True or False
Matthew’s gospel records this incident about the conception of Jesus. Matthew records,
“This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.
Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.”
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.
But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.” Matthew 1:18-25.
For anyone reading this portion of the New Testament you can only come to one of two conclusions. Either it is false which means the life of Jesus and all he claims to be, mean nothing. OR you can conclude that what Matthew records is true and Jesus will and does indeed save people from their sins. There is no middle ground.
Jesus certainly believed himself to be the Son of God. The Saviour of mankind he is recorded as saying about himself,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16,17.
“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”John 14:6.
C. S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity makes I think a good point when he states,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
As I write this Christmas is close at hand. A time when believers in Christ Jesus celebrate His birth and all that He has done for them.
I believe it is also a opportunity to tell others who we believe Jesus to be and to challenge non-believers to read the New Testament and see for themselves just who Jesus is.
Thus I would challenge Christians to respectively present their belief in Jesus to those around them.
At the same time if you are not a believer in Christ I would ask that you read the New Testament and see for yourself who the writers believed Jesus to be and why.
Please think about it.
Matthew’s gospel records this incident about the conception of Jesus. Matthew records,
“This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.
Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.”
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.
But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.” Matthew 1:18-25.
For anyone reading this portion of the New Testament you can only come to one of two conclusions. Either it is false which means the life of Jesus and all he claims to be, mean nothing. OR you can conclude that what Matthew records is true and Jesus will and does indeed save people from their sins. There is no middle ground.
Jesus certainly believed himself to be the Son of God. The Saviour of mankind he is recorded as saying about himself,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16,17.
“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”John 14:6.
C. S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity makes I think a good point when he states,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
As I write this Christmas is close at hand. A time when believers in Christ Jesus celebrate His birth and all that He has done for them.
I believe it is also a opportunity to tell others who we believe Jesus to be and to challenge non-believers to read the New Testament and see for themselves just who Jesus is.
Thus I would challenge Christians to respectively present their belief in Jesus to those around them.
At the same time if you are not a believer in Christ I would ask that you read the New Testament and see for yourself who the writers believed Jesus to be and why.
Please think about it.
No comments:
Post a Comment