"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world" (1 John 4:1-3).
The Spirit of God has come to confess "Jesus came in the Flesh." Confess means to "agree with" or "say the same thing as." This means that everything the Spirit of God says and does, will always agree with everything Jesus said and did in the flesh!
"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 1:14).
When Jesus came in the flesh, He brought the Word alive to us. Because of what He came to do, we can now look at His life and words, and begin to understand the whole Bible. Without the Word being made vivid and alive through Him, we cannot hope to properly grasp or understand the will of God.
In some churches, the revelation of Jesus Christ isn’t taught or understood; therefore, the Word of God and will of God is still a mystery to them. They confess, "the will of God is mysterious. God works in mysterious ways and we will never know why. Man was never meant to know the entire will of God. It’s beyond our comprehension."
This disagrees with the whole purpose of Jesus coming in the flesh. This reveals to me that some of us have trouble seeing the true revelation of Jesus Christ. This is a common problem in the Church. There is a simple answer when God doesn’t seem to make sense: "LOOK AT JESUS."
God is no longer hidden if we look at Jesus. It is now possible for us to see the true character of God revealed in its entirety if we would only look at His Son. Once we see that the purpose and plan of God is completely made known through the life and words of Jesus in the flesh, then our discernment will be able to test many false spiritual manifestations.
Jesus Declared God’s True Character
"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 1:18).
The Son has declared the Father’s true character. "Declared" means that God was "manifested" to us through Jesus. In fact, this is the reason why one of the names given to Jesus was "Immanuel," which means, "God with us." God is no longer hidden from our understanding. His character and His Word have been made flesh and we can now open our Bibles and see Him in living color.
"And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life" (1 John 5:20).
We will continue to live in confusion until we realize that God is no longer invisible. He can now be seen through Jesus Christ!
"He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God…" (Colossians 1:15).
The word image means "likeness;" therefore, we can see God’s true likeness and image in Jesus.
"Who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person…" (Hebrews 1:3).
Jesus is the exact expression of God’s character. Jesus came to reveal — not just a portion of God’s character — but the entire revelation of His Father. He came in the flesh to reveal the fullness of God. People may ask, "But how can God, who is eternal, reveal Himself in flesh?" This was the mystery that Paul understood.
"…God was manifested in the flesh… Believed on in the world, Received up in glory" (1 Timothy 3:16).
"How that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets:" (Ephesians 3:3-5)
It is No Longer a Secret
God is no longer a mystery! His character is no longer hidden! His will is no longer shrouded in secrecy! Jesus has come in the flesh and we have beheld His full glory!
"For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;" (Colossians 2:9).
"For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell," (Colossians 1:19).
I once asked a fellow minister during a heated discussion, "Did God reveal Himself totally through Christ or did He reveal only a portion of His glory?" He couldn’t answer me. Since then, I have realized that many of us cannot answer that question with a definite unwavering answer because we do not understand the revelation of Christ.
The Fullness of God Revealed
If we don’t realize that the fullness of the Godhead was revealed in the earthly body of Christ, then we will not understand the true character of God and His Spirit. And if we don’t understand the true character of God, then we will be easily misled by spiritual manifestations which do not agree with His character. In order to discern, we must understand, the revelation of God in Christ was complete!
"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 1:14).
"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 1:18).
The word "glory" means to reveal the true opinion of someone. Jesus came to destroy all misconceptions falsely attached to His heavenly Father. If we have any wrong opinions about God, they will always be challenged when we take a good look at Jesus. He accurately showed us the true view of God’s character!
Jesus also manifested and glorified the name of His Father. The Bible’s use of names represented more than just titles. Names represented the entire character and every true attribute seen in Bible individuals. It represented everything which was associated with their name.
The name "Jesus" isn’t just a title. It means "Jehovah saves" or "Jehovah is salvation." To understand His name, means to understand His character. But there is more to this. Jesus did not come to represent Himself. He came to represent His Father. Jesus revealed everything associated with his Father’s name. He showed us, through His earthly ministry, the full meaning of His name — Jesus — Jehovah is our salvation.
"I have manifested Your name…" (John 17:6).
"The works that I do in My Father’s name…" (John 10:25).
The Express Image of God
Hebrews chapter one shows Jesus as the one true expression of God.
"He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being…" (Hebrews 1:3, NRSV).
"Who being the shining splendor of His glory, and the express image of His essence…" (Hebrews 1:3, Green’s Literal Translation).
The word "essence" is a good word because Jesus truly was the "concentrate" of God’s character. There is nothing more exact in all the world. He was the very essence of God!
Now, I have said all that to say this: In order to compare spiritual manifestations with truth, we have to realize that truth is a person!
