Answers to Life’s Most Important Questions
Creation
Where did the universe come from? This is an essential question.
There are three options that I see:
We live in an evolved universe with no creator.
We live in a created universe.
Nothing has ever existed and never will.
We know that three can't be true, or I would not be writing, and you would not be reading this. So, we are left with two options, and one is more likely, given that we do exist. Our mere existence is one of the greatest proofs of a Creator. If there was never a Creator, it is more likely that nothing would ever exist. The fact that we can have conscious thoughts and individual personalities is a miracle. This miracle does not fit into an evolved universe where everything happens by chance.
The problem inherent with the evolved universe is where it came from. Proponents of this model accept that it came out nothing. In the book "A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather than Nothing," theoretical physicist Lawrence M. Krauss suggests matter arises from relativistic quantum fields but does not explain where the fields come from. He wrote that book as a response to scientists and Christians who hold that God created the universe. Krauss creates a pseudoscience mythology to explain the universe's origin without evidence supporting his conclusions.
Other scientists have created the myth of the multiverse to explain why our universe exists. They propose that our universe is one of an infinite number of universes. With an infinite number of universes, they believe the enormous improbabilities of life arising would have a solution. Given the infinite possibilities, at least one universe would be like the one we live in. The problem is that this theory is not testable, so it is not really science. It is another mythology. They are merely grasping at straws.
Consider the Big Bang Theory. It suggests that the universe started as a single point of highly dense matter but does not explain where that point came from. Astronomers first proposed this theory because they observed that the universe is expanding. We know this is true because of what is described as Red Shift. With sound, we experience the Doppler Effect. When a moving sound approaches an observer, it appears higher in pitch. For example, you hear a higher pitch of an ambulance siren as it approaches. This is because the sound waves are closer together. After the ambulance passes, the sound is lower because the sound waves are now further apart. The same is true with light waves, but the result is with color instead of pitch. A light source approaching will shift toward the blue in the spectrum, and a light source moving away will shift toward the red. We can observe that the more distant galaxies are from Earth, the faster they move away. This is known as Red Shift in the light from the faraway stars.
When all the observations of Red Shift in the universe are put together, we see a picture of an expanding universe. If we extrapolate the positions of these galaxies backward through time, they all originate from a single point, which also calculates to around 13.8 billion years ago. So, how does this relate to the God of the Bible?
"It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in" (Isaiah 40:22 NKJV throughout). This is beautiful poetic language, but it is accurate in its description of a round earth and heavens that are stretched out. The real key principle that we can learn from the evidence is that the universe had a beginning. And if it had a beginning, there has to be something or someone that started the process of stretching out the universe from a single point in space.
In the opening of the book of John, we read, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made" (John 1:1-2 emphasis added). So everything, all matter, energy, and physical laws, were made by God at the beginning, including time. Time is a physical part of the universe. God dwells in eternity, outside of the universe He created. Notice what the Apostle Paul wrote, "who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began" (2 Timothy 1:9 emphasis added).
Our universe is causal. In other words, there is always cause and effect. If I hold a ball in my hand and then drop it, by releasing it, the gravity pulling on it causes it to fall. The difference between the two states of the ball (in my hand and on the ground) can be measured in the time it takes to fall. Everything in the universe operates on cause and effect. The initial creation of the universe, when it was stretched out from a single point, has to have a cause.
Skeptics ask the question, "If God created the universe, who created God?" The Creator, who is outside of the physical universe, cannot be defined by the laws He created. God doesn't have a first cause because He dwells in eternity. "For thus says the High and Lofty One, Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy" (Isaiah 57:15). That is hard for us to comprehend because we are physical, and God is spiritual. But it is also hard for us to ignore the evidence of a Creator. When we look, we can find it everywhere.
A question that someone who believes in a young earth may ask is, "Why did God wait over 13 billion years to start his plan with mankind?" To answer this, let's first look at Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. It predicts that as an object moves faster, that time relative to that object slows down. This has been proven with clocks on satellites orbiting the Earth being out of sync with clocks on Earth only so slightly measured in milliseconds over a day. However, as an object moves closer to the speed of light, the relative slowing of time becomes more pronounced.
So imagine a spaceship moving at half the speed of light. If it were to travel one year, 365 days would have passed on Earth, but only 316 on the spaceship. But if you get closer to the speed of light, let's say .99999 times the speed of light, then only five days would pass on the spaceship's clock compared to one year on Earth. If you could travel .99999999999 times the speed of light, one year would pass in 141 seconds. Now, if the spaceship could travel precisely at the speed of light, no time would theoretically pass. Of course, we could never approach the speed of light. As far as we know, it is impossible. However, light photons travel at a speed that we have measured to be 186,000 miles per second (light speed). Distances in the universe are so vast we measure them in light years (the distance it takes light to travel in a year). Now, the fantastic thing is that the light we see in a telescope from a galaxy 10 billion light years away takes 10 billion years to reach Earth, but the light photons experience the trip instantly due to relativity. Photons experience no time passing during the entire journey at light speed.
