AND THE WORD WAS GOD

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 2 Peter 1:3

So the Word became human and made His home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen His glory, the glory of the Father's one and only Son. 1 John 1:14

Recently, I had an opportunity to share my testimony with a dear friend who asked what happened to convince me of my decision for Christ. This wasn't the first time our conversation led to questions about my faith in God.

"Did you read the Bible or have some sort of epiphany?"

With tears welling up, I told him, "I experienced the love and forgiveness of God. I remember the exact day it happened," I replied. "It was the evening of September 2, 1973."

"So do you believe the Bible is necessary to experience God?" 

My immediate response was, "No, not in my case," but the Word of God does prove that my experience was with God and not some powerless epiphany. One day you'll see that both the Bible and the experience go hand in hand."

To further argue his point -- that the Bible had been mishandled by men and that men had left out many important books and others facts that should have been included if the Bible is to be deemed as anything more than a book of fables, old wives tales and myths -- he concluded by my own confession, the Bible isn't necessary to experience God. And on top of that he exclaimed with glee,

"You just proved my point!"

And so, our conversation ended with one final question:

"Are you telling me that if millions of people don't agree with the Bible, countless people from cultures and faiths around the world are going to hell?"

To which I answered, "Unless they have received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, the Bible says, "YES!"

He was outraged with my narrow-minded, naive and ludicrous response. He laughed out loud, certain he had won his case by concluding anyone can have an experience with God without believing in the Bible. Buddha is just as real as Jesus, or any other great teacher of choice.

So I asked him, "What sounded better to him ... an encounter with your creator, God of the universe, who desires a living, loving, and lasting relationship with you ... who desires to lead and guide you into all truth and guide you on the right, safe, good and everlasting way, or merely a belief in the teaching of a dead man?" I asked him to think on it and get back to me.

The Thinker - Michelangelo

We said our usual goodbye's but on the drive home I was troubled with the way our conversation ended. I remembered a story in the book of Acts when Paul encountered a similar inquiry after touring Mar's hill (Acts 17:22-31).

It should be explained that all the Athenians and foreigners in Athens spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear of some 'new' thing. So when they saw Paul they were curious about his teaching.

"You are bringing some new and strange ideas to our ears and we would like to know what they mean."

Paul stood up and said, "Men of Athens, I see that in every way you are very religious (suspicious) for as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with the inscription, 'To an unknown God.' He is the God who made the world and everything in it. He does not live in temples made by man as though he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life, and breath, and everything else, and satisfies every need. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any of us."

Paul preaches that the unknown God is Jesus Christ, 

The Bible tells us that Paul encountered the Lord Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus between AD 34-36, after the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord between AD 30-33. Since He never met Jesus during His earthly ministry, how else could Paul know so much about God unless he knew both the scriptures and the risen Lord?

Paul encounters Jesus Christ on the Road to Damascus

Then God spoke an astounding truth to my heart:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the WORD WAS GOD.

For the first time I realized that the Word of God -- and God -- are exactly, precisely and perfectly equal. One is not an alternative to the other or merely bearing witness to the other but the two are entwined and inseparable. They are one in the same.

The Bible is LIVING proof that the LIVING God IS GOD, and points to the only WAY, the TRUTH and THE LIFE. The Bible tells us that eternal life comes by no other name than by the name of Jesus Christ. The Bible reproves men of sin, which leads to repentance, which leads to forgiveness, which leads to a new and eternal relationship with the living God, which leads to truth, which leads to complete and total trust in God for our life and godliness, past, present and future. The Bible is the righteousness of God revealed.

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. 2 Timothy 3:16

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 2 Peter 1:3

During the sixties I was a young truth seeker. I had heard the stories from the Bible throughout my childhood but I was never able to connect the Word of God with the emptiness in my heart until the night God opened my eyes to understand what was written in the Bible. That very night I had been watching Billy Graham on TV. He was preaching in Seoul, Korea on one of his crusades. Of course he quoted scripture. Of course he read from the Word of God. How else could I become convicted of sin? Why else would I beg for His forgiveness? By what other power would I surrendered to God and give the care of my own life over to Him? It was true! The Word was God!

Yes! In the beginning WAS the Word, and the Word WAS with God and the WORD WAS GOD.

Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. Romans 10:17

God told Adam and Eve they would SURELY die if they ate the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Although everything Eve needed for a blessed life was already covered by her loving Father -- God had them covered from head to toe -- the devil was able to deceive Eve by causing her to doubt that God hadn't told her EVERYTHING regarding her survival, her future, her life. The possibility that God hadn't opened her eyes to 'know' good -- and evil -- left her perplex, confused and in a quandary.

"Eve turned to Adam and basically said, "If God hasn't told us everything, we might as well know what He knows!" 

In an effort to care for her own life, Eve usurped God's role as caregiver -- just to be sure -- and encouraged Adam to do the same. All of a sudden their nakedness was so overwhelming, the sewing of fig leaves didn't begin to cover them. God took the skins of animals to cover them instead. Now, under a new order, even the animals that God had created were sacrificed to cover Adam and Eve.

God said "No, I told you that if you eat the fruit of THAT tree, you will resort to taking your life into your own hands, and if you do, you shall surely die."

Satan argued, "No, you won't die. God knows in the day you eat thereof you will know how to take care of yourselves just fine without Him."

In the Gospel of John, Jesus reassures us by affirming, EVERYTHING MY FATHER HAS TOLD ME I HAVE TOLD YOU.

