How then shall we call on him in whom we have not believed? And how shall we believe in him of whom we have not heard? And how shall we hear without a preacher? (Rom. 10:14). We’ve been given the word and ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-19); how then shall the preacher preach if he has not learnt? I believe what is lacking is the knowledge of HIM, whom it was written about, Jesus.

“And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written (it’s always been about Him); The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor (spiritually bankrupt), to heal the brokenhearted (emotionally bankrupt), to preach deliverance to the captives (mentally bankrupt), and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised (physically broken). This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son?” (Luke 4:18-19/21&22). No! This is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth” – John. 1:1/14. The term "only begotten" (Greek: monogenēs) directly translates ‘one of a kind’. As sons and daughters of God, we received the God-kind of life by adoption (Romans 8:14-17), quite distinct from HIM, ‘the kind’.

Not the best of illustrations; some will relate: He’s an Original, not sired by the Father but equal with Him (Philippians 2:6). The Jews understood this better, “Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God” (John 5:18).

What better way could He be described to an odious world than the ‘Son of God’; a man who came with the clouds of heaven, given dominion and an everlasting kingdom, seated as an heir on the Throne of David (Daniel 7:13-14/2 Samuel 7:12-16). The Word is not a book but a person, and the person is not an offspring but HIM—God!

Therefore, our faith remains incomplete without an accurate revelation of Jesus, the ‘only begotten’ of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Continued…