A Great Light (What Manner of Man Is Jesus, Part 2) | Letters to a Samuel Generation
by Rachel Starr Thomson
written November 2005
“And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.”
Thousands of years ago, the prophet Isaiah spoke of a time when darkness would overwhelm the earth. But in the midst of this great darkness, God would birth a new and wondrous thing: “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined” (Isa. 8:22-9:2).
Isaiah's prophecy was fulfilled in a very unexpected way. The Light came with a name, with a body that lived perfection and a tongue that set the world blazing. His name was Jesus.
Years after Jesus' time on Earth had ended, the apostle John summed up what he had learned through Him: “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (I John 1:5). Throughout history God has revealed Himself to man. Through the Law, where we first learned that God has absolute standards of righteousness. Through His power, in His miracles and multiple deliverances of Israel. Through poetry, prophecy, and allegory, as He poured out His desires and demands through the prophets. But not until the Son of God came to Earth did light truly shine in our darkness. Not until we watched Him live did we finally come to understand the heart of God.
Recently I was talking with a fellow Christian who told me that he's had trouble understanding the God of the New Testament. It's hard to grasp the Almighty as Jesus presented Him, he said. My friend found it much easier to connect to the Old Testament: to the prophets and commandments, miracles and laws. I understood, because up until recently I've found the four Gospels to be the hardest books in the Bible to understand. Yet, if I believe what Scripture tells me, I realize that I cannot know God until I know Him in Jesus Christ. Until the Son opens my eyes, I will always misunderstand the Father.
If the Church today needs anything, it needs a clearer vision of Jesus. Paul calls Him “the visible image of the invisible God” (Col.1:15, NLT). Jesus Himself declared that no man comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). What manner of man is Jesus? If we want to know God, it is imperative that we find out. We've got to come to Him, impoverished in spirit, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, with no pretense and no religious games. Jesus was never impressed with those who pretended righteousness in a bid to win God's favour. God does not require us to get it together before we come, He just says Come. He'll take care of the rest.
I'm a needy person. There's a lot of emptiness in me, a lot of darkness. And rather than attempt to chase out the darkness, I need to let in the light. I go to Scripture desperate these days. I call on the Holy Spirit to open my eyes every time I open the Book. I want to see Jesus, and I can't do that through my own power. I can read about Him; I can memorize His teachings. But Christ wasn't just a conduit for a message. He was a Man, the Son of God. It's His essence, His life, that I need. John speaks to me once again when he calls Jesus “that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested to us” (I John 1:2). We've seen Jesus, John says; we've seen the life. Light has come.
In the Church we talk about strategies and paradigms and movements. We follow prophets and pastors and people who can play the guitar. We draw lines and form clubs and quibble over words, and often we do it with a sincere heart. We're trying to figure out how to do our religion right. But we've got to remember that we're not followers of a creed, a religion, or a message; we're disciples of a man. We get off track when we lose sight of that. People of God, we need to follow Him.
There has never been a man like Jesus, never a leader so worthy to be followed. Early in Jesus' ministry, Matthew records that “the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Matt. 7:28-19). As no other man in history, Jesus practiced what He preached. He had the authority of a pure life. We can see His commandments as unfair and kick against them, until we remember that He never asked us for anything that He didn't give first. He asked them to throw away earthly treasures and securities and follow Him, after He had given up heaven for their sakes. He called for purity and holiness, and He alone never gave in to temptation. He told them to take up their crosses, but He was the first to be crucified.
In a dark world, Jesus shone as a light. He still does. There is nothing more powerfully attractive than a person, a word, an action through which Jesus lives. “WWJD?” is more than a question to wear around your wrist: it's a call to search out the heart of God. Don't try to keep Jesus' commandments because your striving will earn you favour. It won't. But an attempt to walk as He walked may open new doors to knowing Him, and move us closer to the goal of Creation: “Whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected” (I John 2:5). Jesus alone can bring us to the Father. Jesus alone can open our eyes. Jesus alone can teach us to love.
People of God, we need to know Him.
He has chosen us, saved us, loved us to the grave and back again. He calls us to holiness and raises a higher standard than the Law ever did. The first of His commandments is “Love God,” and not one of us has ever truly loved an abstraction. To use a phrase that's been hollowed out and stereotyped over the years, we need a relationship with Jesus. Many years after Jesus' death, in the twilight of the twelve apostles’ lives, John declared that he and the early Christians were still walking with their Risen Lord. “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ” (I John 1:3).
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