Christ and Your Life

CHRIST AND YOUR LIFE

A Christian minister spoke on the subject, "Why I Believe in Jesus." Following the service there was a knock on the door of his study. Opening it, he found a well-dressed young man standing before him. The minister invited him in.

"What can I do for you?" he asked.

"Your talk tonight was interesting," replied the young man, "but everything you said about Jesus Christ came out of your Bible. Tell me, if Jesus ever lived on this earth, why doesn't history tell about Him?"

"That's a fair question," answered the minister, as he turned and took down several books. "History does tell about Jesus Christ."

"That I want to see for myself," the young man responded.

"Well, here is Letter 97 of Book 10 of Letters of Pliny the Younger, Roman proconsul in Bithynia, a province of old Asia Minor. He wrote to the Roman Emperor, Trajan, telling him about interesting events in his provinces. See, here he is asking counsel on how he should handle this new sect, the Christians. He tells of their rapid growth, of how they sing hymns composed to their leader, Christ. This letter was written about A.D. 110. According to 1 Peter 1:1, the gospel was preached in Bithynia, and there were many Christians scattered throughout the province in apostolic times. The letter by Pliny is historical evidence of the man, Christ, and of the work done by preachers of the gospel of Christ in the days of His apostles."

Surprised, the young man said, "Tell me more!"

As the minister thumbed through another book, he added: "Another historian, contemporary with Pliny, was Tacitus. In his Annals (Book 15, chapter 44) he tells of Nero's hatred for, and persecution of, the Christians at the time of the burning of Rome. Tacitus explains that the term 'Christian' comes from the name 'Christ.' He mentions that Jesus Christ, the founder of the Christian religion, was put to death by Pontius Pilate, Procurator of Judea, during the reign of Emperor Tiberius."

"Pastor, I never knew things like that were in secular history!" exclaimed the man.

"There are many who don't know these things," replied the minister. "Here is another Roman historian, Suetonius, who wrote biographies of Nero and Claudius. In his Life of Claudius, chapter 23, he describes how the Christians were hated by Claudius and were driven from the city of Rome. He also mentions the name of Christ in his biography."

"And while we're talking," the minister added, "I want you to notice that about A.D. 180 Celsus wrote a book attacking the Christians, indicating that Christianity by that time had become a force to reckon with."

"If you are still in doubt," said the minister, "remember that the four Gospels are just as much history as these secular books."

"I can't argue with it any longer," exclaimed the young man. "Jesus Christ must have actually lived!"

Both sacred and secular history agree that Jesus did live as a man on earth.

1. WHEN GOD BECAME MAN

Jesus was not merely a good man, He was God. As God's Son, Jesus was a God-man. But how could the Son of God come to earth in the flesh of man? Of this mystery, the Bible says:

"And without controversy great is the MYSTERY OF GODLINESS: GOD WAS MANIFEST IN THE FLESH, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory."—1 Timothy 3:16.

Croesus, the king of Lydia and one of the richest men in history, one day asked Thales, a Greek philosopher, "What is God?" Thales asked for one day to prepare his answer. Then he asked for another and another and another. Finally he came to Croesus and admitted that the more he studied God, the more mysterious the question became.

Referring to this experience, Tertullian, a noted apologist of the early Christian church, said that no one could know God who did not know Jesus Christ. If you wish to know the answer to the question, "What is God?" look at Jesus.

The disciples were one day talking to Jesus about God the Father. One of these, Philip, pleaded with Jesus, "Show us the Father." To which Jesus replied:

"Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?"—John 14:9.

The Bible from beginning to end reveals Jesus as the exact image of the Father. Jesus, the Son of God, said,

"I and my Father are one."—John 10:30.

We can understand God better when we know that Jesus is the Son of God, one with the Father. But the question persists, Where did God come from?

2. JESUS EXISTED FROM ETERNITY

There are some things we cannot know. But what God reveals to us we can know.

"The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law."—Deuteronomy 29:29.

Where did God come from? The Bible answer is that God has always been.

"Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, EVEN FROM EVERLASTING TO EVERLASTING, THOU ART GOD."—Psalm 90:2.

