Can a Baby Be God?

Can a Baby Be God?

As a mother of three girls, I remember looking at them as babies (and still do) and wonder, "What will be like when they grow up?"  I love the song, “Mary Did You Know?” by Kutless.  The song asks “Mary did you know that your baby boy (Jesus) would…”  One of the lines says “Did you know when you kiss your little baby, you kiss the face of God?”   How can this be?  Can a baby be God?

You can understand how a baby can be God if you understand God’s three persons, God’s promises and God’s plan      (Note:  All scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Version, unless noted.)

(For other languages and translations go to biblegateway.com)

First, God’s three persons

Well, it starts at the beginning.  According to Genesis (the first book of the Bible that means “beginnings”), when God created the world (the first message of the Bible), the word “God” in the original Hebrew language (in which most of the Old Testament , including the first five books of the Bible known as the Torah) is a plural form.  No, that doesn’t mean there is more than one God.  The Bible repeatedly and adamantly teaches that there is only one God.  Deuteronomy 6:4 (part of the Torah) says “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!” (Also see Isaiah 45:21-22 and Isaiah 46:9)  But God, in His awesomeness, cannot be simplified into a concept we can fully understand.   God is only one, but three persons (plural), God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  After God created the world, the Bible says in Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; (emphasis mine).  Again, the Bible teaches God as plural persons using the words “Us” and “Our”.  With these two Genesis references alone, we can see that God’s person is not singular, but plural  (Also see Psalm 110:1, Matthew 28:19, 1 Peter 1:2, and Jude 1:20-21 to read verses about God’s three persons).   This leaves room for a baby to be God.  But how?

Second, God’s promises

Immediately after Adam and Eve broke God’s rule to not eat of the forbidden fruit, God promised He would send a Deliverer to take care of our sin problem.  When God punishes the serpent (Satan) in Genesis 3: 15, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.” God promised that someone born of woman would destroy Satan by crushing him.

God promised this  Deliverer would come from the line of Abraham.  In Genesis 18:  God tells Abraham and Sarah that they will have a child in their old age.  In verse 17, The LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, ¹⁸ since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed?  (emphasis mine)  The only way ALL the nations could be blessed is the fact that the Deliverer would come from Abraham’s descendants.

God gave the same promise, or covenant to Isaac.  God told Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son in their old age.  They laughed and Genesis 17: 18 – 21 says 18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!” ¹⁹ But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. ²⁰ As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. ²¹ But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.” (emphasis mine)

God promised this Deliverer come from the line of David and establish an eternal kingdom.  I Kings 2:45 “But King Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the LORD forever.” (emphasis mine) 

Isaiah 9: 6-7  ⁶ For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷ There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,
On the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this. (emphasis mine)

Isaiah 9:6-7 could be a blog post of its own!  This promise written around 700 B.C. ties God’s promise in 1Kings about David’s everlasting kingdom to a child, Mighty God (vs. 6), that will given TO US!  Wow!  I love the other names given to Jesus in verse 6.  Can you find them?

Isaiah, the prophet, also wrote (Isaiah 7:14) “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.”  I love this verse.  Immanuel means “God with us”.  This means the baby will be God.

We know God always keeps His promises.

Finally, God’s plan

When the time was just right (God’s timing is always perfect), God kept His promise to send the Deliverer. (For the complete line of descendants from Abraham to the Deliverer, see Matthew Chapter 1, part of Injil).

God told Mary the plan through an angel.  She responded like this:  In Luke 1:30-35 (book in New Testament, also in the Injil) ³⁰ The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; ³³ and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” ³⁴ Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” ³⁵ The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God. (emphasis mine). 

Nothing is impossible with God.  God is all-powerful.  When he decided Jesus needed to be born of woman (totally human), yet divine (totally God) to be the sinless sacrifice needed, the Holy Spirit (also person of God) came upon Mary, not in any sexual way, but in a supernatural way.  And for this reason, the holy (perfect) Child shall be called the Son of God.  The “Son” describes the spiritual relationship with the “Father”, not a physical relationship of Father/Son (descendant).  Therefore, Jesus is not a second god, as some believe.  Jesus IS God.  

Galatians 4:4-5 ⁴ But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, ⁵ so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

God sent His son (person of God we talked about at the top, Jesus), born of a woman (virgin Mary, promised in Isaiah) so that God will redeem us (pay for our sin), that we might receive the adoption as sons (and daughters).  Really?  We can have a relationship with God?  Yes.  Jesus IS the promised Deliverer that the whole Old Testament prophesied about. 

