Tag Archives: New Testament

Is He, Or Isn’t He?

A Critical Question About Jesus

Forward

I didn’t know my journey would start when I was so young….

My parents divorced when I was six, and my brother was barely two. I remember when my dad knelt, held me close, and said,

“You can call me uncle now.” 

I had no idea what this meant, but I knew it hurt.  Soon, my mom, brother, and I moved in with my grandmother.   During those early years, my grandmother had a great influence on me for God, but an elder in her church would turn me to atheism even though he thought he was doing the opposite. The questions about God began at age eight.

Mom began working full-time as a switchboard operator for a trucking company. So, for about four years, Ronnie (my brother) and I were raised by our sweet grandmother, whom we called “Mamaw.” She fed us, bathed us, and loved us. Though it seemed large then, the house had only two bedrooms and two showerless bathrooms. I slept in Mamaw’s bedroom on a cot beside an unused fireplace; Ronnie and Mom were in the other bedroom, which was part of an open duplex or apartment.

 In her room at night, just before we all retired for the evening, I heard my grandmother talking to God.  It frightened me initially, but after a few nights, I felt comfortable listening to her talk to her God as if they were close friends, unlike the elders of her church who prayed to Him with choice, carefully enunciated flowery words.

Though I never looked at her praying, I imagined her sitting on the floor with Jesus as they discussed her family and their problems.  As the oldest grandson, my name came up near the end of the lengthy conversation.  I could “see” my name floating to the throne room of God the Father, bore on the wings of the Holy Spirit.  I liked the God of my grandmother; He seemed likable, but I would meet a new god at Vacation Bible School a few years later.  This god, I did not like.  He scared me.

Vacation Bible School was fun.  I especially liked the crafts.  On the last day of VBS, all of us children waited anxiously for our parents to arrive so we could show them what we had made during the week. I had painted a King Edwards cigar box black and put decals and shells on it.  It made a perfect jewelry box.  My mom loved her jewelry.  But, before the moms, dads, and grandmothers arrived, we all met in a little room to hear an elder tell us about the upcoming service and how we could participate.  He wanted us to be baptized, so he began to tell us how much Jesus loved us.  I knew this God!  My grandmother talked to Him every night!

Then, the elder told us what would happen if we were not baptized.  We would go to “hell” and burn forever.  He described hell in disgusting detail. This didn’t sound like the God my grandmother talked to each night!  Something was wrong here. It was my first step toward unbelief.  No one, especially my grandmother’s Jesus, could be so cruel as to let all this happen!  Was my uncle in hell because he didn’t believe in Jesus but was a good husband and father?  Later in my journey, I would figure this out through scripture alone. 

Time marched on for my brother and me. I went through elementary school, high school, and eventually to college. In an ancient history class, I learned more than history; I learned about atheism directly from an atheistic professor. He made sense to me as I considered the contradiction of the two gods I had met when I was younger: one very loving and the other watching to ensure I was good or I would burn forever.

At age 18, I married a sweet, petite Christian gal.  We had three lovely children, but before that, we had some tough times and separated for a while.  When I returned, she (Julie) had been attending some “evangelistic” meetings.  I instantly began to make fun of her, telling her how silly it was to believe such nonsense.  I harassed her so much that she threw a dare at me.

“Eddie, if I am wrong, take this Bible and my notes and prove me wrong.”

My snarky response was, “Sure, this will be easy.”

For months, I went to the library for secular information (no web back in 1975) and began to read the Bible and her notes.  Quickly, I realized my attack had to be on this character, Jesus.  He had made some bold claims about Himself.  So, it came down to three questions: 

1.)  Did He exist? That was an easy question, even in secular history. 

2.) Was He all He claimed to be? and

3.) What was I going to do with what I learned? I had no idea. 

The primary and most critical question was, “Is He, or Isn’t He?  The following is just a small portion of my journey to know for myself about Jesus without the influence of denomination, tradition, or opinion.  The result?   I fell in love with Jesus and was baptized into His church, His body. Julie was right.  I was wrong.  My personal story is in my second book, “The Pig Returns To Its Mud.”

 Along the way, I realized that, as followers of Jesus, we must be united on the core beliefs based on God’s grace, compassion, and love expressed perfectly through Jesus. This is where God’s power is most effective. People can know the real Jesus for themselves if they only take time to look and hear. Too many beliefs, opinions, and traditions block out the sunlight of truth as found in Jesus. 

I will likely step on some toes in this book, but I pray that the initial pain will turn into something that will help the reader understand Jesus, as revealed by the prophets, kings, disciples, and apostles. This is my source material. While other “holy books” are written by one man, the story of Jesus is written by 35 to 40 men throughout thousands of years. That should tell us something.

