Knowing God

Jesus is the interpretive key that unlocks the Hebrew scriptures, understanding the end-times, and the nature and mysteries of God.

Jesus Christ unveils the Mysteries of God. Only he is qualified to reveal the nature and glories of the “unseen God.” In him alone, all the promises of God find their fulfillment. Christ is the key that unlocks the Scriptures and unveils the “times and seasons.” This is especially so in the Book of Revelation which discloses the sacrificial “Lamb” and how he reigns over the Earth, or at least, to men and women who can “hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”

Jesus is the center of Apostolic Tradition preserved for us in the Greek New Testament, and it is above all the proclamation of “Christ Crucified” that is the “power and wisdom of God” that brings salvation to humanity. There is no enduring life or knowledge of the Father apart from Jesus of Nazareth and his Death and Resurrection.

[Beach Photo by Joshua Earle on Unsplash]

The Prologue of John’s Gospel presents Christ as the “Word,” the ‘Logos’ (λογος), the unfiltered expression of God. This Word “became flesh,” embodied in the Nazarene, and in him, the glory of God now “tabernacles” for all men to see.

Truth and light are unveiled 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 so, he alone is qualified to “interpret” his Father.

• “For of his fullness, we all received, even grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came to be through Jesus Christ. No man has seen God at any time. The only born Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he interprets” - (John 1:16-18).

In the Greek clause of the preceding passage, the verb translated as “interpret” has no direct or indirect object. The statement is open-ended. Jesus interprets and explains everything true about God, life, and the future.

Likewise, the “Word” of God spoken in His Son is His complete word. In contrast, the “word” spoken previously “in the prophets” was partial and preparatory – “In many parts and many ways of old…” – (Hebrews 1:1).

Unlike the Levitical priests with their repeated animal sacrifices, Christ “achieved the purification of sins,” and he did so “once and for all.” His sacrificial death will never be repeated, and any attempt to regress to the animal sacrifices of the “Temple made with hands” will fail (once more) to purify men of sins or “cleanse their conscience from dead works to serve the Living God” – (Hebrews 1:1-4, 7:27, 9:14, 10:10).

Having overcome the Devil through his Death and Resurrection, Jesus sat down at God’s “right hand” and inherited the “name” that is vastly superior to that of angels, Moses, Aaron, or any other predecessor. He now reigns from God’s presence as our merciful and faithful High Priest - (Hebrews 1:2-4, 2:17, 8:1-3):

• “Let us, therefore, run with patience the race that is set before us, looking away unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” - (Hebrews 12:1-2).

THE LAMB REVEALS

In the Book of Revelation, Jesus is the slain “Lamb” who is declared “worthy” by the heavens and the earth to open the “Sealed Scroll.” He unveils and executes its contents, a process that will conclude in nothing less than the New Creation and a fully populated city of “New Jerusalem.”

The Lamb is “worthy” to receive all power, glory, and authority, because “by his death, he purchased men and women from every nation to become a Kingdom of Priests for God.” He achieved victory through his sacrificial death at the hands of the World Empire - (Revelation 5:6-12).

The Book is the “revelation of Jesus Christ.” It is an unveiling of and about Jesus and “what things must soon come to pass.” Revelation presents us with the sacrificial Lamb who now reigns over the “Kings of the Earth” and “shepherds the nations.” He interprets and applies the Book’s visions and symbols to his “churches” – (Revelation 1:4-6, 1:20, 12:5 [“She brought forth a Son who is to shepherd {‘poimainô’} the nations”]).

The “slain Lamb” is the “Living one. And I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore and hold the Keys of Death and Hades.” He “opens and no man shuts,” and this includes the unveiling of his heart and the “things that must soon come to pass” to his churches. His authority extends even over the realm of the Dead, reassuring us that not even death can remove us from the tender care of God and the Lamb – (Revelation 1:18).

• “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These things declares he who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens and no one closes, and who closes and no one opens”– (Revelation 3:7).

None of the events portrayed in Revelation occur without the knowledge or consent of the Lamb. Even the “Beast from the Sea” is incapable of launching its war against the “saints” until the time determined by Jesus - (Revelation 1:1, 1:17-20, 13:7-10 – “It was given to him…”).

Jesus is the “Faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the Dead, and the Ruler of the Kings of the Earth.” Because of his Death and Resurrection, he is the Master Key that unlocks everything whether prophecies, visions, or the mysteries of God. He is the Greater Tabernacle where the glory of God manifests, the inaugurator and “Author” of the New Covenant, the “once and for all” sacrifice for sin, and the Ruler of the Cosmos.

The substance foreshadowed in the structures and rituals of Ancient Israel, the “glimpses and shadows,” is found in the “Crucified Messiah.” In him alone, all the promises of God receive their “Yea!” and their “Amen!” - (2 Corinthians 1:20, Colossians 2:17, Hebrews 8:5, 10:1).

God can only be known through His Son, Jesus of Nazareth. There is no true understanding of the Father apart from Christ. Therefore, everyone who has seen Jesus has “seen his Father.” He is the “way, the truth, and the life.”  No man or woman comes to the Father without him, and salvation is found in “no other name under heaven.”

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SEE ALSO:

• The Temple Built by God - (Jesus is the Final Sanctuary where the glory of God dwells, the glory foreshadowed in the ancient Tabernacle and Temple – John 2:13-22)

• Temple and Worship - (Jesus revealed that worship and the presence of God no longer are limited to geographical locations or man-made structures – John 4:20-24)

• No Other Name! - (Jesus of Nazareth fulfills the promise to bless all nations in Abraham. Christ is the Patriarch’s Heir, and the only source of Salvation)

• Connaître Dieu - (Jésus est la clé d'interprétation qui ouvre les Écritures hébraïques, la compréhension de la fin des temps, de la nature et des mystères de Dieu)