Now, if time behaves relative to the observer in the physical universe, how does it behave in the spiritual realm? We really don't know, but the Bible provides some clues. In the Psalms, we read, "For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night" (Psalm 90:4). We also read about God's patience in 2 Peter, "But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day" (2 Peter 3:8). God does not view time in the way we do. He lives in an eternal spiritual realm. So, what may be billions of years on Earth is entirely different for God, who lives in eternity.
"For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse" (Romans 1:20 emphasis added). There is a fundamental difference in how atheists view scientific data and those that believe in a Creator. Atheists will always look for a naturalistic explanation even though the data points to creation. The overwhelming evidence we will be examining indicates God as the Creator. This evidence is clearly seen and can be easily understood.
We live in what many have referred to as a "fine-tuned" universe. In Stephen Hawking's book "A Brief History of Time," he writes, "The laws of science, as we know them at present, contain many fundamental numbers, like the size of the electric charge of the electron and the ratio of the masses of the proton and the electron... The remarkable fact is that the values of these numbers seem to have been very finely adjusted to make possible the development of life."
Astronomer Martin Rees, in his book "Just Six Numbers," makes an argument for the fine-tuning of the universe.
"Rees argues that six numbers underlie the fundamental physical properties of the universe, and that each is the precise value needed to permit life to flourish." For example, Ω, Omega, "which measures the density of material in the universe— including galaxies, diffuse gas, and dark matter. The number reveals the relative importance of gravity in an expanding universe. If gravity were too strong, the universe would have collapsed long before life could have evolved. Had it been too weak, no galaxies or stars could have formed" (Why is There Life? | Discover Magazine. https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/why-is-there-life ).
If any of the six numbers Rees describes in his book are off just a small amount, there would not be life. He believes "evolved," but as we shall see, "created" life is more appropriate. There are actually hundreds of such variables that, if slightly off, would result in no lifeforms.
Hike a mountain trail, walk in a park, or spend some time in your backyard. The variety and complexity of life you will witness is astonishing. There is an incredible balance we see in nature. All the different systems we see in the world work flawlessly. Just look at the atmosphere. It shields us from radiation, provides us with weather to have a water cycle, and provides oxygen for animals and carbon dioxide for plants. There is a symbiotic relationship in the exchange of gases between plants and animals. The food chain we rely on works flawlessly, from the smallest bacteria to the higher forms of animal life. There is evidence of God's handiwork throughout His creation.
The cell is the most basic form of life. Bacteria, archaea, and protozoa are single-celled organisms that thrive on Earth. Evolutionists theorize that protocells formed in a primordial soup that would eventually evolve into the cells we have today. Their problem is that there needs to be evidence of protocells or any steps leading to cellular life. There is nothing resembling protocells today and no evidence of any ever forming. Cells are what intelligent design scientist Michale Behe describes as being irreducibly complex. Behe writes, "By irreducibly complex I mean a single system composed of several well-matched, interacting parts that contribute to the basic function, wherein the removal of any one of the parts causes the system to effectively cease functioning" (Behe, M.J. (2006). Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution).
All cells have a membrane that keeps all of their parts together. Ribosomes, mitochondria, centrioles, nucleus, and nucleoli are just some of the functioning parts of a cell. These parts work together as the basic building blocks of life. If any of the parts were removed, cells would not function. There is clear intelligence behind the incredible design of the cell. The intelligence can be seen in the programming of each cell found in DNA.
I have recently been utilizing applications to create AI (Artificial intelligence) art, and the results have been excellent. I can ask the program to create a beautiful mountain landscape with a cabin, and then one minute later, the results appear. I can ask it anything, and it can draw an accurate picture. I asked it to draw a bear ice skating, and the portrait exceeded my expectations. This AI works not by the computer having intelligent thought or creativity but by carefully trained algorithms delivering the final result. The programmers provide the intelligence in the algorithm. Today's computers didn't evolve in silicon mines; they are the results of millions of man-hours over the past century. Suggesting they appeared out of nowhere and just evolved would be considered ridiculous. But the algorithms in DNA are billions of times more advanced.
When you plant an acorn, all of the information for an oak tree is stored in its DNA. The information is in a far more advanced code than a computer program. The algorithm takes nutrients from the soil and mixes them with water from rain and energy from sunlight to grow into all the parts that make up a fully-grown tree. That process is absolutely incredible but pales in comparison to the miracle of human DNA.
"For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the Earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them." (Psalm 139:13-16).
A human embryo is formed when the male and female parents' sperm and egg combine to make one set of instructions. These instructions stored in DNA will develop into trillions of cells that will be assigned different purposes. Liver cells will combine to form a fully functioning liver. Brain cells will combine to create the supercomputer that is the brain. Skin cells will develop to cover the body. The skeletal and muscle systems develop to give the body a framework. There are 79 organs in the body designed to work together in perfect balance. Eventually, a human will be born and grow into adulthood. We are the ultimate creation in the universe. God made man in His image and will ultimately make man in His spiritual image. More on that later.
