The Ministry o f Jesus Christ
Kenneth Hagin
When you discuss the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, most people immediately respond, “Well, yes, but He was the Son of God.” And, of course, He was.But what they fail to realize is that He as the Son o f God was one thing and He as a person ministering was another thing. He did not minister as the Son o f God—He ministered as a mere man anointed by the Holy Spirit.
If people would just stop and think for a moment, they would see this in the passage of Scripture we have just been studying in Luke 4.He was in His hometown of Nazareth on the sabbath day, went to the synagogue, and was given the scroll of Isaiah to read from. He read the passage we just studied: “The Spirit o f the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me. . . . ” After He had finished reading, Jesus handed the scroll back to the minister, sat down, and began to teach the people.He said, “THIS DAY is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” (v. 21).If Jesus had been ministering as the Son o f God, He wouldn’t have needed to be anointed. Or, if He had been ministering as God manifested in the flesh, would God have needed to be anointed? Who is going to anoint God?
In Philippians 2:7, it says that Jesus “made himself o f no reputation, and took upon him the form o f a servant, and was made in the likeness o f men. ” The King James Version is a little unclear here. Other translations say He “laid aside” or “stripped Himself” of “His mighty power and glory” when He came into this world, even though He was the Son of God.He came as a man. How did He do it? I don’t know. The Bible says He did it, and I believe it!
As I’ve said many times, Jesus was just as much the Son of God when He was 21 years old as He was when He was 30 years old. He was just as much the Son of God when He was 25 as He was when He was 30. He was just as much the Son of God all those years—25, 26, 27, 28, 29, wasn’t He? Yet in all of those years, He never healed a person or wrought a miracle!
How do we know this? Because the Bible says so. The Bible tells us that Jesus was anointed after He was baptized of John in Jordan, and the Holy Spirit came upon Him in a bodily shape like a dove (Luke 3:22). God spoke from heaven and said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17).
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