No more sublime statement can be found of the eternity of God. The very first words of the Bible declare that God has always been.

"In the beginning God . . ."—Genesis 1:1.

An interesting fact about the word "God" in Genesis 1 is that in the Hebrew it is in the plural form, Elohim. The use of the plural form indicates that from the beginning God the Father was not alone in His creative work.

John, speaking of Christ, says:

"In the beginning was the Word [Christ], and THE WORD WAS WITH GOD, and the Word was God. The same was IN THE BEGINNING with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. . . . And the Word was made 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 1:1-3, 14.

So close was this relationship between the Father and the Son, that Jesus was the One who spoke the worlds into created existence. The Bible says of Christ:

"Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: for BY HIM WERE ALL THINGS CREATED, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, . . . all things were created by him, and for him."—Colossians 1:15, 16.

Jesus was with the Father even before creation. (See John 1:3.) In fact, the Son of God has always been, from times eternal.

". . . yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."—Micah 5:2.

That the Father and Son have existed together from eternity is clear from this statement in the book of Hebrews:

"But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom."—Hebrews 1:8.

Christ made it clear in His last recorded prayer before His crucifixion that there has never been a time when He was not one with the Father:

"And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was."—John 17:5.

3. CHRIST, HEART OF HISTORY AND PROPHECY

The entire Old and New Testaments were written to reveal Christ to the world.

That the Son of God made contact with men in Old Testament times is seen in the book of Daniel. Daniel wrote that Nebuchadnezzar, the pagan king of ancient Babylon, saw one like the "Son of God" walking with three men in a blazing furnace.

"He [Nebuchadnezzar] answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God."—Daniel 3:25.

Anyone who carefully reads the Old Testament discovers that it continually pictures the coming Messiah. The word "Messiah" in the Old Testament has the same meaning as the word "Christ" in the New Testament. (See John 1:41; 4:25.) Therefore, Christ is the Old Testament Messiah who was to come.

The Old Testament is filled with prophecies regarding this Coming One. These prophecies, written hundreds of years before Christ was born, predicted the major events of the New Testament—the birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension, and coming kingdom of Jesus Christ. Christ was the master theme of all these prophets. In fact, the New Testament refers to more than 300 Old Testament prophecies fulfilled in and by Christ.

At the very beginning of Christ's earthly ministry, as men compared His life with the Old Testament prophecies, they concluded:

"We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth."—John 1:45.

At His first public appearance, our Saviour appealed to prophecy to establish His own identity. Quoting from an Old Testament prophecy, He said:

"This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears."—Luke 4:21.

And soon after His resurrection, Jesus again pointed out to two of His followers the fulfillment of the prophecies that pointed forward to Him.

"Then said he unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: . . . And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself."—Luke 24:25, 27.

Let us look at some of these prophetic passages from the Old Testament that were fulfilled by Jesus and recorded in the New Testament.

4. CHRIST'S LIFE A FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY (Part 1 of 2)

Place of Birth

The Old Testament Prophecy: "But thou, BETHLEHEM EPHRATAH, . . . out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel."—Micah 5:2.

The New Testament Fulfillment: "Now when Jesus was born in BETHLEHEM of Judaea . . ."—Matthew 2:1.

The Virgin Birth

The Old Testament Prophecy: "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, A VIRGIN SHALL CONCEIVE, AND BEAR A SON, and shall call his name Immanuel."—Isaiah 7:14.

The New Testament Fulfillment: "Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for THAT WHICH IS CONCEIVED IN HER IS OF THE HOLY GHOST."—Matthew 1:20. (Read verses 18-23.)

Of the Tribe of Judah

The Old Testament Prophecy: "THE SCEPTRE SHALL NOT DEPART FROM JUDAH, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come."—Genesis 49:10.

The New Testament Fulfillment: "For it is evident that OUR LORD SPRANG OUT OF JUDA."—Hebrews 7:14.

His Rejection

The Old Testament Prophecy: "He is despised and REJECTED of men."—Isaiah 53:3.

