What Jesus Teaches About God

Roy Blizzard III © 2014

There are some questions in life that many people just can’t seem to find an answer for. They search but are never able to come to a conclusion about their questions and because of it they are forever held hostage to an ineffectual life. They try and try to find meaning in their lives but always seem to be frustrated and beat down.

Many people try to make up their own answers to life’s questions or turn to sciences such as psychiatry to find the answers to vexing questions only to realize that these specialists really don’t have the answers either. Oftentimes men and women will try and ask questions from their pastors or teaches within the churches and the answers that many receive leave them frustrated and full of doubt and conscripted into a life of spiritual slavery, always trying to find life’s answers through works alone. But let me tell you, there are answers to all your questions, but do you really want to know the answer?

Many times I’ve been asked questions from people, questions about illnesses, questions about faith, questions about righteousness, questions about worship, questions about the Bible. But as often as not, when I gave the people an answer to their questions, instead of rejoicing, they totally ignored the answer and did the exact same things they were doing before I had given the answer they sought? If you want to live for Jesus and you want to experience real joy and power then I think it is time to understand the answers to the questions that Jesus taught his followers about because this is where the meaning to your lives and the answers to your life’s questions will be answered. This is what Jesus wanted then and this is what Jesus wants for you today; meaning and purpose for your life!

So let’s start with the first major question most people have today and that is, “Who is God?”

Now then, why should we concern ourselves with this question today? What difference does it make, as to whom you and I believe God to be? IT makes ALL the difference in the World!

Let me pose a statement to you; A man’s conception of God is the measure of his character. Xenophanes, the Greek philosopher, theologian, poet, and social and religious critic of the 5^th century BC said that the Greeks made their Gods like themselves. When you study the characters of the Greek gods it is easy to see that indeed, men are no different than their gods. But let me state it in a different way, if a man’s god were materialistic things, then that man is materialistic in his outlook on life. If his god is his own comfort and convenience then he will be selfish and have little regard for the needs of others. What you see manifested in another man’s life is usually the god he follows.

WE hear a lot about inferiority complexes, egos, equalization of the educational and economic levels of life etc as a remedy for the crime and degradation of society that had afflicted our nation; but I am here to tell you these are results not causes. What has caused these things almost without exception is a degenerate conception of God, YHWH, the GOD of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and YOU. This degenerate conception of God is the cause of the degenerate characters which have brought us our present wave of lawless behavior. Let me tell you, the only way to bring higher wages, purer lives and prosperity for the masses is to put into the hearts of men the noble conceptions of God as Jesus taught.

Granting that we should all know more about God, where shall we obtain this information? Who can teach us about God? The Schools? Your politicians? The TV talk shows?

Only one man, of all the teachers who has ever lived, can speak with authority about God, and that teacher is Jesus. He is the only one who has seen God face to face and was charged with declaring God to men, in terms they could understand. John 1:18 declares, “God (YHWH), no man has ever seen at any time; the only born son, which is now in the bosom of the Father (in Heaven at the right hand of the Father), He (Yeshua) has declared (made known) Him (God) to the world. “The Gospel of John, An Actual Translation” Roy Blizzard III © 2012

Speaking to the disciples in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:48 Jesus declared that this revelation of God was made, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Jesus held to the belief that to him God was a PERSON. What a gulf was bridged in the use of that word, PERSON. Never until now had men even dreamed of God as a person. But, to Jesus, our Messiah, God is a Person; one that we can know and one that we can have an intimate personal relationship with.

Jesus always spoke to God as speaking to a Person. God, today, is not affecting millions of lives, because people think of God as some abstract entity, sitting upon some throne atop some remote mountain, always at the ready to strike us with a deadly lightning bolt or afflict us with a deadly plague or just an abstract being, millions of light years away, busily concerning himself with the running of the Cosmos, totally without any interest in or concerns about the fortunes or misfortunes of men. How real our religion would become if we believed with Jesus that God is a Person. A real, living Person. Without that one belief, our religion for us all is unreal and to a large extent useless. Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is (God exists), and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

Jesus believed that this person was and is God. Not a god, but THE GOD! In God’s confident affirmations in Deuteronomy 6:4 there echoes the word to Israel, “Hear O Israel, The Lord your God, YHWH, He is unified in purpose.” Exodus 20:3, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” When men tried to challenge Jesus to other loyalties, Jesus armed himself to resist with this conviction, “The Lord your God is God alone and only Him shall you serve.” Mark 12:29

God filled all of life for Jesus, therefore there was not any room for any other God. Let me relate to you a story. One day a little boy asked, “Mother, how many gods are there?” His younger brother who was listening in blurted out, “Only one for sure.” But the older brother asked, “But how do you know that?” With that the little brother replied, “Because God fills every place, so there’s no room for any other Gods.” In Jeremiah 23:24 God says, “”Do not I fill heaven and earth?”

Jesus believed that this person was Powerful, more powerful than all the other people who had lived in the universe. The God Jesus believed existed was the “creator of the heavens and the earth.” Psalms 121:2

John 1:3 Everything that was, was by His hand (came from God’s ability, power & Word – which sits at God’s right hand), and apart from Him (God) was not anything (made) of all that was (made). [Genesis 1:1 Second word & ff) {Avot 4:22}. “The Gospel of John, An Actual Translation” Roy Blizzard III © 2012

If a man as wise as Jesus believed that God is the maker of all the earth and the life therein, it would pay me to consider the matter very seriously and not toss it out under the assumption that the universe has always been and that I can use it as I see fit, for my own whims. If God made it then He has claims of ownership and use, which I must consider in my usage of it. That is, I must consider them if I am honest in my beliefs about God.

