What Does It Mean To Believe In Jesus' Name?
03/20/2017
Next month Bible Believers all over the world will celebrate Passover and Easter in commemoration and appreciation of their redemption from slavery purchased by the sacrifice of a perfect lamb without spot or blemish that protected them from judgment, and provided freedom. Both holidays honor a substitute that purchased the pardon of slaves freeing them to live new lives. I'd encourage you to reread the 'Passover' story in the Old Testament Book of Exodus and 'The Lamb of God' story in the New Testament Gospel of John.
The Bible's main theme, as it tells the history of the world, is the red thread of redemption that runs from Genesis to Revelation. In Genesis we see that God created man in His own image to reflect His righteousness by loving Him and each other in our relationships. He gave people free will so that we would be able to chose to trust and love or doubt and reject. (Without freedom we would be nothing but puppets, not persons.) Our 1st father and mother, Adam and Eve chose not to believe in their Creator God's qualifications and right to rule because they wanted to be their own standard of right and wrong/good and evil. As a result of that broken relationship they cut themselves off from their ultimate source of life.
Because God is love, He provided a way for justice to be satisfied for their offenses against Him and each other so that they could have new life in Him. When God killed animals and gave our 1st parents clothes to cover their shame of reproducing sorrow, suffering and death due to their sin and separation from Him, it was a picture of the sacrifice of The Son of God who would cloth Himself in human flesh, live a perfect life and then cloth Himself in your sin and mine so that He could serve the death sentence to satisfy justice on our behalf and set us free from both the guilt and power of sin. It was a trade. Jesus traded His righteousness for our sin. Then, as a son of man, He carried the consequences of our sin before God, so that we can carry the consequences of Christ's righteousness before God. He had to be one of us in order to take our place and pay our death penalty.
Throughout the Old testament 'The Lamb of God' is pictured and predicted by the prophecies. In the New Testament we clearly see that God's plan for ages past and present is to redeem and reconcile sinners by providing a sinless substitute to pay the penalty for our violations. In John 1:29 John refers to his cousin Jesus as "The Lamb of God" which cometh to take away the sin of the world.
John not only identifies Jesus as "The Lamb of God" but in John 20:31, he tells us that believing in His name brings life. He says, "These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is The Christ The Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through His name." What does that mean to 'believe in Jesus name'?
John uses the word 'believe' 101 times, but he never uses the word faith even once in his gospel. Did you ever think about the fact that 'believing' and 'having faith' are different even though they are related? Even though people try to use the words 'believe' and 'have faith' interchangeably The Bible shows the difference. The Bible does not command us to 'have faith'; it commands us to choose to believe.
Did you ever wish you could muster up enough faith to do something you're afraid to do? I have 2 friends who are afraid of flying on an airplane. Both guys are afraid to die. My friend Gerry chooses not to fly no matter what. My friend Matt rejects his fearful feelings and chooses to believe in the information he has heard about the safety of flying even though he really doesn't appreciate it. Matt does not have faith in flying, but he chooses to believe he will survive the flight in spite of his feelings; so he gets on the plane and makes the trip.
Believe is a verb, and faith is a noun. Believe is something you chose to do and faith is something you get. Believe is an all or nothing decision. To believe is simply a choice to believe & accept, as opposed to deciding to doubt & reject. To believe is a decision to depend on something or someone as trustworthy.
We regularly make choices to believe in, place our confidence in something or someone; or to doubt the character of a person or thing as being trustworthy. You're choice to believe that the pilot of an airplane is reliable and the aircraft is dependable determines whether or not you will get on the plane. It's an all or nothing decision because once you're in the air it's too late to change your mind. In spite of any doubts you may have, you chose to believe that you can stake your life on the trustworthiness of the pilot and the plane, or you would not get on board.
So you see believing is not a moral quality. To stake your life on what you heard about a pilot or an aircraft is neither righteous nor sinful. It's just a choice based on the information that you choose to accept or reject. Believing is not a virtue.
Faith on the other hand is something you have or don't have; and it comes in varying degrees. Have you ever tried to produce faith in your heart? I know a young man that said if he could just push a button that would make him have faith, he would do that. He'd like to have faith; but he knows can't manufacture it; and to his credit, he's not going to try to fake it as so many people do. I know there are those who say 'fake it until you make it' but that only results in hypocrisy, legalistic self righteousness and fear. Then when the 'faith' your working on producing fails to get your prayers answered, you worry, you can't produce enough faith to tip the scales to get forgiveness and freedom from sin.
