FIRST VISION BICENTENNIAL: IN RESPONSE TO THE PROPHET’S INVITATION (Part 3)

MY TESTIMONY OF THE LIVING REALITY OF HEAVENLY FATHER AND JESUS CHRIST

by: Norberto Betita

Many people believed in God as a spirit being with the Holy Bible as their basis. Many others even ignore with disrespect God’s existence. Others believe and worship diverse forms of deity. And there are others who absolutely do not believe that there is a God. However, my long serious study of the scriptures provided me with profound knowledge and understanding of God the Father and His son, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. I searched and understood these things as a matter of obedience to God’s commandments, to search the scriptures and read, study, ponder and pray about it. But I did not keep back the fact that the divine truth of the living reality of Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ, is a matter of spiritual experience in answer to a sincere petition for confirmation of the knowledge gained through dedicated study. It is, therefore, a case of personal revelation and witness through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. As the apostle Paul taught“…no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost” (1 Cor. 12:3), and that “...things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God,“ (1 Cor. 2:11). And the prophet Moroni in The Book of Mormon so declared, “...by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things” (Moroni 10:5).

I am privileged to have been given the gift of the Holy Ghost through a priesthood ordinance after baptism in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. According to the prophet Joseph Smith, as the third member of the Godhead, “This first Comforter or Holy Ghost has no other effect than pure intelligence. It is more powerful in expanding the mind, enlightening the understanding, and storing the intellect with present knowledge…” (Teachings, pp. 149-151).

The Holy Ghost is a teacher. “…the Holy Ghost,…shall teach [us] all things, and bring all things to [our] remembrance…(John 14:26). And as the “…Spirit of truth…, he will guide [us] into all truth…”(John 16:13). 

My belief in a personal living God is enhanced by my understanding of the many scriptural references which for several years had been the subject of my study. I learned that from the very beginning of life we were created with a body of flesh and bones in the image and likeness of God. “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:27). “... In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him...” (Genesis 5:1). “... for in the image of God made he man” (Genesis 9:6). Many other scriptures present several logical proofs that we are indeed created and made in the express image and likeness of God. So that if we are the representation of God’s image, which explicitly show our physical body of flesh and bones, then definitely God also has a body of flesh and bones, and if God has a spirit, we also have.

If God is only a Spirit, he should not have been seen by many people. In Genesis 32:30, we read, “And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” Exodus 19:11, 17, “...the Lord will come down in the sight of all people upon mount Sinai....And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God.” Exodus 24:9-11, “Then went up Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel....And upon the nobles of the Children of Israel, he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.” Exodus 33:11, “And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.” The preacher in Ecclesiastes even made this clear as he preached about death: “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). This separation of body and spirit is only a preliminary part of the eventual resurrection, which the Lord Jesus Christ later accomplished and typify by His own resurrection as the concluding event of His atoning sacrifice.

In the New Testament, most are familiar with the account of Jesus’ resurrection, where it was recorded that He appeared on several occasions to many of His disciples with a body of flesh and bones. The words as recorded in Luke 24:37 say, “But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a Spirit.” They probably are kind of surprised, because a spirit could not have been seen by their natural eyes. In the account recorded by John about the same event it says, “The disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord.” (John 20:19-20.)

Though mortal, Jesus carried with Him a Divine attribute of His Father in Heaven. He was born of a mortal woman conceived by the Holy Ghost. Luke 1:35 records, “... The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also the holy things which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” He inherited His mortal powers and weaknesses from His mortal mother, while He inherited His infinite powers from Heavenly Father. He can do all that he wanted. His disciples had witnessed several miracles performed by Him, and every time they are always surprised, because they had been walking with Him as a mortal man, and despite His teachings on the resurrection, they are still unbelieving that He could have that power. He told them, “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father” (John 10:17-18). Here Jesus explained of His death and eventual resurrection, a prophesied event, which is part of His saving mission.