God gave humankind the ability to adapt and live everywhere, from the barren wasteland of Antarctica to the warm and wet equatorial regions of the Earth. God commanded man to "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the Earth" (Genesis 1:28). He also gave that ability to plants and animals. Whereas we have the intelligence to adapt, animals adapt through small changes in their body designs. For example, if a species of bird is introduced on an island with a plentiful supply of large, hard tree nuts, then birds born with larger beaks that can break nuts will have an advantage over their kin. They will be able to take advantage of a plentiful food source. So, after several generations, the larger beaked birds survive and multiply while the others die out. Atheistic scientists will label this evolution, but intelligent design proponents see the intelligence behind making life on Earth adaptable to their environment.
Let's look at another example. There is intelligence behind all of the dog breeds alive today. Every dog is the same animal species, from a pocket-sized Chihuahua to the enormous Great Dane. Through thousands of years of selective breeding over many hundreds of dog generations, we have taken advantage of dogs' ability to adapt. Evolutionists try to use this evidence to support their theories, but they ignore this fact: no matter how much selective breeding we do, they are still dogs. They have never evolved into a new species. There is intelligence in the dog design to make them adaptable and intelligence in humans who have done it.
When we put all of the evidence together, we can clearly see that we live in an intelligently created universe. The attributes of a Creator are numerous and obvious.
The Bible
All evidence points to a Creator, so how do we know that He is the God of the Bible? How can we know that the Bible is inspired compared to all the other holy books? These are good questions that we are going to answer. There are over 4000 different world religions. Not all of them can be true. Only one can be true.
The Bible consists of 66 books written by multiple authors over centuries. Yet consistent themes are woven throughout the volume of scripture. The idea of the Kingdom of God is present throughout. We see God selecting a particular people in Genesis who share the bloodline of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob would be renamed Israel, and his descendants would form a physical earthly kingdom. God would call these people out of slavery in Egypt, give them His laws, and establish them in the promised land. They would become rebellious, eventually choosing to have a man be their king rather than God. The kingdom would become divided, and through the writings of the prophets, we see their eventual captivity, return to the land, and hope for a future messiah that would rule over Israel and the eventually entire world. This future messiah is realized in the person of Jesus Christ.
I believe the best way to prove the Bible is to demonstrate the validity of Jesus. If we can establish the hundreds of prophecies in the Old Testament are fulfilled in Him, if we can confirm that He was God in the flesh, and if we can prove that He died and three days and nights later was resurrected. Then, we can establish the Bible as, indeed, the word of God. "By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established" (2 Corinthians 13:1). No other religions give evidence. The God of the Bible provides confirmation through miracles and fulfilled prophecy. We will examine that proof.
First, let's look at what some doubters claim about Jesus. Aron Ra is an Atheist YouTuber and Blogger from Dallas, Texas. He writes:
"I saw an article in Inquisitor today, wherein someone read through 126 historic documents from 1st century Israel, written by people who should have known about Jesus, yet had never heard of him. This includes Josephus, whose only mention of Jesus is now known to have been a forgery or redaction inserted later by someone else.
Josephus also wrote extensively about Herod the Great, but never mentioned the Slaughter of the Innocents, the story of Jesus' childhood which mirrors the tale of Moses' childhood. This is because they're both just stories following popular themes. This is only part of the evidence that Jesus never existed, or at least among the reasons to suspect that Jesus never existed.
I used to think that Jesus was a real person who lived in Judea somewhere between 4 BCE and 40 C.E. I know a lot of Christians who say that Jesus "divided time" by being born in the year zero, but there was no year zero. The gospels erroneously attributed to Matthew and Luke say Jesus was born during the reign of Herod the Great, who died in 4 BCE. However Luke also says he was born shortly after the Census of Quirinius, which was conducted ten years later in 6 C.E. But neither account allows that he could have been born between those dates" (Jesus never existed – Aron Ra. https://www.aronra.com/jesus-never-existed/)
Are his claims accurate? How do we answer him? There is a growing number of atheists and secularists who do not believe that Jesus was a historical figure. Yet we have dozens of historical documents about Jesus written in the first century. They are contained in the Bible. But the argument is that they are biased. But if someone had knowledge that Jesus was real, was crucified, and resurrected, wouldn't they necessarily be a Christian? If you know the truth, it is hard not to at least be positive about Jesus. These documents were written by at least six eyewitnesses of Jesus, as well as each other. We also have the writing of one historian who interviewed multiple witnesses. Who were the eyewitnesses?
Number one, we have Matthew, a tax collector who became a disciple of Jesus. He writes about his calling, "As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, 'Follow Me.' So he arose and followed Him" (Matthew 9:9). As a tax collector he would be well educated and would be able to take good notes on the ministry of Jesus. He wrote "The Gospel According to Matthew," giving his first-hand eyewitness testimony about the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.
Second is John Mark, who wrote the "Gospel According to Mark." The Apostle Paul writes, "Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry" (2 Timothy 4:1). The fact that John Mark was useful to Paul is probably because he was a witness to the life of Jesus and that he had already written or was writing his Gospel account. In the book of Acts, we also read how Mark was a companion to Paul on many of his journeys.
Third is the Apostle Paul, who was an eyewitness to the resurrected Christ. "As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?' And he said, 'Who are You, Lord?' Then the Lord said, 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting'" (Acts 9:3-5). Before this encounter with the resurrected Jesus, Paul was an enemy to the Church. He was an accessory to the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7:58) and persecuted the newly formed Church of God. Paul's testimony of being an enemy-turned-believer is compelling evidence of his validity.