You wish you could know for sure you have enough faith to please God, be saved from your sin and know your headed for heaven when you die. People try to get faith by being religious; but sooner of later they see that following the rules becomes sort of a treadmill that doesn't produce righteousness or assurance of salvation, because they aren't able to live up to the standards of their church. So most work harder at looking good than being good.
The Bible says faith is a gift from God. Ephesians & 1 Corinthians speaks of faith as a gift. That means you don't manufacture faith, God gives it when you chose to believe in the name of Jesus Christ The Lord. In The Bible some people have a little faith and some have a lot.
Romans 10:17 says, "Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God" How do you get faith when you hear the word of God? When you make the choice to believe God' word, God gives you the faith to live it. You don't need to believe in your faith. You need to believe that Jesus is The Christ The Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through His name." (John 20:31) In Isaiah 55:11 God said His word will not return onto Him empty. In John 20:17 when Jesus prayed for His disciples, He also prayed for those who shall believe on Him in the future through His disciples' words recorded in the New Testament.
So what does it actually mean to BELIEVE IN JESUS' NAME? Jesus' name defines who He is including: His character, Authority, & rank as Creator, Lawgiver, Judge, Redeemer/Messiah King. He is The King of kings and The Lord of lords. To "believe in Jesus' name" is acknowledging and appreciating that He is who He claimed to be: THE Christ, not a Christ, but THE Christ. Jesus said in John 14:6 "I am The way, The truth, and The life, no man cometh unto The Father but by Me."
In John 1:12, believing in Jesus Name is paralleled with receiving Him as Savior and Lord. John 2:23 says "...many believed in His name when they saw the miracles which He did." In 1 John 3:23 God commands us to believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ. 1 John 5:13 says "these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of The Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of The Son of God." In John 3:18 we find that if you don't believe on the name of The Son of God you are condemned because you chose to reject who He is by refusing to believe on His name. So 'to believe in Jesus' name' is making the choice to confess that Jesus of Nazareth is The Christ The Son of the living God. John 1:14 says He is "...The only begotten of The Father full of grace and truth."
In Matthew 16 Jesus asked His disciples who people said He was. In verse 14, they answered: "..one of the prophets.", ("basically just another ordinary prophet/religious leader.) Jesus then asked, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered, Thou art The Christ The Son of The living God." (Matt. 16:16) Jesus commended Peter for believing in Him.
Recently, several people in Britain were offended by hearing what Jesus claimed in John 14:6 when He clearly stated, "I am The way, The truth, and The life, no man cometh unto The Father but by Me." So, last month a UK prosecutor named Ian Jackson, presented a case against Michael Stockwell and Michael Overd for quoting John 14:6 and 1 Cor. 6:9-10 in public. Attorney Jackson "... argued before the court that the men’s speech declaring Jesus as the only way cannot be a truth." The prosecutor is quoted as stating, “To the extent that they are saying that the only way to God is through Jesus, that cannot be a truth,” He contended that Michael Stockwell and Michael Overd had crossed the line by stating that those not following Christ are on the broad path to destruction. Jackson “told the court some of the statements made by the preachers may have been in the King James Bible, from 1611, but that did not mean they were acceptable in 2016.” On Feb. 28, 2017, Overd and Stockwell were found guilty of violating the 'Crime and Disorder Act'."
So that brings us back to the question: Who is Jesus really, even in 2017? The Bible says in Hebrews 13:8, "Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever." Therefore, the question is not "Who is Jesus to you?" People have differing opinions about who Jesus really is. Even most atheists know that He is a real historical person who was a very nice guy that got killed on a cross. Some religions claim He was a wise prophet, good teacher, or miracle worker that was either: so sweet no one needs to take Him seriously, or some sort of radical with fundamentalist followers that are a threat to society by talking about hell fire and brimstone. (Random side note: The Bible record shows that Jesus did mention judgment in hell twice as often as He talked about heaven.)
Genesis 1:27 says that God created man in His own image. In Exodus 20 God commands, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." That includes making a god in your own image. Some people say 'My god wouldn't send anyone to hell." However the God described in The Bible is good which makes Him just and therefore He must punish lawbreakers.
People have the free will to choose what they will or will not believe. You can chose to "Believe in Jesus' name" or to redefine Jesus to make Him fit your lifestyle. Our decision on what to believe is often based more on what difference would it make in my life if this is true than on hard evidence that backs up proven facts.