The disciples of Jesus knew the scripture that is why He had to always remind them. But like most mortals, they are unbelieving. The whole chapter of Luke 24 and those recorded in Matthew, Mark and John as regards the resurrection proves once and for all that Jesus Christ manifested Himself with a body of flesh and bones, to convince the disciples that He is indeed the Christ. When he walks at Emmaus, He went with two men and communed with them, “But their eyes were holden (restrained) that they should not know Him” (Luke 24:16). This he did only that they could not recognize him. He talked with them and even reminded them about the scriptures as regards His resurrection, “beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). He could not have done this if He was a spirit.

Mary Magdalene wept because she could not find the body of Jesus. “Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and said unto Him Rabboni; which is to say Master” (John 20:16). Mary was able to immediately recognize and identify Him because His personality was the same, except that he was already the resurrected Lord. In Luke 24:36, 38-40 it is recorded, “...Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you... And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts. Behold my hands and my feet that it is I myself: handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet.” The truth as recorded was very direct, plain and clear to every searching soul. The statement of Jesus to Thomas was also very simple and clear, “Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (John 20:29).

The same and similar undeviating statements had been recorded perfectly by several of His trusted Apostles. Jesus appeared to his disciples again at the sea of Tiberias, still as a resurrected, glorified being with a body of flesh and bones and even eat fish and honeycomb with them. (see John 21).

The appearances of Jesus Christ to His disciples were not of a mortal body, but a resurrected, purified, glorified body of flesh and bones. He died, and after three days, He was resurrected. In Acts 26:23 we read, “That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles.” He showed Himself that His disciples should see the “light” of the truth of His prophesied and recorded resurrection. According to the Bible Dictionary, “Resurrection consists in the uniting of a spirit body with a body of flesh and bones, never again to be divided.” This resurrection is to give way for God’s children to dwell in the kingdoms of glory which He has prepared for them in His eternal realms.

These are only a few proofs of the living personality of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, recorded in the Holy Bible. More are even available through modern revelations.

As a Latter-Day Saint, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, who believes in modern revelations, I add some scriptural proofs. In 3 Nephi 11 of the Book of Mormon Jesus showed himself to the Nephites and in verses 14-15 he invited the multitude, “Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world. And it came to pass that the multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his side and did feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet; and this they did do, going forth one by one until they had all gone forth, and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety and did bear record, that it was he, of whom it was written by the prophets, that should come.” 

And perhaps the most captivating and persuasive proof is the appearance of Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ in these last days to a boy prophet, Joseph Smith, Jr., in answer to his prayer in the spring of 1820 in a grove of trees, in the township of Palmyra, New York, which eventually brought about the restoration of the true Church of Christ and His Gospel. Then, the vision of the prophet Joseph Smith, Jr., and Sidney Rigdon recorded in Doctrine & Covenants 76: 22-24: “And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives! For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father...”

These recorded scriptures are living proofs that indeed, Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ are living glorified beings with bodies of flesh and bones. 

We indeed need to search the truth, read and ponder and pray about the scriptures for in them are the riches of eternity. We are assured in John 8:32 “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

My repeated readings, study and ponderings of these scriptures for years had indeed given light and understanding on my belief of a personal living God. However, my personal testimony of the truth of the living reality of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ did not solely come from serious and diligent study, but by the power of the Holy Ghost bearing record of the truth. It is a witness that comes not by the brilliance of the mind or the intelligent understanding of recorded scriptures, but by a silent whisper in the ears of conscience and the profound and penetrating feeling registered and written into the tablet of the heart.

Each of us has our position on matters of our individual beliefs of the personality of God. We have our own valid reasons for believing so, and generally we stand on that basis. And as Paul has stated, “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:13)

As I have earlier said, my search for truth is a matter of obedience to God’s commandment to read, ponder and pray. In relation to our obedience in doing right, Elder Robert L. Simpson said: “Whatever stage of motivation we find ourselves in, I think we must eventually reinforce this with our own personal testimony that has been built on a foundation of gospel scholarship and understanding—a testimony which leads us to the life of unselfishness and service, one which finds its highest sanctification in the supreme thought that we are living gospel principles because we desire to glorify his great name.” (“Cast Your Burden upon the Lord,” New Era, Jan. 1977, p. 4.) Accordingly, I bear witness of these eternal truths, in the sacred name of the living Christ.