Bible? Jesus? Why all this?

The Gospel in it’s Context

Welcome, dear reader!

Nice of you to drop in. May your visit be as rewarding as possible!

You’ve probably heard that Jesus loves you, but do you realise what that means for you and why? Are you aware of your specific dignity? If not then I hope to fill some gaps with this article. Are you human? Then this is your story! Let’s start at the beginning, as told by a reliable source (Summary).

Origin

In the beginning, God created everything by His Word. He spoke and it was there. Everything He says comes to pass! After the heavens, earth, vegetation and animal world were there, He formed human beings as small, living images of Himself so that they could represent Him on earth and help Him to govern it. He is of course able to do this by Himself (just like in the rest of the universe), but He preferred to share responsibilities with a company of trusted people. He then handed the planet over to them. Ever since everything happens as they decide and do it. Everyone of them is basically given

• individual characteristics and talents that reflect God’s nature and some of His abilities on a comparatively small scale
• an individual sphere of influence that everyone should preserve and develop as well as possible.

First of all, people were given the task to

• govern fauna according to God’s goodness and wisdom and
• preserve and cultivate an extraordinarily beautiful garden!

People, animals and plants enjoyed an optimal quality of life. In particular, regular contact with God – the original after whom humans were modelled – did them immense good! In Him they could find perfect love, beauty, purity, strength and everything desirable, gain wisdom to make optimal decisions and remain tangibly connected to the meaning of life. This enabled them to pass on everything good to creation. God loved the people in whom He found Himself, just as parents love their children, in whom something unmistakable about them lives on. Although they were His creatures, God treated them – unlike animals – as almost equal partners. It was the happiest time in history so far!

How did evil gain influence?

Living conditions were optimal and people kept to God’s exact words for a long time. At some point, however, they became negligent in preserving creation. Destructive influences were then able to affect the animals. The latter became largely dissatisfied with being ruled by humans, who had only been created after them – although they had previously never had a problem with that. Of all the animals, the serpent was the most intelligent and recognised that the strength of humans lay above all in their trustful relationship with God. Through their carelessness, however, it was able to enter the garden, sow distrust and tempt them to act contrary to God’s word. In a world that was created and kept alive by His Word, this was an unimaginable breach, especially as God had always shown Himself to be trustworthy and loving. Such a thing is called ‘sin’. From a global perspective, it describes behaviour that is as absurd and unjust as possible, which harms everyone involved in the long term and can cost the offender their life!

God forgave them so that they did not have to die immediately, He limited the damage at His own expense and helped them to live with the consequences. However, by turning away from His commandment, people had expressed that He was only allowed to work to a limited extent in their domain – the earth – and their decision had to have an effect. God withdrew from His creation – also out of faithfulness to His word – and became invisible to people. The destructive forces entered the vacuum, making life difficult for people and their descendants from then on and influencing them to sin more so that their influence would gradually increase.

Guilt had been forgiven, but the forces of sin that were now in the world as a consequence made all living beings susceptible to disease and mortality. To protect it, the garden of God had to be closed to people. They became insecure, lost the ability to deal properly with God, their fellow human beings and in their spheres of influence, and their work became laborious and inefficient. Envy, like dwindling resources, soon led to strife, death and war. The history of human civilisations that we know is a consequence of this. Everything that people decide and do still happens on earth, but without the original intimacy with God – even with the best intentions – often not much desirable comes out of it.

People developed their own moral and religious standards independently of God, in order to cover up the gaping holes and prevent the obvious worst in mankind. Damage could indeed be limited, but there were many losers in every society, and even the winners were not always to be envied. Nothing was perfect anymore, humanity had far gone from its original purpose of existence and only narrowly escaped complete extinction several times. It was prevented each time because God was able to find at least one person who trusted Him completely and centred their life on Him, thereby giving Him hope of being able to win back significant parts of humanity to heavenly normality in the long run.

Back to the Roots

Due to His decision to hand over the earth to mankind, God can only intervene in people’s sphere of influence if they allow Him. In view of these conditions, however, they soon began to call out to Him and He began to prepare them for His return in the long run. He chose a people for this purpose. All cultures had developed their religious beliefs, but to His chosen ones He revealed what He was really like. This happened in many little steps. He showed Himself as a powerful deliverer and loving provider for His people, who were given the task of loving Him with all their devotion and preparing and maintaining a dwelling place for Him on earth where He could feel well and at home. This also included everyone treating their fellow human beings as good as they themselves would like to be treated. All this was detailed in the law of God for the situation back then. Above all however a key person was to emerge from His chosen people, who would reconcile to God all people worldwide if they would want to, bringing them into their original calling and rule the universe with them for eternity.