Anyone who is honestly seeking truth no matter what the consequence may be, must consider the reliability of the source of their information. The Bible is full of evidence that shows it is not only true, but had to have been written by Someone who is not bound by time and space. It is not only authenticated by archaeological finds that verified the names, places and customs of the real people, places, customs and historical events it describes, but no archaeological find has ever disproved anything in the Bible record.
Besides all that there are over 2 thousand prophecies that recorded details about future events hundreds and even thousands years before they came to pass; and they were fulfilled perfectly as predicted. Jesus birth announcements were written hundreds of years before His birth as well as predicted what kind of life He would lead and gave 24 details about the last 24 hours of His life.
In the last 70 years ancient prophecies in both the Old and New Testaments are being fulfilled. Predictions recorded by Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zechariah regarding the Jewish people returning to the land of Israel and becoming a nation again 2,000 years after the Roman army flattened their temple and exiled them all from their land were fulfilled on May 14, 1948. Zechariah also predicted that Jerusalem would be reoccupied by Jews and it will become a focal point of world politics. Jews recaptured Jerusalem in 1967 and today the issue of who will control Jerusalem is a hot button for world leaders. John prophesied that a dictator would control the world economy. That was not even within the realm of possibility until high speed communication and high speed travel became a reality in our generation. Our world is in such debt and turmoil that some people are hoping for a man with a plan to take control and solve the global problems.
The evidence is abundant that the Bible is what it claims to be: the inspired word of God. Yet there are a lot of images of who Jesus is that contradict the Bible record. The tragedy of that is the warning in Matthew 7:21 that on Judgment Day calling Jesus 'Lord' and being religious does not mean you 'believe in His name' and Jesus knows our hearts. (1st Sam. 16:7) So what does it really mean to 'believe'in His name? The Greek word translated 'believe' is "pisteuo". A good concordance gives the English equivalent of "pisteuo" as 'believe', 'trust', 'be committed unto'. To believe in His name is to believe He is who He claimed to be and proved Himself to be by His perfect life, death and Resurrection.
Here are a few of the examples of Jesus' claims:
In John 10:30 Jesus said, "I and The Father are 1". Because of that statement the religious leaders and scribes tried to kill Him for claiming to be God. Jesus was saying that He and The Father are of 1 nature and essence.
In John 8:58, Jesus said, "Before Abraham was born, I Am." Again the religious leaders wanted to kill Him for claiming to be God.
Jesus allowed people to worship Him. In Luke 4:8 Jesus clearly said, "Thou shalt worship the Lord Thy God and Him only shalt thou serve." So If Jesus isn't God why would He allow anyone to worship Him? Matthew 14:33; Matthew 28:9; John 9 & John 20:28 are only some of the examples of Jesus accepting worship. The book of Revelation says that people as well as angels will worship Jesus in heaven. In Revelation Jesus called the first and the Last; just as Isaiah calls the Lord God Jehovah the First and the Last.
What does the Bible say about His NAME? Isaiah 9:6 says, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.”
John 3:16 says “For God so love the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
John 3:36 says, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” Listen carefully to John 6:28 “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”
We see an example of this in Acts chapter 8 where Philip rode along in a chariot with an Ethiopian man who wanted him to explain the book of Isaiah. In Isaiah 58 is a prophecy about someone who was led away as a lamb to the slaughter and was unjustly judged and killed. Philip explained that this was a prophecy that described what had just happened to Jesus which identified Him as the Son of God. As they approached a pond of water the man asked "What prevents me from getting baptized?' Philip answered, "You can if you believe with all your heart." The man replied, "I believe that Jesus is the Christ the son of God." Without making the guy explain it in complete detail, or making him wait to show he was now living a holy life, and without having him join a church, Philip baptized the Ethiopian man; they went their separate ways; and the guy continued his journey rejoicing! That's how it is in the Bible: simple, uncomplicated straightforward choice to really believe Jesus is who He said He is. Read the case of the Philippian jailer in Acts 16 as another of many examples.
Romans 10:9 says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
Only a perfect God could possibly have sacrificed Himself for His Creation as Jesus did. Then this perfect God raised Himself again from the dead. If you believe Jesus died on a cross two thousand years ago for your sins and yet you don’t believe He’s God, then you believe in human sacrifice. No human sacrifice could possibly suffice as the propitiation for the sins of mankind.
