April 28th 2024
Jesus Christ Was Born On This Earth To Offer Salvation To The Jews, And To Light The Way For The Gentiles!
John 1:32-34 (NIV)
Then John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God."
God sent John the Baptist to start the system of Baptism with water. John as also blessed by God to announce the fact that the Savior of the world was coming into this cursed world. God sent His only Son into this world to offer salvation to all of mankind. Jesus Christ came into this world to serve as the Son of Man, which fulfilled many Old Testament prophecies as proof of the fact that Jesus was fulfillment of all those prophecies! In the selected verses John sees Jesus and immediately identifies Him by saying. “I have seen (Jesus) and I testify that this is the Son of God."
Jesus was born into this world as a human being, born as all human beings enter this world. And in the selected verses God has told John about how Jesus Christ will also offer baptism through water and the Spirit. God told John this too. God said to John, “The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.” Therefore, this identification of who Jesus is was given by God through His disciple John. There are more people on this earth today who do NOT believe these verification statements, than there are those who do believe that Jesus Christ is the one and only Savior of mankind on this earth!
To believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and the Son of Man, requires first that you believe in the creation of the cosmos was accomplished by God/Jesus (ex-nihilo) or out of nothing, as the first eleven chapters of Genesis describes. Paul wrote about this for the church of Rome and for us. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. (Romans 1:20). There are many belief systems followed by mankind that believe other gods or other spirits created everything, and most people believe the cosmos created itself through random chance processes known as evolution.
On the sixth day of creation, Jesus created mankind in His image and likeness, which means all human beings are born with a god-like soul that is immortal. They also inherit a sinful nature from the curse of sin and death brought into this cursed world by the first or original sin committed by Adam and Eve. God describes this human soul, as follows: “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30). When our mortal body dies, our immortal soul is directed to a holding place, and from there it will either end up in heaven or hell. Following Jesus Christ is the ONLY Way for your soul to be heading for heaven on the new sinless earth.
Followers of Jesus Christ are given the Holy Spirit to help them be able to have some control over their inherited sinful nature! This is known as being born again as our character is changed so that we begin working on becoming more Christ-like every day. Paul wrote about this situation of not being born again they will be controlled by their sinful nature and tempted by Satan. Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. (Romans 8:5-8). Paul does an excellent job of discerning how those who become believers are changed. We must however remember that believers still have a sinful nature, and we may be tempted by Satan.
Some reading this may not have had a human father, but hopefully you had someone who loved you enough to discipline you, and you came to respect them for their concern for you! Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:9-11).
Today we see the results of a lack of discipline, which sometimes results in a person who has no love for any human being, or even themselves, and they may decide to murder others as they somehow consider them as the enemy, not as another human being they should love as their neighbor, as Jesus taught. Sometimes it is difficult for us to respect the people who we live with, or those we live among! Jesus even experienced this when He taught in His hometown.
Once Jesus was teaching in His hometown to the people whom He grew up with. Jesus said, "I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his home town. (Luke 4:24). Then Jesus tells them a story about God selected people to do His will, who were not Jews (God’s chosen people)! I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian." (Luke 4:25-27). All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way. (Luke 4:28-30).
It is an historical fact that Jesus was born in the Jewish nation and from His comments early in His ministry He was offering salvation to the Jewish people first, and then to the Gentiles. It always made me wonder if the Jews had accepted Him as their Savior, would the Gentiles have been included? Of course, we know that Paul became the apostle to the Gentiles. Paul wrote to the church in Colossi and us, about the inclusion of the Gentiles with God’s blessing. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. (Colossians 1:27-28).
Read what God prophesied to Isaiah about the coming Savior, and how He would become a light for the Gentiles. He said to me, "You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor." But I said, "I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing. Yet what is due to me is in the LORD’s hand, and my reward is with my God." And now the LORD says—he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD and my God has been my strength—he says: "It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth." (Isaiah 49:3-6).
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
John 1:32-34 (NIV)
Then John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God."
God sent John the Baptist to start the system of Baptism with water. John as also blessed by God to announce the fact that the Savior of the world was coming into this cursed world. God sent His only Son into this world to offer salvation to all of mankind. Jesus Christ came into this world to serve as the Son of Man, which fulfilled many Old Testament prophecies as proof of the fact that Jesus was fulfillment of all those prophecies! In the selected verses John sees Jesus and immediately identifies Him by saying. “I have seen (Jesus) and I testify that this is the Son of God."
Jesus was born into this world as a human being, born as all human beings enter this world. And in the selected verses God has told John about how Jesus Christ will also offer baptism through water and the Spirit. God told John this too. God said to John, “The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.” Therefore, this identification of who Jesus is was given by God through His disciple John. There are more people on this earth today who do NOT believe these verification statements, than there are those who do believe that Jesus Christ is the one and only Savior of mankind on this earth!
To believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and the Son of Man, requires first that you believe in the creation of the cosmos was accomplished by God/Jesus (ex-nihilo) or out of nothing, as the first eleven chapters of Genesis describes. Paul wrote about this for the church of Rome and for us. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. (Romans 1:20). There are many belief systems followed by mankind that believe other gods or other spirits created everything, and most people believe the cosmos created itself through random chance processes known as evolution.
On the sixth day of creation, Jesus created mankind in His image and likeness, which means all human beings are born with a god-like soul that is immortal. They also inherit a sinful nature from the curse of sin and death brought into this cursed world by the first or original sin committed by Adam and Eve. God describes this human soul, as follows: “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30). When our mortal body dies, our immortal soul is directed to a holding place, and from there it will either end up in heaven or hell. Following Jesus Christ is the ONLY Way for your soul to be heading for heaven on the new sinless earth.
Followers of Jesus Christ are given the Holy Spirit to help them be able to have some control over their inherited sinful nature! This is known as being born again as our character is changed so that we begin working on becoming more Christ-like every day. Paul wrote about this situation of not being born again they will be controlled by their sinful nature and tempted by Satan. Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. (Romans 8:5-8). Paul does an excellent job of discerning how those who become believers are changed. We must however remember that believers still have a sinful nature, and we may be tempted by Satan.
Some reading this may not have had a human father, but hopefully you had someone who loved you enough to discipline you, and you came to respect them for their concern for you! Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:9-11).
Today we see the results of a lack of discipline, which sometimes results in a person who has no love for any human being, or even themselves, and they may decide to murder others as they somehow consider them as the enemy, not as another human being they should love as their neighbor, as Jesus taught. Sometimes it is difficult for us to respect the people who we live with, or those we live among! Jesus even experienced this when He taught in His hometown.
Once Jesus was teaching in His hometown to the people whom He grew up with. Jesus said, "I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his home town. (Luke 4:24). Then Jesus tells them a story about God selected people to do His will, who were not Jews (God’s chosen people)! I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian." (Luke 4:25-27). All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way. (Luke 4:28-30).
It is an historical fact that Jesus was born in the Jewish nation and from His comments early in His ministry He was offering salvation to the Jewish people first, and then to the Gentiles. It always made me wonder if the Jews had accepted Him as their Savior, would the Gentiles have been included? Of course, we know that Paul became the apostle to the Gentiles. Paul wrote to the church in Colossi and us, about the inclusion of the Gentiles with God’s blessing. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. (Colossians 1:27-28).
Read what God prophesied to Isaiah about the coming Savior, and how He would become a light for the Gentiles. He said to me, "You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor." But I said, "I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing. Yet what is due to me is in the LORD’s hand, and my reward is with my God." And now the LORD says—he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD and my God has been my strength—he says: "It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth." (Isaiah 49:3-6).
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
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