SERMON - WILL THE REAL JESUS PLEASE STAND UP

 WILL THE REAL JESUS PLEASE STAND UP

Here then is another opportunity to judge whether you will believe Isaiah's report.

Isaiah 53:2--"For He [Jesus this is a prophecy about the coming Messiah] shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: He [Jesus] has NO form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is NO beauty that we should desire Him."

Most people are well aware of the fact that there are no photographs of Jesus. Neither did Jesus ever sit for an official painting of Himself. So most realize that these representations of Jesus may not be perfect, but probably they believe that they are pretty close. At least it is gratifying for them to think He looked like this.

"He has no beauty to attract our eyes, no charm to make us choose Him" (Isa. 53:2, Moffatt Translation)

The Jesus of the Bible did not look at all like these pictures

Show these three pictures to virtually anyone in the world, and most will immediately tell you that these are pictures of Jesus Christ. But are they? Is it possible that your concept of Jesus has been wrong all of your Christian life? Although we can't know for sure what Jesus did look like, we can be sure of what He did not look like.

Many supposed pictures of Jesus have been painted to portray Him as the most handsome and perfect example of masculinity (though some feminine traits are present in most of them) the world has ever seen or known. Many artists are almost obsessed in portraying Jesus as the most handsome, majestic, and noble man to have ever lived. But in trying to so honor Him, they rather conspicuously contradict how the Scriptures describe Him. Jesus had nothing physically appealing that called attention to Him or made Him desirable to women.

Here's how the Concordant Literal Old Testament translates Isa. 53:2:

"NO shape has He NOR honor when we shall see Him, And NO appearance NOR loveliness that we will covet [desire] Him."

See what I mean? "Who has believed our [Isaiah's] report?" We just read it, but will you believe it? God said through Isaiah that the coming Messiah (Jesus the Christ) would be fragile and have absolutely NO COMELINESS, NO GOOD LOOKS, that anyone would ever "desire Him." 

Say, has anyone ever noticed Isa.53, verse 3? "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" [Heb: 'choliy,' also defined as, "malady, disease, and sickness" (Dr. Strong's Hebrew Dictionary). Let's look at a couple of other translations of verse 3:

"A Man of pains and knowing ILLNESS." (Concordant Literal Old Testament).

"Man of pains, and familiar with SICKNESS" (Rotherham's Emphasized Bible).

"A Man of suffering, accustomed to INFIRMITY" (The New American Bible For Catholics).

"A Man of pain, Who knew what SICKNESS was" (James Moffett Translation).

Of the 38 times that this Hebrew word 'choliy' and it's root appear in Scripture, 33 times it is translated as "sick, sickness, or disease." Are you beginning to see something about Jesus you didn't know before? Imagine that: Not only was Jesus not handsome, but was also familiar with and accustomed to "sickness & disease." Let's look at some New Testament proof of Jesus' sickness & disease:

And He [Jesus] said unto them [religious leaders and congregation], "Ye ['Ye' means 'ALL of you'] will surely say unto ME this proverb, Physician [Jesus is the Great Physician], heal Thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country [Jesus healed many in Capernaum, and now they want to see Jesus HEAL HIMSELF]. 

"And He said... No prophet is accepted in his own country... many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah... But unto none of them was Elijah sent, save unto Sarepta... a widow. And many lepers... and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman... And all they in the synagogue [the congregation and Church leaders], when they heard these things, were filled with wrath... and thrust Him out of the city, and led Him unto the brow of the hill where their city was built, that they might cast Him down headlong" (Lk. 4:23-28). 

Don't think that all sickness and disease is the result of sinning. Or that sickness is God's way of showing His displeasure towards us. Jesus had not only a one-time sickness, but was inflicted with sickness much of His life.

Timothy was a very loyal follower of Jesus, and he was always sick: 

"Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and your often [Gk: 'frequent'] infirmities" (I Tim. 5:23). 

Another friend of Paul:

"Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labor, and fellow soldier... ye had heard that he had been sick. For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him... Because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me" (Phil. 2:25, 27, 30).

