This Same Jesus!

By Rev. Rod James

This Same Jesus! Proved by science! Prophesied the exact day and time of his crucifixion! Prophesied the exact day and time of his resurrection! Prophesied the exact year of his return! Acts 1:11 (emphasis added) says, "This same Jesus shall so come as you have seen him go into heaven." Colossians 1:17 states, "He is before all things and by him all things consist."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 6, 2018
• ISBN: 9781641400992

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This Same Jesus!

Rev. Rod James

Copyright © 2018 Rev. Rod James

All rights reserved

First Edition

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc

New York, NY

First originally published by Christian Faith Publishing, Inc 2018

ISBN 978-1-64140-098-5 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64140-099-2 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

o my wife Beth whose goodness and innocence I found very refreshing as a young man. She is my best friend, my perfect companion, and still the best person I know.

To my four sons: Burt, Jason, Bryant, and Sam. The only buddies I have ever needed. I have loved you guys from conception and always will.

To all my grandchildren. You all have Papa wrapped around your little fingers. There are four things I want you to know.

Just serve God. Kindness is a strength. Jesus loves you and will keep you. Unknown doesn’t describe a Christian’s future.

To Jesus, my Lord and my God. You have never given up on me and you never will. My life is to serve you, to hear you, to learn of you, and to tell about you. Everything else is baggage.

Introduction

Deuteronomy 27:5–6 says, And there shalt thou build an altar unto the lord thy God, an altar of stones…and thou shalt offer burnt offerings thereon unto the Lord thy God.

Leviticus 26:30 states, And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.

What was the difference? The first was offered unto God, the second to false Gods. One was blessed the other cursed. God judges us by our intentions and our actions. Israel was told to build an altar unto the true God and to write on the stones, Deuteronomy 27:8: Write upon the stones all the words of this law very plainly.

Joshua 8:30 says, Then Joshua built an altar unto the Lord…

Joshua 8:32 states, He wrote upon the stones a copy of the law…

Joshua 8:34–35 (emphasis added) says, "And afterward he read all. The words of the law, the blessings and cursings according to all that is written in the book of the law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel."

In writing this book, I propose that we look at God’s word, whether blessing or cursing. We allow Jesus Christ to show us himself, and what He thinks.

I find the story of Joshua fascinating because even though it looked pagan, looked evil in fashion, it was to honor God. Like Christmas or Easter, it may look pagan to some, but God looks at the intent.

To some, Christian beliefs in our time look evil. Some use the words hate or intolerant or phobe (pick any you would like) to make Christian beliefs look bigoted, cruel, or uncaring. Nothing could be further from the truth. Love and duty say warn you, not tell you that you are fine. Let’s look at this same Jesus and discover what the Lord of all has to tell us, whether blessing or cursing, very plainly.

1

Eternal

First let me state what is not eternal. You, I, planet Earth, and even the entire universe is not eternal. We all had a start, a beginning. According to evolutionist, the universe’s beginning happened about fourteen billion years ago. Some creationist agree, some say it is much younger. I believe it is much younger because scripture indicates it is. We can have discussion concerning the days of creation to be twenty-four-hour periods or to be ages, but the first point to all of this is that it began!

It came from something. Everything must come from something except for God. He is eternal. He is the cause that created the universe. We will look at this in great detail in chapter 2 Creator, but for now, we will consider the Eternal One. As for the universe, to believe something that has a beginning came from nothing is insane right, evolutionist? That would be the same as you believing you just appeared out of thin air one day! I understand they have medication for that!

Throughout this book, we will examine Jesus in each aspect that he is presented to us in scripture. By life-changing revelation, to accurate and incredible scientific data, to prophecy we will show that Jesus is so much more than just a well-known religious teacher from two thousand years ago!

This same Jesus is eternal. He had no beginning, and he has no ending. He is not dependent on anything as he is the ultimate power, source of life, and infinite mind. I would like to give you a taste of that from prophecy, and then we will zero in on the eternal Jesus.

In Isaiah 44:28–45:7, God has a very interesting discussion with Cyrus, the King of Persia. I will paraphrase: I have chosen you to release my people from Babylon. I will make it easy for you as though the gates of the city were broken into pieces. I will give you treasures so you will know that I am God. I call you by name for the sake of Israel my elect, though you don’t know me. I am God and there is none else, No God besides ME. That from the rising sun, even to the west, they will know that I am God.

