He Knows Who You Are

At the end of the Parable of the Ten Virgins it says, "But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. "Later the others also came. 'Sir! Sir!' they said. 'Open the door for us!' "But he replied, 'I tell you the truth, I don't know you (Matthew 25:10-12).'" Now, while there are many things that can be talked about in this passage, I want to focus on one thing that Jesus says here that may go unnoticed. At the end of verse 12, the bridegroom says, "I tell you the truth, I don't know you." Many people live in fear that God will utter these words to them one day because they haven't done enough repenting and obeying of Him in their lives. This usually arises because of a misunderstanding of the Gospel; specifically the subject of forgiveness. When you believe that God still holds your sins against you then there is an inherent fear that arises that something you did or failed to do will be held against you and on that day you stand before Him, He will say, "I don't know you." Regardless of whether you fully understand forgiveness, if you are born again of the Spirit of God through faith in Jesus Christ, you are not only saved, but God knows you! At the beginning of Galatians 4:9, the Apostle Paul says, "But now that you know God--or rather are known by God ..." He is talking to Christians and reminds them that they not only know God, but that God knows them. And, if you are a born again Christian, God knows you!

How do I know this? First of all, scripture tells me as I just mentioned. Second, I am confident in my understanding of the Gospel; that God knows me because He indwells me for eternity, never to leave me. But, the third reason is even more personal; something you other Christians may know for yourself, but not think about too often. If for some reason God was to ask me, "Do I know who you are?" I would confidently respond to Him by saying, "Yes, Lord. You do know me. You know exactly who I am." Continuing, I would say,"Do you remember the time I was struggling with a sin and you told me how to stop?" "Do you remember that particular scripture you illuminated for me?" "Do you remember the time I asked you about how to handle dealing with that one person and you showed me?" And I am confident He would say, "Yes, I do remember." Now, I don't expect to ever have this conversation, but I thought it necessary to explore it. I believe their are plenty of Christians that God knows, but who don't know or believe He knows them because of the things they believe. I think God wants His children to know Him, but if you don't believe the things He has already revealed to us, namely the truth of the Gospel and our identity in Christ, He can't reveal more of Himself to us. If you have never done this, I want you to try something. Ask God questions like, "What do you see through your eyes in this situation?" "What do you hear with your ears in this situation?" Then sit back and listen for Him to respond to you and give you insights that can only come from Him. In order to share things with you and give you insights to things, He has to know who you are. This will give you confidence that you have a place in His Kingdom and confidence that He will say He knows who you are.

Was Jesus Black?

“The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance (Revelation 1:14-16).” Was Jesus Christ black? Sometimes in an effort to counter the predominant portrayal of Jesus as white or European in His ethnicity, which is inaccurate, blacks will create Jesus in “our image” in order to make Him more palatable. The problem is that we end up focusing on things that take us away from God’s true intent with the Lord and scripture. We will take the historical fact of Jesus being taken to Egypt as a boy and automatically assume that God wouldn’t have sent Jesus and His parents to Egypt unless they looked Egyptian. While that is understandable, they miss the fact that God told Joseph to take his family to Egypt to escape Herod’s attempt to kill Jesus and to fulfill prophecy not as some proof that Jesus could pass for an Egyptian. Another thing that is done is how blacks will see similarities between the Jews enslavement in Egypt and Africans being enslaved in the United States and the Americas and start to claim the blessings and promises God made to the Jews for themselves as if God has made a covenant with African-Americans. However, the biggest violation of scripture occurs with the passage from Revelation 1. 

People will read John’s description of Jesus and assume He is describing a black man. They see His hair described as being “like wool” and equate it to the curly hair of blacks. They will see His feet described as being “like bronze” and equate the “brownish” color of bronze to mean that this is describing the color of Jesus’ skin. But, what are we to do with the rest of the description of Jesus; hair as white as snow, eyes like blazing fire, and a voice like the sound of rushing water? Are these descriptions of blacks? And what about Jesus holding seven stars in His right hand and having a double-edged sword coming out of His mouth? What does this have to do with being a black man? Not to mention that the size of His hand and mouth must be huge to hold seven stars and a sword! Finally, John says the face of Jesus was brilliant like a shining sun. Well, the last time I checked the sun was yellow and when looking into it the light is almost white because it is so bright. To say this is a description of the ethnicity of Jesus is evidence of just how far people will go to prove their error instead of admitting that they are just plain wrong in their assumptions. This is a description of Jesus in heavenly form, not His appearance on earth. For the record, the use of wool to describe Jesus’ hair is to symbolize His purity and holiness. Describing His feet as being like bronze is to symbolize His strength and majesty. In the attempt to make Jesus a black man, we end misrepresenting scripture and totally missing the point of scripture and Jesus Christ. If you must put an ethnicity on Jesus, the Bible clearly tells us that He was a Jew. What color is a Jew? Regardless, Jesus did not come to establish one racial identity over another. “For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost (Matthew 18:11).” Jesus came to save people from eternal separation from God in hell by offering them forgiveness and life through faith in His death, burial and resurrection. That is something offered to all mankind regardless of their skin color. A friend of mine once asked me, “Will God hold it against me because I didn’t accept Jesus because I thought He was white?” I answered, “Yes, He will.” Jesus already asked the ultimate question, “But, who do you say I am (Matthew 16:15)?” Peter correctly answered with, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16).” Jesus does not care what race you think He belongs to, He only cares about who you say He is! My prayer is that you respond as Peter did because when you do all this focus on race becomes meaningless in comparison to knowing your God!