1st John 5: 10 He that believes on the Son of God has the witness in himself: he that believes not God hath made him a liar; because he believes not the record that God gave of his Son.
11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
The word eternal generally refers to something, or someone that lasts forever, which has no beginning, and no end, and which exists entirely outside of the constraints of time. And when used in the context of Jesus’ life, it refers to His existence before time, and His eternal nature.
The prince of darkness hates this fact, and thus he seeks to bring Christ down to the level of a created being, thus stripping of Jesus of His right to worship. The right to receive worship and honor rests upon the fact that all things and all persons were created by Jesus Christ.
This is the reason given in the 4th commandment, because, of the mere fact that He created all things, sets Jesus on an entirely different level than created beings. All of satan’s efforts to try to overthrow the government of God are squarely centered around the Creatorship of Christ, for if there is no Creator, there can be no Redeemer.
That’s why the elephant in the room is worship and not merely a professed love to God. Revelation 13 and 14 deal with the issue of worship, and the fact that Christ created all things, is cited as the main reason why He is to be worshipped. Let’s read:
Revelation 4: 11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for You have created all things, and for thy pleasure they are, and were created.
The devil broods and whines over this unchangeable fact, and he often imbues human agencies with his own sophistries, to try to chip away at this specific truth, that in Christ, there is, and has always been eternal life, also known as immortality, and as such He was never ever created.
The reason why he is so hell bent on trying to make Christ into a created being is that if that were true, then Jesus could not promise the Christian eternal life, because he couldn’t give that which He did not have inherently.
The devil began his diabolical work up in heaven as he questioned why Jesus was entitled to worship. The thought boiled, and rankled in his mind until it found utterances in words that questioned the right of Christ to receive worship, while he was to receive none.
Let’s take a look at sacred history, for there must be a clear understanding of what caused the war up in heaven, for whatsoever caused war in heaven will also cause war on earth, and thus, when any mortal man or angel begins to take worship to themselves, which belongs to God alone, you will have wars and rumors of wars. Let’s read:
Isaiah 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most-High.
[Patriarchs & Prophets pp 36] To dispute the supremacy of the Son of God, thus impeaching the wisdom and love of the Creator, had become the purpose of this prince of angels. To this object he was about to bend the energies of that master mind, which, next to Christ’s, was first among the hosts of God.
The King of the universe summoned the heavenly hosts before Him, that in their presence He might set forth the true position of His Son and show the relation He sustained to all created beings.
The Son of God had wrought the Father’s will in the creation of all the hosts of heaven; and to Him, as well as to God, their homage and allegiance were due.
Thus, there are fundamental truths that must first be confirmed from the Bible, so that our faith would rest securely upon inspiration alone, and not on any private interpretation.
There never was a time in the distant past when the Jesus of the Bible was not in existence. Jesus wasn’t created, He did not have a beginning point, and He did not get eternal life from the Father. All of these perspectives point to one fundamental error, that is, that Jesus is a created being, which He is not.
These theories contradict the plainest passages of Scripture, and when observed closely, they seek to upend the Christian’s hope of immortal life, the very promise upon which our faith is founded.
That is why, in our first verses, John sets the record straight, by declaring that eternal life is to be found in Christ, not because it was given to Him at some point in time by The Father, but because it has been His and will always be His, as a member of The God- head. Let’s read:
Colossians 1: 16 For by him 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.
17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
When it mentions principalities and powers, it also includes the prince of darkness, and all the angels that fell with him. In the book of Ephesians, chapter 6, they are referred to as being principalities, and powers, thus, they are also included in the profound statement which says: “All things were created by Him.” Let’s read:
Ephesians 6: 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
This is very bad news for the prince of darkness, for if you have a beginning, you will also have an end, a fact which devils are forced to acknowledge, even when they do so under duress. This can be observed whenever they mention their final demise in the not too-distant future. Let’s read:
Matthew 8: 28 And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.
29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, what have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?
Revelation 12: 12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you having great wrath because he knows that he hath but a short time.
The apostle Paul goes on to issue a warning to the Christian, to be on the alert for agents who might try to bring in private interpretations pertaining to the eternal nature of Christ. This is one of the points on which there will be a departure from the faith, so watch out! Let’s read:
Colossians 2: 8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
9 For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.
The Bible teaches us to believe His prophets, which means that when God speaks through His anointed servant we are to listen. Thus, the servant of Christ sheds great light on the subject matter in question, so as to leave no room for doubt and sophistries.
It is written first and foremost in the Scriptures, and then it is confirmed by The Holy Spirit through God’s ordained prophet, so that in the mouth of two or 3 witnesses, every word may be established. Let’s read:
[Maranatha pp 302] “In him [Christ] was life; and the life was the light of men.” It is not physical life that is here specified, but immortality, the life which is exclusively the property of God. The Word, who was with God, and who was God, had this life.
