JOHN 7:3-7:  “So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. 4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For not even his brothers believed in him. 6 Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.”

OBSERVATION:  Are we guilty of revisionism with regards to the history and life of Jesus?  Today Jesus is portrayed as the one who loves everyone and everything.  He is the one who wants to be our friend and help make us successful.  Over the past few decades the history of Jesus has undergone a revision that leaves us with a sanitized Jesus, one that would have never been crucified!

I am not trying to be disrespectful or sacrilegious, I am just trying to be Biblically accurate.  In these verses Jesus’ brothers were goading Him to go to Jerusalem and perform His miracles.  They did not believe in Him.  Jesus would go, but He would not be goaded into going.  Jesus would go on His own terms.  Yet, His response to His brothers tells us much more.  It tells us that the sanitized Jesus is not the Jesus of the Bible.  The Jesus of the Bible was all loving and all compassionate – BUT – He was killed for testifying to the world that its works were evil.

Jesus confronted sin, He confronted religious hypocrisy, He confronted unbelief.  He did this in a straightforward way, and always with an invitation to repent and be redeemed.  He extended forgiveness and healing to all those who would receive His message.  He also spoke words of admonishment and rebuke to those who would not.  He came as the perfect light into a world darkened by sin.  Just His presence alone was a witness against the sin and fallen nature of man.  This is why John writes these words:

“And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” (‭John‬ ‭3‬:‭19-21‬ NKJV)

Today we face an ever darkening culture and world.  Jesus came as the light of the world.  That light led to His death.  He rose again defeating death and He has called us to go out as His lights in a darkened world – just as He did!  Are we willing to count the cost, even unto death?  Is it just easier to revise the image and history of Jesus?  This is something to soberly think about.  Has the church put its light under a bushel by changing their understanding and portrayal of Jesus?

Lord, help me to see You for who You truly are.  Help me to walk fully in Your light and love and proclaim Your victory, grace, mercy, love, and truth!  Open my eyes to truly see You!  In Jesus Name!

“Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.” (‭Revelation‬ ‭1‬:‭12-18‬ NKJV)