Who Is This Man?: Whom’ Do Men Say That I the Son of Man Am?

By Bishop Rupert George Lothian

The peoples opinion of Christ Jesus in the now, that is after the flesh; Christ in the future, which is after the spirit; Jesus in the now, after the flesh.

When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in Heaven (Matthew 16:1317 KJV).

Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ (Matthew 16:20 KJV).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 31, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524538422

Bishop Rupert George Lothian

Bishop Rupert George Lothian was born in 1953 in Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies. He was called by God through the inspiration of his father and pastor and had his second birth (according to Acts 2:38) in August 1962. At the tender age of nine, he preached his first message in a place called Spicy Hill, in the parish of Trelawney. After migrating to Canada, he met his wife and got married on November 29, 1975. He lived there for thirty-five years with his wife, Hyacinth, and four children: Novelette, Amanda, Elysia, and O’Conner. Elder Lothian served as superintendent of the Sunday school ministry at Bethel Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, for over twenty-five years. This is Bishop Lothian’s first book. While he does not consider himself to be an author, he is not a novice to the Word, having preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ for over thirty-nine years now. During these years of service to the Lord, he has witnessed aspects of the ministry that weigh heavily on his heart and mind. He struggles with what he calls ministerial misfits—men and women who are trying to be pastors but were never called to be such in the ministry. Therefore, they are living out of the will of God in a leadership role. As a Christian worker under the steady leadership of a pastor, these men and women serving as second-in-command would make a tremendous impact. They could live fruitful lives helping other as mates but not in a leadership position. However, as captains of the ship or pastors, they sometimes create havoc in the ministry.

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Copyright © 2016 by Bishop Rupert George Lothian.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2016914123

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-5245-3844-6

                  Softcover      978-1-5245-3843-9

                  eBook             978-1-5245-3842-2

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Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

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Rev. date: 08/26/2016

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Contents

About the Author

Dedication

Preface

Chapter 1 God is a Spirit

Chapter 2 There is But One God

Chapter 3 Jesus is God

Chapter 4 Jesus is a Man

Chapter 5 God is the Creator

Chapter 6 Jesus is the Creator

Chapter 7 God is the Redeemer and Savior

Chapter 8 Jesus, The Redeemer and Savior

Chapter 9 God is the Shepherd

Chapter 10 Jesus is the Shepherd

Chapter 11 God is the King

Chapter 12 Jesus is the King

Chapter 13 God is the I Am and the I Am He

Chapter 14 Jesus is the I Am and the I Am He

Chapter 15 God is the First and the Last

Chapter 16 Jesus is the First and the Last

Chapter 17 God is the Rock

Chapter 18 Jesus is the Rock

Chapter 19 Jesus is Coming

About the Author

I was born 1953 in Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies, and had been called by God to be a pastor through the inspiration of my Father. I had my second birth, according to Acts 2:38, in August 1962 at nine years of age. At seventeen, I preached my first message in a place call Spicy Hill, in the parish of Trelawney. After migrating to Canada, I met my wife and we got married on November 29, 1975. The following day, I went to the Bethel Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, in Hamilton, Ontario, and there I began my Sunday School ministry for over twenty-five years as the superintendent, which I did to the best of my ability with elders, pastors, and bishops. I do not consider myself to be an author, and yet, after preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ for over thirty-nine years, I do not consider myself to be a novice. During these thirty-nine years, I have witnessed a few things that caused my heart to bleed. I am convinced that there are men and woman trying to pastor who were never called to be pastors. Their main problem is that they are out of the will of God. They are what I call ministerial misfits. As Christian workers on an assembly under the steady leadership of a pastor, these men and women would make a tremendous impact. As mates, second in command, their lives would be fruitful; unfortunately as captains (or pastors) in charge of the ship (or the Church), they will only create HAVOC.

Bishop Rupert George Lothian

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my loving wife, who has stood by me in the good and bad times, and even when I feel she has never stopped praying for and supporting the ministry God gave me. Secondly, to my old friend and father, O’Connor Edgerton Lothian, and his wife, my dear mother, Mable Lothian, whom I left in Jamaica and later migrated to Canada in 1974, where I spent thirty-five years with my wife Hyacinth and our four kids, Novelette, Amanda, Elysia, and O’Connor. Last but not the least, heartfelt thanks go to my cousin, Dennis Weston.

PLEASE READ WITH AN OPEN MIND. SURVEYING GOD IS A BLESSING. NOT A CURSE.

Who Is This Man?

BOOK 2

Preface

Before time and after time began, God existed in unlimited omnipresence as the only being that had been from all eternity. He is the only one who is called the everlasting God, the LORD. Isaiah put it another way: For thus says the high and lofty One that inhabited eternity: Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faintest not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding (Isaiah 40:28). For thus says the high and lofty One that inhabited eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones (Isaiah 57:15).

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God (Psalms 90:2). Within the eternal and omnipresent dimensions of God, God possessed in His being throughout His infinity unlimited power and intelligence, called omnipotence and omniscience. Omnipotence, and with His unlimited strength, may be also called God’s wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.

We have learned from Genesis 1:15 that God possesses the ability of speech, creative speech. This is affirmed by David in Psalms 33:6-9: By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. He gathered the waters of the sea together as a heap: he laid up the depth in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spoke and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.

