#137 Jesus - One With the Father

Way of the Bible

Welcome to Episode #137 of Way of the Bible podcast. This is our first of eight episodes in our eighteenth mini-series which is entitled, Son of God and Son of Man.

As a follow-up to our last episode, A Walk on the Beach with DrZ [17], I thought it would be beneficial on this episode to tie into another passage that illustrates Jesus is the same as God in the Old Testament. Jesus – One WITH the Father.

If you’re a long-time listener you know I love to plow not just through a little, but a lot of scripture each and every episode. My words are not the vehicle by which the word of God animates, coming alive as the Holy Spirit guides and teaches us all things both of this life and the life to come. It is by the spoken word of God on this podcast God moves to encourage us in the Holy Spirit to live a life reflective of his divine will. That we would be joyful always, praying continually, and thankful in all circumstances (1 Thes 5:16-18).

Before we get to the scripture, a little background that will help put perspective on why I choose the passages I did for this episode. We’re starting this mini-series in the deep end so take a big breath.

Over the past thirty years plus years I’ve been reading the Bible every year, teaching the Bible, leading Bible studies, and learning as much as I could about Jesus. All the while I’ve continued to pursue secular vocational pursuits to fund my Bible habits of teaching, preaching, and earning two seminary degrees. The secular pursuits were shut down by the pandemic in 2021 and are just now being revived.

During the shutdown I launched this podcast and began to pursue my passion of introducing people to the entire Bible, book by book. While writing, recording, and editing episode after episode of the entire Bible I confirmed I knew a lot of information about God and Jesus Christ his Son as revealed in the Bible.

I also knew by revelation and Holy Spirit rebirth I had intimacy and a personal relationship with both Jesus and God the Father. I’ve had sporadic and dramatic encounters with Jesus and Father that have involved miraculous events, dreams, and visions. And that is what I thought was normal for a believer to encounter along the way. And perhaps that is, BUT:

During my podcast overviewing of the books of the Bible I had a progressive revelation as I went book by book. I knew something was different this time through the Bible when I read 2 Kings 23:1-30 for the umpteenth time in preparing the episode for that book. This section is entitled in the ESV, Josiah’s Reforms. That title says little about what I saw. While it seems I’m digressing, and perhaps I am just a bit, I think it is important enough that I continue. I pray you bear with me as I do.