Jesus never said that he was God. On the contrary, he distinguished himself from the Father in multitudes of passages, by his confessions and his acts.
Not the LEAST of WHICH was his ‘OBEDIENCE UNTO DEATH’.
Going to the cross took OBEDIENCE.
What is OBEDIENCE?.. but carrying out the will of another.
Indeed, in the Garden of Gesthemane, our Lord SWEATED drops of BLOOD for his EXQUISITELY PAINFUL reaction to what lay before him, yet he declared;
‘NOT MY WILL FATHER, BUT YOURS BE DONE’ Luke 22:42
To suggest that Jesus was GOD, talking to HIMSELF in the Garden, sweating blood over what HE could CHANGE, but ultimately going forward with the plan, removes the ‘element of obedience’, and diminishes the incredible sacrifice of both God and Son.
In fact, when Peter rebuked →Jesus for mentioning his upcoming crucifixion, Jesus REBUKED HIM BACK.. (This is for all of you who think God would never have sacrificed his own son..) saying:
Get thee behind me, Satan:
thou art an offence unto me:
for thou savourest not the things that be of God,
but those that be of men.
INTERESTINGLY, ..
Jesus THEN said to his disciples, that he required the same level of WILLINGNESS to SACRIFICE would be expected of THEM..
‘If any man will come after me,
let him deny himself,
and take up his cross DAILY, and follow me.’ Luke 9:23
WHEN JESUS WENT TO THE CROSS, HE WAS DENYING HIMSELF AND DOING THE WILL OF HIS FATHER.
HE EXPECTS THE SAME SELF DENIAL OF HIS DISCIPLES.
(Luke 9:23 is not about martyrdom, but about attitude. (After all, you can’t be martyred on a daily basis can you?)
And from the time of John Baptist hitherto,
the kingdom of God suffereth violence,
and the violent take it by force.
Matthew 11:12
It is understood from Matthew 11:12, that it is the ZEALOUS AND PASSIONATE SAINTS that will EARN THE KINGDOM.
THE KINGDOM IS WON BY THOSE WHO SOLDIER ALONGSIDE JESUS - UNAFRAID, AND UNDETERRED.
Fight the good fight of faith,
lay hold on eternal life,
whereunto thou art also called,
and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.’
I Timothy 6:12
The ‘violent’ taketh the Kingdom by force’, does not mean that the enemies of God ‘TAKE the Kingdom’, THEY WILL NEVER GET THAT CHANCE!.. for our Lord himself said -
‘.. upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.’ Matthew 16:18
THE KINGDOM OF GOD, WAS NOT BUILD OF COWARDS. THE CHIEF EXAMPLE OF THE ‘COURAGOUS’ BEING the MAN - JESUS the CHRIST!
THE CAPTAIN OF OUR SALVATION! A MAN!
To pretend Jesus was GOD, is laying an expectation of emulating him upon the Church which would be IMPOSSIBLE to carry out! Which is why most don’t even try..
No man has even SEEN GOD at any time,..
do you suppose we can MIMIC THE INVISIBLE GOD?
Jesus was and is a man, even as Paul said - The MEDIATOR between God and man, the MAN Jesus Christ.
ISRAEL WAS NOT EXPECTING GOD, THEY WERE EXPECTING THE MESSIAH..
The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh,
which is called Christ:
when he is come, he will tell us all things.’ John 4:25
→Who this ‘Israel’ not only denies to this day, they have tricked the Christian Church into not recognizing who he was.
The pharisseic element in the world, that control even ROME - has done their level best to rob Jesus Christ of his crown. Laughing at the Christians who think GOD himself came and pretended to die, and pretended to raise himself, and awarded himself a name above all names because of his obedience to himself, and now pretends that we can do all the same works that HE did..
(Do Christians ever really read the Bible?)
SAINT! WE OUGHT NOT TO DIMINISH the LORD’S STUPENDOUS ACCOMPLISHMENT GOING TO THE CROSS FOR MANKIND, BY PRETENDING IT WAS just God after all.. No biggie.
THE ACCOMPLISHMENT WAS HUGE. IT COST CHRIST EVERYTHING.
HE LAID IT ALL ON THE ALTAR FOR YOU AND ME, AND SUFFERED UNMERCIFULLY,
WHICH IS WHY HE WAS.. HIGHLY EXALTED.. by GOD!!!
‘Therefore God has highly exalted him
and bestowed on him
THE name that is above every name.’ Philippians 2:9
Mark my words, God was not ‘awarding himself’.