JESUS

The subject for this article is simply Jesus.  The point of it is to say that Jesus is what, or rather who, that matters.  The teaching about Jesus in the New Testament, and really throughout the whole Bible, is to tell us that it is Jesus that matters.  In this short treatise we will consider a few verses that stress His importance to our belief in God....and to our eternal life.  After all, we do want to live forever, and Jesus is the answer.
 
Jesus was talking to His closest friends, the apostles, as recorded in John 14:   " 'Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.  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.  And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, you may be also.  And where I go, you know, and the way you know.'  Thomas said to Him, 'Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?'  Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me.' "

This is a bold statement by our Lord.  It requires an emphasis on Jesus.  Let's look at what He said about Himself in Matthew 28:  "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth."  We might ask who gave Him "all authority?"  The answer is the Father; no question.  And there is no question that Jesus has all authority everywhere, in heaven and on the earth. 

Then there is the famous, often quoted, verse in John 3:  "....whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."

Jesus is the only answer for salvation; there is no other way.  And He is the "Way" for all who are true followers.  Most of the world goes along living their lives with the assumption that there is a "better place" waiting for all of us.  The Bible simply does not teach that.  There is only a better place for those who have given their lives over to Jesus; not to "spirituality," not to "religion," not to the church.  The better place as told in the Bible, and by Jesus Himself, is waiting for those who are followers of Him.  This then, is our challenge.  We must commit our lives to Jesus. 

Thanks for reading.  Have a great, God-filled week!