Unlocking Prophecy
Jesus of Nazareth, the Logos become flesh, is the one who unveils the mysteries of God. Only he is qualified to reveal the nature of the “unseen God.” In him, all the promises of God find their substance and fulfillment. He is the interpretive key that unlocks the Hebrew Scriptures and provides the correct understanding of prophecy. This is especially so in the Book of Revelation where it is the sacrificial “Lamb” who reigns over all things from the Divine Throne.
The man of Nazareth who was crucified is the center of Apostolic Tradition that is preserved in the Greek New Testament, and the proclamation of “Christ Crucified” is the true “power and wisdom of God.” There is no knowledge of the Father apart from Jesus.
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The Prologue of John’s gospel presents him as the LOGOS, the great and final revelation of God. He is the one in whom the Word “became flesh,” and the glory of God now “tabernacles.” Moreover, the Gospel of John contrasts this very same Jesus with the earlier revelation given through Moses at Mount Sinai - (John 1:14-18).
God’s grace and truth are found in His “only born Son.” Moses “gave the Law,” but “GRACE AND TRUTH came to be through Jesus Christ.” He alone has seen God, and therefore, he alone is qualified to “INTERPRET” anything and everything about his Father.
“For of his fullness we all received, even grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No man has seen God at any time; the only born Son who is in the bosom of the Father, HE INTERPRETS” - (John 1:16-18).
In the Greek clause, the verb translated as “interprets” has NO DIRECT OR INDIRECT OBJECT. The statement is OPEN-ENDED. Quite simply, Jesus interprets everything about God. He has unveiled His full and final “Word,” His Logos, in His Son.
Likewise, in the Letter to the Hebrews, the “Word” of God spoken in His Son is His complete word. In contrast, the “word” spoken previously “in the prophets” was partial and incomplete.
Unlike all the prophets and Levitical priests who came before he did, the Son “achieved the purification of sins,” sat down at God’s “right hand,” and inherited the “name” that is vastly superior to that of angels, Moses, Aaron, or any other predecessor:
- (Hebrews 1:1-4) – “In many parts and in many ways of old, God spoke to the fathers in the prophets, at the end of these days, He has spoken to us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the ages; who being an eradiated brightness of his glory, and an exact representation of his very being, also bearing up all things by the utterance of his power, purification of sins having achieved, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty in high places, by so much becoming superior to the angels, by as much as, going beyond them, he inherited a more distinguished name.”
THE LAMB REVEALS
In the Book of Revelation, Jesus is the slain “Lamb” who alone is declared “worthy” to open the “Sealed Scroll.” He unveils and executes its contents, a process that ends in nothing less than the New Creation.
For this reason, all creation pronounces him “worthy” to receive ALL power, glory, and authority, for “by his death, he redeemed men and women from every nation to become a Kingdom of Priests for God.” He achieved victory over sin, Satan and Death for humanity and the Cosmos through his sacrificial death - (Revelation 5:6-12).
The vision received by John is the “REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST.” He is the one to whom it belongs, and he gives it to his servants to provide them with the understanding of events that “must soon come to pass.” He interprets and applies the contents of the Book for his “Seven Assemblies in Asia.”
The “slain Lamb” possesses all authority, including the “Keys of Death and Hades,” because of his past death and resurrection. The glorious “Son of Man” is the one who “opens and no man shuts.”
None of the events portrayed in Revelation occur without his knowledge and authorization. Even the “Beast from the Sea” cannot launch its war against the “saints” until the time determined by Jesus - (Revelation 1:1, 1:17-20, 13:7-10 – “it was given to him…”).
He is the “Faithful Witness and the Firstborn of the Dead.” Therefore, Jesus is the Master Key that unlocks everything. He takes possession of the “Sealed Scroll” and immediately unseals it, unveiling its contents for his servants. Unlike the Book of Daniel, the Book of Revelation is an UNSEALED BOOK - (Daniel 12:1, Revelation 22:10).
The “Word become flesh,” Jesus of Nazareth, is the indispensable key to the correct understanding of prophecy, Scripture, and all the “Mysteries of God.” The Christ revealed in the New Testament interprets the Hebrew Scriptures, not vice versa.
- “Now to him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the REVELATION OF THE MYSTERY which has been kept in silence through times everlasting, but now is manifested, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God is made known unto all the nations unto obedience of faith, to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever. Amen.”
Jesus is the true and greater Tabernacle and Temple, the inaugurator of the promised New Covenant, the once-for-all sacrifice for sin, the one who overcame sin and death, and the present Ruler of the Cosmos and the “kings of the Earth.” The substance foreshadowed in the old system is found today in the “Crucified Messiah.” In him, all the promises of God receive their “yea” and “amen.”
