10. JESUS DID NOT SEEK HIS OWN GLORY OR KINGDOM Christians are fond of giving glory to Jesus. They do this in prayer, in music and in speech. It is a curious and glaring inconsistency that Christians give this kind of glory to Jesus when he, himself, did not seek his own glory. This practice adds to the evidence that Christianity is Fake Faith.
Not only did Jesus not seek his own glory, he actively and purposefully resisted attempts by religious people to give him glory. Consider these verses:
John 6:15 So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone.
COMMENTARY: Jews who heard Jesus speak thought he was the promised messiah who would fulfill prophecies to accomplish the following for Israel:
Bring about the political and spiritual redemption of the Jewish people
Bring Jews back to Israel.
Restore the physical city of Jerusalem.
Establish a government in Israel that will be the center of all world government, both for Jews and gentiles.
Because these were huge revolutionary tasks that could only be accomplished by a strong king, and because Jews always had problems with powerful external enemies, Jews interpreted prophecy in terms of a strong political and military leader. So, when Jesus appeared and started doing miracles and gaining followers, many Jews thought Jesus was the messiah and wanted to make him their king. They thought he could be a strong, effective political and religious leader who could successfully wage war with Israel’s enemies and lead the unified nation.
STUDY TIP: See Messianic Prophecy for understanding about God sending many messiahs.
Jesus knew that God alone brings deliverance and salvation through his spoken word. He knew that salvation comes only through God’s spoken word and that he was nothing more, or less, than the human agent through whom God spoke. He knew that he, himself did not have the power or authority to save anyone from sin or protect a country. He knew that the power and authority to save rested exclusively in God’s word which he spoke.
Knowing these facts, Jesus could not and would not submit to efforts to make him king. If he did, he would immediately lose his anointing because he would present himself as an imposter in a position that belongs only to God. If he had wanted to be a king, Jesus would not have distanced himself from people who were attracted to him. As someone who spoke for God, Jesus knew that he had no power or authority in himself. He knew that the only power he had was the anointing to speak for God.
Jesus wanted nothing material for himself. He needed nothing from people. For him it was better to be God’s servant than to be a king who ruled a kingdom of people who have evil, impure hearts. For Jesus, neither kingly status, or political power, or financial wealth could compare to the spiritual wealth and rewards he already had.
With these truths in mind, we understand why Jesus removed himself from people who wanted to make him their king and retreated to the mountain of God.
John 18:36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”
People who make Jesus their king are religious people who do not understand that Jesus is a stumbling block. Christians have wrongly made the human Jesus a part of their religious kingdoms, but, as was discussed in the commentary for John 6:15, it is a kingdom with which Jesus refused to be associated. The kingdom with which Jesus and all other true prophets are associated is the heavenly kingdom of clean, pure hearts — not the worldly kingdom of churches,pastors and religious rituals.
John 2:23-25 23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing.
COMMENTARY: Christians interpret verse 23 to mean that believing/trusting in the name “Jesus” has some spiritual benefit. This is wrong thinking. The human name “Jesus” has no more benefit than the human name “Bob” or “Mary.” Names have no more spiritual power than physical objects. Spiritual power resides only in God’s spoken word. All religions (including Judaism, Christianity and Islam) that believe that names or objects or places have spiritual power or significance practice superstition borrowed from pagan religions.
STUDY TIPS: See this link for understanding of Jesus’ name.
But, when we remember that, in the Bible, a person’s “name” refers to his/her character, this verse takes on a whole different meaning. And, in the case of Jesus and other true prophets, the name/character they present is God’s character because they are born again into his character.
Failing to recognize this truth, Christians believe that there is spiritual power in the human name of Jesus. That is why they use the phrase “in Jesus’ name” when they pray, baptize and preach. They have this superstitious belief that simply adding this phrase gives them special power and authority with God. They are wrong.
The correct way to interpret this verse is to think of Jesus’ character –not of his human name. Therefore, what observers saw and believed regarding Jesus was God’s character as revealed through the words Jesus spoke. Observers heard Jesus’ words, considered those words to be God’s words, and believed that God’s character was embodied in the person Jesus.
Regarding the signs that Jesus did, some observers attributed the power and authority necessary to do those acts to God — not to the person Jesus. Others, however, believed that the power necessary to perform those signs existed in the human person of Jesus. Nevertheless, the truth is that all of the signs (e.g. healing, raise from dead, etc.) were accomplished through the power of God’s words spoken by Jesus.
24 But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, 25 and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.
COMMENTARY: Verse 24 is a mystery to Christians. Why would Jesus not entrust himself to men. They believed in his name! Some wanted to make him king! They were obviously his friends! Not trusting them seems so unlike Jesus. How are we to understand his attitude toward them.
The answer is in the phrases “he knew all men,” and “he knew what was in man.” So we must ask, “what is it that Jesus knew?”
The simple answer is that he knew their hearts. He knew that these were Old/First Covenant religious Jews who were looking for a human messiah to deliver them from their enemies. He also knew that God, not him, was their deliverer and source of salvation. Basically he knew that these people who wanted to make him king only wanted relief from their problems. They did not want to give up their religion and did not want to hear God’s voice. Since God’s voice was all that he had that had any value, he could not yield to their invitation to make him their king. He knew that God was the king they needed and he would not usurp God’s legitimate position in their hearts.
That is how it was 2000 years ago, and it is still that way today. Christians want a human deliverer/savior. They want someone to fix all their present day problems and give them assurance of eternal life. Like the Jews, Christians want a savior but they do not want to give up their religion or listen to God’s voice.
John 12:44-45 And Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me. 45 “He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me.
COMMENTARY: The fact that Jesus cried out tells us that he desperately wanted people to hear what he had to say. Basically, what he was saying was that belief in him is not the same thing as belief in God. This truth is critical for Christians who, because of their belief in the trinity, believe that Jesus is God. He is not God. He is only a human spokesperson for God.
Jesus cried out to say to people “Do not believe in me. Believe in God who sent me.” He was compelled to cry out with this message because he knew that there was a very real potential that religious people would stumble over him and make him their king — which is exactly what Christians have been doing for 2000 years.
There are two kinds of people that believe in Jesus.
First, there are Christians who wrongly believe that he is God. These people like the things Jesus said and did, but that is as far as they are willing to go. They are not willing to study scripture enough to discover who Jesus really was or to understand the spiritual meanings of his words and actions. They like the imagery of Jesus as baby, friend and deliverer, and they love the religion built around these images, but they will not study to learn the symbolism of Jesus’ words and actions. They like their simple stories about Jesus, but they have no desire to understand the mysteries of God. They like their Christian religion and have no desire or need to ever quit.
The second type of believer in Jesus sees him for what he was: A man anointed by God to speak for God. They believe that his words are God’s words, and they believe that his life reflected God’s character, but they do not believe that he was equal to God. They see his words and actions as instructions about how they, as New Covenant disciples, should live. They trust that he spoke for God, but they do not worship him as though he still lived and ruled as God. They learn from Bible stories about Jesus and they continue studying to hear God’s voice independent of a human teacher like Jesus. And finally, they see that following Jesus means to continue his ministry functions in their own lives but they do not call themselves Christian because they are not members of any religious organizations.