Greetings to all believers around the world. I, Robert Magampa, salute you from South Africa–the land of my temporal nativity. We Christians have a greater hope in eternal things than on temporal things, which will soon pass away. I would like to encourage you by saying, trust and know that God sees every hardship you are encountering and He will bless you if you do not let go of His hand. Wait patiently for the advent of Christ, His only dear Son, who will welcome you home. Oh, I wish that all who call upon the name of Christ in sincerity may be found worthy of His reward.

I greet you with: “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for Me?” Jeremiah 32:27

I appreciate the Lord for what He has done for the lost race. After man’s fall, God did not turn away from him; instead Christ took on human nature, stepped into our shoes to mediate in our behalf before God. He did this in behalf of men who were destitute and without hope in the world, feeling that God will never forgive sinners. In His great love, He gave us His only Begotten Son that we may not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

I thank my God for what He has done for me personally. He gave me hope and a new life in Christ. I will be His forever, and He alone shall be my God, my Shield and my Rock. I am expressing my feelings in the form of words, for if I were to leap for joy I would have publicly done so, but understanding how God works, I chose to sing in my heart; singing songs of love, care, and thanks to Him.

In God our Maker we are free from every detestable thing that will pollute our good habits. In Christ we delight and we love, for love is one of God’s best attributes. He will  love freely without cost to human beings. Come while Christ is still within your reach, I invite you all to come and purchase for yourselves a fertile land in God’s vineyard; whosoever will, come. Come as I did. God is love and in Him dwells all good things; nothing impure comes from Christ. Purity and holiness are His, love and compassion are His fruits; in Him alone do I trust.

One Sunday night, an idea came into my mind. I felt compelled to pursue the idea. It was all about writing—writing about the true God who created the heavens and the earth and who controls seasons, rivers, kingdoms and powers—the whole creation All nature obeys Him when He says, peace be still.

I was inspired to write for those who live in the present day and for those in the future if time would last. The subject I have chosen to write about is what you need to know about God the Potentate. He is God and there is none beside Him. All good things are His.

On the 25th of March 2018, at 23:55 in Heidelberg Gauteng South Africa, I began to write. The Bible is the only book filled with God’s messages of hope, grace, love, joy, peace, gentleness and forgiveness for you. It was designed to free you and to set you on a higher ground, but only if you believe what is written therein. Your hope and life are hid in Christ; Christ alone is the Head and the foundation of human life, without Him there is no life.

Prayerfully explore your Bible, kneeling in prayer as you study and present your requests to God through Christ, our Mediator. God will answer you clearly to satisfy your longing, and will show you greater things than your eyes have ever seen.

GIVING THANKS TO GOD

We give thanks to our God for His wonderful works toward all men.

God is love, and His love was shown in John 3:16. “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.” We receive everlasting life only if we believe in Him. If we do not, there is no assurance of everlasting life, and we do not even deserve to participate in the blessings God has left within our reach here on earth.

We all have a large part to play in preparation for entrance into God’s kingdom. It is like a purchase. We buy things we love and look after them. In the same manner God bought us with a costly price because He loves us and has promised to look after us. This price He paid needs to be deeply understood, which was the death of His only Son, Jesus Christ, the Lamb that was killed because of our wrongdoings. Our iniquities were placed on Him. He bore the terrible sins of the whole world—mine as well as yours. Every sin of every sinner who has sinned from the beginning wasplaced upon Christ. He was smitten of God for our transgressions; we owe Him everything.

What a friend we have in Jesus! With great appreciation, we need to understand the love God bestowed upon us. We owe Him much thanks for paying our debt at Golgotha. The price He paid was without parallel. We all need to realize the terrible sinfulness of sin.

After the fall in Eden, Adam and Eve were destitute. God took a deep interest in man’s situation and decided to redeem them with the blood of His dear Son. In Eden, through the subtlety of the mighty foe, man was led to disobey God’s law, which had been instituted to govern all creation. As a result, the pair were expelled from Eden. When they turned their backs on Eden, it was not easy to bid farewell to their home. Thus, they determined to seek God’s face daily. God then provided them with coats of sheepskin as opposed to the fig leaves they were wearing.

Today, God’s grace is still sufficient for all, yet people choose to follow and gratify their own passions and desires.

