Knowing Jesus

2005-05-24

Where did it all come from?

History, as you know, is a sequence of events, one after another. Every event in history has a cause. Take for example, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Simply put, the Wall could be brought down because at some point in history it was erected, which was in 1961. And the cause for the wall to be erected was because of the international climate between the emerging bipolar world system. This was caused largely by events and the outcome of the Second World War, and so on. History is a series of events, one after another, and every event had a cause. But what cause put the course of history in motion? From where did all of matter originate? A religious text known as the Rig Veda, in a hymn describing creation, asks a question, without proposing an answer:

But, after all, who knows, and who can say
Whence it all came, and how creation happened?
The gods themselves are later than creation,
So who knows truly whence it has arisen?

Whence all creation had its origin,
He, whether he fashioned it or whether he did not,
He, who surveys it all from highest heaven,
He knows-or maybe even he does not know (Howe 110).

The Evidence of God

God is the one who created everything out of nothing. The testimony of God is written all over the world we see around us. We see Him in the “coincidences” in life that happen around us. We see His face when we think of all the criteria that keep the earth habitable, such as the right amount of oxygen and heat, the distance of the earth from the sun, the rains that bring us harvest that we can have food, and the forces that keep the molecules of our bodies together. Because of Him all things exist and have their being, and the thought of God being absent from the everyday processes of life is impossible, because of the innumerable functions of the universe.

This infinitely intelligent God, who exists independently from space and time, created the universe, and He made it perfect. The Earth was a living paradise that He declared ‘very good.’ He created man and woman in His image, giving them intelligence and wisdom of all kinds, and made them in charge of the whole earth, and over the animals and the plants, so that they would be their caretakers.

The first man and the woman were not the offspring of another species or of non-living matter without the hand of God. They were created directly by God, for even our own consciences testify that lives of human beings are far more important than those of the animals. For how could we accept that humankind, who are intelligent beings, are the offspring of non-intelligent molecules? God’s fingerprint is imprinted on our very consciences, that we can do more than merely exist, but think logically, give and receive love, and have the potential to know what is right from what is wrong.

The Activity of Humankind

This omnipotent God placed the man and the woman in the perfect world He had made, but these two people were not satisfied with God’s paradise, and they rebelled against God’s commandment by the devil’s encouragement. They ate of the tree of which they were commanded not to eat, though they could eat freely from all vegetation in the entire world. And as they were warned beforehand, their rebellion cost them their lives, though their decay would be slow over many years. Death was the consequence of their rebellion; death was the punishment for departing from God’s wishes. Just as humankind was under such a curse of death from this rebellion, called sin, the curse spread to all of the earth. Everyone and everything sees death and decay, and this is seen also in the first man and woman’s descendants that populate the whole earth today. People ask, “How can God exist if the world is such a terrible place?” The answer is, “Because people’s sin and the effects of the curse have destroyed God’s perfect world.” One might retort, “Why would God let evil continue to happen, then?” That question I will answer shortly.

Yes, that goes for us today, for we were all born sinners, in rebellion against God, and we continue in rebellion against God. For Moses, who brought the tribes of Israel the Ten Commandments, wrote, that if you cursed God, took His name in vain, lusted, lied, cursed one’s parents, or gossiped, then you have transgressed the law of God. I have done all of these things in this list, and many of you probably have done at least one of these. But if not, God commanded in the Law of Moses over 600 different statutes to show us how we have fallen short of God’s standard. Apart from the Bible, however, we know we are not perfect, as we use excuses in life such as “nobody’s perfect” or “I’m only human.” Yet God commanded through Moses in Deuteronomy, “Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God” (Deuteronomy 18:13). James also wrote, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). God demands all people everywhere to be perfect, yet we fail Him constantly.

This God is a God of justice also; He will not allow evil to continue forever, and will judge the earth and its inhabitants. The world is in a very precarious state, for who among any of us would say that the world is perfect and that people are in harmony with God? Maybe America isn’t so bad compared to some other places, but most people do not live in America. Whether it is lands torn with civil war or tyranny, whether it is AIDS, or nuclear weapons, or ethnic cleansing, or poverty, terrible things are happening everywhere, and all of these situations are the results of the fallen, cursed condition of the world. God will one day give an answer to what He thinks of humankind’s activity, as Habakkuk wrote of God, “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity” (Habakkuk 1:13). He will come and destroy everyone and everything everywhere, each according to his or her imperfection.

The Advent of Jesus Christ

Surely God, through His law, has shown the world that no one can live up to his perfect standard, for in the Psalter David wrote, “There is none that doeth good” (Psalm 14:3). Knowing ahead of time that we could not live up to His perfect standard, God set a plan in motion to send His appointed Man, Jesus Christ, to eradicate sin from the earth. Jesus Christ, born of the virgin Mary, came to earth at the perfect time in history to bring the world back to God: both the Jewish nation, who are His chosen people, but also those who were not Jewish, since there is one God who created the human race. This Jesus was not born from the seed of men as we all were; He knew no sin, and came into the world to save all of humankind, for as many who would turn to Him. He taught this very message: that humankind can neither be saved from death and God’s judgment, nor enter the kingdom of heaven and have eternal life, by keeping religious laws or by being a ‘good person.’ Jesus said Himself, when speaking of who can enter into eternal life, “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).