How can we possibly believe everything Jesus said and did and not believe He’s God? If we believe the bible then we believe in the virgin birth, we believe Jesus was tempted in all ways yet never sinned, we believe He changed water into wine, He healed the sick, cast out demons, raised the dead, gave sight to the blind, walked on water, made the lame to walk, and fed thousands with a little boy's bag lunch of fish and bread.
We believe He went willingly to the cross, that He died on that cross, and that He told one of the thieves hanging next to Him that he would, that very day, be with Him in Paradise. We believe He spent three days in the grave and rose from the dead on the third day all according to the scriptures.
“These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.’ ‘And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life,” 1 John 5:13 and 20. Jesus is the true God and eternal life.
This is a ballad of a blind man who saw Jesus for who and what He is and believed in His Name and worshiped Him. You can read it in John 9. It's called: "Since I Met Him I Can See" by Don Francisco
Now it's hard to describe what my life used to be
To someone who's always been able to see.
You know I wasn't unhappy or bitter that way,
But everything's changed since I met Him that day.
I was down at the corner just passing the time,
Sitting in the sunlight and feeling it shine,
When the sound of a crowd began to grow in my ear,
So I waited and I listened as I heard them draw near.
Then a man stepped up to me and He spat on the ground.
He put the mud on my eyes and then He smeared it around.
Sent me off to Siloam to wash off the clay,
And I opened my eyes and I looked at the day.
And I have no idea how He did it, I just know what happened to me.
Yesterday I was in darkness, but since I met Him I can see.
When the Pharisees heard it they put me on trial,
Even called in my parents and grilled them awhile,
And when, at the end, I defended the man,
Who had opened my eyes, the troubles began.
I said "Ever since the beginning of time
No one's opened the eyes of someone born blind.
This man's sent from God, it just can't be denied "
And they cursed me and grabbed me and threw me outside.
I really don't know how He found me. I just know He was talking to me.
It was easy to tell by the sound of His voice He was the reason I see.
And as soon as He spoke to me I couldn't hide
The emotion that welled up from deep down inside
And combined in the dreams that He made to come true, to kneel there and worship was all I could do
And I called Him my Lord and Messiah
For everything He'd done for me.
Yesterday I was in darkness,
But since I met Him I can see.
And I call Him my Lord and my savior
For everything He's done for me.
Yesterday I was in darkness,
But since I met Him,
Since I met Him I can see.
Since I met Him, Messiah
Since I met Him, Messiah
Since I met Him I can see
The Bible's main theme, as it tells the history of the world, is the red thread of redemption that runs from Genesis to Revelation. In Genesis we see that God created man in His own image to reflect His righteousness by loving Him and each other in our relationships. He gave people free will so that we would be able to chose to trust and love or doubt and reject. (Without freedom we would be nothing but puppets, not persons.) Our 1st father and mother, Adam and Eve chose not to believe in their Creator God's qualifications and right to rule because they wanted to be their own standard of right and wrong/good and evil. As a result of that broken relationship they cut themselves off from their ultimate source of life.
Because God is love, He provided a way for justice to be satisfied for their offenses against Him and each other so that they could have new life in Him. When God killed animals and gave our 1st parents clothes to cover their shame of reproducing sorrow, suffering and death due to their sin and separation from Him, it was a picture of the sacrifice of The Son of God who would cloth Himself in human flesh, live a perfect life and then cloth Himself in your sin and mine so that He could serve the death sentence to satisfy justice on our behalf and set us free from both the guilt and power of sin. It was a trade. Jesus traded His righteousness for our sin. Then, as a son of man, He carried the consequences of our sin before God, so that we can carry the consequences of Christ's righteousness before God. He had to be one of us in order to take our place and pay our death penalty.
Throughout the Old testament 'The Lamb of God' is pictured and predicted by the prophecies. In the New Testament we clearly see that God's plan for ages past and present is to redeem and reconcile sinners by providing a sinless substitute to pay the penalty for our violations. In John 1:29 John refers to his cousin Jesus as "The Lamb of God" which cometh to take away the sin of the world.
John not only identifies Jesus as "The Lamb of God" but in John 20:31, he tells us that believing in His name brings life. He says, "These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is The Christ The Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through His name." What does that mean to 'believe in Jesus name'?
John uses the word 'believe' 101 times, but he never uses the word faith even once in his gospel. Did you ever think about the fact that 'believing' and 'having faith' are different even though they are related? Even though people try to use the words 'believe' and 'have faith' interchangeably The Bible shows the difference. The Bible does not command us to 'have faith'; it commands us to choose to believe.
