"Will the real Jesus please stand up?"
There are so many portraits of Jesus to be found in the
world. And most, if not all of them only cause confusion
among God's people today. In fact there are so many
images that many people have given up any hope of ever
finding out who He really is. So, who is Jesus anyway?
And is there any way for us to know anything about Him?
The answer is most assuredly yes. And why is it
important for us to have an accurate answer to this
question?
In order to know the REAL Jesus we must
go to God's word, the Holy Scriptures. It's critical for
us to have an accurate understanding of not only who
Jesus is, but we must also understand why He came, and
what He did for us here in this world, as well as in the
realm of our eternal destiny. Really we, as God's
people, need the REAL Jesus, not simply one that the
world has conjured up as a mere compromise. One who is
made in the image and imagination of men. We don't need
a Jesus who cannot redeem a single soul, or a Jesus who
is no more than a symbol for some group, whose only wish
to have a show of religion, but have no real sense of
the truth. And most importantly, if we don't have the
REAL Jesus Christ, we are left with an Anti-Christ (1
John 2:18-22; 4:3; 2 John 1:3). And prefix "anti" means
to "be against" or "in the place of." So when we, or
some other person presents a false Christ, we, or they
are become an Anti-Christ, being opposed to Christ
Himself.
This Jesus can be changed at the fancy of
the artist's preconceived prejudices, criticism, or
devotion to His own personal view of Jesus of Nazareth.
With the flick of a pin or paintbrush, or a few words,
he can change the color of His skin, His hair, in order
to suit any particular cause of which he might wish to
align himself. This kind of image can be created, and
re-created in their own image, which is an image of
unbelief. The problem today with so many of the
images that we have not only of Jesus Christ, but also
of His Church, is that there has been an open attempt to
redefine and neutralize the very authority of the Bible.
The so-called Bible seminaries and popular churches of
our day have all but banished the REAL Jesus of the
Bible. And without the REAL Jesus there is no Church.
After all, it's Jesus who established the Church Kingdom
of God. It is ruled, sanctified and protected by Jesus
Christ. And we need the Church just as a little baby
needs its mother's milk to nourish it, so that it will
grow. And in a real sense we cannot embrace Jesus
without embracing the Church. So in a real sense our
faith (not our eternal salvation,) stands on the REAL
biblical Jesus.
So beloved, how do we uncover the REAL
Jesus? And as I said, to answer that question we must
go to the only reliable source of witnesses available to
us. And that source is the scriptures, in the English
Bible, our King James Translation. This is the only
place that we can find the written accounts of those
people who knew Him. After all it was the disciples who
walked with Him on those dusty roads. They were there
and heard His words, and they of all people knew the
REAL Jesus; I mean they were there, and they have left
their witness for you to view.
Someone might come along and assert that
the disciples were biased, and so they are not reliable
witnesses. But we read that John said, "and he' [John]
'that saw it bare record and his record is true: and he
knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe" (John
19:35). What a foolish assertion for anyone to make,
saying that their witness cannot be true because they
are biased, and they have some hidden agenda. If that
were true it would also follow that we couldn't trust
any "biased" witness. And what would happen then? That
would end our system of justice, because all that
someone would have to say is, "well, this witness is
biased, and we can't trust him." No, and in fact their
agenda was not hidden at all, but was published openly.
Doesn't it seem strange that all of
these people, these men who are accused of being biased,
whose witness we are not trust, should hold fast to a
lie? Even when they were faced with their own sure
torture and death? I mean doesn't it seen strange to any
normal person that they would stand firm for something
that was not true? Yes, to even give up their own lives...and
for what...a lie?
We see that
under Roman law all that they would have to do in order
to not die was to renounce Jesus, and His resurrection,
proclaim that Caesar was Lord, and they would be allowed
to live. How easy it would be to simply say, "Well we
made it all up? None of it really happened." And then
they'd be allowed to walk free. But no, not one of them
gave in to this temptation, they stood firm, and all of
the disciples who were witnesses held to their witness
till the end. And so beloved child of God, if we can't
trust the Apostles to lead us to the REAL Jesus we're
only left with opinions. And that would lead us into
heresies of theoretical philosophies like Gnosticism.
Or, we become like those who accuse us, just another
skeptic relegating Jesus to realm of mere Christmas
ornaments for the holiday season, or an untruth perhaps,
not be really taken seriously. No beloved let us stand
for, and go straight to the source, the Holy
Scriptures...our Bibles.
The trusted
Doctor Luke says, "Forasmuch as many have taken in hand
to set forth in order a declaration of those things
which are most surely believed among us, even as they
delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were
eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; It seemed good
to me also, having had perfect understanding of all
things from the very first, to write unto thee in order,
most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know the
certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been
instructed" (Luke 1:1-4). Here is our eyewitness, and he
has left us his written account of "those things which
are most surely believed among us." How can we possibly
ignore him as a witness?
The Apostle
Peter also says, "for we have not followed cunningly
devised fables, when we made known unto you the power
and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were
eyewitnesses of his majesty" (2 Peter 1:16). Their claim
is a firsthand account given to us by those who were
willing to give up their lives for Him. Lets us hold
fast to their record. So then, "who was Jesus?"
The scriptures give us titles which give us a picture of
His person and work here in this world. "He is Christ,
Lord, Rabbi and Master, the Son of Man, the Son of God,
the Son of David, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the
Rose of Sharon, the Bright and Morning Star, the Word of
God, the Advocate, the Alpha and the Omega, the First
and the Last, the Beginning and the Ending, the
Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, the Only
Begotten of the Father, the Lamb Without Spot or Blemish
and the Great I Am. These are but only a few of the
titles that just give us a hint of His life, and the
glory of His work.
We make a
distinction between His person and His work, but we can
never remove the one from the other. These titles give
us a picture of the whole person of the REAL Jesus as
found in the witness of the New Testament, allowing us
to see the person and His work. Let's take
time to examine all of these titles for Christ, as the Lord leads.
Elder Thomas McDonald