I no longer call you servants because a master doesn't confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father has told me. John 15:15

God never intended for man to be a slave -- he who sins is a slave to sin -- nor did God desire to be a slave master. His desire was to be our Father and for His children to be sons and daughters, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. His heart broke when Adam and Eve were no longer under His complete care and protection -- for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Romans 14:23

The key to a joyful, peaceful, rich, fulfilling and powerful life is to live under the Father's care.

The key to a stressful, anxious, fearful and worrisome existence is to figure it out on your own. Just how much God cares for His own is written throughout the Old and New Testament.                                                                      

The expression, "Can you cover the bill?" is on the table right now. If you cannot, God is ready to cover you with His great love and provision. The Bible says, "Love covers a multitude of sins." (1 Peter 4:8)

According to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, man cannot survive without air, food, water, shelter, clothing and sleep. It's lonely at the top without the covering of our God, who gathers us under His wings and covers us there with His hand.   

Yet, many homeless people are on the streets struggling to survive. If only they knew how perfectly God would cover them. If only they believed.

                                                                 

To know God, you need to know the Word of God. Timothy said, "Study to show thyself approved unto God." Then you will be convinced that God and His Word are one in the same, and you will have an unquenchable yearning to share Him, His love, and His Word with a lost and dying world.

THAT I MAY KNOW HIM

I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised Him from the dead. Philippians 3:10

Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples. John 13:35

When I was a new Christian I oftentimes felt judged, so I judged. And if I felt condemned, I condemned. When too much was expected of me, I expected too much of others but when I spent time with the Lord, I went in with nothing and came away with love. He filled me with love. Love changed me. Love improved my relationships with people. Love improved my attitude toward everything. Love caused me to consider my neighbor as myself. Love caused me to want more of Jesus.

So they pulled their boats up on the shore, left everything and followed Him. Luke 5:11

I believe it was love that drew the disciples to forsake all and follow Jesus. Love was what had been missing in their fishing nets (the value of the fisherman rather than the fish they caught) and why Jesus said they would catch men instead. He said, it was more blessed to give than receive. Anyone can receive, not everyone can give. Therefore "more blessed" means it is more powerful to give; more powerful to love; more powerful to truly know Him.

Luke 24:13-53 - Two followers of Jesus were walking together along the road to Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem. As they walked along Jesus himself suddenly came and began walking with them. But God kept them from recognizing Him.

He asked them, "What are you discussing so intently as you walk along?

They stopped short, sadness written across their faces. Then one of them, Cleopas, replied, "You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn't heard about all the things that have happened there the last few days!"

"What things?"

"The things that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth," they said. He was a prophet who did powerful miracles, and He was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people. He was crucified, laid in a tomb but now His body is gone and no one knows where He is! We had hoped He was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago! Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and the prophets, explaining from all the scriptures the things concerning himself. But they still didn't recognize Him.

By the time they reached Emmaus Jesus acted as if he were going on, but they begged Him, "Stay the night with us since it is getting late." So he went home with them. As they sat down to eat, he took the bread and blessed it. Then he broke it and gave it to them. Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And at that moment he disappeared. 

They said to each other, "Didn't our hearts burn within us as He talked with us on the road and explained Scriptures to us?"

Something more powerful than following or walking with Him took place while they remained with Him.    

It is not enough to be a follower of Jesus. It's not enough to walk with Him and talk with Him. All those who walk and talk with Jesus don't all know Him. All those who invite Him to come home with them don't all sense His presence. It is only after we've walked, talked and shared sweet fellowship with Jesus, and have partaken of the blessed and broken bread; and experienced our eyes being opened and our hearts burning within us that we recognize why the disciples left everything to follow Him. Peter said, "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life." John 6:68

Until we realize God's purpose for catching up with His followers was to instill a deeper reason for their existence than merely following, walking or hanging out with a prophet that did great miracles or was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and the people. Jesus wanted to make sure He left them with something more ... a relationship built on a burning love with the living God.

The Emmaus Road into Jerusalem was twenty miles long. Jesus joined them on the last stretch of their journey with seven miles left to go. How many of us walk as followers of Jesus without ever actually walking with Him? When we do finally walk side by side we don't know Him any better than when we were following Him.

The Road to Emmaus into Jerusalem and into Bethany

So Jesus led them to Bethany with these words ... "But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with the power from heaven." Then they saw Him taken up into heaven. So they worshiped Him and then returned to Jerusalem filled with great joy.

Walking with God, as He created us to walk, does not end in Jerusalem. It compels us all the way to Bethany. It does not end at home. Its does not end at the supper table. It does not end with the breaking of the bread or when our eyes are opened or when our hearts are burning within us while we look back and realize just who had been walking with us all along the way. And it surely didn't end when He suddenly disappeared from their sight.  In fact, it never has to end. The burning in our hearts is evidence that He is with us even though we cannot see Him.

Though you have not seen him, you love him, and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy. 1 Peter 1:8

... and they spent all of their time in the temple, praising God. Luke 24:53 

True believers, who have been touched with the power of His love, are more than followers. They are more than disciples. They are more than witnesses. He burns within their hearts with an everlasting love -- a loves that heals, a love that saves, a love that adds value to their ordinary lives, a love that never fails, a love one can no longer live without and a love that demands expression. A close relationship with the Lord is what the disciples longed for; it's what we long for, and it's what the whole world is longing for ... that I may know Him!

But if the same spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit. Romans 8:11 

I must have Jesus in my whole life
I must have Jesus in my life
In my walking, in my talking 
In my sleeping and my waking
I must have Him in my life.  

I went in with nothing and came away with love, and because of love, I want to spend every moment with Him. If you want to share the Good News of the Gospel, share the powerful, life-changing love of God.  By it you will prove to the world that He is here -- God is with us -- and He will never leave us nor forsake us.