Fourth is John, another Gospel author. In one of his letters to the Church, he writes, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life." John's Gospel is very personal, with observations and details unique to his point of view.
Fifth is Peter. He is featured prominently in the Gospel accounts. Jesus changed his name to Peter from Simon. He walked on water to meet Jesus, who was already walking on a lake, and he famously denied Jesus three times after Jesus was arrested. In one of his letters, he writes, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3).
Sixth is James, Jesus' brother. James was an early leader in the Church and is recorded by Paul as an eyewitness to the risen Jesus. James wrote a letter to the church encouraging works as evidence of one's faith.
Matthew, John Mark, Paul, John, Peter, and James—these six eyewitnesses wrote the majority of the New Testament. Internal scriptural evidence suggests that they all knew each other. Some claim Paul invented all of this, including the other eyewitnesses. But this is ludicrous. The books have different writing styles and represent various perspectives of the same historical events. The zeal which the authors write suggests authentic faith in a resurrected Jesus.
Paul writes that the resurrected Jesus "was seen by Cephas (Peter), then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time" (1 Corinthians 15:5-8, emphasis added). Not only Peter, James, and the rest of the apostles but over five hundred brethren at once witnessed the resurrected Christ. Two or three witnesses can establish true testimony in God's Law, but 500 witnesses should leave no one in doubt. If Paul was incorrect in His account, why didn't anyone correct him? It is reasonable to believe, given that Jesus had much more significant numbers who heard him speak before His resurrection.
These multiple writers of the New Testament confirm some important details concerning the resurrection of Jesus:
Jesus was crucified, died, and was buried for three days and three nights.
After He was resurrected, he left an empty tomb.
Multiple people interacted with the risen Jesus and even watched his ascension to heaven.
These people led transformed lives of dedication and zeal.
Another important New Testament writer was Luke. He wrote a Gospel account and the book of Acts. Although he was not himself a direct witness of the risen Jesus, it is evident that he knew and interviewed many witnesses. Notice what he wrote about his method:
"Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed" (Luke 1:1-4).
Luke was a careful historian, and many of his facts were confirmed independently by archeology.
"Sir William Ramsay, who was one of the greatest archaeologists to have ever lived, began a study of the book of Acts as a skeptic, believing it was written in the second century and not historical. As he studied he uncovered evidence that indicated otherwise, and he had a complete reversal in his thinking about Luke's accuracy" (Is the Bible Historically Accurate?. https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1974-is-the-bible-historically-accurate).
Several accounts of the historical Jesus are in writings independent of the New Testament. One was written by the historian Josephus:
"About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he was one who performed surprising deeds and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Christ. And when, upon the accusation of the principal men among us, Pilate had condemned him to a cross, those who had first come to love him did not cease. He appeared to them spending a third day restored to life, for the prophets of God had foretold these things and a thousand other marvels about him. And the tribe of the Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared" (Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 18, Chapter 3).
Some scholars dispute this passage, arguing that it was added or changed after Josephus died. Even if we remove the disputed parts of the text, we still have independent confirmation of the historical Jesus.
The most important Roman historian of the first century, Tacitus, writes:
"Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations , called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had it's origin suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most michievious superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judea, the first sorce of the evil, but even in Rome" (Tacitus, Annals, 15.44).
No historian doubts this description, given that it was a very negative depiction of Christians. It gives additional proof of the historical Jesus.
A Book that came out a few years ago titled: "A Pope and a President: John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and the Extraordinary Untold Story of the 20th Century." It was written 30 years after the fact, with both principal figures having died around 20 years ago. A review of the book writes, "Even as historians credit Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II with hastening the end of the Cold War, they have failed to recognize the depth or significance of the bond that developed between the two leaders. Acclaimed scholar and bestselling author Paul Kengor changes that" (A Pope and A President - Catholic Information Center. https://cicdc.org/video/a-pope-and-a-president/). No one challenges the accuracy of the book's history even though it was written many years later.
When we look at the writings of the New Testament, we find that:
The Gospels are the most authenticated ancient histories. There are more copies, and they are closer to the source than any other ancient document.
The facts they contain are independently confirmed in other manuscripts.
It is confirmed by archaeological evidence.
The earliest papyrus fragments from the New Testament can be dated to 100 A.D. (40 to 60 years after the originals)
5664 Greek Manuscripts are dating from at least the third century.
There exist 10,000 Latin Vulgate manuscripts.
We find 8000 manuscripts in other languages.
This gives us a total of 24,000 ancient manuscripts.
When we compare this to other ancient documents, we find:
Tacitus, the Roman historian, wrote "Annals of Imperial Rome" in 116 A.D. The first six books exist in only one manuscript that was copied around 850 A.D. Books eleven through sixteen are preserved in one document in the eleventh century. Yet, it is considered a reliable history.
Josephus's book "The Jewish War" exists in nine copies from the tenth through twelfth century.
There are 650 copies of Homer's "Illiad". They are very fragmentary from the second and third centuries. The Illiad was written around 800 B.C., and no one doubts Homer wrote it.
