The death of Christ on Calvary is the centerpiece of Christianity, as the Apostle Paul said: “For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” (1 Cor. 2:2). When the Bible says: “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” (John 3:16), do we really understand what God did?

God tested Abraham

If you have an only child, you may start to understand. Abraham understood. And that is why he is called the father of the faithful. God tested Abraham so that Abraham could understand what God was going to do, in giving up His only begotten Son to save humanity. Abraham was told that he would have a son, and so he did at the ripe old age of one hundred years, his wife being ninety years old – a truly miracle child. God promised that out of that son, Isaac, many nations would be born.

This was the test: God said to Abraham, “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” (Gen. 22:2).

Abraham had another son, Ishmael, who had already left home. So, Isaac was the only son that Abraham had with him at the time. And Isaac was the son that God had promised. Imagine being called upon to give up your only child whom you love dearly. Abraham believed that God would keep His promise to make many nations out of Isaac, so he was convinced that God would raise Isaac from the dead (Heb. 11:17-19). Thus, he purposed in his heart to obey God. Needless to say, it was a test. Abraham was not allowed to sacrifice his only son whom he loved. But he got the message. Do we get it, today?

God gave His only begotten Son

Many years after Abraham’s test, on that same mountain of Moriah, which was now called Golgotha, God gave up His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to save you and me. Abraham got the message, as Jesus said: “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.” (John 8:56). Abraham got it. Do we?

If we haven’t gotten it yet, the following scriptures might help:

“In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.” (1 John 4:9).

“He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32).

“Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:5).

Understanding the gospel

If you do not believe that Jesus Christ was the only begotten Son of God – a genuine offspring, can you really understand what God did? The entire sense of the gospel hinges on it. If Jesus was not the only begotten Son of God, what then did God sacrifice or lose to save us, as an expression of His love for us?

This truth has been the single focus of the devil’s greatest deception. And Jesus made it clear, when Simon Peter said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16), that such a revelation came to him from the Father in heaven Himself and not from flesh and blood(Matt. 16:17).

Devil’s schemes to obscure gospel

Yet, today, many of us fall to the devil’s schemes to obscure this most critical truth that Jesus Christ was indeed, God’s only begotten Son.

Among the devil’s schemes are the belief that Jesus is God Himself, which makes out that Jesus could not truly die. Along this line, people say that Jesus raised Himself from the dead – which means that He was not really dead. This makes nonsense of God’s claim that He loved us so much that He gave His only begotten Son to die in order to save us. Can’t we see that?

Another of the devil’s schemes is to make out that God is really a trinity of three co-equals who are each uniquely God. By this view, the roles of Father and Son are not real but only assumed for the purposes of carrying out the plan of salvation. This denies that Jesus Christ is truly the only begotten Son of God. By this perspective, the death of Christ was only a charade. Imagine being told how much God loves us to the point of giving up His only begotten Son, and how much Jesus Himself loves us that He gave His life for us, only to find out that Jesus was not really God’s Son, but only a fellow God who really could not die! Can’t we see the deception?

God’s love manifested

May God help us to see and understand that the most important truth for us to know is that God loves us to the point of giving His only begotten Son to die so that we might be saved. And God was faithful to His promise to raise Jesus from the dead and has highly exalted Him: “This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.” (Acts 2:32, 33).

Jesus Himself said that His Father loves Him even more because He carried out His Father’s will and gave His life for us: “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.” (John 10:17). “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.” (John 6:38). Is it not clear enough?

Let it not be asked anymore, “Why waste time arguing about the trinity, when it is a mystery?” That mystery is a man-made mystery and inspired by the devil’s attempt to obscure the most important truth, which is, that Jesus Christ is truly the only begotten Son of God, and that God loves us to the point of giving Him up to save us.  Let us keep our focus on Calvary, which answers all mysteries.

“He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matt. 11:15).

For further information, please visit Patience of the Saints at http://thecommandmentsofgodandthefaithofjesus.com/

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