What Is Jesus Doing?
Last month we
investigated the existence of Jesus
before He came to Earth. This
month we will investigate His work in
Heaven before and after He came to
Earth.
Jesus Speaks
for the Godhead
Before the universe
was created, the Father and the Holy
Spirit agreed that Jesus would be the
“voice” for the trinity.
There would be one spokesman which
explains why Jesus is called
“the Word.” (Revelation
19:13; John 1: 1-14) John describes
this arrangement in John 1: “In
the beginning [before
anything was made] was [Jesus]
the Word, and the Word was
with God [Jesus was with the
Father and the Holy Spirit], and
the Word was [also] God
[the same substance as the Father and
the Holy Spirit]. He [Jesus]
was with God [the
Father and the Holy Spirit] in
the beginning. Through Him [Jesus]
all things were made; without Him
nothing was made that has been made.”
(John 1: 1-3, insertions mine)
When Jesus was on
Earth, He did not speak on His own.
He spoke the words which the Father
gave to Him: “These
words you hear are not my own; they
belong to the Father who sent
me… For the one whom God has
sent speaks the words of God, for God
gives [Him] the
Spirit without limit…”
(John 14: 24, 3:34, insertion
mine) Shortly before Jesus
returned to Heaven, He told His
disciples that in His absence, the
Holy Spirit would deliver His words
to them: “But when
he, the Spirit of truth, comes, He
will guide you into all truth. He
will not speak on his own
[even though the Holy Spirit is a
separate and distinct God who can
speak for Himself, He does not speak
on His own, just as Jesus does not
speak on His own] ; He will
speak only what He hears [me
say], and He will tell you
what [I have said and what] is
yet to come. [As I have
brought glory to the Father by
speaking only the words He gave me,] He
will bring glory to me by taking from
what is mine and making it known to
you.” John 16: 13, 14,
insertions mine)
Many people do not
realize that Jesus is the Creator of
everything that exists. “For
by Him all things were created:
Things in Heaven and on Earth,
visible and invisible, whether
thrones or powers or rulers or
authorities; all things were created
by Him and for Him. He is before all
things, and in Him all things hold
together. And He is the head of the
body, the church; He is the beginning
and the firstborn from among
the dead, so that in everything he
might have the supremacy. For
God [the Father] was
pleased to have all his fullness
dwell in him, and through him to
reconcile to himself all things,
whether things on Earth or things in
Heaven, by making peace through his
blood, shed on the cross.”
(Colossians 1: 16-20, insertion mine)
Because Jesus is God
and He speaks for the Godhead, His
words have incredible power! “For
he spoke, and it came to be; he
commanded, and it stood firm.”
(Psalm 33:9) At the Second Coming,
Jesus will speak and the remaining
wicked people will die at His
command! “The rest of
them [the wicked] were
killed by the sword [a
command] that came out of the
mouth of [Jesus] the
rider on the horse, and all the birds
gorged themselves on their
flesh.” (Revelation 19:
21, insertions mine)
Jesus and the Father
are not omnipresent because they
surrendered this prerogative to the
Holy Spirit. The Father and the Holy
Spirit do not create because they
surrendered this prerogative to
Jesus. The Father and the Holy Spirit
do not speak for the Godhead because
they surrendered this prerogative to
Jesus and yet, everything Jesus
creates belongs to the Father. There
are many more points of surrender
within the Godhead, but you get the
idea. The union and oneness of the
Godhead is incredible! Their perfect
union (in purpose, plan, and action)
is bound by infinite love. I like to
compare the union of the Godhead to
the construction of an atom where all
of the parts (the electrons, protons,
neutrons, etc.) make up on atom, help
together by incredible force.
Notice the ownership
arrangement which Jesus mentioned to
the Father just before He went to the
cross. Jesus prayed: “I
have revealed you to those you gave
me out of the world. They were yours
[your property]; [but] you
gave them to me [if I would
come and redeem them] and
they have obeyed your word. Now they
know that everything you have given
to me comes from you. For
I gave them the words you gave me [to
speak] and they accepted
them. They knew with certainty that I
came from you, and they believed that
you sent me.” (John 17:
6-8, insertion mine, italic’s
mine)
Before Coming
to Earth
Before Jesus came to
Earth, He created the universe and
the angels with His delegated
creative function. As their Creator,
Jesus walked among the angels and
spent much time with them. He spoke
to them on behalf of the Godhead. He
taught the angels many things and
explained the wonder of His
creations. Jesus was also busy with
the administration of the angels. It
surprises people to learn that the
angels called Him Michael before
humans called Him Jesus. Before
coming to Earth, Jesus was called
Michael, the archangel. (For a
discussion on the identity of
Michael, please see Chapters 1-3,
“Who is Jesus?” in The
Alpha and The Omega. If the book is
unavailable to you, you may freely
download these chapters at: http://www.wake-up.org/Alpha/Subjindex.htm)
It was after Lucifer
and his followers were expelled from
Heaven that Jesus created Earth.
Jesus warned Adam and Eve about
God’s wily foe, and Jesus also
instructed Adam and Eve that they
must not eat the fruit from the Tree
of Knowledge of Good and Evil. If
they did, Jesus warned them that they
would suffer the penalty for sin
(death by execution) on the very day
they sinned.
(Genesis 2:17)
Eventually, Lucifer caused Eve to sin
and she in turn, led Adam into sin.
However, I understand that instead of
executing the guilty pair, Jesus
immediately went to the Father to see
if they could be rescued. Jesus
loved Adam and Eve more than He loved
His own life and He willingly offered
to do whatever was necessary to save
them from the penalty for sin. The
Father presented a plan to redeem
Adam and Eve and Jesus accepted the
terms and conditions of this plan.
