“God Finally Revealed: The Law Came By Moses, Grace and Truth By Jesus!”

 What is God Like? – How Can We Know for Sure? – Part 12

 By Richard Allen – June 29, 2026

This verse from John’s Gospel signals a profound move forward in God revealing Himself to mankind: God finally making Himself known through His Son (Hebrews 1:3) – in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, the incarnation of Jesus as the “God-Man” was such a ‘watershed moment,’ many Christian authors have had difficulty expressing their amazement at Jesus’ advent, coming to fully reveal the ‘Eternal God’ to mankind!  As we have learned through the previous eleven Blogs in this series, mankind’s turning from God was so complete and deadly, God worked over several millennia to 1.) Keep some knowledge of Himself known, covenanting through men chosen to be His Witnesses, and 2.) To progressively  reveal Himself by shadows and types. I have observed in other Blogs that God revealed Himself through Creation, Angels, the Law and the Prophets, and now finally through His Son, the ‘Anointed Messiah!’ In the Book of Galatians, the Apostle Paul makes known that God was waiting for the ‘fullness of time’ to reveal Himself through Jesus:

“But when the time arrived that was set by God the Father, God sent his Son, born among us of a woman, born under the conditions of the law so that he might redeem those of us who have been kidnapped by the law. Thus, we have been set free to experience our rightful heritage” (Galatians 4:4-5).

God patiently worked with ‘rebellious men and women’ through countless generations, until the ‘fullness of time,’ then brought His Son, the Messiah into the world to accomplish redemption for His faithful children. God was ‘longsuffering’ and patient through the times of ‘disobedience,’ working out His purpose and plan to bring men from ‘every tribe and people and tongue’ to faith in His Son, Jesus. During those centuries, God was not merely waiting – but preparing the way for Jesus to come into the created world and ‘preach the Gospel of Grace and Forgiveness of Sin’ not only to the Jews, but to the Gentiles as well. Man’s rebellion was on full display throughout Old Testament times. God gave men a ‘pristine garden’ in which he would ‘neither toil, grow old, nor die.’ Instead, ‘mutable’ (changeable) man chose to disobey and suffer death – hiding from the eyes of an Omniscient God. When God came looking for Adam and Eve, they hid. Once Sin had entered into the world, our days as fallen creatures were abruptly shortened.  Their son Cain killed his brother Abel, sending mankind down a ‘bloody road’ of violence and war that ended in killing the Son of God. 

After multiple rebellious generations, our fallen race had to be completely wiped out by a universal flood – due to man’s disobedience – committing detestable acts with ‘fallen angels’ (Genesis 6:3-6). But even after the Great Flood, men and women were ‘unrepentant and hardened’ in their Rebellion. Noah’s sons and their posterity forsook God’s ‘repeated command’ to be ‘fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.’ Once again rebellious mankind ‘shook their fists in God’s face!’  Having gathered at the ‘Tower of Babel’ to ‘make a name for themselves,’ God confused their language and scattered the entire race. Into this ‘Idolatrous Environment’ God reached out to a Mesopotamian whose father had been an Idol Maker for Nimrod. This man, Abram, eventually became the ‘father of all who would believe’ (Romans 4:11). While not a perfect man, Abram ‘Believed God’s Promise’ and became the ‘heir of the Kingdom to come.’ Abraham and his descendants would play a special role in God’s bringing knowledge of Himself back to fallen mankind. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob became ‘The People of God’ with the promise of a coming ‘Seed’ in whom “all the nations of the earth would be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). But like every human who came before, Abraham’s children were ‘stiff-necked and rebellious,’ trying God’s patience during ‘every blessing and continued deliverance.’

Stephen, one of the first seven Deacons of the Church in Jerusalem, gave the Jewish Elders a severe reprimand in his address before the Sanhedrin in Acts Chapter 7.  Stephen, inspired by the Holy Spirit, puts  the Jewish people and their history of ‘stiff-necked blindness’ on full display:

“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it” (Acts 7:51-53).

