"There is one God" 1 Timothy 2:5-6

The Jews use the “Shema”, or  “Sh'ma” which is a Jewish prayer, and is also the first two words of a section of the Torah, and is a prayer that serves as a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewish prayer services. The first verse encapsulates the monotheistic essence of Judaism: "Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one".

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God. The Lord is one!”  Deuteronomy 6:4 (MEV)

Observant Jews consider the Shema to be the most important part of the prayer service in Judaism, and its twice-daily recitation as a mitzvah (religious commandment). Also, it is traditional for Jews to say the Shema as their last words, and for parents to teach their children to say it before they go to sleep at night.

The verse is sometimes alternatively translated as "The LORD is our God; the LORD is one" or "The LORD is our God, the LORD alone."

The reason this was so important to the Jews was that there were so many influences of foreign gods in the culture that they were historically enjoined with that they wanted to be sure that this was included as part of their daily prayers declaring that “The LORD is our God; the LORD is one” meaning that there were no polytheistic or multiple gods for the Jews like the Greeks or Romans believed in, for them the LORD was the one and only God to be worshipped.

This was their way of remembrance that they serve a single God, and made it the subject of their daily prayer life never to forget who their God is.

Even though Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit are three separate entities they are still one God that interacts with us as one.

Paul makes it clear that there is only one mediator (priest) between God and humans, and He happens to be a human Himself—Christ Jesus.  Jesus was with God in ages past, and as I mentioned yesterday He was the Word who created everything visible and non-visable.  Jesus was actually God Himself who had the power to create and make everything from a mind filled with wisdom and love and keeps it all held together.

He existed before everything and holds everything together. Colossians 1:17 (GW)

Christ Jesus became the sacrifice that we could never become because it would require our death to fulfill the requirements of the law to atone for our disobedience (sin).  Jesus paid our penalty to the law and released us from its obligation by dying to the law and paying the required cost which was His death which satisfied its requirements.  

With Jesus being God He did the impossible which is coming back from death and physically living again, this was something that no other religion or other God could do, it was mentioned by some religions but never fulfilled in practice as Jesus did.  Jesus proved that He would become our salvation if we would but trust Him to save us from the penalty of the law.

You may say that you are not Jewish so I am not under the Judaic law, that would be a correct statement that you are not under Judaic law, but you are under the law of sin and death and its effect upon this natural world.  The only way to be free from that law is to trust Jesus to be your mediator between you and the Father in Heaven to forgive you for your inability to please Him because your sin stands in the way.  When you confess with your mouth that Jesus is your Lord and He now rules your life, you affix your mind to listening to His Word for you, and you begin the process of rebirth (being born again) into a new life in Christ, the old life is cast off and a new life has begun, it is the new normal.

Paul declares that “He (Jesus) sacrificed himself for all people to free them from their sins”, Jesus didn’t die just to save Jewish people, He died for “all people”, so that they could be freed from their sins to reach out and take hold of their eternal destiny which is to become sons of the living God just as Jesus became an obedient Son.  

We have an inheritance as a child of God which is beyond imagination, but to know about it is one thing, to begin to exercise our authority as a son is something different.  

We have a birthright as an heir to the blessings of God, but those blessings remain dormant until we take our position as a son and stand in the place of authority and exercise the role we have been given and possess those promises as our own.  To be free from our sins doesn’t sound like much on the surface, but it encapsulates everything about our life and freedom in Christ.  

The Holy Spirit is alive in us and will produce the life of Christ if we permit it.  We must be willing participants in the process of change as the Spirit leads us closer and closer to the Father and we begin to take on His traits and motives for life and with others as we become closer with Him.

There are three main reasons for becoming a Christian and those 3 simple reasons are listed below:

• To Love God
• To Love Others
• To Make Disciples

We can misconstrue becoming a Christian as just a means of getting into heaven and using Christianity as a Fire Escape from this world, but nothing could be further from the truth, trusting in Jesus is actually a rescue mission on His part.  

Becoming a Christian is about receiving the mind of Christ and growing and developing in that knowledge.

Let this mind be in you all, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. But He emptied Himself, taking upon Himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in the form of a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross.

Therefore God highly exalted Him and gave Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.   Philippians 2:5-11 (MEV)

One of the things about this passage that is often overlooked is it says “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow” it makes it sound like people are being forced to obey, but that is not the case at all.  The passage should be correctly rendered “at the name of Jesus every knee should (gladly) bow” this is not forced obedience but a sense of relief that redemption has finally come to us.  

He is our humble King who loves us and has provided us a priceless gift, He is worthy of our praise and honor, the question is will we receive His gift and make it ours?

Be Blessed;

Stephen Barnett