This is one of the most important questions we can ever ask. I am not
asking, “How do I know that God exists?” because the human conscience knows
that there is a God. People look up at the sky, they look at nature, and they
are conscious of something beyond themselves. Everyone has a view of God, even
if their view is that there is no God! My friend had a daughter-in-law who was
a devout atheist. One day she was very angry and said to him, ‘I hate your God.
I hate Him.’ At least she believed in God even though she hated Him!
We all live and die with some sense of God. It is built into the fabric
of our human nature. However, we do need to find out what God is like.
Did you know that you were created to have a loving
relationship with God? It is one thing to believe that God exists, but it is another thing
altogether to say that you KNOW GOD. You may know things about God, but do you know Him intimately? Do you
have a personal relationship with Him? The Bible says that
God can be known. As a first step, it encourages us to look for Him, “Seek the
LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near” (Bible, Isaiah
55:6).
How can we know God?
Everyone who believes and loves God wants to worship Him because He is
so great. It is important for us to have a right conception of God, because we
don’t want to worship a false God. So how can we know Him?
Man, by his own efforts, has not been able to get to know God, and will
never be able to know God, unless God makes Himself known. But does God wish to
make Himself known? Since He created us, is it not probable that God wants us
to know Him? How might He bring this about? Often a simple illustration helps
us to understand some deep truth…
If a skilled carpenter, who lived far away, wanted to introduce himself to
us, what might he do?
(1) First of all, he might make a
beautiful table and send it to us as a sample of his knowledge and skill. We
would say, ‘the carpenter who made this is a master craftsman. He pays great
attention to detail. He clearly loves beauty, since he has made the table as
beautiful as possible.’ By studying the table we would learn a little about its
maker.
Has God made Himself known to man in this way? Yes! God’s wisdom and
power are seen everywhere in nature. Every day science reveals more of the
wonders of the created universe. As David the prophet says, “The heavens
declare the glory of God and the firmament (sky) shows His handiwork” (Bible, Psalms
19:1). When we see the beauty and harmony of God’s creation, and the intricate design
of the smallest creature, we are moved to say, ‘O Lord, how manifold are Your
works! In wisdom You have made them all. The earth is full of your possessions”
(Bible, Psalm 104:24). Since the world which God has created is wonderful, how
much more wonderful must the Creator be! Surely everyone who uses his eyes and
mind must realize that there is a God, and that God is great and wise and
mighty. But there are many things about Him which we cannot know simply by
looking at nature.
(2) Secondly, if the carpenter wished to
tell us about himself, he might write us a personal letter, introducing
himself and explaining how he made the table. The carpenter could send the
letter with close friends. The friends could tell us more about the carpenter,
such as where he lives, how old he is, how large a family he has and what he is
truly like. So we would feel that we knew him much better than when we had only
seen the table.
Has God written to us? Yes, ‘the Holy Scriptures’ (the Bible) are
letters from God to mankind. He sent prophets to deliver His messages. In these
writings God tells us about Himself and about His plan for humanity. The Bible
is not the word of men but the word of God. The human writers of the Bible were
inspired by God to write down exactly what He intended. So, when we wonder what
God is like, we don’t need to guess. We can go to His revelation, the Bible. There
He tells us about Himself.
Here are some things which God reveals in His letter to us.
God is Spirit
He tells us that He is spirit. Jesus Himself said, “God is Spirit...” (Bible,
John 4:24). Jesus did not mean that God is one spirit among many; rather, He
intended to underscore the truth that God’s essence is spirit. This means two
things:
i) He is a personal Spirit. God is not Something but Someone. He is a personal Spirit.
He is self-conscious, living and active. Because He is a personal Spirit, we
can know Him. This would not be possible if He was just a force. On the very
first page of the Bible, we read of God speaking, and this continues all the
way to the last page. God also has names. The best-known is ‘Jehovah’ (meaning
‘I AM’)[1]. The very fact that the
Bible ascribes to God characteristics such as wisdom, knowledge, a will and
goodness also indicates that God is personal.
ii) He is noncorporeal. He does not have a body as we do. Jesus said, “a spirit does not have
flesh and bones” (Bible, Luke 24:39). Because God is noncorporeal,
He cannot be measured or limited or felt by our senses. It is true that we read
of His eyes, His ears, His mouth, etc. This is just a way of helping our limited
minds to realise that God sees all things, hears His people’s prayers and makes
Himself known.
