Jesus Christ, Superman Part One

Science, Religion and a Rational Christianity Science, Religion and a Rational Christianity Science, Religion and a Rational Christianity

It's a bird. . It's a plane. . No! It's Jesus Christ, Superman, Savior of the world!

A bright light in the form of a snow white dove descended the pinnacle of Heaven landing on the curly dark brown head of Jesus Christ. A sparkle of recognition immediately formed on His face as a flash of remembrance ignited warming His soul.

From this moment on, things would be different for He had a mission from His Heavenly father that He must fulfill. A call that demanded that He needed to listen to the voice of the Spirit of God that would inspire Him to help the lost.

Determined, He walked out of the Baptismal water wrapping His cloak around Him, and was led into the desert to pray and fast. For forty days God opened up the scriptures of prophecy predicted about Him.

At the end of the forty days when Jesus was hungry and His strength was fading Satan saw His opportunity to tempt Him. Jesus, knowing all the pain and suffering He would endure during His ministry, refused to allow Satan to turn Him away from God.

Satan tried to tempt Jesus into allowing food to be His god. He was tempted to harm Himself just to see if God would really rescue Him from death. Last of all, Satan tempted Jesus by promising to give Him all the power and riches of the whole world if He would just bow down and worship him.

In His most weakened human state, Jesus faced temptation down, Check This Out  passed every test a man would face in this world. Satan snarled and was forced to flee as God's Angels hurriedly became visible and immediately strengthened Jesus.

Matthew 4:11, "Then the Devil left Jesus; and angels came and helped him."

Jesus had to convince God's chosen children to believe that He was the Messiah. They needed to place their faith in Him by seeing the power of God working in His life through the extraordinary miracles He would perform.

They needed to believe in the impossible so they would be willing to be baptized and later receive the wonder working power of the Holy Spirit. They would have to believe that Jesus was more than a man, He was Superman!

A new teaching was dawning and a new concept of how to play the complicated game of life was about to be revealed. No longer would the Law be the only means by which people would be saved. Now an easier path would be laid giving people the ability to be instantly forgiven for their sins.

The Law explained the concept of sin, but believing in Jesus opens up the easy path of grace. Now we only had to believe in Jesus' name and be baptized. Placing our faith in Jesus would usher in a new day where God's Holy Spirit would be within each person.

John 3:5-8, "'I am telling you the truth,'replied Jesus, 'that no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. A person is born physically of human parents, but he is born spiritually of the Spirit. Do not be surprised because I tell you that you must all be born again. The wind blows wherever it wishes; you hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. It is like that with everyone who is born of the Spirit.'"

Nicodemus was a highly respected Pharisee. He knew all the Laws of Moses and He applied them and taught them rigorously. He came to Jesus in secret because he understood prophecy and believed that He was the promised Messiah.

He expected Jesus to talk about revolutionary ideas. Like taking back the Jewish people's country from the Romans, instead Jesus was talking about the wind and comparing it to how the Spirit influences the lives of men.

Nicodemus was mystified and questioned Jesus over and over again about who this Spirit was. Jesus was surprised at his lack of knowledge of spiritual things.

John 3: 11-13, "I am telling you the truth: we speak of what we know and report what we have seen, yet none of you is willing to accept our message. You do not believe me when I tell you about the things of this world; how will you ever believe me, then, when I tell you about the things of heaven? And no one has ever gone up to heaven except the Son of Man, who came down from heaven."

Jesus had to get Nicodemus and all people to think beyond their present situation. They needed to see how this world interacted with a unseen spiritual world. Then they would understand why they needed the supernatural working power of the Holy Spirit.

They needed to understand how the Spirit would give them the ability to fight beyond a normal human's limited capabilities. This is why Jesus preformed miracles. This is why Jesus Christ was to be more than a man to all people. He was Superman.

We all have enjoyed shows about Superman. How he was impenetrable by bullets and stronger than any man alive. How he rescued people who were about to fall off of high buildings or be crushed by a freight train or car. We sat on the edge of our seats anticipating how he would once again defeat the evil villains who were determined to rule the world.

Superman, although he was powerful and strong, could only be at one place at a time. Jesus Christ Superman can be every where all over the world, all of the time. When we place our faith in Him we have the wonder working power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus did not come as a commander of a legion of men, rather he came as a commander of a greater more powerful army. He came to help people to stand up and fight against Satan and his spiritual army of demons.

1 Peter 5: 8-10, "Be alert, be on watch! Your enemy, the Devil, roams around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Be firm in your faith and resist him, because you know that your fellow believers in all the world are going through the same kind of sufferings. But after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who calls you to share his eternal glory in union with Christ, will himself perfect you and give you firmness, strength, and a sure foundation."

Jesus' saving power of grace level's the playing field. The Spirit gives Him a greater influence with every human being. The Spirit becomes a teacher


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