Diety Part Two: April 15, 2011

APRIL 15, 2011.TODAYS WORD FOR FRIDAY APRIL 15, 2011

DEITY
PART TWO

DEFINITION:

A God; Divine nature.

SCRIPTURE:

“Jesus said to him, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk.’ And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed and walked. And that day was the Sabbath.” John 5: 8-9.

“Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, LAZARUS, COME FORTH. The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.” John 11:43.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

We have been praying that since you read yesterdays devotional on the Deity of Christ that many possible questions that you may have had have been answered. Our major concern is that if you have never accepted Jesus as your Savior that you will do that now. Nothing is more important in life then your relationship with God through His Son Jesus.

If you missed yesterday’s devotional it will be added to our past devotionals in the next few weeks and you can get it under past devotionals alphabetized on our web site. Now let’s continue by sharing with you more examples from what we read in the scriptures about the Deity of Christ.

God created the world and all that is in it and created everything perfect. After Adam and Eve sinned, disease and suffering came into the world. When Jesus was on this earth, most of the miracles that He performed demonstrated His power to bring renewal and to prolong life to a fallen creation. He made the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the lame to walk and healed those that were sick to show to mankind His Deity and His power to prolong life.

The second miracle that He performed was the healing of the son of a royal official. When Jesus performed a miracle of healing He saw more then just the need for physical healing but also the need for spiritual healing in a person’s life. He saw their need to be forgiven of their sins.

Ordinarily when Jesus did miracles of healing He was sought out and was asked to give healing. It was essential for the person asking for healing to have faith in Jesus. But the healing of the lame man, described in John 5, was unusual in both of these aspects. The man was unable to walk and he did not seek out Jesus and ask for healing. He did not even know who Jesus was, Jesus found him.

This lame man had sat by the pool called Bethesda in Jerusalem for 38 years hoping to be healed. It was believed that when the water of the pool stirred it had healing power for the first one to get into the pool.

When Jesus saw the man, He asked him, “Do you want to get well?” After telling Jesus that he was hoping to be healed by the water in the pool, Jesus immediately healed the man and he got up and walked. Although Jesus usually healed people because of their faith in Him, this illustration is given us to show that Jesus’ power to heal is not limited by a person’s lack of faith. Nothing can limit Jesus’ Divinity of restoration and prolonging of life.

The last thing that Jesus said to this man was, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more lest a worse thing come upon you.” Jesus saw more then his physical need, He saw his spiritual need. For all those years the man had been hoping for healing from the wrong thing. Jesus is the one we should put our trust in for healing because He can heal us not only physically but spiritually.

Jesus also performed the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead as recorded in John 11:38-44 proving to us His deity in His power to re-create life. Mary and Martha sent a message to Jesus that “He whom you love is sick.” But Jesus did not go to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, until he had been dead and in the tomb for four days. But when He came He came with all power and authority showing His deity.

Jesus through this miracle showed that in His deity He had power over life and death. He not only restored life to Lazarus, through His Father they restored His life after His death on the cross. It is only through Jesus that we are restored from death to life.

Jesus in His deity knows all about us. He sees each of us as either one of His fallen creations or one who has been restored by the power of His Deity to forgive us of our sins. Just as Jesus sought out the lame man and asked him if he wanted to be made well, He seeks us out and asks us if we want to be made well in our sin sick bodies by the power of His divine power to forgive.

Over the years we have known and seen so many people who have been healed, many of them children who were so sick and some not even expected to live. We know there is power in prayer. God still today hears our prayers and will answer our specific prayers concerning our needs and the needs of others. He will do this in accordance with His will.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in II Timothy 4:2.

Preach the Word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.

PRAYER:

Thank You Lord for Your Divine power and Your ability to forgive our sins and to heal our bodies. Help me today to be more concerned about those who are sick, lonely and feeling hopeless. Help me to understand the power of prayer and give me a burning desire in my heart to pray for those that I know need a healing touch from You.