Did you ever wish you could muster up enough faith to do something you're afraid to do? I have 2 friends who are afraid of flying on an airplane. Both guys are afraid to die. My friend Gerry chooses not to fly no matter what. My friend Matt rejects his fearful feelings and chooses to believe in the information he has heard about the safety of flying even though he really doesn't appreciate it. Matt does not have faith in flying, but he chooses to believe he will survive the flight in spite of his feelings; so he gets on the plane and makes the trip.
Believe is a verb, and faith is a noun. Believe is something you chose to do and faith is something you get. Believe is an all or nothing decision. To believe is simply a choice to believe & accept, as opposed to deciding to doubt & reject. To believe is a decision to depend on something or someone as trustworthy.
We regularly make choices to believe in, place our confidence in something or someone; or to doubt the character of a person or thing as being trustworthy. You're choice to believe that the pilot of an airplane is reliable and the aircraft is dependable determines whether or not you will get on the plane. It's an all or nothing decision because once you're in the air it's too late to change your mind. In spite of any doubts you may have, you chose to believe that you can stake your life on the trustworthiness of the pilot and the plane, or you would not get on board.
So you see believing is not a moral quality. To stake your life on what you heard about a pilot or an aircraft is neither righteous nor sinful. It's just a choice based on the information that you choose to accept or reject. Believing is not a virtue.
Faith on the other hand is something you have or don't have; and it comes in varying degrees. Have you ever tried to produce faith in your heart? I know a young man that said if he could just push a button that would make him have faith, he would do that. He'd like to have faith; but he knows can't manufacture it; and to his credit, he's not going to try to fake it as so many people do. I know there are those who say 'fake it until you make it' but that only results in hypocrisy, legalistic self righteousness and fear. Then when the 'faith' your working on producing fails to get your prayers answered, you worry, you can't produce enough faith to tip the scales to get forgiveness and freedom from sin.
You wish you could know for sure you have enough faith to please God, be saved from your sin and know your headed for heaven when you die. People try to get faith by being religious; but sooner of later they see that following the rules becomes sort of a treadmill that doesn't produce righteousness or assurance of salvation, because they aren't able to live up to the standards of their church. So most work harder at looking good than being good.
The Bible says faith is a gift from God. Ephesians & 1 Corinthians speaks of faith as a gift. That means you don't manufacture faith, God gives it when you chose to believe in the name of Jesus Christ The Lord. In The Bible some people have a little faith and some have a lot.
Romans 10:17 says, "Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God" How do you get faith when you hear the word of God? When you make the choice to believe God' word, God gives you the faith to live it. You don't need to believe in your faith. You need to believe that Jesus is The Christ The Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through His name." (John 20:31) In Isaiah 55:11 God said His word will not return onto Him empty. In John 20:17 when Jesus prayed for His disciples, He also prayed for those who shall believe on Him in the future through His disciples' words recorded in the New Testament.
So what does it actually mean to BELIEVE IN JESUS' NAME? Jesus' name defines who He is including: His character, Authority, & rank as Creator, Lawgiver, Judge, Redeemer/Messiah King. He is The King of kings and The Lord of lords. To "believe in Jesus' name" is acknowledging and appreciating that He is who He claimed to be: THE Christ, not a Christ, but THE Christ. Jesus said in John 14:6 "I am The way, The truth, and The life, no man cometh unto The Father but by Me."
In John 1:12, believing in Jesus Name is paralleled with receiving Him as Savior and Lord. John 2:23 says "...many believed in His name when they saw the miracles which He did." In 1 John 3:23 God commands us to believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ. 1 John 5:13 says "these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of The Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of The Son of God." In John 3:18 we find that if you don't believe on the name of The Son of God you are condemned because you chose to reject who He is by refusing to believe on His name. So 'to believe in Jesus' name' is making the choice to confess that Jesus of Nazareth is The Christ The Son of the living God. John 1:14 says He is "...The only begotten of The Father full of grace and truth."
In Matthew 16 Jesus asked His disciples who people said He was. In verse 14, they answered: "..one of the prophets.", ("basically just another ordinary prophet/religious leader.) Jesus then asked, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered, Thou art The Christ The Son of The living God." (Matt. 16:16) Jesus commended Peter for believing in Him.
