HOW IS JESUS GOD HIMSELF IN THE FLESH?

By Derrick Gillespie
The second temple was not honored with the cloud of Jehovah's glory, but with the living
presence of One in whom dwelt the fullness of the Godhead bodily [i.e. Jesus]--who was God
Himself manifest in the flesh [1 Tim. 3:16]. The "Desire of all nations" had indeed come to His
temple when the Man of Nazareth taught and healed in the sacred courts. In the presence of
Christ, and in this only, did the second temple exceed the first in glory.
E.G. White, Great Controversy, 1911, pg. 24

The very same way the Holy Spirit is said by E.G. White to be Christ Himself to mean the Spirit
is Christs Representative who is divested of the personality of humanity, and yet the Spirit
was never literally a human in the first place, so too Jesus is said to be God [i.e. the Father]
Himself manifested in the flesh and yet the Father was never literally manifested in the flesh
in the first place (John 1:14,18). Jesus, the Son of God, did the manifesting in the flesh on
behalf of the Father, as His Representative, and it was as if or akin to the Father doing it
himself. The Bible explains it this way: God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.
2 Cor. 5:19. Likewise, it is the Spirit who, divested [i.e. devoid] of the personality of humanity
(i.e. it is not saying hes without personality, but without the personality of humanity) that
today actively represents Christ as if He Himself is here literally in person. It is a principle similar
to Christ saying about his body after His death I will raise it up, and yet it was the Father in
Heaven, through the personal Representation of the Spirit on earth, who literally resurrected
Jesus; he was fully and truly dead at the time. And yet because of the spiritual and operational
oneness of the three in the Godhead, and because of Jesus Representation through the Spirit,
even in death Jesus REMARKABLY showed the oneness of operation as if or akin to the act of
raising Himself. Thats how the Godhead operates, and no difficulty exists in this mode of
speech at all, once the Biblical principle is understood.
Incidentally, this plainly shows that the Spirit is not literally the person of Jesus as some would
stubbornly make out, because when Jesus was fully dead as a human being, even though he
said about His body I will raise it up, yet he could not do it Himself in person. Why? Its rather
simple. AS A PERSON HE WAS DEAD AT THE TIME. It needed the separate person/personality of
the Spirit (Representing the Father at the tomb) to raise Him up, despite Jesus admittedly had
said figuratively I will raise it up while dead. Thus any language mode which describes the
Holy Spirit Jesus as Himself must be understood to be a figure of speech showing effective yet
personal representation. Thats why there are three living persons of the Godhead; not two.