He is invisible. The apostle Paul wrote to his student called Timothy,
that God “alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man
has seen or can see” (Bible, 1Timothy
God cannot be pictured or represented in any way. He forbids us to try
to depict Him (Bible, Exodus 20:4). In the Bible we often read of people trying
to make images of God. This is an awful sin, because in trying to represent God,
they deface God’s glory. They pervert what God is really like. That is wrong
because He is greater than anything we could imagine.
God is
very great
So we have stated that God is spirit. This description, while it may
distinguish God from a corporeal human being, fails to distinguish God from
angels who are also noncorporeal personal entities.
So the next thing the Bible says about God is that He is great; infinite,
eternal and unchangeable in His being. Angels are created, finite and
capable of being annihilated but God is uncreated, infinite and eternal.
God is infinite. He is far greater than everything He has made, far
greater than anything that exists. As far as power is concerned, He does
whatever He chooses (Bible, Psalm 135:6). Nothing that He chooses to do ever
fails to happen (Bible, Isaiah 46:10). Nothing can resist His will.
As far as knowledge is concerned He knows every single thing (Bible,
Psalm 139:2-5; 1John
God is present everywhere. Just as God is unlimited or infinite
with respect to power and knowledge, so He is unlimited with respect to space.
He is present at every point of space with His whole being. It is not that a
part of God is in one place and a part of Him is in another. God Himself-the
whole of God- is present wherever we go. This is difficult for us to imagine.
Our mortal and finite minds cannot comprehend it.
“ ‘Am I a God near at hand,’ says the Lord,
‘And not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places, so I shall
not see him?’ says the Lord. ‘Do
I not fill heaven and earth?’ says the Lord” (Bible, Jeremiah
God’s omnipresence is beautifully expressed by the prophet David,
“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend into heaven, You are there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, You
are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts
of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold
me” (Bible, Psalm 139:7-10).
There is nowhere in the entire universe, on land or sea, in heaven or in
hell, where one can escape from the presence of God.
As far as time is concerned, God is eternal. “From everlasting to
everlasting, You are God,” said David in Psalm 90:2. Everything owes its
beginning to God, but He Himself had no beginning. He sees all time equally and
vividly. In the New Testament, the apostle Peter
tells us, “that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a
thousand years as one day” (Bible, 2 Peter 3:8). These verses help us to
imagine the way in which God sees time.
God is absolutely independent and self-sufficient. He does not
need any part of His creation in order to exist or for any other reason.
“God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven
and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with
men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life,
breath, and all things” (Bible, Acts 7:24-25).
People have sometimes wrongly thought that God created human beings
because He was lonely and needed companionship. This is not true. God is completely
independent of creation.
God is unchangeable. He is always the same.
“Of old You (God) laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are
the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You will endure; yes, they will
all grow old like a garment; like a cloak You will change them, and they will
be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will have no end” (Bible,
Psalm 102:25-27).
Referring to His own qualities of patience,
long-suffering, and mercy, God says, “For I am the Lord, I do not change” (Bible, Malachi
3:6).
These too are beyond our understanding. All we can do is believe and trust what God has declared in His
Word and marvel at His greatness!
God is Unique
God is Holy. ‘God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all” (Bible,
1John 1:5). The prophet Moses sang these words to God, “Who is like You, O
Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness?” (Bible, Exodus
15:11). God’s character is perfect. He is pure and entirely free from wicked
and dishonest motives, thoughts, words and actions. It is this characteristic
which separates Him, and marks Him out as different from all His creatures. God’s
eyes are too pure to look on evil; He cannot tolerate wrong (Bible, Habakkuk
God is righteous. He always does what is right. God is love. He is slow
to anger and abundant in mercy and kindness. He is good, just and wise.
God is
incomprehensible
Christianity makes no attempt to present a comprehensible God to the
world. Its aim is to reveal the God who can be known. Man’s need is to
get to heaven and to be with God, not to be able to plot heaven on a map or
produce a concept of God that can be reduced to a statement on a postage stamp.
Because God is infinite and we are finite and limited, we cannot comprehend Him.
In this sense, God is incomprehensible. I am not saying that God cannot be
understood at all. What I mean is that God cannot be fully or exhaustively
understood.