The New Testament Fulfillment: "He came unto his own, and HIS OWN RECEIVED HIM NOT."—John 1:11.

His Betrayal

The Old Testament Prophecy: "Yea, MINE OWN FAMILIAR FRIEND, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath LIFTED UP HIS HEEL AGAINST ME."—Psalm 41:9. (See Psalm 55:12, 13.)

The New Testament Fulfillment: "Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, HE GAVE IT TO JUDAS ISCARIOT."—John 13:26.

The Traitor's Fee

The Old Testament Prophecy: "If ye think good, give me my price; . . . So they weighed for my price THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER."—Zechariah 11:12.

The New Testament Fulfillment: "Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER."—Matthew 26:14, 15.

Nailed to a Cross

The Old Testament Prophecy: "They PIERCED my hands and my feet."—Psalm 22:16.

The New Testament Fulfillment: "And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they CRUCIFIED him."—Luke 23:33.

4. CHRIST'S LIFE A FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY (Part 2 of 2)

Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 are filled with details of the prophecy of Christ's persecution and death at the hands of those whom He came to save.

Could Not Be Held in the Tomb

The Old Testament Prophecy: "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption."—Psalm 16:10.

The New Testament Fulfillment: "He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption."—Acts 2:31.

Christ's life story is a fulfillment of prophecy. Much of the Old Testament is the story of Christ's life written in advance; the New Testament is the same story told in fulfillment.

The life of no man but Jesus Christ has met the details of Bible prophecy. This proves His Messiahship.

The disciples of Jesus saw all these predictions fulfilled in the birth, the life, the ministry, the death, the resurrection, and the ascension of the Saviour. They were closely associated with Him. They saw His godly life; they saw Him die on Calvary; but to them the supreme proof that Jesus is the Son of God is the exact way in which the Old Testament prophets predicted every detail of His life. The Bible affirms that one of these witnesses "mightily convinced the Jews, and that publickly, shewing by the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ." Acts 18:28, margin.

With the testimony of both Old and New Testament writers, how can we doubt that Jesus Christ is the divine Son of God?

5. GOD, CHRIST, AND YOUR LIFE

Speaking of the influence of Christ, one writer states:

"I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that have ever marched, and all the navies that were ever built, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth so powerfully as that one solitary life."

A frequently traveled railroad bridge spanned a large river. It was the responsibility of one man to open and close the bridge, allowing both ships and trains to pass in safety.

One evening at dusk, a passenger train was scheduled to cross the bridge. A few minutes before the train was due, the attendant checked the safety locks as usual to make sure all was ready. Shocked, he found the locks broken. Already he heard the train approaching. What could he do to save the train from disaster? Throwing himself on the ground beside the tracks, he put all his weight on the bar that controlled the safety locks. The lives of hundreds of people depended on his strength in those tense moments.

Just as he heard the train signal for the right-of-way on the bridge, he heard another sound that made his heart stand still. It was his three-year-old son calling through the shadows, "Daddy, where are you?" Horrified, he saw his only child wandering down the tracks toward the bridge and the onrushing train. Already the trestle was trembling.

Should he release the lock and go to save his only child, or should he sacrifice the son he loved and save the lives of hundreds of people who knew nothing of their danger? He made the only choice he could. The train passed over the dark waters without the passengers' realizing the sacrifice a loving father had made.

The heavenly Father saw our world rushing on in sin to its eternal ruin. He knew that He must either give His only Son to save men from destruction and death, or save His beloved Son and let a lost world go down to eternal destruction. What did God do? He did the only thing His love could do.

"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.

God gave His Son to the world—to you and to me. Jesus came willingly to this world to suffer and to save us. He invites me, He invites you to make Him your closest Friend, your Saviour. He personally invites you to reach out and enjoy a satisfying life:

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."—Matthew 11:28-30.

What is your response to Jesus' gracious invitation?

Dear heavenly Father: I thank Thee for the gift of Thy Son, Jesus. Help me to believe in Him fully and to accept Him as my own Saviour just now. Teach me to love Thee with all my heart, and show me how to live so that others will love Thee too. In Jesus' dear name I pray. Amen.