(Source: Strobel, L. (1998). The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus.)
The writings in the New Testament are the most verified historical books in existence!
Consider this list of names:
John Nicolas Thom, Arnold Potter, Ernest Norman, Wayne Bent, Mitsuo Matayoshi, Inri Christo, Apollo Quiboloy and ,Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez
Do you know what these people have in common?
Let me add these names:
Marshall Applewhite, Jim Jones, Sun Myung Moon, and David Koresh.
All these men claimed to be Jesus Christ. How many people today are claiming Jim Jones was Jesus? David Koresh? No one. Did they perform any miracles? Were any of the dead ones on this list resurrected? No. Compared to the actual Jesus Christ, they all fail in their comparison.
Notice what the Apostle Paul wrote concerning the resurrection:
"For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). The Scriptures foretold Jesus's life, death, and resurrection! We will now examine some of the hundreds of prophecies that were fulfilled by Christ.
First, how can we know if a particular Biblical prophet is a true prophet of God? The Bible provides an internal test I consider everyone can agree on. "When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him" (Deuteronomy 18:22). This is a simple test, something we should be able to get even an Atheist to agree with. If someone predicts something and it comes true, we can conclude they are an actual prophet. If it doesn't come true, we can conclude that they are a false prophet. Every religious book outside of the Bible has failed this test. I would challenge anyone who differs to provide proof. Except there is none. However, we will apply this test directly to the prophecies in the Bible concerning Jesus.
"And the Lord said to me: 'What they have spoken is good. I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him" (Deuteronomy 18:17-19). So here Moses is telling Israel, and by extension, everyone reading this, that God would raise a prophet like Moses who would speak the word of God directly from his mouth. This scripture is a prediction. Did it come true?
We read in the book of John, "The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, 'Follow Me.' Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, 'We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph'" (John 1:43-35). And we read in Acts Peter speaking of Jesus, "For Moses truly said to the fathers, 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you" (Acts 3:22).
Did Jesus fulfill this prophecy? Absolutely. We can read the amazing things He said in the gospels. No other person has spoken as Jesus did. They were definitely the Words of God. Read the sermon on the mount and all the parables he spoke to His disciples. They, indeed, were the words of God. So, we have a prophecy fulfilled. Now, what does this do for Moses? There were signs and things done in his day: the plagues in Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, his hand changing in his cloak, and the staff that became a snake. These signs proved to those people that he was a prophet who spoke for God. But for us, we never experienced those things. However, we have this accurate prediction of Jesus, which is confirmed by historical sources. Now, what does that mean for us? Or for someone who never thought much about this, a biblical skeptic? This means that the words of Moses are credible. He gave the Laws from God and information about the only true Creator. We need to accept these truths in Genesis through Deuteronomy. We have proof that Moses predicted something and that it was fulfilled over a thousand years later.
"For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this" (Isaiah 9:6-7).
This prophecy in Isaiah was written 800 years before its initial fulfillment. Only Jesus can fulfill this prophecy. No other historical figure comes close. Some of this has yet to be fulfilled. There are many prophecies in Isaiah that point to the kingdom of God restored on Earth with Jesus as the King. Because of the provable prophecies fulfilled, we can know that Isaiah is speaking on behalf of God. The likelihood of the remaining prophecies being fulfilled are incredibly high. Another prophecy in Isaiah concerns the crucifixion of Jesus:
"Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
And they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities" (Isaiah 53:4-11).
Again, the Suffering Servant we read here can only describe Jesus Christ. The details we read of the crucifixion were fulfilled from this chapter in Isaiah, as well as what is recorded in Psalm 22 and numerous other passages. There are details like "making His grave with the wicked" (Jesus was crucified with criminals), "the rich at His Death" (Jesus was buried in a rich man's tomb), and "by His stripes, we are healed" (that He would be beaten.) The predominant idea presented is the Suffering Servant dying for the sins of His people. Jesus was crucified for the sins of humanity. It wouldn't make sense if this passage were speaking of an average person or a personification of Israel. Only the sacrifice of God in the flesh can atone for sins.
The resurrection of Jesus is also predicted throughout the Old Testament. Some examples:
"For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption" (Psalm 16:10).
"You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again." Psalm 71:20.
"Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him" (Hosea 6:1-2).
Another confirmation that Jesus gave was, "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:40).
Jesus would be buried long enough so there would be no doubts that He was actually dead. Traditional views have Jesus dying and buried late on Friday and resurrecting early on Sunday. This would only be two nights and one day, or just 36 hours. But if you take Jesus at His word, He would be in the grave three days and nights, equaling 72 hours. The key to understanding this apparent contradiction is that Jesus died as our Passover, shortly before the days of Unleavened Bread began.
The year that Jesus died, A.D. 31, would place the Passover on a Wednesday before a High Holy Day that would start at sunset (Biblical days always start at sunset).
"Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away" (John 19:31 emphasis added).
Jesus died around 3 pm on a Wednesday afternoon and was buried shortly before sunset. He was resurrected three days and three nights later on the weekly Sabbath, right before sunset. To read more details concerning this timing, please request our free booklet, "Three Days and Three Nights: Did Christ Die on a Friday and Rise on a Sunday?"
