Jesus of Nazareth unveils the mysteries of God, and only he is qualified to reveal the nature and purposes of the “unseen God.” All the promises of God find their fulfillment in Jesus, their “Yea and Amen.” He is the interpretive key that unlocks the Hebrew Scriptures and provides the correct understanding of Bible prophecy.
The Crucified
Messiah is the center of the Apostolic Tradition preserved in the Greek New
Testament, and the proclamation of “Christ Crucified” is the true “power
and wisdom of God.” There is no true knowledge of the Father apart from him.
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| [Photo by Timothy Eberly on Unsplash] |
The Prologue of the Gospel of John presents Jesus as the logos. He is the One who embodies the revelation of God. In him, the Word “became flesh” and the glory of God “tabernacled,” and John contrasts this same Jesus with the earlier revelation given by Moses - (John 1:14-18).
Moses
“gave the Law,” but “grace and truth came to be through Jesus.” He
alone has seen God, and therefore, he is well-qualified to “interpret” everything
about his Father - For of his
fullness we all received, even grace for grace. For the law
was given through Moses. Grace and truth came 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, the verb translated as “interprets” in English has no direct object. The statement is open-ended. Quite simply, Jesus interprets. God has declared His final “word” in him, not on Mount Sinai or anywhere else, and not through anyone else - (Hebrews 1:1).
In the
Book of Revelation, he is the sacrificed “Lamb” who alone is
found “worthy” to open the “Sealed Scroll.” In doing so, he unveils
and implements its contents, a process that will consummate in the New
Creation.
For
this reason, all creation declared him “worthy” to receive all power,
glory, and authority since, “by his death, he redeemed men and women from
every nation to become a kingdom of priests for God.” He achieved victory through
his death, and it is the “slain Lamb” who now reigns over all things -
(Revelation 5:6-12).
The vision
received by John on the Isle of Patmos is the “revelation of Jesus Christ.”
He is the one to whom it belongs, and he gives it to his servants so they may understand
what events “must soon come to pass.”
The “Lamb”
possesses all authority, including the “Keys to Death and Hades,” and all
this because of his Death and Resurrection. The glorious “Son of Man” who
was slain is the One who “opens and no man shuts.”
He is the
“Faithful Witness and Firstborn of the Dead,” and therefore, Jesus is
the key that unlocks the Book of Revelation. Upon his arrival before the
Throne, he took possession of the “Sealed Scroll” and immediately began
to unseal it. Unlike the Book of Daniel, Revelation was
and remains an unsealed book because
of the “Lamb” - (Daniel 12:1, Revelation 22:10).
Thus, Jesus the Nazarene is the indispensable
key to the correct understanding of Bible prophecy, Scripture, the Book of
Revelation, and the nature and “Mysteries of God.” The Christ
revealed on the pages of the New Testament interprets the Hebrew Scriptures, not
the other way around.
Only in and through him can we hope to
understand the Scriptures, and if we wish to comprehend and embrace the true
nature of God, we need only look to this same Jesus.
SEE ALSO:
- The Son of Man - (The one like a Son of Man in Daniel is the source of Christ’s self-designation as the Son of Man and his authority)
- The Law and Prophets - (Jesus came to fulfill all that was promised and foreshadowed in the Hebrew Scriptures, the Law, and the Prophets)