The prophet David says, “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and
His greatness is unsearchable” (Bible, Psalm 145:3). God’s greatness is beyond searching out or
discovering. His thoughts are so much higher than ours. “Great is our Lord, and mighty in power. His
understanding is infinite” (Bible, Psalm
147:5). Similarly, when thinking of God’s knowledge, David said, “Such knowledge is
too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it” (Bible, Palm 139:6). “Oh, the depth of the
riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable
are His judgments and His ways past finding out!” (Bible, Romans 11:33).
All these verses allow us to take our understanding of the
incomprehensibility of God one step further. We can never fully understand a single
thing about God. His greatness, His understanding, His knowledge, His wisdom,
judgment and ways are all beyond us. We may know something about God’s love,
power, wisdom and so on. But we can never know, for example, how God’s love relates
to all His other characteristics, and to every individual thing in the
universe, for all eternity! It would be easier to pour the entire ocean into a
little cup than to grasp the greatness of God with the human mind.
These are some things which God has told us about Himself in the Bible.
How else has God made Himself known?
So far, we have seen two ways in which God has revealed Himself. First
through Creation and secondly through His Holy Word, the Bible. Has He made
Himself known in a clearer way? Yes. Let’s return to our carpenter friend and
see how else he might introduce himself to us.
(3) If the carpenter really wanted us to know him, what could he do? He could
pay us a visit. He could surprise us by knocking at our door! We would
welcome him, talk to him, and get to know him face to face.
So if God wanted to make Himself known
to us as completely as possible, what would He do? Surely He Himself would come
to live with us! God has, to some extent, revealed Himself to us by showing us
His wonderful works in nature, by sending us the prophets and by giving us the
Holy Scriptures. Yet we desire to know Him better.
But is such a thing possible? Could the
Most High God live on earth among sinful men? Since we believe that God created
all things, we say that He is Almighty and therefore nothing is impossible for
Him. So if He wished to reveal Himself to men He would certainly be able to do
so. To say that God could not do this would be to deny His almighty power, and
that would be blasphemy. Yes, if He so desired, God could come and live with
men so that we could know Him intimately!
The question is, did God want to visit
us? Now I have good news for you—God was so eager for us to know and love Him that,
in His infinite mercy, He came to live with men!
About 2000 years ago God caused His Light to shine into our world in a
special way. The Light of God, who is also called the Word of God, clothed
Himself with humanity in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and Jesus Christ was
born. John (one of Jesus’ disciples) wrote,
“In the beginning was the Word, …and the Word was God …And the Word became
flesh and dwelt among us” (Bible, John 1:1, 14). “God was manifested in the
flesh” (Bible, 1 Timothy
Fully God – Fully Man!
The Bible is full of indications that Jesus was God on earth. He was
called what only God is called. He was like what only God is like. He acted as only
God acts. He claimed what only God claims.[2] Jesus Christ did not merely tell people about God, as
the prophets had done. Rather, He revealed God to men because He was the
perfect manifestation of God. One day Jesus
said to His disciples, “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father
also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” When Philip (one of
Jesus’ disciples) heard this he said, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is
sufficient for us.” Jesus replied, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you
have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can
you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and
the Father in Me? ” (Bible, John 14:7-10). Some qualities of God, such as
wisdom and power, are seen in nature. But in Jesus Christ the thoughts, purposes
and acts of God (such as purity, holiness, love, justice, forgiveness of sin) are
revealed in an incredible way.
God revealed Himself perfectly in Jesus
Christ, so that all who wish to know God and come close to Him can find Him in
Christ. It is written, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in
time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us
by His Son” (Bible, Hebrews 1:1-2). Many seekers of God have said, ‘We did not
know God until we came face to face with Him in His Son Jesus Christ.’
Did God cease to be God when He came
in the form of man?
No! God spoke to the prophet Moses from a burning bush. Did He stop being God
when He spoke to Moses? Of course not. God cannot be limited by anything. When
God revealed Himself in the form of a man, He was not limited by that humanity.
He continued to rule the universe. He continued to be what He always had been
(God), but in Jesus He also became what He had never previously been (man).
Jesus Christ was not 50% God and 50% man. He was 100% God and 100% man. Fully
God and fully man. The divine Person took upon Himself a human nature. We can't
really understand the mystery of how this happened. But it is conceivable,
certainly, that God has the power to add to Himself a human nature and to do it
in such a way as to unite two natures in one Person.
