A Picture of Him

Although I have little patience with someone who tries to remake Jesus into a different being I have a significant tolerance for someone who sees Him a little differently as their view does not violate the scripture.  I can even give them some room if they see something I don’t as long as it doesn’t fly in the face of spiritual truths.  I believe my stand here is consistent with scripture.  But if someone plays with the basics about Jesus his doctrine is junk.  Paul said that if anyone came preaching another (different) Jesus let him be accursed.

Seven men wrote most of the biblical accounts that describe Jesus directly.  Matthew, Mark, John, Peter and James walked with Him and listened to him teach for three years, Luke was an investigative writer who composed an account from eyewitnesses and Paul got his view by direct revelation from God.  Their pictures of him are not the same but they are coincident views.  These various views never contradict.  They complement and confirm.  If we try to construct a more intricate view from one of them alone we will almost certainly have a false view.  This is what many of the cults have done.  If we look at them together from them we get a solid view of the Master. 

The writers’ views are like pictures taken of one object from different angles, with different lighting and by different cameras.  Each angle, lighting or camera will hide some things and accent others in shadows and highlights.  This is not the fault of the object but the limitations of each photographic situation.  And the different views of the Master are not His fault but reflect the human limitations of the minds of the men who wrote about Him.  Although they were inspired by the Holy Spirit they were still men with finite minds.  Two places this human limitation shows vividly in scripture and is usually accepted by scholars, even ones who reject it elsewhere are in Ezekiel and Revelation.  Here two men with finite minds and without an understanding of an era peered into the future; thousands of years away and most likely saw things that they had no basis to understand.  If we were to get the same picture today we may not comprehend it because we do not know if those times will be like ours or if they will be far enough in the future that our minds would be overwhelmed like these Ezekiel and John.  I know many today will reject that concept, Jesus is coming so soon that we will comprehend but so said those who lived in 1861 and they would have been little more capable of understanding than John.  And those who lived then thought they were going to be that generation.  Look at the music, “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”

But let’s get back to the views of Christ.  Each one saw his humanity and his deity differently and with different emphasis.  Luke saw him as a man who was also God, John saw him as God made man, the word that was made flesh.  Let there be no doubt, all of the seven saw his humanity and his deity in some form. 

Look at the contrast of Luke who sets the stage by telling at length of Mary’s pregnancy and Jesus’ birth while John introduces Him as the “Word that was with God.”  Paul sees him as the sacrifice made once and for all.  John also looks ahead and sees Him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

So we have a picture of Him but it is a series of shots that show Him from almost every angle and in every light.  What diversity.  What unity. 

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