2-12-19<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\nphrase, \u201cMy elder brother Jesus,\u201d\n<\/strong>was\nused uncountable times by the evangelist R W Schambach, whose\nministry played a big part in my spiritual revelations and growth.\nOur relationship with the Savior is multi-faceted, but this is a\ncomponent that is real, and important, and not sufficiently\nappreciated by believers. Or acted upon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nthree members of the Godhead have multiple personalities, if I might\nuse a contemporary clinical term in the most respectful way. To\npeople who are skeptical about the existence and nature of God \u2013\n\u201cWhat about One True God?\u201d and \u201cWhy not thousands of gods like\nthe Eastern religions?\u201d \u2013 usually are asked to be bratty, not\ntruth-seeking. There is something to be savored, however, in what I\ncalled above the multiple personalities of the Deity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The essence of the \u201cOld Testament God\u201d (stereotyped as stern and vengeful) did not change when He became incarnate as the Christ: new aspects, new expressions of love and forgiveness (often exemplified in the Gospel of John), were revealed. But God has always spoken, and inspired, His people in myriad ways. When Jesus ascended to the Throne, He said to His followers that it was good that He leave: \u201cIn fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don\u2019t, the Advocate won\u2019t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God\u2019s righteousness, and of the coming judgment\u201d (John 16:7,8). The Holy Spirit was present, and active from the beginning of the world, but specifically has been the source of wisdom, discernment, and power in Jesus\u2019s place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So\nthe One True God has revealed Himself in three manifestations; and\nacts in uncountable ways, as we noted. More than an everlasting help\nin time of trouble, He is indeed the Alpha and the Omega \u2013 the\nbeginning and the end \u2013 literally the Great I Am. \u201cI\nwas formed before ancient times, from the beginning, before the earth\nbegan\u201d (Proverbs 8:23).\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n When\nwe consider the lineage and patrimony of Jesus, we are, or should be,\nin awe. He was the agent by whom all things were made\u2026 and was made\nflesh to be the agent of our salvation. He performed miracles;\nstilled the storms; healed the diseased; read peoples\u2019 minds;\nbrought the dead back to life; walked through walls and walked on\nwater. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nsimple acknowledgment of Who He is and confessing your belief, He\ntold us, is sufficient to attain eternal life. What a mighty God we\nserve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet\ndo we sometimes forget the aspect, the truth, of Brother Schambach\u2019s\ncharacterization \u2013 that Jesus is our Brother, too? There is power\nin that realization. The shed blood of the cross, after all, is\nenough to have God overlook and forgive our sins \u2013 just as the\nPassover lamb\u2019s sacrifice was sealed on the lintels of believers\u2019\ndoors. That is, when we accept Jesus, when we invite Him to live in\nour hearts, God no longer sees us, but sees His Son. We are \u201ccovered\nin the Blood.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\ndoes make us kinfolk of the Savior. Children, finally, and fully, of\nGod. Brothers and sisters of Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nfeel the persuasion to carry this beyond\nclich\u00e9<\/em>s.\nMany of us grew up with Sunday-school bulletins with paintings of\nJesus and the little children, sort of a Holy Babysitter. Many of the\nolder movies portrayed Jesus as a moon-faced mystic, serene and\nfloating through crowds. We know that He was angry with the\nmoney-changers, and that He wept over the apostasy of Jerusalem; but\nthose are rare glimpses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As\nfully God and fully man, however, Jesus did everything we do. He ate\nand drank, more than when He consecrated meals. The water-into-wine?\nSurely He drank, as all the guests did. Feeding the 5000? He too\nwould have eaten the loaves and fishes Himself also. There is no\nrecord in Scripture, but He would have defecated and urinated as\nother men and women did. I do not mean to blaspheme \u2013 I am not \u2013\nbut we need to remember that Jesus had many mortal aspects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nThat\nis how He could identify with all of us, in all our ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nFor\nall the portrayals of Jesus preaching and performing miracles; for\nall the paintings of Him with a halo and an aura; for all the movies\nwhere we see Jesus persecuted and in agony on the cross\u2026 it would\ndo us good to remember that He is our Brother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nreckon that as many times Jesus preached and healed, He more often\nlaughed, put His arm around friends and strangers, and was a brother\nin the best sense. That\u2019s what brothers do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nAnd\nthat\u2019s what our elder brother Jesus still does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n +\n+ +<\/p>\n\n\n\n Click: What a Friend We Have in Jesus <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n