Xiaoyan saw the following words in the Bible: “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, see, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting on him: And see a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:16-17). “Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us. Jesus said to him, … Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?” (John 14:8-10). “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30). After reading these verses, she felt confused: God in heaven called the Lord Jesus “my beloved Son,” the Lord Jesus called God in heaven Father as He prayed, but the Lord Jesus answered Philip by saying “I and my Father are one.” Is the Lord Jesus the son of Jehovah God? Are Jehovah and the Lord Jesus Father and Son? Then she thought of how her uncle had served the Lord for many years and that he had unique insights into the Bible, so she went to visit him and sought out the answers from him.
After hearing Xiaoyan’s questions, her uncle said with a smile: “In the Old Testament of the Bible, there is no mention of the Father and the Son. The saying only appeared after the Lord Jesus came to earth in the flesh to do His work. Philip did not know God, and believed that the Lord Jesus also had God the Father in heaven, which is why he said: “Lord, show us the Father.” So the Lord Jesus corrected his error by saying that the Father is the Son and the Son is the Father, and that the Father and the Son have always been one and one Spirit. The Lord was telling people that He and the Father are one and one God.” Xiaoyan nodded thoughtfully.
Then her uncle continued, “Recently, I read a book which clearly explains this mystery. Let’s read it together.”
Xiaoyan said impatiently: “Great! Let me read it!”
She took the book and carefully read the following passage: “When Jesus called God in heaven by the name of Father as He prayed, this was done only from the perspective of a created man, only because the Spirit of God had put on an ordinary and normal flesh and had the exterior cover of a created being. Even if within Him was the Spirit of God, His exterior appearance was still that of a normal man; in other words, He had become the ‘Son of man’ of which all men, including Jesus Himself, spoke. Given that He is called the Son of man, He is a person (whether man or woman, in any case one with the exterior shell of a human being) born into a normal family of ordinary people. Therefore, Jesus calling God in heaven by the name of Father was the same as how you at first called Him Father; He did so from the perspective of a created man. Do you still remember the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus taught you to memorize? ‘Our Father in heaven….’ He asked all men to call God in heaven by the name of Father. And since He too called Him Father, He did so from the perspective of one who stands on an equal footing with you all. Since you called God in heaven by the name of Father, this shows that Jesus saw Himself to be on equal footing with you, and as a man on earth chosen by God (that is, the Son of God). If you call God Father, is this not because you are a created being? However great the authority of Jesus on earth, prior to the crucifixion, He was merely a Son of man, governed by the Holy Spirit (that is, God), and one of the earth’s created beings, for He had yet to complete His work. Therefore, His calling God in heaven Father was solely His humility and obedience.” “There are still those who say, ‘Did not God expressly state that Jesus was His beloved Son?’ Jesus is the beloved Son of God, in whom He is well pleased—this was certainly spoken by God Himself. That was God bearing witness to Himself, but merely from a different perspective, that of the Spirit in heaven bearing witness to His own incarnation. Jesus is His incarnation, not His Son in heaven. Do you understand? Do not the words of Jesus, ‘I am in the Father, and the Father in Me,’ indicate that They are one Spirit? And is it not because of the incarnation that They were separated between heaven and earth? In reality, They are still one; no matter what, it is simply God bearing witness to Himself.”
After Xiaoyan finished reading, her uncle fellowshiped: “These words are so clear! Whether it is the Lord Jesus calling God in heaven Father as He prayed, or God in heaven calling the Lord Jesus His beloved Son, both are because God’s realm is different. In fact, Jehovah God and the Lord Jesus are the same Spirit, the same God. It was because God incarnate testified to Himself in the position of a created being that the idea of the Father and the Son came into being.
“When the Lord Jesus came to do His work, it was God’s Spirit who became flesh as the Son of man to personally work and utter words. So the people at that time could only see the Lord Jesus’ image of the flesh, but couldn’t see God’s Spirit. If God in heaven had borne witness that the Lord Jesus was God Himself, people wouldn’t have accepted it easily. Because they didn’t understand the truth of incarnation and they only came into contact with the Lord Jesus incarnate, they never imagined that this regular Son of man would be the flesh worn by the Spirit of God. Even though the Lord Jesus expressed many words in the course of His work, brought man the gospel of the kingdom of heaven, bestowed upon man the way of repentance, and displayed many miracles, fully revealing God’s authority and power, only a few people recognized from the Lord Jesus’ words and work that the Lord Jesus was God Himself, that is, the appearance of God. Others only acknowledged the Lord Jesus as one of the prophets, or called Him Master or Healer. So, God just worked according to the stature of people at that time, and He didn’t make it hard for them. The Holy Spirit could only testify within the understanding of the people then, so He called the Lord Jesus God’s beloved Son, allowing man to think of the Lord Jesus as God’s Son. This way fit in better with people’s conceptions, and was easier to accept. Because, in the Age of Grace, the Lord Jesus did the work of redemption, no matter what people at that time called the Lord Jesus, the important thing was that they accepted that the Lord Jesus is the Savior. This also reveals God’s humility and hiddenness. But the idea of the Father and the Son was only suited to the period of work in which the Lord Jesus was on earth. After the Lord’s work on earth finished, which means after His redemption work and after His resurrection and ascension to heaven, the mention of the Father and the Son was no longer.”
Xiaoyan suddenly realized: “I got it. It turns out that the Lord Jesus and Jehovah are the same God and there is no Father-Son relationship to speak of. The Lord Jesus is God’s Spirit coming in the flesh to speak to man and appear to them. No matter how God’s Spirit speaks and works in the flesh, His essence is God Himself. All of this completely fulfilled the words in the Bible: ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God’ (John 1:1). In the past, I thought that Jehovah was Father and the Lord Jesus was Jehovah’s Son. When I prayed, if I only prayed in the name of Jehovah or the name of the Lord Jesus, I would feel so uneasy. So I always prayed in the name of Jehovah and the name of the Lord Jesus: ‘The Holy Father Jehovah, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ….’ Now when I think about this, I realize I was so foolish. Since I didn’t understand the truth, I did ridiculous things and resisted God.” With that, Xiaoyan felt a little ashamed.
Smiling, her uncle said: “Thanks to God’s guidance, you have such understanding. Let’s read another passage.”
Xiaoyan replied: “Okay! The truths in the book are clearly fellowshiped!”