The Passion of Jesus Christ

This Jesus was rejected by the religious and political leaders of the day, and was tortured by professional Roman executioners. He was then nailed to wooden beams and died a slow agonizing death. He then was buried and sealed in a tomb, and his soul descended to the lower parts of the earth. Yet it was Jesus who gave Himself over to die for the sins of the world. A blood sacrifice was required for our sins, for the Bible says in Hebrews 9:22, “Without shedding of blood is no remission.”

These events did not come like a lightning bolt in a clear blue sky; they were prophesied several centuries in advance. God told the devil in the book of Genesis after the man and the woman sinned against Him: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15). Now women do not have ‘seed,’ men do, and this is a reference to virgin-born Jesus who would come and destroy the author of sin, the devil. This event that happened at the beginning of time was written down in Genesis in the fifteenth century B.C.

Again, Isaiah, who wrote no later than the seventh century B.C., spoke of Jesus:

“He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:2-6).

Again, Daniel wrote in the sixth century B.C. about Jesus’ crucifixion, that after 483 years of the rebuilding of Jerusalem “shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself,” meaning Jesus would be crucified, making the year of crucifixion about A.D. 33 (Daniel 9:26).

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ

But this murder of Jesus was not the end, for on the third day from His death He rose from the dead, conquering death, conquering the effects of sin, showing the world He is who He said He was, the anointed of God.

The resurrection of Jesus was also prophetically documented in the Old Testament, as Zechariah recorded the words of God, “they shall look upon me whom they have pierced” (Zechariah 12:10), and David wrote in Psalm 110, “The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool” (Psalm 110:1). For this Jesus was seen by many witnesses, many of whom wrote the New Testament, and He was risen from the mount Olivet into heaven.

We Can be Saved by Trusting in Jesus

Jesus, according to this psalm of David, ascended to heaven, just as He did, until a time when He would return and judge the earth. However, the good news He made clear both before and after His resurrection, that every man and woman who believes in Him will be saved from God’s judgment, and have eternal life. Joel affirmed this prophetically when He wrote, “whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered” (Joel 2:32). The apostle John quoted Jesus directly to make this clear: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Now this word ‘believe’ is not some cavalier feeling, premonition, or emotion, such as, “I believe it will rain tomorrow.” This word has the connotation of real trust, and it is based on fact. In today’s terminology, we would say, one must trust in the work of Jesus (namely, His dying in our place to appease God’s wrath, and His resurrection from the dead), and trust in Him alone, so that we can have eternal life. We cannot rely on our own good deeds to get us to heaven and have eternal life, as many that might believe this, for as I have mentioned before: we are not perfect before God. But by trusting alone in Jesus, a perfect sacrifice before God, we can enter into eternal life.

The Mission and the Parousia

Now God in His great patience has given us centuries to spread this good news across the globe. People have become scoffers because Jesus has been gone for almost two millennia. But the apostle Peter wrote in his second epistle, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). And again, we have Jesus’ promise in Matthew’s Gospel, “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Matthew 24:14). This answers the question as to why evil still exists in the world today, but it will not be around forever. He is waiting for the entire world to hear His message of grace and hope in Jesus Christ so that as many as possible can be saved from His coming wrath.

This word ‘gospel’ literally means ‘good news’, and it truly is! Many of the religious systems of the world, from the ancient religion of Egypt, to Canaanite fertility cults, to the religions of today; they are all based on doing good works to please God and win Him over to get to heaven. But now that I have trusted in Jesus Christ, though I have done terrible things in my life, I can rest assured that I did not have to win God over at all. I face no scales in the afterlife, as some religions teach, to see if my good deeds outweigh my bad ones, because they do not. I am declared righteous before God because of Jesus, who died in my place, and I share in that hope of the resurrection, because Jesus’ tomb is empty to this day.

It does not matter who you are, where you have been, or what you have done. Jesus Christ died for you, and had you in mind when He suffered on the cross at Calvary. He has you in mind right now in heaven. As I have written, He wants all people everywhere to turn to Him so they can be healed, and this includes you.

In these times, a chapter in my life is closing. It is on my heart to explain these things in detail. The reason why life is still going on from antiquity until now is because this message of salvation is to be shared with everyone, everywhere. Please consider my words, and if you have any questions on anything that I have written, please contact me as soon as you can. I do not ask you to believe a single word of this without reason; check out the claims for yourself. Prophets predicted the coming of Jesus; eyewitnesses who saw Him after His resurrection wrote about Him.

Reference

Helen Howe and Robert Howe. Ancient and Medieval Worlds. White Plains: Longman, 1992.