(202) – THE JESUS OF REVELATIONS

202 – THE JESUS OF REVELATIONS

 

The Jesus Christ that we know is the Jesus of the four gospels, or better, of the four authors of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Let us, therefore, by the gospels, define the profile of Jesus Christ’s character. Let us begin by Matthew, the first one according to the order of the Bible.

  1.   Mathew registers the very words of Jesus, saying, “Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls” (Matt. 11:29).Jesus was so humble, that Paul says, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:5-8).
  2. Jesus Christ, being Lord of all, made himself servant of all. When James and John asked of Jesus the privilege to sit one to his right and another to his left, in his glory, Jesus answered them:“Whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:35-45). Jesus never coveted power.
  3.  Jesus was forgiving. A prostitute cried at his feet, anointing them with oil. Jesus, moved with compassion, forgave her sins (Luke 7:36-44). At another time, the Scribes and Pharisees brought to Jesus a woman caught in adultery, and said, “Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” He said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Those men went away, humbled. Jesus, then, said to the woman. “Go your way; from now on sin no more” (John 8:1-11).
  4. Jesus was full of compassion. Once he saw a great number of people, and moved with deep compassion, he healed their sick. The crowd of poor people followed him. “But Jesus said to [the disciples], ‘They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!” Because they only had five loaves of bread and two fish, Jesus miraculously multiplied their food (Matt. 14:13-21).
  5.   Jesus Christ is the one that can give peace. He declared, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you” (Matt. 14:13-21). The highest and most sublime aspect of his mission is the establishment of peace. “And through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven” (Col. 1:20).
  6.    As he is the judge of all, both dead and alive, he never took advantage of this position, judging and condemning no one. He said, “And if anyone hears My saying, and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world” (John 12:47-48).
  7.    His calling and mission has been and will always be to save the lost and the condemned. The evangelist Luke said: “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). And John declared: “He who believes in Him is not judged: he who does not believe has been judged already” (John 3:18).
  8.    We have focused some of the bright characteristics of the divine character of Jesus. And the Bible says that Christ does not change. We read in the letter to the Hebrews, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever” (Heb. 13:8).

Let us now see the profile of the character of Jesus described in the book of Revelations, to see if it agrees with that of the four gospels.

  1. The Jesus Christ of Revelations does not forgive the sinner and executes vengeance, besides, by killing them. In the fourth letter, written to the church of Thyatira, he accuses the Church of tolerating Jezebel, the false prophetess, who advocated prostitution. The text says, “Behold, I will cast her upon a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. And I will kill her children” (Rev. 2:20-23). But Jesus does not accuse anyone (John 5:45). He does not judge (John 12:47-48). And he also does not kill anyone. Jesus resurrects the dead (John 5:24).
  2. Jesus declares that the thief of the souls is the devil, that is, the devil takes life away; but he, Jesus Christ, came so that we would have life, and life more abundant (John 10:10). In Revelations, Jesus presents himself as the thief of the souls (Rev. 3:1-3). We should explain that Paul describes Jesus as a thief in reference with the end of the world. The end of the world is the judgment over all, as we read in 1 Thess. 5:2-3. Peter also agrees with this revelation (2 Pet. 3:10). The thief that reaps sinners taking from them the chance to repentance is Jehovah, and also the devil.
  3. The Christ of the Gospels is humble, meek, and is a servant of all, but the Christ of Revelations is a tyrant, and he is going to raise up tyrants to rule with a rod of iron, for we read, “And he who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces” (Rev. 2:26-27). This is the opposite of (Matt. 11:29 and Mark 10:43-45).
  4.            The meek and humble lamb of the Gospels is presented as irate in Revelations. “And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lam; for the great day of their wrath has come; and who is able to stand?” (Rev. 6:16-17).
  5. Jesus came to this world to reveal the love of the Father and of the Son, for he said, “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:44-45). John, the disciple of love affirms that God is love (1 John 4:7-8). In the book of Revelations, both the Father and the Son are presented with not only anger, but with cruel vengeances. The seven cups of wrath, filled with evil and mortal plagues reveal a Jesus totally different from that of the Gospels (Rev. 16:1-21).
  6. The Christ of the Revelations asks an angel to open up the well of the abyss, setting free clouds of grasshoppers with stings like scorpions to torment the unrepentant (Rev. 9:1-10).
  7. The Saints, that is, the disciples of Jesus and the sons of God, were taught and trained by the very Jesus to love their enemies, speak good things of those who speak evil of them, to do good to those who hate them, and to pray for those who hurt and persecute them (Matt. 5:44-45). They were also anointed to communicate the eternal life (1 John 1:1-3; 5:11-12). The two witnesses of Jesus described in Revelations received the command and power to kill. Those two witnesses received the power to shut the heavens so that it would not rain, and also to strike the earth with all kinds of plagues, in opposition to Matthew 5:45, making the sacrifice of Christ void, who ransomed us from the curses and plagues (Gal. 3:13).
  8. The Jesus of the Gospels makes void the commandment of Jehovah of the eye for an eye, and the tooth for a tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, scratch for scratch, hurt for hurt, blow for blow (Ex. 21:23-25). The new commandment of Jesus is to not resist evil, but overcome evil with good (Matt. 5:38-42; Rom. 12:21).
  9. We can state with certainty that the Christ presented to us in Revelations is not the one that the evangelists have presented to us. Whoever has eyes to see may choose the true Jesus Christ, for one of them is not true. We remain with the Christ of love, of forgiveness, of peace, of humbleness, of renounce and abundant life, full of compassion, overflowing with mercy, revealed in the four Gospels.

 

By Pastor Olavo Silveira Pereira

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