Two Pictures of Jesus

Reading:

1. Intro

a. Value of pictures

i. Memories (Baby’s birth, wedding)

ii. Learn from pictures

1. Kyle/ Me

2. Pictures of God’s creation

a. ( (NKJV) 1 The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.

3. Pictures have so much meaning in them!

b. Pictures of Jesus

i. We have so many “pictures” of Jesus given to us in the New Testament

ii. Jesus asked the question “What do you say about the Christ, Who is He?

1. Whenever you think of Jesus, what kind of mental image do you receive at first. What picture comes into your head?

2. There are many possibilities: our King, Savior, Judge, Healer, our Hope, our Brother, the Creator, Human (the Son of Man), God (the Son of God)

3. How you answer the question that Jesus poses to you has eternal implications!

c. 2 “pictures” of Jesus

i. 2 pictures that seem at first glance to be 2 totally different people/beings

1. A picture that may seem at first to be a picture of defeat and of hopelessness

2. A picture of power, victory, and hope

ii. Picture # 1à -50à Suffering Servant and Savior

1. Walk through text

a. 2647-2656à Jesus’ betrayal and arrest

i. Judas comes with a large crowd, armed with clubs and swords. He betrays him with a kiss.

ii. Jesus does not fight his arrest, and does not allow others to do so either

1. The scriptures had to be fulfilled

b. 2657-2668à Judicial injustice

i. Jesus is brought before the Sanhedrin.

ii. False witnesses were giving their testimony against Jesus

iii. The high priest asks Jesus concerning these accusations, he says nothing

iv. The high priest questions Jesus concerning whether he is the Christ, the Son of God.

1. Jesus’ answer (v64)

2. The high priest accuses Jesus of blasphemy, another false accusation!

3. They condemn Him, saying he was worthy of death, and spit in his face, hit him and slap him, and mock him

c. 2669-2675à Denial

i. Among all of the commotion, Peter is asked 3 times whether he was one of Jesus’ disciples, saying no all three times, the final time with Jesus looking right at him.

d. 27:1-2; 2711-2726à Injustice and call for the death of Jesus from the crowd- release of Barabbas

i. Jesus is brought before Pilate

ii. The Jews accused him of things he had not done wrong

iii. Pilate attempts to release Jesus by having the crowd choose between Jesus and Barabbas. The guilty one, the murderer and the insurrectionist; Barabbas is released. Jesus, the innocent one is not.

iv. The Jews call for the death of this innocent man, even accepting that his blood would be on their hands and on their children’s

e. 2727-2732àMocking

i. He is hailed as King…not quite

ii. He is given a crown, a scepter, and a robe

f. 2733-2750à The crucifixion and death of Jesus

i. He is brought to Golgotha where he is nailed to that cross, receiving the worst possible type of execution that there was at that time.

ii. His hands and feet were nailed to the cross; his accusation was nailed above his head.

iii. The 2 robbers that were crucified on each side of Jesus mocked him, along with those who were passing by.

iv. The scribes and elders came up to the cross, mocking him, telling him to come down from the cross if he was truly who he claimed to be.

v. Darkness falls over the land, Jesus cries out those agonizing words of David, “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?”

vi. V50à He cries out again with a loud voice and yields up his spirit

2. This picture of the Lord seems so hopeless and dark (Men on Road to Emmaus hoped he was the redeemer of Israel, but their hopes at least to them did not come to pass). But on the contrary, this picture of Christ offers much hope for us.

a. When we think about what he suffered, it should bring us many different emotions.

i. There should be sadness within us because of what he had to suffer for us.

1. It is because of our sin that he was betrayed, suffered such injustice and humiliation. It should be disturbing to us that this is what it took for us to have any chance of hope.

2. We are the people that are guilty of Jesus being put onto that cross

ii. This picture should also bring great Joy to us.

1. Knowing that His sufferings give us such a great hope should bring us joy. We have a relationship with the Lord now and will for eternity!

b. What a picture of service!!!!!!!!!!!!

i. If anyone had the right to demand service on this earth, it was Jesus as he lived in the flesh, but He did not do this. He humbled himself to serve ()

1. :45à For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

a. Jesus is the supreme example of the humble, self-sacrificing, self-giving service

i. He emptied Himself (lit. laid aside His privileges, ESV he made himself nothing). Christ left his position, rank, and privilege. He went from the form of God to being in the form of man as a bondservant (lit. a slave), And if that wasn’t humiliating enough, he was even obedient to the point of the agonizing death of the cross, one of the most degrading forms of death there were at that time. He went from the highest of positions to the lowest, as we have just looked at.

ii. This is the attitude that Paul says that we must have in ourselves (3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. (NASB95))

iii. Selfishness and pride are the norms in our society. Today, we see everyone trying to get to the top no matter what the cost, whether or not it even hurts someone. But we are called to live differently from the world!

a. We daily fight the tough battle of ridding ourselves of ourselves; laying aside our own wills and desires, and looking for ways to serve God and others. This is a challenge!

