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every man, coming into the world.' In accordance with this, Isaiah the
prophet says of the true, spiritual Israel: 'The 1 LORD shall be
thine everlasting light.' As these words of the prophet Isaiah were written
centuries before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, they were well known to
the pious Jews of His time, being in their own holy Scriptures. By speaking of
Himself, therefore, as the light of the world, Christ evidently showed His
divine rank and dignity in an unmistakable way.
(7) He did this again to some degree, though not so clearly when He said to
the Jews: 'Ye 2 are from beneath; I am from above: Ye are of this
world; I am not of this world.' But, lest there should be any doubt about the
meaning of these words, He added: 'I 3 came forth and am come from
God.' In accordance with this He said afterwards to His disciples: 'The 4
Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I
came forth from the Father. I came out from the Father, and am come into the
world.' John the Baptist recognized this truth and taught it, saying: 'He 5
that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is of the earth,
and of the earth he speaketh: he that cometh from heaven is above all. What he
hath
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PROOF OF THE DEITY OF CHRIST
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seen and heard, of that he beareth witness.' These words, if they stood
alone, would not by themselves suffice to prove the Deity of the Lord Jesus
Christ, though they would prove that He came from heaven and from God, and that
He was not a mere man raised to the position of a prophet or an apostle, like
Moses or David or Elijah or John the Baptist. But they do not stand alone; they
stand among many other passages in which Christ asserts His Deity; and therefore
their full meaning is to be understood from consideration of the other parts of
His teaching. 'When thus considered, it becomes clear in what sense the Lord
Jesus Christ declared that He had come from 1 God.
(8) The Lord Jesus Christ teaches that love to Him proves that the believer
in Him has received the new and spiritual birth from above which is necessary
2 before any one can enter into God's kingdom. For, when the Jews
asserted that they were God's spiritual offspring 3 'Jesus 4
said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would
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