The reason that people from east to West would know that it was God, the One and Only is because this was written about 140 years before he became King of Persia! Daniel, being in the Kingdom of Babylon (Dan. 2, 3, 4) interprets dreams for Nebuchadnezzar and then interprets the handwriting on the wall for King Belshazzar, in Daniel chapter 5.

When Cyrus, king of Persia, conquers Babylon, he makes Daniel the first of three presidents he appoints to rule with him (Dan. 6). Daniel apparently shows the prophecy to Cyrus and his reaction is in Ezra 1.

Cyrus tells the Hebrew people they could go back to their land, could take back the things Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple, tells his people to give them gold and silver and goods and animals to help them go to Jerusalem, and has sent an offering as well.

This is amazing! Can you imagine 140 years before George Washington became our first president that God would have put in the Bible Hey, George, what’s up? Listen, I need you to do something. That is the eternal being we call God!

Isaiah 46:9–10 says, I am God and there is non-else; I am God, and there is non like me. Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done…

What are the implications of there being an eternal God? What are the implications of this eternal God being the Christian God? Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—eternal, over all, before all. If you are a Christian, you already know this. If you are a nonbeliever, these are the implications.

Because there is an eternal God, there is an absolute moral authority. The bar he sets is you have to be perfect. Deuteronomy 18:13 says, You will be perfect with the lord thy God. How do you measure up to that? Yeah, everybody fails that one. There is only one solution. Jesus Christ stepped out of eternity into time to die on the cross as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins! If you receive him, you will be justified in the Father’s eyes. Let’s see this same Jesus as scripture portrays him, before he came to earth—eternal.

Some may believe that Jesus Christ existed from his birth until his death, but this is false. Jesus existed from all eternity. John 1:1 says, In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God.

John 1:14 says, And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we behold his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth.

John 8:58 says, Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

Abraham, lived around 1900 BC before Christ. Before Jesus’s birth as a human. But Jesus was here from all eternity.

John 1:10 states, He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

We will in later chapters discuss Jesus deity, his humanity, and his role as Creator, but in this first chapter, I want to lay a foundation of scripture and to get an understanding of whom we are discussing. Jesus stepped out of eternity into time so he could become a sacrifice on the cross, to pay for your sins and mine.

John 17:5 says, And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

Psalm 90:2 says, From everlasting to everlasting thou art God.

Beacon Bible Commentary (vol. 3, page 332)

On this portion of Scripture, it is describing infinite past to the infinite future. One that is immune to time.

God knows no beginning and knows no end. Jesus, as the Son of God, God the Son, is eternal. He went from eternity to the dust and sand of the planet he created for us.

First John 1:1 states, That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the word of life.

Again in Beacon(2) (vol. 10, pp 349–350).

This introductory paragraph of the Epistle is exceedingly complex in structure and as a consequence does not readily yield the meaning of the writer. It gives the impression that the author was so full of his subject, so overwhelmed by the truth he sought to express that his thoughts became crowded and his expression complicated. This is not characteristic of John’s style.

The subject of the first sentence is we (1), an editorial we, which is used repeatedly throughout the Epistle. Here the reference is to the early ministers of the Gospel, of whom John was probably the one longest to survive. The verb is declare (3) and the object is the word of life (1) simply stated the author is saying, We declare to you the word of life.

The five dependent clauses of verse 1 are descriptive of the object: That which was from the beginning which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, is identical in meaning with the word of life. The parenthetical sentence of verse 2 also speaks of the same object. This is the word (logos) of the introduction to John’s Gospel and of course refers to Jesus.

But this analysis is only partially correct. It is not exactly the word which John declares but something about (peri) the word. This fact is borne out in verse 2 where it is the life which had made its appearance and which John had seen and was testifying to. And so, more precisely, the object of John’s declaration is the life which was the possession of the logos and which emanated from him. Further evidence of this is found in the neuter pronoun that, used four times in verse 1. In John’s Gospel, both life and light are said to be in the logos. "And so here, when the writer says that the life was with God and was disclosed to us, we need not suppose that he means anything substantially different from what is said in the prologue to the fourth Gospel.

It would be wholly proper to say that John was writing what was known—what had been revealed—about Christ. In other words, he was declaring the Gospel of Christ. The Gospel was the revelation that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God and that those who believe may have life through his name (John 20:31). He was not writing a complete Christology but had something very important to say concerning the life which is in Christ and which He imparts to his followers.