2. We need to be willing to deny ourselves and to give ourselves to others in service, just as our Lord.

3. Philippians 2à Jesus’ humbling of Himself and suffering such a humiliating death in service to all led to the greatest of exaltations!

a. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (ESV)

iii. Picture #2à The Glorified God ()

1. 0105 Instead of being mocked and bowed down to as a King, Jesus is described as the Ruler over the kings of the earth

2. 0108 He is the Alpha & Omega, the Lord God; the Almighty

3. 0113-0116 His attire

a. Robe to his feet & a golden sash

i. Not humiliating like the cross. Stripped to just about nothing

ii. He has a robe to his feet/ His clothing now is showing dignity (maybe priestly clothing)

b. 0114 Instead of having a head with a crown of thorns; probably red; encrusted with blood, here Jesus is crowned with a Head and hair white like wool, like snow

i. Possibly an illusion to Daniel’s visions in & 10

1. Some of the same attributes that the Ancient of days has in Daniel’s visions are attributed to Jesus also

ii. We see here quite possibly a picture of the wisdom and infinite nature of Christ. He has always existed and is the source of wisdom for us.

c. Eyes like a flame of fire

i. Also an allusion to

ii. This is repeated in the letter to Thyatira, and also in .

iii. This shows us the all-knowing nature of Christ; the ability to penetrate all disguises and to judge things as they are, not as they might pretend to be. He sees and knows all that is going on. You cannot hide anything from his sight.

iv. After Jesus was condemned by the Sanhedrin, they blindfolded him (Luke 23:64), spit in his face and struck him, telling him to prophecy who it was that had done it, as if he did not know… BUT HE DID!

d. 0115 Feet like burnished bronze, glow from the furnace

i. Nails were hammered into his feet on the cross, but no longer!

ii. The feet of Jesus here resemble bronze, not as this is when it is cold, but as it appears when it is glowing in the intense heat of a furnace. Where such feet tread, they utterly blast and instantly turn to ashes everything they touch, or even approach.

e. Voice as the sound of many waters

i. Instead of his words of anguish on the cross, here he offers words that are powerful!

ii. An illusion to ; ;

iii. WaterfallsàNiagara Falls

f. 0116 Right hand holding 7 stars

i. Which are angels to the churches (v20)

ii. Instead of having the ability to call to the Father for legions of angels, he is the one who has them at his disposal

g. A 2-edged sword coming from his mouth

i. When he was arrested, the crowd that came with Judas had swords in their hands, but not one like what our Lord possesses here

ii. This statement about Jesus is made at least 5 times in Revelation.

iii. Isaiah says the same about the reign of the Messiah

1. “and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.” (ESV)

iv. IN , , Jesus says he will make war with the Nicolaitins with the sword of His mouth. He will strike down the rebellious at his coming with this sword (19:15, 21)

v. His sword will administer justice, unlike the injustice that happened to Him at the cross.

h. His face/ countenance was like the sun shining in its strength

i. There was no darkness like there was at the cross

ii. John saw our lord in His glory, and responded by falling as one who is dead.

i. We see Jesus asks the Father in . "Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. (NASB95)

j. In this chapter in revelation, we see just a glimpse of the glory of Christ, but he wants us to see His glory in person ()

4. Lessons

a. 0112 Jesus is shown among 7 lampstands; which are later described as His churches.

b. He is just as active among his people now as he was in giving himself for our sins.

i. This seems to leave our thoughts sometimes. We tend to view all of Jesus’ work as being at the cross and forget about what he is doing now!

ii. The glorified Son of God is seen in this chapter as walking about His churches. He is the One who is the keeper and maintainer of the lamp stands, trimming the wicks and refilling the oil. Without the presence of the keeper of the lamps, the light would not be sustained.

iii. Just as our Lord speaks to the seven churches in Asia, He also speaks to this church, and to each one of us individually…”I KNOW!”

1. He knows what is going on and he will judge us.

c. We need to respond to this picture of the Christ just as the Apostle John does in v17

i. Fall before him in reverence and worship

iv. Both pictures should draw us to Him and lead us to stand in awe of Him