The resurrection of Jesus is one of the most important events in human history. It is God's proof to humanity of his existence. The eyewitness accounts in the New Testament confirm these prophecies. The multiple witnesses of the risen Jesus confirm the Bible.
The Sabbath
There is a connection between Creation, Jesus Christ, and His Sabbath day. When we read in John 1:1 that "all things were made through Him," we are speaking of the Word who would become Jesus Christ. He made the Sabbath day by resting on it. "Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made" (Genesis 2:3). Sanctifying it means He set it apart for holy use. The Biblical Sabbath begins at Friday sunset and ends on Saturday sunset.
Jesus kept the Sabbath.
We read many accounts that Jesus was always teaching on the Sabbath. Sometimes, He would explain a spiritual truth through healing. On one occasion, He explained a misunderstanding concerning His disciples picking grain. He taught through example and focused on a proper understanding of the Fourth Commandment. Luke 4:16 clearly states that "as His custom was,
He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read." A custom is an established observance that brings meaning into our lives. Jesus' custom started at creation and continued in His human life. "He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked" (1 John 2:6). I'm pretty sure that includes His customs.
Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath.
The observances we keep reflect the God we serve. Many different religions have different practices and ceremonies honoring their gods. What Christians observe should honor our God. One of Jesus' Sabbath lessons ended with him making the conclusion that He was Lord of the Sabbath.
"Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. And the Pharisees said to Him, "Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?" But He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?" And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath" (Mark 2:23-28 emphasis added).
He made the Sabbath, so why wouldn't it belong to Him? By keeping this day, we declare that Jesus is our Lord. It is a way we honor and worship Him.
The Sabbath was made for us.
Also, as part of this same lesson to the Pharisees, He explains that "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27). We are physical creatures, and we often find ourselves tired or weary from the challenges of life. The Sabbath was created to give us rest. It allows us to recharge so that we can function correctly the other six days of the week. It is how the Creator made us. It is a wonderful gift from God that we should rejoice at the wisdom He had in its creation. Importantly, you can only understand how great this gift is by keeping it.
I have been keeping the Sabbath for over 30 years, and I know from my own practice that it is a tremendous blessing.
The Apostle Paul kept the Sabbath.
"Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures" (Acts 17:2).
"And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks" (Acts 18:4).
On several occasions, we see Paul keeping the Sabbath. This is the same man who wrote 28 percent of the New Testament. In his letters, he continually emphasized the importance of keeping the law for Christians—not for the purpose of salvation but in response to our salvation through Christ. "Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good" (Romans 7:12). He was a Sabbath keeper and understood its importance in our relationship with Jesus.
Luke directly refers to the Sabbath commandment.
In the book of Luke, we learn that the women who were at the crucifixion of Jesus afterward prepared spices and fragrant oils to anoint His body. Then "they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment" (Luke 23:56). Luke wrote this account at least thirty years later. Notice that he does not refer to it as "the former Sabbath" or "the Jewish Sabbath" but as a commandment in the present tense. This occurred after Jesus' crucifixion, a point in time when some erroneously believed God had changed the commandments.
Jesus' instruction shows that the Sabbath will be important in the future.
In referring to the future event that will precede great tribulation, Jesus advises to "pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath" (Matthew 24:20). If there was no longer going to be a Sabbath command after His resurrection, why would He make this statement? The answer is simple. "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).
Sabbath keeping remains for the people of God.
"There remains therefore a rest for the people of God" (Hebrews 4:9 empasis added). This verse can be easily overlooked as supporting the Sabbath because the Greek word sabbatismos is translated as rest.
This is what an etymologist has to say about this word:
Sabbat-ismos "sabbathism, sabbathisation, sabbathising" is indeed a deverbal noun, arising from the verb sabbatizo "to act in a way associated with the/a Sabbath", i.e. "to observe the Sabbath".
The "ideology" meaning is already around in ancient Greek (because the underlying verb suffix means "act in a matter associated with", and can mean "be a partisan of"). But the point of the noun suffix is to make the verb into an action noun.(Nick Nicholas, PhD Linguistics - Modern Greek dialectology). So it is action word that means putting the Sabbath into physical practice.
Some Bible translations translate it more correctly as "sabbath keeping" or "sabbath rest." When this word was used in other ancient Greek literature, it usually means a "keeping of the sabbath." So Hebrews 4:9 is essentially saying that "there remains a keeping of the sabbath for the people of God." This emphasizes the theme found in Hebrews 4, connecting the seventh-day rest with the rest that comes as we are diligently obedient to Christ.
Some modern translations of Hebrews 4:9:
Smith's Literal Translation
Therefore a celebration of a sabbath remains to the people of God
English Standard Version
So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God,
Aramaic Bible in Plain English
So then, it remains for the people of God to keep the Sabbath.
Lamsa Bible
It is therefore the duty of the people of God to keep the Sabbath.
Worrell New Testament
Consequently, there remains a sabbath-keeping for the people of God.
New International Version
There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God;
Worrell New Testament
Consequently, there remains a sabbath-keeping for the people of God.
