Articles
What will you do with Jesus?
What Will You Do With Jesus?
(The Most Important Question a Person Must Answer)
By
Robert G. Simpson
When I was very young, I was taught a lot about the Bible. I heard good preachers; I had good Bible class teachers and good parents.
I learned about Noah and the flood, the patience of Job, the faith of Abraham, the establishment of Israel as God’s chosen people, Moses leading Israel from Egypt after God imposed 10 plagues, the kings Saul, David and Solomon and many more accounts about Israel from the Old Testament. I believed the accounts of all those Old Testament people, but I also knew that they were written 2,500 – 3,500 years ago. So, they were just names of distant people.
I learned about the New Testament: the birth of Jesus, His perfect life, His crucifixion, resurrection and ascension, the establishment of the church and the teaching of the apostles. But I also knew that the New Testament was written about 2,000 years ago, a distant time.
After being taught the message of the Bible, I became convinced that I needed to be baptized for the forgiveness of my sins, which I did when I was a teenager. Though I had faith in what the Bible says, when I first became a Christian, I did not fully appreciate how the Bible stories I had learned were spiritually relevant to my daily life in the 20th and 21st centuries. I knew that the Biblical characters were real and that the accounts of events in the Bible really happened, but how were they relevant to me?
I graduated from high school, went to college, embarked on a career, got married, had a family, made car payments and house payments and dealt with the challenges of daily life. But I was nearsighted. I was looking at the Bible from my limited point of view and not from God’s point of view. As I studied the Bible, I grew, increased in spiritual maturity and began to see God’s timeline.
I learned that God implemented a plan for man to have forgiveness of his sins before the foundation of the world. Paul tells the Ephesians that Christians are “blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:3-4). God created us with the ability to make choices, but He anticipated that we would sometimes make bad choices (we would sin). So, before creating the world, He devised a plan for us to be forgiven that involved sending His son to die in our place.
I learned from Genesis 3:15 in the garden of Eden that there would be a long-running battle between good and evil that would culminate in Jesus defeating the devil and conquering death when he rose from the dead after 3 days.
I learned from Psalm 22 that David prophesied some of the details of Jesus’ death 1,000 years before it happened (no broken bones, soldiers divided His garments).
I learned from Isaiah 53 that Isaiah prophesied details about Jesus’ death 700 years before it happened (He was scourged, silent, buried in a rich man’s tomb).
I learned from Peter’s sermon in Acts 2 that Jesus’ death for our sins, His victorious resurrection and the establishment of the church on Pentecost were the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. Peter specifically mentions prophecies by Joel (2:16) and by David (2:25, 34). I learned from Acts 2:38 that men’s sins are forgiven when they repent and are baptized. But Pentecost was 2,000 years ago.
So, what does all this tell us? It tells us that, from God’s point of view, time is not a factor when it comes to implementing His plan for man’s salvation.
II Peter 3:8 says that with the Lord one day is as 1,000 years and 1,000 years as one day. God’s plan was to save obedient men and women from the beginning of time. So, we are all just dots in the timeline of history, but we are not insignificant dots because God devised a plan to save us.
What did I realize about the spiritual relevance of all these Bible stories to my daily life? I realized that all the characters in the Bible faced the same crucial problem that I do: the problem of sin.
I saw that Cain had to deal with jealousy and anger to the point that he
committed murder.
I saw that Moses had to deal with his temper to the point that he struck the rock
and could not enter the promise land.
I saw that David had to deal with lust; he committed adultery and murder.
I saw that Judas had to deal with greed to the point that he betrayed Jesus.
I saw that Peter had to deal with fear to the point that he cursed and denied he
was even associated with Jesus.
I saw that the same sins that we face today were faced by characters in the Old and New Testaments.
Who am I to think that my daily life problems are any different from those in other times? Our individual personal problems have not changed.
We just move faster and more efficiently.
People in the Old Testament and the New Testament had to face the daily problems of contemporary life just like we do, and they all had to deal with the problem of sin, just like we do. People in the 3rd, 8th, 15th and 20th centuries all dealt with the problems of daily life in the context of their own contemporary society and from their own point of view, and they all faced sin.
God knew that men would sin and that is why He created a plan for our forgiveness. Men continue to sin today and God predicted it 2,000 years ago.
Consider the condition of our culture today.
Jude 15-19 says that God predicted sin and warned us of the outcome.
Jude was written 2,000 years ago, but could have been written 2 days ago.
How can anyone say the Bible is not relevant to today?
Jude 20-21 encourages us to build up our faith, praying and keeping ourselves in the love of God as we look forward to eternal life. The instructions for how to obtain forgiveness of sins and look forward to eternal life are clearly presented in the pages of the New Testament. We might just be dots in the timeline of history but, from God’s point of view, we are not insignificant dots because God sent Jesus to pay the horrible price for our sin…... but we must follow His instructions to obtain forgiveness.
Since the first century men and women have had to address the same question: What will you do with Jesus? Our answer will determine our eternal destiny.
If you are not a Christian, you must address the same question:
What will you do with Jesus?
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