If I wish I can refuse to acknowledge God’s ownership and be like the farmer who rented some land with the understanding that the owner was to receive one fourth of the harvest as rent. The corn was duly harvested, but the owner didn’t receive his share. So he went down to speak to the farmer and said, “Look here sir, haven’t you harvested your corn yet?” The farmer replied, “yes sir, I done harvested it last week.” The owner then questioned the farmer about his one fourth of the harvest that he was supposed to get for rent. At that question the farmer simply replied, “Yes sir, that is true, but there wasn’t any fourth, all I harvested was my three loads.”

Jesus didn’t just acknowledge God’s ownership, but Jesus considered Him the most powerful Person in the universe as well. Jesus believed that God was his Father. Rarely did you read of Jesus speaking of God without reminding his hearers of this relationship. Read again Matthew 5:48, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Jesus sets up the Kingdom principle that the standard of manhood within the kingdom is to be perfect as God is Perfect. Whatever we are in this life, if we are to be a part of Jesus’ Kingdom we must strive to be like God.

Jesus believed that God was the Father of all men. Jesus redefined the idea that God was only the father of the nation of Israel by removing the limitations upon the Fatherhood of God. Brotherhood is the only proper relationship of all men because God is all of their Father. Reaching out to other men becomes easy once we understand in our hearts and minds that God is the Father of all men, and they being our brothers must needs share in our blessings. Does 1 John 3:17 not say, “But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?”

An acknowledgment that God is the Father of all would do much to aid and restore peace to the world and goodwill among men. Rich and poor, capital and labor would find their problems less formidable if they realized that God is God and Father of the Employer and the Employee.

By acknowledging that God was Father in his life, Jesus was confident that his Father would care for him and protect him in all situations. Peter sought to turn Jesus from the road to Gethsemane and the cross but, “And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem.” Luke 9:51 Why, because Jesus confidently expected to find a protecting Father in Gethsemane and on the cross. His final words on the cross exemplify his confidence and show his faith was justified. “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” God was with him and God did protect him.

An earthly father will give his life to save his child. Shall not we find less love in the heart of our heavenly Father? Most assuredly NOT! “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? Matthew 7:11

In the life of Jesus was manifested this love of God towards us. In the purpose of Jesus’ living, is found the desire of God to forgive His children. Jesus came to do God’s will. John 6:38-40, 38) “Because I came down from Heaven not to do My will (desires) but only the desire of He who sent ME.” {Moses was nicknamed Yered-to come down- because he brought down the Law, Leviticus Rabbah s1}(Yeshua is making a play on this as He is claiming to have come down because it was God’s will not Moses’) {Avot 2:4, “He would also say: Make that His will should be your will, so that He should make your will to be as His will. Nullify your will before His will, so that He should nullify the will of others before your will”} 39) “And this is the desire (will) of the Father who sent me, that everyone which He committed (entrusted) unto Me (to bring salvation to, in a covenantal spiritual relationship), should not perish (die to Me as a judgment for sin), because surely I will raise Him up in the last days.” (at the judgment) [Psalms 76:8 & 9, Isaiah 49:6, 58:12, Jeremiah 30:8ff, Hosea 6:2] 40) “And this is the desire (will) of Him who sent Me, that all which sees (and recognizes) the Son (of Adam – a Messianic word) and has faithfulness (believes and trusts) into Him, he will have life eternal and I will raise him up in the last days.” [Psalms 2:7,12, 80:17ff, Ezekiel 3:17, 18, 37:3, Malachi 3:17-18] see previous verse

If in our own lives we could this purpose of God how different a place this world would become. How different a place would your home, your work, and your life be? How much happier would your associates be if you realized in your heart that God was a God of forgiveness, empathy and love. Of course in being like Him you would also have to be a son or daughter of forgiveness, empathy and love.

Now of course Jesus believed God was not just the Creator, Person and Father, but He was also King and a King must have a Kingdom. Did God have one? A quick glance at the Bible shows us that Kingdom had been promised, “Jesus came preaching, the Kingdom of God is at hand.” Mark 1:15. The Kingdom of God is as real as any Kingdom today as evidenced by the words of Matthew 21:31, “Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.” Eventually, there came a time when that promised Kingdom was fulfilled and Paul was able to speak of the Kingdom as present among men. Acts 14:22, “Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”

It is right here where the belief in God of many people stops cold. They don’t wish to acknowledge Gods as King, for to do so would necessitate obedience. Most people just want a God to worship, not a King to obey. But, if our belief leaves out the Kingdom of God, it is not the same belief about God as Jesus held. In the fact that God is King, and that God does reign, lies man’s brightest hope and most lasting strength.

When Lincoln had been assassinated and word of the tragedy came to New York, the people were in a state of mind which urges violence. Suddenly a man appeared upon a balcony of one of the newspaper offices and began waving a small flag. In a voice that rang out above the excited crowds mutterings he said, “Fellow Citizens, clouds and darkness are round about him. His pavilion is dark waters and the thick clouds of the skies, justice and judgment are the habitation of his throne. Fellow citizens, God Reigns!”

It was the voice of General Garfield.

We need to hear it today as so many time honored institutions of safety are tottering to ruin and are threatening to carry us down with them. Like Jesus, we need to know that even when the heavens are black with menace, that Our God Reigns! Our Lincolns and Kennedys may be killed satisfying the lusts of men, but Our God Reigns! Man Made chaos can’t engulf His throne because God is The King.

Jesus believed that God’s will must be the Laws of this New Kingdom and Jesus and the Disciples had a compulsion to do the will of their Father, the King. Luke 2:49 states it perfectly, “And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?”

What is your business today? Are you ready to do the will of your father, your creator and King? Or do you want to remove yourself from the presence of your King and Father and hope for the best? The choice is yours.

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