Absolutely!

Amen! Thanks for listening. 👍

You bet. Thanks, Tom. Not many people think of Him that way (as king), but only as Savior. They haven’t been taught that it’s the king who saves his people (and that savior is a subcategory of king). Plus, Dispensationalism specifically teaches that Jesus is not king to the people of the Church and that He’s not now king. They teach it’s not until an earthly, millennial reign He’ll have over the Jews that He’ll be king. 90% of Christians have had no teaching that Jesus is king-and their king!

@@ChristChurchClayton great insight-- thanks!!

Sure is! Thanks, Tom.

Indeed. What an example Jesus is to all His flock! Thanks, Tom.

May Christ be praised, indeed! Glad He was in your listening, Tom. Thanks for the encouragement!

Very nice! Glad it’s helpful.

Thanks, Tom. Glad this ministered to you in this way! And, yes on being quick-to-repent over being perfect. :) A great relief!

So glad. Thank you for the encouragement!

Thank you, Tom! I appreciate your encouragement. Great seeing you yesterday.

He doesn’t! :)

Thanks so much, Tom. You are a great encourager! So glad these are helpful!

Super! Hope it went well!

Jesus is God with us, indeed, foreshadowed by that ark, coming into Jerusalem and dwelling with people! Glad that was helpful! Thanks for encouraging me, Tom!

That's the goal. He's the center, and what life's about! Thank you, Tom, for the constant encouragement. Your cup of cold water to this child will be rewarded greatly. So many discouragers to those serving Christ (gladly not in our church!), and you push back the tide of persecution. I greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

Glad it helped!

Thanks, Tom, for your continued encouragement!

Thanks,Tom. You are a great encouragement to me!

Thanks, my friend. That’s the goal. I am just a servant of the great king (and He is awesomely wonderful!).

Thanks, Tom. David was a precursor of Jesus, his son, indeed! And, what an example of how God treats us and how we are to treat each other. When one “comes to his senses,” no matter what harm they have done to us (as the prodigal son and here Abner, seeing that blessing is through the house of David and that we fight for him), there is no probation period and no second-class citizenship in the Church. The repenter is simply forgiven and enfolded in the great king’s flock. The gospel, shown here by David and later fully realized by Jesus, is good.

Thanks! Glad it was helpful.

You are kind. Thank you!

Great!!!

You’re welcome, Tom!

Hi. Thanks for listening. Here are some things I find helpful. One thing: in life and in the Scriptures, we speak of things or of persons being equal, but we rarely mean they are equal in every way. If one is born in North Carolina, he’s equal to Michael Jordan in that way, yet he is not equal to him in basketball skill or wealth. With my siblings, I am equally the child of our mom and dad; yet, I am not their equals in age nor, in the case of my sister, in gender. I am an equal to my wife in days married, yet am not an equal to her in ability to play the piano; nor is she my equal in soccer skill. All this to make the point: you can be equal in some ways to something or someone else, but rarely (or never) is something equal to something or someone else in every way. Regarding Jesus, there are many ways Jesus is equal to the Father. He is a person of the godhead/the Trinity, and is divine like the Father. Pastors and elders through the Christian centuries have agreed that Jesus is not less divine, but is equally divine as the Father. Those who have declared otherwise have been deemed heretics. Jesus was not created nor was and is He a secondary divine being. Such has been deemed heresy from the earliest times of the Church onward. Hence, the statements of the Nicene Creed (A.D. 325), when Arius said that Jesus was a created being and the Church declared Him a heretic. The Church has agreed with Nicea without wavering, up to this day, in disagreement with Arius’s view that Jesus was a lesser divinity. A second aspect I find helpful: Each person of the Trinity has different roles. For instance, the Father doesn’t die on the cross. Jesus does, as that was His role, not the Father’s and not the Holy Spirit’s. One of the roles we see of the Father is that He is the head of the Trinity. He decrees what is to be. He is the one who has decided to entrust all judgment to the Son, for instance (John 5:22, 27). And, as Jesus said in this passage, Jesus never transgresses the Father’s decree/will. He always does the Father’s will and He only speaks words the Father has commanded Him to speak (John 5:24, 7:17, 8:28, 12:49). I believe it’s in reference to the Father’s headship in the Trinity that Jesus spoke that the Father is greater than He (John 14:28, which you quoted). A third and last thing I’ll mention that I find helpful is this: Jesus is accused specifically of “making Himself equal with God" (John 5:18). Jesus could have answered, “I am not.” He didn’t answer that way. With such a heavy accusation, and with the Jews “trying all the harder to kill Him” (5:18) because of what He had just said, if Jesus were not equal with the Father, I find it too difficult to believe that Jesus wouldn’t have set the Jews (and the Church, reading John) straight with a simple and clear denial that He was not equal to the Father. Instead, He stacks on top of each other several ways that He and the Father are the same (equal): they do the same things (5:19), speak the same words, Jesus words are the Father’s words (5:24), they both have life in themselves (5:21, 26), they both raise the dead (5:21, 28-29), and they both are worthy of honor (5:23). Thus, I can’t conclude that Jesus is arguing against the Jews' accusation that He is making Himself equal to God. He gives no denial of their accusation, does not defend Himself from it, and adds a lot in His answer that would make them think-rightly-that He owns/agrees with their claim. So, in conclusion, Jesus and the Father are equal in many, but not all ways. Jesus highlights some ways in this passage that He and the Father are equal, as the Jews had rightly surmised, despite themselves. I hope that helps! Again, thanks for listening. I appreciate it.

Tom, your words are always an encouragement. Thank you!

Thanks, Tom.

Great! Yes, the “Jesus was repenting for us” view of His baptism never seemed to fit. John the baptist and Jesus is Samuel and David in 1 Samuel 16, done one final time to indicate who the Father’s choice was for king. The parallels between Samuel’s birth and John the baptist’s are enormous, and, of course, Jesus is the son of David. Acts 4:27 and 10:38, too. Thanks, as always, for your encouragement, Tom!

He will!!! Great news.

Thanks much, Tom! I appreciate your encouragement. Glad you’re getting to appreciate Jesus’ kingship better. That was totally foreign to me (His kingship), and I’ve grown in it, too. It makes great sense of His declaring (and the Gospel writers writing) that the good news was the kingdom of God and its having arrived. When He is king, and you’re in His kingdom, things are really, really good for you. All the kingdom stuff is defined so thoroughly in the Old Testament that Jesus didn’t need to explain it to His fellow Jews when He was here. They knew the definition of king and kingdom. We don’t, but can, as we learn it from the Old Testament better. Again, glad it’s helped. Thanks, again, for your constant encouragement to me.

I also am not! Yes, reminders are necessary! Jesus is a better king than you and I. Glad you were encouraged. Thanks, Tom!

Thanks, Tom. Truth! Why waste time and life on the musings of men, right?

Thanks, Tom. Glad for your listening!

Thanks, Matt.