The book of John (book in New Testament and in the Injil) one of Jesus’ closest friends, also explains how God’s plan from the beginning, included God becoming a baby, Jesus.

John 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  John 1:14   And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus is “the Word”.  Substitute “Jesus” for “Word”.  In the beginning was Jesus (part of the three persons of God that created everything), and Jesus was with God, and Jesus was God.  And Jesus became flesh (became a human baby or “put on skin”) and lived on earth (dwelt among us, another blog post), and we saw Jesus’ glory, glory because He is begotten (not created, but in God’s exact representation, also another blog post), full of grace (Heba, for my Arabic friends) and truth.

I’m so thankful that the God of the universe would want to have a relationship with me.  I am a daughter, co-heir with Jesus himself.  I’m thankful we have the Bible, the word of God, that never changes to give us the answers to how a baby could be God.    And yes, as we celebrate Christmas, we can believe that Jesus, the baby is God. 

John 1:12 says, ¹² But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,

 “Him” and “His” is Jesus.  Will you receive Jesus as God?  Will you believe in His name?  You, too can be a child of God. (1-888-Jesus-2000)

Jesus didn’t stay a baby….Did He claim to be God? (a future post)

Mary Did you Know? (youtube video)

Turkey Talks

I love Thanksgiving for many reasons.   I love the laid back schedule (when I’m not hosting): family gathers, eats lots of delicious food, younger people play, older people rest (I’m now in this category), eat dessert, “watch” football (fall asleep sitting up), eat again (even though we’re not even hungry), pack up leftovers, say goodbyes.  I love the laughter of reminiscent stories (many we share every year).  I love the noise of cousins playing (I’m the aunt/ mom now.  I miss playing with my cousins).  I love the Fall decorations, the pumpkins and cornucopias.  I love the mixed smells of pumpkin pie and green bean casserole.  But, I especially love turkey, not necessarily the taste or smell of turkey, but the “turkey talks” I’ve had through the years. 

The first several “turkey talks” were as a girl with my grandmother.  She made the turkey every year.  My mom would bring a side dish or two.  But, we never had to worry about the turkey.   I loved arriving to my grandmother’s house in time to watch her carve the turkey.  The sound of the electric knife, and the smell of perfectly cooked turkey (only occasionally dry, when she got distracted by seven grandchildren fighting over who got to lick the beater of the mashed potatoes) meant the feast was almost ready.  I would eat from the relish and vegetable trays and watch the last step, the making of the gravy.   As I got older, she sometimes let me stir the gravy and test the turkey.  I loved my “turkey talks” with my grandmother on Thanksgiving Day.  God used a turkey to deepen our relationship.

Years later, I had “turkey talk” with a good looking man.  He found out a need (another story I won’t share now) of a single mom and her two young children.  He asked me to go with him to the store to gather ingredients for a Thanksgiving meal to take to the family.  I had never made a turkey before, and I only observed the finished product and carving, so I had no idea where to start.  We asked every older lady we saw what we needed to make a turkey.   After several , “Well, Honey”s or “Well, Dear”s, we had gathered a turkey, turkey bag, foil, turkey baster, turkey pan, turkey seasonings, turkey timer, meat thermometer.  I look back now and wonder, was the lady overwhelmed with all our turkey paraphernalia?   Sadly, she might have known as much as I did.  This “turkey talk” was the beginning of our “dating” (He called it a date.  I didn’t.  He didn’t have to pay for anything), and eventually I married this sweet, thoughtful man.  God used a turkey to begin our relationship.

After a few years of marriage, my husband started getting a turkey each year from work as a gift.  We also began trading holidays with our families, so I no longer spent every Thanksgiving at my grandmother’s.  The first few years I would send the turkey with my mother-in-law to cook.  I finally decided I should try to cook the turkey myself.  I remember my husband had to remind me to take out the “pocket of treasures” stored in the bottom of the turkey.  Other than that, I don’t remember any significant problems.  We actually ate the turkey I made.  I’ve tried new recipes about every year.  I like to “turkey talk” with others about their favorite turkey recipes.  God used a turkey to enjoy my relationships.

