Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Beginning and End (06/04/26)
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TITLE: The Beginnings And The Ends Recorded In Scripture | Previous Challenge Entry
By Doug Laird
06/08/26 -
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Scripture concurs that it was on the island of Patmos, that John had a one-on-one encounter with the risen Lord Jesus Christ, approximately 60 years after the Ascension (1).
John had been a close companion with the Lord during His three-year ministry, and was present during most of the major events. Yet when John came face-to-face with Jesus in His glorified appearance (2), John was in great fear.
After calming John’s fears, Jesus identified Himself as the One who had been dead, and declared, “I am the first and the last (Rev. 1: 17 NASB2020),” speaking of His deity.
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are three distinct Personalities that make up the Triune Godhead, or what theologians refer to as the Trinity.
All three divine Members of the Trinity are “eternal” in nature, in that they have always existed, having never had a beginning, and will never have an end.
By having been dead, Jesus was referring to death of His humanity that He, as God the Son, took on at the First Advent.
When His physically dead body was placed in the tomb, He decended to the Paradise of Hades, along with the soul of the repentant Man that was crucified on the cross next to His, just as He had said they would (3).
Three days later, when His (physical) body) was raised from the tomb, He departed Hades,and was reunited with it in its resurrected form, making several appearances before His Ascension.
God sets the concept of eternity in every soul that He creates (4). Rejection of this concept is the root cause of atheism and many false doctrines regarding the Deity (divine nature) of the Lord Jesus Christ.
As one of the three members of the Trinity, God the Son has the same divine nature (deity) as do God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.
In His humanity, Jesus was subordinate to God, but in His deity, He was Their equal, a claim that enraged His enemies (5).
It is important to learn to distinguish which one or more of the members is being referenced to when Scripture is speaking of “God.”
Neither the “beginning” spoken of in Genesis 1: 1 or John 1:1, was the beginning of eternity, as eternity had no beginning.
The “beginning” referenced in Gen. 1: 1 is speaking of events relating to and or in preparation for, the creation of Man.
The “beginning” referenced in John 1: 1 speaks of the eternal God the Son, departing Heaven, and taking on the form of humanity (void of the fallen nature) like the one that Adam had, prior to the Fall of Man, in order to become the sacrificial Lamb of God, “... who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29 NASB2020),” providing us with the means of salvation.
Unless when necessary, and or to reveal His divine nature (6), Jesus functioned within the self-induced limitations of His humanity from the time of the First Advent until the time of His Ascension.
It is important to distinguish when Jesus was functioning with His divine nature, and when He was functioning within the limitations of His humanity.
Otherwise, one may fail to acknowledge His divine nature, or overlook the impact imposed by the self-induced limitations of His humanity, resulting in a lack of appreciation and understanding of all that He went through in our behalf while functioning in His humanity.
When functioning in His deity, He could not fail, be tempted, suffer pain, be hungry, thirsty, stressed, weary, or have any logistical needs, but when functioning in His humanity, He experienced all of the above.
In His humanity, He could have, but did not fail, as He remained sinless and fulfilled the plan of God (7).
His enemies denied His deity, and went as far as attributing His miracles to demonic activity (8).
Time and space does not allow me to comment on the numerous “ends” spoken of in Scripture.
But it is important to learn when something has, or will, come to its end, and what will never come to an end.
Most importantly, the soul of each individual that will continue to consciously exist in one environment or another for all of eternity future.
(1) Acts. 1: 9 (2) Rev. 1: 14, 15 (3) Luke 23: 43 (4) Eccl. 3: 11 (5) John 5: 18 (6) Matt. 8: 26 /John 1: 48-50 (7) Heb. 4: 15 (8)
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