The True Revelation of Jesus Christ: 2Nd Edition, Volume 1

Copyright © 2020 Desmond Teddy.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Scripture taken from the New King James Version® Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the Amplified Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used with permission.

Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV® Copyright © 1973 1978 1984 2011 by Biblica, Inc. TM. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

[Scripture quotations are] from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-1124-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-1125-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-1123-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020921698

WestBow Press rev. date: 11/12/2020

DEDICATED TO

JESUS CHRIST, THE SAVIOR OF THE

WORLD,

THE KING OF KINGS

AND LORD OF LORDS

Acknowledgement

I wish to express my sincere gratitude to the following friends and colleagues who helped me greatly to write the manuscript and did the proofreading and editing. Many thanks to young Samuel Nsowah who despite his tight schedule in his pharmacy education took most of his time to read and made good comments and corrections. I also thank Dr. E. Paintsil who has always been supportive and encouraging in this work. My sincere thanks to Lord Owusu Aboagye who despite his numerous assignments in his education in theology, got time to read through and gave advice. My heartfelt thanks to my wife Isi whose encouragement and motivation helped me through. God bless Sam, Dav and Alicia for spreading the good news about this book to their friends and associates. I also thank my dear friend and teacher Pastor Dr. Ferkah Ahenkorah who, apart from being a spiritual friend in this journey, took time to rectify the mistakes in the manuscript and not the least, Elder James B. who despite other challenges took the time to read the manuscript. On the rollcall of helpers are my own dear friend and brother Elder Emeka and my great in-law Elder Daniel, both for their constructive criticism that greatly improved the quality of this book. Lastly and most importantly, all the thanks go to the gracious Holy Spirit whose inspiration got me through this work to the end. I am grateful to every other person who have contributed to make this second edition come true but for one reason or the other are not mentioned. God bless you all.

Contents

1. Introduction

2. Conflicting Approaches to the Issue of Religion

3. God’s Original Plan, Purpose and Foundation

4. The Tri-Unity: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

5. The Difference between God the Father and Jesus Christ

6. The Holy Spirit

7. The Historical Jesus, The Christ and the Word of God

8. Jesus, the First Born of all Creations

9. Jesus the Son of Man

10. Jesus Christ, the Son of God

11. Unveiling Jesus Christ, the God of the Universe

11.1 Various attempts to refute Jesus as God

11.2 A former Muslims testifies that Jesus is God

11.3 Views of a Muslim Anti-Christ about Jesus` claim to being God

11.4 The Quran testifies that Jesus is God

11.5 The Bible Testifies that Jesus is God

11.6 Debate between Muslim and Christian scholars about the Deity of Christ

11.7 Jesus received worship as God

11.8 The Everlasting kingship of Jesus proves His Deity

11.9 Textual considerations of the Deity of Christ in the Bible

11.10 Other considerations on the Deity of Christ

Afterword

• Making a Covenant of Salvation with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior

References

1. Introduction

W riting a book about the Godhead and the person of Jesus Christ who makes the claim of God and man is not an easy task. The greatest investment in human history and in religion is to prove the credibility of a person who claims to bear the burden of the sins of the people upon Himself, yet He is rejected by men, even though it is written of Him that He is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. To write a book about such a man, whose words have been used, misused and abused in the name of countless causes cannot be taken for granted. This is because we live in a world in which only prejudice and anti-Christian bigotry is tolerated. A world where hundreds of millions of people profess to believe and idolize Jesus, yet what He taught is seldom understood and followed. Almost no one grasped who He was, or what He did and why He was sent to the world. Not His followers, not His family, not the masses who listened to Him, not His friends and not even His enemies understood Him. Thus, to make a book of this nature available to the world entails challenges because of the diversity of opinion we find among people.

This is the second edition of my book The True Revelation of Jesus Christ. This is a further improvement of the first one, (The True Revelation of Jesus Christ: To the Muslim, the Atheist, the Jew and a Light to the Christian World), which I, as author, I believe will better serve the interest of readers. Besides, there are changes that are of considerable benefit in this edition that will enable the reader to enjoy the book. This work is therefore, divided into volumes 1 and 2. These new editions of two (2) volumes embrace the entire spectrum of human existence and prepare you with questions and substantive arguments to respond to your call as a citizen of the world and the Kingdom of God.

