Word Pictures in the Bible - Do You Understand Them? - Word Pictures That Describe Jesus

 The Bible repeatedly refers to Jesus as the "Son of God." (John 1:34; 3:16-18) Some non-Christians find this hard to understand, since God does not literally have a wife and is not of human nature. Obviously, God does not produce a son in the same way as does a human. So this expression  is a word picture. It is designed to help the reader to understand that Jesus' relationship with God is like that of a  human with his father. This word picture also emphasizes that Jesus received life from Jehovah, being created by Him, in a similar way, the first man, Adam, is also spoken of as the "son of God." - Luke 3:38. 

Jesus used word pictures to describe the various roles he plays in the outworking of God's purpose. For example, he said:  "I am the true vine,m and my Father is the cultivator."   Jesus then compared his disciples to the branches of a vine. (John 15:1, 4) What important points does this word picture teach?   To remain alive and fruitful, the branches of a literal vine must remain attached to the trunk.  Similarly, Christ's disciples must remain in union with him.  "Apart from me you can do nothing at all," Jesus said. (John 15:5) And just as a cultivator expects a vine to produced fruit, Jehovah expects those in union in union with Christ to product spiritual fruitage. - JOHN 15:8.

Next time: Word Pictures in the Bible -Do You Understand Them? -  Make Sure of the Similarity

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