Let Me Say This Again...

I know that I have said this before, but it bears repeating. In fact, anything worth knowing is worth saying over and over again. Jesus IS the exact representation of the Father [see Hebrews 1:3]. We must stress this point. The Bible was/is full of types and shadows. The prophets that came before Him, though divinely inspired, at times misrepresented the true nature of God. If you want to know the Father, you must see Him in the Son.

I believe that we often hold to the idea that every statement uttered by a prophet was/is 100% reliable and accurate. In other words, that there is absolutely no human element to these statements whatsoever. This belief, however noble, leads us to a lot of questions. How do we handle those moments within the Gospels when Jesus corrects our understanding of the nature of God? How do we come to grips with the stunning statement "You have heard it said, but I say to you..."? The point is that the prophets of the Old Testament, as well as the biblical writers, were/are not unlike you and me. In the midst of great revelation, they could still bring some of their own concepts into the equation. They could actually miss the mark. If they were adequately representing the heart of the Father, then why would Jesus feel the need to correct some of their misunderstandings?

I realize that this type of thinking stirs up a lot of controversy. I have said before that if you see something about the nature of God in the Old Testament that doesn't line up with what you see in Jesus in the New Testament then you have a reason to question it. This comment alone sends some people reeling. They have bought into the idea that everything in the Bible is a perfect revelation, without considering that Jesus (the Word of God made flesh) is the only perfect revelation. And Jesus often represented the nature of God in such a way that it was contrary to popular belief.

While some would hold to the idea that this type of thinking brings into question the validity of the Old Testament, I do not. In fact, I find myself rejoicing when I read something in the Old Testament that speaks so clearly about the nature of God as seen in Jesus. I'm blown away, not by the ones who missed it but by the ones who were able to see Him so clearly. These men and women were able to communicate so much with the Spirit of God upon them. Imagine what we can do with the Spirit of God within us.

I believe it is intellectual dishonesty to dismiss some of the obvious problems by simply placing them under the umbrella of divine inspiration. Please understand that this is not a critique of the Bible. It is a critique about how we handle the Bible. How we interpret the whole. How we handle those things that we do not understand. If Jesus, being the exact representation of the Father, the very radiance of His glory, could bring correction; how can we possibly hold up the idea that everything from the Old Testament is watertight? One must remember, especially when reading through the Old Testament, that we are dealing with Jewish history, Jewish poetry and epics, Jewish hymns, and Jewish prophecy. The New Testament, on the other hand, revolves around the revelation of Jesus Christ. The Gospels tells a bit of His narrative, Acts speaks of early church history and the evolution of the Gospel message, Letters to the early church that addressed particular problems, as well as the apocalyptic writings of John in the Revelation. All of that to say that the Bible is a collection of different types of literature, set at different times in Jewish/World history, from different authors, that were brought together to help communicate an amazing story of God's redemptive love.

So how do we handle this?

First of all, our faith was meant to revolve around a Person not a book. The Word of God is none other than Jesus Christ. He was/is the Word made flesh. The very thought and expression of God is Jesus. This is what the Apostles believed in so heavily. They recognized the centrality of Jesus to the faith. He was the cornerstone upon which the church was built. It was His revelation of the Father that they carried. It was His message, the Gospel of the Kingdom, that carried them through the darkest of days. It was the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of revelation, that allowed them to go deeper into their understanding of Him. There were things that they could not handle (these are Jesus' words) until the Spirit of God came to them. Which is plainly understood once Paul comes on the scene and we read the Gospel that he preached. We have to understand this. We have to get it. The PERFECT WORD OF GOD is JESUS. There is no misunderstanding in Him.

Second, we must do our diligence to understand the Father through the lens of Jesus. Since He is the perfect expression of the nature of God, we would do well to know the Father through Him before grabbing someone else's ideas. How did He talk about His Father? How did He teach the disciples to relate to God? How did He express His nature? We would do well to read through the Gospels especially. We should pay attention to the things that He said concerning the Father. We should see the indignation within the religious leaders of His day because they give us insight into their misunderstandings of the nature of God. We should allow Him to be our Teacher, the Holy Spirit as our guide, and seek to know the Truth that will set us free.

Third, we need to understand that part of maturing is realizing that we often get it wrong. Over the last few years I have been on a journey to know why I believe what I believe. It's a journey that I invite every person to join. However, it is a journey that is filled with repentance. Certain steps can only be made when we are willing to say we missed it and to change the way we think. That's what repentance is. It's a changing of the mind. One cannot encounter the Lord without it. He has every right to shape what I believe, correct what I have misunderstood, and cause me to stand in His revelation. This journey does not discount the Bible. It honors what Scripture says about itself, namely that "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness..."

I have discovered that it is the revelation of the Father through Jesus in my life that creates the greatest security. Rather than defend beliefs and/or doctrines that I haven't come to a full revelation of, I can honestly say that some things are a working progress. It's what I do know, what the Lord has revealed, that allows me to mature as a son. And what I have found to be consistent about the nature of my Father is that He works hard in us so that we would be persuaded about who He is and who we are. Identity, Identity, Identity. Isn't that what we have longed for all along? He moves us beyond getting our identity from our particular Christian affiliation, denomination, etc., and into an identity that is completely secure in Him. Crucial to this journey is the revelation of the nature of God that is found in Jesus. Remember Jesus' words in Matthew 11: "No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him."

Know Him.
See Him.
Hear Him.
You will never be the same.