Last year was another “turkey talk” first.  My friend from India asked me to help her prepare her first turkey.  I enjoyed going to her house and taking her step by step through the process.  I laughed thinking about how far I had come with cooking turkeys.  I began watching, than shopping, next cooking, and finally teaching.  God used a turkey as a bridge to build our relationship and gave me an opportunity to share His good news.   Even today, I laughed when a friend called me about cooking her first turkey.

I love turkeys!  God has used turkeys several times in my life.  As I wrote about my progression with turkeys, I thought about my relationship with Christ.  Similarly, I started as an observer.  Next, like shopping, I gathered the information (truth of God’s word).    Later, like the first time I cooked my own turkey, I took my own step of faith.  Finally, like sharing my turkey recipes and experiences, I shared my faith with others.  Where are you in this “turkey talk” process?  Let’s talk turkeys sometime.

    

With Liberty and Justice For All

What does this picture have to do with Veteran's Day?

“With liberty and justice for all.”  The last words of our Pledge of Allegiance to the United States flag mean more to me on Veteran’s Day.  Our armed forces and families understand the cost of protecting our liberty and wanting justice for all.

Spilling starts:  Why justice?  Do we really expect our country to provide justice for all?  Life isn’t fair you know.  As a mother of three young girls, I believe this is the fourth phrase my girls learned, behind “Da da” (they’re Daddy’s girls), “ba rees” (batteries their  toys always needed), “mine” (especially when they didn’t want to share their toys) and “that’s not fair” (when their toys were stolen).  I didn’t need to teach them the idea that they should demand justice.  They expected fairness when they were wronged. 

As a Mom, I try to be fair with my girls. Because I’m not perfect, I could never be truly fair.  Likewise, even though our country tries to show fairness to all people, only a perfect country could show perfect justice.  (Don’t think that will ever happen).   So, is there truly justice?  We can only attempt to show  justice if we believe in a just God.  Here’s why.  Think about if God is not just.  If He was not just, we could not live by these three truths.

1)   If God is not just, there is no line of right and wrong.  There must be an absolute rightness, perfection, to have a standard of right and wrong.  God, in His perfection sets the standard.  Without God, we cannot define right and wrong.   If there is no line for my girls, when they disagree about  toys, I would  say, “Sorry, no one is right or wrong.”  I could only let the girls duke it out for themselves.   Think about the chaos in this world if we lived without standards of right or wrong.   

2)   If God is not just, there is no need for  laws.  We wouldn’t need laws if there is no right and wrong.   At my house, if right and wrong do not exist, there are no rules.  No one gets in trouble when they steal a toy out of someone else’s hands.    Imagine this world without laws.  No one would need punishment because they would not break any laws.  Again, only chaos. 

3)   If God is not just, God is not love.  God demonstrates his love by being fair.  He has the same rules for everyone.  He also shows justice by punishing sin.  We all have the same penalty for sin, death.  In God’s justice, He demonstrates His love by giving Jesus as the penalty for our sin.   Likewise, even though I don’t like to have to punish my girls when they do wrong,  I punish them  because I love them.  If I looked the other way when one wronged another, I wouldn’t be fair to the one wronged and not show love to the one who needed correction.    In God’s perfect justice, He treats everyone fairly, and proves His love.

 We cannot expect our country to provide us with justice, yet deny God is just.  If so, we would act as children wanting convenient, selfish justice, demanding no one to steal our toys, yet justified in taking others.  We can, however, trust God in his unchanging character.  He demands justice and will have the final say.  It may not be on earth, but everyone will pay for their actions against others and God.   Maybe that’s why people do not want to believe God is just.  May we always pledge, “with liberty and justice for all.”  Thank you, Veterans, for making this possible.

Praying it Safe

Oklahoma’s recent earthquakes have gotten my family’s attention.  The 5.6 earthquake caused my middle daughter to awaken and jet across the house in fear.  The earthquakes not only shook our house, but shook up my prayer life.  (After reading this, I believe you will understand why I chose the title “Simply Spilling.”)  I got to thinking (scary, I know).  What do I say to my eight-year-old daughter that will make her feel safe enough to stay in her own bed after feeling an earthquake?  Do I tell her, “Don’t worry, God will protect you.”?  But then, what happens to her beliefs if God chooses to allow another major earthquake, possibly injuring her?  Do I tell her, “We can pray for safety, but God may not choose to protect us?”  Is that praying with faith and confidence?  Do you see my dilemma?  I told her, “God has the power to protect us.  Jesus knows what we need.  We need to trust God.”  For the first time in a scary situation, I didn’t ask God for His protection.  Since then, I’ve been asking, “Was that wrong?”