Let us continue reading: “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6. These names are characteristics of God’s divine nature. Isaiah saw them in Christ the Lamb as well.

God revealed His character to Isaiah the prophet. His plan of salvation was to be spoken to all human beings. It was through mankind that sin could have been prevented from entering the world. Their sin affected the whole creation, as death entered on all creation because of it.

God chose Isaiah to be His mouth-piece on earth to expound His mysteries—mysteries that were not made known to men previously. It was God’s purpose to make the plan of salvation known to all people; to let them know that the Messiah is coming. If we accept Him as ordained by God, we will not live without hope.

When Jesus Christ came to this world, He came with the glad news of the kingdom of God. No one has seen God at any time, but He who was with God the Father from the beginning of all creation has seen Him. He was with Him throughout eternity, and He also is called God.

Let us look at the verse in Isaiah that we read earlier, “For unto us a Child is born.” This Child was Jesus Christ. “Unto us a Son is given.” God gave us His Son to be our substitute, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.” John 3:16. Reading further:, “And the government shall be upon His shoulder.” This government is God’s government and Christ’s government as He is also called God. As a Prince, He came to claim that which belongs to Him because, what His Father owned rightfully belonged to Him also. God’s government is upon Christ; whatever we need, we ask in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. Since we have been bought by His blood, let us give Christ what rightfully is His, our lives. They are loaned to us, and soon we will be called to account.

“And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father and The Prince of Peace.” This man is God. His nature and titles are all outlined here. He was both God and man in the human form of Christ. Christ’s occupation is that He is a governor, to govern His Father’s enterprise. His business is that He has created man and redeemed fallen man.

“Wonderful”, remarkable things. “Counsellor”, Isaiah saw in vision Him also doing counselling work; giving hope to His own people and edifying them. “The mighty God.”  He saw Christ’s divine nature clothed in human form! “The everlasting Father.” In His Kingdom He rules gently like a Father. “The Prince of Peace.” In Him dwelleth all the peace which our souls desire.

Let us give thanks to our God for the gift of life in Christ Jesus our Saviour who came to this earth, combining humanity with His divinity, to redeem the fallen human race.

God was grieved, but His never-ending love toward men was to reach His people, no matter how deep they had fallen into sin. God felt compassion upon all mankind. He had created Adam and Eve because He loved them. He gave them dominion over the earth to govern affairs here. They were also to be the

custodians of God’s law. Man was created in God’s image, but this image was marred after sin. Adam and Even went from Eden to the world. Today, we are called to go from the world to Eden. To be restored in the image of God.

Cain and Abel were born without the gates of Paradise. God saw the descendants of Adam and Eve as sheep without a shepherd, moving from one place to another and as birds flying from tree to tree, so He provided a remedy for them. That remedy was the giving of His Son to redeem fallen man.

A MYSTERIOUS SCENE

When Moses was in the mountains of Midian, feeding his father-in-law, Reuel’s sheep (Exodus 2:18), “he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.” Exodus 3:1. Here he beheld a mysterious scene. He carefully looked, and behold, a bush was burning, but it was not being consumed. This scene impressed him but he did not understand what was happening at first. Moses then heard the voice of God saying: “I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.” Exodus 3:6

“I have surely seen the affliction of My people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows.” Exodus 3:7. Moses was born and raised in Egypt. He was educated and brought up with the Egyptian practices in Pharaoh’s kingdom. He heard from his mother about the true God of Israel, but he himself had never met Him. Now, in the desert he had an experience with the mighty power of the God of his fathers. He now understood more fully of the Omniscient nature of God. He  can do far greater things than any human mind could comprehend.

Our God is an awesome God. Moses was keen to know more of the true God of his fathers. The Lord saw Moses’ desire and granted him his wish, educating him in the wilderness, giving him a special training. He had a special work to accomplish through Moses, and from here on out nothing was to come between Moses and the Lord.

God saw that Moses was ready for the task; therefore, He called him aside and told him everything He planned for His peculiar people, Israel, since the first day of their departure from Canaan to Egypt.