On this basis, the hearing and the seeing and handling of the word of life were more than the identification of Jesus by an eyewitness. It was John’s anthropomorphic way of also proclaiming that he and the other disciples—even the whole church had recognized in Jesus the eternal life of the Deity he thus sought to combat the Docetic notion that Jesus was phantom-like and not real. But his primary aim was not polemical; it was theological and devotional.

Both the word of life and the Gospel which John preached were from the beginning (1) before creation and before the incarnation, John had heard Christ in the deepest sense of the term—he had heard his sermons and teachings, but he also had heard his message of eternal life (2). He had seen Christ as a man but he also had seen who he was—the son of God.

The prophet Micah saw into the future the coming Messiah. He declares,

But thou Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Juhdah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting (Micah 5:2).

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith (Heb. 12:2).

Jesus is the beginning and end of our faith. He is eternal in longevity, and in quality, he is the force of and generator of this eternal life.

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb. 13:8).

He is not, as God, subject to growing old.

He is not going to become feeble or forgetful.

He is eternal, vital, and will never decrease in any way.

Revelation 1:7–8 says, "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: And all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him Even so, Amen. I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is and which was, and which is to come, the almighty.’

Jesus is the one that was pierced.

Jesus is the one coming again.

Jesus is coming in the clouds of glory.

This scripture calls him the almighty.

Let us now begin to look at the different aspects of this eternal one that separates and elevates him above all others.

2

Creator

Colossians 1:16–17 for by him (Jesus) 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.

John 1:1–3 states, "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made."

John 1:10 states, He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

Yes, Jesus is the God of creation! Atheist hate God, they really hate Jesus! He is the cause in the cause and effect. It is insane to believe everything came from nothing! It is sobering to realize that the being great enough to create a universe was great enough to die on a cross for you. You owe him your physical life and your soul! (13) Frank Turek, a brilliant brother in Christ, had this to say about creation in his book Stealing from God.

I explained that we are not basing our conclusions on a mere gap in our knowledge. Those of us who conclude that a theistic God is the cause of the universe are not arguing from what we don’t know (a gap), but what we do know. Since space, time, and matter had a beginning, we know that the cause can’t be made of space, time, or matter. In fact, the personal first cause flows logically from the evidence itself.

If anyone is committing a fallacy, it is the atheist. Call it the natural law of the gaps fallacy—having faith that an undiscovered natural law will one day explain the beginning of the universe.

And that’s exactly what John did. He went back to insist that through science we will one day find a natural cause for all of nature.

I said, John we will never find a natural cause for all nature.

We will, he insisted.

No, John, we can’t in principle. If nature had a beginning, then the cause can’t be something natural because nature didn’t exist. Nature was the effect, so it can’t be the cause. The cause must be something beyond nature or supernatural.

I used this comparison to help communicate the point: When you say, ‘Give me more time and I’ll discover a natural cause for the universe,’ that’s like me saying, ‘Give me more time and I’ll discover that I gave birth to my own mother! It’s impossible in principle, John.

Perhaps I did a bad job of explaining it because he still wasn’t persuaded. On the other hand, there is a difference between proof and persuasion. One can prove a point, but that doesn’t mean that a particular person will be persuaded by it. At least John agreed that the universe needs a cause. Other atheists are suggesting that it doesn’t—that somehow the universe popped into existence out of nothing without a cause.

That was the assertion of an atheist at Texas A&M, where I was again presenting the Cosmological argument. I summed up the argument this way: "Since the universe had a beginning, it must have had a beginner. The evidence leaves us with one of the following two options, either:

No one created something out of nothing, which is the atheist’s view or

Someone created something out of nothing, which is the theist’s view."

Logic tells us that something can’t come from nothing! Everything in the universe came from something, or someone, and that someone is the creator, the Lord Jesus Christ!

The theory of evolution now also includes something called LUCA, which stands for last universal common ancestor. It just keeps getting worse! This ancestor is a bacteria. Yes, we came from great grandpa germ. Now, there is a debate about this among evolutionist.

Life started in a hostile environment like a deep sea vent or the flanks of a volcano.

Others favor a more normal setting such as the warm little pond theory proposed by Darwin.

Some believe that the bacteria got here on a meteor. Mega mommy meteor. They didn’t call it that, I did. They should do Saturday morning kids shows, I see a future there because they are coming up short as great thinkers!