Here’s an illustration to explain this:
Imagine a brilliant light. Now imagine that the light is put inside a glass. Does
the glass stop the light shining? No! In fact, as the light is reflected by the
glass, it shines even more brightly. In a similar way, when God became man in
the Person of Jesus Christ, the body did not stop Him being God. Jesus said, ‘I
am the light of the world.’ God became what He had never previously been (man)
but He continued to shine and to rule the universe. In this way, He revealed
Himself to the world more clearly.
What
was the real reason that God came in the likeness of men?
Why did God have to become man? What was the point?
This is a very important question. It goes to the heart of Christianity. Yes,
God revealed Himself to us in the Person of Jesus, but was that His sole
purpose for coming in the likeness of men? To know the answer, we must go back
to the beginning of creation. We need to grasp what happened in the Garden of
Eden.
How
did it all begin?
Everything about the world that God made was good.
There was plenty of food and drink for every living creature. In this lovely
setting the first people, Adam and Eve, lived. God told them that as long as
they lived for Him, obeying Him, they would live forever, but that if they
disobeyed Him they would surely die.
God wanted them to be His friends and to look after
the earth and everything in it. God gave them a precious gift: free will. He
did not make them like robots or machines so that they would have to love and
obey Him. Love must come freely. This gift of free will was one of the main
differences between humankind and the animals. Adam and Eve could choose
between right and wrong, good and bad. They could choose to love each other or
not, to do what God wanted or what they wanted, to live for God or for
themselves.
They chose to disobey God. They preferred to please
themselves rather than God.
Why
did they do this? What went wrong?
All evil and wrong come from the devil. Even the word
‘devil’ has the word ‘evil’ in it. While everyone today believes that evil
exists, belief in a personal devil has declined. Isn’t he just a comic figure
with horns and a curly tail?
The Bible tells us to take the devil seriously. It
tells us that, far from being a comic figure, he was once a glorious angel in
heaven. His name then was Lucifer, which means ‘one who bears light.’ He became
proud and jealous, wanting to be like God. He was banished from God’s presence
and now does all he can to turn men and women against God.
It was the devil, Satan (a name which means ‘the
deceiver’), who tempted the first man and woman to choose wrong and disobey
God.
So in this way sin and wrong entered into our world
and into human life.
At first Adam and Eve had walked with God in a loving
relationship. But when they disobeyed, sin formed a vast, insurmountable chasm between
them and God. We call this ‘spiritual death’. It is because Adam became spiritually
dead that he died physically several hundred years later.
As a result of what happened in the Garden of Eden,
all of us are born with an infinite gap between us and God. The prophet David
wrote, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived
me” (Bible, Psalm 51:5). God is holy and we are sinful, so we are cut off from
Him. “Your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have
hidden His face from you,” (Bible, Isaiah 59:2).
Because people listen to the devil’s lies, they go his
evil, selfish way. It is this that causes all the crime and wrong and suffering
in the world. This is why there is so much evil, so many broken relationships,
so much selfishness and greed. We are all by nature self-centred
rather than God-centred. There is no exception to
this, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Bible, Romans
By nature we are separated from God. It is our
disobedience which separates us. Every man is sinful
at heart; though someone may seem to be very holy outwardly, there remain sins
of wrong motives, sins of the mind.
What is the
solution?
Is there any hope?
Many people try to bridge the gap by their own efforts. Some think they
can get to God by being good religious people. They hope that their good deeds
will outweigh their bad deeds enough to get them into paradise. But they never
succeed. No one is perfect. It is not even that their contribution ‘nearly but
not quite’ reaches God. The
reality is that we fall infinitely short of the requirements. We can never
reach God’s standard by our own efforts. No matter how righteous we try to be,
we are condemned, “for whoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumbles in one
point, he is guilty of all” (Bible, James
The question remains; what is the solution?
Once, when I was sitting quietly, I saw a troop of
ants marching up and down a wall. They were trying to carry a grain of wheat to
the top. But without success. The grain of wheat was too heavy. The pull of
gravity was greater than their efforts! I pitied them. I wondered how I could
help those hopeless ants. If I had reached down with my hand, I might have
squashed some of them by mistake. They would have run away in fear. I could not
help them. The only way I could have helped them was by becoming an ant, while
keeping my human strength! Only that way could I help without terrifying them.
