“Red sky at night, sailor’s delight”. Almost every one has heard and understands this old saying. Could it really be just that easy to know if Jesus is really God?
The short answer is “yes, it’s just that easy”. In His infinite wisdom, God placed clues and prophecies about how we could recognize the Messiah when He came. The clues covered the whole spectrum: where and how He would be born, the types of miracles He would do, the death He would die, what would happen to his clothing when He died. There are at least 48 descriptive clues given in the Old Testament, and some say there are up to 300! Those who cast even a quick glance at Jesus realize that He fulfills the prophecies. A careful study reveals that He fulfills them ALL. There is no doubt that someone greater than any power on earth gave insight to the men who made these claims, some of them 1,000 years before His birth. No human could manage this, it had to be a superior intellect. Even though the Pharisees are in possession of all the clues and prophecies, they still want to see a miraculous sign. That’s because they weren’t interested in who Jesus really was, they just wanted to be entertained. Those who are only interested in entertainment don’t make good disciples…or soldiers, or spouses, or workers in general. Jesus quickly spots their hypocrisy and dismisses their request.
There were several forms of deceptive teaching that cropped up around genuine Christianity. The Pharisees were willing to accept that Jesus was “good” but not that He was “God”. They wanted everyone to continue to offer sacrifices and remain hostage to the “Law”. Of course, if we did that we are saying in effect “Jesus by himself isn’t good enough, we have to do these other things as well”. It’s deceptive, and it’s wrong. Many other false teachings have cropped up along the way. The idea that there is a “secret knowledge” that the Bible shares, the idea that we must punish ourselves in order to be worthy. The idea that Jesus is one of many ways to heaven, and the idea that heaven is real but hell is not.
These are just a few of the perversions of the true Gospel that have emerged over the years. We must be very careful to make sure that no trace of their falsehood enters into our practice of worship, and our understanding of God.
It only takes a little “yeast” to work it’s way through a whole batch of dough!
Ever interested in growing closer to Jesus,
PR