The True Revelation of Jesus Christ is hereby intended to serve as a source of inspiration to persons eager to know who Jesus Christ really is. Spiritual truths and matters concerning our world, coupled with the many religious paths each person threads, are of great interest to people with itching ears. This, among others, is what motivated me to write a book of this nature. Whilst the truth about Jesus remains a mystery to many, The True Revelation of Jesus Christ makes it easier to relate to Jesus in the most spiritual way. It sheds light on the person of Jesus Christ as the second person of the Godhead, the Son of God, and as the co-creator of the universe. Apart from such revelation, there are other sensitive issues regarding sin, redemption, salvation, and atonement that a person needs to know and understand. The reader is, therefore, made to understand that if members of other faiths lose their dogmatic approaches to religion, they would naturally embrace Jesus as Lord and Savior.

There is an exhaustive study of the literal and figurative implications of different Bible passages in this work. For example, when God makes the promise to Satan that He will put enmity between you and the woman and between her seed and your seed, the book interprets this figuratively, pointing to the fact that out of this seed shall come one who shall destroy the evil that Satan brought. The only way to do this is on the cross, where there can be hope for an end to the misery, frustration, and pain that Satan brought to humans. It was on the cross that salvation was attained. The work of salvation, as stated in this book, is of greater importance, and the reader is encouraged to not take that for granted. It is best to take a critical view of the content and ask questions that demand careful consideration. How could a holy and righteous judge of all the earth give salvation to sinful people because of their good deeds if the Bible says all our righteous deeds are as filthy rags before God (Isaiah 64: 6 NKJV)? Then it is clear that whilst Islam advocates for works as means of securing salvation, Christianity on the other hand through Jesus, says by grace the work is already done.

Conflicting approaches to issues of life are captured in the second chapter. The chapter investigates and delivers the true picture of the diverse religions and their surrounding contexts. It defends the gains of the Christian religion and its unique multicultural texture as a world religion. The book makes known vivid loopholes in the Quran and gives alternative suggestions as to what Muslims can do to critically examine these loopholes and address them with impartiality.

Further, the book reveals God`s original plan, purpose, and foundation laid in a blueprint before the universe was conceived and was thereafter revealed. First, the master plan of God and His position as the supreme being of the universe. That it was the hierarchies of the Godhead with the attributes of will, wisdom, and activity, that designed, conceived, and worked the cosmic substance to produce our world. Among God`s creation were perfect and sinless angels; one angel rebelled and brought about radical transformation in God`s creation. The objective of this was to make our first parents sin – the result of which will bring endless glory to God. The overview of God`s plan was, however, to make humans custodian over creation and that through humans, God could manifest in the flesh in order to salvage human from the chains of sin.

The chapter on the Godhead of the Bible, known as the Trinity, explains who God the Father is and who the Son and the Holy Spirit are. Examples and figures are hereby demonstrated to shed light on why and how the Godhead (Trinity) had its scriptural foundation in the Christian experience. The difference between God the Father and Jesus Christ is clearly explained for non-Christians and for certain sectors of the Christian faith. Whilst it is necessary to know the difference between God (Father) and Jesus Christ (Son), the common problem of Muslims and unbelievers about the so-called myth about the Holy Spirit being Prophet Mohammed is debunked in the chapter titled The Holy Spirit. The role of the Holy Spirit as the most important being in the affairs of the earth is hereby fully underlined.

The central message in the book dwells on Jesus Christ as the ultimate source of creation. Jesus is seen in history as the most important personality with the convincing proofs that He once lived on earth and performed an assignment given to Him from above. The overwhelming weight of evidence placed on Jesus in this work as Lord and God of the universe is seen as unique and greater than any other testimony under the sun. The historical Jesus, unlike Mohammed, Krishna, Buddha and all the so-called prophets and great men of history, did not die and remain in His grave. Jesus is the only person that history can prove to still be alive today. History, therefore, debunked the fallacies of atheists and critics and gave proof by how the disciples of Jesus laid down their lives because of what they saw and witnessed with Jesus Christ.

The book further explains why Jesus being God is the first born of all creations. Thus, the controversial conception of the first born in human terms is explained in the spiritual sense to mean Jesus becoming the culmination and fulfillment of God’s promise to bless all nations through the Prophet Abraham. The promise God made to Abraham, according to his faith and by his seed, to bless all nations of the world was directed to a single person - Jesus Christ. Jesus is put before all things because it is in Him that all things in the world are held together. Jesus, therefore, fulfills the intended role as God’s firstborn son, who in His perfect life and sacrificial death was vindicated in glorious resurrection.

