Jesus Unmasked: The Truth Will Shock You (24 page)
And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the
tabernacle
of God is among men, and He will
dwell among them
, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be
among them
,
and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away” (
Rev. 21:1–4).
You Have Responded to the Wedding Invitation
At the final wedding, you are not only going to attend the celebration, you are actually going to be a gift. At the wedding celebration of the Lamb, God the Father is going to give a gift to God the Son: the Church. If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have been purchased by the Father as a gift for the Son (1 Cor. 15).
When someone says, “I love Jesus but I hate the Church,” that is like saying to a man, “I like you but I hate your wife.” You can’t love one and hate the other.
If you have been married to Jesus through repentance and faith, you can look forward to His return, anticipating a great feast and spending eternity with the One who will make all things new.
> No more sorrow.
> No more pain.
> No more cancer.
> No more children dying.
> No more starvation.
> No more divorce.
> No more mental illness.
> No more depression.
> No more prodigal children.
> No more adultery.
> No more pornography.
> No more sin.
Parable of the Marriage Feast
If you have not responded to the exceedingly good news of the Gospel, Jesus describes the final wedding of all time.
Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying,
“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a
king who gave a wedding feast for his son
.
And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the
wedding feast
, and they were
unwilling to come
.
Again he sent out other slaves saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Behold,
I have prepared my dinner
; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready;
come to the wedding feast
.” ’
“But they
paid no attention
and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business,
and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them.
But
the king was enraged
, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire.
“Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.
Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there,
invite to the wedding feast
.’
Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests” (Matt. 22:1–11).
It is God’s desire to save you (1 Tim. 2:4). He has prepared a banquet for you. Has anyone ever sent you a more fantastic invitation? In order to attend, you must respond in repentance and faith in Jesus Christ exclusively. If you do not, if you try to sneak into the banquet with good works or believing that Jesus is simply “a way,” the parable of the wedding feast continues for you.
“But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was
not dressed in wedding clothes
,
and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless.
Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and
throw him into the outer darkness
; in that place there will be
weeping
and
gnashing
of teeth.’
For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matt. 22:11–14).
Do not be deceived, you will not sneak into heaven if you believe:
> Jesus will save me after all I can do (Eph. 2:8–9).
> Jesus is a way, but He is not the way (John 14:6).
> Jesus was a good teacher, but He was not God (John 8:24).
Jesus does not tolerate other suitors. He has not prepared a new heaven for you to give your affection to another. Besides, why would you want to be united with anything less than the only true and living God?
Even now Jesus is preparing the great wedding feast of the Lamb. Will you not come?
Chapter 22 — Jesus Is . . .
Who is Jesus?
He is our better Adam.
His blood speaks to us of better things than the blood of Abel.
He is a better priest in the order of Melchizedek.
His
actual
sacrifice is better than the
almost
sacrifice of Jacob.
His three days in the belly of the earth are better than Jonah’s three days in the belly of the whale.
He is the perfect Prophet.
He is the highest High Priest.
He is the mightiest King.
He is the bronze serpent raised up for us, that whoever looks to Him will live. Eternally.
He is the ark of our salvation that saves us from the wrath that is to come.
He is the only door whereby we can enter heaven.
He is the ladder who takes us to heaven.
He is our city of refuge.
He is our surety, our Sabbath rest and our better Festival.
He is the Bread of Life.
He is the living water.
He is our bridegroom.
He is our Rock, our Fortress and our Deliverer.
He is our Savior and our ransom.
He is the tabernacle come down from heaven.
He is the Holy One of Israel.
He is the Great I AM.
He is the way, the truth, and the life.
He is Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
He is the One who commands you this day to repent and trust Him.
That is who Jesus is.
Jesus Unmasked
You have seen the evidence. You now know what Jesus believed about Himself. You have seen that the Bible is the supernaturally inspired Word of God.
Knowing the effort that God went through to prepare a holy nation to deliver a Messiah who would fulfill all righteousness and suffocate to death on a Cross to satisfy the wrath of God so that you might have forgiveness of sins, does it make any sense that you can get to God through jihad? Or through the teachings of the Bhagavad-Gita? Or through good works?
Is Jesus intolerant? Of course He is. And so are you!
You do not tolerate belligerence from your children. You do not tolerate your spouse having an affair. You do not tolerate your dog biting you. Neither does Jesus.
Because Jesus is indeed the way, the truth, and the life, and nobody comes to the Father but through Him, does it even make sense that other religions are optional paths? If so, Jesus should have said:
I am the way, the truth and the life. Nobody comes to the Father except through Me. Or Mohammed. Or Joseph Smith. Or Buddha. Or whatever.
What Will You Do?
If you have eyes to see and ears to hear, it is clear, the Bible is axiomatic, and Jesus is not a preference. Jesus is not merely a good teacher. Jesus is not a fable or myth. Jesus is God.
You can humbly come before the King of kings and Lord of lords now and surrender, or you can wait until you die and meet Him face to face.
Worship the
Lord
with reverence
And rejoice with trembling.
Do homage to the Son
, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way,
For His
wrath
may soon be kindled.
How blessed are all who
take refuge
in Him! (Ps. 2:11–12).
Today, Jesus offers you terms of peace if you will come to Him in repentance and faith. If you delay, God has given Jesus the authority to “break them with a rod of iron . . . shatter them like earthenware” (Ps. 2:9). Do not trifle with King Jesus.
Being found in appearance as a man, He
humbled Himself
by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
For this reason also,
God highly exalted Him
, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow
,
of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and that
every tongue will confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:8–11).
You can bow the knee willingly to benevolent King Jesus today, or you can meet Him face to face when He is angry. Either way, you will confess that Jesus is Lord. Why would you delay?
This Is Not a Game
When Jesus came to die for you He was meek and mild. At the consummation of history He will come with His mighty angels in flaming fire.
The Lord Jesus
will be revealed from heaven with His
mighty angels
in
flaming fire
,
dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who
do not obey
the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
These
will pay
the penalty of
eternal destruction
, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,
when He comes
to be glorified in His saints
on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed — for our testimony to you was believed (2 Thess. 1:7–10).
That is the Unmasked Jesus. The Unmasked Jesus is the Creator, Savior, and Conquering King.
You can prefer whatever ice cream you choose, but Jesus is not a flavor. Jesus is not merely a good teacher or a nice guy. Jesus is not a myth or mere miracle worker.
Jesus is your God and you know it.
Jesus demands your allegiance. Jesus commands you this day to repent.
Be reconciled to God.
About the Author
Todd Friel is the host of
Wretched Radio
, a daily syndicated talk radio program, as well as host of
Wretched TV
.
Wretched Radio
is heard on 200 stations nationwide and
Wretched TV
is available in over 100 million households. Todd is the husband of one wife and father of three children.
Website:
www.wretchedradio.com
Twitter:
www.twitter.com/Wretchedradio
Facebook:
facebook.com/wretchednetwork