We are a bit like those ants. We can never reach God
by our own efforts and good works. The gravity of our sin is too great. It is
stronger than our efforts. Sin weighs heavily on our shoulders. But God pitied and
loved us. To liberate us from the tyranny of sin, He came in our likeness. He
came as a man, but lived without sin. That was the main difference between Him
and us. Who can re-establish the broken relationship between God and man?
Surely, the only one who can bridge the gap is One who is both God and man.
My
sins are not serious!
Let me tell you about what happened to a friend of
mine. His name is Olivier. When he told me that he once went to prison for
failing to pay parking tickets, I asked, “why didn’t you just
pay them?”
He answered, “They were just ‘parking tickets;’ it was
no big deal.”
Then he told me that the police arrived at his home at
The judge said, “Monsieur Argaud,
I’m going to save you all that money. You are going to jail!”
Olivier was terrified.
His big mistake was that he trivialized his crimes by
thinking that they were “just” parking tickets, and so he deceived himself. Had
he known the judge’s ruling (that he would go to prison), he would have
immediately made things right between himself and the law.
Most of us realize that we have broken God’s Law, the
Ten Commandments, but we think it’s no big deal. So, let me ask you a few
questions about the Law you have broken and see if it is a big deal.
Have you ever lied? You say, “Yes. But they were only
white lies. They were nothing serious.”
Have you ever stolen something? You say, “Yes, but
only little things.”
Can you see what you are doing? You are trivializing your crimes, and
like Olivier, you will deceive yourself. What you are doing is saying
that you haven’t actually “sinned.” But the Bible warns, “He who says he has no
sin deceives himself.” The truth is that if you have lied, then you are
a liar. If you have stolen anything (the value of the item stolen is
irrelevant), you are a thief.
What you need to hear is the judge’s ruling for lying
and stealing. Here it is: “All liars will have their part in the lake of fire”
(Bible, Revelation 21:8). All liars go to Hell and no thief will enter heaven.
Not one (Bible, 1Corinthians 6:9).
Now look at this: Jesus said, “Whoever looks at a
woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart”
(Bible, Matthew
So if you have been honest enough to admit that you
have broken those commandments, you are a self-admitted lying, thieving,
blasphemous adulterer at heart. If God gives you justice on the Judgment Day,
you will be guilty and end up in Hell. Think of it—if you died right now, you
would end up in Hell… forever. So, what are you going to do? How can you make
things right between you and the Law?
Can
religion help?
Absolutely not!
There are millions of people on this earth who have
never seen the serious nature of sin. They are in the dark about the Judge’s
ruling. They have no idea that they will end up in Hell for crimes that they
consider trivial. They know that they have to face God after death, but they
think that their religious works (like Olivier with his 500 francs) will buy
their way out of any trouble in which they may find themselves. And as long as
they trivialize their sin, they will deceive themselves into thinking that they
can work their way into heaven by their religious works. It is as futile as a
man who tried to row against the river. He was in a boat caught in fast-moving
water, heading for a massive waterfall with jagged rocks 150 feet below. A
passerby saw him rowing against the current, but his efforts were futile.
Minute by minute he was drawn closer and closer to the roaring falls. The passerby
ran to his car, grabbed a rope from the boot and threw it to the boat. When it
fell across the bow, he shouted, “Grab the rope. I will pull you to the shore!”
He couldn’t believe his eyes, for the man in the boat took no notice. He just
kept on rowing frantically against the current, until he disappeared over the
edge of the falls to his death.
God Himself has thrown us a rope in Jesus Christ. He
is the only One who can save us from death and hell. But we must let go of our
own efforts to save ourselves and take hold of the rope. The moment we cease
our own religious “rowing” and have faith in Jesus, we find peace with God. The
Bible says, “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” (Bible,
Ephesians 2:8-9).
Let me give you another illustration to show that
religion can never save you. Imagine that one day you go swimming and jump into
deep water. You find yourself in trouble. Drowning! You are dying, but you
cannot save yourself because you do not know how to swim. You are hopeless and
helpless. You shout for help. Someone approaches and yells, ‘Pull yourself together
and save yourself! Come on mate, do it yourself!’ What a terrible thing to say
to a drowning man! A second person arrives on the scene and actually jumps into
the water. He starts swimming. He says, ‘Look at me. Learn how to swim and do
the same. Then you will save yourself’. How ridiculous! There is no time for
you to learn. In fact, a drowning man is absolutely incapable of learning
anything. Now a third person approaches. He dives into the pool, grabs you and
drags you out of the water. You might resist Him, but out of compassion he
saves you from death. Now, which one of these three people would you thank the most?
