The Most Important Question!

What is the most important question that anyone could ask?  I believe the question is, "Who is Jesus Christ?"

Why is this the most important question? Because knowing the answer is the key to eternal life in Heaven... it is the key to our purpose... it is the only thing that can give life true meaning... It is light in the darkness, it is true wisdom and knowledge, it is peace amid chaos, it is faith, hope and love. Why do I say this?  Hopefully what follows will help to clarify these points.

There is one primary source of truth that can be counted on to provide the answers to the deepest questions of life, and that is the written Word of God, the Bible. It says of itself (in II Peter 1) "Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture comes from the prophet’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever brought about through human initiative, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" and "For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." (Heb 4). Psalm 119 is the longest psalm in the Bible (176 verses), and EVERY verse in the psalm makes mention of the Word of God. Clearly God's Word is a source that can be trusted (for God cannot lie!). What does the Word of God, the Bible, say about Christ?

Jesus Christ is the central figure in the Bible.  The entire Old Testament leads up to his coming, and the entire New Testament is about his ministry and what he accomplished. As we will see, he is present and active from Genesis 1:1 through Revelation 22:21. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. How can I say this? I will explain:

Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

John 1:1 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." This one, seemingly simple, yet enigmatic verse holds a deep wisdom.
John 1 goes on to clarify, "He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it...He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." 

 

So we clearly see that Jesus is the Living Word of God, and that from the beginning, He was both with God and is also God. This theme is reiterated in Colossians 1:

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, .."

What all this means is that Christ existed with the Father long before He came to earth and became human as well as divine. As we read in Philippians 2: 

 

"In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself

by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

and gave him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father."

All this having been said, you may still be wondering, how can Jesus Christ be both the Son of God and also be God? For most believers, the trinity is still a mystery. I believe it is not as hard to understand as some have made it out to be. Consider that man was originally made of soul, body and spirit (that third part, the spirit, was lost by Adam but restored by Christ in his followers)... making us a sort of 'trinity'.  The Bible says in Genesis 1, "God created mankind in his own image...". As God is a 'trinity' we were made a 'trinity', but of course God is a 'trinity' on a much grander scale (to say the least)!  You see, that which we understand as 'God the Father' is the 'Soul' of God, the Word of God, Jesus Christ, is the 'Body' of God, and the 'Holy Spirit' is the "Spirit" of God. What evidence do I have for this? Look carefully at the wording in John 1. "...Through him [The Word] all things were made..." and in Colossians 1, "For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him." What we see here is the God the Father is the SOURCE of all creation and the Word, Jesus Christ, is the MEANS of creation. In Genesis 1: 2 we read, "Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters", so that completes the trinity that created all things. 

 

What does it mean when we say that Jesus Christ (i.e. the Word of God) is the body of God? We live in a multidimensional universe. The material realm exists in the three dimensions plus time, and God, who is Spirit, is most present in the spiritual dimension. For God, as spirit, to create in the physical dimension, He needed an 'interface', a means by which He could create a physical reality. That 'interface' is His Word. Note that Genesis 1 states that "God SAID let there be... and there was..." When God 'speaks' that is His Word in action. That Christ is the 'body of God' is confirmed through the use of a figure of speech called a synecdoche.  A synecdoche may use part of something to represent the entire whole. In several places Jesus is referred to as the "Arm of the LORD". The Prophet Isaiah said (prophesying of Christ):

"Who has believed our message and to whom has the ARM of the LORD been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground... 

Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way;

and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all."

When we ask, 'Is Jesus Christ God?' it is the same as asking 'Is your arm you?'  If someone cuts your arm, have they hurt you? Yes.  Yet, your arm is a part of you.  You would still be you without your arm.. but somehow incomplete. Your arm is 'with you' and your arm is 'you'.  The Word was with God and the Word was God.  