The ‘long-expected Messiah’ finally ‘came unto His own,’ only to be rejected, falsely accused, convicted and then turned over to the Romans to suffer execution on a cross as a slave!  What was startling – even to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, was Jesus’ apparent innocence. Pilate, himself a survivor of political intrigue, was well aware that the ‘fix was in,’ it was a ‘fait accompli’ that Jesus was going to be executed!  Whether He had done anything worthy of death, was an entirely different story. Jesus didn’t come just to die for sin, but also to live a ‘righteous life’ and proclaim the ‘good news’ to a dying world – starting with the Jews! It was in His ministry as a Prophet that Jesus came to preach and teach ‘who God is,’ both by His words and by the life which He lived before men. Jesus wasn’t just looking to preach a few sermons, He came to ‘make the invisible God known to men!’ This God, who dwells in ‘thick darkness’ (1 Kings 8:12), was obscured by man’s sin and blindness for centuries, since the apostasy of Adam and Eve in the garden. Jesus was going to fully reveal the Father like no other prophet ever had. Moses himself knew that his ministry had an expiration date – that he was by no means the last word on God. In Deuteronomy Chapter 18, Moses made it clear that there was another ‘covenant bearer’ like him, coming to ‘fully speak’ for the God of Heaven:

^“Moses continued, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. For this is what you yourselves requested of the Lord your God when you were assembled at Mount Sinai.’ You said, ‘Don’t let us hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore or see this blazing fire, for we will die.’  Then the Lord said to me, ‘What they have said is right. I will raise up a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell the people everything I command him. I will personally deal with anyone who will not listen to the messages the prophet proclaims on my behalf ’ ” (Deuteronomy 18:15-19).

Jesus was that prophet to come!  He fully revealed God – His Nature, Power, Holiness, Justice, Anger at Sin, Coming Judgment and yes, His Love for His People – like no one had ever revealed before. When the Temple priests sent their armed guards to arrest Jesus for blasphemy against their ‘religious hierarchy,’ the guards came back dumbfounded, saying:

“When the Temple guards returned without having arrested Jesus, the leading priests and Pharisees demanded, ‘Why didn’t you bring him in?’  The guards responded: ‘We have never heard anyone speak like this!’ The Pharisees mocked:  ‘Have you been led astray, too?’ “ (John 7:45-47).

Jesus was the ‘full revelation of God,’ first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles! And while the message had been there in ‘shadow and type’ throughout the entire Old Testament, only a ‘handful of men and women’ saw Him prophetically, and looked forward to His coming. Hebrews Chapter 11 tells the wonderful story of Jesus being ‘offered by faith’ to those who ‘longed for His coming.’ But Jesus’ coming was obscured by two conflicting messages that even Angels long to understand: 1.) The Suffering Messiah, and 2.) His Glorious Reign. Here’s how the Apostle Peter tried to explain Israel’s prophetic dilemma – seeking to understand the ‘conflicting prophecies’ – foretold to the faithful concerning her coming Messiah:

“This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you. They wondered what time or situation the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when he told them in advance about Christ’s suffering and his great glory afterward. They were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you. And now this Good News has been announced to you by those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen” (1 Peter 1:10-12).

Simeon, an older priest who longed for the coming of ‘God’s Salvation,’ reveled when he took up the Christ Child in his arms proclaiming:

“So, when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required, Simeon was there. He took the child in his arms and praised God, saying, ‘Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace, as you have promised. I have seen your salvation, which you have prepared for all people. He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel’ ” (Luke 2:27-32).

When the Apostle John was inspired to write his account of the coming of Jesus Christ into the world – John makes it clear that Jesus was not just another prophetic voice. No, He was the One whom the Scriptures foretold, who would make God fully known:

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, ‘This was He of whom I said, He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (John 1:14-18).

What a blessing it is, to live in these “last days when God has spoken to us by His Son” (Hebrews 1:2). All the years of man’s long ignorance came to an end when God ‘fully revealed Himself through the Life, Ministry and Death of Jesus Christ!’

Soli Deo Gloria!