I have settled these questions about Jesus. My atheism changed to a full-fledged believer in Jesus because I searched for the truth, and God directed my paths. He does this for everyone who will search with “all their heart.” It is not a casual search.  There are obstacles along the way. 

The journey continues. I am by no means perfect, but He is! He is worthy. I am not.  I hope that as you read this, you will discover Jesus’ reality and His faithfulness, whether you are a believer or not.  The reward will be greater than you can imagine.  Thank you, Julie.  May you rest in peace knowing God Himself directed your dare.  He knew what I needed.

And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.” John 17:3 NLT

Introduction

The world is full of, to use an old Yiddish word, “Shysters.”  There are a multitude of con artists, liars, and cheats who are typically motivated by money, fame, self-gratification, or even worship! The knowledge of a person’s true identity can have life-and-death outcomes.

As I write this, countless writers and speakers are making money and fame from conspiracy theories, health-related topics, and merchandise that have no basis in facts, science, or common sense. They exist off the pocketbooks of the naive, uneducated, and those without critical thinking abilities. Deception includes marketing products, broadcasting news, education, music, and, of course, philosophy. These “industries” make billions of dollars of their victims each year.

Recently, I heard of a woman whose name I will not mention. She writes books and charges money to her fans to listen to her speak on various naturalistic remedies for almost every ailment, including cancer.  You would think she would be a doctor or someone with excellent credentials and that her presentations would include facts and figures to demonstrate her success rate.  On the contrary, this person failed in the medical industry and has been banned in several countries because of her unfounded and often dangerous instructions.  What confounds me is that she packs the house whenever she speaks!  Those in her audience are the anti-doctor, anti-vaccine, anti-science, anti-everything they don’t like.  In my opinion, it would seem that if we want something to be correct, we can find those who will help us feed our disillusionment.  Instead of searching for truth systematically, they search for confirmation from flawed information, reasoning, or feelings. This routine has been going on since the beginning of time.

Then comes Jesus onto the scene. In one of His prayers, he boldly states, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” John 17:3 A knowledge of God the Father and Jesus Christ leads to eternal life. If this is true, we need to know if He is true. Is He, or isn’t He?

He walks, talks, teaches the ordinary people, and tries to reach the religious people who feel they have everything to know about Jehovah.  The religious leaders, the Pharisees, Scribes, and Sadducees prided themselves in thinking they had God all figured out and processed the authority to speak on behalf of God and express His will.  But Jesus claimed to be four things. He states, without hesitation, that he is “ The way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father (Jehovah) except through me (Jesus).”  John 14:6

       The question is, “Is He? or Isn’t He?  Is Jesus like one of the many Shysters of history and today that prey on the naive, uneducated, and those without common sense? Either Jesus is all He claims to be, or He is not.  His statement in John has no middle ground or room for compromise.  He is either the only way, or He is not.  His disciples took three and a half years to conclude that Jesus was real. What convinced them to die for their faith in Jesus as “… the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Matthew 16:16 was not in wars between cultures but at the hands of those of their culture who hated them.  What convinced them should also convince us, although we aren’t able to physically handle and touch Him as they did.  They could rightly say, 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—” 1 John 1:1We cannot.      

However, others existed before Jesus was born who never saw or touched Him but saw Jesus in the future. These were the many prophets, kings, and inspired writers of the Old Testament. On the other hand, modern society has had all this testimony from people for many generations. Those before Jesus looked forward in faith; the disciples and apostles lived by faith at the moment, and we today live in faith, looking back at the record of those before us. There is a need to study these patriarchs to determine Is He, or Isn’t He.  As we discover Jesus, our faith will grow in Him.  Therefore, we can say, “Little time with Jesus and the Bible will result in little faith in Jesus.  Conversely, much time with Jesus and the Bible will result in much faith in Jesus.    “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.”  Romans 10:17

After the resurrection of Christ, Jesus first saw Mary and then showed up on a dusty road talking with two men who thought he was a stranger who just happened to walk up and begin a conversation.  They were walking away from the discouragement and sorrow of Jerusalem on a journey to a new beginning in Emmaus,

 As they walked along, Jesus gave them a study from the scriptures.  What is unusual about this study was that there was no New Testament pocket Bible for Jesus to pull out of His robe because printing, as we know it, had not been invented. Still, even more important, the New Testament had not been written yet!  So, this was a “Scripture” study from what we call the Old Testament and what the modern Jews call the Tankah.  It contains the writings of the many prophets and inspired writers.  Something happened to these men that greatly increased their faith in Jesus and set their hearts on fire: “Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” Luke 24:27. Jesus did this from memory! 

