Decoding Scripture

Jesus is the one who unveils the mysteries and nature of God, and only he is qualified to reveal the “unseen God.” In him, all the promises of God find their substance. He is the interpretive key that unlocks the Hebrew Scriptures and provides the correct understanding of Bible prophecy. The proclamation of “Christ Crucified” is the “power and wisdom of God,” and there is no knowledge of the Father apart from him.

The Prologue of John’s Gospel presents him as the LOGOS, the true revelation and expression of God. He is the one in whom the Word “became flesh,” and the glory of God now “tabernacles” in him. Moreover, the Gospel of John contrasts this very same Jesus with the earlier revelation given through Moses at Mount Sinai - (John 1:14-18).

Key - Photo by Jaye Haych on Unsplash
[Key - Photo by Jaye Haych on Unsplash]

God’s grace and truth are found in His “
only-born Son.” Moses “gave the Law,” but “GRACE AND TRUTH came to be through Jesus Christ.” He alone has seen God, and therefore, he alone is qualified to “INTERPRET” anything and everything about his Father. He is the lens through which Scripture is properly understood -(John 1:16-18).

The Letter to the Hebrews opens with a similar declaration, only rather than being the “Logos made flesh,” the ultimate “Word” or logos of God has been spoken in His Son. In contrast, the “words” spoken previously “in the prophets” were partial and promissory – “In many parts and many ways.”

God certainly “spoke” in His prophets, including Moses, but that “word” was incomplete, whereas, He has spoken with great finality, clarity, and completeness in Jesus Christ.

Unlike all the prophets and the Levitical priests who came before him, the Son “achieved the purification of sins,” and he then sat down at God’s “right hand.” Consequently, he has inherited the “name” that is vastly superior to that of angels, Moses, Aaron, or any other predecessor, namely, “Son”:

  • (Hebrews 1:1-4) – “In many parts and in many ways of old, God spoke to the fathers in the prophets, at the end of these days, He has spoken to us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the ages; who being an eradiated brightness of his glory, and an exact representation of his very being, also bearing up all things by the utterance of his power, purification of sins having achieved, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty in high places, by so much becoming superior to the angels, by as much as, going beyond them, he inherited a more distinguished name.

The “word of the Son” is superior to any word given by any angel or prophet, and even to the “word” given at Sinai through Moses, the greatest of all the prophets.

Likewise, his high priesthood “after the order of Melchizedek” is superior in every way to the Levitical priesthood, and unlike the repeated animal sacrifices of the old system, his “once for all” sacrifice “achieved the purifications of sins.” The New Covenant that he inaugurated is based on the unshakeable foundation of his death and resurrection.

THE SLAIN LAMB


In the Book of Revelation, he is the “Lamb” who was “slain” to redeem his people, and therefore he alone is “worthy” to open the “Sealed Scroll.” He unveils and implements its contents, a process that will end in nothing less than the New Creation - (Revelation 5:6-12).

The vision received by John is the “REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST.” It belongs to the Crucified One, and with it he provides his servants the correct understanding of events that “must soon come to pass.” Moreover, he interprets and applies the contents of the Book for his “assemblies.”

For example, the “one like a Son of Man” explained to John that the “seven golden lampstands” represented the seven “assemblies of Asia,” and the “seven stars” held by this figure were “seven messengers” - (Revelation 1:20).

Jesus possesses all authority, including the “Keys of Death and Hades,” because of his past death and resurrection. “I am the Living One, and I became dead; and behold, I am living unto the ages of ages.” Not even the realm of the Dead is beyond his authority. Moreover, he is the one who “opens and no man shuts,” including the correct understanding of Bible prophecy - (Revelation 1:18-20).

He is the “Faithful Witness and the Firstborn of the Dead.” Both titles refer to his death and resurrection. Not only does Jesus possess the Book of Revelation, but he also is the Master Key that unlocks the meaning of its images and symbols.

Upon his arrival on the “Throne” following his death and resurrection, he took the “the Sealed Scroll” and began to open its “Seven Seals,” unveiling its contents for his servants to behold and understand. Unlike the Book of Daniel, the “Revelation of Jesus Christ” is an UNSEALED book - (Daniel 12:1, Revelation 5:6-12, 22:10).

Sunrise Scotland - Photo by Raphael Andres on Unsplash
[Photo by Raphael Andres on Unsplash]

Thus, Jesus is the indispensable key to unlocking the correct understanding of Bible prophecy, indeed, of the whole of Scripture. The Christ of the New Testament interprets the Hebrew Bible, 
NOT vice versa.

He is the true and greater dwelling place of God, the inaugurator of the New Covenant, the once-for-all sacrifice for sins, the Ruler of the Cosmos, and the ultimate expression and manifestation of the “unseen God.” The substance foreshadowed in the Hebrew Scriptures is actualized in him, and in Jesus alone, all the promises of God receive their “Yea!” and “Amen!”.

In every conceivable sense of the term, Jesus truly is the Logos, the “Word of God” “spoken in His Son,” and “made flesh” and manifested for all men to see in this man from Nazareth.



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