State Faith Pg 2

We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the Second Person of the Triune God, the Eternal Word and Only Begotten Son, our great God and Savior (John 1:1, 3:16; Titus 2:13; Romans 9:5); that, without any essential change in His divine Person (Hebrews 13:8), He became man by the miracle of the Virgin Birth (John 1:14; Matt. 1:23), thus to continue forever as both true God and Man, one Person with two natures (Col. 2:9; 1 Tim. 2:5; Rev. 22:160; that as Man in flesh and form (Phil. 2:6,7), He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin (Heb. 4:15; John 8:46); that as the perfect Lamb of God He gave Himself voluntarily (John 10:14-18; Eph. 5:21) in death upon the Cross bearing there the sin of the world (John 1:29; Rm. 5:6; 2 Cor. 5:14,19; 1 Tim. 2:6; Heb. 2:9; 1 John 2:2), and suffering its full penalty of divine wrath in our stead (Isa. 53:5,6; Matt. 20:28; Gal 3:13; John 1:29); that this substitutionary death involved separation from God (Matt. 27:46) and spirit and body (Matt. 27:50); that He arose from the dead and was glorified in the same body in which He suffered and died (Luke 24:36-43; John 20:25-28; Acts 4:10); that as our great High Priest, He ascended into heaven, there to appear before the face of God as our Advocate and Intercessor (Eph. 4:8; Heb. 4:14, 9:24; 1 John 2:1). Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, co-equal with the Father (John 1:1, 8:58, 17:5; Col. 1:17). Christ is expressly called God (Titus 2:13; Heb. 1:8). He is worthy of worship (John 5:23; Heb. 1:6; Phil. 2:10,11; Rev. 5:8).

The use of the phrase "Son of God" with reference to Christ is also a proof of His deity. The phrase signifies, in accordance with Semitic thought, sameness of nature, not origin. Christ, then is the One who shares the very nature of God (cf. The Jews’ response to His claims in John 5:18, 10:33, 36, 19:7). Since angels and men are sometimes designated "sons of God," it is important to stress that Jesus is the unique Son of God (John 3:16; Heb. 11:17). During the period from His birth to His death, He did not exercise independently His divine attributes, but, instead, submitted to the Father and Holy Spirit for guidance and power (Matt. 3:16-4:1, 12:28; John 5:19, 8:28, 14:10).

We believe in the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ; that His return from heaven will be personal, visible, and glorious, a Blessed Hope for which we should constantly watch and pray, the time being unrevealed but always imminent (Acts 1:11; Mark 13:33-37; Titus 2:11-13; Rev. 1:7, 22:20) that when He comes in the air, He will first by resurrection and translation (a pre-Tribulation rapture) remove from the earth His waiting Church (John 14:3, 1 Thess. 4:16-18), "remember" Israel and work with Israel during the Tribulation (Isa. 44:21; Jer. 31:34; Lev. 23:23; Eze. 37), pour out the righteous judgments of God upon the unbelieving world (Rev. 6:1-18:24), afterward descend to the earth with His Church and establish His glorious and literal kingdom over all the nations for a thousand years (Rev. 19:1-20:6; Matt. 13:41-430), at the close of which He will raise and judge the unsaved dead (Matt. 25:31-46, John 5:22; Acts 10:42; 2 Cor. 5:10; Rev. 20:11-15), and finally as the son of David, the Messiah (John 1:41) deliver up His Messianic Kingdom to God the Father (1 Cor. 15:24-28), in order that as the Eternal Son, He may reign forever with the Father in the New Heaven and the New Earth (Luke 1:32,33; Rev. 21:1-22:6).

We believe that in Jesus Christ’s substitutionary atonement, He tasted death for every man, and all must be born again and cleansed or be forever lost (Heb. 2:9, 9:22; John 6:44-69; John 3:1-18; Rom. 3:25; Rev. 1:5). This atonement was not limited with respect to whom God’s salvation is offered and therefore, His shed blood is sufficient for all sin (1 John 2:2; Heb. 7:22-25; Rev. 22:17).

The text with His stripes we are healed speaks only of God’s remedy for the sinner’s soul through the substitutionary sacrifice of the Lamb of God and not to the physical healing of the body as falsely taught in Charismatic circles (Isaiah 53:4-6; 1 Peter 2:24).