Surely the third one.
Religion is like the first two people. By nature we
are drowning in our sin. We are in a mess because of our separation from God.
Religion tells us, ‘Save yourself. Do this and that. Don’t do this or that and
you will be saved.’ Some religious leaders are seen as examples. Their
followers are told that if they imitate their lifestyle, they will be saved. It
is like the second person who jumps into the water.
So religion cannot save us. We are hopeless. The Bible
says that we are incapable of saving ourselves. That is why we need someone to
jump into the water of our life and get hold of us and save us from our sin.
This is exactly what God has done. God says to us, ‘I know your situation. I
know that you are separated from Me. I know that your life is in a mess. I know
that you cannot save yourself. And I know that giving you laws and commandments
will not save you because you can’t and don’t do them. You are incapable of
fulfilling them. But, I will come to where you are and get you out of the
tyranny of your sin.’ So God came to this world in the Person of Jesus Christ. “Christ
also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us
to God,” (Bible, 1Peter
It is unwise to reject God’s saving plan. What do you
think of the drowning man who refused to be saved?
When someone allows Jesus to save them (by trusting in
His death and resurrection), Jesus forgives their sin and grants them a place
in
Why
was Jesus’ death necessary?
Let us get it clear that Jesus was dead. Dead beyond
any shadow of a doubt. He was certified as dead by the centurion in charge of
the execution squad. He was recognized as dead by Pilate, the governor (who
gave permission for a friend to bury His body). And the crowning proof is that
when a spear was thrust into His side under His heart in order to make sure He
was dead, out came what an eyewitness called blood and water (Bible, John
19:34f). Obviously the scientific explanation of this was unknown to men of
those days, but the diagnosis is clear. Dark blood and light serum came from
the body of Jesus, and the separation of clot from serum in the blood is the
strongest medical proof that the patient is dead. So don’t swallow any of the
“swoon” theories which imagine that Jesus was not quite dead but recovered in
the cool of the tomb! He was dead all right.
Does
the Qur’an deny Christ's crucifixion?
Ninety percent of the time, the Muslim will immediately quote, "They
killed Him not, they crucified Him not, but it was likened unto them. They
killed Him not knowingly, but God raised Him and God is the most merciful of
merciful." (Qur’an 4:157-159) In the Muslim
mind, this verse says that God could never allow a great prophet like Jesus to
be crucified by His enemies. They believe God saved Jesus, took Him up to
heaven and crucified Judas Iscariot, who had betrayed Jesus the night before,
by changing him into the likeness of Christ.
But does this verse
really say that Jesus did not die? What does, "They killed Him not
knowingly," mean? We need to remember the Jews’ attitude toward Christ. When
Jesus was taken to the Roman governor, they did not believe He was the Messiah.
They wanted to get rid of Him. By saying, "They killed Him not
knowingly," the Qur’an simply states that they
killed Jesus without knowing He was the Messiah.
In fact, there are
other verses in the Qur’an which say Jesus was
killed. The Qur’an claims that Jesus said,
"peace unto Me the day I was born, the day I died and was taken to
heaven."[Qur’an, Surah Maryam 19:33; see
also Surah AL Imran 3:55 and Surah
Al-Maida 5:116,117 (Arabic: tawaffaitani meaning,
‘caused me to die’)]
But why did Christ need to die? Could He not have
saved us without dying? Man had broken God's law and the penalty was
death; physical and spiritual. “The wages of sin is death.” (Bible, Romans 6:23)
How could Jesus Christ deliver us without meeting our full penalty?
Death is man’s big problem. If anyone was to save us,
he would have to resolve this problem. He would have to conquer death. He would
have to restore our broken relationship with God.
When Adam and Eve disobeyed, God immediately promised
to send them a Saviour. Through that Saviour’s suffering, people would be saved.(Bible, Genesis
A judge sat in the courtroom, wearing his judicial
robe. A young girl stood before him. She had been charged with driving without
a license and speeding down the highway. The penalty for these charges was two
thousand pounds. He pointed his finger at her and asked, "Are you
guilty or not?" to which she answered, "Yes. Your Honor, but I
cannot afford to pay the penalty." The judge simply said, "You
must pay," and then closed court. He stepped down from the bench, took
off his robe and gave the girl two thousand pounds. Why? Because he was her father. He could not
dishonor his name by letting her go free, but he was also merciful and loving
and could not bear to see her put in jail because of her inability to pay. The
only solution, therefore, was for him to pay the penalty himself.
