4/29/2019—promised on a FaceBook page earlier today.
A friend on FaceBook posed a good question, which I have an opinion as to how to answer. The question comes from someone who truly doesn’t know who Jesus is: how would you tell him? If time and attention span was not expected to be a problem, this is how I would answer him:
There’s a great book about this man named Jesus. The book tells in short, a history of mankind on the earth, not a complete history, but a timeline of how mankind came face to face with this man, Jesus.
So, as we talk about who He is, we’ll use this book to keep from throwing in too many personal opinions, OK? The book tells of a need for a redeemer, a savior, a hero, if you will. Many parts of this book show hundreds and hundreds of expectations when this man finally appears. The first part of the book is called the “Old Testament” (a testament is a promise to an end—like someone’s “last will and testament”.) In this Old Testament, Jesus is referred to under several names, each of the names depicts something He is expected to be, or to perform, and the promise (testament) of the end result of it all. The Old Testament is, in all, 39 small books written by several men over a 2000 year period, the total years of history covered is about 4000 years.
All that being said, and holding all 39 parts of the O.T. as being important to this explanation, we’ll move into when Jesus finally showed up in the world. We’ll turn to the second part of this book, 27 more small books by 9 more men who were with Him and/or knew Him in a personal and spiritual way.
We’ll start in the first book, Matthew, chapter 1, verses 18 through 25. You see, all the things which happened to Joseph and Mary were part of what had been pre-told (or prophecies) concerning Jesus (Emmanuel and Jesus having the same meaning.)
When a later book explains Jesus being born, it talks more about Who He is, not so much about the birth and childhood, we now look at what John describes Jesus as being: John 1:1 through 18.
In the very next verse, John begins to show how opposition came to Jesus Christ (Christ is added to His name to depict His having been anointed by God, His Father). This opposition grew throughout the next 3 years until those very people who were looking for and expecting His birth, came to loathe Him and to put Him to death. Each of the first four writers which start this second part of the book wrote of how this death came about; how it was expected by Jesus Himself, how he taught His followers to not fret over it, that He knew it was going to occur, but that He also knew the Father had the power to raise Him from the dead. All four of these small books show that resurrection to be a real occurrence, being further testified of by another who saw Him in a different light a bit later (that man said over 500 people saw Him alive after they had also seen Him dead (referred to as his “passion.”)
Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, sent His 12 Apostles out to tell their people, Israel, all about the resurrection of Christ in order for those who had turned on Him and caused His death could see it didn’t stop His purpose, but magnified His power! The people of Israel still didn’t believe on Him for their salvation, refusing wide scale to bring to an end the time when anyone was sent to tell them.
Jesus, then, from heaven appeared to a rebellious Jew called Saul, who had done horrible things against Jesus the Christ! Because he had blasphemed against those people of God who had been baptized with the Holy Ghost, it was not possible for the rebellious blasphemer to join up with them (Matthew 12:31, 32 Jesus said he couldn’t be with the others.) Rather, the Lord Jesus Christ sent him to tell people like us: you and me. We too, were rebellious against the will of God, even though it might have taken a long time for us to become aware of just how far away from Him we were.
Saul had his name changed by what people called him: Saul was a Jewish name, but he became Paul, a Greek name because the Lord sent him to us Gentiles. (Gentiles are people who are not Hebrew (Jews).
Paul carried a further revelation. The first recorded words of his which define salvation are these in Acts 13:38,39 “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins
And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.
Hmm, salvation without keeping the law? Yes, just a short time after that a man ask Paul and his companion Silas, “What must I do to be saved?” They answered him, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.” (Acts 16:31) No “do this or that,” No ritual to go through. No trial or probation period. Just believe ON! That is, trust that Paul’s words show “how that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and was raised again the 3rd day, for our justification.” (a combining of 1 Corinthians 15:3,4 with Romans 4:24,25.)
The words which will define for us for our position in Christ is found in the 13 letters which Paul wrote. they are all in a row; Romans through Philemon. It is simple for several reasons you’ll be able to see when you look at these thirteen small books in the middle of the New Testament—the second part of the whole book.
God has granted us life everlasting in Christ (meaning of “in Christ” is Saved by His gospel which he gave to our Apostle (Paul) to tell us.) It has been preserved and we have the true privilege to tell the world about it. This whole book is simple. But, the world of the “wise” has brought it to a state where enemies can change what it says, therefore what it means. But, we who know the King James Bible also know it is the truth. And we can trust its words, just like we trust the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation. I hope you will “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved” today.
Thanks for reading, the Elder
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