Jesus = No
I am curious about Jesus.
However you may view Jesus, there are things about Him that you need to fully consider. He was a real person, verified by history, and has left His mark to this very day. He physically wrote no books or articles, but His story is told all over the world. Those who followed Jesus attested to His miracles and even His enemies acknowledged the events, even if they argued the “how.” There are hundreds of predictions written about Jesus long before He came along, and they were fulfilled! Jesus died by execution via crucifixion. Three days later His body was no longer in the tomb where He was buried. This tomb was guarded by assigned guards to ensure no one would take it. Despite the power and control of His enemies, the missing body was never produced. His closest followers proclaimed they saw Him afterwards on numerous occasions, talking and eating with Him.
They declared to the world that He rose from the grave and ascended into heaven. All but one of His closest followers willingly surrendered their lives to the death rather than renounce the truth they proclaimed. The other man, John, lived to an old age under banishment. Some of these men and their associates wrote their testimony about what they witnessed. We still have their testimony today. Even still, a man named Saul used to persecute these new believers. He would travel far and wide to arrest them and even cause the death of some. Yet, he saw Jesus on the way to Damascus and it changed his life. He became known as Paul, and we still have many of his writings today. They all took Jesus seriously enough in the face of death.
So what? What does that have to do with me? Those are fair questions. Jesus said that He came to save that which was lost. He came as a physician to those who are sick. He came to set captives free. He came to give hope to the hopeless. He came to pay the heavy price for sin so that ours may be forgiven. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 MEV). If you were to stand before God today and He asked you, “Why should I let you into my kingdom?” what would you say? If you think you can recite your good deeds you will fall short for “…we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness is as filthy rags; as we fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” (Isaiah 64:6 MEV). Chances are you will have nothing to say.
The question really is, “Can you save yourself?” If you can, don’t listen and good luck. However, if you can’t save yourself, you need to heed to what Jesus is saying.
They declared to the world that He rose from the grave and ascended into heaven. All but one of His closest followers willingly surrendered their lives to the death rather than renounce the truth they proclaimed. The other man, John, lived to an old age under banishment. Some of these men and their associates wrote their testimony about what they witnessed. We still have their testimony today. Even still, a man named Saul used to persecute these new believers. He would travel far and wide to arrest them and even cause the death of some. Yet, he saw Jesus on the way to Damascus and it changed his life. He became known as Paul, and we still have many of his writings today. They all took Jesus seriously enough in the face of death.
So what? What does that have to do with me? Those are fair questions. Jesus said that He came to save that which was lost. He came as a physician to those who are sick. He came to set captives free. He came to give hope to the hopeless. He came to pay the heavy price for sin so that ours may be forgiven. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 MEV). If you were to stand before God today and He asked you, “Why should I let you into my kingdom?” what would you say? If you think you can recite your good deeds you will fall short for “…we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness is as filthy rags; as we fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” (Isaiah 64:6 MEV). Chances are you will have nothing to say.
The question really is, “Can you save yourself?” If you can, don’t listen and good luck. However, if you can’t save yourself, you need to heed to what Jesus is saying.