In the same way, Christ has paid the penalty for our
sin. God is holy. He hates sin, so He cannot simply close His eyes to our
disobedience. Because He is a just and fair God, He must punish sinners. Death
is our penalty; spiritual death, physical death, then ultimately, eternal
separation from God. No mere man could ever pay that penalty for us. But in His
mercy, God decided to pay the penalty Himself so that we can go free. Jesus Christ,
being equal with God, took off His robe of heavenly glory and came down to
earth as a man. On the cross, He was punished for our sins. The justice and
mercy of God came together, and both were satisfied.
Without Jesus’ death there would have been no way
for us to escape God’s punishment for our sin.
What is the evidence that Jesus’
death was sufficient for man’s salvation?
The evidence is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. By raising
Jesus from the dead, God declared to the world that He had accepted Jesus’
sacrifice on our behalf.
If Jesus had remained in the grave, we would have seen that he was just
another sinful human being like us. His death would have been worthless. He
would have died for his own sins, not ours. As the Bible states, without the
resurrection, we would have no hope, “And if Christ is not risen, your faith is
futile; you are still in your sins.” (1Corinthians
The resurrection shows that death could not keep its hold on Jesus. It
shows that God, the Judge, considered our penalty to have been paid. Our sins
had been dealt with. Jesus broke the death barrier.
Anyone who has said goodbye to a departed loved one at a graveside knows
that death is a formidable enemy. Yet, for Christians facing death, there is
the certainty of eternal life beyond the grave. This certainty comes from the
knowledge that Jesus Christ overcame death and its sting. Jesus did this
through His triumphant resurrection. “Death is swallowed up in victory. O
Death, where is your sting?” (1Corinthians
If Jesus died on the cross, and if Jesus
is God, does that mean that God died on the cross?
God is Spirit. In the original Hebrew language, Spirit is roh. From
this word, the word rihe is taken,
which means "the air". We can say, therefore, that God's Spirit is
like the air in the atmosphere. Air is everywhere. Though you cannot see it,
you know it is present: you can feel it, you breathe it, even though it has no color or shape. Similarly, the Spirit of God is present
everywhere.
An empty bottle does not contain any liquid, but you know that it is
full of air. The air inside the bottle has taken the shape of the bottle, even
though air has no shape. The characteristics of the air inside the bottle are
similar to the characteristics of the air outside the bottle. The fact that
there is air inside the bottle does not mean that there is no air outside the bottle!
Now, if you were to take the bottle and smash it against a wall, it would break
into hundreds of pieces. It would be shattered. Could we say that the air
inside the bottle would also be shattered? No. Only the form that contained the
air would have been shattered.
A similar thing took place when God, who is Spirit, dwelt among us in
the body of Jesus Christ. God took the likeness of man. That did not mean that
He no longer existed elsewhere. Like the air when it filled the bottle, God
still existed everywhere. Furthermore, Jesus' crucifixion did not mean that God
was killed, but rather that the human body which contained the Spirit of God
was killed. God always lived, even during the three days when Jesus was dead in
the tomb.
I am so bad. God could never be
interested in me!
When we look up at the stars and consider how vast the
universe is we realize, to a small degree, how great God is. And we ask, “Can
the Great God, who made and sustains millions of stars, ever look at someone as
small as I am? How could He care for me or hear my prayers? Surely God is too
great to be interested in the affairs of individuals among the billions of
people on this earth?”
Let us consider how Jesus treated individual people.
Was He too great to be concerned about the joys and sorrows of ordinary people?
By no means! On the contrary, we see that Jesus Christ had love and sympathy
for every person He met. He wanted to give health and happiness and salvation
to each one. Thousands of people came to Jesus for help: rich and poor, old and
young, men and women, His own people and foreigners… no one was turned away.
For Jesus said, “the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast away” (Bible,
John
Jesus the friend of sinners!
