It really is all about Jesus.

Many, many thanks to Broken Messenger who’s otherwise somewhat embarrassing post introduced me to the iMonk who I am now ashamed to admit I hadnt come accross before. There is no doubt in my mind that this kind of service- introducing bloggers to one another is one of the greatest things any blogger can do– no matter how big or small a blog they host. One of the wonders of every single blog out there is that they act as some kind of network node linking blogs together that at least in the mind of the writer of that blog have something in common. Sometimes that something in common is simply that the author of the blog likes both blogs, other times a stronger association exists but one that only that blogger has seen. I suspect that my gratitude to Broken messenger for mentioning my name in the same sentance as the iMonk will only grow the more I read of his writings. I do not suppose that I will agree with everything I read, but if this post is anything to go by then I will definitely be enriched by the iMonk.

Michael Spencer of the Internet Monk writes a post the whole of which and this except in particular should be required reading. It is in fact a fantastic example of how helpful to theology a community is. The whole post arrose from a commentators question and is directed to Steve. Because of the insight revealed in these words they work even as a one-sided conversation. The letters of the New Testament are also a one-sided conversation. Interaction and conversation is essential to the discovery of a good theological mind. In our discovery of the christian mind, iMonk calls us to never forget that it really is all about Jesus.

I commend you to careful consideration of the impact of these words which I have lifted from his post, and to meditation on John 1 which provides their insipiration. I cannot improve on the words bellow so whill not try.

Steve, God chose to reveal himself to us in Jesus of Nazareth, and nothing about the revelation of God in the incarnation is unimportant.

Think about it. Get it. Don’t let go. The law came through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one had ever seen God or revealed God in the way Jesus did, not even the prophets or the law. It was all true, but Jesus was the Truth. The scriptures report what God has revealed. Jesus reveals God.

If we have come to a point that we are uneasy with the incarnation, the works, the words and the teaching of Jesus as compared to the “wrath” of God and other attributes, something is wrong at the core.

I have a wonderful set of messages by Reformed Baptist pastor Al Martin that are all from the text of Jesus washing his disciple’s feet. In the introduction to the sermons, Martin says that he had been asked many times in his career to preach on the attributes of God. Martin said he had never done so, because he truly feared that he would preach the attributes of God as somehow disconnected from the God who is revealed to us in Jesus Christ. He was so earnest in those words. He did not want to think of God apart from the revelation of God that is Jesus.

I freely admit that I am not interested in the Bible apart from its revelation of Jesus, because Jesus IS THE REVEALED GOD. He doesn’t teach like other teachers; he reveals God. He doesn’t give good examples. What he does, God is doing. He is not a character in the Biblical drama. He is the Biblical message itself.

If we are God’s people, we only see the wrath of God in Jesus. We only know the justice of God in Jesus. We only know the love of God in Jesus. Everything else is a shadow, a pointer, a sign, a reminder. Jesus is the reality. All that scripture spoke about God was leading us to understand, embrace, trust and believe in Jesus.

I hope Steve will consider what a wonderful thing it is to know that the God of all of scripture has come to us in the incarnate one, Jesus Christ, the one sure and certain Word from God.