Articles
John’s Understanding of Jesus
John’s Understanding of Jesus
As John begins the Revelation, he starts by describing what he understands about who Jesus is and what Jesus did of man:
"and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." (Revelation 1:5–6).
Jesus, His very name means Jehovah Saves. It was said at the giving of this name that ‘He would save HIS people from their sins’ (Matt. 1:21). He is the Christ, the promised Messiah of the Old Testament. He is the fulfillment of the promises that God made about restoring men unto a right relationship with Himself. In Christ we are redeemed, forgiven, reconciled, called, adopted, and made right with God.
He is the faithful witness in that he faithfully testified of who He is. Such testimony of being the Son of God brought about his suffering and death but He faithfully maintained this testimony unto the end.
Having been put to death, God raised him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand. He was given all authority over heaven and earth. He was made King of Kings and Lord of Lords. (Notice that Revelation says that He IS King of King and Lord of Lord - 17:14). Thus He is the first-born of the dead in that He is preeminent over all (Col. 1:15-18). Thus he is also the ruler of the kings of the earth.
In all of His glory and being, yet he loved us and gave himself for us. Greater love has no man than this, that he would lay down his life for his friends. This Jesus did for us! It was by the shedding of His blood (his death) that we are released from our sins. Apart from His death there is no forgiveness. When we were baptized we were baptized into His death and when we were baptized into Him God forgave us of our sins and cleansed us of our transgressions (Rom. 6:3-4; Col. 1:12-14; Acts 2:38; 22:16).
Along with that He then ‘translated us into His kingdom’, the kingdom of His beloved son that He purchased with His own blood (cp. Col. 1:12-13, Acts 20:28). We are no ordinary worldly kingdom, but we are a kingdom of priests that serve our God and Father acceptably through Jesus. We are thus instructed: "Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” (Heb. 13:15-16).
So, “to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen”. Is this YOUR understanding of Jesus?
Hugh DeLong