The plan required the
Creator of life to give up His life
so that sinners could have eternal
life that belonged to Him. The plan
also required Jesus to humble Himself
to three
“whatever’s.”
First, whatever the Father wanted
Jesus to become, He would become.
Jesus agreed to live on Earth after
the curse of sin had 4,000 years to
mature. He agreed to live among a
rebellious people who were members of
a toxic religious system. Even
more, He agreed to live among them in
poverty and to accept the stigma of
having no father. These two
conditions insured that His peers and
the religious leaders would treat Him
with endless contempt. Second,
whatever the Father wanted Him to do,
Jesus agreed to do. He agreed to die
as a sinner and cease to exist
(experience the second death).
Finally, whatever the
Father wanted Him to
say, Jesus agreed to say – no
matter the situation or the
consequences.
When Jesus accepted
the terms and conditions required for
man’s redemption, He became
“the Son” of God that day.
(Psalm 2:7-12; 45:7) Note:
The Hebrew word ben means
“son” and ben identifies a
male who is subject to a higher
authority.) When Jesus agreed to the
three “whatever’s,”
the Father made a covenant with
Jesus. If Jesus perfectly carried out
His plan for the redemption of
mankind, the Father would:
1. Resurrect Jesus
from the second death and give Him
eternal life
2. Give Jesus
authority over His followers (the
church)
3. Give the saints and
the kingdom of Earth over to Jesus as
His possession
4. At the end of
sin’s drama, show the universe
that Jesus is His equal in substance
which means that Jesus is Almighty
God just as the Father is Almighty
God. The only difference between the
Father and Jesus is the surrender of
various prerogatives.
(For more information
on this matter, please see pages
54-56 and 129-169 in the book
Jesus’ Final Victory. If you do
not have the book, you may freely
download this large file at: http://www.wake-up.org/Commentary/Commentary.htm )
So, in the beginning,
Jesus created the universe and the
angels. From time that sin began on
Earth until Jesus was born, He
oversaw the kingdoms on Earth and He
continues to oversee man’s
actions according to the
Father’s policies.
After His
Ascension
On the basis of His
sinless life, selfless sacrifice, and
perfect conformity to the
Father’s three
“whatever’s,” the
Father resurrected Jesus and took Him
to Heaven where Jesus was promoted
and positioned at the right hand of
the Father as man’s
priest-intercessor. (See Hebrews 5:
4, 5.) Jesus also resumed His
role as the Archangel. (To the
angels, Jesus has always been and
will forever be the Archangel,
Michael. See 1 Thessalonians 4:16;
Daniel 12:1; Revelation 12: 7-9.)
Jesus also took control of His church
on Earth and He resumed His duties as
the Overseer of the kingdoms of
Earth, fulfilling the Father’s
policies. About two centuries
ago, the final countdown to end
Earth’s sin problem began. Due
to a conflict of interest, the Father
could not terminate Earth’s sin
problem, so He conducted a search
throughout the universe to find
someone worthy to do the job. (See
Revelation 4-6.) The person selected
had to end the sin problem with no
apparent flaws or shortcomings in the
intricate process of saving some
sinners and destroying others, fully
exonerate God’s character and
government from Lucifer’s clever
lies, and restore the universe to a
sinless state in perfect harmony with
the laws of love. Jesus was the only
person found capable of fulfilling
all three requirements.
In 1798, Jesus
ascended the throne of God (the
Father stepped aside) and has been in
control of Heaven and Earth. Paul
knew this event was coming. He wrote,
“And he made known to us
the mystery of his will according to
his good pleasure, which he purposed
in Christ, to be put into effect when
the times will have reached their
fulfillment – to bring all
things in heaven and on earth
together under one head, even Christ.”
(Ephesians 1: 9, 10)
Jesus began the
process of breaking each of the seven
seals on the Book of Life in 1798. He
broke the third seal in 1844 and the
judgment of mankind (the dead) began.
The next seal to be broken is the
fourth seal and when it is, people
will see the sovereign authority of
Jesus throughout the Earth. The
censer in Revelation 8:5 will be cast
down and the Great Tribulation will
begin. (One of God’s purposes
for the Great Tribulation is to judge
the living.)
At this time, Jesus
has sovereign authority. He rules
from the throne of God as God,
according to His infinite wisdom. He
is Almighty God and He currently
rules over the universe as the Father
ruled over the universe prior to
1798. Jesus is man’s judge, high
priest, and king, and there is no
higher authority. Jesus is
exceedingly generous, but a day will
come when sin’s grip on Earth
must end. At this time, God’s
wrath against man’s degenerate
behavior will begin. Jesus is waiting
for the time set by the Father.
Until then, Jesus oversees and
overrules as necessary, holding
everything together on Earth until
the time to put an end to sin has
arrived. It is this moment
there is no more time. (See
Revelation 10:6.) Jesus will end
corporate mercy and His wrath will
break out on Earth. Twenty-five
percent of Earth’s population
will perish. The sovereign authority
of Jesus Christ will overwhelm a
world that languishes under the
deadly cancer of sin. Even though the
wrath of God will be painful, Jesus
will extend mercy and salvation to
the survivors. Many people will
wake up, repent of their sins and be
saved.
At the end of the
1,000 years, Jesus will terminate His
sovereign authority. He will
leave the throne. He will return
everything to the Father so that He
might live among His created beings.
Paul wrote, “When he has
done this, then the Son himself will
be made subject to him who put
everything under him, so that God may
be all in all.” (1
Corinthians 15: 28)
Larry
Wilson