I’m so glad my friendship with God is so personal.  My prayer life is an ongoing conversation with the Creator and Savior of this universe.  Wow! I’m still learning about prayer, the amazing privilege as a follower of Jesus.  I want to grow in this aspect of my journey, so I continue to ask God to teach me to pray.

Here’s three questions/answers to ponder regarding prayer.

1.         Did Jesus teach his disciples to pray for protection?    Matthew 6:9-13

“Pray, then, in this way:
 ‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
^10’Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ ‘Give us this day our daily bread.
¹² ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³ ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]

Jesus taught them to pray for protection from temptation and  evil.

2.        Did Jesus pray for protection for his followers?

 John 17:15-19 I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. ¹⁶  They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. ¹⁷ Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. ¹⁸ As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

Jesus prayed to keep them from the evil one.

3.        Did Jesus pray for His own protection?

As Jesus entered the Garden of Gethsemane just hours before he would die on the cross, it says in Luke 22: 41b-42,  He knelt down and began to pray, ⁴² saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.”  In this passage “this cup” represents the wrath of God.  Jesus knew he would experience God’s rejection because of the sins of people of all time that would be placed on Him on the cross.  He would also experience an unbelievable amount of  physical torture.  No wonder he wondered if there was any other way. So yes, Jesus asked for protection, but with “if you are willing”.  His prayer didn’t stop there.

Jesus, because He was God, could have prayed for God’s protection from the cross, but Jesus knew there was no other way to provide forgiveness.  His prayer “Father, if You are willing,” shows Jesus believed God the Father had the power to rescue Him.  Jesus’ final and most significant prayer that led him to the cross declared, “yet not My will, but Yours be done.”

My conclusion:  Still not sure, but I feel I pray “safe” prayers.  Jesus keep me safe.  Keep my family safe.  Keep my house safe.  Keep our finances safe.  I want to learn to pray as Jesus did, “keep me safe from the evil one” and “Not my will, but yours be done.”

*I also realize using only three scripture passages is just skimming the surface of the major subject of prayer.  You may have some comments that will help on this subject.  Please use scripture reference, if possible. 

My Lifegiving Rescue in Light of a Breathtaking Rescue

Remember these pics from 10/13/10 in

Santiago Chile?

          Everyone loves rescue stories: in books, movies, and life.  It’s been a year since over one billion viewers held their breaths as 33 men in Chile, trapped for 69 days, finally surfaced from a collapsed mine a half -mile underground.  The last of the 33men found freedom about 22 hours after the first.  What a miraculous story!  From surviving 17 days without contact with the outside world, surviving on food enough for two days, to surviving the actual assent to freedom, each step of survival amazed the world.

I have a rescue story, too.  Even though my rescue has many similarities to the miners’ rescue, we see one major difference.  Like the miners, I needed a Savior.  However, my need was not for my physical life, but for my spiritual life.

I’m sure the miners thought they could die during several occasions over the sixty-nine day event.  Similarly, I remember as a second grader coming face to face with death as a reality, and even feared death, when I lost three grandparents in six months.  I heard about heaven, vaguely understanding the concept, but knew I wanted to go there when I died.  My parents explained that my grandparents were in heaven after they died.  We last saw each of my grandparents’ bodies at the funeral home.  My youngest sister, four-years-old at the time, thought Baggerly’s Funeral home in Edmond, Oklahoma was actually heaven.  These events made me question my own spiritual condition.  By understanding the other similarities and differences of our rescues, you too, can experience a life giving rescue.

First, understand another difference.  Unlike the miners who knew immediately after the collapse of the mine that they needed help, I originally didn’t understand I needed help.  As a young girl, I thought… I’m a pretty good girl.  I go to church every Sunday with my family; I’ve never murdered anyone, even though I’ve been mad enough at my older brother to kill him J.   I try to be nice to my two younger sisters and older brother, and I usually only hit them if they hit me first.  Well, ok.  I start some of the commotion myself J.   I do the best I can in school.  I think God will love me because I’m not as bad as other people.  But through God’s Word, I learned that my bad actions, bad thoughts, bad attitudes were called sin.  And even one sin was enough to separate me from the perfect God of the Bible.   Because God is perfect, he does not allow sin into heaven.  I may not have been trapped under a mile of rock, but sin trapped me, separating me from God.  I realized I needed to be rescued. I needed a Savior.