They obviously don’t have that bacteria to study, nor the meteor. They can’t even agree on where or when these arrived on earth, because they are made up to support nonsense, non-science. Again, brother Frank Turek hits the nail on the head:

What counts as evidence is not evidence itself—a philosophical value judgment must be made. Scientists must then interpret the evidence they’ve judge to be good by relying on all the immaterial realities listed above to draw a free and rational conclusion. They must also be honest throughout the entire process.

Notice that science can’t prove any of those things. "Scientists must presuppose them in order to do science. In other words, you can’t prove the tools of science—such as the laws of logic, the law of causality, or the reliability of observation—by running some kind of experiment. You have to assume those things are true in order to do the experiment! That’s why you can’t do science without philosophy. While it’s certainly true that you can use bad philosophy to do science, you can’t use no philosophy.

As Richard Dawkins admits, he uses materialistic philosophy to come to his scientific conclusion. That’s why some of his conclusions are bad conclusions. For example, Dawkins considers the best evidence for common ancestry to be the fact that living things share a common genetic code. He interprets the universal genetic code as near-conclusive proof that all organisms descended from a single common ancestor.

There are at least three problems here for Dawkins. First, the very fact that a code exists at all should tip him off that intelligence is at work. Natural laws have never been observed to make codes; in all our experience, codes always come from intelligent beings. He’s not open to that because his materialistic ideology doesn’t permit it.

Second, contrary to his assertion, there is not one universal genetic code—we’ve actually discovered more than twenty genetic codes in the living world that determine different amino acid assignments from DNA. So Dawkins is just factually wrong.

The third problem is that even if you assume a universal genetic code, common ancestry is not the only possible conclusion. Why couldn’t the common genetic code be interpreted as evidence for a common designer? After all, human designers often use similar plans to accomplish similar goals. For example, nearly all car designers use four tires because the design works best to safely and efficiently transport small groups of people.

As we have seen, when we apply the principle of uniformity to the origin of the genetic code and new lifeforms, design is by far the more probable option. But Dawkins has philosophically ruled out that possibility in advance because of his materialistic worldview. Someone with a less restrictive worldview like theism would be open to both possibilities. Atheists will never arrive at the truth if they won’t even consider it.

They tell us they won’t consider design because that would stop science. Actually, they are the ones stopping science.

God himself calls out those that question him. Job questioned God, and some of his answers to Job fit nicely as answers to the scientist who believe nothing created everything, or life came from bacteria by way of meteor.

Job 38:21 states, "Do you know this because you were born then? Or because you are very old.

Did you see this happen? No."

Job 38:4 states, Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?

Weren’t around then? No.

Job 38:2 states, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?

God is saying who do you think you are to doubt what I say and do, when you have no knowledge of either.

Scientist and meteors and bacteria, oh my! Real science uses something called the scientific method. As I remember from college that would be observable, repeatable, and provable. Let’s look at this.

Psalm 53:1 states, The fool has said in his heart there is no God.

Microphone drop. Almighty God walks off the stage. He just called you high IQ boys chumps, dummies, a little slow…fools! It is great to be smart. I consider myself to be very smart. I did very well in college. But I never supposed myself to be smart enough to eliminate God from my thinking. I worked for the United States postal service until I retired almost two years ago. Part of that time I was stationed at the post office at Ohio State University. Most of the people there were very nice. A lot of the professors were snooty. They acted as if those around them were lesser beings. The nicest person there was the president of the university. Always took time to say hello and ask how I was doing.

Dr. E. Gordon Gee was a very smart, very important man—but he always acted like your neighbor. The God of creation is beyond our ability to calculate his intelligence, and yet he died for you! He is love he is kind and he is the ultimate in intelligence! Now, the scientific method. Observable, repeatable, provable. Ask an evolutionist which came first the chicken or egg. They are stumped using the method of looking back in time and making things up. Maybe the chicken just appeared from nothing. Oh wait, you need two chickens to continue the chicken line. Are you guys sure about that little bacteria becoming everything alive on this planet?

True science observes a hen laying eggs, those eggs being fertilized and a chick or chicks hatching it is observable, repeatable, and provable.

You can’t get eggs without chickens. God created the chickens to start this process. He didn’t create eggs and sit on them so they would hatch. And no, they didn’t come from nothing or bacteria.

If the evolutionist had his wish, and things could come from nothing, which is crazy, and there magically appeared all the ingredients for a cake, you still have to follow the instructions and bake it! Same with the chicken. You have the exact chemical composition for a chicken and it is just a lump of meat and feathers. It