Course Content
God the Father is eternal, having existed before creation. He is almighty and all-powerful, the divine and holy Being whom we should worship. All true, and all spelled out repeatedly in His Word, the Bible. The word of God also tells us about Jesus Christ. Who and what was Jesus Christ?
There are many alternate theories about the origin and divinity of Jesus Christ. As we begin this Know Your Sword series with the Gospels, which cover the life and teachings of Jesus, we need to be sure we understand exactly who and what He was. And this requires grasping who and what Jesus Christ was before His human birth.
Most people assume the biblical story begins in Genesis 1:1, which tells us, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” But the biblical story actually begins before that with the opening verses of John’s Gospel:
“In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him” (John 1:1-3, New Living Translation).
Here we see several remarkable truths revealed:
- “In the beginning” there were two divine Beings—one here called “the Word” and the other referred to as “God.”
- Along with the Being referred to as God, “the Word” was also God.
- Both Beings existed in the beginning—neither was created; neither created the other. Since “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1), both of these Beings existed before the creation of the physical universe.
- The Being referred to as God “created everything through” the One called “the Word.”
- Then the Word became a human being.
In John 1:14 we see another remarkable truth: “The Word became human and [dwelt] among us. . . and we have seen His glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son” (NLT). The Word who existed with God in the beginning as God, and who “became human and dwelt among us,” and who was seen by John and the other disciples, was the One we know as Jesus Christ.
In John 1:10 we’re also told that “He came into the very world He created, but the world didn’t recognize him” (NLT). Both here and in John 1:3, we’re told that He was the One who created the world and the entire universe!
Hebrews 1:2 confirms this when it states that “through the Son He [God the Father] created the universe” (NLT).
The apostle Paul gives us additional details about this amazing truth in Colossians 1:15-16:
“Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through Him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through Him and for Him” (NLT).
Paul adds here that the Being who came in the flesh as Jesus Christ created not just the physical universe we know and see around us, but also “the heavenly realms”—a spiritual universe of angelic spirit beings “in the unseen world” that exists beyond the natural perception of human beings.
The Divine State of God the Father and Jesus Christ
As physical human beings we are limited to our physical senses, such as sight, sound, smell, taste and touch and it’s hard for us to imagine a spiritual existence beyond what we can perceive through them. How can we grasp a God who describes Himself in Isaiah 57 as “the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity?” God the Father and Jesus Christ His Son live beyond the physical universe of time and space, with no beginning and no end!
Daniel 7:9-10 records a similar description of God the Father that Daniel saw in vision:
“His clothing was as white as snow, His hair like purest wool. He sat on a fiery throne with wheels of blazing fire, and a river of fire was pouring out, flowing from his presence. Millions of angels ministered to Him; many millions stood to attend Him” (NLT).
The same apostle John who told us about Jesus Christ’s preexistence with God the Father also saw a vision of Jesus in His resurrected, glorified state. He describes this glorified appearance as best he can put it into words in Revelation 1:14-18:
“His head and His hair were . . . as white as snow. And His eyes were like flames of fire. His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and His voice thundered like mighty ocean waves . . . And His face was like the sun in all its brilliance. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. But He laid his right hand on me and said, ‘Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever!’” (NLT).
This is what the One who became Jesus Christ existed like before coming in human flesh. This was His glorified divine existence. This is the existence He asked to be restored to when He prayed on the last night of His human life,“And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was” (John 17:5).
And He was restored to His majesty, power and glory. Hebrews 12:2 tells us:
“Because of the joy awaiting Him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now He is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne” (NLT).
What Jesus Christ gave up for us
Now we are gaining much more insight into the magnitude of what Jesus Christ sacrificed for every human being. Yes, He sacrificed greatly when He gave His life as an offering for our sins in our place. But He also sacrificed greatly when He gave up His glorified immortal spirit existence as God to become a lowly flesh-and-blood human being so He could die for our sins. As God in divine power and glory, He could never die because He was spirit and immortal. But by becoming flesh, He could die for us. And this is exactly what He did.
Paul holds out the humility and self-sacrifice in what Christ did as an example to all of us in Philippians 2:5-8:
“You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, He gave up His divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When He appeared in human form, He humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross” (NLT).
What we are told here is profound. When this Being who had been God with God the Father came to earth—the same earth He had created—how did He come? He didn’t come in glory in a blaze of light so all people would recognize Him as divine and worship Him. He didn’t appear as a celebrated philosopher of worldly renown such as Plato and Aristotle. He didn’t appear as a great general like Caesar at the head of armies marching to take over Rome and its mighty empire.
He could have done any of these, but He chose to do none of them. Instead, He laid aside His glory, splendor, majesty and power and came to earth as a mortal human being subject to death and dying. And He did that to carry out the plan that had been worked out between Him and the Father from before the world and the universe were created (see 1 Peter 1:20; Revelation 13:8).
No one forced Him to make this decision. In John 10:15-18 He repeatedly emphasized that this was His own voluntary choice:
“I sacrifice my life for the sheep . . . I sacrifice my life so I may take it back again. No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily” (NLT).
Since we are rapidly approaching the time of the biblical Passover, which reminds us of Jesus Christ’s giving His life for us, in Know Your Sword we will explore the biblical Passover and Christ’s sacrifice in depth as they are major themes of the Bible. Stay tuned!
© Scott Ashley, 2025. All rights reserved.
Scott Ashley was managing editor of Beyond Today magazine, United Church of God booklets and its printed Bible Study Course until his retirement in 2023. He also pastored three congregations in Colorado for 10 years from 2011-2021. He and his wife, Connie, live near Denver, Colorado.
Mr. Ashley attended Ambassador College in Big Sandy, Texas, graduating in 1976 with a theology major and minors in journalism and speech. It was there that he first became interested in publishing, an industry in which he worked for 50 years.
During his career, he has worked for several publishing companies in various capacities. He was employed by the United Church of God from 1995-2023, overseeing the planning, writing, editing, reviewing and production of Beyond Today magazine, several dozen booklets/study guides and a Bible study course covering major biblical teachings. His special interests are the Bible, archaeology, biblical culture, history and the Middle East.