Bible in Basic English
So that there is still a Sabbath-keeping for the people of God.
Complete Jewish Bible
So there remains a Shabbat-keeping for God's people.
There are many who teach that the Sabbath was transferred to Sunday or that it was done away. To learn more about why those arguments are incorrect, please request a copy of our booklet, "Understanding the Sabbath Day." The New Testament record, however, affirms that the Sabbath day was made by the Creator, Jesus, and that it is still a blessing for His creatures.
What happens when we die? Movie critic Roger Ebert wrote shortly before his death:
Resurrection
"I know it is coming, and I do not fear it, because I believe there is nothing on the other side of death to fear. I hope to be spared as much pain as possible on the approach path. I was perfectly content before I was born, and I think of death as the same state." (Roger Ebert - I do not fear death. https://www.salon.com/2011/09/15/roger_ebert/)
Atheists like Roger Ebert assert that death is the same as before we were born. We certainly don't have any memories before we were born. Billions of years passed, and the universe did fine without us. I can only speak for myself, but once I was born and living, I did not want to give up that experience. Life is a beautiful gift that we all have. If given a choice, I choose life.
There are many ideas about an afterlife. Some believe they have a soul reincarnated over several lifetimes but no memories of their past lives. That doesn't sound very satisfying, assuming I will forget everything about my current life in the next. Others believe that good people go to heaven and bad people go to hell. Surprisingly, the Bible teaches none of these ideas. What the Bible actually says is much more extraordinary.
"If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, Till my change comes." (Job 14:14). Job was expecting to live again and that it would involve some sort of change. This certainly doesn't sound like the traditional view of going to heaven. This verse is about a resurrection. Paul writes, "But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you" (Romans 8:11). Just as Jesus was raised, we also have an opportunity to be resurrected just like He was. This opportunity comes only to those who follow Him.
During His ministry, Jesus was visited by a Pharisee named Nicodemus one evening. Nicodemus was sure that Jesus was from God because of the miracles He could perform. Jesus told him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). The term "born again" has been used to describe a person's conversion to Christianity, but this is not the way Jesus was using this term during this conversation. Notice how Nicodemus replied:
"Nicodemus said to Him, 'How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?'" (John 3:4). Nicodemus was looking at this from a purely physical understanding of birth. The idea of re-entering the womb is absurd. But Jesus was actually revealing an important truth that is spiritual in its fulfillment.
"Jesus answered, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. '"(John 3:5-8).
Jesus compares being born again with the wind. It is something we feel and hear but do not see. He is speaking about being born as a spirit being in a resurrection. We get clarification of this process in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians.
"But someone will say, 'How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?' Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain—perhaps wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body" (1 Corinthians 15 35-38).
Our dead body is compared to a seed planted in the ground. Tiny grains grow into a much more impressive plant. Our body, after it dies, awaits change into a spiritually resurrected body. Made of a completely different substance.
"So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, 'The first man Adam became a living being." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit'" (1 Corinthians 15:42-45).
When Jesus was resurrected, His physical body was transformed into a Spiritual body. "And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence" (Colossians 1:18). Jesus was the first human to ever be born again from the dead. If we are followers of Christ and have His Holy Spirit in us we can look forward to being born again in the same manner as Jesus. Our physical remains will also be transformed. If you were to ask me what a spiritual body is, I cannot tell you. We only know that it is greater than our physical bodies. "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2 NIV) Although I cannot tell you what spiritual actually is, we will be able to be like Jesus. In that sense, we will be like God.
Notice what else Jesus says about being "born again." "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). When I was a single man, I once bought a delicious cantaloupe I planned on having for breakfast the following week. I placed it in the plastic bag from the store in the crisper drawer. Six months later, I opened the crisper and found a bag full of foul-smelling water. The cantaloupe that I forgot about had dissolved. It was a perishable food. Our bodies are also perishable. After we die, they decompose. The only hope we have of living again is in Jesus Christ. He provides us with the gift of eternal life.
Throughout scripture, we see that death is compared to a state of sleep with no consciousness. Notice these examples:
"For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. "(Ecclesiastes 9:5).
"But man dies and is laid away;
Indeed he breathes his last
And where is he? As water disappears from the sea,
And a river becomes parched and dries up,
So man lies down and does not rise.
Till the heavens are no more,
They will not awake
Nor be roused from their sleep" (Job 14:10-12)
"These things He said, and after that He said to them, 'Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.' Then His disciples said, 'Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.' However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep" (John 11:11-13).
Death is something we all intrinsically know is the end of life. People want to believe in an afterlife in heaven, but no evidence exists to support that conviction. "For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished" (1 Corinthians 15:16-18). Paul states that the only hope for anyone being dead is a resurrection. If there is no resurrection then life is ultimately pointless. We live, we die, and that is it, just like Roger Ebert believed. He had no hope.
"But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words". (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
This is the hope of a Christian, the encouraging knowledge that we will be resurrected and changed into spiritual beings. And that we will be a part of God's family.
