To whom do you owe highest allegiance to for bringing revelation of who God is? Would it be Moses, David, or Nehemiah? Who delivered the highest level of revelation to us, Samuel, Solomon, or Isaiah? Daniel? Jeremiah? Who portrayed the clearest image of God? One might build a case for any one of these, but once we add Jesus to the list, all debate stops. Progressively, bits and pieces of limited revelation came to and through the writers of scripture pertaining to for their specific times and circumstances. However, then came Jesus. He WAS THE revelation. Jesus was the living, breathing, walking, talking, interacting unveiling of the Father on this earth. He came saying, “The Father and I are one. If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” He boldly and emphatically announced that no one had at any time ever seen the Father. Any revelation of God that came before Christ is incomplete and secondary to the disclosure of God found in the incarnation of Word in the flesh. In the touch of Jesus, people encountered the hand of the Father. The words of Jesus carried the voice of the Father. To lock eyes with Jesus, was to make eye contact with the everlasting Father. The opinions expressed by Jesus perfectly conveyed the views of heaven. Jesus rattled the religious cage of Judaism by His words. What does it say about the state of religion when words of spirit and life are resisted as heresy or blasphemy? Jesus disturbed the status quo of “religion as usual” and enraged the religious elites of His day. He could offend a Pharisee, a scribe, and a Sadducee all in one afternoon. He reinterpreted the sacred Scriptures they thought they understood. He lamented the impending fall of a whole religious system they were invested in. Do you see the clash of the old and new? Are you sensing the enormity of the shift Jesus brought? It is easy to understand why John the Baptist came crying, “Repent (metanoia), you must change the way you are thinking, or you will miss what is coming.” Jesus was bringing a radically new way of seeing who His Father has always been. This new wine He was introducing required a flexible new wineskin. The face of God was severely distorted in the mind of fallen man. Though God did not change due to sin, the human concept of God was perverted. Finally, the only one who was qualified to set the record straight arrived. Jesus was painfully aware of how the old system had attributed much to God that He was not responsible for. Jesus revealed a non-violent Father of forgiveness, not a bloodthirsty God who needs appeasing. Jesus showed the drastic contrast between the pagan gods and Yahweh. After Jesus was transfigured on the mountain, Moses and Elijah disappeared leaving Jesus alone, when the voice of the Father declared, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him.” All scripture is not created equal. We are free to give priority to the highest clearest revelation of the Father. We must do so, if we are to move into the fullness of our new identity. Jesus showed us what the Father is like, and anything that contradicts that must have another explanation. Jesus has highest allegiance as a revealer of the Triune God. He and the Father share the exact same nature and essence and are always on the same page. So, what is God like? He is like Jesus. Never again allow old, incomplete revelation from an obsolete covenant hinder your full reception Jesus’ unveiling of the Father to us. He is good. He is only God. And He has only ever been good.
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