The men were familiar with these writings, but now they had meaning about Christ (the long-awaited Messiah).  Their eyes were opened, and their hearts were greatly encouraged by Jesus because they had heard Him and later looked across the table at Him!    They were so amped up that they ran back the seven miles to Jerusalem to find the other eleven disciples behind closed and locked doors, afraid of what might happen to them. (A side note from a former runner:   If they were seven miles away and ran back within the hour (Luke 24:33), this was equivalent to less than a seven-minute mile pace.  That is fast!  I’ll bet today’s runners could not do that in a robe and sandals!) 

When these two speed-runners made it back to Jerusalem and found the original disciples, they noticed they weren’t gathered to conduct Sunday worship in honor of the resurrection.  No!  They were in a state of disbelief and thought that the body of the One they loved was dead in a tomb in the beginning stages of decay (John 20:9).  Just as our two runners show up, Jesus pops into the sealed room.  The disciples think He is a spirit! (Luke 24:37).  After inviting them to touch him, He said some critical words for us to hear that I will discuss later.  “Look at My hands and My feet. See! It is I, Myself! Touch Me and see for yourself. A spirit does not have flesh and bones as I have.” Luke 24: 39

Then, Jesus did something that conflicted with their expectations of a resurrected immortal body: He asked for food, and they gave him fish and a honeycomb, and he ate it in front of them! (Luke 24: 42, 43).  What does that say about our resurrected immortal bodies and our heavenly experience?  At the very least, we will have bodies that enjoy eating, and we will live in flesh and bone bodies!  Our bodies will be just like His!  I don’t know about you, but that is much more exciting than sitting on a cloud plucking a harp as a ghost! “…we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”  1 John 3:2

So, after the short meal, Jesus conducts the second Scripture study of the day. This time, He has the eleven disciples plus the two believers who ran back to Jerusalem from seven miles away in less than an hour. Wow! I’m still amazed by their athleticism, but I digress. 

Jesus expands the scripture study to include the Psalms (These are the poetic books of the Bible that include Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon.). From these writings of thirty-five men, he showed them “all the things that must be fulfilled” about Him! Luke 24 44, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.  And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures” Luke 24 45.  After this study, Jesus covered all of the Old Testament divisions: The first five books of the Bible (Law of Moses), the major and minor prophets (the Prophets), and the poetic books (Psalms).  Jesus is there in those many books!  How could we miss that?  It may be because we are not looking or want it to be true.    

Is He or isn’t He all those things written in the Scriptures and the eyewitnesses of the New Testament?  For us to know that Jesus is all He claims to be, our eyes must be opened to understand the scriptures.  Otherwise, we will be like the pious religionists who knew and practiced religion the way they desired it to be, with all the trappings of pride, power, and control.  They didn’t want Jesus to be faithful.  They wanted a king to come riding on a white horse into Jerusalem with a giant sword, chopping off the heads of the Romans whom they despised. 

There is danger in creating a Jesus we want rather than what He really is.  What He is can be found in the Old and New Testaments, not by a popular speaker, philosopher, or even our particular religion/denomination or set of beliefs. 

I take this journey as a person wanting to discover the depth of the Jesus of Scripture, not of my denomination (not that they are bad) nor of what I want Him to be.  At whatever point I am along the way, I desire to feel the presence of Him in my life.  That is enough even if I never have enough time to reach my literary and study goals, I hope you will join me in this Jesus Journey and that Scripture and the Holy Spirit will lead us into a deeper understanding of the One who claims to be the way, the truth, and the life.

Only One-Third of the Story

How often have you picked up a good book and skipped over the first two-thirds of the pages to start reading? Have you done the same with instructions designed to help you put something together, assemble a new end table, or set up the new iPhone? I dare say none of us would do such a silly thing. The results would be frustrating.  You may be tempted to throw in the towel or pay someone who doesn’t mind reading the entire page of instructions.

Something similar occurs when we limit our reading of the Scriptures to only the New Testament.  By doing so, we get only one-third of the story about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.  If we only focus on the New Testament, we can’t understand Him at the level and depth He intended. We may become frustrated and discouraged in our understanding of Jesus.

God’s dealings with His people, the plan of Salvation, the prophecies, the Godhead, and His will for us can become cloudy, if not invisible, by reading only part of the story. Most of all, we get an incomplete picture of Jesus. This practice can even lead to false teaching that could add further bewilderment.  Please remember that this concept does not diminish the New Testament in any way.  It does the opposite.  The New Testament writers disclose the fulfillment and reality of Jesus.  Their passion for Jesus is built on the firm foundation of God’s inspired writers from ancient times.

All Scripture

Paul told Timothy, his young protege, this critical teaching about scripture:

“…from childhood, you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,” 2 Timothy 3:16

Interestingly, the word “Scripture” refers only to the Old Testament books. The New Testament was in the process of being written when Paul wrote these words about thirty years after the cross. Neither Timothy nor Paul had a copy of the New Testament. True, the disciples’ letters were scattered throughout the churches, but there was no red-letter New Testament book of the New Testament writers for them to study.

