Rev Friedel Stegen is currently
preaching in Europe. He reports that a satanist came to faith in Jesus Christ during one
of the meetings (as we also reported that satanists came to Christ here in South Africa).
While he preached she cried out that she was burning. Later she broke the chains and
charms from her neck and other parts of her body. She was prayed for and found deliverance
in Jesus Christ. It is interesting that we find satanists breaking chains and charms from
their bodies, but so-called Christians put it on their bodies. No, such things do not
belong to a Christian.
John 1:1 - 3; Hebr 1:1-14
Many religions deny the Divinity of Jesus Christ, like Islam,
which states that Jesus was only a great prophet, but that He is not God neither the
Father's son.
However the Bible makes it clear in numerous ways that Jesus is
God, One of the Trinity.
1) The reason the angelic host came down and rejoiced at the birth
of Jesus was because this Child was not like any other; He was God incarnate. It has never
happened in history that the angelic host came down from heaven to witness the birth of a
child; He was unique - God's only Son.
However, although Jesus was God, He was also truly human, being
born of the virgin Mary. God clothed himself in human flesh.
2) In our text we read that, "God spoke in time past to our
forefathers through the prophets." It is no less than 30 times that God spoke through
the prophets and their words are recorded in the Bible. God also spoke through other
prophets but their words were not recorded. One propet was the son of a king, another was
a priest, another a shepherd, and another just a commoner. Each one spoke God's word in a
different way but it was God speaking through all of them.
Our text continues, "in these last days He has spoken to us
by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the
worlds." So Jesus, God's son, spoke not through a human mouth but He was the mouth of
God.
3) Hebr 1:3a, "Jesus being the brightness of His glory and
the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power"
When you see Jesus you don't just see a man but God Himself.
In John 14:8 Philip asks Jesus, "Lord, show us the Father." And Jesus said to
him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has
seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, Show us the Father? 10 Do you
not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I
do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11
Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake
of the works themselves."
4) We also see His Divinity through His eternal throne, which will
last for ever and ever, when even God the Father says of the Son in Hebr 1:8, Your
throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your
kingdom. 9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God,
has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions. Here even the
Father calls the Son God, so who are we to deny His Divinity.
5) Hebr 1:3b, "Jesus had by Himself purged our sins."
Only God can forgive sin. Nobody else is able to take away the sins of man. But Jesus
alone was able to take away our sins. This is another testimony to the fact that He is
God. He provided purification from sin through His own body.
That is why we can say with Paul in Rom 8, "There is
therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus." When satan comes to
accuse us he has no ground on which to stand when we are in Christ, for Jesus Himself took
away our sins and imputed His righteousness to us.
There are still religious groups who bring animals as sacrifice
for sins, but such are troubled, "for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and
goats could take away sins (Hebr 10:4). Jesus justified us once for all by offering His
own body for our justification.
From these verses it is crystal clear that Jesus is God.
In John 1:3 we also read that, "All things were made through
Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made." And in Hebr 1:3b, "Jesus
upholds all things by the word of His power."
Jesus, Who created the universe and upholds it by the word of His
power is also the One Who secured your Salvation. He is able to sustain and uphold you in
the most difficult situation. Because of Who Jesus is you can overcome by trusting Him.