Jesus Images Part 2

"Jesus Images: Head of the church - Good Shepherd - Temple & Items - Bridegroom - Lamb of God - Father - Lord of Hosts - Names of God - Seed - Sower - Vine - River"

JESUS IS pictured as the Head of the church, and the church as His body. This is but one image of our unity with Him that is drawn for us in the Word of God. It shows both our need for each other in ministry and relationship but also the fullness of the Spirit who works through us in the world around us (Ephesians 1:22). Jesus is also the Good Shepherd, and we are His sheep. In the same imagery, He is a sheep from the house of Israel who became the Shepherd. In these pictures, we see our need for Him as our Guide and our safe place. We see He is God of Israel.

“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:8-12)

Jesus is the temple and all the items it contained. He is the reason for the tabernacle’s design, which came before it. It is not only that the tabernacle and the temple were designed to resemble the ones in heaven but that the ones in heaven were designed to show the physical body of Christ and the work He did. The altar is His heart and the blood He shed upon it what cleanses the Holiest Place within us. The Spirit of God burns in us as fire upon the altar when we become children of God. Jesus’ body, sacrificed, is the bread of communion, and in this picture, not only His physical body but also His mind. We have the mind of Christ because of our union with Him.

READ “Jesus Images Part 1.”

In the gospels only, Jesus is the bridegroom. The church is pictured in Paul’s Ephesians as His bride. Yet in Revelation the new Jerusalem is His bride, and He is the Lamb of God upon the throne. There we see the marriage supper of the Lamb and no mention of the bridegroom. We can further mix in Solomon’s Song in the Old Testament. Here is another image of Jesus as a lover. Yet, we must realize these are symbols to enable us to better see who we are to Him, His work in us, and His love for us. They should change how we think and how we behave.

Marriage is not a sin. It is not entirely of the flesh and the carnal nature. Many have drawn this image of Jesus from His words in Matthew 24:38, where He said in the resurrection there will be no giving in marriage. They have portrayed Him as standing outside of the covenant of marriage which He enacted in Genesis. That is not the image He was trying to project through these analogies and metaphors. He formed man from the dust and created woman from the place of the breath from his side. He commanded them to marry and to have children in what the fulfillment of a spiritual covenant. His eyes are not closed now on this. He was the eldest of His brothers and sisters and there when they arrived. But He was on the earth to do His Father’s will and lay down Himself – body, mind, will, and emotions – so that we could be saved.

“For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” (Ephesians 5:31-32)

He is not a physical Father, and yet, He is the Father of all. In his vision of heaven, Minister Duplantis remarked on the many children which surrounded Jesus. He is a softie, our King. Yet, in a separate vision, Prophet Kunneman saw Jesus as the Lord of Hosts. He is God, and God has many names. There is an extensive list in the “Tony Evans Bible Commentary.” Familiar to us, He is Elohim, meaning gods (plural). Elohim created the heavens and the earth. He is Jehovah, the Self-Existent One and Adonai, or Master. The disciples knew Him as Rabbi. They saw Him transfigured into King. John had revelation of Him as the First and the Last, as Alpha and Omega and the only One who can open the seals.

We must all see Him as Savior and know Him as Christ, the Anointed One. We must speak with Him through His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, and use these pictures He’s given us to see the Father, who sent Him to us. We must become the body of Christ – His hands and feet, eyes and ears – and do as He did and see what He sees. We must exist as a bride, who desires Him who she’s given herself to. And yet, not get caught up in any images to the exclusion of others. Nor should we use them to create sin from what is not sin. In this, pause and think of Jesus, age twelve, surprised by his parent’s seeking for Him. He did not sin when He did not follow them home nor when they grew upset over it. His kindness to us is never meant to draw us away from the truth.

He is the truth. He is the Holy One and cannot sin. He has defeated sin and death entirely, and they have no hold on Him. Let us go forward and see him as He is. He is both the Seed and the Sower and the revelation which grows in us a picture of the Father, who sent Him to us and for us in a multifaceted act planned before the beginning of time. The Father made sure that the mystery has been revealed so that we can partake of Him. It is not simply an image for us to view but one which we now live, branches grafted into a Vine planted beside the River in the Promised Land.

“And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs.” (Numbers 13:23)

“And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land.” (Numbers 13:26)

Image by Chil Vera from Pixabay


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com