WHO DO YOU SAY I AM?
Sakkie Parsons
Translated from Afrikaans: En jy, wie sê jy is Ek?
Someone wrote to me and asked the question:
“Was Jesus dead in the grave?
Church tradition teaches that He descended into hell. If so, our religion is a lie.”
I want to begin my answer to this person with part of a hymn that we used to sing in church after confession of faith and it is my direct translation:
“Eternal and incomprehensible GOD – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The Afrikaans reads as follows:
“Ewig onbegryplik Wese. Vader, Seun en Heilge Gees…”
These words describe, with great respect, the Almighty; omnipotent (all-powerful), omnipresent (all-pervading, ever-present) and omniscient (all-knowing, all-seeing) God in my heart very well.
With my limited mind and understanding, I will never be able to explain our Lord’s divinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
I read the Word in the way our Lord wants me to read it and I believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ as our Lord wants me to believe it – with the faith of a child – His child.
I read in this regard:
MAT 11:25-26
25 At that time Jesus declared, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children;
26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.
Jesus underlined what He says here in another passage, when He says:
MARK 10:15
15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it."
Therefore, I look at Jesus and I see that He was so fully human that it is written of Him:
LUK 2:7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
Then later we read about this Jesus whose mother wrapped Him in swaddling clothes as a baby, to protect Him from the elements – that He was so fully God, that the elements obeyed Him:
MARK 4:39-41
39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
40 He said to them, "Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?"
41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?"
This Jesus, God who became man, of whom we read:
JOHN 1:1-3
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
JOHN 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Yes, this Jesus who is holding the whole world in the palm of His hand, and yet we read about Him in His human capacity, that while His mother was breastfeeding Him, how absolutely in control our Lord was and is:MAT 2:13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him."
Therefore, to answer the question and the statement that was made to me:
If I believe all that I just read like a child and are wonderfully led by the Holy Spirit, it is also easy to believe what I read, when I first read about Jesus:
JOHN 19:28-30
28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), "I thirst."
29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.
30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, "It is finished," and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
To read then, that when He gave up His last breath in His humanity, and they put His body into the grave, the following could be said of Him:
1PET 3:18-19
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,
19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison,
How great to furthermore read about this Jesus, the Word that became flesh and whose body lays in the tomb, who at that time…
1PET 3:19 … in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison,
And then to furthermore read about this Jesus:
MARK 16:5-7
5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed.
6 And he said to them, "Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.
7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you."
Of course, what I have just shared with you sounds like nonsense to some people and it is indeed foolishness to those who have not accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour and do not have the Holy Spirit in them to assist them to have faith like a child.
In this context, the Word Himself tells us:
1COR 1:18-25
18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart."
20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.
22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,
23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,
24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
To you who are reading this today, Jesus asks, as He asked on occasion to His disciples – and that is why you have read thus far:
MAT 16:15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
Can you answer like Peter?
MAT 16:16 Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
If you can answer the same with certainty in your heart, then you have this wonderful knowing:
MAT 16:17 And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
Greetings,
Sakkie