"For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren," (Hebrews 2:10-11)
He sanctifies (sets apart) Christians and calls us brethren (family). In Genesis, we are told that God is creating man in His image. That process continues until we are "born again" into the God Family. God is reproducing Himself! Of course, we will never be at the level of the Father or Jesus, who inhabit eternity, but we are given Their gift of eternal life. This is our purpose in life.
So you may ask, what happens to those who are not Christians? The Bible provides a clear answer to that question as well.
"Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation" (John 5:28-29). Jesus mentions two resurrections. We have already looked at the first one. So what is this "resurrection of condemnation"? The greek word translated "condemnation" is krisis. This word can also mean a tribunal or judgment.
One of the biggest problems with the traditional understanding of heaven and hell concerns what happens to those who die, never hearing about Jesus. In 2018, Christian missionary John Allen Chau attempted to evangelize the Sentinelese, the last isolated tribe on Earth. They live on North Sentinel Island in the Indian Ocean and live a primitive hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Any attempts to contact them result in hostility and sometimes death. In Chau's attempt to bring the Gospel to these people, he was killed by the Sentinelese. So what happens to the people on this Island who never heard about the Bible or Jesus? What about the billions of others who grow up believing in different religions? Does the Bible say they will just burn in hell? Or is there another answer?
Jesus talked about two resurrections: one for life and the other for judgment. The first resurrection occurs at Jesus' return when all those who received the Holy Spirit, dead and alive, will be changed into spiritual beings in the Family of God.
"And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection" (Revelation 20:4-5).
God will not resurrect the rest of the dead until after the 1000-year reign of the Kingdom of God on this Earth. It is a resurrection of judgment.
"Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the Earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books" (Revelation 20:11-12).
This describes a resurrection to physical life. I heard the famous scientist Neil Degrasse Tyson say in a podcast that over 100 billion people have lived on the Earth. Imagine 100 billion people having their first chance to hear about the Saviour Jesus Christ. This group is judged by their works. God's judgment for all of mankind is that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). This large group will be given their first chance for salvation. It is a chance to repent and start obeying God. The Book of Life is opened so that they can be added to it.
Immediately after this judgment, we read that the incorrigibly wicked and those who reject Christ will be thrown into a lake of fire.
"The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:13-15).
The second death is the last death. There is no coming back from it!
Chapter 5 - Salvation
What must we do to be saved? This is the most critical question we must answer. No other religion promises the Salvation that Jesus gives. As we have seen, Jesus promises eternal life in the Family of God. A prison keeper once asked the Apostle Paul and his companion Silas this crucial question, and their response gives us the answer.
"So they said, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.' Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them, and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household." (Acts 16:31-34)
We learn a few things from this example:
Believe in Jesus (Who he is and what he taught).
Get baptized (This is always accompanied by repentance, as we will see later.) In the case of the prison keeper and his household, they made this decision rather quickly.
Let's look at some additional scripture explaining what happened to the prison keeper and his household.
"And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience" (Ephesians 2:1-2).
The prison keeper and his family had to acknowledge that they were sinners. The biblical definition of sin is the transgression of God's law (1 John 3:4). We are all sinners in need of a Savior. We have all broken God's laws.
"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast" (Ephesians 2:4-9).
God's salvation is free without any works. So in the prison keeper's and his family's case, what works do we see? None are described. And it appears they would have had little time to do any. We do know that they had faith in Christ, which led to repentance and baptism. Notice the very next verse: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" ( Ephesians 2:10). Here we see a key to the salvation equation. Once we have salvation, obedience is a response of our faith. It is the responsibility of having the Spirit of God in us. When we obey God, we produce good works.
On the day of Pentecost, the day the church first received the gift of the Holy Spirit, Peter delivered a tremendous message. Many people who heard it asked, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" (Acts 2:37). This is the universal question concerning salvation. Peter responds by saying, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call." (Acts 2:38-39)
Repentance accompanied by baptism is vital to salvation. What does it mean to repent? "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14 emphasis added). When we repent, we stop breaking God's laws (sinning) and start obeying the words of our Saviour. It is really that simple. Repentance is not the work you have done before baptism. The life before baptism is what you are repenting from. Repentance is what you will do. That is faith. That is belief in Jesus.
Our salvation is entirely through the grace of Jesus and what He did and does for us. He died for our sins so that we may now live for Him. The life of a new Christian allows God's Holy Spirit to direct their behavior. If we accept Christ, we must yield to the Spirit and initiate a life of good works. In the book of James, we read, "But someone will say, 'You have faith, and I have works.' Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works "(James 2:18).
Some people mistakenly believe they need to live a perfect life before they are baptized and receive the Holy Spirit. Since God's Sabbath is a significant part of God's law and points to His Creation, some feel they need to be a perfect Sabbath-keeper before baptism. You will never keep the Sabbath correctly without Christ living in you. You will always fail. The law of God shows us that. It shows us that we need Jesus. You will never obey any of God's commandments correctly without the Spirit of Christ in you.
If you are reading this and considering putting your faith in Jesus, I offer this advice: This is the most important decision that you will ever make. It is the reason God created the universe and made mankind in His image. It is the reason for our very existence. Choosing to follow Christ may sound difficult, but it is the most rewarding thing that you can do in this life. God wants you to be a part of His family. Will you answer His call?