Excursus: Trinity

Everyone of us can form thoughts and put them into words with the help of their breath. Actions can result from these. The breath reveals the meaning and urgency of a statement through its intensity, among other things. When a person speaks the whole truth, words and breath are in harmony with them (their thinking, feeling, knowledge and conscience). The three are one.

If God created man in His image, He must be able to do at least the same as His creature: think and, with the help of His breath, utter words that create or change things. We have already seen that God created everything by His Word and that everything He speaks comes to pass. The Word itself can do whatever He can do and has the power to bring everything to pass. God also always speaks the truth. This means that His Word is always one with Him.

‘Spirit’ and ‘breath’ are the same term in the original text of the Bible (‘Ruach’). As with humans, the spirit (breath) brings forth the word and supports its meaning. It is one with the word and with the one who spoke it. The three will never diverge. All convey, truthfully, how God really is – how He loves, feels and thinks!

„For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit [(Breath)]: and these three are one.“ (1.Joh5:7, TR)

The Word becomes Man

God is omnipotent and can do whatever He wants. Among other things, He can come to earth personally as a human being. And He finally came – as announced many times – to His chosen people! The Spirit brought the Word into the womb of a virgin Miriam (Latin: Mary), and she gave birth to it as a baby. God’s Word thus grew up as an ordinary human being and worked until the age of 30. He was the only person to do everything right – just as God loved. He then healed the sick, drove out destructive forces that had caused mental illnesses, among other things, and revealed God through words and deeds in a way that only God Himself could. He was and always remained one with God.

Since He had been begotten by God’s Spirit, He could rightfully be called “Son of God”. His name Yeshua HaMashiach (Latin: Jesus Christ) means “God’s Salvation” and “Authorized Key Person” or “Official King”. His people had been waiting for Him because all prophets had announced Him, but only few recognized Him when He actually arrived because He used to be so usual and humble – not the proud superhero they had imagined. God’s word always comes to pass perfectly as spoken, however often not as people imagine!

Solution: Salvation!

At the best time of His life, He let Himself be falsely accused, innocently condemned, tortured and put to death in order to create a compensation – effective according to God’s law – for all people who had for what ever reason become guilty before God and incurred His wrath, perhaps suffering from the consequences (e.g. sickness), but who definitely wanted to return to God, their origin, and get rid of their guilt!

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already …” (Joh 3:16-18). God will one day judge every injustice – including what has been done to you. However, since everyone (including you) has already acted against God’s will and caused suffering in their own sphere of influence, no one can stand blameless before the Holy God! All are worthy to suffer eternal separation from the origin they live from!

The only way out is to accept God’s offer of forgiveness of all sins through the death of Jesus Christ!

If you want that, then say: ‘Jesus, thank You that You died to pay my debt, to redeem me from sin, to reconcile me with God and to help me in all situations! I accept your offer! Forgive me all my sins, take over my life, guide me and give me Your Spirit so that I can learn and have the strength to live increasingly as it pleases You. Thank you! Amen (so shall it be)!

He knows, loves and hears you! He has not remained dead:

Life goes On!

After three days in the tomb, Jesus rose from the dead, appeared to more than 500 people, ascended into heaven and sent the Holy Spirit to empower His believers to live and act as He did. Jesus‘ resurrection from the dead is one of the best attested and therefore most credible events in history. It is all the more worthwhile to get to know Him personally!

If you however first want to check the options then say: “Jesus, if You exist and this is true, then confirm it several times so that I can believe it. Send me the Holy Spirit so that He can guide me – as promised – into all truth! Thank you! Amen!”.

God loves you!

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (Jh 15:13)

“What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Rom 8:31-32)

God’s love for you is real, constant, greater and more effective than anyone else’s! Turn to Him and say, for example: “Father, let me consciously experience Your love! In Jesus‘ name, amen!”

Bible and the Internet are full of reports of actual experiences that people have had after approaching God and asking Him for something: Physical and spiritual healings, provision, salvation, help and guidance in work, family, hobbies and much more! King David, who had cultivated an exemplary relationship with God, summarises in Ps 103:2-6 just some of the things he regularly experienced:

„Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:

• Who forgiveth all thine iniquities;
• who healeth all thy diseases;
• Who redeemeth thy life from destruction;
• who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
• Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things;
• so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle‘.
• The LORD executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.“
• …

If he and many others were able to experience God’s intervention this way, then you can likewise if you put your trust in Him!

However, you should let Him be Lord. This means that He doesn’t always have to do everything you want straight away, but what is best for everyone in it’s time. Nevertheless, it is always (!) worth entrusting everything (!) to Him quickly! ‘Trust in him always, O people, pour out your heart before him! God is our refuge.’ (Ps 62:8) He knows your needs and has the perfect solution ready for you! Ask Him and thank Him for it already, because through faith you open the door through which He will answer you!

“Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” (Mk 11:24)

Get to know God

God is invisible but He can still appear to you, e.g. in thoughts, conversations or through media, especially the Bible. You can recognize Him by His typical nature and characteristics, which others have also noticed in Him:

• „O taste and see that the LORD is good“ (Ps 34:8)
• „The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.“ (Ps 103:8)
• „God is love.“ (1.Jh 4:8)
• „Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.“ (2.Kor3:17)
• „… the truth shall make you free.“ (Joh 8:32)
• „For the Word of God is quick an powerful, sharper …“ (Heb4:12)
• „The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?“ (Ps27:1)
• „Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father (origin, home), but by me.“ (Joh 14:6)

Whenever something gives this overall impression, then it may well be that God is speaking to you in that moment!

In the long term, His work always brings about the best developments in our own character and environment – which, however, require time and cooperation, similar to the cultivation of fruit and vegetables.

„so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.“ (Mt7:17ff)

„But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.“ (Gal5:22f)

Getting to know God as He is and keeping what you have recognised before your eyes helps you to stay with Him and – very importantly – not to fall for deception! Eternal life also begins for you while you are still on earth, because „… this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.“ (Jesus in Joh 17:3)

Next Steps

If you are interested or even committed, to

• claim God’s sure forgiveness so that you can stand before Him with a clean conscience
• make the best of your life in the long term
• be added to His chosen ones
• prepare a dwelling place for Him in your life, and
• help Him to regain His rightful rulership over His creation (starting with you),

then gradually familiarise yourself with the following steps (skip for now):

• Talk to God about everything, thank Him for everything and ask Him everything you’d like to know. Expect Him and He will find a way to answers all important questions in the right time. He is always available for you! However, it may help you to reserve certain times for undisturbed fellowship with Him (e.g. in the morning or evening).
• Grow in love for Him, give Him priority, implement promptly what you have known to be right and love your fellow human beings as yourself. Unlike in many religions, you don’t have to take extraordinary efforts to accomplish this by yourself, but simply tell Him if you need His gracious intervention at a point. He loves you and will take care of you in this too, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” (Phil2:13). Jesus sais: „For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light“ (Mt 11:30).
• Read the Bible. It has been uniquely inspired and compiled by God’s Spirit.
  • Start with the eyewitness account of His best friend John and the books that follow (swiping / clicking arrow leads to the next chapter),
  • Read then other reliable reports if you like, e.g. the very detailed one from Luke.
  • Examples of encouraging thoughts and prayers from people who knew God well can be found in Psalms
  • Good tips for life you can find in Proverbs
  • To find out all the details and back stories, read the Bible from beginning to end. (Read the end to get a taste of heaven!).
  • You can grasp God’s view on a topic if you read all Bible passages for a search term in the respective context and pray for revelation
  • Be sure to ask the Holy Spirit to explain everything you read to you and stay in conversation with Him about everything. Life with God is first and foremost a relationship and everything else flows from that. Even when reading a passage that you already know, the Holy Spirit can reveal something new to you. Therefore, don’t mind to read the sections more than once even if you have already read them.
  • In addition, good movies can also help you to get to know and love Him. One example would be the series “The Chosen” (app for Android or iPhone).
• Get baptized under water! By doing so, you officially leave the domain of evil and legally join the kingdom of God. By getting under and coming out of the water you express that you have died and risen with Christ in order to continue living the life He left for you. You can then be sure of enjoying eternity in the best possible way. “…Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation! He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned.” (Mark 16:15-16) The latter is not meant to be a threat, but a sober conclusion that under the given conditions without faith in Jesus there can’t be any effective forgiveness and therefore no basis for enjoying eternity in God’s presence. Without Him, however, existance is completely unbearableand in the end it’s only all or nothing. God loves you infinitely! However, He respects your personality that much as not to impose anything on you – even salvation! In turn, this means that anyone who wants to live with Him and enjoy eternity must make a conscious decision for themselves and really should not take any risks in this matter!
• You can be baptized in a fellowship of like-minded people who had already been baptized themselves and with whom you can share everything you are experiencing and learning from God. Ask Him to bring you together with the right people. You will recognize them by them living according to the Bible and by yourself enjoying God’s presence in their fellowship in an even greater measure than when you’re alone with Him. However, don’t expect perfection. Every fellowship of believers is made up of imperfect people just like you, who are gradually being changed by God into loving Him and their fellow human beings more. Jesus – as with His disciples at that time – often brings together quite diverse characters, but through the work of His Spirit they are led to a special unity that only God can bring about.
• Learn to perceive God’s guidance and verify everything that people tell you as to whether it clearly emerges from the Bible and corresponds to what you have surely got to know from God. His nature and words basically transport love, peace, freedom, purity, freshness, strength, courage, joy, grace, gentleness, patience among other characteristics of Him. If something you hear gives this overall impression, it is probably from God. Ask Him, and He will confirm anything important – repeatedly if need be – so that you can be sure. If in doubt, simply stick to what you have recognized as His sure will so far. He will not make it difficult for you!
• If you have realized that you have done or are doing anything wrong, then quickly come to God with confidence and know that He loves you infinitely and will gladly forgive you everything! “… But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 Joh 1:9) Everything has been paid! Jesus has also removed your future guilt, so that you can live your new life in Him free and unburdened! Entrust yourself to Him and stay with Him or simply come to Him again and again!
• If you should ever feel helpless then just call out “Jesus!” (or orig. hebr. „Yeshua!“), putting all your trust in Him because “… it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved …” (Joel 2:32)

