Do you know Jesus? Or do you know something about Jesus? THERE IS A VAST DIFFERENCE. Much religious thought is built around one principal or one virtue of Jesus, and a s result many religious people know very little about Jesus, and sadly, practice less. There is much religion, but very little Bible being practiced in our generation. To see Jesus properly we must bring every virtue and attribute into sharp focus. We must observe all his teaching. We cannot really know him unless and until we do. “Teaching them to OBSERVE ALL THINGS whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: (2 Peter 1:3).
JESUS IN CREATION. Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. (Genesis 1:26). In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it”. (John 1:1-5) “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent” (Colossians 1:16-18; see also 1 Corinthians 8:6 and Ephesians 3:9).
JESUS WAS MAN’S ONLY HOPE HELD OUT BY THE PROPHETS. Genesis 3:15 “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. Genesis 12:1-3 states, “Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” ESV
In the New Testament we have the same assurance. “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. Galatians 3:16-18. “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:67-69). “This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:11-12).
THERE IS NO HOPE WITHOUT CHRIST. For the wages of sin is death: but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23). The writer of Hebrews stressed in Hebrews 9 that the Old Testament was ratified by the shedding of blood (that of bulls and goats), and it could never take away sin. But Jesus’ death on the cross and the shedding of His blood ratified the new covenant, and made a way for all mankind to be saved by his sacrifice. (Hebrews 9:22)
More next week, God willing
The material in this article came from THE BEACON, Bellview Road Church of Christ Pensacola FL April 27, 2987. Clinton Elliot writer