We have all sinned against God. God could have destroyed
us. But when we become acquainted with Jesus, the perfect manifestation of God,
we are surprised to see that He does not hate sinners. Instead of condemning or
avoiding them, Jesus often ate in their homes and showed them great kindness. For
this strange conduct He was severely criticized by the religious leaders of the
people, who called Him “the friend of sinners.” Jesus replied that these
sinners were sick, and He was their physician. As the doctor does not wish to
kill his patient but to make him well, so God does not want sinners to perish
but to be saved. He came to seek and to save those who had lost the way and
were dying in their sin.
Can Jesus have time for a sinner
like me?
In case you still doubt whether God is interested in
you, let me tell you about the first people Jesus appeared to after He rose
from the dead.
The first person who saw the risen Jesus was a nobody! Her name was Mary
Magdalene. She had once been demon possessed. Presumably she had lived the
worst sort of life as a result. She was a nobody, but Jesus met her. Why?
Because Jesus has time for nobodies.
Later that day Jesus appeared to a failure. One of His disciples had
denied Him three times in one night although he had said he would not. Jesus
forgave this sorrowful man because Jesus Christ
has time for failures.
On the same day He appeared to people who were confused. They were
walking, and they could not understand the events which had happened in the
last few days. How could Jesus have been crucified? They had loved Him so much.
They had heard reports that He had been raised from the dead and they were
perplexed. Then Jesus walked with them, because He has
time for people who are confused.
There were also ten disciples who were so afraid that they locked the
doors. Jesus did not unlock the doors. He just went in and stood where they
were. Why did He meet them? Because He has time for fearful people too.
Then, there was one disciple who could not believe that Jesus had been
raised from the dead. How did Jesus react to his doubts? Did he condemn the
man? No! He went to meet him, because Jesus Christ has time for doubters!
Then there was a cynic, a man who had lived in the same house as Jesus
in
There was also one man who met Jesus a little later. He was a great
opponent to Christianity, seeking to imprison and kill Christians. Do you know
how Jesus treated him? As this man Saul was going on a death mission to
And so to the question: “Does God care for individuals?”
We confidently reply, “Yes He does! Look at Jesus Christ who is the image and
revelation of the invisible God.” There is no class of
people for whom Jesus Christ has no time. ‘For God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son (Jesus), that whoever [and you can put your name
right here, right now] believes in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life’ (Bible, John
So, how can I know God personally?
In conclusion, we ask again, ‘How can a man know God?’ The answer is:
through Creation, the Bible, and Jesus Christ.
However, God is not content that we should simply have accurate
information about Him. He wants us to reach the point where He is no longer a
stranger to us. He wants us to love Him with all our heart and soul. You may
know things about God, but what is more important is to know Him personally and
intimately as your Father. This can only happen when you entrust yourself to
the Lord Jesus Christ and receive Him into your life.
The way is
open for you. Jesus invites you to come to Him and meet God face to face. Do
you really want to find God? Then accept Christ’s invitation and believe in
Him. “You will seek
Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be
found by you, says the LORD,” (Bible, Jeremiah 29:13, 14).
You can
receive Jesus into your life now by talking to Him sincerely in prayer. Open
your heart to Him, acknowledge and confess your sins. Ask God to wash you from
your sins by the blood that Jesus spilt on the cross. God forgives those who
humble themselves before Him in this way. He is perfectly aware of all that is
in your heart, so it is useless trying to hide anything. Acknowledge God’s right
to reign in your life. Ask Him to make you into the person He wants you to be.
I encourage you to take
God’s Holy Word (the Bible) very seriously. Don’t let anything stop you putting
right your relationship with God.
You may like
to pray something like this:
“Dear God, I confess I am a sinner. Thank You
that Jesus took my punishment upon Himself when He died on the cross for my
sins, and then rose from the dead, defeating death. Today, I repent and place
my trust in Jesus Christ alone for my salvation. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.”
If you have understood
who Jesus is and prayed this prayer sincerely, then God is ready to adopt you
as His child and to welcome you into His family. He is ready to transform your
life. The Bible promises, “as many as received Him (Jesus Christ), to them He
gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name”
(Bible, John
[1] God called Himself ‘I am’. The phrase refers
not only to His eternal existence, without beginning or end, but to the fact
that He is dependent on nothing and no-one else for His existence.
[2] If you want to know more about the deity of Jesus, read our booklet entitled
‘Who is this Jesus: a prophet or more than a prophet?’