Revealing the Unseen God

Sunset Monterey Bay - Photo by John Ruddock on Unsplash

Jesus of Nazareth is the one who reveals the purposes and fulfills the mysteries of God. Only he is qualified to “interpret” the “unseen God.” In him, all the promises of God find their “Yea” and “Amen.” He is the key that unlocks the Hebrew Scriptures and fulfills the words of the prophets. This principle is presented in the opening paragraph of Letter to the Hebrews and pictorially in the Book of Revelation.


The Prologue of John’s Gospel presents Jesus as the LOGOS, the ultimate expression of God, the one in whom the Word of God “became flesh” and His glory now “tabernacles” - (John 1:14-18).


The grace and truth of God are found in His “Son.” Moses “gave the Law,” but “GRACE AND TRUTH came through Jesus Christ.” He alone has seen the unseen God, therefore, only he is well-qualified to “INTERPRET” anything and everything about his Father:


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).


The verb translated as “interprets” has NO DIRECT OR INDIRECT OBJECT in the Greek sentence. The statement is OPEN-ENDED. Quite simply, Jesus interprets.


Likewise, in the Letter to the Hebrews, the “Word” of God spoken in His Son is His complete word. In contrast, the various “words” spoken previously “in the prophets” were partial, incomplete, and promissory – “In many parts and many ways.”


Unlike the ancient prophets, the Son “achieved the purification of sins,” and he then sat down a God’s “right hand” where he remains as the High Priest of his saints. Therefore, he inherited the more “excellent name” that is vastly superior to that of ‘angel,’ ‘Moses,’ ‘Aaron,’ or any of his other predecessors - (Hebrews 1:1-4).


In the Book of Revelation, Jesus is the slain “Lamb” who alone is “worthy” to open the “Sealed Scroll” due to his sacrificial death and resurrection. By opening the Scroll, he unveils and executes its contents. For this reason, all creation pronounced him “worthy” to receive ALL power, honor, and authority, “Because by your death, you redeemed men from every nation to become a kingdom of priests for God” - (Revelation 5:6-12).


THE LAMB REVEALS


The reality portrayed so graphically in Chapter 5 of Revelation is conceptually parallel to the “word spoken in a son” in Hebrews. Like the “Lamb,” the “Son” overcame sin and all its consequences through his sacrificial death. Therefore, he now reigns over all things on the Throne as the High Priest of his Church.


The Book is the “REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST.” He is the one to whom it belongs, and he gives it to his “servants” so they will understand the events that “must soon come to pass.” Moreover, he interprets and applies the contents of this “revelation.” For example, he informed John that the “seven golden lampstands” he saw in the Vision of the Son of Man represent the “seven assemblies” of Asia – (Revelation 1:20).


The sacrificial “Lamb” possesses all authority because of his past death and resurrection, including the “keys to Death and Hades.” He is the one who “opens and no man shuts,” including insight into the future and the larger cosmic war that is raging between the “Lamb” and the “Dragon.”


Jesus is the “Faithful Witness and Firstborn of the Dead,” as well as the key that unlocks the visions of Revelation. Unlike the Book of Daniel, Revelation is an UNSEALED BOOK because the sacrificial “Lamb” has broken its “seven seals,” and unlike the Prophet Daniel, John was commanded NOT to seal the Book - (Daniel 12:1, Revelation 22:10).


The “Word that became flesh” is the indispensable key to unlocking prophecy, Scripture, and the “mysteries of God.” The Jesus revealed on the pages of the New Testament interprets the Hebrew scriptures, not vice versa.


He is the true and greater Tabernacle, the inaugurator of the promised New Covenant, the “once-for-all sacrifice” for sin, the “High Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek,” the one who overcame sin and death, and the ruler of the Cosmos who mediates before God on behalf of his people as the “High Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”


The substance foreshadowed under the old system is found in the “Crucified Messiah.” In HIM, all the covenant promises of God find their “yea” and “amen,” and in him, God has spoken His full and definitive “Word.”


Beach Sunrise - Photo by George Kourounis on Unsplash
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