Tree of Life Day 50: Matthew 1-2, Luke 2

I brought up in yesterday's sermon, especially in light of our current political climate and the Republican front runner being a Mormon, the fact that the Bible unequivocally and univocally teaches that Jesus is God.  Check this out:

An angel of the Lord appeared and the glory of the Lord dazzled the shepherds, who received the announcement about a savior, who is Christ the Lord, and to which they responded:  we should check out what the Lord has made known to us (Luke 2.9-15).

• God obviously sent the angels.  And the shining glory was from God.  The message was received as from God.  Yet Christ is given the same title:  Lord.

Simeon saw Jesus presented at the temple, this Christ who is the Lord.  He came under the Holy Spirit's influence, having been promised that the Lord's Christ (remember, who is the Lord) would appear (Luke 2.25-27).

• So here we go again.  The Christ, who is the Lord and belongs to the Lord, was going to show up as revealed by the Spirit.  Therein is the mystery of the Trinity:  one God in three persons.

He's not some guy that God chose to be the Messiah.  He's God, come to earth, the Messiah of His people.

To be clear:  Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons don't agree with that.  They will grant Jesus the title "Son of God" but mean something very different than Christians do.  They do NOT believe that Jesus is God.

Ironically, after riffing on that in the sermon, guess who knocked on my door?  Stephanie and Mark, members of the Watchtower Society and Jehovah's Witnesses.  Because of the health challenges at our house right now, I didn't engage them but thanked them and took their material (straight to the trash).

When they come back, and they will, I hope to have the time to share with them that Jesus is God and that means that the greatest news of all time isn't a fairy tale.  Only God could take the blow of His own wrath in a redemptive way.  And that's what happened at the cross.  God's wrath was satisfied by the same God, which is our only way to salvation.