Now understand the first similarity:  Just think what would have happened if the miners thought they could escape on their own.  They all would have perished.  I also used to think I could free myself from my sin.  Maybe if I just do enough good things, go to church regularly, give money to the poor, then I could save myself from my sin.  Ephesians 2:8-9  says…For by grace you have been saved through faith and not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works so that no one should boast.  Just as impossible as it would have been for the miners to escape with a small hammer, it is impossible to work our way into heaven.

The second similarity:  The miners didn’t “deserve” to be rescued.  The miners hadn’t “earned the right” to escape.  They merely experienced the new joy because people that loved them wanted them back.  Therefore, people whom they never even met worked to make it happen.  Likewise, I didn’t have to “do” anything to deserve God’s grace.  Only because of God’s love for me did he display His grace to me by rescuing me in spite of my sin.  The Bible says God came and rescued us “while we were sinners”.  We don’t have to make our lives look better and then God will accept us.  He accepts us even when sin traps us.

The third similarity:  Like the miners only had one way out, God gave us one way out.  God sent Jesus.  John 3:16  For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.  John 14:6  "I am the way, the truth, and the life!" Jesus answered. "Without me, no one can go to the Father.  Why would God send His only Son to die for us if there was another way?

The fourth similarity:  For the miners, it was not enough for them to KNOW ABOUT the escape route, but they had to demonstrate their faith by getting into the escape capsule.  How absurd would it have been if the miners decided to stay where they were and not be rescued?  But they did have a choice to escape, or not.  The miners had to place their faith in the rescue effort.  Once they stepped out in faith into the escape contraption, they did not have to put out any effort of their own to ascend to the surface.  They totally relied on their rescuers.

I remember realizing that my grandparents could only go to heaven because of their faith in Jesus.  They each had to decide for themselves if they would believe.  It didn’t matter if they were born to believing parents.  It didn’t matter if they had perfect church attendance.  It didn’t matter if they knew the great stories of the Bible or the nice songs about Jesus.  If they didn’t believe it for themselves, they would have died in their sin, separated from God.

Similarly, one night we had a speaker at our church (a good ole’ revival service).  God helped me understand that I needed to place my faith in Jesus, God’s only rescue effort. The Bible tells us, the penalty for my sin is death, separated from God forever.  But Jesus died in my place. God accepted Jesus’ blood on the cross as a payment for my sin. I told God I trusted Him and wanted to have Jesus save me by forgiving my sin.  Once I trusted in Christ, I turned from my self- effort of escape to rely only on Christ for my escape.  I couldn’t “do” anything else to help my escape.  It was by faith alone that I God rescued me. 

My life giving rescue changed my life that night.  God gave me freedom from trying to be perfect to deserve His love, which I could never do, to resting in what Christ did for me.  God accepted me the way I was, warts and all.  I no longer lived separated from God, but began a relationship/friendship with God.  I no longer fear death because I know that if I were to die, God has made a way for me to go to heaven.  God not only promises heaven after death, but promises to make life on earth worth living.  God gave me purpose in life, to honor Him all my days. 

The final similarity:  Even though the miners went from darkness to light immediately, they still had to adjust their lives to the change.  They wore sun glasses to protect their eyes.  My life also changed from spiritual darkness to light when I asked Jesus to forgive me, but I am continuing to adjust to my new life in Christ.  God isn’t done with me yet.  He’s fixing me, warts and all, to be more like Christ. 

I praise God everyday for my rescue story.  I would be nothing without Christ.  Life would be futile trapped in sin’s dark mine.   You, too, can have a Life giving rescue story.  Have you realized you are trapped?  Are you trying to work your own way out?  Have you accepted God’s only rescue plan, Jesus?  If you have questions, you can call 1-888-JESUS-2000.

Final challenge for those already rescued:  What if only one man in the mine knew the rescue plan, but refused to tell the others about it?  Suppose he left in the middle of the night, leaving the others to perish.  If you know the plan, when was the last time you shared the plan with someone else?

My rescue was only the beginning of my journey.