What will you do with Jesus?
Throughout history, man needed to and must wrestle with the issue of what to do with Jesus. The people of His time, the Jews, wrestled indeed with this issue and as we know from both the bible and secular history, they dealt with Him wrongly, rejected Him and even crucified Him and as a result suffered the consequences. Jesus, knowing the judgment in store for them, wept over them in pity. This was recorded for us in Luke 19:44 and the verse says the judgment will happen because they did not know that that was the day God visited them and they missed it.
The bible, in Isaiah 8:14 predicted, over 600 years before He was born, that the Messiah, Jesus will be a “stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both houses of Israel. He will be as a “trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” This was obviously fulfilled in His coming. He became a trap to the Jews, specially to the religious leaders and many more stumbled spiritually having rejected Him and became a part of the mob who shouted to Pilate – “Crucify Him”.
After His death and resurrection, Jesus continues to be a stone of stumbling to the generations born after Him, even to this very day. Look at how the redemption brought about by the Lord is received by Jews and Greeks at that time according to Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:22-23: “…Christ crucified (is) to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness.” Do not say “I am neither Jew nor Greek so this does not apply to me.” Well in those times, people were classified broadly by only 2 categories – those who were Jews (by race or religious upbringing) or pagan, meaning Greeks. Most of us, being non-Jews, will be considered as Greeks. Therefore, the message of the cross is to many of us foolishness.
Jesus, a stumbling block or Foolishness
Back to our point, is Jesus to you a stumbling block, or is He to you, foolishness? That is the question that is crying out for an answer. Let us consider these foundational true statements laid out in scriptures to help us arrive at an answer:
- God created man so that He may share with man the goodness that God created for Himself, His Son and His children to enjoy (for eternity).
- God did not, does not and will not force man to accept His gift and offer above but has given him the free will to choose if he will accept or not.
- That free will choice, meant not only accepting the gift but accepting God Himself or rejecting or disobeying Him (rebelling in sin).
- Having seen man choosing to sin, God did not give up on man but provided an atonement that sin can be forgiven and to reconcile sinful man back to God.
- But, because God is Holy, Righteous and Just, and God cannot co-exist with sin in heaven, God needed a solution to man’s sin problem.
- God’s solution, His plan and provision for forgiveness and reconciliation is with an acceptable sacrifice as payment for man’s sin.
- That sacrifice is the giving up of the life (and resurrection) of His Son on the cross to those who receive Him.
- With his sin forgiven, man is now able to enjoy what God has prepared to share with him.
Do you now see how important Jesus is to the big picture? God’s plan calls for an atonement for man’s sin and no other being is qualified and acceptable as a sacrifice. Jesus was virgin born. That means He did not inherit the sin of Adam. He lived a sinless life under the law, tempted but did not sin. Being sinless, He did not have to pay for His own sin. That makes Him qualified to pay for the sin of another. None of us can pay for the sin of another because we, ourselves have to pay for our own sin. Only Jesus is qualified and acceptable to the Father precisely because He did not have sin of His own.
Three Fundamental and Foundational Truth
Let us consider the following fundamental truth. First –
“…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23).
If you do not believe that you are a sinner, then the gift of salvation is not for you. God’s gift of salvation is for sinners only. Now, if you believe that you are a sinner, well and good. However, you need to ask the question “How can I cleanse myself of my sin?” To answer that, we have to consider this second fundamental truth:
“…without shedding of blood there is no remission (of sin)” (Heb 9:22).
Other religions teach not to swat (shed the blood) a fly or cockroach because these may be a reincarnation of men. Or, don’t do it because it is violent or cruel. Do you know that, it pleased God the Father to bruise Him? In Isaiah 53:10, talking about Christ punishment and death on the cross, it is written – “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him, He has put Him to grief. When You (Father) make His (Son’s) soul an offering for sin…” Sin is gruesome. It is nasty and horrible. That is why it requires the shedding of blood.
So, going back to the question, “how can I cleanse myself?” The answer is by the blood of Jesus Christ. His shed blood is the payment for your sin and mine. If you say, this is foolishness and cannot be true. This is precisely what we mentioned earlier. To those who reject God’s plan of salvation, the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus is foolishness to them. Rethink your position. What is needed in this hour and at this point is faith to believe what the Lord says. This brings us to our third fundamental truth –
“But, without faith, it is impossible to please Him (God)…” (Hebrews 11:6)
Believers are called to believe by faith. Believe what? His testimonies, His precepts, His truth. This is what you will do with Jesus. Blessed are those who have not seen but believed. We are not to believe blindly but by the written word of God we must believe. Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. God set aside Abraham’s sin and looked at his faith and considered him righteous. God was pleased and called Abraham His friend. All who want to please God should believe by faith likewise. We are forgiven by God.
Going along with God’s plan
What will you do with Jesus? Believe Him! Yes, believe. Let us accept the fact that we are sinners and that we cannot pay the penalty for our sins. Let us humble ourselves and gladly accept what the Lord Jesus is willingly offering – His life in payment for our sin. This is the gift of salvation offered to anyone who believes. It is part of God’s plan of salvation to reconcile us to Himself. We are forgiven by God. It is God’s free gift to us. We do not have to pay or work for it. It is from a loving and generous God. For His goodness and grace, we respond with thanksgiving and desire to seek and know (become intimate with Him) more of Him. His advice is for everyone to ask, seek and knock. He even said “Those who seek Me find Me if they search for Me with all their hearts”.
Yes, only He is worthy of thanks, honor and praise!
Thank you, Lord for your gift to us of a Savior!
Listen to this song that complements this writing.