From this we see that Jesus Christ is interdependent with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. He is the Lord over all creation because it was through Him that creation came into being. We need to make the choice to make Him our personal LORD if we are to spend eternity in Heaven (meaning we agree to live as He wants us to live). Doing His will is the purpose for our existence. When we are doing His will, our lives have meaning, and we can have peace in the midst of the most violent storms. We have faith in and get faith from the Lord, our hope is in His return, and we can love with the love we receive from Him. Time itself is centered around Christ (BC = Before Christ and AD = Anno Domini, which is Latin for "year of our Lord", and it means the number of years since the birth of Jesus Christ). He is Light in the darkness, He is full of all wisdom and knowledge. He is the head of the Body, and we (who serve Him) are the members... the hands and feet of Christ on earth, here to do good to all we meet, to help the needy, defend the defenseless, heal the hurt, comfort the afflicted, to declare the Great News of the Gospel!

So knowing who Christ is, how can we do any less than make Him Lord of our lives?  Romans 10:9,10 says, "If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved." When you accept Christ as your Lord, you receive the holy spirit, which is God in Christ in you! If you haven't already, won't you make that verbal covenant with God to make Jesus your Lord? Like a wedding vow, your life should change for the better... you become the bride of Christ and you no longer put anything or anyone before Him. That is what it means to make Jesus Lord of your life. You live as he commands (it's one thing to fall from time to time and repent, but another to live a life of deliberate, habitual sin, which is rebellion and refusal of Christ's Lordship).  What are his commands? 'Love God with all your being, and those around you with the same love that we received (and continue to receive) from Him' (Matt 22:37, Jn 13:34) and share the good news (Matt 28:19)!  In doing that we fulfill our purpose. Have you accepted Christ as your Lord? Welcome to the Family... the Family of God! As John 1 says, "Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God" and " No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.” Heaven is waiting for YOU! 

HOPE: The Great Motivator!

As a young man, I looked ahead to the end of my life and saw nothing but a black abyss, and deep within my soul I silently cried out, "NO! This can't happen!"  I could not bear the thought of being extinguished like a lonely candle on a rainy night. I sensed that there had to be more to life... that there must be a way beyond this mortal realm... I hoped I would find the way, but did not know where to look. Though I was raised agnostic, to me that only meant that I had not yet found something that I could believe in. I deeply wanted to have hope, but I was coming up empty.

Beyond the bounds of space and time, my quiet heart's cry that even I barely acknowledged was heard by the Creator of the Universe, and through an unlikely series of events, He reached down from Heaven and into my heart where Hope found me. The uncle of my college roommate, who we had met a year earlier by 'freak chance' invited us back to visit, and hinted about changes in his life. He was a deep man (a former professor of psychology, he had been sidelined by an illness and had previously spent his days exploring an ancient Chinese method of divination), my visit was surprising, intriguing, and ultimately life changing. There was a lightness, a peace, a hopefulness, and an overflowing sense of joy in that household that I had not seen the year before. He began to tell me about how Jesus had come into his life and how he (and his wife) had been redeemed, and that they had been given the free gift of Eternal Life. Now THAT caught my attention! I asked questions and he answered them in a way that made the pieces fit together like never before.  I knew I wanted what he had...  but how?  He explained that Jesus was standing at the door of my heart knocking, and that all I had to do was open the door and let Him in. I got on my knees and prayed to God and Jesus and asked the risen Lord Jesus Christ to come into my heart, and said that I would accept him as my Savior and Lord if He would save me and give to me that free gift of Eternal Life.  As I prayed, I became aware of this calm that was unlike anything that I had ever experienced, as though I had been living in the midst of a stormy sea and suddenly the waves had been calmed by the Master's hand... confused at first by this unfamiliar feeling, I finally realized that it was perfect peace! When I glanced out the window, there before me was a brilliant red cardinal, which I took as a confirmation of His presence. That evening God in Christ came into my heart and made His dwelling place there, and He has never left. Since that day my life has never been the same. Though I stumbled at times, turned left when I should have turned right, went down when I should have gone up, and wandered down the occasional dead end street, God gently kept me in the palm of His hand, picked me up when I stumbled, and pointed me back in the right direction. Through life's twists and turns, I never again feared the abyss. I never doubted God's saving power, and at last, I had the Hope of eternity in Heaven.