One more Scripture to prove that Isaiah's portrayal of Jesus is nothing like the modern Church representation of Him: Try to square the pictures you have seen of Jesus with this statement of God's Word:

"Does not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?" (I Cor. 11:14). ("Shame" is translated from the Greek 'atimia,' and means, "infamy, indignity, disgraceful, dishonor, reproach, shame.")

So now, how many of you will continue not believing Isaiah's report or God's Word? Will you continue bowing down and paying pious homage to these notorious, unscriptural representations of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ?

Now that you know the truth on this subject, will you continue to picture Jesus in a way that the apostle Paul says is a shame: "infamous, indignant, disgraceful, dishonorable, reproachful, shameful, and vile?" I hope not.

Let me be quick to add, however, that although this is how Jesus came in human form as the humble carpenter from Nazareth. This is decidedly not how He appears today or how He will appear when He returns to rule the nations of the world as "The Lion of Judah" (Hos. 5:14), and Conquering King of Kings (Rev. 19:12-16).

Why don't you read this entire paper, and just maybe you will learn a few hundred things about God, His Word, His Son, the Church, and even yourself, that you didn't know before. I have received many emails from ministers, pastors and Christian theologians around the world who truly hate the Biblical gospel of universal reconciliation for all mankind. Why do you suppose that is? I also receive thousands of e-mails and letters from those who have either turned to God or returned to God after learning what the true gospel of Jesus Christ really is. But why would any hate this message.

I have not presented God as some alien monster who will torture most of humanity in a Christian hell of fire for all eternity. No, the Christian theologians have cornered the market on that doctrine. 

Here's a cute little e-mail that I received from a Christian pastor (Reverent G... and his wife) who just couldn't contain his distain for me and my message: 

"In the Name of Jesus I curse your website and Pray that it falls apart and is completely destroyed, along with your cult. And if you don't believe in hell talk to some people who have died and gone to hell and came back..." (Bold emphasis is Rev. G's.) 

So I thanked Reverent G ("Reverend?" Hardly, seeing that "...holy and reverent is Thy Name" [God's Name, not Mr. G's] (Psalm 111:9) for sending me his comments, and I haven't heard from him since. By the way, I do not have a cult, and in the years since Mr. G has cursed our bible-truths.com site, it has grown from a couple of hundred visitors a day to a high of 50-60,000 unique visitors a month. 

Let me assure my readers that I harbor no ill feelings toward Mr. Wiese or toward the many Christians who believe such fantastic and unscriptural nonsense regarding the fabled Christian hell. I do, however, marvel that anyone of normal intelligence would ever take "23 Minutes in Hell" seriously. Who knows the fear, misery, and agony that the promulgating of this most evil of all doctrines has inflicted upon sincere seekers of God's Truths down through the ages? I have countless letters from people who have been mentally, emotionally, and spiritually plagued all the days of their lives over the Church's eternal hell of torture doctrine. It is far overdue for those false teachers who disseminate this pagan unscriptural nonsense to be exposed.

After witnessing millions and millions of people come to our site, I can attest to the fact that many people are starving to hear the real Gospel of Jesus Christ. Virtually all Christians can quote John 3:16, but how many have ever heard of I John 4:14 in which John goes beyond those who are "perishing" in John 3:16? Nowhere in Scripture does death culminate God's love for His creatures. When Isaiah says, "The righteous perish..." (Isa. 57:1), do they lose their salvation?

For the time is coming when even those who temporarily perish according to John 3:16, will be "saved" according to I John 4:14 "The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world." God has not restricted Himself with a timeline to fulfill His purpose to save all humanity. 

You need to know [1] Does God want to save all humanity? and [2] Is He able? The Scriptures say, "YES." I agree with the Scriptures. But the Church says, "It will never happen." Here's the gospel of Christendom:

If you are one of the few lucky ones who learns of Jesus, repents of your sins, and accepts Jesus' sacrifice on the cross for those sins, then when you die, you will go immediately to heaven.

