Why was Christ manifested to men in flesh? Was it in order to be famous? To reveal his glory? To kill and destroy sinners? To make war against evil? To accuse sinners? To rule with an iron rod? To judge the world? To force the wicked to drink the chalice of dregs of men? To cast in hell? To force the keeping of the law? To impose heavy slavery? To be the owner of silver and gold? To be the Messiah of Israel according to the flesh? To restore the throne of David? To perform signs and prodigies? To show off? To compete against men that are spiritually dead and morally bankrupt? TO WHAT PURPOSE WAS CHRIST MANIFESTED?
Fame was not the reason, for he forbade a leper to spread the news of the healing received from him (Mark 1:44). Jesus raised a girl called Talitha, the daughter of an official of the synagogue of Capharnaum named Jairus, but commanded him to tell no one about it, so that no one would know (Mark 5:41-43). Fame is for the ambitious, not for the humble. Whoever wants to be famous likes to show off and praises himself. Jehovah, on the contrary, loved to be famous. Isaiah, the prophet, reveals this god’s vanity: “I will set a sign among them, and I will send such as escape of them to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the islands afar off, who have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations” (Is. 66:19). Jehovah did not save Israel from Egypt because he loved them and wanted them to have peace and rest. Look at what the psalmist says: “Nevertheless he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make his mighty power known” (Ps. 106:8).
Jesus did not manifest himself to reveal his glory, for he said: “But I don’t seek my own glory. There is one who seeks and judges” (John 8:50). Jehovah, yes, sought his own glory: “Everyone who is called by my name, and whom I have created for my glory, whom I have formed, yes, whom I have made” (Is. 43:7; Jer. 13:11). Jesus did not manifest himself for the purpose of killing and destroying, as it happened with Jehovah, when Elijah called out fire from heaven to destroy fifty soldiers and one captain. Jehovah sent fire from heaven and burnt them. It was the very opposite with Jesus: As he was going up to Jerusalem there was a village of Samaritans that did not receive him. James and John, then, said to Jesus: Do you want us to call out fire from heaven and destroy them as Elijah did? Jesus, however, rebuked them saying: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost” (2 Kings 1:9-12; Luke 9:51-56).
Jesus did not come to make war against evil, as Jehovah did, who destroyed all humanity in the Flood (Gen. 6:5-8): “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).
Jesus declared, saying: “Don’t think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, even Moses, on whom you have set your hope” (John 5:45). Moses was the mouthpiece of Jehovah, so that the one who accused was Jehovah, who gave the accusing law.
Jesus did not manifest himself to rule with an iron rod, as was prophesied by Jehovah in Ps. 2:7-9, for he declared to Pilate: “My Kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). Jehovah ruled with an iron rod: “As I live, says the Lord Jehovah, surely with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out, will I be king over you” (Ezek. 20:33). Jesus, the good shepherd, tends his sheep with love (John 10:11).
He did not manifest himself to judge the world, either. Jehovah is the judge of this world, as Abraham said (Gen. 18:23-25). “Oh let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you will judge the peoples with equity, and govern the nations on earth. Selah” (Ps. 67:4). And Jesus made the following declaration: “If anyone listens to my sayings, and doesn’t believe, I don’t judge him. For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world” (John 12:47). And Paul reveals that the church is going to judge the world (1 Cor. 6:1-3).
Jesus was not manifested to give the cup of dregs to eat, nor water and gall to drink, as Jehovah used to do to Israel (Ps. 75:8; Is. 51:17; Jer. 9:15-16). Jesus manifested himself so as to receive in his body our sins and forgive them, to save us and make us children of God (1 Pet. 2:24; John 1:12-13).
Did Jesus by any chance come to this world to cast the lost into hell? Never! Jesus manifested himself to save the lost. Paul says: “The saying is faithful and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief” (1 Tim. 1:15). The one who cast into hell was Jehovah. The prophet Ezekiel said to the king of Assyria: “I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to Sheol with those who descend into the pit” (Ezek. 31:16).
Did Jesus manifest himself as the owner of gold and silver? Never! The gold and the silver of Jesus are different from the gold and the silver of this world. He said: “Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don’t break through and steal” (Matt. 6:19-20). And Jesus told the parable of the foolish rich man who gathered great wealth: “But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared–whose will they be?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:16-21).
The owner of the gold and silver of this world is Jehovah (Hagg. 2:8). Job declares: The Almighty is the one who gives the gold and the silver of this world (Job 11:21-27). Jehovah is the maker of the rich and of the poor (Prov. 22:2). Jehovah is the one who makes rich and who makes poor (1 Sam. 2:7).
The wealth of the kingdom of god is the work of charity (1 Tim. 6:17-19).
By Pastor Olavo Silveira Pereira