More to that is the mystery of Jesus being the Son of Man and the Son of God. The significance of this is Jesus’s humanity; Jesus is fully man created like Adam from the dust but sinless in that He is fully God, which can be said of no other person. The reader is taken through this stage of revelation about the role of Jesus as our priest and mediator. By manifesting Himself in the flesh, He became like one of us to know our sufferings and have a Father-Son relationship with God.

The book further compares the evidence given in the Quran about Jesus with the Bible and explains why the reader should take the evidence from the Bible more seriously. The evidence about Jesus as both God and man and the Son of God is so strong that it makes more sense to believe in Him as such than believing Him to be just an ordinary prophet. Finally, Jesus in this work is revealed as the God of the universe. This is an important subject, especially for Muslims who want to understand what the Quran says about Jesus being God and the Savior of the world. The lordship of Jesus Christ is so important that the chapter on unveiling Jesus Christ is purposely to remove the scales from the readers’ eyes and provide an open mind with food for thought so that The True Revelation of Jesus Christ and the love of God for humanity can be revealed.

This work is not in any way meant to condemn Islam or speak negatively of Muslims. I have many Muslim friends, and they are one of the best things that has ever happened to me. Most of them have understood the wisdom in this work and have taken the challenge to read the Bible from cover to cover, something their Imams seriously oppose. Out of God’s own volition, humans have been given the freedom to choose. It is, therefore, imperative that people should have the freedom to make choices when it comes to what kind of religious faith they want to practice. At the same time, it is important that people have the freedom to learn whatever they want to learn in order to come to the full knowledge of the truth. Scripture says, You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32 NKJV). Respect for the truth should inspire us to determine what distinguishes truth from falsehood and to help separate ourselves from dangerous fallacies.

2. Conflicting Approaches to the Issue of Religion

M any of the religious people in the world are of the opinion that all religions lead to the same God. The Moslems believe they worship the same God of the Jews and of the Christians. If all the religions are of one God, why the different doctrines and teachings, and why the religious conflicts? Why should Moslems, Jews and Christians differ in their approach to faith in God, especially in matters pertaining to salvation and redemption? Some people become offended when Christians preach that Jesus is the only way to God. The New Age movement advocates that every road leads to God and Christianity is one of them. If there are many ways to God, it will be the same as supporting belief in many gods which is polytheism.

For if there must be one true God, then there must be one true way to the true God and not many ways. The true way to God is not like travelling from London to New York. We take airlines and embark on natural ways to travel from London to New York, and we can do so from many directions. You may land in New York by airplane, by boat and even by car. It is not the same as going to God. That means, the way to God should be one true way that all believers travel. If we do not take the right way, many will miss the way, especially those who travel on the wrong tickets. That underlines the fact that the right way to travel is the key to arriving at your true destination. That is why there should be only One True Way. If there should be only one true way, then by which means can one reach the One True God? This one true way is Jesus Christ who points to Himself as The Only True Way. That means one needs to get the right ticket from Jesus possibly to embark on this true journey. That makes Jesus among all the various religious leaders of the world, the true and authentic way to God. For Jesus boldly affirms, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6 NKJV). This means believing and obeying the God revealed only through Jesus Christ is the only possible way to get to heaven.

There must therefore be only one God, not the many gods of men. If there were many gods, there would be many ways to reach the heavens of the gods. Logically there is only one God and only one way to the true God. If there should be many gods, then these gods would not be infinite or supreme; therefore, they would not be God. The only truth therefore is that, since there can be only one true God, there can be only one true way to reach Him. For there exist many false gods and therefore from these many false gods, you arrive at many false ways which simply make these gods incompetent and unreliable. You may therefore miss your way to heaven if you must tread on the path of these false gods and their false ways with your soul.

If Christ then is the true way, then where stand the other religious people? Where stand the Buddhists, the Hindus, the Zoroastrians and the rest outside the box? Apart from reaching this one true way, do all these major existing religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, African Traditional Religion, Paganism, Mormonism, the Commonsense Family, etc.) worship the same God? Why should true worshippers of One True God make war against each other, promote religious conflicts, incite division, suicide bombings, malice, create separation and grievously suspect each other of evil manipulations? Why should countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran prevent Christians to live freely and talk freely about the Christian faith if we are dealing with the same God? Though the Christian identity in Western Europe is associated with higher levels of negative sentiment toward immigrants and religious minorities, it is not as dangerous as to practice one`s faith. Why should Muslims kill Christians in the Muslim nations who refuse to deny their faith in Jesus Christ? Is it really true that all religions lead to the one true God and does it mean that there are many ways leading to God? Now concerning the non-religious people such as the secular person, the agnostic and the atheist, has the Bible not declared that a fool says in his