The Right Foundation
One minister from a neighboring town took me for coffee to discuss some of these issues. He was trying to convince me that God did things that are not found in the Bible. Instead of turning to the revelation of Jesus as the standard for truth, he turned to circumstances, traditions, and experiences to convince me that God does things that are mysterious and beyond our understanding.
I reminded him, "Jesus Christ is the exact expression of the will and image of God." I thought the minister might see that Jesus was the ultimate basis for truth.
All Christians should be able to reason that the truth was found in Jesus and therefore conclude that God has revealed Himself fully through His Son.
John 21:25 Misunderstanding
But what really surprised me was his response to the testimony of Jesus. He said, "not everything Jesus did was recorded in the Bible." He explained, "I base this on John 21:25 which says, ‘And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written’."
There wasn’t anything else I could say. If we couldn’t build from the same foundation, then we could not dialogue any further.
I have had several discussions with my Pentecostal and Charismatic peers over these concepts. The same logic is used to defend extra-biblical signs and wonders. In defense of their views, several of my friends have misquoted this Scripture to me.
"And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen" (John 21:25).
They have used this Scripture to suggest that the character of God was not totally revealed and cannot be limited to the written Word or the revelation of Christ.
It’s Like A DOS Gateway
If you have ever used a computer, you know that as long as you stay within a written program, you are safe. When you make a mistake, the program tells you what you did wrong and offers you suggestions of how to return safely to your work. But within just about every computer program is a DOS gateway. Once you enter that gateway, you’re no longer within a pre-written program. In DOS, mistakes can be very costly. This is the domain for those who wish to write their own programs.
The misuse of John 21:25 is like a DOS gateway. Whoever thinks he can go beyond the written Word to defend his own doctrines is in grave danger. By misusing this Scripture, he begins writing his own program. He raises his own standard. (Besides, the statement found in John 21:25 applies in particular to the book of John, not to the entire Bible.)
We need to stand on solid ground. Jesus is the entire character of the Almighty God focused and concentrated into one person. This is our firm foundation. Everything else is sand.
Two Ditches
As I am exposing some of my own pseudo-Christ Charismatic training, I also want you to know that the revelation of Jesus Christ challenges some of our more traditional evangelical beliefs as well.
Across the whole spectrum of the Church we can find doctrines which go beyond Scripture. Some of our more popular denominations are just as vulnerable as their Charismatic counterparts for not using the doctrine of Christ as the foundation for what they believe. Perhaps they do it because they highly regard their founding fathers and would not question them; or perhaps, like the Charismatics, they have not been presented with the true revelation of Christ. Nevertheless, there remains denominational strongholds that have to be broken through. If ministers returned to the pursuit of truth, at the expense of some of their man-made traditions, they would inevitably face resistance.
They may not realize it, but sometimes denominational standards are sprinkled with as much influence from the spirit of Antichrist as the "flakiness" of the Charismatics. Keep in mind though, the spirit of Antichrist is not opposed to religion or denominations. Antichrist influence is simply opposed to the full revelation of God through Christ in the flesh — that’s all.
There is nothing more fundamental or foundational in all of Christianity than the revelation of Christ!
The Other Ditch
Full Gospel or Charismatic leaders have to venture beyond the doctrine of Christ in order to defend their man-made doctrines. They become very good at mishandling and misquoting Bible verses.
On the false premise of John 21:25 and other connected teachings, I have witnessed preachers declare and believe whole-heartedly that they can do more things than Jesus did and do them better. This becomes very evident when the spiritual manifestations, which they promote in their ministries, are different than the manifestations found in Jesus’ ministry. This is founded on the assumption that Jesus opened up the opportunity to do what He couldn’t do. This too reveals the influence of carnal, anti-Christ thought.
"For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess (agree with) Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist" (2 John 1:7).
"Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son" (2 John 1:9).
John’s use of the word "transgress" is a little different in this setting because we usually use the word "sin" in its place. "Transgress" fits into this context because it actually means "to go beyond or step aside." John’s warning must be understood. He is teaching this in order to keep us from going beyond the doctrine of Christ. Everything Jesus said and did in His body is the ultimate standard for truth!
Leaders and Christians under the influence of the spirit of Antichrist will not openly confess or admit that the complete revelation of the Word of God was revealed through the life of Jesus Christ. If ministers made a stand for truth, they might not be accepted within their own traditional denominations. They would progress into scriptural knowledge which might jeopardize their licenses and their memberships. But that is the risk they may have to take in order to become true leaders in the Body of Christ. Every believer is entitled to the reward of the ever-increasing knowledge of the revelation of Christ!
It is like entering the strait gate. It seems so small at first. It seems to limit us. But on the other side is the vast knowledge of God and His Word. There is an abundance of understanding set aside for us within the simple but powerful revelation of Christ.