Pastor Stephen Benton
I have made it my business in teaching about salvation that the fullness of salvation stands and or falls on the fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul, in the 15th chapter of I Corinthians makes that truth abundantly clear. But there is another aspect of the Christian faith that is just as vital, if not more, than the fact of the death and resurrection of Christ and that component is the reality of the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. Without the virgin birth, there could not have been a resurrection out from among the dead. As the Holy Ghost pointed out to us so graphically in the bible study, it was Jesus' descent into the lower parts of the earth, commonly called Hades, that establishes our hope in the promise of eternal life.
Jesus was the first and only man to enter into the depths of the earth who did not arrive there as a prisoner of sin. He made it clear that no man could take his life, that is, kill or murder him as the actions of the Jews and Romans made it seem to appear; Jesus voluntarily laid down his life and did so with the testimony that he had to power to take his life back again and literally come back from the dead. No other religious leader even intimated such an incredulous claim. In fact, every other major and minor founder of various religions are still in their graves and anyone following anyone other than Jesus can be sure they will die in their sins. That is what Jesus told the Jews. The fullness of that statement means that going to heaven to be with God and live an everlasting life cannot be accomplished if Jesus Christ of Nazareth is not the sole object of faith in God. The smorgasbord of religions available on this planet are being brought to you and sponsored by the god of this world, Satan. You see, he is in the soul stealing business with the accompanying guarantee of eternal, active death. In case I am not coming across clearly, I am trying to let you know that God is impossible to reach without going through the medium Jesus Christ.
By way of reviewing what God has pointed out to us many times, Jesus did not come offering the world another way. Unlike other founders of faiths, Jesus did not come offering a way that worked for him, recommending such
a way to potential followers. He placed himself head and shoulders above everyone of all time when he declared himself to be "The Way." That is quite an audacious statement to make if he is not. And if he is, he is saying that anyone proclaiming another way is a liar and an imposter. There cannot be two "The" ways. But He didn't stop there: He went on to say that he has The Truth and The Life. He also said he was The Light of The World in addition to being The Good Shepherd and The Door to God. I don't know of anyone else who would or could have even thought up such titles for themselves. No wonder the man called Jesus could make the statement:
"Except you believe that I am he, ye shall die in your sins."
Oh, I forgot that one: The I Am. He slipped that one in on the Jews when they contended with him regarding his deity. He did a little name dropping by letting them know that he knew Abraham personally. In fact, that way he said it gave the impression that he was already on the scene when Abraham hit the set. Yeah! He said:
"Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad."
Being carnal, that statement went right over their heads and ears. They came back with a remark denoting their spiritual deadness telling Jesus that he was not yet fifty years old and therefore could not have known Abraham. Hey, if Jesus had been a thousand years old, that would not have been enough years in age to have been contemporary with Abraham. I often wondered about that fifty year old statement. I believe they were alluding to the fact that Abraham's journey with God began when he was fifty years old. So, in that sense their comment carried a few drops in the bucket but, otherwise, were weak and lame expressions. Jesus put the discourse in perspective when he said:
"Before Abraham was, I Am.”
When his friend Lazarus died, Jesus comforted Martha with the fact that her brother would live again. Martha was already schooled in that truth and told Jesus that she knew Lazarus would rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus took her a little “Deeper in the school of wisdom” by informing her that the resurrection at the last day was a formal event when all of the dead in Christ would hear the voice of the Archangel and rise up. But there was nothing written that said Jesus could not make special arrangements if he was so inclined if it meant the glorification of the Father. He told Mary that he was The Resurrection. He then went on to prove his point by calling Lazarus out of his sleep and telling those present to cut the burial wrappings from his body, something that The Resurrection did not require when he came forth from the dead. He simply passed through his swaddling apparel, leaving them still wrapped in the tomb as proof of his resurrection and deity.
Now I realize that I gave a subject for this article and it had something to do with the Son of the Virgin. I got carried away but make no mistake that without being born of a woman, a woman who was a virgin, Jesus could not have been any of those wonderful titles. Now if I continue to expand this writing to include the evidence that he really was born of a virgin, I would have to include about ten more pages and frankly, I haven't prepared myself for tomorrow yet so I'm just going to end this message and. Lord willing, I will preach on the evidence of the star named Spica and the sign of Virgo.
Now as you know, we do not celebrate Christmas. We do not do so as an act of being high and mighty. We stopped doing so after being a celebrating church for better than a decade when one year God took us to his Word and told us not to do as the heathen do in commemorating the season.(Jer.10:1-6)
The birth of Jesus was the God Event. It was the time of fulfilled prophecy in the delivering of the promised Messiah. It was a night when heaven came down to earth with a heavenly host singing and praising God. It was a night when lowly shepherds were visited by angels with tidings of great joy. It was a night when the story first written in stars became reality and the Seed of the Woman made his earthly debut and began the process of saving us from our sins. All of those things are worthy of meditation and educating those who are observing them today out of season. They might find it even more fascinating to know that Jesus was really born on the Feast of Trumpets to atone for the sins of mankind. Remember to be “wise as serpents but harmless as doves.”
To
read more current revelations from Pastor Steve, check out his book published
September of 2017 on Amazon.com. It
gives crucial revelations about the rapture, strong delusion and the Lie.
https://smile.amazon.com/Gods-Final-Secret-Stephen-Benton/dp/1976338476/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1509271792&sr=1-1&keywords=god%27s+final+secret+by+stephen+benton
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