The Scriptures clearly indicate the relation
between God and Christ, and they bring to view as clearly the
personality and individuality of each.
"God, who at sundry times and in divers
manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath
appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds;
who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image
of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power,
when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right
hand of the Majesty on high; being made so much better than the
angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name
than they. For unto which of the angels said He at any time,
Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee? And again, I
will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son?" Hebrews
1:1-5.
God is the Father of Christ; Christ is
the Son of God. To Christ has been given an exalted position.
He has been made equal with the Father. All the counsels of God
are opened to His Son.
Jesus said to the Jews: "My Father
worketh hitherto, and I work. . . . The Son can do nothing of
Himself, but what He seeth the
Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth
the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth
Him all things that Himself doeth." John 5:17-20.
Here again is brought to view the personality
of the Father and the Son, showing the unity that exists between
them.
This unity is expressed also in the seventeenth
chapter of John, in the prayer of Christ for His disciples:
"Neither pray I for these alone, but
for them also which shall believe on Me through their word; that
they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee,
that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that
Thou hast sent Me. And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have
given them; that they may be one, even as We are one: I in them,
and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that
the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them,
as Thou hast loved Me." John 17:20-23.
Wonderful statement! The unity that exists
between Christ and His disciples does not destroy the personality
of either. They are one in purpose, in mind, in character, but
not in person. It is thus that God and Christ are one.
The relation between the Father and the
Son, and the personality of both, are made plain in this scripture
also:
"Thus speaketh
Jehovah of hosts, saying,
Behold, the
man whose name is the Branch:
And He shall
grow up out of His place;
And He shall
build the temple of Jehovah; . . .
And He shall
bear the glory,
And shall sit
and rule upon His throne;
And He shall
be a priest upon His throne;
And the counsel
of peace shall be between Them both."
Zechariah 6:12, 13, A. R. V.