The Jesus I never knew

Phillip Yancey has written a book entitled, “The Jesus I never knew.”

There are many people who have a wrong understanding of who Jesus is and as a result have rejected him or are not surrendering their lives to him but are following after their own desires. I was reading the Revelation of Jesus Christ written by the Apostle John who was banished to the island of Patmos because of his testimony of Jesus. John got caught up in the Spirit and was given a revelation of Jesus whom he knew in the flesh while he lived on earth but in his vision had a different view of Christ in all of his glory.

John had the privilege of living with Jesus for 3 years. He saw Jesus in his humanity, how he hungered, was thirsty, got tired from walking, wept at Lazarus’ death and was called the son of Mary which described him as an illegitimate child whose father was unknown. John saw Jesus as fully human but he also saw how he yielded himself in obedience to his heavenly father and broke the laws of nature bringing healing to the blind, deaf, lame, sick, demon possessed and raising people from the dead. Jesus set aside his divinity to take on flesh and live in obedience to his heavenly Father. John was an eye witness to the miracles of Jesus, his death and resurrection. He left everything to be a follower of Jesus and spent his life proclaiming the gospel message and conveying the messages that Jesus taught.

The last image John had of Jesus was when he ascended into heaven. But now as he was banished to Patmos, he had a revelation of a glorified Jesus he had never seen or known before. John saw Jesus as he is today.

We need to see Jesus as John saw him, especially during this time of year when we focus on his birth. For some people Jesus was simply a human being, no different than you or I. He was a baby in a manger, lived as a human being and did many good things. To others he is viewed as one sent from God as a prophet or teacher but not a Messiah or Savior of the world.

When John was caught up in the Spirit, he saw and heard Jesus in a completely different realm than he had ever known before. .

John describes Jesus initially in terms of how he knew him during his ministry and after his resurrection. He called him, “the faithful witness, the first born of the dead, the ruler of the kings on earth.” Rev. 1:5

Then he describes what Christ has done for us.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood

Rev 1:6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Then he describes what will happen when he returns as he had promised.

Rev 1:7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

A day is coming when there will be great celebration of his return for those who have recognized Jesus as Messiah but it will also be a day when those from every tribe of people who rejected him will wail and beat their chest when they realize they were wrong in their beliefs about him.

Rev 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet

Rev 1:11 saying, "Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea."

Rev 1:12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands,

Rev 1:13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.

Rev 1:14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire,

Rev 1:15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.

Rev 1:16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

Rev 1:17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.

John saw Jesus in his glorified body that I am sure was difficult for him to describe. He saw a powerful being and his only response was to fall to the ground in worship. This is the reaction we all must have toward Jesus. He alone is worthy to be worshipped. He is the Holy One, the Righteous One, the only one worthy of praise.

I was listening to a message called “Ten shekels and a shirt” by Paris Reidhead which is a classic message that I recommend to each of you. The message included stories of the evangelists George Whitefield and John Wesley. These men had a tremendous respect for the holiness of God and the horribleness of our sinful state. They cried out against sin because they saw how much God hated it because of what it has done to the relationship he originally intended and still desires to have with his creation. They did not take sin lightly but preached with great passion to stir the hearts of men to see themselves in their sinful state and turn to God for salvation. I don’t know how well their message would be received today in a culture that is afraid of the word sin and views it as a hate crime when it is used against certain sinful behaviors.

Whitefield preached to a crowd of 20 thousand people at Boston Commons. He told the people “you are monsters, monsters of iniquity, you deserve hell. The worst of your crimes as criminal as you have been is that you have not had the good grace to see it. If you will not weep for your sins and your crimes against a holy God, George Whitefield will weep for you.” He would put his head in his arms and weep like a baby not because they were in danger of hell but because they were monsters of iniquity that did not see their crime.

John Wesley was a preacher of the righteousness and holiness of God, and when he would stand and preach for 2 to 3 hours as he was accustomed to in the open air and he would exalt the holiness of God and the law of God and the justice of God and the wisdom of his requirements and the justice of his wrath and his anger. Then he would turn to sinners and tell them about the enormity of their crimes and open rebellion, their treason and their anarchy, the power of God would so descend the company that on one occasion that has been reliably reported that when the crowd dispersed, 1800 people were lying on the ground utterly unconscious because they had a revelation of the holiness of God and they had seen the enormity of their sin. God had so penetrated their minds and hearts that they had fallen to the ground.

I think at times we are guilty of presenting a Santa Claus God who gives people what they need and we do not emphasize the holiness of God and our rebellion against Him. God deserves to be glorified and only a redeemed person who has truly repented from their sin can bring glory to Him. Our passion must be to bring God glory and honor that He alone deserves. His true character and nature must be proclaimed to a world that does not know him or His Son, Jesus.

The Moravians sent hundreds of missionaries to unreached parts of the world. When they sent them out they stated, “May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of his suffering.” The reward is worshippers who will bring glory to God through their repentance and lives that honor his holiness and righteousness.

John had a revelation of Jesus that caused him to bow before his holiness.

This is the Jesus I believe that all will see when he returns and every knee will bow before him and acknowledge that he is Lord. This is the Jesus we need to proclaim to the world. A Jesus who is alive, who is all powerful, who is full of love, who conquered death and is in control of the destiny of the world. He is actively involved in the lives of those who have surrendered to his Lordship and he is coming again.

As we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ we need to remember that there are 2 billion people who have never heard of Jesus nor had the opportunity to hear the gospel message proclaimed. They need a revelation of Jesus in his holiness and righteousness in order that they too can repent and surrender their lives to God and bring glory to His name.

The Joshua Project has compiled these statistics regarding the people who have yet to hear the gospel.

A Church for every People Group

Global Total 16,600

Unreached / Least Reached 6,900

The Gospel to the Ends of the Earth

True Believers 10%

Nominal Adherents 20%

Heard, no response 40%

Virtually no exposure 30%

God is using all forms of technology to reach the unreached world. He is revealing Jesus to a world that is losing hope and is mired in sin. Christ is the only hope; he is the only answer to the sin problem of all of mankind. This Christmas let us be proclaimers of the holiness and righteousness of God that will give people the true motivation for repentance and surrendering their lives to Christ.

We serve a Christ who gave his blood for our sins and now reigns in heaven. He is coming again and His desire is that all the nations have an opportunity to hear the gospel message. We have been entrusted with the gospel and we must make every effort to reach every nation for the glory and honor of the Lamb. It must always be our number one priority because the eternal destiny of every soul depends on whether they have accepted or rejected the gospel. The church must make the necessary resources available so that the unreached can hear. Less than one penny of every dollar given to all Christian causes goes to financing pioneer church planting among unreached people groups. This must change. Our job is to proclaim it to all the world and as we do our part, the Holy Spirit will call them to repentance.

This Christmas, may we boldly and unashamedly proclaim the reason Christ came to earth. May we seek for opportunities to share the message and never shy away from clearly announcing the wonderful message of God becoming man to redeem him from his sin.