What is the difference between Christianity and all other religions? Every other religion is based on the teachings of a man, whether it is Buddha, Mohammad, or Confucius. Is the basis of Christianity the teachings of Jesus? No. The basis of Christianity is an event in history: the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Our entire faith is based on that one event. As Paul wrote "And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith." (1 Corinthians 15:14)
Did this event actually happen? Did the apostles fake it? If you have any doubt about this, consider Peter. On the night Jesus was betrayed, a servant girl asks him if he is one of Jesus followers, and he was too frightened to admit it (John 18:15-18), and swears he doesn't even know the man! This is the rock on which the church will be built? Ah, but just a few weeks later, Peter is standing before the Sanhedrin, the supreme Jewish council, after the healing a man who had been crippled from birth. Here is what transpires:
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. He is
" 'the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the capstone.' Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
What happened between these two very different episodes? What happened was that Peter was visited by the risen Lord Jesus. And he spent the rest of his life proclaiming it, to the point where he was executed for preaching this message. Remember the Watergate scandal? This scandal broke because a small group of the most powerful people in the United States (and arguably the world) could not keep a secret for even two weeks. If these men broke down and confessed in the face of some humiliation and possibly going to prison, how could a group of twelve simple fishermen from Galilee all go to their death without ever recanting their insistence that Jesus had risen from the dead?
Our faith is based on a fact, an event, prophesied in the Old Testament, and foretold by Jesus before it happened. That's what brought me to faith and why I put my trust in Him.
Amazing grace and eternal peace to you today,
Bruce
Father, thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus, to walk on this earth and show us the way to You.
Through His death and resurrection we have forgiveness and hope of eternal life.
We confess our sins and ask You to cleanse us of all unrighteousness.
Show us through the Scriptures how to turn away from the ever-changing values and principles based on this world where the prince of darkness reigns.
Endear our hearts instead to building an eternal spiritual foundation while we look upward to that great City whose Maker and Builder is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our minds cannot conceive what is in store for us but it will far surpass anything we might possibly hope for in this life.
Keep us faithful until that eventful transfer.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
 | Bruce MacPherson macpherson@celtic.ca |
No comments:
Post a Comment