The Truth of God

Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:1-12)

The truth of God and His plan for the redemption of man was prophesied (told in advance) throughout the Old Testament. The existence of God was not questioned. God (or a god) was accepted and revered by most during that time.

When Christ came, died, and rose again, the early Christians who began to teach others about Him had experienced Him first hand. Many of them had known Him, walked with Him and sat at His feet. They had firsthand information. After His death on the cross, their job was to convince the Jewish people and the Gentiles that Jesus, the one they had put to death, was actually the Messiah that had been prophesied about in the Old Testament.  He was the one who bore our grief and carried our sorrows. He was the one they had been waiting for, the promised one to come. Many people of the day had heard of Jesus, knew what He had done, and that He had been crucified.

Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures (our old testament) daily to see if these things were so. (Acts 17:11)

Today we must prove that God exists. It has been so long since God in human form walked the earth that before we can tell people the Good News of Jesus, we must address the question of a Creator. If there is no God, then there is no Jesus, and there is no salvation and no sin. This is our audience today. 

Not only is the world becoming less sure that we have a creator but believing a story about a loving God sending His son to die for our crimes is almost incomprehensible due to evil influences in every part of life today. This is a not a new struggle, but it is becoming constantly more difficult with each passing generation.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

We cannot lose heart. The bible still has words for us.  In acts chapter 18, verse 28 God’s word says, “for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public demonstrating by the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.” He, Paul, and the other Christians of the time used the scriptures to prove the truth. We also must back up our claims with scripture, both old Testament and New, just as the apostles did. And to do that we must know the scripture.

The Old Testament is extremely important because those writings exist and establish the truth of Christ’s birth, life and resurrection which were all predicted many hundreds of years before they took place. We need to know key verses that will clearly show God’s plan as it progressed.

Fragments of every book of the Hebrew canon (Old Testament) have been discovered to date, with the exception of the book of Esther. These scrolls are priceless, as they are the oldest group of Old Testament manuscripts ever uncovered. Some of the major collections of Hebrew codices and their remains are located at the Vatican Library, the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris, the Russian State Library in Moscow, the National Library in Jerusalem, and the British Library in London.

What’s interesting, as additional ancient manuscripts are found, is how they collectively validate the Scriptures included in our modern Bible. (Posted December 20, 2017 by Sheri Bell)

The New Testament, which we call the Good News, or the New Covenant, is filled with Christ’s living example, His miracles, and His teachings. Because of these proofs of His existence and love, we can extrapolate backward the existence of God. He is not a fairy tale created for morality’s sake as some have suggested.

For us to bring the world to a knowledge and acceptance of God and Christ, we must know what the apostles knew in order to show the world the truth. We need to know God’s word, the prophesies, the how and the why it all came down as it did. Unfortunately, most of us don’t want to go that deep. We are content with our own salvation.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, (2 Timothy 3:16)

We know the truth of God and of His son. We enjoy the blessings of being His children. He has called us to preach the word to all the world but sometimes the problem is not that we don’t want to, but that we don’t know how.

Knowledge is a powerful thing. Being able to answer confidently the questions that come our way about God is a responsibility we should not shirk.  In this day of technology and Google, it is not difficult to find scripture to share. Be ready to let the world know the truth about God.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)

Prayer: Father, as children we may have heard the old and new testament stories thinking that they won’t do us any good. Bring those stories to our minds today Lord especially when we are telling people about You. Your word is our most important tool in showing Your existence and Your great love for us. Let your Holy Spirit put into our hearts a burning desire to convince the world that You, not only created us, love us, and care for us, but that You made a way to have a true relationship with You and salvation through Christ so that we can spend eternity with you. Amen.