MANIFESTATION! What is it? The dictionary says that it means to turn public what was hidden. Manifestation of an idea. Public manifestation of a feeling. Manifestation is the opposite of concealing. To walk in a manifested way, that is, to walk clearly. To reveal himself, or to make himself known. A manifest is a public writing, in which a sovereign exposes a political or financial situation of a country, previously unknown to the people.
What has Jesus Christ come down to this world for? He came down to manifest, that is, to turn the nature of God the Father public; he came down to reveal the truth to men; he came to reveal the eternal plan of God to men; he came to bring light on the mysteries of the faith (1 Tim. 3:9), and on the mystery of the gospel (Eph. 6:19). Let us go deeper into this issue:
The apostle John says: “He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. To this end the Son of God was revealed, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). This means that God has never opposed the devil, for Christ has been manifested for this very purpose. Now, if Christ was manifested to destroy the works of the devil, and if Jehovah is Jesus and was manifested before the incarnation of Jesus (John 1:14), why did not Jehovah destroy the works of the devil? Does Jesus have two behaviors? When the people was less developed and more needy, he left the devil free to destroy the work of God, and after the people evolved and became more intellectual, did he strip the devil of his power? (James 4:7). What is worse yet: If Jehovah is Jesus, why did he agree with the devil to practice evil against Job? Satan provoked Jehovah (who is said to be Jesus), to prove Job concerning all he had, affirming that Job would blaspheme (Job 1:6-11). Jehovah then said: “Behold, all that he has is in your power” (Job 1:12). It is unbelievable; it is fantastic; rather, it is infernal. Jehovah did not agree with Satan in the Old Testament, and he manifested himself to destroy the works with which he agreed, in the New Testament? And when Satan wished to do with Peter what he had done with Job, did Jesus not allow? (Luke 22:31-32). But Christ does not change his behavior, as it is written: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8).
If Christ, when he was temped by Satan three times, reproving him (Luke 4:1-13), why did they work together in the Old Testament and in agreement? The wrath of Jehovah was kindled again against Israel, and he incited David to number the people (2 Sam. 24:1). In the book of the Chronicles of Israel the incident is repeated in the following words: “Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel” (1 Chr. 21:1). If Jehovah did it, why does it say there that Satan had done it? And if it was Satan, why does it say there that it had been Satan? Whatever one does, the other also does. Both have the same purpose. If Jehovah is Jesus, did Jesus and Satan work in agreement? But John declares that Jesus was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. There in the Old Testament, the wrath of Jehovah — or as theology says, the wrath of Jesus — was kindled against Israel, and he, together with Satan, incited David to number Israel. David, obedient to Jehovah, numbered the people, and as punishment, Jehovah, that is to say Jesus, killed 70,000 innocent Israelites (1 Chr. 21:9-14). But Jesus declared that he did not come to this world to destroy the souls of men, as was the case with Jehovah (Luke 9:51-56). However, if Jesus is Jehovah, he was the one who killed the 70,000 men. David calls out to Jesus, since he is Jehovah, and says: Isn’t it I who commanded the people to be numbered? It is even I who have sinned and done very wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let your hand be against me, and against my father’s house. And the angel of Jesus, in other words, of Jehovah, sent word to David that he should raise an altar in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. David bought the land, built the altar, and offered peace sacrifices, and called on Jehovah, in other words, Jesus. And Jesus, that is to say, Jehovah, commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into its sheath, with which he was going to destroy Jerusalem (1 Chr. 21:17-27).
The problem is in the following fact: It is written in the New Testament: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast” (Eph. 2:8,9). In the New Testament whatever the Christian wants to do, he asks in the name of Christ, and Jesus himself does it, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son (John 14:13). In David’s case, Jesus asked him to edify an altar and offer holocausts there, and after David did this, the angel put up his sword into his sheath. What did placate the wrath of Jesus, that is to say, of Jehovah, was the sacrifice offered by David, in other words, the merit was David’s, differently from Eph. 2:8-9. This means that Jesus had two natures.
If before coming in flesh Jesus is the Jehovah in the Old Testament, he was wrath (Ps. 7:11), he was consuming fury (Ex. 32:10). He was vengeful, and maintained his wrath against the enemies forever (Nah. 1:2). He was a destroyer of the souls (Gen. 6:7). He devastated the peoples (Is. 13:6-9). He oppressed his very people (Ps. 106:41-42; Deut. 28:29). He tormented his people (Lev. 26:16). He watched for evil and not for good (Jer. 21:10; 44:27). In the New Testament Jesus shows that he is not irate or vengeful; he does not oppress or destroy anyone; he does not torment. On the contrary, he just heals, just sanctifies, just vivifies, just comforts, just regenerates, just purifies, just saves, and just forgives. Glory be to Jesus Christ!
By Pastor Olavo Silveira Pereira