Friday, January 23, 2009
Acts 17:30-31 God . . . now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.
GOD'S SON MADE KNOWN THROUGH HIS RESURRECTION
The various religions of the world claim to teach people to know who God is and how to find salvation. In some instances these religions teach their adherents to revere a particular human intercessor as God's appointed vessel who has been chosen to point the way to such things.
The Bible teaches the Christian faith. The Bible teaches us that God has made Himself and His salvation known to the people of the world through Christ Jesus. The Bible teaches that the only way to come to God and to obtain His salvation is through Christ Jesus. Thus, the Bible teaches that all other religions outside of the true Christian faith are false religions that can only lead a person away from the true God and His salvation.
And how is it that the true God has made Christ known to us as the one by whom He has come to men, by whom He teaches men and by whom He saves men? Well, first of all, the Bible teaches us that Christ is different in that He is no mere man, but that He is true God and true man in one being. Also, one of the ways that God has powerfully made known to the world that Jesus is the One whom He wants us to follow and believe in is by His raising Him from the dead.
God has made known Jesus as His Son and as Savior of this world by His resurrection from the dead. All others who have claimed to be God's chosen ones in this world have died and stayed dead. Jesus has truly died a death deserved by the people of this world in order to win for us forgiveness of sins. But after accomplishing His redemptive mission through sacrificing Himself, Jesus has bodily risen again in divine glory to show His people that He is no fly-by-night false prophet, but that He is the Savior of men who alone leads to life eternal and the Father's house.
