Do you know enough about Jesus to know when he is being misrepresented?
Which Jesus? We’re talking about the First Century rabbi and miracle worker who claimed He was God and was henceforth accused by the religious Jews of blasphemy. Innocent, He was railroaded through scam trials, tried by the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, was buried. Three days later was Resurrected. Yes, that one.
Through the spreading of the Gospel and the news of this great man having spread across the world, many people have heard of Jesus. Apart from the Christian Church, many religions and people know something of Jesus and have some respected position him in their religious beliefs based on a partial understandings of his glorious nature..
Many more people are more inclined to use His holy name in a fit of anger or shock as they use His name in vain. The name of the Savior of the world, is commonly used in a cheap, ignorant of whose name they dishonor, in what is in effect, selfish, self-serving, and self-damning profanity.
You could say, the lack of honor given is due to inadequate understanding of who Jesus Christ is within the modern church and the many cults that acknowledge Jesus in some incomplete form.
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Careless use of God’s name were punishable by death in the Old Testament and remains in effect as the 3rd Commandment of God’s Moral Law.
“You shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain, for Yahweh will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain….” – Exodus 20:7
As with all of God’s Ten Moral Laws, if we have broken any, it is a sign and evidence of the reality that we are all not morally capable of achieving redemption with a Holy and Righteous God on merit. If you don’t grasp the significance of this statement now, once to surrender to Christ as Lord (Master) and Savior, you will.
And who do you say Jesus is? Or, as Jesus asked his own disciples, “Who do you say I am?”
He had just asked his disciples what others think of who he is and there were opinions ranging fro Elijah to John the Baptist. Some others thought he was a prophet, some knew him to be a healer, a good teacher. Some, mostly prominent Jews of that time thought Jesus to be a blasphemer and worthy of death.
14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” 15 He *said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” – Matthew 16:14-15.
“ And Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” – Matthew 17:17
There are many passages in the Bible that confirm the deity of Jesus Christ but the above passage gives you an example of how even eye witnesses and the many crowds who followed Jesus during His ministry had varied perspectives on who Jesus of Nazareth was. Even if Jesus is given some perceived heightened level of respect, it’s not the same as acknowledging and trusting in His true divine identity as Lord and Savior.
To promote an inaccurate view of who Christ, however, will likely lead to a dangerous state of understanding. Many world religions have what most people may consider a “favorable” view of who this 1st Century rabbi was. The view is favorable by man’s blasphemous standards and fatally incomplete.
If Jesus claimed to be God, and He was not God, he is a liar and all believers are misrepresenting who he claimed to be. That is, IF he is not God as he claimed to be. If He did not suffer as a perfect sacrifice and atonement for the sins of all who have and will ever trust Him and Lord and Savior, His teachings would be corrupt. Furthermore, if He did not die and was not Resurrected from the tomb three days later, Christians have no hope in a glorious redeemed life after death and we are all destined to suffer the wrath of God’s judgment.
But God declares lying is a sin and since God is without sin, God does not lie. It’s not part of His Holy and Righteous nature.
Now, maybe you have little reason to believe in the God of the Bible, however, the Bible in conjunction with historical research, anthropological findings, prophetic fulfillments and the amount of changed lives and work for good throughout history are all strong evidences to the Truth revealed in Scripture.
Moreover, critics and anti-Christians know that if the Resurrection can be disproven or enough doubts can be thrown at it to cause people to not trust Christ for their Salvation. Scptics and unbelievers have kept up the effort to discredit God’s Word even since that first Easter (if not ever since the Fall), but the Church and the Bible continues to stand tall and victorious despite centuries of attacks.
With the advent of social media, the amount of deception and misdirections from the Truth, often masquerading as Biblical Truth, is common and it would behoove all believers to study the Scripture directly and not develop and understanding of Christian Doctrines by memes or only by you favorite personality or even only your pastor.
Again, any inaccurate description and belief of who Jesus is, that causes people to ignore that He is the only path to Eternal Salvation is only guides people towards the broad road that leads to the judgment of God. God is many glorious things, but Holy and Righteous makes Him our worst nightmare if we remain in our sin.
You see, God knows each of us and humanity as a whole. He knows that the only way to be reconciled with Him is to have sacrificed Himself (by His Son), laying upon Himself the wrath our sinfulness justly deserves. By no work of our own can we achieve a state of righteousness or holiness to achieve restoration of the relationship.
While all Gospel-less religious systems teach people to believe that acceptance of God (or their respective gods or idols) is based in whole or in part upon the works of our own hands and own mind. In truth, the concept of works-righteousness can somehow meet God half way is part of the reason why Jesus said,
“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” -Matthew 11:29-30.
Although good works are manifestation of a saving faith, we do not need works to achieve acceptance by God, but we need Grace from God. We need God’s unmerited favor. We need God’s Mercy. That’s where the Lord Jesus Christ fulfills His mission to save those who are willing to be transformed through the belief (trust) in Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
In other words, we do works acceptable to God because we are saved, not in order to be saved. A Christian can be assured of Salvation and that brings Peace, not that we did or will do anything to gain any personal merit, but because Jesus Christ loves us and paid the complete price for us to be set free.
We are saved by God’s Grace, and we do works (as directed by the Holy Spirit) to glorify Him with hearts in worship and gratitude. We are dead in our sins without God’s Grace, so we have an enormous amount to be most humbly thankful for, since dead men enroute to hell cannot reach out or are inclined to reach out.
God knows the chasm is too wide for man to cross on his own, hence the Gospel is essential and that narrow gateway in the manner which all who desire reconciliation with God must be passed through. Jesus is much more than a teacher, a wise man, a healer, or a prophet.
As Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Will you come to the way of Jesus Christ and rest in the Peace that He offers? Will you cast yourself upon the Mercy of God to be transformed to turn your heart from sin, and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
For a one minute explanation of the Gospel from the late Pastor John MacArthur, watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCP9UcC7BzE
For a review of the Ten Commandments: https://www.challenyee.com/the-ten-commandments/
ACT LIKE MEN a short talk given by John MacArthur (click on the link)
All quoted excerpts have footnotes removed, usually from Legacy Standard Bible (LSB), sometimes from New International Version (NIV), on rare occasion the Amplified Bible (AMP).
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