Recently, several people in Britain were offended by hearing what Jesus claimed in John 14:6 when He clearly stated, "I am The way, The truth, and The life, no man cometh unto The Father but by Me." So, last month a UK prosecutor named Ian Jackson, presented a case against Michael Stockwell and Michael Overd for quoting John 14:6 and 1 Cor. 6:9-10 in public. Attorney Jackson "... argued before the court that the men’s speech declaring Jesus as the only way cannot be a truth." The prosecutor is quoted as stating, “To the extent that they are saying that the only way to God is through Jesus, that cannot be a truth,” He contended that Michael Stockwell and Michael Overd had crossed the line by stating that those not following Christ are on the broad path to destruction. Jackson “told the court some of the statements made by the preachers may have been in the King James Bible, from 1611, but that did not mean they were acceptable in 2016.” On Feb. 28, 2017, Overd and Stockwell were found guilty of violating the 'Crime and Disorder Act'."
So that brings us back to the question: Who is Jesus really, even in 2017? The Bible says in Hebrews 13:8, "Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever." Therefore, the question is not "Who is Jesus to you?" People have differing opinions about who Jesus really is. Even most atheists know that He is a real historical person who was a very nice guy that got killed on a cross. Some religions claim He was a wise prophet, good teacher, or miracle worker that was either: so sweet no one needs to take Him seriously, or some sort of radical with fundamentalist followers that are a threat to society by talking about hell fire and brimstone. (Random side note: The Bible record shows that Jesus did mention judgment in hell twice as often as He talked about heaven.)
Genesis 1:27 says that God created man in His own image. In Exodus 20 God commands, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." That includes making a god in your own image. Some people say 'My god wouldn't send anyone to hell." However the God described in The Bible is good which makes Him just and therefore He must punish lawbreakers.
People have the free will to choose what they will or will not believe. You can chose to "Believe in Jesus' name" or to redefine Jesus to make Him fit your lifestyle. Our decision on what to believe is often based more on what difference would it make in my life if this is true than on hard evidence that backs up proven facts.
Anyone who is honestly seeking truth no matter what the consequence may be, must consider the reliability of the source of their information. The Bible is full of evidence that shows it is not only true, but had to have been written by Someone who is not bound by time and space. It is not only authenticated by archaeological finds that verified the names, places and customs of the real people, places, customs and historical events it describes, but no archaeological find has ever disproved anything in the Bible record.
Besides all that there are over 2 thousand prophecies that recorded details about future events hundreds and even thousands years before they came to pass; and they were fulfilled perfectly as predicted. Jesus birth announcements were written hundreds of years before His birth as well as predicted what kind of life He would lead and gave 24 details about the last 24 hours of His life.
In the last 70 years ancient prophecies in both the Old and New Testaments are being fulfilled. Predictions recorded by Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zechariah regarding the Jewish people returning to the land of Israel and becoming a nation again 2,000 years after the Roman army flattened their temple and exiled them all from their land were fulfilled on May 14, 1948. Zechariah also predicted that Jerusalem would be reoccupied by Jews and it will become a focal point of world politics. Jews recaptured Jerusalem in 1967 and today the issue of who will control Jerusalem is a hot button for world leaders. John prophesied that a dictator would control the world economy. That was not even within the realm of possibility until high speed communication and high speed travel became a reality in our generation. Our world is in such debt and turmoil that some people are hoping for a man with a plan to take control and solve the global problems.
The evidence is abundant that the Bible is what it claims to be: the inspired word of God. Yet there are a lot of images of who Jesus is that contradict the Bible record. The tragedy of that is the warning in Matthew 7:21 that on Judgment Day calling Jesus 'Lord' and being religious does not mean you 'believe in His name' and Jesus knows our hearts. (1st Sam. 16:7) So what does it really mean to 'believe'in His name? The Greek word translated 'believe' is "pisteuo". A good concordance gives the English equivalent of "pisteuo" as 'believe', 'trust', 'be committed unto'. To believe in His name is to believe He is who He claimed to be and proved Himself to be by His perfect life, death and Resurrection.
Here are a few of the examples of Jesus' claims:
In John 10:30 Jesus said, "I and The Father are 1". Because of that statement the religious leaders and scribes tried to kill Him for claiming to be God. Jesus was saying that He and The Father are of 1 nature and essence.
In John 8:58, Jesus said, "Before Abraham was born, I Am." Again the religious leaders wanted to kill Him for claiming to be God.