“And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of My people which are in Egypt and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows.” Exodus 3:7. Moses now had a very meek character. He had learned many lessons while tending his father-in-law’s flock, which the Lord saw as necessary training before he was to be trusted with a nation. The Lord needs caring people who know the value of leadership and who are upholding Christ as their primary leader. As in sports activities where we find coaches, captains and participants, Christ is the coach, Moses or ministers are the captains, and the believers are the participants.

The Lord said, “Now therefore behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto Me. . . Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh that thou mayest bring forth My people the children of Israel out of Egypt.” Exodus 3:9–10. For us to be useful, we need to be meek; we must pray to God that He may grant us this meekness. We need to be free from earthly lusts. Pastors are to feed the flock in a similar fashion as Peter was ordered by Christ to feed His sheep (John 21:17). Christians are the sheep of Jesus’ pasture (Psalm 100:3, last part).

After introducing Himself to Moses, the Lord said, “Now go and tell Pharaoh all that I have told you.”

“I AM THAT I AM”

Moses then asked of the Lord, “Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, what is His name? what shall I say unto them?” Exodus 3:13. “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” Exodus 13:14

The Lord revealed Himself to Moses with this name—I AM. The Title “I AM”, appears in both the Old and the New Testament. In the Old Testament Christ, the Word, told Moses His true name. In the New Testament Christ made Himself known to the Pharisees in like manner just as He did to Moses. The Pharisees were the custodians of the Mosaic Law, but they could not comprehend Christ, the great I AM. Even when He tried to reveal His true identity and character to them, still they were unable to understand.

One day Christ began a discussion which was intended to arouse the curiosity of the Pharisees about Him. He was trying to lead their minds to find the truth about Him. As the discussion continued, Christ said to them: “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day: and he saw it, and was glad.” John 8:56. That simple statement that was to lead their minds was looked upon as an insult by the Jews. “Then said the Jews unto Him, Thou are not yet fifty years old, and hast Thou seen Abraham?” John 8:57. Christ immediately answered them by saying, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM.” John 8:58. God was with them, but they denied Him with their actions. He tried to simplify it all for them but the bigotry and prejudice which they cherished prevented them from being freed from their cloak of maliciousness.

Here is the centre of this study. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and Word was God.” John 1:1. Verse 2 tells us: “The same was in the beginning with God.” God used the Word to create the heavens and the earth.

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” Genesis 1:1–3. God performed great and marvelous things with only the Word. His  Word is more powerful than anything on this earth.

Reading again from John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” John 1:1–5. The Word here mentioned is Jesus Christ, and Christ is God. Man is both a spiritual and physical being. God does not exist only in the spiritual realm but also a physical being. As we are also both spiritual and physical, so was Christ; He also had to be both Word (spiritual) and flesh (physical).

The Apostle Paul wrote: “And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 3:9.

The book of Matthew tells us of the coming of Christ in the image of man and after God’s likeness. “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: when as His mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.” Matthew 1:18–19. Here the words of Isaiah the prophet were fulfilled. “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14

JESUS CHRIST IS GOD

Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled as written by Matthew. “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” Matthew 1:23.  Emmanuel means God with us. The significance of Emmanuel’s name should be studied carefully and with understanding, for spiritual things are spiritually discerned. Emmanuel is not just a name without identity, but a name with authority. If we mishandle this name, we will be accountable, especially if we know how and why Christ came. He came to live with mortal beings, sinners—us—that we may freely obtain grace without price from Him. He redeemed us with His own life that we may realize how good and caring He is towards men.

“In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.” John 1:4. Although in Him was life, men chose death rather than life. He had all the necessary light to illuminate the earth, to expose their errors and brighten their paths, but still the people forsook the light and ran after their own natural desires. David wrote, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Psalm 119:105

“He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.” John 1:10. There is one thing that obscures Christ from us, and it is sin. Our sinful nature created a great gulf between God and us; but, thankfully, through Jesus Christ, this gulf has been bridged.  Let us now hold steadfastly onto Christ with a hand that will not let go. Soon we will see Him coming in the clouds of heaven. It was this that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints.” Jude 1:14. The Lord Jesus who was taken up shall soon descend. Let us work out our salvation with fear and trembling.

May the Lord God help us that we may understand Him, and embrace His words with care and watchfulness.

Maranatha.

Robert Magampa, South Africa