Jesus said in John 10:30 (Amplified) that, "I and the Father are One."
Jesus said in John 10:30 (Amplified) that "I and the Father are One."
In John 6:28 -29 (Amplified) Jesus answered one of the most sought after questions in all of Christianity when His disciples wanted to know, just like we today want to know, in Verse 28, "They (His disciples) then said; what are we to do, that we may (habitually) be working the works of God? (what are we to do to carry out what God required?)"
If there was ever a question asked more frequently than this, then I can't imagine what it would be. Believers all over the world have wanted to know the answer to this one question. The answer has been so simple that we missed it altogether. Jesus said in the next verse, Verse 29 , "This is the work (service) that God asks of you; that you believe in the One Whom He has sent (that you cleave to, trust, rely on, and have faith in His Messenger.)"
God was about to change the old covenant for the new one. Those who Jesus was speaking to had lived under the unbending Law of Moses for centuries. All of the requirements of the Law always kept people from being able to fulfill it. Now, they wanted to know how can I please God? Pleasing God under the Law depended on your own efforts and works of obedience. Now, what Jesus was telling them was a completely different set of rules. Just believe!
They couldn't understand that everything was going to change for them in a way that was blasphemous according to their own thinking. God was going to change positions from being God to Father. He would still be Almighty God, but now their relationship with Him would be Father and His Children instead of God and His Chosen people.
This new covenant was to be Family and not just people. All of the things they had to do to be in His favor were all wrapped up in "just believing." Under the old covenant, disobedience could bring death, cursing, and loss of everything according to Deuteronomy 28:15-68 (Amplified). Jesus was changing what was to be required of them and us.
When God's position changed from Law to grace, from God to Father and from works to faith, everything seemed to confuse the people who were under Law. Now, Jesus said, "Just believe."
When we went from having to work for favor from God to being highly favored as family through Jesus, it seemed to be too easy. "Brother Jim," you might ask, "Do you mean that all God is requiring of me today is to just believe?" Yes, that's what I'm saying!
What works could we possibly do to become righteous before God? Romans 3:22 (Amplified) says that, "Namely, the righteousness of God which comes by believing with personal trust and confident reliance on Jesus Christ (The Messiah) (and is meant) for all who believe, for there is npo distinction."
So now, God's position has changed from one Who demands righteousness to Father Who imparts righteousness. From a God Who was held back from us because of our sin, to a Father Who would terminate sin and redeem us at His Own cost. Romans 3:24 (Amplified) says that, "(All) are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy) through the redemption which is (provided) in Christ Jesus."
All we are required to do before God is to believe and receive Jesus and we go from being outsiders of the covenant of Law, to joint-heirs and family with and through faith in Jesus. The favor that we tried to work for, is already been granted by faith in Jesus. The old debt we tried to pay for by sacrifice and punishment, has been removed by simply believing.
Somehow, we can't distinguish the difference between God's changed position of being just God to being God the Father. Even under the laws of the land, Fathers are responsible for their children. If one of my children does wrong, then I'm still responsible until he's a certain age.
When God changed His relationship with us it didn't diminish His power and ability. What it did do was make His power and ability available to us now with no strings attached. We no longer have to perform, cry, beg or make sacrifices. All we're required to do is to believe. All of the power of this Almighty God that created the universe and everything in it, has been made ours by just believing.
Romans 8:14-17 (Amplified) says that, "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." Verse 15 continues, "For (the Spirit which) you have now received (is) not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption (the Spirit producing sonship) in (the bliss of) which we cry, Abba (Father) Father!" Verse 16 says, "The Spirit Himself (thus) testifies together with our own spirit (assuring us) that we are children of God." Verse 17 says, "And if we are (His) children, then we are (His) heirs also; heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ (sharing His inheritance with Him) only we are to share His suffering, if we are to share His glory."
In the very next verse, the Word says that whatever we have to go through to walk in this inheritance, is more than worth it. The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 1:16 (Amplified) that he wasn't ashamed of the Gospel of Christ because it's God's power working unto our salvation. The suffering Paul endured was persecution from religious people, demonic forces and unbelievers.
I'm willing to suffer being misunderstood and being too far out and being called all the other things I've been called in order to fulfill God's requirement of me. Jesus said in John 6:29 (Amplified) to "Believe in the One that He has sent."
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