for David). Moreover, not every person could fully obey the Torah, so every person essentially deserved to die eternally even if they weren't put to death in their lifetime.

All this changed under the Christian covenant. When the Word became flesh, he brought more of Yahweh's grace to the repentant. Under the Christian covenant, repentant sinners will receive eternal life even when they cannot keep God's Torah perfectly. So long as we trust in Jesus and repent of our sins, we will be saved from eternal death. Even murderers and adulterers who repented will be saved. The Mosaic covenant does not offer this because it is not designed to bring salvation. No animal sacrifice can make eternal atonement--only Jesus can, so that's why Yahweh sent His Son into the world as a flesh-and-blood human to die as a substitution for all repentant sinners.

There is something else that's unique to Jesus: only he can fully reveal Yahweh the Father to humanity, as John noted: "No one has seen God at any time. The one and only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him." (John 1:18)

No one has ever seen Yahweh. Any "appearance" of God in the Scriptures was a manifestation, not an actual appearance of His true essence. Yahweh is an invisible Spirit whom the human eye cannot see. Plus, the sinful humanity cannot see the holy Yahweh without death.

But Jesus changes this. First, he came into the world to reveal to humanity what Yahweh is like. To see him is to see God since he's spiritually like Yahweh in every way. The Word is in the bosom of the Father, meaning that he enjoys the most intimate relationship with God. Only the One who is closest to God can reveal God to humanity. Through his words and deeds, he revealed God to the world.

Anyone who puts faith in Jesus as their Lord and Savior will be resurrected unto eternal life with a sinless nature. From that time onward, the entirely cleansed righteous will be able to behold God for the first time and for all times. So Jesus changes everything. He is the bridge between God and humanity. This is why Jesus' coming into the world in the flesh is so important.

Sonship Through the Divine Son

Though the world was created through Jesus, the world failed to recognize or accept Jesus when he came into the world as one of them, a flesh-and-blood human being. The world was his, but it would not confess as his. Instead, much of the world rejected him as the Son of God, and the rebellious world continues to do so to this very day.

Of course, not everyone in the world rejects Jesus. To those who receive him as the light of the world and who believe in his name for their salvation, Jesus gives the right to be the children of God. Any person who accepts him as their Lord and Savior is adopted by Yahweh as His child. A person who accepts the Christ is born again--born into the family of God. We call this the born again experience or spiritual rebirth.

Sonship or the spiritual rebirth does not come from "blood," meaning by one's heritage or bloodline. People are not naturally born into the family of God. We sometimes say that all the people in the world are the children of God; but this is only true in the sense that God is the Creator of all people. But true sonship, where we become intimate children of God who enjoy fellowship with Him, comes only through our faith in the Messiah.

Sonship also does not come by the will of the flesh or man. This means that we cannot make ourselves true children of God simply by wishing for it, or striving for it through other means. We have created many religions and practices, often with the aim to connect with God. But all our religions and ways are vain if we do not accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Jesus is the only One who gives us the right to be the children of God. We are reborn only when we believe in his name.

"Name" means someone's attributes and essence. To believe in Jesus' name means to believe in Jesus himself. "Believe" in the Bible does not speak of having a simple passive belief; instead, it speaks of exhibiting an active trust. So to believe in Jesus means to trust in him for our salvation, to trust that his sacrifice makes atonement for all of our sins. And our trust in him is proven genuine by our obedience to his teachings. If we don't obey him, then it would mean that we don't trust in him. If we don't trust in him, then we wouldn't ever be the children of God. If we aren't the children of God, then we wouldn't be forgiven of our sins and would perish forever.

Have you put your trust in the divine Son of God, the Word of God that became flesh, for your salvation and eternal fellowship with the Word?


~*~ Q&A with Dr. Shirley ~*~

Question: How does one blaspheme the Holy Spirit? How is blaspheming the Holy Spirit an unforgivable sin?

Answer: We can have an idea of what this sin involves when we review the account in Matthew 12:24-32. There, the Pharisees were accusing Jesus of casting demons out by the powers of Satan. They were attributing divine power to demonic power, so Jesus said that anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. This sin apparently involves ascribing what God does to the devil.

I believe this sin is so severe and unforgivable because the Holy Spirit directly proceeds from God like sunrays emitting from the sun, so when we blaspheme against the Spirit, we're really blaspheming against God Himself, for which God will not forgive. It is speaking evil of God and claiming that what He has done is really what the demons have done.

Do you have Bible questions and want answers? Contact Dr. Shirley and she'll be happy to answer your questions by the grace of God.

Did you enjoy this newsletter? Then you may subscribe to Dr. Shirley's newsletter by filling out the contact form at the bottom of this page.

Do you have Bible questions and want answers? Contact Dr. Shirley and she'll be happy to answer your questions by the grace of God.

Did you enjoy this newsletter? Then you may subscribe to Dr. Shirley's newsletter by filling out the contact form at the bottom of this page.