Only in Jesus!

Jesus of Nazareth unlocks the Hebrew scriptures and our understanding of the last days, and he reveals the nature and the mysteries of God.

Jesus unveils the “mysteries of God,” and only he is qualified to reveal the nature of the “unseen God.” Only in him are all the promises of God fulfilled. He is the key that unlocks the Hebrew Bible and explains the “times and seasons.” This is especially so in the Book of Revelation which is a “revealing of Jesus Christ.” He is the absolute Lord who reigns over all things from God’s Throne – (Revelation 5:9-14).

Revelation presents the sacrificial “Lamb” who now reigns over the “Kings of the Earth.” It is the “slain Lamb” who discloses and implements the contents of the “Sealed Scroll,” and shows us “what things must soon come to pass” – (Revelation 1:1-6, 5:5-6).

[Castle Normandy - Photo by Simon Spring on Unsplash]

Jesus Christ is the only man that God has appointed as “Lord,” and he was installed on the Divine Throne, not because he conquered his enemies through subterfuge or state-sanctioned violence, but because he sacrificed his life for friends and foes alike to reconcile them with their Creator.

Because he “poured out his soul unto death” in obedience to his Father, he was “exalted and given the name that is above all others,” namely, “Lord.” No president, king, dictator, prince, or prime minister is entitled to this office; only Jesus, the “Crucified Messiah” – (Romans 5:10, 1 Corinthians 2:6-8, Philippians 2:6-11, Revelation 5:9-11).

Jesus is the center of Apostolic Tradition preserved for us in the Greek New Testament. For example, 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. There is no enduring life or truth except in and through the Nazarene.

Truth and light are unveiled in the “only born Son.” Moses “gave the Law,” but “grace and truth came to be through Jesus Christ.” He alone has seen God, and so, only he is qualified to “interpret” the 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 return to the animal sacrifices of the Jerusalem Temple 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 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

Jesus is the slain “Lamb” who is declared “worthy” 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 execution by the World Empire - (Revelation 5:6-12).

The Book is the “revelation of Jesus Christ.” It is an unveiling of 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 is the “shepherd of 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 “things that must soon come to pass” to his churches, or at least to those who have ears that can hear “what the Spirit is saying to the churches.” Christ’s authority extends even over the realm of the Dead, reassuring us that not even death can remove us from his tender care – (Revelation 1:18, 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 “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 without 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 him:

• “Be it known to you, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even in him does this man stand here before you whole. He is the stone which was set at nothing of you the builders, which was made the head of the corner. And in no other is there salvation, for neither is there any other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” – (Acts 4:10-12).

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SEE ALSO:

• Shepherding the Nations - (Jesus is the promised King from the Line of David who guides the Nations of the Earth to the Holy City, New Jerusalem – Revelation 12:5)

• The Ruler of Kings - (Jesus, the Faithful Witness, now reigns supreme over the Kings of the Earth, and he is shepherding the nations to the Holy City of New Jerusalem)

• The Living Word - (Jesus is the Word made flesh through whom the glory of God is revealed, the same Word by which God created all things)

• Solo en Jesús - (Jesús de Nazaret abre las Escrituras Hebreas y nuestro entendimiento de los últimos días, y revela la naturaleza y los misterios de Dios)