The more you embrace Him and His brilliant ways in love, the more His kingdom will come in your life, you will make the best of it and gather treasures that no one can take away from you and that you will enjoy for all eternity!

Final Destiny

“… in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet… And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.” (1 Cor 15:28ff)

Then it will be fulfilled what the name of God says about Himself:

“… [if] they say unto me, what is his name, what answer shall I give them? Then said God unto Moses: ‚I will be what I will be‚: and he said, this shalt thou say unto the children of Israel: ‚I will be‘ did send me to you.” (Ex 3:14f, ~Tynd.)

God is constantly expanding His presence! He is who He is and will be who He will be forever!

And you are destined to be part of Him! Whether you take your place or not is up to you, but your life on earth primarily serves to give you this unique opportunity!

Summary

God is love. (1.Jh 4:8)

He has created you with great dignity, as His image and representative on earth! You have qualities and abilities that come directly from Him and with which you can and should preserve and develop your areas of life and responsibility. For optimal success and fulfillment you however need intimate fellowship with your creator who knows, loves and understands you perfectly!

This indispensable foundation had generally got lost when mankind started to believe others rather than the one who created everything, loves everyone and keeps everything alive. Without God’s presence, people became disorientated, dissatisfied, unbelieving and from then on – even with the best of intentions – caused a lot of damage in the world. Human attempts to draw closer to God through religious endeavours have generally been unsuccessful and have not made the world better.

God Himself therefore did what no one else could do and opened the way back by laying everything that separated mankind from Him on His Son Jesus Christ, who carried it out of the world by His own life when dying innocently on the cross for you and everyone. If you come to Him trusting then you will be

• completely reconciled to God and learn to perceive His words and guidance in life
• supernaturally enabled to live your life increasingly in harmony with the will of the Creator without having to use much will power of your own, because you live out of His overflowing resources
• becoming part of God’s family, people and kingdom, which will be ruled for eternity by the best-possible leader – the resurrected Jesus Christ
• restored to your original calling
• prepared to enjoy eternity the best possible way!

This however requires a conscious decision. Mankind has voluntarily turned away from God. If you anyway want to stand on God’s side you therefore have to clearly express that you

• recognise Jesus Christ as rightful and eternal King
• trust in Him, and
• need and accept His forgiveness through His substitutionary death for you on the cross!

It begins with a simple decision that also determines where and how you will spend all of eternity! If you hand your life over to Him, you will experience how He renews it – step by step and to the extent that you allow Him to do so and go along with Him. This is not about keeping religious rules (which wouldn’t benefit Him much) but about love and a living relationship with the one who had you in mind, when no one else knew you would ever exist!

No matter what’s your position – just start talking to Him! It can’t harm! He loves you and has the best in store for you in all situations! Just give it a try!

Source

The best-selling book in human history is unique in many ways. At least 40 authors from a wide variety of cultural, social and professional backgrounds, most of whom did not know each other, wrote it over a period of 1600 years. Nevertheless, it follows a clear line because – according to the book – the authors were inspired by the Spirit of God in a special way. It is therefore considered by many to be the primary and reliable reference for what God has said and is still saying and doing. It is literally a thousand times better attested than other historical documents. Most of the prophecies have come to pass exactly as written. Only a few are yet outstanding. Cultures that have seriously studied the Bible have been inspired to make unmatched advances, and even today, the top ranks of many indices on quality of life, freedom, justice etc. are predominantly occupied by countries in which its contents have had a profound influence on people’s lives over a long period of time (and which therefore often carry a cross or similar on their flag). So it’s worth taking a closer look at it and, above all, get to know the spirit that inspired the authors! This article is intended, among other things, as a motivation to do so and to make the best of it! Good success to you!