But if you are among the many unlucky ones who down through the centuries have not repented of your sins, and didn't even know there was a person named Jesus Christ Who was sacrificed on the cross for your sins, then when you die, you will go immediately to the Christian hell where you will be tortured with fear, pain, and hopelessness every second for all eternity.

Bill says in his book that it matters not the severity of one's sin, even stealing a pencil is sin, and if not repented of before one dies, will land that person in hell. Can't you just picture a conversation in hell going something like this: Bob says to Sally, "Sally, why are you here in hell, what did you do?" Sally retorts: "I once took a paperclip at work without permission. That night I was killed in an auto accident on the way home from work, and instantly, I found myself here in hell!" Bob: "WHAT? You stole a paperclip and didn't repent of it? Well burn in hell for all eternity, you miserable sinning wretch!

And this, my friends, is the "good news" gospel of Christendom. The argument goes that God could save all humanity if He took away man's "free" will. Oh really? Did God really "bless" all humanity with this so-called power of free will, which in the final analysis will end up becoming a "curse" for most of humanity?

Everyone has a will and makes choices, but neither is free from causality, which of necessity renders our will and choices subject to unavoidable causes. Making choices is erroneously believed to be "free" will. Nonsense more on this later.

Most Christians have not a clue as to what is the reason for our existence. God desires a family of spiritually perfect sons and daughters (II Cor. 6:18). God is making humanity into His Own Spiritual Image (Rom. 8:29). This process only began in the Garden (Gen. 1:26). First comes the physical then the spiritual (I Cor. 15:45-50). But even these most basic truths are not taught in Church.

God is totally sovereign and completely in charge of His entire creation. He is working every operation and activity of creation according to the counsel of His Own Will including man's will (Eph. 1:11, Phil. 2:13, Isaiah 46:9-11). God is not in some carnal arm-wrestling contest with Satan to see who is the strongest or greatest, as some Christian religions teach.

God is a Good God of infinite love and mercy Who desires and will ultimately have all humanity saved as loving children in His Family (I Tim. 2:3-6, 4:10, John 12:32, Phil. 2:9-11, I Cor. 15:22, Col. 1:20, I Cor. 3:15, I John 2:2, John 4:14, II Pet. 3:9, Rom. 11:26 & 32, I Cor. 15:28, Isa. 26:9, etc.)

No power in Heaven or Earth is capable of thwarting God's plan and purpose to bring the entire human race into the Family of God. Neither the power of Satan and all his cohorts, nor man with his supposed "free" will, can hinder or thwart God's desire to accomplish His Own will. God's love, wisdom and power are so awesome that it's frightening, and yet puny men who claim to be representatives of His demean and relegate God to some alien monster who because He is unable to convert everyone takes out His frustration by torturing them in real fire for all eternity. How sick can the carnal mind get?

God will turn sinful humanity to Himself, and His judgments are no small part of that process. God is quite capable of bringing anyone to repentance in a matter of seconds ANYONE, be they Saul/Paul the murderer of God's people, or Adolph Hitler. Men do not decide on their own, by their own will, to repent and turn to Jesus as their Saviour (John 6:44). Salvation is the work of God in man (Phil. 2:13; Rom. 9:16, 11:26; Eph. 1:11; Zech. 8:13; John 1:29; Isa. 55:11).

Most Christian teachers will not tolerate anyone who believes and teaches that God is loving and sovereign and therefore, will save all humanity and will torture no one in fire for all eternity. I believe and teach with all my heart and being that Jesus Christ IS the Saviour of the world, and therefore He WILL save the world.

(Closing prayer)

Abba, We come to You as we have been taught lessons that You will judge us guilty of sins of minor wrongs that will condemn us to hell for an eternity. We are asking of You to ease our hearts and minds of teachings that are false in their nature and deceptive in their lessons.

Lord, We return Your love and ask for forgiveness of our trespasses and make our souls worthy of You. 

Lord, We are Your children and want to spend our eternities in whichever of Your many mansions You choose to bestow us.

We say this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, Your Son and our Lord and Savior Who is One with You and the Holy Spirit, One God forever and ever...

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Pastor Lee S Gliddon Jr
God's Word Christian Ministry