Now, I need to make a very important distinction here. 'Hope' to a true believer in Christ means something very different than what many people think of as 'hope'. For most, 'hope' means there is at least some chance that something good will happen... it is a glimmer, a long shot, a big time maybe. The absence of hope (hopelessness) is one of the darkest conditions known to mankind (it is a common denominator in deep depression and suicide). When all hope is gone, there is no motivation to go on. This is hope at the most basic level. That is not the kind of Hope I am talking about here. A ride can be a rustbucket, or a ride can be a new Ferrari.  A meal can be a box of stale crackers or a meal can be a Thanksgiving feast! That is the difference between what most people think of as hope and Hope for the true believer.

In an earlier article I quoted the 'love' chapter in the Bible, I Corinthians 13.  The last verse starts out, "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love...".  We have talked about why faith and love are key, but why hope? We find these three elements together again in the book of Colossians: " ...we have heard about the faith you have in Christ Jesus and the love you have for all of God’s people. You have this faith and love because of your hope, and what you hope for is kept safe for you in heaven." Did you get that? Faith and love are empowered as a result of us understanding that we have a 'hope' stored up in Heaven. Not many years past, unmarried women stored up many of the things they would need when married in a box called a 'hope chest'. A faithful Christian does not just have a 'hope chest'; they have a 'Hope mansion' stored up in Heaven! Jesus said, "In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you... Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." By our actions on earth, we can put treasures in our 'Hope mansions'!

What else can we learn about this 'Hope'? The Apostle Peter said, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a Living Hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in Heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.. Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your Hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming." Our Hope is not just inanimate objects... it is a fresh, strong, active, powerful Living Hope!  The Apostle John said, "See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!... we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this Hope in Him purify themselves, just as He is pure." Hope purifies us. The Apostle Paul wrote to Titus, "For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed Hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good." Hope makes us strong against evil and eager to do good!

Our 'Hope' is looking forward to the return of Christ and all the wonderful things we will receive of him in the glorious kingdom of Heaven! With that kind of 'Hope' we can endure anything and still come out victors! Jesus Christ himself held on to that Hope during the greatest trial of his life.... the cross. "...let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. " While dwelling in his mortal body, he could see eternity... and that Hope is what kept him motivated. We can do the same! Attacked for doing good? "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in Heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." Thank your persecutors, for they have made you richer! Suffering illness, injustice or lack?  "The sufferings we have now are nothing compared to the great glory that will be shown to us. Everything God made is waiting with excitement for God to show his children’s glory completely." For believers, Hope is a safe harbor that protects us from all the storms of life. It is transdimensional, rising above the limitations of our material existence. No matter what difficulties we are faced with, if we hold on to that Hope, nothing can take it away from us.

Our hope is not just a pipe dream or a wish... our Hope is glorious beyond imagination... a city with streets of gold and filled with mansions and a world where there are scenes of natural beauty beyond compare, and God's love permeates the air like the scent of roses in a rose garden. There is unconditional forgiveness, love and acceptance flowing like a river from the throne of God. What is even more motivating is that there are signs everywhere that we could be in the 'last days' (insane weather, waters turning blood red, sink holes, mass animal deaths, etc.) and 'be changed' when Christ returns for his own, not having to pass through death. The time we have on this planet may be very short indeed, so take action while you can!

So now perhaps you have a glimpse of what true Hope means. It is your Glorious Reward once you have taken the same leap of faith I took so many years ago... accepting the risen Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior (i.e. deliverer, redeemer) and Lord (commit to living your life in accordance with His will) and then live your life accordingly. It is then that you not only have hope... you have the Hope of Glory!

  I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness — the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the Hope of Glory!

(Colossians 1)