Jesus allowed people to worship Him. In Luke 4:8 Jesus clearly said, "Thou shalt worship the Lord Thy God and Him only shalt thou serve." So If Jesus isn't God why would He allow anyone to worship Him? Matthew 14:33; Matthew 28:9; John 9 & John 20:28 are only some of the examples of Jesus accepting worship. The book of Revelation says that people as well as angels will worship Jesus in heaven. In Revelation Jesus called the first and the Last; just as Isaiah calls the Lord God Jehovah the First and the Last.
What does the Bible say about His NAME? Isaiah 9:6 says, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.”
John 3:16 says “For God so love the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
John 3:36 says, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” Listen carefully to John 6:28 “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”
We see an example of this in Acts chapter 8 where Philip rode along in a chariot with an Ethiopian man who wanted him to explain the book of Isaiah. In Isaiah 58 is a prophecy about someone who was led away as a lamb to the slaughter and was unjustly judged and killed. Philip explained that this was a prophecy that described what had just happened to Jesus which identified Him as the Son of God. As they approached a pond of water the man asked "What prevents me from getting baptized?' Philip answered, "You can if you believe with all your heart." The man replied, "I believe that Jesus is the Christ the son of God." Without making the guy explain it in complete detail, or making him wait to show he was now living a holy life, and without having him join a church, Philip baptized the Ethiopian man; they went their separate ways; and the guy continued his journey rejoicing! That's how it is in the Bible: simple, uncomplicated straightforward choice to really believe Jesus is who He said He is. Read the case of the Philippian jailer in Acts 16 as another of many examples.
Romans 10:9 says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
Only a perfect God could possibly have sacrificed Himself for His Creation as Jesus did. Then this perfect God raised Himself again from the dead. If you believe Jesus died on a cross two thousand years ago for your sins and yet you don’t believe He’s God, then you believe in human sacrifice. No human sacrifice could possibly suffice as the propitiation for the sins of mankind.
How can we possibly believe everything Jesus said and did and not believe He’s God? If we believe the bible then we believe in the virgin birth, we believe Jesus was tempted in all ways yet never sinned, we believe He changed water into wine, He healed the sick, cast out demons, raised the dead, gave sight to the blind, walked on water, made the lame to walk, and fed thousands with a little boy's bag lunch of fish and bread.
We believe He went willingly to the cross, that He died on that cross, and that He told one of the thieves hanging next to Him that he would, that very day, be with Him in Paradise. We believe He spent three days in the grave and rose from the dead on the third day all according to the scriptures.
“These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.’ ‘And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life,” 1 John 5:13 and 20. Jesus is the true God and eternal life.
This is a ballad of a blind man who saw Jesus for who and what He is and believed in His Name and worshiped Him. You can read it in John 9. It's called: "Since I Met Him I Can See" by Don Francisco
Now it's hard to describe what my life used to be
To someone who's always been able to see.
You know I wasn't unhappy or bitter that way,
But everything's changed since I met Him that day.
I was down at the corner just passing the time,
Sitting in the sunlight and feeling it shine,
When the sound of a crowd began to grow in my ear,
So I waited and I listened as I heard them draw near.
Then a man stepped up to me and He spat on the ground.
He put the mud on my eyes and then He smeared it around.
Sent me off to Siloam to wash off the clay,
And I opened my eyes and I looked at the day.
And I have no idea how He did it, I just know what happened to me.
Yesterday I was in darkness, but since I met Him I can see.
When the Pharisees heard it they put me on trial,
Even called in my parents and grilled them awhile,
And when, at the end, I defended the man,
Who had opened my eyes, the troubles began.
I said "Ever since the beginning of time
No one's opened the eyes of someone born blind.
This man's sent from God, it just can't be denied "
And they cursed me and grabbed me and threw me outside.
I really don't know how He found me. I just know He was talking to me.
It was easy to tell by the sound of His voice He was the reason I see.
And as soon as He spoke to me I couldn't hide
The emotion that welled up from deep down inside
And combined in the dreams that He made to come true, to kneel there and worship was all I could do
And I called Him my Lord and Messiah
For everything He'd done for me.
Yesterday I was in darkness,
But since I met Him I can see.
And I call Him my Lord and my savior
For everything He's done for me.
Yesterday I was in darkness,
But since I met Him,
Since I met Him I can see.
Since I met Him, Messiah
Since I met Him, Messiah
Since I met Him I can see