God
is love.
As He
made the only begotten Son the object of His love (Mt 17:5),
He made the Son unique, just as God is unique.
He is unique because He was set to be (Jn 1:18)
the unique Heir of God (Heb 1:1-2).
Therefore, our confession is to believe
the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom He sent (Jn 17:3).
When He dwelt in the Father, He was the Word (Logos) (Jn 1:1),
and God’s Word is His righteousness and will. It is unchanging truth (Jn 14:6).
He was there before Abraham (Jn 8:52-59).
Since Abraham was the Lord’s servant and prophet,
He was entrusted with God’s covenant (Ps 105:4-11).
God’s Word had sent prophets ahead of Him (Jn 5:39),
and prophets were used to pave the way (Mt 3:1-3).
God swore to Isaac about the covenant He made with Abraham
and decided it for Jacob as a decree.
So the Law comes before the Gospel, and Elijah must come
before Christ’s coming (Mal 4:5-6).
Those who came without prophecies were not the truth, but religion (1 John 4:2-3).
Religion is conviction that looks for what is not reality.
○ Christ did not appear without a path,
and the One who came by prophecy is the truth.
○ Our faith is this: there must prophecies about Him
from the beginning, and He must answer them
for Him to be sent by God and be the truth.
○ As Abraham, Judah and David were the Lord’s pathway,
those who came by other ways were not the Christ,
but false Christs.
※ There were many prophecies before Jesus Christ
and they prepared the Lord’s way by blood.
Since God testified to this, it was the time for Him to be baptized.