Physical life is something which each individual receives. It is not eternal or immortal; for God, the Life-giver, takes it again. But the life of Christ was unborrowed. No one can take this life from Him. “I lay it down of myself,” He said. In Him was life, original, unborrowed, underived. This life is not inherent in man. He can possess it only through Christ.
Even Claude and Gemini understand what the word underived means, for simply put it means that Jesus did not get His eternal life from anywhere, nor from anyone. It was original and not given to Him by God the Father. Let’s hear the A.I. rendition:
Underived means not formed, copied, or developed from something else. It describes something that is original, primary, fundamental, or self-sustaining rather than borrowed or secondary.
In addition to these undisputable evidences, Jesus declared that Moses wrote of Him, meaning, that the God you read of in the Old Testament is Jesus Christ, primarily. When it says in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, and when it says he spoke and it was done, that is none other than Jesus Christ being referred to.
That’s the reason why He is called the word of God, meaning that any reference to God saying anything is a direct reference to Jesus. In fact, the offices of the God-head operate this way; anything that has to be spoken will be coming through Christ. Period.
[The Desire of Ages pp 19] By coming to dwell with us, Jesus was to reveal God both to men and to angels. He was the Word of God,—God’s thought made audible.
John 5: 46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me.
47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?
So, the logical thing to do at this point is to see what Moses has to say of Christ because Jesus is telling us that Moses wrote of Him. As we observe the sacred utterances let us try not interfere with or distort the truth, for it is plain and simple so that a child could understand. Let’s read:
Deuteronomy 3: 26 There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rides upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky.
27 The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them.
Exodus 3: 13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, what is his name? what shall I say unto them?
14 And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you.
15 And God said moreover unto Moses, thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.
John 8: 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.
57 Then said the Jews unto him, thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?
58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.
This is the reason why the Jews back then tried to stone Jesus, because He declared Himself to be on par with the Father. At that time, He offered eternal life to all who would believe, and that riled them up, because, as far as those Jews understood, or rather misunderstood, eternal life is only to be found in God the Father. They were, and still are dead wrong. Let’s read:
John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
30 I and my Father are one.
31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
32 Jesus answered them, many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
33 The Jews answered him, saying, for a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.
When some believers declare themselves to be New Testament Christians only, they may not know that it is primarily Christ that is being referenced in the Old Testament as God. When you sing the song Jehovah Jireh, that is Christ you are singing about. Jehovah-Nissi is also a reference to Christ.
It was Christ who came looking for our first parents in the cool of the day, after they had sinned. It was Christ who made them the promise “It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” The God in the burning bush, who appeared unto Moses, was Christ.
When you read in the Bible of The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, those are references to Christ. To put it plainly, God the Father, basically has nothing to say to the human race, except what He says in, and through Christ.
It was Christ who spoke the law on mount Sinai, and it was Jesus who throughout the Old Testament, and into the New Testament is represented primarily as the God of the Bible. Thus, to reject the Old in favor of the New is to literally reject both Old and New, because Christ is God from eternity to eternity.
Jesus did not become a God at some distant point in the past neither was Christ elevated or graduated to be God. He has no beginning and no end, therefore, there is absolutely nothing in the Bible, nor in the Spirit of Prophecy to even vaguely suggest that Christ had a beginning point.
Hence the reason why the Psalmist David refers to His eternal nature and existence, in many verses so as to confirm what the entire Bible says of Christ. Let’s read:
Psalms 90:2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
Psalms 41:13 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen.
Psalms 93: 2 Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting.
And Christ is the One who has spoken through all of the prophets. All our prayer requests to the Father, have to pass through Christ first, because The Father will not listen to any human being, no matter what their rank is or how urgent their plea, if they do not come through Christ. Let’s read:
John 14: 5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?
Isaiah 9: 6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
1st Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
[F. E. pp 237] After the transgression of Adam, the Lord spoke no longer directly with man; the human race was given into the hands of Christ, and all communication came through Him to the world. It was Christ who spoke the law on Mount Sinai.
Exodus 19: 16 And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.
17 And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the nether part of the mount.
18 And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
19 And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice.
Exodus 20: And God spoke all these words, saying, 2 am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
[Patriarchs & Prophets pp 305] “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.” Jehovah, the eternal, self-existent, uncreated One, Himself the Source and Sustainer of all, is alone entitled to supreme reverence and worship.
Before His death, Jesus declared that no man could take His life, but that He will lay it down voluntarily. Then He added this profound truth about Himself, that he had the power to lay down His life, and the power to raise Himself up again. Now brethren this is some serious kind of power.