Except for one time in Daniel 10:21, The word “Scripture” is used only in the New Testament (31 times) and always refers back to what we call the Old Testament.  It was the only book Jesus, the disciples, and the Apostles used to prove that Jesus was the promised Messiah, expounding on the character of God and the plan of salvation.

So, Paul is referring to the same book Jesus quoted from.  Paul says the “Old Testament” (Scripture) is good for several things in Timothy’s ministry and, therefore, our work today: 

1.) wisdom for salvation;

2.) for doctrine;

3.) reproof;

4.) correction; and

5.) instruction in righteousness

Scripture

Scripture is the collection of writings we call the Old Testament.  This is an unfortunate title because it implies “old”; worn out, irrelevant.  Some today say, “I am a New Testament Christian.” This implies they are living under the New Covenant, which should be, but the New Covenant has its basis in the writings of the Old Testament writers.    A better statement of belief would be, “I am a Christian based on the entire word of God.”  Modern Christian teachers have minimized these books, but by doing so, how much is overlooked about Jesus?

The Jews today have the same collection of writings.  They refer to it as the Tanakh.  It is divided into three main sections:

Tanakh is an acronym, made from the first Hebrew letter of each of the Masoretic Text’s three traditional divisions: Torah (literally ‘Instruction’ or ‘Law’), Nevi’im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings)—hence TaNaKh.

The Tanakh consists of twenty-four books, counting as one book each: 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles, and Ezra–Nehemiah. The Twelve Minor Prophets are also counted as a single book.

Therefore, all the books of the Old Testament are in the Tankah, but some are combined.

Jesus’ Scripture Study with His Disciples

At least twice, Jesus refers directly to these books of the Scriptures to explain who He is and His mission.  Both times, he desired to open the eyes of His followers by teaching about Himself from the Scriptures.  The story is found in the book of Luke.

After His resurrection on that 1st Day of the week, the resurrected Jesus caught up with two discouraged disciples who had just left the horror of Jerusalem that occurred on the Preparation Day (Friday).  Their Rabbi had been nailed to a wooden cross like an animal!  The One they loved was beaten, stripped, and finally met a suffering death. They were so discouraged that they were not praying…only discussing the scenes of that horrible day.  They were, perhaps, rethinking their commitment to Jesus.  Their faith had reached an all-time low.

But here is what I love about Jesus.  At their lowest point, Jesus shows up! He didn’t appear to a large crowd at first, but to two lonely hurting followers.   On that dusty road to Emmaus, neither man was praying for His presence, but Jesus appeared because He knew their damaged hearts.  He does the same today.  When you are at your lowest and don’t feel like praying, Jesus will show up just for you because of His great love and understanding!

The hurting disciples converse with the stranger, not knowing it is Jesus.  They describe the scenes in Jerusalem with tears and pathos in their voice.   Luke then records Jesus’ words.

 Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Luke 24: 25-27

Jesus gave them a Scripture study from the Old Testament (it was not called that then) or what the Jews today would call the Tanakh.  The topic?  Jesus!  Wouldn’t you have loved to have been a part of that study from Jesus Himself?

As suddenly as Jesus showed up, He disappeared just as they had begun their evening meal in Emmaus.  This encounter left them with “hearts burning” within them.  Even though the day was “far-spent,” they returned to Jerusalem with a new story to tell.  They had seen Jesus in the flesh and discovered Him in Scripture.  They had to tell the other disciples, so they likely ran all the way back to Jerusalem in the dark, where the other disciples were behind closed doors for “fear of the Jews” (John 20:19).  When your heart is burning, you have to be running!

It was dark when they returned to Jerusalem since they had been talking with Jesus as they ate the evening meal seven miles away.  They found the eleven disciples talking about Peter’s experience of seeing Jesus (Luke 24:34).

Suddenly, Jesus appears again!  They think they have seen a spirit, but Jesus tells them, “Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.” V. 39.  Then He eats broiled fish and honeycomb with them.

But here is the relevant part to this theme: the two men on the way to Emmaus get to hear the Scripture study about Jesus a second time!  When our hearts are burning and running to tell others about Jesus, we are learning.

Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Luke 24: 44-45

From this gathering of discouraged disciples, we learn that the writings of the Old Testament (the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms) are fulfilled in Jesus. Is it not obvious?  We can learn many things about Jesus by reading these ancient writings.    

So yes.  if we only read the New Testament, we miss two-thirds of the story about Him.  Our experience and faith in Jesus will explode when we discover Jesus from people like Moses, Ezra, Nehemiah, Solomon, Isaiah, David, Daniel, and many others whom God inspired to write about what they saw and experienced (2 Peter 1:21).

“You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them, you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me.” –Jesus (John 5:39)