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For some with a simple faith who believe God's message in the Bible without question there is no trouble in accepting that Jesus Christ is the only beloved son of God. Yet for others this issue is a major stumbling block to belief. We may have heard it said that Jesus was probably academically inclined to the ways of God having spent his childhood from the age of 12 in the temple listening and discussing God with the scribes and felt preaching was his goal in life.
However, what ordinary man could perform such miracles as raising the dead, healing the sick and feeding five thousand people with just two fishes and five loaves?
Many people witnessed these miracles and they give us their account through the New Testament Gospels (Matthew through to John). They were so overwhelmed with what they saw, that they believed Jesus words and were baptized in the hope of the gospel, namely that when they died they would be resurrected to God's future kingdom.
In John Chapter 20 v 30 and 31 we read "And many other signs, truly did Jesus, in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and believing you might have life through his name".
Probably the greatest appeal of all time is Jesus sermon on the mount (Matthew chapter 6 and 7). NO MAN has ever spoken like this before or since. Jesus tells us what God wants from us, how to live our lives daily as best we can, and when we find the going rough, to pray to God for help and forgiveness. We all sin on a daily basis because we are weak and find it hard to overcome things we know to be wrong. In the same way, Jesus had to be a human being like us, to take on our nature, to understand our feelings. He was tempted in the same way, yet he overcame and conquered temptation (Sin) and so finds compassion for us in our weaknesses.
Jesus knew he was not of this world but of the future, ready for a time that God has appointed for his return to the earth to be our King. He also knew from early on in his life he would have to die a painful death on the cross to bear the worlds sins. When Jesus hung on the cross, and after about nine hours, it suddenly went very dark, and the veil of the temple door, (a curtain as thick as a heavy carpet) was torn in two from the top to the bottom, note not from the bottom to the top. Jesus cried up to his father (Luke 23 v 46) "Father into thy hands I commend my spirit" and he died.
The Romans chose crucifixion as a cruel death. It was usual for people to take days to die on the cross, and their legs were often broken to speed up death. According to the record in the gospels, it took Jesus between nine and ten hours to die, (his Father didn't want him to suffer any longer). His body wrapped in linen, was placed in a tomb and a stone rolled across the entrance. Three days later some of his followers went to the tomb to bury him, only to find the stone rolled back, and his body gone. In his place were two men in shining garments (Luke 24 v 4 to 7) telling them he had risen from the dead and asking them to remember his words. As you read on in the chapter Jesus is seen by more of his followers and then by all of the disciples. Jesus appeared in the midst of them as they were discussing the issues surrounding what the others had been saying and at first they were terrified.
We see that Jesus was raised from the dead with a real body. He demonstrated this by showing his disciples the wounds in his hands and feet v 39 and 40 and he also ate with them v 42 and 43. His mission on earth was complete. He had died for the remission of sins and they were the witnesses of these things.
When we consider how extraordinary these events were, we could perhaps imagine them to be the product of an over active imagination. However what was the motivation for such a story? The people who witnessed these events at first hand continued passionately to hold on to their belief, suffering persecution and even death as a result. Again the apostles shortly after began convincingly to preach to others who had been around at the time of these events. In Acts 3 v 41 we read of three thousand people becoming baptized. Were they all being fooled, or was this another powerful witness to the credentials and claims of Jesus?
Now after Jesus had been raised from the dead, had comforted his disciples and proved to them that he had risen from the dead, it was time for him to go to his father in heaven. He knew that his disciples would carry on the work that he had started. He blessed them and assured them that he would be with them always, and ascended into heaven from the Mount of oOives.
At the end of John's gospel we get this personal testimony from an eye witness. John 21 v24 "This is the disciple which testifieth of these things: and we know that his testimony is true."
Now either the apostle John was badly deluded, along with the three thousand more people who were converted (in just one day) a little while later, or Jesus was who he said and performed the miracles he did, as a strong witness to the power of God working through him.
I suppose that the choice as to whether to believe him is, as it always has been........ Up to us!
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