We also learn from Moses’ writing that God had as an aspect of His being an image: And God said; Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, And over the cattle, and over all the earth. And over every creeping thing that creeped upon the earth, So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them (Genesis 1:26-27). But it is in Colossians 1:15 that we learn that the image of the invisible God is in Jesus. See Colossians 1:13-17: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ (Matthew 16:20). Peter, for himself and his brethren, said that they were assured of our Lord’s being the promised Messiah, the Son of the Living God. This showed that they believed Jesus to be more than man. Our Lord declared Peter to be blessed, as the teaching of God made him differ from his unbelieving countrymen. Christ added that he had named him Peter, in allusion to his stability or firmness in professing the truth. The word, translated as rock, is not the same word as Peter, but is of a similar meaning. Nothing can be more wrong than to suppose that Christ meant the person of Peter was the rock. Without doubt Christ himself is the Rock, the tried foundation of the church, and woe to him that attempts to lay any other! Peter’s confession is this rock as to doctrine. If Jesus be not the Christ, those that own him are not of the church, but deceivers and deceived. Our Lord next declared the authority with which Peter would be invested. He spoke in the name of his brethren, and those related to them as well as to him. They had no certain knowledge of the characters of men, and were liable to mistakes and sins in their own conduct, but they were kept from error in stating the way of acceptance and salvation,

The rule of obedience, the believer’s character and experience, and the final doom of unbelievers and hypocrites. In such matters their decision was right, and it was confirmed in heaven. But all pretensions of any man, either to absolve or retain men’s sins, are blasphemous and absurd. None can forgive sins but God only. And this binding and losing, in the common language of the Jews, signified to forbid and to allow, or to teach what is lawful or unlawful. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of Man be risen again from the dead (Matthew 17:9).

THE TRANSFIGURATION OF CHRIST

The only begotten of the Father. It was intended to support their faith, when they would have to witness his crucifixion; and would give them an idea of the glory prepared for them, when, changed by his power and made like him, the apostles were overcome by the glorious sight. Peter thought that it was most desirable to continue there, and to go no more down to meet the sufferings of which he was so unwilling to hear. In this he knew not what he said. We are wrong if we look for a heaven here upon earth. Whatever tabernacles we propose to make for ourselves in this world, we must always remember to ask Christ’s leave. That sacrifice was not yet offered, without which the souls of sinful men could not have been saved, and important services were to be done by Peter and his brethren. While Peter spoke, a bright cloud overshadowed them, an emblem of the divine presence and glory. Ever since man sinned and heard God’s voice in the garden, unusual appearances of God have been terrible to man. They fell prostrate to the earth, till Jesus encouraged them; when looking round, they beheld only their Lord as they commonly saw him.

We must pass through varied experiences in our way to glory; and when we return to the world after an ordinance, it must be our care to take Christ with us, and then it may be our comfort that he is with us. And he charged them that they should tell no man of him. Him who? Jesus or the Christ Jesus, they know, but the Christ they don’t. He was not yet reviled (Mark 8:30).

PETER’S TESTIMONY TO CHRIST

These things are written that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. These miracles of our Lord assure us that he was not conquered, but a conqueror. Now the disciples are convinced that Jesus is the Christ; they may bear to hear of his sufferings, of which Christ here begins to give them notice. He sees that amiss in what we say and do, of which we ourselves are not aware, and knows what manner of spirit we are of, when we ourselves do not. The wisdom of man is folly when it pretends to limit the divine counsels. Peter did not rightly understand the nature of Christ’s kingdom. And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of Man was risen from the dead (Mark 9:9).

THE TRANSFIGURATION

Here is a prediction of the near approach to Christ’s kingdom. A glimpse of that kingdom was given in the transfiguration of Christ. It is good to be away from the world, and alone with Christ. How good to be with Christ glorified in heaven with all the saints! But when it is well with us, we are apt not to care for others, and in the fullness of our enjoyments, we forget the many wants of our brethren. God owns Jesus, and accepts him as his beloved Son, and is ready to accept us in his. Therefore, we must own and accept him as our beloved Savior, and must give up ourselves to be ruled by him. Christ does not leave the soul, when joys and comforts leave it. Jesus explained to the disciples the prophecy about Elias.

This was very suitable to the ill usage of John the Baptist (Luke 9:21), and he strictly charged them and commanded them to tell no man that thing. It is an unspeakable comfort that our Lord Jesus is God’s anointed; this signifies that he was both appointed to be the Messiah, and qualified for it. Jesus discourse concerning his own sufferings and death, and so far must his disciples be from thinking how to prevent his sufferings that they must prepare for their own.

We often meet with crosses in the way of duty; and though we must not pull them upon our own heads, yet, when they are laid for us, we must take them up and carry them after Christ. It is well or ill with us, according as it is well or ill with our souls. The body cannot be happy if the soul is miserable in the other world; but the soul may be happy, though the body is greatly afflicted and oppressed in this world. We must never be ashamed of Christ and his gospel. John 1:41 says, He first fended his own brother Simon, and says unto him, we have found the Messiah, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.

PHILIP AND NATHANAEL CALLED

The strongest and most prevailing argument with an awakened soul to follow Christ is that it is he only who takes away sin. Whatever communion there is between our souls and Christ, it is he who begins the discourse. He asked, What seek ye? The question Jesus put to them, we should all put to ourselves when we begin to follow Him. What do we design and desire? In following Christ, do we seek the favor of God and eternal life? He invites them to come without delay. Now is the accepted time (2 Corinthians 6:2). It is good for us to be where Christ is, wherever it is. We ought to labor for the spiritual welfare of those related to us, and seek to bring them to him.

Those who come to Christ must come with a fixed resolution to be firm and constant to him, like a stone, solid and steadfast; and it is by his grace that they are so. Nathanael answered and says unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel. Jesus answered and said unto him, because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believes thou? Thou shall see greater things than these (John 1:49-50). See the nature of true Christianity: it is following Jesus, devoting ourselves to him,