The Revelation of Jesus

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“You always were what you are going to be, it just hasn’t happened yet.” (P2P)

John 1 NKJV

1 ¶  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2  He was in the beginning with God.

3  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

4  In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 

14  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

18  No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

34 “And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”

John 3

16  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

17  “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

John 4:42  (And) … “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”

John 19:19 ¶  Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Jesus always was what He is going to be, it just hasn’t happened yet.

Revelation 21:2  Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Revelation 19:9  Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.”

Ephesians 5:32  This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

The Holy Bible goes into great detail concerning the unfolding revelation of Jesus Christ. In other words, God revealed Jesus to mankind through the Holy Scriptures, one step at a time. Allow me to conclude:

• In the beginning, Jesus was The Word. 

  He was always with God.

• At His birth in Nazareth, the Word became flesh, and The Only Begotten Son of God was born.

• During His earthly life, Jesus showed us the Father. 

  He said, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.”

• At His death on the cross, Jesus became The Savior of the World.

• At the resurrection, Jesus became the King of Glory.

• After the rapture of the Church, in heaven, Jesus will marry His Bride, and He will be our Beloved Husband.

The Word; The Only Begotten Son; The Savior of the World; The King of Glory; and My Beloved …

That’s what He has always been … “I am my beloved’s and He is mine. His desire is towards me and His banner over me is love!” (Song of Solomon)

Why does this matter, because today He is our King, Lord, and Master, and we need to respect who He is today. He has given us orders as our King:

Matthew 28 NKJV

18  And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

• “I’ve been promoted!”

• My new authority is out of this world …

• Now here are my orders …

19  “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

20  “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

What does it mean to go and make disciples of all nations? It’s called the Great Commission. We will be talking about this all week with our children and the workers who come to VBS.

But for now … 

1. Do you know Jesus or do you only know about Him?

2. You can know Him personally … He wants to be your Savior and King.

3. He has invited you to be His Bride; there is a wedding invitation with your name on it … you can RSVP today.

4. Say yes to Jesus! 

5. He will keep His covenant and love you forever. 

Jesus is Real

Jesus is real! I’m not sure if you heard or not, but Jesus is real!! Many people say He was a good man, some say He was a prophet, some say He never existed. But I say that Jesus is real!! Jesus is not just some good man, He is the man that came down from heaven, born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, died a sinners death, rose from the grave, and ascended into heaven. That is who my Jesus is! He died to save my soul, and I am thankful for Him! But what I came here to tell you today is that…

JESUS IS REAL!!

But don’t take my word for it. Take it from the man who saw Him with his own two eyes. The man I am referring to is none other than the Apostle John. This is the same apostle John who was a disciple of Christ.

Who Was John?

• One of the 12 original apostles who were personally chosen by Jesus. 

• He was a fisherman of Galilee

• Son of Zebedee and Salome

• Brother of James

• Business partners with Peter and Andrew.

One day while he was mending his nets on the shore, Jesus walked up to him and called John to follow him to become a fisher of men. At that moment, John dropped everything and followed after Jesus.

Although there were 12 disciples who were chosen by Jesus, there were only 3 disciples who were very close to Him: Peter, James, and John. Because of this, John saw things that some of the other disciples never did:

• The raising of Jairus’ daughter

• The transfiguration

• Jesus in Gethsemane

Not only that, but he also referred to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. I believe what John was trying to get across here is that he knew that Jesus loved him and he never got over it. It was something that he still held onto. Because Jesus meant everything to him. John was also close to Jesus. So close that he reclined at the table next to Him during the Last Supper. That means that He heard every conversation and that he spend intimate time with him as well.

John was at the cross during His final minutes and ultimately when He died. Jesus left John I’m charge to care for His mother. Of all the people, Jesus chose John to look after her. That goes to show the relationship they had and the trust Jesus had in him. 

He was also there when Jesus rose from the dead. In fact, John 20:8 says that on the morning Jesus resurrected, John outran Peter to the tomb. He saw the empty tomb with his own two eyes. Not only did he see the empty tomb, but he saw Jesus actually resurrected from the dead as well! John was so convinced of what he saw concerning the risen Jesus that he suffered persecution and was exiled for his faith and testimony of Jesus.

Knowing all of these things about John gives his words tremendous weight. John can talk about a lot of things and it may or mat not matter. But when it comes to the topic of Jesus, it matters. His testimony of Jesus might be more convincing of anybody else in the New Testament.

So with all of that said, what does John have to say about Jesus?

1 John 1:1-4

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2  the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3  that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4  And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

John was saying that Jesus is real. He was saying that Jesus was not a myth, nor was He just a philosophical figure. John is saying that Jesus was a real person that he really knew personally.

Now this is important because he was writing to a group of believers who were battling false teaching in their day called Gnosticism. They claimed to have a special spiritual knowledge that believers in Jesus Christ did not have.

They believed:

• Jesus did not really become human (only appeared)

• God didn’t become flesh

• Salvation comes through a special knowledge

But John attacked all of these misconceptions in just the first 4 verses of 1 John chapter one. And while he wrote these things almost 2000 years ago, they still apply to us today. This is because while we don’t hear the word “Gnosticism” any longer, the ideas are still prominent.

The world believes:

• Jesus was a good teacher (but not God)

• My truth is enough (I don’t need Jesus)

• You don’t need Jesus to be spiritual

• It doesn’t matter how you live (as long as I am a good person)

• Jesus isn’t the only way

1. Jesus really is real 1 John 1:1 — “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life”

• Jesus really is God — “That which was from the beginning…”

• Jesus was a real person  — “…which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands…”

• We do not believe in a myth, we believe in the way, the truth, and the life

2. Jesus really did come1 John 1:1 — “the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us”

• Manifest = To make visible what was previously unseen; to appear

• John saw it for himself — he saw and was convinced that Jesus was God who had always existed and stepped into humanity. He believed that Jesus was God in the flesh.

• Jesus is not just a mere man, He is God.

3. Jesus really does change lives 1 John 1:3 — “That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

• John really wanted his readers to know that he knew Jesus, saw Jesus, heard Jesus, walked with Jesus, talked with Jesus, dined with Jesus, etc. He wanted them to know this because his desire was that they would get to know Jesus like he did.

• John’s life changed when he met Jesus. Peter’s life changed. Paul’s life changed. The early church changed. And people are still being changed by Jesus as they meet Him as well.

• Their lives were changed because they had fellowship with Him. The only thing that can change our life is by meeting, encountering, and fellowshipping with Jesus.

4. Jesus really is enough 1 John 1:4 — “And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.”

• At the end of the day, you can have everything in the world and it not mean anything. Why? Because Jesus is enough.

• If you had nothing else in life but Jesus, that would be enough. 

• If you never accomplished all of your dreams but you have Jesus, that would be enough.

• If you lost everything in a flood and had nothing else but Jesus, that would be enough.Why?

• Because Jesus is enough

• Jesus + Nothing = Everything

• True joy comes from true fellowship with Christ. And because Jesus is real, Jesus really came, Jesus is enough.

5. Jesus is really coming back. 1 John 3:2 — “Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”

• This is the promise that you and I have in Jesus! One day, Jesus is coming back to redeem His people back to Himself.

• As the Apostle John says, “when He appears…” Jesus will appear again and we will be made like Him.

TAKEAWAYS

1. Because Jesus is real, you can trust Him completely

2. Because Jesus is real, you should Go and share Him boldly