By Dr. Don Bierle, FaithSearch President

And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God…” (Luke 1:35-38).

Jesus is “the image of the invisible God… For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Colossians 1:15; 2:9). 

Thanksgiving Anticipates Advent

Thanksgiving may come first in our calendar today, but Christmas gives it its fullest meaning. Therefore, it is appropriate that Christians gathering for Thanksgiving would anticipate celebrating the advent of our Savior Jesus Christ. 

Churches and Christian families do so with a centuries-old Christian tradition called the Advent wreath. It consists of a wreath with four candles in a circle around a fifth larger candle in the center. One candle is lit each week of Advent (this year on December 1, 8, 15, and 22), symbolizing the lighted path which leads to the ultimate spiritual light of the world. The birth of the Savior Jesus Christ is represented by the fifth candle, which is lit on Christmas eve.

By Dr. Don Bierle, FaithSearch President

Two and one-half years into His public ministry, Jesus took His apostles on a northern retreat to Caesarea Philippi, at the base of the nearly-10,000-foot-high Mount Hermon (Matthew 16:13ff.). Surprisingly, that late in His ministry the question was still, “Who is this Son of Man” (John 12:34). Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” The disciples’ answer revealed that people were still confused about Jesus’ identity (Matthew 16:14). 

To avoid the popular, Jewish, firm commitment to a political and nationalistic Messianic hope, Jesus avoided wide-spread use of the title of “Messiah” (or Christ) and “Son of David.” These titles would tend to stoke insurrection against Rome by the masses, as illustrated by their response at the feeding of the 5,000: “This is of a truth the Prophet who is to come into the world… they were intending to come and take Him by force, to make Him king…” (John 6:14-15). 

By Dr. Don Bierle, FaithSearch President

The apostle Paul told the Colossian Christians that Jesus “is the image of the invisible God” (1:15). Later in the same letter he expanded the meaning of that: “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (2:9). 

The apostle John identified a significant problem about God: no one has ever seen Him! But John also provided the solution to the problem: Jesus – the “One and Only” (NIV), the “begotten God” (NASB), the “divine and only Son” (Phillips) – “has made Him known” (John 1:18).

As a result, whatever attributes you attribute to the Father, you must also find in the Son – different in person but the same in essence. He is “the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4). What evidence supports that?

By Dr. Don Bierle, President

Recently I have noticed several current views within our culture which stand opposed to God and His revelation to us. For example, alleging there are many genders is a rejection of God’s creation of humanity in His image as “male and female,” as revealed in Genesis 1:27. An ideological refusal to bear children by some rejects God’s command to “be fruitful and multiply” (v. 28). God’s institution of marriage and family as being between a man and a woman (2:24); the sanctity of life as opposed to abortion as a right and on demand (Psalm 139:13-16); and the rejection of any “authority-figure” except self – all appear to me to be a rebellion against God, His character, and what He has revealed.