So the various methods of God’s communications
and revelations in the end must all be filtered through His finest and best,
His son Jesus. What Jesus reveals about God is the truest and clearest picture
of who God really is and what God is really like because Jesus alone is God’s
son, one with his heart. Creation itself is inadequate, as we’ve seen. People
are insufficient, too. We’ve all seen the distortions and destructive effects
of people claiming to be speaking for or acting on behalf of God. Scriptures
have been misused and misinterpreted to terribly destructive ends. So Jesus
becomes extremely significant in both understanding God and hearing God speak.
Creation reveals a powerful God, creative,
valuing diversity and interdependence. People reveal a persistent God, diverse,
unselfish and caring. Scripture reveals a passionate God who loves people
enough to interact, to intervene, to respond, to act on behalf of. God loves
diversity enough to call hugely different people to write the stories, the good
and the bad, the pretty and the ugly. And Jesus brings it all together. He
brings the best into focus, showing what God truly values and wants for global
life – self-sacrificing love, compassion and active service to others, a
willingness to give all for the sake of the other, a self-confidence that
springs from a clear self-identity that empowers a radical unselfishness.
One of the early Christian hymns recorded in the
New Testament described the true nature of God as revealed by Jesus. Here’s
what it said:
“Your attitude should be the same as that of
Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God
something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the very nature of a
servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he
humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!”
(Philippians 2:5-8)
Jesus shows that the very nature of God is one
of self-emptying and self-sacrificing and humble giving for the good of others.
Jesus didn’t give up something to become like us. His act was in complete
harmony with His nature – He was acting in perfect alignment with what it means
to be God. God gives at all costs, period. That’s why Jesus is the best and
most complete communication and revelation of God. Thank God for those stories that
still live today.
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