As human beings, we run on automatic basically, for we do not have to think about breathing, inhaling or exhaling. But the power to lay down His life means that Jesus could make the conscious decision to die at a specific time, and boom, He is dead. In fact, if you were to read the script carefully, Jesus died at the exact millisecond, as foretold in the Scriptures.
Then again, it gives us pause for concern when He says that He has the power to raise Himself up from the grave. It is only the Eternal God who could make a statement like that, and that’s why the dead Jesus scared the daylights out of satan, much more than the living Christ. Let’s read:
John 10: 17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have
power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
19 There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings.
20 And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?
[The Desire of Ages pp 785] When the voice of the mighty angel was heard at Christ’s tomb, saying, Thy Father calls Thee, the Savior came forth from the grave by the life that was in Himself. Now was proved the truth of His words, “I lay down My life, that I might take it again.... I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.”
[Selected messages Bk 1 pp 301] He who had said, “I lay down my life, that I might take it again” (John 10:17), came forth from the grave to life that was in Himself. Humanity died; divinity did not die. In His divinity, Christ possessed the power to break the bonds of death. He declares that He has life in Himself to quicken whom He will.
This is the reason why the prince of darkness goes to work in subterfuge ways to try and discredit the eternal nature of Christ, for he knows that when this truth dawns on our minds, it would give us the lively hope of the resurrection.
This leads us to the study for today, because we are to address both the meaning and the origination of the Greek word “Monogenes” which is translated in the Bible as being “Only Begotten”. Persons indeed have stumbled on the term, because, when applied to Christ, it gives the sense that He was begotten of God the Father and thus, must have had a beginning point.
Thus, if Christ had a beginning point, it means that He was created, and that will directly contradict the truth in the Bible which says “By Him were all things created”. Furthermore, the logical follow up to that line of reasoning is that He does not inherently have eternal life, and if so, He is promising us something which is not originally His.
So, let’s address that specific issue to see where the problem lies, because you will encounter this over and over again in your study and research, and if it is not made clear, it could affect your views of the blessed hope, given to us through Christ. Let’ read:
John 1: 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
18 No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
That translation “Only Begotten” originated with the early church fathers and it entered into the early English translations of the Bible because of the heavy influence of the Latin Vulgate, the Roman Catholic Bible. The perspective that Christ was born from The Father came from Origen, one of the early scholars of Christianity.
He held a number of unscriptural views, such as God the Father alone is God in the highest sense and the Christ of the Bible is God, but only in the secondary sense, since according to Origen’s interpretation, He was a derivative of God, and not absolutely God.
So here it is, directly from the horses’ mouth of the Vulgate, or Roman Catholic Bible:
"Et Verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis: et vidimus gloriam ejus, gloriam quasi unigeniti a Patre, plenum gratiae et veritatis."
English Translation "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we saw his glory, the glory as it were of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
The concept of Jesus Christ being begotten at some distant point in eternity, is not only foreign to the Bible, but it is just another attempt by the prince of darkness to interfere with the divinity of Christ.
This, and other heresies, the apostle Paul warned early Christians of, including Docetism, Gnosticism, Arianism, Nestorianism, Monophysitism, and a lot of other isms and schisms, all designed by satan to demote Christ in one form or another. Let’s read:
Acts 20: 29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.
Let us lay aside all of the isms and schisms and let God the Father speak for Himself as He addresses that issue of whether Christ is fully, and originally God. The father does not address Jesus as one who is a secondary God, but as God in the highest sense. Let’s read:
Hebrews 1: 7 And of the angels he saith, Who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.
8 But unto the Son he saith, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom.
If The Father addresses Christ as being fully God, we can end the Bible study right now, case closed. Let’s read again:
[R.H April 5.1906, par 6] The world was made by him, “and without him was not anything made that was made.” If Christ made all things, he existed before all things. The words spoken in regard to this are so decisive that no one need be left in doubt.
Christ was God essentially, and in the highest sense. He was with God from all eternity, God over all, blessed forevermore. The Lord Jesus Christ, the divine Son of God, existed from eternity, a distinct person, yet one with the Father.
The eternal nature of Jesus Christ is so powerful and potent that He will pull from the ashes, even those who were burnt at the stake during the dark ages.
Those Christians who were eaten by wild beasts, and those who were beheaded for Christ’s sake will be brought back to life by the raw eternal power of Christ at His second coming.
Allow no one, whether demon or angel, shake your faith in the eternal existence of Christ, because the promise of immortality hinges directly upon the fact that He is eternal, and God, in the highest sense.
We therefore end with a passage of Scripture that will buoy the Christian’s hope, for it is a promise of raw Divine power that will be manifested through Christ, to all believers from their graves. Let’s read:
1st Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so, shall we ever be with the Lord.
God Bless!